#i will make an official announcement post beforehand

[willowser]

*hugs* just saw that you're not happy with the way things are and wanted to drop by with some love for you.

You're one of my favorite people on this app, not just as an author, but also as a person. 💕 Your posts, whether fandom related or not, always bring a smile to my face, and I have developed a pavlovian response to your icon colors on the dash.

And while it'd be sad to hear you may need to step away, I think it's important that you always make the choices that make you the happiest, or get you closer to it at least.

So just in case: I'm glad I got the chance to know you a bit on here, and I'm thankful for all the amazing stories and unhinged thoughts you have shared and inspired. 💕♥️

honestly, i've been considering it for a while, but !! the one and only reason i haven't done it is — bc i would simply miss everyone 🥺 miss blabbing and sharing my nonsense 🥺 miss interacting with all the wonderful friends i've made !!

but idk !! i just feel like i'm getting nowhere in the situation i am in 😔 and i feel like it's bc i let myself get distracted LOL and i'm stunting/bandaid-ing myself by posting drabbles and things 😔 my ideal situation would be to go away, write, and come back with a multitude of finished things i can share over time — but that's so hard LOL i originally wanted to wait for a bit before doing this but 😔 i'm just letting myself and everyone down and the guilt is eating me alive 😔 idk !! it's hard !! 😔

but !! i could never truly leave, if not specifically for the wonderful people that i've had the joy of meeting and interacting with !! and within the heart of that is you, my dear tiph !! i so enjoy you and our interaction and seeing your name brings me so much comfort !! bc i know you are always so wonderful 💕✨️ thank you for being here with me, through all my ups and downs 🥺 you've made every minute of it worth it !!!

[crossbackpoke-check]

it’s all the rest of what i want with you

connor dewar/brandon duhaime :: 8k

Summary:

“Brandon,” Connor says with a sigh. “There’s no baby in there.”

“Not yet,” Brandon says. Connor feels his stomach twist, almost like what he would imagine a baby kicking to feel like.

in these trying times of dewvorce, may i offer you 8k of pwp inspired by @stillfertile’s wonderful art which i had. several breakdowns about 🫶 anyway please enjoy!!!

[purinfelix]

force of habit ♡₊˚•.

pairing: joão félix x reader (established relationship) summary: joão has a nervous habit that comes out before games, but you're just the thing to calm his nerves warnings: none!, pure fluff w/c: 1.1k (did someone say over-writing?)

a/n: aaa first ever writing post !! wrote this because i noticed joão has a tendency to bite at his nails in a lot of clips (and also just because i never ever ever stop thinking about his hands. like ever) hope you guys like it !! <3

“João.” your voice was soft, but stern as you watched your boyfriend catch your eye in confusion. 

It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence at this point, and you’d be lying if you said it didn’t make you feel like a total hypocrite. You had an abundance of bad habits yourself. You picked at your skin when you were stressed, struggled with waking up early and could never seem to get out of leaving things until the absolute last minute. 

And somehow, being a pro football player didn’t stop your boyfriend from falling into the same trap. He got frustrated easily, would always forget to pick up after himself, and constantly ate your leftovers in the fridge no matter how often you told him not to. But one habit seemed to bother you the most: the way he would bite his nails. 

It wasn’t the act itself that bothered you really, lord knows your habits were far more irritating. Rather it was what it signified to you - that he was worried about something, bothered or annoyed at the situation at hand - that riled you up so much. And the fact he never seemed to notice he was doing it only made it worse. 

At first, when you two had first met and still fell into being smitten with one another, you hadn’t minded it. Mostly because you’d hardly noticed it, only noticing him do it occasionally. But it was only once you started dating, and seeing each other far more often, that its seriousness became apparent. 

You could give him a thousand reasons why he should stop doing it, but you knew he would hardly care, and if he did it wouldn’t be easy for him to stop doing something that seemed like second nature, which was why you made it your mission to help him.

Or try to. 

Which was what you were doing - the two of you standing across from each other in the narrow corridor leading to the locker room. The time until his next game ticked away slowly but you had yet to break your tradition of spending time together beforehand - João always insisting you were his ‘good luck charm’, as cheesy as it sounded. 

His eyes caught yours at the sound of his name, blinking cluelessly at first. Slowly though, he caught on, retreating his hands from his mouth and mumbling a quick “sorry” as he did. You sighed. 

“It’s alright, you’re that nervous for this match, hm?” you said, stepping a little closer and pocketing the phone you were holding so that you could take both his hands in yours. He nodded, breath hitching in his throat at your sudden closeness. Even though you were a couple now (officially, hard launched, announced to the public, however, you wanted to put it), he was yet to get used to your boldness when it came to things like physical affection. 

“I’ve got to prove myself today, you know?” His hands trembled slightly as you interlaced your fingers with his, giving them a soft squeeze in an attempt to steady them. 

“Don’t worry, you’ll do good as always.” You ran your thumb across the back of his hand, turning it around to get a look at his fingernails, “And remind me to file your nails when we get home.” you added, half-jokingly, half-seriously. 

He only laughed in response, but it was a weak one that signified the remnants of some last-minute nerves. His neck whipped around as he looked up and down the hallway, legs bouncing as he did, relentlessly. You were somewhat used to watching him like this, to the point you had come to find it endearing how he tried to convince everyone around him, and even himself, that he was fine - even if everything else made it obvious he wasn’t. Not like he was ever in the wrong in doing so though, as you watched the clock on the wall tick over to just less than half an hour before the match. You know being nervous only made him play worse, so you knew you’d have to come up with some way to calm him down, and do so fast. 

“You uhm-” you hesitated for a second before letting it out like a sight, “You look really good in your kit.” 

This seemed to catch him off guard, shown by his widened eyes and the soft blush spreading across his cheeks. He leant in a little closer, towering over you upon hearing it as if daring you to say it again. Slowly, a smirk braced his face, his hands now the ones gripping yours. 

