#id say its a required taste like

[kcrossvine-art]

hi friends! This recipe/review was delayed at first from- well it was a different recipe originally, technically bat tempura should be the next item but id like my first tasting experience of bat to be made by someone else who knows what bat should taste like. The recipe after bat tempura is living armor and id intended to use geoduck to mimic the scale. Living armor is interesting with dunmeshi as they used the suit of armor in 3 different ways; grilling, steaming, and souping.

Affording geoduck, a PNW delicacy, is a stretch for one dish, let alone 3. With my write-ups id like to offer a chance that readers will actually be able to make what we talk about. So I opted to use regular clams instead. I feel myself above the fire so we're still sticking with one dish, the dish that doesnt require a grill or a helmet-esque plating arrangement.

Today in our delicious dungeon, we're going to be making Living Armor Soup!

(As always you can find the cooking instructions and full ingredient list under the break-)

MY NAMES CROSS NOW LETS COOK LIKE ANIMALS

SO, “what goes into Living Armor Soup?” YOU MIGHT ASKThe ingredients used in the show didnt give much to work on, quoting "medicinal herb" and "special sauce".

1 lbs Mussels

Shallots

Garlic

Bay leaf

Curry powder

Chicken stock

Cream

Eggs

Its important to use cream as your dairy, the higher fat content gives you leeway with boiling and acidity to avoid curdling. Any cream should do. Still bring it to temp gently but rest assured in the moo moos protection. 

AND, “what does Living Armor Soup taste like?” YOU MIGHT ASK

A smoother, buttery-er cream of chicken soup

The mussel meat itself feels like a simplified version of chicken hearts- structurally and in taste

Its not bad. You could hard sell it to a picky eater 

Green onions would bring crispier top-notes much needed

And maybe building a roux base for the soup would fill out the low end?

I dont know what drinks would pair well with this. My heart wants to say red wine but im not a grape fan and cant get more specific than that

I think the hassle of procuring seafood is why when i ask my friends their opinions, the responses are middling to negative. You cant build a palate for it if you dont eat it enough. If i'd had fish stock i wouldve used that rather than chicken, while it doesnt turn the soup disgusting or make itself known much at all, awareness of its presence draws unfavorable comparisons to food I'd rather be eating. And eating for cheaper too (...besides the chicken hearts).

. Some mussels out of a bunch will inevitably be DOA, you wont be eating exactly a pound of them. This and waterweight are the nature of seafood. . Lay easy on the salt until the end before serving . If you have enough mussel stock left after straining, you might not need additional stock

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From deciding to cook to sitting and eating, the process took about an hour and a half. Not bad but not great, considering this dinner left me feeling full for all of about an hour after.

And the mussels were mostly usable/alive too! I discarded maybe 3 of the whole pound! Sure seafood can be light eating- youd think the dairy and vegetables would hulk it up more. The science of what makes food filling isnt entirely understood, as is most nutrition and gastro science, so i dont know what to blame. Stunning that 1lbs of mussels was not enough to keep a 110lbs person full for an hour.

If i were to make this again, i would serve it with fresh dinner rolls (or another carb). Breads and seafood are joined at the hip in my mind. You want more delicate tastes from your fish? I got just the thing. An entire family of food with varying flavors and textures that just so happen to all work pretty well with the third thing people eat often with seafood; butter.

I give this recipe a solid 4/10 (with 1 being food that makes one physically sick and 10 being food that gives one a lust for life again.) It needs workshopping beyond being recognizable to the show.

🐁 ORIGINAL RESIPPY TEXT BELOW 🐁

Ingredients:

1 lbs mussels, cleaned and de-bearded

Butter

3 shallots, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

2 bay leaf

Curry powder to taste

120g chicken stock

100g heavy cream

2 eggs

Method:

Wash your mussels. Remove any beards and barnacles. Discard any mussels with open shells.

Finely dice your shallots and garlic.

In a saucepan, brown your shallots and garlic in some butter over medium-low heat. Once softened add your stock, bay leaves, and curry powder to the saucepan. Increase the heat to medium.

Add your cleaned mussles to the saucepan, the liquid should cover them but if not add more stock. Bring to a boil, and then cover and reduce to a simmer.

Keep simmering until most/all of the mussel shells open. Discard any that still havent after about 6 minutes of simmering. Set aside the remaining mussels.

Pass the liquid in your saucepan through a strainer and return the liquid into the saucepan.

In a seperate bowl, combine the eggs and cream together. Carefully stir the egg/cream mixture into the saucepan until incorporated.

Remove the meat from the mussels, either discard or save some shells for garnishing.

Place the mussel meat on the bottom of serving bowls and pour the hot broth overtop, add your garnish (if any) and enjoy!

[mournings-stars]

i loved the adam with a fat!reader 🥹 so cute, id love to see lucifer with a reader similar? like maybe shorter like him and a bit on the chubby side 🙏

AHHH THATS SO CUTE

imagine you’re like a chef or baker or something, maybe hellborn, maybe a sinner, and you meet him at an event that he’s just required to go to, so he’s staying by the catering tables and just busying himself with food so he doesn’t have to talk to anyone

“i know it’s a buffet, darlin’, but you’re milking my lil’ supply dry.” and imagine you have the cutest lil accent like maybe it’s southern if you’re hellborn or soft, 50’s movie-type transatlantic if you’re a sinner (i kinda wanna write this now actually so tell me what u prefer…)

first he’d look up, just expecting you to be taller than him, but then he’d look down and see you and immediately try to hand his plate back because how could he take your business for granted when you’re standing right in front of his and so sweet… and beautiful — like he’s not blind, he can see that you’re gorgeous. and if he’s honest the food isn’t good enough to get so many plates, but your restaurant would certainly be popular when you’re the precious little face of it

but he has to stop himself because his thoughts are certainly bordering on rude now, so he’s scrambling to apologize like, “i’m sorry — i see why your food’s so popular now, HAHA, you’re gorgeous — i mean, your food is amazing, but—“