“You really think so?” He was irritating when he was like this, all cocky and suave, but it was an irritating you couldn’t ever seem to get enough of. 

“Yes, though if you ask again I might just change my mind,” you muttered, avoiding his keen eye knowing it would be difficult to let him go to his game if you did. You only turned to look down the hallway, trying your best to conceal a smirk. He let out a low chuckle at this, before craning his neck around to get a look at the clock. 

“I should probably go,” he said, but he kept his hands firmly gripped on theirs, still shaking slightly. 

“You’ll do well, don’t stress.” you assured him, smiling, “I’ll meet you after the game okay?” 

He nodded definitively, “Kiss for good luck?” he added, barely above a whisper. Thought with his eyebrows raised, brown eyes so pleading, and the feeling of his hands on yours, it was impossible for you not to give in. 

Tiptoeing to close the gap between you two, you pressed your lips to his. Almost immediately you felt his hands weave out of your grip and come up to cup your face gently, pulling you in as if silently asking for more. And it took every ounce of strength not to give in to him right there and then. 

“João! Either get a room or come on!” 

It seemed like you didn’t have to. You cursed Gavi silently under your breath as you reluctantly broke away from the kiss. 

“We’ll finish this once the games are over if I win.” He said in a rushed whisper, hands moving to catch a strand of your hair which he twirled around his finger mindlessly. 

“Mhm, once you win,” you corrected him, smile teasing as ever. You were about to turn to head back to your seat, front row, of course, João couldn’t have it any other way, before you spun around once more. Grabbing your boyfriend’s much larger hands in yours you pressed a soft kiss to his knuckle, catching him off guard for the second time that night. 

“Play good, for me okay?” you mumbled against the skin of his hand. 

“Of course, always,” he assured, pulling you in to leave one last kiss on your forehead before jogging off towards the locker room. 

Although, not before turning around to get one last look at his favourite ‘good luck charm’, completely unaware that the tremble in his hands had gone completely. 

[wizblr-blue-moon-ball]

Hello Magical Friends~☆

The date for the ball has been confirmed!!

The Blue Moon Ball will be held in LATE MAY, on the week of May 19-25.

The official announcement post with details on the event and the prologue prompt will be released on the 30th of April!! That will give you all around 3 weeks to prepare for the event.

☆

A note, you are NOT REQUIRED to participate in all prompts, just do what you want and what you can. You can do one RP prompt for the week, a few sketches, whatever strikes your fancy.

It will be close to my finals week for this date and I will be moving out of my dorm soon, so I may not do much in terms of Roleplaying, but I will be making a few small art pieces for each day if I can :)

If you DO want to RP with me (I will only be RP-ing Lurien for this event), please organize with me (@the-necrobotanist ) beforehand :3

At most I'll probably do RP with 3 people personally, I'll get overwhelmed otherwise. But I will be sending asks to participants to see if they're having fun!

Thank you! We hope you're excited for the ball magical friends!

☆

Pinglist (tumblr is still making a few wonky, if that is you idk how to fix it I'm sorry ;;;)

@scuttling-comfuddlement @the-gnomest-bastard @kobold-sanctuary-buss-island @satyrs-apothecary @irving-the-pirate-wizard @morbingtime @justagingerwithredhair @chaos-familiar @these-detestable-hands @regina-the-sorceress @combustion-witch @slymewitch @yourlocalbreadenthusiast @mango-lord-of-poison @selldemapplez @agentldiddy @fractalkitty @wizard-island-trading-co @asheslab @good-wizard2 @the-illegal-wizard-council @ash-the-tiefling @mysticminion @blobbiedaykeeppcaway @blaster-fagot @life-is-okay-rn2 @skyethebisexualwolfwizard @thequeerwizardcouncil @dread-the-eldritch-wizard @f4y3w00d5 @profeshinul-wizurd @a-squirrel-wizard @the-mighty-dalob @amateur-wizard @chaos-wizard-nyehehe @bertskullhaver @transgender-wizard @flowers-the-sun-witch @the-silliest-sorcerer @wizard-ghost @a-goose-in-a-trenchcoat @flirtyambiguouswizard @paltering-peculiarity @parkyrtheelvishbard

@jesterofthelibrary @be-gentle-with-littluns-2 @thebookshelflord @ceeceelemons

[crimsonstonetranslations]

Translation updates - Mar 2024

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since the last update, and I hope everyone is having a good year so far.

File 3 of Another Files - The Dead's Wish is now up. This is the last file in the volume and admittedly the one that left me the most emotional. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. The epilogue and afterword should be up in the near future as well.

Moving on, I've decided to self-edit my translation in hopes to pick up the pace a little bit as I foresee having to juggle even more real life commitments alongside the translation. I hope it's not going to sacrifice too much of the translation quality.

Next up, about the translation backlog. In case you missed it, Kaminaga-sensei and staff made a major announcement late last year that 1) a sequel to the Shinrei Tantei Yakumo series is in the works and 2) they are making a 'complete' version of the previous volumes. As the series was Kaminaga-sensei's debut work that started back in 2004, my understanding is that they're updating the setting to keep up with the times while keeping the outlines intact to make something that both old and new fans can enjoy. Both are scheduled to start publication this spring. Currently, like most materials that are only available in Japanese, I'm not certain if I'll ever be able to pick these up ever (or anytime soon), so I'll just keep an eye on the official updates for the time being.

Hence, as scheduled, I will be translating Shinrei Tantei Yakumo Another Files - Lamenting Doll next. Like The Dead's Wish, this volume also consisted of 3 files that are self contained cases and an epilogue. As a preview for now, here is the blurb:

Yakumo’s uncle, Isshin, brought him a case of a painting of a man with red eyes. Alongside Haruka and Gotou, they then travelled to a sake factory at Yamanashi, where the painting was located. However, after their arrival, terrifying incidents fell one by one upon Haruka! The case of the painting of a man with red eyes led them to another case with the ghost of a child and a talking doll. Yakumo had to deal with spiritual phenomena one after another amidst heavy downpour!

However! While you guys wait for the file 01 of Another Files - Lamenting Doll to be completed, I'm planning to release another short translation beforehand: if you've been looking at my schedule page, I have a separate backlog of shorter-length materials only available in Japanese that I wish to slowly commission a JP-EN translation out of.

I'm excited to announce that the first item on the list is currently being worked on: Shinrei Tantei Yakumo 6.5 - Unexpressed Feelings. It's a not for sale booklet from a limited-run campaign in 2011 containing 2 short stories with illustrations by Oda Suzuka (instead of Suzuki Yasushi that usually did the paperback illustrations). The first story took place after the end of file 3 in the manga/novel volume 3, in case you'd like to refresh your memory of that particular case before reading. I'm hoping to have it published sometime in April.

This post's getting long, that's everything I have for now. Thank you for reading and do look forward to the upcoming updates!

[mandokero-eboy]

Another Venezuela post? Yes

ok so this one i'm only posting cause it's interesting, involves MATH

but first, brief update. The Electoral Council has suspended plans scheduled for today for an address where, If I'm understanding correctly, they were planning to announce more detailed results.

It's also been pointed out that their excuse that they suffered from a cyber attack that is preventing them from accessing and publishing results digitally in a timely fashion makes no sense. If this was the case how exactly did they get the results they announced on Sunday? Also it contradicts government official's own assertion that a cyberattack of the kind they're alleging happened wasn't just unlikely but impossible. Honestly, they're doing such a hackjob with this it's actually baffling how unprepared they were to back their claims. Like, damn, praising the Carter Center repeatedly beforehand as a legit org that you trust to oversee the election seems like a bad plan. It's like how unprepared republicans were

Anyway so I just found this other evidence of the hack job

The vote totals announced for both of the candidates on Sunday (plus all the third parties) match exactly what you would get if you started with a percentage and worked backwards

For both candidates.

The probability of this happening for Maduro's numbers, instead of literally any of the other numbers that also yield a 51.2% rounded percentage, is 1 in 125,734.675

The probability of this happening for the opposition candidate specifically is 1 in 9,052.8966

The probability that it would happen for both at the same time is literally one in a million.

[livelaughlovesubs]

New announcement from pretty busy! I’ll post some of the pictures here and a quick summery, if you are too lazy to read

This is the link to their official website

The new contents:

- chapter 5 will come out, and they hope to release a new chapter once every three months (next update)

- a new mini game (catch minhyeok’s boxer’s) will be added, where you can earn greater and lesser keys, as well as other materials. If you are lucky, you can also earn Solomon seals (next update)

- new daily chats with the devils, they hope to release new ones every two months !(will be added in February)!

- a friend system will be added, you can earn some additional items, maybe action power and that pretzel? !(will be added in March)!

- the realms of the seraphim (yes, we will fight against the seraphims) ; it’s similar to the nightmare dungeon, but you get the rewards immediately !(will be added in March)!

- a birthday system, your birthday will finally be celebrated !(will be added in April)!

- ‘lobby icon’ you can decorate your lobby with stickers too !(will be added in May)!

- new stickers of ppyong, I think chat stickers, could be merch too (once the registration is complete)

- new pricing, now you can choose which character you want if you hit pity !(will be added in February)!

- you can earn up to 500 Solomon seals a month through achievements and attendance !(will be added in February)!

- the pancake shop will be changed, S and L characters tea leaves will now give you nightmare pancakes, which you can trade for monthly L characters and artefacts, stickers, icon designs etc, other characters’ tea leaves will give you gold and tomes !(will be added in March)!

- they will make the battle pass a little cheaper !(will be added in March)!

- adjust the staging time of ultimates !(will be added in February)!

- event illustrations will be added to the gallery !(will be added in March)!

- boss skill window; you can read the skills of the boss beforehand !(will be added in March)!

- they will try to make faster announcements, something they weren’t able to do before bc of the nsfw side. App Store or Google play can just reject the update, with the reasoning that it was too sexual. That’s why they couldn’t name a specific date, since they don’t know if they will pass or not.

[pokemonpo]

pmmm vtuber au ramble (apologising in advance if its really incoherent)

I got encouraged to brainrot jnfajkgnj (this is directly copied from my google doc so its really messy sorry ;;)

Mami, sayaka, kyouko and madoka all vaguely knew each other in their streamer past lives

(all youngish adults in college, Mami has graduated tho) 21-23

Sayaka and madoka are childhood friends

Madoka used to run a youtube channel called KNM Ch, where she would post vlogs and challenges (mild ones). She would also occasionally try to do advice videos. She got fairly popular (kind of), then started to do craft videos with Sayaka and Hitomi occasionally making guest appearances. She later sold these online for her 2k celebration. She starts streaming after entering highschool, but stops uploading and streaming entirely to take entrance exams, after which she announced that she would no longer be uploading. 

The vtuber agency KYUBEY inc. has had several waves before Magia Quartet, including an earlier food themed wave, with a few members, who unfortunately ended up graduating due to real life commitments. The only one left being Charlotte.

Magia Quartet debuted when Madoka entered college, with Candeloro, Ophelia, Oktavia von Seckendorff and Kriemhield Gretchen. The next wave, Homulily debuted alone, but had lore so tied to the Magia Quartet that most fans consider them the same wave. It reached the point where the company ended up officially combining both waves, renaming them to Holy Quintet. Homura is a long-time fan of KNM Ch, and started watching Madoka since she only had about 20 subscribers. She found Madoka at a low point in her life and this kept her keep going. To donate to Madoka, she used the online name devil_AKM, and this name became widely known as Kaname’s insane fan after Madoka started streaming for a week, and they kept donating max supas. Homura’s grades dropped drastically after Madoka announced her departure from the channel, but she somehow managed to bring them back up before it was too late.