“but?” and then he just shuts up. “no keep going, but what, your majesty?” and he is fumbling, because he can’t tell you he thinks the food is mediocre when he’s been shoving it down his throat all night, but then you say, “i know it’s not my best; they had me here last minute, frettin’ over twenty trays each of my best dishes, which can’t be the best if they’re repeated twenty times,” and even though you’re talking on and on, he’s listening and nodding on and on because because you’re just speaking to him so naturally

“am i talking to much?” “yes — i mean, no! i could listen to you talk all night!”

the rest is literally history, like you tell him to come to your restaurant to see what your cooking is really like, and when he finds out its just a small little restaurant with a couple tables and an old kitchen, he’s amazed because it tastes even better than it did at the event

once he decides to ask you out, and he decides quick, he knows he can’t ask you out to eat, or to an event, or to his house, or to the movies, or—

“you wanna get somethin’ to eat sometime?” and you’re literally asking him before he can even think to ask. “maybe you could cook for me?” you suggest slyly and he’s too flustered to say anything so he just nods. “i’ll make sure i dress fancy for you then, majesty.” and this man is MELTING

and if there’s one thing he learns about you that night its that you are not insecure about anything — your first conversation of you doubting your cooking skills might’ve made him think otherwise, but now he knows it’s just not the case

and you have no reason to be insecure; about your cooking, about anything — hell, you look amazing all dolled up just to come to his home for his 8-minute spaghetti… at least he made homemade meatballs. and those were pretty good! you even complimented them, which gave him a very much needed ego boost to get through the night confidently

and when his confidence finally shows, you’re sure he’s what you want, so you don’t bother taking your time with leading up to kisses or anything past that. you take what you want, with permission, and give him what he wants

and he loves it about you, like, you’re so sure of yourself, confident, and carry yourself with so much charm that people just step out of your way, even with your short stature, which he also loves about you — it’s nice having someone shorter around for once, but he’d definitely shape-shift and let himself be shorter than you for a day or so if you wanted

along those lines, he would give you any and everything you wanted. even if you didn’t ask, he’d give it to you — he’ll get you a new restaurant, new equipment, appliances… hell, he’ll even get you a new apartment… that is, if you don’t move in with him

and he would ask, a million times he’d ask because he just loves being with you that much. whenever you come over, or he goes to your place, he’s stuck to you. he watches you cook, helps if you let him — he bakes! he can bake, but of course he finds out you can too, and he insists you’re much better, but you insist that you do it together since this was much less dangerous than letting him rummage through your spice cabinet

if he’s not helping you, he’s hugging you from behind and watching what you do, hands running all over you, feeling the soft plush of your thighs and hips, your stomach, anything you’ll let him touch which he kisses your cheeks and neck and shoulders — literally anything you’ll let him do because he just loves listening to your precious laughter as he loves on you, or your sighs when he marks your neck or shoulder

this man LOVES lying with his head on your lap or in between your thighs. literally anything to do with your thighs or resting his head on your stomach, like, he’s fully back in heaven

he also loves you on top of him, straddling him while you comb your fingers through his hair, legs across his lap as you read, cuddled up to him as you watch a movie or sleep, he can’t get enough of you

and don’t get me started on the nsfw like… head between your legs all fucking day, squeeze his head with your thighs — like actually do it because he will come undone

[bonefall]

Warrior Bites: Dried Minnows

Requested by @troutfur!

A series for those who would like their Warriors to have some more advanced culinary abilities.

The art here was provided by my partner!! (thank you for engaging in my research journeys boo <;3)

Dried Minnows

Clan of Origin: RiverClan Occasion: Travel ration, food storage

"StarClan forbid a RiverClan cat go 2 hours without eating," says the other, very jealous Clans.

One of the most common meals prepared by RiverClan warriors, dried minnows are easy to prepare, can be stored for weeks, and are easily kept in bunches with a small string of peeled willowbark.

One minnow on its own won't feed more than a small kit; but they’re easily captured in whole schools and processed in bulk to make lots of food. Marinated in rosemary for taste and valerian for a boost of energy, these are usually carried around as travel rations.

[Image ID: Three common minnows strung together through the gills with willowbark twine. They are lightly dusted with spice.]

There's two ways RiverClan cats would dry fish; a Greenleaf method, and a Leafbare method.

In Greenleaf, when it's hot and humid, the fish will be sun-dried. Starting on a clear morning, the fish will be laid out on a rock and left sitting in direct sunlight. This method requires a watchcat, else foxes may steal the food.

[Image ID: Grasswhisker, a brown tabby RiverClan warrior cat, crouches in a ‘loaf’ position on a large rock. She is watching minnows dry.]

In Leafbare, the fish will be strung together and threaded through the gills with willowbark strips, the same as they were being carried. They’re brought to a high branch and left there, the wind drying them out naturally over a few hours.

[Image ID: Two batches of minnows are hanging up in a tree that has a single leaf in the middle of winter. The landscape is snowy and the lake in the distance appears frozen. The meeting island is visible in the corner.]

Because of the easy nature of dried minnows, they’re faaar from considered a delicacy. Apprentices going through their first leafbare are tempted to complain about eating these night after night, only for their elders to launch off into long-winded lectures about the nutritional value of minnows, appreciation of the food StarClan gives them, and how there’s starving kits in ShadowClan who would kill for a good meal right now.

Is there any truth to that last part? Well, the valerian spices ARE quite tempting, to be fair. It has a similar effect to dried catnip.