While Madoka released several pieces of handmade merch for her 200k celebration, Homura ended up only getting like 2 pieces of jewellery. She wears one religiously, and the other is kept safely in a ziploc bag at home.

Homura still has poor health in this au. Alot of the wishes made in the original PMMM dont come true, except for Mami’s. So she’s still very much an orphan, but she isn’t as lonely due to the support of her online friends. 

Kyouko and Mami are longtime online friends due to being in the same content creator circle. They later broke away due to some disagreements, but did tell each other that they were probably going to stop creating content on their current accounts due to reasons.

They later met during a zoom call, and after a while they reconciled. 

Homura applied for the role of homulily after seeing Kriemhield Gretchen’s debut. Her own cute ditzy debut left a big impression.

After sayaka’s debut alot of people would frequently put ‘hazukashi.. Low hp’ in the chat whenever she dies in a game. She later made an emote with this. 

When they had their first off collab, they ended up showing each other’s faces beforehand so they would be able to recognise each other in public. Homura has an awful sleeping schedule, so she only ended up sending one in at around 12, but forgot to remove her KNM Ch earring. She quickly deleted it but Sayaka saw it and immediately cornered her. They got weirdly close after that.

Sayaka streams alot of rhythm games and occasionally plays music. She plays other games too, but once in a while she does mixing streams for fun. In the beginning, Madoka and her collab alot, occasionally doing handcam streams together, but after getting close to the rest, Kyouko and her end up streaming together alot more.

Mami does alot of handcam baking/cooking streams, as well as cake and tea reviews, to the point where alot of people are like you might as well be an irl streamer instead. Afterwards, she started playing games like cooking mama, and more mainstream family games like mario party, but alone. She streams at weird times due to her full time job, and it makes it difficult to coordinate with the rest of the girls. She ends up streaming alot with Homura after the official merge.

Homura and Madoka are both variety streamers, in that you can never predict what’s going to be on their schedules. Homura starts off tame at first, but alot of her streams end up being wild as time goes on. Once, she started giving such detailed information about bombs, her manager ended her stream immediately and took it down. Plays fps with Mami alot. Once, Sayaka and Homura had an off collab guerilla cooking stream together for cream stew. Madoka joined and said wow cream stew my favourite! The stream’s audio then immediately cut out for 10 full minutes, and then ended. It later came back on and neither Sayaka or Homura addressed it, and the vod was later heavily edited. Till today some people still bring it up, some people assuming they’re lying due to the low amount of concurrent viewers at the time.

Alot of the content of Madoka’s streams is very similar to what she did for KNM Ch, but now equipped with a bigger budget, she does even more stuff. Her main content is still craft streams though. 

Kyouko does alot of just chatting streams, and alot of food reviews. She gives alot of good advice, but most people don’t realise because when you open her channel all you see are fighting game streams and food reviews. Plays alot of two player games with sayaka like we were here, and river city girls. They bicker alot. 

Sayaka and Homura hang out alot offline secretly after the earring incident. They often go to arcades and do karaoke together. Once Sayaka uploaded a pic of their maimai scores accidentally onto her Oktavia von Seckendorff account instead of her sub account and the rest of the quartet replied with stuff like damn yall hanging out without us? + fans went wild Sayaka tried to play it off because too many people saw it and said she was hanging out with another friend, but opened her discord and got bombarded. Homura bought another aime card after that, but it didn't change much. 

Timeline of events is as follows 

Magia Quartet > Mami and Madoka both hit 100k subs > Magia Quartet off Collab > Domain of the Devil solo wave > Plans for a MQ + DD off Collab, along with Nagisa > Plans fall through, second MQ off Collab > Homura is free, they plan another meet up > Homura hits 100k > Homura second lore video drops > Company announces merge, Holy Quintet is formed > Homura sends the wrong photo > off Collab > Homura passes out at the end of the day after everything

In a wild turn of events, Kyouko ends up moving to the same city for uni. After the first year, Sayaka and Madoka end up rooming together. They realise they all live in the same city after planning the first HQ off Collab. 

Sayaka calls Homura transfer student after the merge.

Sayaka and Homura play project sekai and taiko tatsujin together at some point, and they start hanging out offline to go to the arcade. Homura starts to destroy sayaka's sleeping schedule. At some point, Madoka goes over to Mami's house for a tea time cake baking off Collab, and Sayaka mentions something along the lines of Yea Madoka loves cream stew, and Homura goes over to Sayaka and Madoka's house to learn it. Sayaka off-handedly mentions it would be good content and so they stream it.

It was both their first handcam stream, and it was extremely terrifying for everyone watching. There were multiple times where parts of Homura and Sayaka's hair and arms got into frame, but they got the hang of it by the middle of the stream. 

Some more intense fans caught a glimpse of Homura's earring, but most people didn't know where it was from due to Madoka not keeping up the 2k merch announcement after everything got sold, and the fact that Madoka used to be an irl cc.

Homura wears the earring accidentally to the first day of the offcollab, but her hair is so long Madoka doesn't realise. She takes it off after Sayaka teases her about it.

Homura appears in Madoka's chat all the time, but in reality they don't collab much or talk much. Once, Madoka invited Homura over for an off Collab zatsu. Homura was so nervous she came off as super stiff and awkward, to the point where alot of people stopped watching an hour in, and several fan theories came out that they hated each other. Most people missed the little chat they had after saying their goodbyes where they hadn't realised they were still live and had a heart to heart, and the vod was later taken down. Since then Homura has been genuinely in love with Madoka.

They start talking more after Sayaka posts the maimai photo on the wrong account.

There are multiple Oktavia bickering compilations on YouTube. Oktavia's top shipping tags are ChurchPiano/Oktphelia and Lilvia , especially after the wrong photo incident, and how much they collab. Alot of people theorise that Homura and Sayaka are together

This changed after Homura, Kyouko and Mami's drunk zatsudan though, where Homura got super hammered and started rambling about a super cool YouTuber she used to watch that changed her life and how much she loved her. Kyouko said something like lol parasocial and Homura said it's not if we are friends. This vod got taken down and edited shortly after, but it was clipped to hell.