[dreamsy990]

so, re:chain of memories, huh?

warning! its been a little while since i played through recom, so the game isnt as fresh in my mind as some others. sorry for any innacuracies!

spoiler alert, this is my second favorite kingdom hearts game. at least of the ones i've played so far. i get that this isn't like. a POPULAR opinion but fuck you i have almost nothing but positives to say about it.

let's start with the easy stuff first. recom introduced a new card-based combat system. i cant compare it to the gba version, since i didn't play that, but i can say that for what its worth i DID enjoy the combat. recom is by far the hardest game so far (at least for me) and almost every boss took multiple days for me to beat, even with my hp maxed out. it took me a while to get the combat system, but id honestly love to replay the game now that i have a better understanding of how it works. the card system requires a lot of quick thinking and i get that it isnt everyones taste but its CERTAINLY mine. every fight is difficult and feels genuinely rewarding when you win. the movement, like kh1, can use a lot of work, but i wouldnt call it terrible. just kinda sluggish. i think my favorite boss fight was larxene. shes a pain in the ass but i love her.

i think riku's side dropping the deck building mechanic isnt terrible, but i wish i could reorder his deck at the very least. and the lack of healing cards is. not fun. basically any damage you take is permanent unless you HAPPEN to get mickey and its simply Not a fun time. im not very good at games okay.

i have a lot less to say about the worlds than the combat. they're definitely the worst aspect of the game, though. the idea of making worlds with cards is fine! it just leads to kind of repetitive world design. the stories are forgettable, so forgettable that i literally forgot them. and i could make a point about how thats the idea its a game all about forgetting things!! but honestly that just making excuses for it. the worlds couldve kept the idea of forgetting things without literally making them forgettable. i say this about every world, except for one. because DESTINY ISLANDS

destiny islands is just. so fucking good in recom. its the climax of both sora and rikus stories and i think theyre both amazing. id have to say i prefer rikus, soley because of the visual storytelling you get from his side of it, and thats not to say soras is bad at all. but something about zexion telling riku that its his fault his home was destroyed, as riku sees a version of himself turning into a literal monster? thats just good okay. its really good.

i ADORE the characters in this game too. everything we get from them is sooo good. it's the introduction to the organization and all of them (except lexaeus who did literally nothing) are a treat. axels my favorite ofc, but larxene is such a fun villain, you love to hate her. shes really the star of the org cast in this game. sure, axels may have said its his show now, but larxene stole the spotlight.

its namines introduction, too, and i love her. on one hand, shes just really kind. she wants a friend, she wants someone to talk to, she wants to meet sora. on the other, shes just a little bit fucked up actually. sure, shes honest with sora, but shes the tiniest little bit guilt trippy and i LOVE THAT. her response to sora saying he wants to get back his own memories and forget her is "oh okay. you want to remember your REAL friends, huh? theyre the ones who REALLY matter to you? yeah anyone would want that. no friends for namine i guess." like shes just a bit salty and we love that for her. i want slightly guilt tripping and salty namine back nomura.

but ofc one of my favorite new characters in this game HAS to be repliku. god i ADORE repliku. his hatred for riku is sooo fun and the way he fights with sora is great too. like in soras side i thought he was a neat villain but rikus side? hes amazing omfg. one of the only villains i liked in rikus story (sorry lexaeus, you werent good until days)

over all, this game certainly isnt everyones cup of tea, but its DEFINITELY mine. it's the game im most excited to replay at some point, mostly because of the amazing boss fights. 9/10. its got issues, but the story and characters are so good that i genuinely could not care less about like. most of them.

[mako-neexu]

ughhh sitting here thinking. that it took dantes, both his chaldea version and inside guda version (both different but they are essentially the same) to combine for him to be able to carry out the Avenger Ordeal Call. in which would make guda understand what Avengers are, as a whole and why they exist in the first place.

because all this time, its that they have constantly called them over, understood their feelings as their own person when its been reiterated time and time again that a lot of them are simply made up of rumors, made up of what-ifs, they are victims in which they carry flames that would demand of retribution even at the cost of pan human history. but guda didnt focus on things like that. their nature is that of someone who understands and empathizes. to them, they are people just like anyone else. they are not tools, they are much more than what fate and the world dictates them to be. they are more than flames that would just burn and simply be Servants who would follow what they're born for.

so in order for an understanding to be reached, (because Chaldean said that "that" point of view of guda's is a distortion and is not "correct" to the human order thus barring them from approaching phh) the meaning of "Avenger" - of why it exists in the first place as Extra Class - must be achieved by becoming an Avenger, or simply tasting the path towards one.

so dantes became one: Chaldea Count + Prison Tower Count and in the pseudo-tokyo, they "split" and gain new titles.

"Black Shadow" / Count of Regret [or of Worry/Lingering Affection]

"Count of Monte Cristo" / Count of Determination

side note too that Chaldea Dantes is not necessarily "Black Shadow" and same goes for the other. its more like... both the Pseudo-Tokyo Danteses are both Chaldea Count and Prison Tower Count but it doesn't matter really because they are "both and neither" at the same time.

this here is also used as discrepancy between them and pronouns are really helpful at that. (the way im realizing just now that this applies as far back as ogawa heim/knk event....and we see in nerofes event in 2017 since that was his first appearance post-prison tower the very apparent difference between them in the pronoun usage...)

in Id chapter, Count of Determination also used "watashi" (with sometimes a furigana of 'ore' if it was mostly him) when referring to "both" of them. but he still uses his regular オレ though depending on what he says. afaik Black Shadow didnt use his "own" pronoun which i admit was really thought of when they made Id chapter www

anyways im digressing... what i want to focus on is that they became one, and split again and became "Determination" and "Worry" for guda which just makes my heart ache...it took changing himself from the inside, cutting off pieces of himself just to create pseudo-tokyo, the ten million inhabitants, as well as summoning and empowering other Avengers to both help guda and challenge them as Trials...

because in hurting someone you care about, it has to have that steel of determination and resolve. you have to be strong in the face of hurting someone you love and care so deeply because this is for their sake. even if it should cause them so much pain in their heart--which would naturally affect your own-- you have to have that determination to make sure they go through all of these trials even if they break, have that determination to which they care about will be able to achieve the end of their journey.

and in worry, that worry remained from the beginning. the black shadow that resides under the Master's feet, watching with bated breath as "both" of them put guda through these trials in which they have faith that they would overcome. there definitely is faith... but still that shadow is the 'worry' that represents "both" of them. which is why 'Worry' summoned Salieri and Jalter as starting Servants without the requirement of a command spell. Said to be "sweeter" to guda because of the leniency.

still, they're the "same" in the end. and therefore they care about their star a lot.....

[julaibib]

Assalamualaikum brother. I would like so ask for advice.

I'm a Muslim sister, I've been on umrah two times Alhamdulillah. On both those journeys I've felt myself come closer to Allah (swt). Before them, I struggled to understand just how much Allah (swt) loves us, and how merciful he is. Now, Id like to believe that my tawakkul is much higher and my faith in Allah (swt) is much stronger. I can truly testify that he is my lord and there is no other, and Muhammad (saw) is his messenger.

And despite that, after committing a sin, I still feel incredible guilt and anxiety. My stomach churns and my head gets too loud. After fixing and working on my tawakkul, I want to better my perception of Allah (swt). Currently, I have trouble remembering that my lord sees everything, that he is always witnessing my actions. Is there any way to keep those thoughts in mind?

I want to keep myself away from sin as much as I can, yet its very difficult and even if I stay away, I relapse and go back. It hurts my heart and leaves me feeling hopeless, afraid that my lord will not forgive me. What should I do?

Thank you for your time and understanding brother. May Allah (swt) grant our entire ummah paradise, and may we all neighbor the beloved prophet (saw), peace be upon him.

These are beautiful feelings of faith that you felt, you taste the sweetness of faith, but one of the most important concepts that a Muslim must know is that he must fall into sin, he will never be an angel and he is not required to remain an angel, this does not mean that he should deliberately fall into sin, but he must try to stay away from sins as much as possible. But if he falls into sin, he must hasten to repent, because the accepted repentance is what will bring back to you all the beautiful feelings such as trust and faith and others. So it is beautiful to regret the sin because this is from repentance, but regret should not turn into a state of despair and severe distress.

Remember that the path to Paradise is difficult and requires effort and patience. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “As for those who strive hard in Us (Our Cause), We will surely guide them to Our paths (i.e. Allah’s religion — Islamic Monotheism). And verily, Allah is with the Muhsinoon (good-doers)” [al-‘Ankaboot 29:69].

You should quickly to perform righteous acts of worship because they erase sins. “Verily, the good deeds remove the evil deeds” [Hood 11:114]

[s00nyoungie]

SVT members and why i wouldnt date them:

seungcheol - looks wise hes my ideal type. everyone says "oh, hes so daddy, oh hed be so good at taking care of you". No. this is a babygirl. and theres not enough room for the both of us in babygirl town.

jeonghan - i'd get an inferiority complex from how he literally Woke Up Like This.

joshua - I'd get an inferiority complex from how NICE HE IS IRL and his looks are so ethereal I'd never act right

jun - we're foodies. we love spicy and sour flavors. we have the same taste in anime/webtoons. our natal charts are also v compatible. my rudimentary mandarin might just be enough to overcome the language barrier! He's just on his phone too much.

soonyoung - we all know he brings the horanghae to bed

wonwoo - im trying so hard to think of smth bc all i can think of is bc hes a gamer but its not like he'd ignore his partner while gaming?? his love lang is quality time. he ticks all my boxes [nerd, cat lover, handsom] i guess itd be that idk if he can cook or not. EDIT: WAIT I REMEMBER HE CANT EAT SEAFOOD. THAT SUCKS

jihoon ah - theres no way woozi would even consider me as a partner due to my weak ass music background, but id probably be too extroverted for him. i mean im introverted but i require leaving the house at least once a week and that might be too much for him

dk - im not good enough and i never will be

mingyu - we are literally the same person besides the height and nationality. but the biggest difference is that his mental health is so healthy and I'm jealous. man literally said "when i get stressed i just stop worrying about it 😌".

minghao - honestly its not why i wouldnt date him. its the other way around: my mandarin and korean are too pathetic for deep coversation and im bad at yoga.

seungkwan - he and his heavenly voice deserve to sing beautiful harmonies and duets with his beautiful soulmate for the rest of eternity and i cant provide that 😔 congrats to whoever's scoring that ass

vernon - had to think for so long and the only thing is that id probably be too neurotic for him. its me. im the red flag.

dino - now i WOULD babygirl this man so hard!! i could be that noona!!! but hes scared of cats so 😔

[xamaxenta]

Oops chagrined is not the word I meant to use for the maid. I guess the right term would be... exasperated? The clothing is among the prince’s laundry meaning he wants it to be treated as his own, but the quality of the fabric is noticeably lesser so really he’s just making more work for her by having her wash someone else’s clothing. It’s not until it happens several more times that she clocks in exactly the owner of said less expensive more hardy durable clothes and starts separating Ace’s clean laundry from the prince’s when she finally returns them. (Really it’s just practice for when they’re the king and crown prince and have one room and share everything between them. But it is annoying for now strictly because the disinfectant process differs for the attire of knights, strong enough to easily wash away blood and caked-on grime and would ruin Sabo’s delicate fashion tastes and strip the vivid dyes he so often adorns. Twice the load and twice the work unfortunately but that’s just another great example of Sabo’s selfishness winning out when he demands what can’t possibly be refuted by someone of lower status than he.)

You mentioned wedlock which is funny so now I’m curious if you had any other thoughts on marriage? I guess I’ve always associated marriage with religion and didn’t want to think about god/s for this AU so I disregarded it as something unimportant to the kingdom/culture. If two people are living together then they’re romantically involved and all that shiz yeah? No deep thoughts my head is a vacuum ready to be filled.