They have an offline meetup to go to a dessert buffet together with Kyouko, and Kyouko has never felt more like a stranger than in that moment. 

Unnecessary detailing

KYUBEY Inc. calls their talents Puella Magi. Originally marketed similarly to hololive in that they’re supposed to be idol type characters. The theming started to change overtime as the company got bigger, so now the idol rules aren’t as enforced anymore. Magia Quartet was originally advertised as a 90s weaponry branch, but this was never fully confirmed. Magia Quartet is the second branch to no longer require the members to be able to dance and sing, though Connect was released a month after Holy Quintet was announced.

The company prioritises efficiency over effectiveness, and started releasing waves closer to one another after the initial success of the Kamihama branch. They later stopped this after the Holy Quintet merger.

Each branch is separated by city.

Following nijisanji type rules, on their anniversary the girls get second outfits, which are usually their witch forms. A few exlivers have come out to say that usually after receiving them, they don’t know when to use them due to them being so different compared to their first outfit. Due to this, competition for a third outfit is rough. Every graduation from this company has always come at least in pairs. A few exlivers have offhandedly mentioned working for a black company after leaving, but this has never been confirmed. There’s never been a termination. Once, they released a limited edition line of energy drinks themed after certain livers. The backlash was immense, but they went through with it anyway. These drinks are now heavily scalped online for thousands of dollars. The taste has been said to be indescribable.

Live interactions between full waves (with most members still active) are rare. However there’s an annual competition between all waves held at the end of the year. After the Holy Quintet merger, due to Nagisa’s wave only having her left, for the first Holy Quintet 3D live performance Nagisa was considered part of their wave. The reception was good, and collabs between the Holy Quintet members and Nagisa increased.

[nikethestatue]

I mean this in the most genuine and curious way possible. Why the unhappiness/dissatisfaction with SJM Bloomsbury on the announcement? Why the “here’s the book, now STFU” interpretation?” Why do people think SJM is in over her head with the crossover? I know it’s annoying that SJM doesn’t communicate with readers. But the long wait was just because she had a baby. It was the same thing in 2019 when she didn’t publish anything. Not anything malicious. In 2019 they also put out a bunch of random covers and games and things to sell. They’re just making the most of a no-release year, partly to make money and maintain interest but also to give readers something fun at least. Their hands are tied, they have to wait until the book is almost done to announce something. All week people have complained they haven’t seen any official news and putting it on the website is lazy, but now they finally post it on her Instagram and people are still unhappy. SJM is probably more focused on her family life to make an Instagram post about it sooner. not all authors use social media and putting the links up a few days beforehand is pretty normal. And SJM wrote amazing plots in TOG, I believe she’s very capable of doing a good crossover. She’s clearly thought about it for a long while and I don’t for a second believe she’s “backed into a corner” so to speak. For years people wanted a crossover but when they get it, they complain that it won’t be good or it’s beyond SJM’s capacity. It seems like nothing can please this fandom and it doesn’t make sense to me.

I mean, to me, it's fairly simple.

SJM is an author and this is her JOB. However you want to look at it, she has contracts, she has an audience, we pay her, she produces a product. It's not glamorous to think of it that way, but her books are the same as an IPhone. You expect an IPhone25 and you expect news about it, updates, previews, etc. I don't see how it's different from what she is doing. Yes, she had a baby, and for that, she went on maternity leave. But she had her baby a year ago. Just like all women who go on maternity leave come back and go back to working. No one was expecting her to be writing during her maternity leave.

We live in a new world. This is not the world of 10-15 years ago. People demand information, this is Insta, this is TikTok world. This is not the world where it's okay to sit in silence for a year. Sorry, it doesnt work that way anymore. That's why people are unahppy.

She wants to be out of social media--fine. But then she is expected to have social media presence via BB or her own people. That's just how it is. And if she chooses not to, then she should expect a backlash.

I also think it's in bad taste to put an unannounced book out there, price it, and then make an announcement a week later. Also, price it INCORRECTLY on top of everything else.

It looks unprofessional, sloppy and just kind of slapped together, to shut the fandom up. Normal authors/companies will have some kind of countdown, announcements, build up of excitement. Here, it's just so assumptive, like 'of course they'll buy it!' attitude, which no one wants to experience.

People want to be appreciated. Fandoms are volatile and lively places. Always have been, always will be. No one wants to have their loyalty and interest taken for granted.

I think that's why people are upset about how everything has been unveiled.

About the crossover-- i can't speak to that--i am fine with it. I am sure some people arent too keen on it, but I am curious about it.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I have been trying to hold back with the Edinburgh Fringe booking. I've of course been obsessively reading through all the programming and making my spreadsheet with a long list and a short(er) list and a wish list of people who haven't yet announced. The latter is why I haven't actually been booking yet. I will be disproportionately furious with myself if I cannot create my perfect schedule, in which all the shows I wish to see fit together like a jigsaw, because I just started booking whatever I wanted when I didn't even know what all the shows would be yet, and then someone else announces and I haven't left room for them, or I can fit them in but not perfectly because I didn't build the schedule with them in mind to begin with, and then everything gets messed up. I need to wait until it's all on the table, then make the jigsaw while taking everything into account. Because that is how you're supposed to do an arts festival. Book up every moment of your time months beforehand and leave absolutely no room for spontaneity.

Obviously the drawback to this is that some shows might sell out well I'm waiting. The other side of that is that I'm going during the first week of the festival, which I understand is the least busy time, nothing is going to sell out that week in April. It's fine. Patience is by far the best policy here.

I did book David O'Doherty the moment I saw it announced, because that was before it was even in the official Fringe programme, before most shows were in there, I just saw it, I knew DO'D was right near the top of my list of people I most want to see, I knew it wouldn't matter what else came up because nothing's going to push him off my short list, I wanted the excitement of booking a ticket for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that I am actually going to go to for real, so I did it. I got one on the books for the sake of it, but otherwise, I'm being patient. Fully patient. That's the plan.