I was jesting about chagrined maids but you came back with such a thoughtful follow up about different fabrics and linens that it was such a delightful addition to the initial concept, i love how detailed you are, thinking about the soaps and difference jn treatment that both Ace and Sabos clothes would require, and having to sort those and the effort someone of the servitude status would have to undergo

And of course the fond/exasperated (yessss beautiful word) resignation of this maid to have to do both sets of laundry because Sabo IS so selfish, he is the prince after all and this is his lover’s, his personal guards garments too, they should be treated with just as much care

About marriage: GOOD QUESTION!!! i dont personally tie marriage with religion i see it as a title that officiates two or more persons love for one another?? Really basic view tbh , when logically now that youve brought it to my attention it really is a religious based ceremony huh

I get you, i didnt really think much about god/s for this au either, when people can cast world shattering magic n all theyre basically “divine” in that aspect already haha

But for funnnn… what if there is theology or whatever, old old gods, and perhaps… this is an old maid (i am losing my shit over this lady being Dadan or something CAN YOU IMAGINE LMAO 😭😭😭) and she was raised religious so shes there thinking these brats r being real scandalous about their relationship when i really do like the whole when people are living together like Ace and Sabo, its so plainly obvious theyre involved romantically, id say the kingdom roger and soon sabo will rule is not a holy kingdom or anything but people believe what they choose

[modpoppy]

favs from all my fandoms (new and old)

some of my favs from each fandom ive been in like ever

genshin impact: my fav of all time kaeya alberich i love him Very Much So, hes just one of those characters who its like. UGH. where he just wants to be sweet but cant let himself get too comfortable where he is (literally in his case). i also relate to him irt my relationship with my family/sibling. hes just constantly aware of other people both to be cautious and to know the people he cares about more, hes been shown canonically to pay close attention and provide gifts that he knew people wanted

runner up is ZHONGLI i related to him very much but i fogrgt why rn lol

kingdom hearts: xion, not for very long but right around when i was finally actualizing my gender identity (id previously been very agender/masc) i rlly took to xion for like. Gender Inspo. i felt like even tho she got the short end of the stick she did her damndest to forge her own identity (roxas got his whole game and arc about it while xion bascially got fridged but its fine). when i finally let myself consider who i would be as a fem person, i pictured her :D

one piece: sanji!! i already sorta liked him (okay maybe not in fishman island or thriller bark. that was. shit.) before heading into whole cake but. lord almighty. lemme tell ya i dont cry very easily over anime but whole cake took me OUT. sanji just tries so hard to be someone who doesnt cause the problems, hes cringe fail but he tries so hard to just be ALLOWED to exist bc hes fought so hard to believe he SHOULD uugggghhhhhhhhhhh. irt the straw hats i think he has some of the most unique and fleshed out philosophies (not wasting food) that his backstory perfectly contextualizes. also im on board with trans fem sanji

runner up is YAMATO he is so beautiful AND hes a kinnie whats not to love im just mad hes not in the straw hats (yet)

total drama: svetlana this was legit the only gif i could find of her on here. i dont need to explain myself svetlana sweep 🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️

jjba: doppio/diavolo its FINE it COUNTS but technically 90% just doppio..... back in 2021(?) i dyed my hair like diavolo (pink with green spots) i feel like thats. all i need to say

ace attorney: to the surprise of absolutely no one THE PHANTOM ive just always attached to the whole. Not Being thing. in the past i struggled rlly hard with depersonalization/derealization/dissociation/basically every manifestation of the phantom, so id connect to them (which i dont think helped lol). nowadays, i focus rlly hard on the idea of the phantoms semi-redemption bc its like... being a person not being a required prerequisite to existing/being in society if that makes sense???? its complicated and probably only makes sense to me :P

runner up is obviously UENDO+ i love them all tell no one but i think kisegawa is my fav i wish she got more lines i actually only watched soj for them bc at the time everyone said the game was literal ass

(dw athena is in close third place shes literally my daughter)

rvb: if you asked me while i was a fan id probably say agent maine but in retrospect grif was clearly my fav, especially later in the show when he was one of the few leads who had a genuine character arc. he feels the most like a real person idk man

silent hill: every fucking gif of henry is him busting his ass thats all that needs be said

danganronpa: i changed favs very often bc i had zero idea what constituted well written characters lmao i have ~eclectic tastes~ but the main character i rlly liked was touko/syo, her arc in despair sisters afairc was decently well done and her relationship with komaru was sweet, even if dr is kinda an inescapable grease fire. in hindsight, i think i also related more to her than i realized bc of her self esteem and the way her trauma/phobias seemingly blocked her from basic self care/socialization but it was really more about her never having the courage to push her own boundaries (idk how well thats shown in the game but that was my experience)

runner up: korekiyo bc i liked him a lot for longer than most othr characters but afairc my perception of him was VERY heavily based on headcanons/fanon so i doubt id like him at all on a replay. best guess is id only maybe like shuichi or something. pretty much everyone in dr is an asshole tbh i cannot emphasize enough how ass my taste used to be my ability to pick characters i like boiled down to someone telling me a character was cool and i immedaitely absorbed them

pjo: okay so this bitch is in a book so ofc theres no gif for him but jason grace is the funniest motherfucker on the earth. half the time id say something out loud while reading and hed immediately say that exact thing. absolutely exquisite. bro had no idea what the fuck anyone was saying half the time

twst: i started playing for ruggie but immediately deuce also proved to be the funniest motherfucker ever i dont think ive ever seen his gimmick in anything else its so fucking funny i live for characters who seem like the straight man but then turn out to be equally as batshit as their peers (i stopped playing bc i had been misinformed and thought this was a college but these are HIGH SCHOOLERS why am i being isekaid into HIGH SCHOOL WTF)

now for some misc favs bc theres not really a fandom for them per se

i love him and he is me

oh my god and i found a gif of my favorite scene i love steven i also want to . attack him sometimes

[punch-love]

conflict anon here again and im SO GLAD you agree man. i think what really gets me about it is that i was specifically searching for conflict-packed fic and that's why i was so let down. i also feel like authors are entitled to write whatever they want forever but it just FEELS to me when im reading their fics like they would be happier writing something more domestic, and i want to find something where they're more feral.

i want the ID reveal and the relationship-confirming to cause MORE problems, hell i want them to get together and blow out into a massive argument and breakup then have breakup sex and get back together and then realize the sex didn't actually fix anything and then break up again but they can't stop being obnoxiously in each others space either way

but it feels like fic im trying to find like this fights the very concept of conflict so hard and wants one singular plot point to fix everything as quickly as possible without even walking me through the characters' insight as to HOW that fixed anything other than "problem over, let's be together forever now!" let alone the level of conflict that'd be so engaging like that with a million curveballs

im so aware its a personal taste thing its just been frustrating reading fic after fic after fic and finding so little of it. its no ones fault i can't find fic perfectly tailored to my tastes specifically, i just tend to ramble about my frustration. you and oprime and sci and a couple other authors are my favorite for writing it the way you do, she's not gonna die today will always be one of my favorite fics of all time because it gave me that ever persisting conflict driven by their obsessive need to stick together even when they're fighting every step of the way. i just always get into a longwinded ramble when this comes up and i was hoping youd like to share your thoughts so thank you for answering 🙏

I think this pairing kind of presents a unique challenge to writers (at least it did for me) that action and conflict is such a huge, borderline essential part of their canonical dynamic. If you're not used to writing/utilizing both physical and emotional conflict, your stories can often fall so, so flat for these two, specifically because that's the fuel that makes the engine run. The first true action scene I ever wrote was chapter two of love-punch, and I like, now I'm an action writer for life now (editing an action sequence as we speak) but I had to get out of my comfort zone because I realized that type of stories I wanted to write about them required them to beat the shit out of each other to work.

These two are definitely not problem solvers so much as shit starters. I feel like for them, the problems they actually have to solve are the ways they perceive each other (because both of them heavily project onto the other) and what that means long-term for their relationship - every other form of conflict, to me, is up for grabs forever when it comes to their relationship. The shit talking, ass kicking, and fire starting is what makes them, them.

I've said this before, but a lot of people write fanfiction as an exploration of their own ideal relationships. (which is absolutely fine) I think spideypool is a difficult sell though, for that specific fantasy, because their relationship operates on instability and violence primarily. I think most people aren't looking for a relationship where your communication consists of name-calling, beat downs, and moral differences so severe it makes you almost kill each other a lot. That, does not make a good, a good or healthy real world relationship but SUCH a fun fictional one. People are going to write their fantasies out, though, and that fantasy is that one kiss/one fuck/one confession creates relationship fueled bliss forever because many people, hate conflict - both experiencing and reading it. It sucks, if you're a reader who likes problems. I also always say this, but I encourage you to channel that energy into writing your own work. It's what I did, and it paid off so great for me because now I have 12 works specifically catered to my own personal needs exclusively. Fandom is always going to suck, but you can be the change! (and if you don't want to write, that's cool too, sometimes it's good just to get your qualms out into the world and find people who agree)

tagging @primewritessmut again so she can read your praise straight from the source.

It's a tough fandom if you really like their canonical dynamic more than their fanon one, I feel you man. I am always holding a prayer circle that more writers who like problems more than they like easy resolutions joins in and starts writing some real fucked up shit.

[imustbenuts]

You were asked about Grima in FEmblem Meshi, now what about Naga?

bweeeeeEEEEEE--- NAGA! naga?! naga----!!!! delicious in fire emblem, naga time?! okay!

so. with naga id imagine her meat is gonna be much more in the vein of western style dragons, so much more firm and big yet meaty. its not gonna be as springy as eastern style dragons, so less lobster/snake firmness and leaning towards the side of... really tough hard to chew stuff...

and naga probly has the nuance of freshwater tasting stuff compared to saltwater types given the divine dragon's association with cleanliness and shinto.... so spices are needed but in this case theres no need to cover up the weird earthy tastes of fell dragons, so i probably wont eat naga chinese style. so id cut down on the herb stuff

given how the size of these dragons are and the power needed to achieve lift off id say... the flesh is probably firm as hell. which means... tenderizing! we gotta beat the meat! all the meat!

bapbapbapbapbap! but its still tough. doushio. cant eat this just as a steak or kebab.... so a few things id like to try with this

marinate the tenderized meat in some garlic overnight and then cook. marinated garlic steak! the garlic will cut through the cells and tenderize it even further and give it a garlicy kick, so cook that and WOOOO yummy yummmm, id eat it with some pepsi down the hatch!!

2. LASAGNA!! if im too lazy to beat the meat i guess id just mince it with some kind of tool or machine and just get the leftovers, then stack it with so much cheese and spice and everything. bc of how firm the meat might be i expect some resistance despite the thorough baking, and it'd be so good. cant go wrong with a proper lasagna. naga lasagna yummm... cheese is gonna be in plenty supply thanks to askr too!

3. other minced meat stuff i can do: okonomiyaki. the ultimate osaka street food. sometimes referred to as japanese pizza, these things are greasy as hell and requires the meat to take a backseat with all the other stuff that goes into one. i think it fits her considering 99.99% of the human population in FE do not get to see her elitist ass!! :3c

why okonomiyaki specifically? because theres not as many fun things as killing god and eating them like street food.

serve with some suntory premium Malt's (Marth) and i will be peachy! nothing like eating grandpa and his patron god in one go, wahey!!!

YUMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY!