However, I have now spent over seven days in a row checking just one of the pages to make sure none of its shows have sold out yet, because it's the one show, of the ones that have been announced so far but that I haven't booked, that I most want to see. And he's really famous, if anything were going to sell out, it would be this one. Even though of course it hasn't. I check every day just to make sure every date is still available, and of course it is, because it's the first half of April. But what if suddenly everyone buys tickets at once because he's a TV star? What if? How many hundreds of years would it take me to forgive myself if I'm in Edinburgh during this show and don't get to see it because I was waiting for a jigsaw?

So fuck it, I just booked it so I can stop checking every day.

I will be patient with all the rest of them, really. But I have Nish Kumar and DO'D booked now, because those are the two really big ones where I would not get over it for the rest of my life if I somehow missed the opportunity to see them. I was trying to think of where to find pictures of those two guys together, because I thought I'd put that at the end of this post and say "look it's the top of my Edinburgh must-see list", and while I'm sure there are lots of pictures with them both, two things immediately came to mind. One is this from Edinburgh a couple of years ago, in the saga of Nish knocking over Rosie Jones:

And the other is this picture from what I'm 98% sure, based on a number of context clues, is MCIF 2003:

The latter comes to mind because of Nish's Twitter comment on it:

That's what I've prioritized. Let all the other chips fall where they may in terms of my trip to Edinburgh this year, but I will make damn sure well in advance that I'm going to see the eighth wonder of the world and one of his dads. And then, when Nish's other dad gets his shit together and announces his run five minutes before the festival opens, I'll end up picking my least favourite of the shows I have booked in his timeslot and skipping that show to see Daniel Kitson.

[ben-talks-art]

Why I love Kumoko!

"My aim was to bust right through the wall and escape outside!

I call this strategy Operation: Get Out of the Barrier’s Evil Range (Operation: GOOBER for short)!"

There was a period of time a few years ago where I was just obsessed with "I'm a Spider, so what?"

Back then the only thing I was familiar with was the manga, which I already liked a lot, but when the anime got announced it sparked a desire to look up the rest of the media associated with the series.

I just adored the manga, the anime, the webnovel, and the official novel. I would make posts on reddit analyzing the main character, analyzing her rival, analyzing my top 10 favorite episodes of the show, I tried making my own novel inspired by some of the themes and ideas of the story, made a small pixel art 2D fangame, and of course, drew tons of FanArt.

Something about this silly schizophrenic spider girl just really brought me a lot of joy and really inspired me to get very productive.

I don't think Kumoko is the deepest or most complex of characters, but she is one of those that just carry a lot of different elements that really appeal to me.

For starters, I actually really liked the idea of a spider protagonist. I didn't think I would but they get really creative with giving her interesting powers related to her appearance like homing web attacks, bombs of poison, scythe hands, the ability to create surfaces to stick to anywhere, and many more.

Not only that, I love that she actually fights like a spider, constantly laying down traps before her fights and doing preparations to make sure she has all the advantages against her opponents. Her victories never feel like Deus Ex Machinas, you see how she plans things beforehand and teaches the value of strategy and observation.

Then, there is also the fact that her situation is very interesting. Most Isekai stories have the main lead be reborn as some invincible god that never faces any struggle throughout the entire story. But Kumoko? She starts off as the weakest monster at the deepest level of a labyrinth and spends months alone in there just trying to get out alive.

She's another character who has a great relationship with misery and tragedy because no matter how strong she gets, her challenges never get any easier. Even in later parts of the novel she still has situations where she just barely gets out alive of a fight because she just keeps attracting stronger and stronger enemies. Every time she wins a battle it always feels earned due to her wits.

And while on the topic of tragedy, the way she handles her struggles is very reminiscent of Spider-Man and Percy Jackson, always trying to crack jokes and breaking the fourth wall despite being constantly on the verge of dying or getting mutilated.

And some of her jokes are so freaking funny. They play around with the idea that the longer she stays in the labyrinth, the crazier she gets. After all, she has access to basically no form of light, no contact with other intelligent beings, and is constantly getting nearly killed or injured. To top it all off, she gets a power that allows her to make copies of her mind, so she's constantly talking to herself, and driving herself even crazier, causing her to stop caring about consequences and just doing anything that feels convenient to her situation, like say, blowing up a gate that was keeping all the monsters locked just so she could pass and calling it an "Oopsie!"

I think Kumoko might actually be one of the funniest insane characters I've seen. She reminds me a lot of Deadpool. Constantly mixing humor, tragedy, and coolness.

She has great designs, very unique powers, very interesting strategies, and overall, she is just incredibly charming. I love seeing her talking, cracking jokes, interacting with other characters, and sometimes just ignoring them because she is an antisocial mess.

There isn't really much about her that I don't like. To me she's just one of those perfect characters. Tons of things to like, very little to hate.

Love Kumoko!

Favorite character list>>

[over-the-time-flow]

So when i play through the stages in SRW R, i record the whole go with OBS and then go over it later, getting caps from certain moments and getting video clips when those are needed. It might seem counter-intuitive to record a screenshot let’s play, but SRW has a lot of stuff that can trigger outside of your control, so to make sure i can get those sorts of moments without having to suddenly attempt to screencap at rapid speeds, it’s either this or savestate/quicksave abuse, and i’d rather not open that pandora’s box, for i fear i couldn’t close it.

Anyway, i’m sharing all this because i have officially finished recording all the way up to the end of chapter 2! I’ll try to get the next chapter out by monday again, so maybe i’ll make monday the official update day? Regardless, if i manage to finish it early or some sort of setback forces me to post it later than expected, you can be sure i’ll have an announcement on here beforehand.

[akwardlyuncool]

Wild Rivers Sidelines Tour 2022

Ft: Violet Skies

Venue:

The Summit Music Hall (Officially called “The Summit.”