[stackslip]

its actually good that the anime has been making me rethink himeno bc theres been more discourse around her (including some genuine poor taste ones about her and makima doing a "groom-off") and i genuinely didnt feel strogky enugh about her to really care. but with the recent ep + a quick reread of her chapters she reads as neither an angel nor as a toxic predator but rather as v similar to misato nge to me. as in like, shes someone who is very clearly deeply traumatized, who has a poor sense of boundaries in general in part bc of that trauma, and who was handed this teenage boy as a partner to eventually lose but instead he lived. it's very clear to me that while shes not what id call actively predatory, she does have some massive issuss in how she treats aki and then denji–i dont think shes been grooming aki, as grooming is a process and one that requires actual thought and planning, while himeno is like...... her romantic interest in aki is creepy but he is in his early ywenties by the time shes seriously considering courting him. and with denji its not a process either, rather a series of pisspoor decisions coupled with spcietal expectations that it isnt bad for an older woman to act inappropriately with a teenage boy.

tbc this isnt defending her or saying shes just a poor soul nlah blah quite the contrary, theres a reason i compare her to misato. your mileage can vary on what to call her or what words to use to describe her actions, but they are at the very very least deeply inappropriate and creepy. and like, its important to think of why shes like this and what her actions mean in the larger context of chainsaw man's exploration of abuse and power dynamics. she is, again, deeply traumatized and alone, and when aki shows all signs that hes going to live she puts a SHITTON on him and develops a really unhealthy relationship to him; even as a teen he seems more aware of appropriate boundaries than she is and has to learn to navigate their relationship in a far stricter manner than she does.

but its worth asking why they became partners in the first place–to question the environment of public safety. its not jsut that rookies die so easily, its that anybody can join as long as they have the will to 1) give up on their lives entirely to go adter the gun devil 2) make contracts that will cost them immensely. aki is a teen when he joins, hes lost his entire family and he's what public safety seeks–new blood, someone who'll disregard their safety for work, someone with no attachments. the buddy system is presented as being for safety reasons, but ngl i think its also to purposefully foster codependency and an active desire for vengeance when one buddy inevitably dies. public safety has tight regulations and a union and paid holidays and they are very okay with roping in vulnerable teenagers to their deaths or worse! how old was himeno when she joined? did she do it for the money for her fathers medicine? did anybody notice this backstory is revealed at the same time we learn kobeni was forced by her family to join public safety? at the same time its made clear that power and denji have absolutely no agency in this situation?

i think...... himeno is, at best, deeply irresponsible and lax on boundaries and has a real peoblem with using teenage boys as emotional crutches. at worse she assumes none of her behaviour could ever be genuinely bad because shes an older woman and theyre all colleagues, haha hoohoo, and yeah that makes her a predatory creep. shes also incredibly tragic, and its ok to admit both these things coexist in her. she's another pawn that works at public safety, a resource to be consumed, the deaths around her and her trauma the fuel to her workplace motivation. and like, it says a lot that everyone is perfectly ok with her behaviour towards denji–theres obviously the societal perceptiom of that kind of dynamic (even as himeno herself is like oh shit thats illegal aint it), but also like.... relationships there are deeply skewed on purpose because death and suffering and fucked up hookups and the exploitation of vulnerable people–including teenagers–is so normalized. like what, you gonna call your adult colleague *predatory* for flirting with the their own teenage colleague who'll probably die a gruesome death any day bc thats just part of the job? you gonna talk about how its weird for your workplace acquaintance to be so intimate with their underage buddy when you're currently working with a 15 year old who is consumed by vengeance for their family and will either die within the year or stay as a fucked up husk of a person selling their every body part to save your life?

[m0nst3rgunxz]

Hey can somebody define the self for me pls?/genq

because I'm thinking about it and there are a few approaches that ive thought up as well as disputed. First off he have the notion that comes from a more psychology type stand-point where the self/identity is divided into named categories. Such as the ego states(that typically bind down into one cohesive identity with age) and ID/ego/superego. Which would mean you are the pieces that make you up, hypothetically. This makes me wonder where you should draw those lines(is your self really cut and paste enough to fit into predisposed definitions anyway?), and more importantly when one piece of you faulters (I.e. change in morality [superego]) do you STOP being you? Are you now a new self? Or can the self change.

Well lets move on to my other possible ideas, how about your personality/opinions? Well that would making you your brain in some sense of the word given you form your subjective opinions, on objective reality, WHILEST the reality you personally experience is subjective in nature. Hope i havent lost you, let me explain. The reality you experience through your senses(taste, touch, scent, ect.) is filtered through your brains ability to comprehend it. The colors we have named can be seen differently by other people. Things can feel different and be filtered through the optic nerve or olfactory glands or nervous system differently for others. Now that makes your reality immediately different from objective reality. This makes your opinions/perspectives limited to your experience with reality and your minds ability to perceive reality. If the self is personality then the self is dictated by the limitation of man/personhood. That brings the question of what's the limitation of man(disorder, sickness, the primal urges that occasionally directly contradict the frontal cortex and whatnot) and whats personality?

Moving on once again, i dont see this take often but theres the idea that you are your body. Which I think is quite a funny thing because very often the self and the body directly conflict, and the subject with the body makes alterations to the body to match the self(from hair cuts to surgery). The very way we speak of our bodies contradicts this idea as well. We say "my body" or "my arm" and its worded like its something we own. Like our body is not us but the object we own. And the object we are forced to present in. Off topic slightly but this makes body horror extremely effective because in it you are forced into an object that is grotesque and vile and your body becomes your agonizing prison. (Also if you are your body you can introduce "all your cells are replaced by seven years" and "what if ur body parts are replaced with machinery/consciousness download into the digital" notions and suddenly this idea is crumbling apart in your hands)

My final idea on what the self could possibly be is that you are your memories. Look dont ask me, i dont really get it, but rolling with this idea that would make me(someone with amnesia) lack self almost entirely. And truth be told I do significantly lack many general traits that others have decided comprises identify. And truth be told i am A-OK with being a nonidentity. Perhaps if i really am my memories and I dont have memories and i dont have a self, that means im completely up to viewer interpretation. Quantum physics style if you catch my drift haha(just dont get too attached to your ideas of me tho i suppose, theres always more under the surface or less under the surface than people tent to anticipate and its like this world shattering thing to many when I dont aline with their general consensus of personhood on a fundamental level)

Anyways please get back to me on these ideas, i lack the understandings and experiences required to come to the conclusion on what "identity" is, so it would be a big help :D!!

[xtruss]

A.I. Pop Culture Is Already Here

We’re living in a world in which every style, every idea, and every possible remix can be generated as fast and frictionlessly as possible.