(09.16.2022)

Stats:

1st time seeing Wild Rivers

1st time seeing Violet Skies

Friend Stats:

2nd show with the lovely Emma. (Technically the first full show we’ve been to together cause the first was a Warped Tour (date I can’t remember) that we met up with each other, but I stayed the whole day and she did not. 

Photo Notes:

All photos taken by me!

It starts with Violet Skies’ set and then goes into Wild Rivers. Also I’m not drinking, drinking in that bathroom picture, I’m just finishing off my Liquid Death (expensive can water) while I have a post concert outfit photo shoot.

PS: I had an abundance of photos once again, so check out the Akward Side Blog for more photos from the show and just that day.

Hey Why Not:

I’d heard about this show and was excited, but wasn’t going to go or rather I wasn’t sure about going. It was like “you like 3 songs, is that enough?” Later on when planning for shows that I was sure about I asked my friend Emma if she wanted to go with me and she was down. Tentative plans were made, but I  ended up buying tickets the day the venue announced a low ticket warning and she was luckily able to do the same. I dragged my feet on this one, but it all worked out in the end. The deciding factor was me walking around the world singing “Thinking ‘Bout Love” for the last 2 years and figured it deserved a live listen.

The Early Bird Gets “2nd” In Line:

After getting my friend out of bed and out of the house earlier than she would have chosen for herself, we went downtown for a decent lunch from the place that I always says disappoints me. This time it was alright but the firecracker fries or whatever they’re called, did truly have a kick and now I understand why I never got them before, they never come with your meal already. It should be a crime to have burgers or chicken tenders or whatever on a bar menu and it not automatically come with a fries or onion rings.

Anyway what I thought was late (like always) but was actually fairly early. We ended up being “second” in line, as there was a whole group ahead of us that had been following the tour for a couple dates already. I thanked my friend for braving the heat and the sidewalk multiple times, to which the reward ended up being meeting Khalid and Andrew (2 members of the band) outside of the venue beforehand, getting barricade standing spots and those chef’s kiss (in my opinion) photos I was able to take by just being up there.

Violet Skies Featuring Kyndyl On The Keys and Background Vocals:

In preparing for this show I found out that I actually knew who Violet Skies was based off of one song that Spotify recommended to me several years ago, which meant I didn’t feel too out of the loop on her, like some opening acts I’ve seen on other tours. I kinda learned “I’ll Buy A House” as well, but we all know the songs you prepare yourself with rarely make it to the setlist. That being said it didn’t matter that I only really knew “Is She Gonna Be There” cause the whole set was fantastic. Any line or chorus that I could hold onto I did and she just looked so cool up there, like do you see that outfit?! “The Internet” and “Never Be Cool” were standouts in the set list though for sure. AND THE LIGHTING COLORS?!  Emma said it was her favorite performance of the night.

WILD RIVERS:

I did some runs of the Sidelines album and just Wild Rivers in general leading up to the show, but still thought I was gonna be hella rusty, when in fact I knew more than I thought I did. Again the stage lighting really set the vibe and the mood for the entire show and it just helped with the overall flow of their set perfectly. Some of the best lighting as an accessory at a show I’ve ever been to. Beyond lighting though, everything else was just great and I had so much fun being in that crowd. When you’re just vibing, feeling good and the crowd is good company, the show is so much better. This wasn’t a show with a bunch of distractions or extra noise. It truly felt like the people who were there, actually wanted to be there. (Still heard a little bit of noise from the way back at the beginning of the night, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the Joy Oladokun show. At this point I think there’s something wrong with this particular venue’s sound, especially during the openers.)

They played “Amsterdam” early on which set things up for me to not struggle through the set. “Safe Flight” and “Long Time” were top notch live. I love those songs on the album, but live you get all the extra feels and story that come with them too. There were a couple covers thrown in there as well, something I never typically mind at a show. Dropping a non-Complicated Avril Lavigne track with “I’m With You” was much liked by the crowd, however if you ask the crowd for a song to cover and you go with The Backstreet Boys, which they did, you’re going with the safest choice and I wish we as fans/audience members would use our powers better going forward. PS: That’s not a dig on The Backstreet Boys or Wild Rivers, that’s just me saying can we find a new safe option.

The encore of course was “Thinking Bout’ Love” and my heart was just so happy. I took a video clip and I was just as loud as the band, so much so that it’s mainly just a video with me and the crowd as the main audio, with Wild Rivers as background vocals. This is what makes an encore for me and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The End Of The Night:

I should have gotten a picture with Khalid and Andrew (of Wild Rivers) before the show cause they didn’t come out afterwards, but it’s a lot more common during these particular times to not always come out at the end. Plus the show was sold out, so that is a real factor as well. That being said we did however get to meet Violet and Kyndyl at the merch table. They were both wonderful and very sweet. I’m already ready for them to come back.

I highly recommend y’all check out “If I Saw You Again” Violet’s latest album. It’s so good. If you need more cool, British, pop in your life, this is my nod!

[nothums-from-tj]

Finished 6/25/24

Hi hi hi OC time while prepping for Art Fight <3 I don’t actually remember if I posted him here or not so ! Here he be here he be, my own persona :] he’s a werewolf too which I’m hoping to upload his feral ref when I can

I gave him my queer identities, mental illnesses, kind of my body shape, and my piercings—he’s just like me fr (in a lot of ways <3)

That said I did use my own body as some reference hence why it might not look as nice as I’d want it to oops

Please follow me on Art Fight btw I’ll make an official announcement once I have my little team card ready <3

Some sappy bs abt my attachment to him and some of the hardships I went through while making him below the cut:

I’ve always had pretty deep self esteem issues and at the time I made Marlow I was like neck deep in an eating disorder and I kept drawing him as a skinny little white boy and I’m trying to give myself some more drawing range anyhow, so anyone who’s seen Marlow beforehand is probably very shocked at how much rounder he is considerably lol, especially in contrast to a previously pretty angled drawing style. Lately I’ve been trying to use this time to feel neutral as my body is now and I think I’m on the way there. Even as I used myself for some parts of this pose it was hard looking in the mirror and really paying attention so I’ve still got a long way to go, though I do like how the drawing came out otherwise :]

[dojae-huh]

so excited for jaehyun’s drama. So far i’ve seen two popular senior actors revealed to star in the show. It’s definitely a bigger scale than dear m. Plot wise is heavier as well. Though the rich and poor dynamic is often represented in kdrama, i’m waiting for the way they tell the story and the acting as well.

i have a question tho. Do korean agencies usually announce if an actor is confirmed to be on a drama? As far as i know, no agency will announce officially on their platform during the filming stage. We’d usually know from articles that says “This actor is reportedly/ rumored to play in …”. After filming and promotion starts, only then the agency would announce right? I see the same pattern with other acting agency as well. Just saw some people make it a mistreatment issue when sm doesn’t announce that jae accepts to be in the drama.

Sorry, I don't have an answer to your question. I don't think there is a point for the agency to announce anything before the official release date. So many things can go wrong (cancellation of the project, postponement of the release, the idol getting sick and declining the role in the end). For example, Jaehyun was supposed to play in a musical. Fans were so excited, watched the original to get to know the material beforehand, discussed if the role suited Jaehyun. Where is the result? It simply didn't happen.

Fans complain because without such posts on the group's socmed stans of other members stay unaware of the achievements of their bias. It's popularity Olympics. For the member in question it changes nothing otherwise. I mean, announcements of upcoming projects won't hurt, it would be nice to have a well kept official news-account for the whole group, but it's not a big deal either.

I hope the new tv-series is good. Jaehyun is not a person who would be interested in acting for popularity or the lable (actors are higher on the totem pole in SK). With his looks and inexperience there was a danger he would be put into a box, type casted. Which would be against his interest.

After Dear.M Jae wanted to play a gay character (a soul of a female reincarnated in a male body, who found the lover from the previous life, and despite being same-sex they fell in love again) in a remake of an old movie (Bungy jumping with you). It was a serious story about homophobia, star-crossed lovers, society acceptance, self-acceptance, etc.

This choice made it clear Jaehyun didn't want to take on another stupid role.

[lgcmanager]

TYPE ZERO MISSION 011

SCHEDULE TYPE: TRIMESTER ( PART 1 OUT OF 1 ) SCHEDULE RESTRICTIONS: cannot be paired with another trimester schedule, unless stated otherwise. for reference as to whether your muse is eligible for this event, please click over HERE.

on JULY 10, all of the TYPE ZERO members are gathered together in the living room of their dorm. while BOMIN is present, the members may have noticed that NATHAN’s manager, HWANG SEUNGJO, was missing during the past few days. but rather than bringing that topic up, BOMIN begins his first set of announcements.

TYPE ZERO’S LEADER ( AND A PROJECT IN THE WORKS? )

“as we’ve observed from the recent happenings, the higher-ups decided to make this official and permanently give the leader title to YOO DAEHO. so congratulations to DAEHO and consider this as a belated birthday gift from legacy.” BOMIN discloses the information as succinctly as possible, knowing that there are other important matters to talk about. “and DAEHO, after this meeting i’ll need to talk to you about a very important project. i’ve told KYUWON and KYUHWAN to discuss about it to JAESUN and JIHO, but the three of you will be part of a something related to this year’s lgc family concert.” the older man leaves his statement with some ambiguity, knowing that when the time comes, everyone will know about the project.

PARKER AND EUNHO’S BIRTHDAYS

with EUNHO and PARKER’s birthdays happening around the same time ( AUGUST 7 & 8 ), the two of them will be doing a joint birthday livestream where they will be spending some time taking polaroid photos of each other and decorating the polaroid photos using art supplies and stickers. during this time, they’ll answer any questions that fans may have about them and share any memorable stories since joining type zero. the decorated polaroid photos will then be given to 10 random fans who watched the livestream. near the end of the livestream, BOMIN will appear to give them their birthday cakes along with gifts.

FUTURE DREAMS SEASON 7

“PARKER and DAEHO, you have been informed beforehand about your participation in the seventh season of FUTURE DREAMS. while i cannot bring you to certain places due to my schedules, SEUNGJO has been assigned to take care of you two along with JIHO, YUSHIN, and YEONWOO for all of the FUTURE DREAMS activities. if you happen to see him, say hi for me. i know it was short-lived that he was part of our team since NATHAN left recently and soon after DOWOON, but i’m glad some of us will still see SEUNGJO.” BOMIN dislikes pondering on his past thoughts and feelings for too long, so he had to remain professional and think about the present moment.

TRAINING TIME

“with everyone busy, it leaves one other person who has the lightest schedule…” BOMIN eyes at EUNHO, knowing that he was the only one left. while he was aware of a brand event that he would be partaking in the future, there were still some things that needed to be taken care of. “EUNHO, remember how before you were confirmed to join type zero, you and DAEHO were part of an evaluation group?” BOMIN hopes that his words would serve as a hint for EUNHO as to what he’s about to disclose.

“well, it’s happening again. except this time around, you’re not on the verge of being removed from an experimental group. now you will be helping one of the coaches over there prepare the trainees for something important.” BOMIN pauses as he hears a knock from the door. opening it, he spotted SEO YOUNGJAE. after a few minutes of talking, BOMIN returned back with the type zero members and signaled EUNHO to follow YOUNGJAE while BOMIN finished up the rest of the meeting for the remaining members.

the continuation of this can be found over at TRAINEE EVALUATIONS 007.

WRITING REQUIREMENTS

just like some of the groups’ missions that have been posted today, TYPE ZERO will be participating in WRITING CHALLENGE 002. everyone will be expected to participate in that to help determine the music chart rankings for TYPE ZERO’s upcoming comeback, which is slated for Q4 2023.