— By Kyle Chayka | April 7, 2023

Illustration by Nicholas Konrad/The New Yorker

Last month, a YouTube user named demonflyingfox uploaded a video titled “Harry Potter by Balenciaga.” It showed characters from the Harry Potter films—Hagrid, Ron, Hermione, Snape, McGonagall, Dobby—as gaunt models with aggressive cheekbones (slightly yassified), dressed in gothic capes and leather jackets. Set against a catwalk-worthy electronica beat, the actors blink, nod, and speak lines from the books which have been remixed with fashion references. “You are Balenciaga, Harry,” Hagrid says, instead of breaking the news that Harry is a wizard. The video is strange and hilariously sinister. In three weeks, it has received almost five million views; a sequel, released less than a week ago, has netted more than a million and a half. Pop-culture mashups of one famous thing with another are an archetype of Internet meme-making. What’s unusual about “Harry Potter by Balenciaga” is that it was generated with artificial-intelligence tools. As the video’s creator, the Berlin-based photographer Alexander Niklass, who made the demonflyingfox channel, told me, the video demonstrates a newfound ability of A.I. to “create filmlike moments.”

A.I. tools were involved in each step of Niklass’s process, and in each element of the video. He created the basic static images with Midjourney, evoking the Harry Potter actors and outfits through text prompts such as “male model, grotesque, balenciaga commercial.” Then he used ElevenLabs—a “voice-cloning” tool—to create models of the actors’ voices based on previously recorded audio. Finally, he fed the images into a service called D-ID, which is used to make “avatar videos”—subtly animated portraits, not so far off from those that appear in the newspapers of the Potter world. D-ID added the signature lip synchs and head nods, which Niklass explained were a reference to fashion models tilting their chins for the cameras. The combination of child-friendly film and adult luxury fashion held no particular symbolism nor expressed an artistic intent. It’s “entertainment,” Niklass said. Yet the video’s most compelling aspect might be its vacuity, a meaningless collision of cultural symbols. The nonsense is the point.

A.I. tools may have been able to replicate actors’ faces and generate fashionable outfits, but only Niklass could have come up with the concept, which required keen observation of both high fashion and the wizarding world—and also a very specific, extremely online sense of humor. With tools like Midjourney publicly available to anyone online, “everybody can create something visually appealing now,” he said. “But A.I. can’t generate taste yet,” he continued. By “taste,” he meant “a good aesthetic judgment”—background knowledge of what you’re generating and a sense for what looks good, without falling too far into the uncanny valley. To put it another way, execution may have been democratized by generative A.I., but ideas have not. The human is still the originator, editor, and curator of A.I.’s effects. Proof of Niklass’s taste can be found in the many copycats of his videos now on YouTube: Anyone can access the same technology and attempt a replica following the formula he set. (A video tutorial made by an A.I.-education channel called PromptJungle shows the exact process.) There are “Matrix by Gucci,” “Star Wars by Balenciaga,” and “The Office by Balenciaga” videos, but none of them are as appealingly odd as the original.

While no one would mistake “Harry Potter by Balenciaga” for real footage—except, perhaps, as a real fashion-advertising campaign—another A.I.-generated image recently made news headlines because so many thought it was real. It was, or appeared to be, a photo of Pope Francis walking on the street wearing a baroque version of a puffer jacket, silken white, with a high collar and a hood. A cross necklace swung from his neck and he carried a to-go coffee. “Swagged out” would be an appropriate description. The detail and texture of the image made it appear utterly realistic. When I first encountered it, while quickly scrolling by, I thought it was real and almost unremarkable—of course the Pope has fancy clothes. The model and actor Chrissy Teigen tweeted that she “didnt give it a second thought.” But it was created using Midjourney by a Chicago man who identified himself as Pablo Xavier when he was, as he told the Chicago Tribune, high on mushrooms. He used prompts with phrases such as “Catholic Pope Francis. Balenciaga puffy coat. Streets of Paris.” (Perhaps the fashion brand is primed for A.I., or it comes easily to mind as a signifier of avant-garde luxury.) “I just thought it was funny to see the Pope in a funny jacket,” Xavier told BuzzFeed News.

Created without much intention besides an imaginative whim, the images were so potent because they were made to look so photographic, a capability now in the hands of anyone online, not just highly skilled human photo retouchers. A.I. automates creative impulses, negating the labor involved in producing an image or a video. (A real version of the “Harry Potter by Balenciaga” videos would likely have cost millions of dollars in talent alone.) Mulling over this discrepancy between input and output, I had a dialogue with ChatGPT. It was more Socratic than an actual discussion, a bit like talking to the mirror. But it helped me elucidate my own reactions. I asked how A.I.-generated imagery was changing our perceptions. It responded that there has been a “blurring of the lines between real and artificial.” Then I asked, Isn’t it true that even an A.I.-generated, “artificial” image is also a “real” thing, because some human caused it to be made, as a kind of cultural wish fulfillment? The robot responded that the realism of A.I. images “is often designed to be illusory.” This idea of “illusory realism” struck me as apt. The A.I. content has the appearance of realism, without actual reality—reality solely as a style.

In a 2022 interview, David Holz, the founder of Midjourney, used the phrase “aesthetic accelerationism” to describe the profusion of generated imagery enabled by public A.I. tools. It evokes a world in which every style, every idea, and every possible remix is generated as fast and frictionlessly as possible, and the successful ones stick and get attention, like “Harry Potter by Balenciaga” and the swagged-out Pope. It may be less because they are artistically great than because they solved some formula of attention. Perhaps the successful creation is unimaginably bizarre, the seamless merging of two unrelated things. Or it’s driven by the fascination of the perfect replica, something that we know isn’t real but which is easy to see or briefly perceive as such, like a trompe-l’oeil painting.

For the past few days, I’ve been looping a new hip-hop track over and over. It’s called “Savages,” by the French outfit AllttA. The song is sweetly nostalgic, with synthesized strings and a snare backbeat; it features what sounds like Jay-Z trading verses with AllttA’s Mr. J. Medeiros in a throwback style. But, of course, it’s not Jay-Z; it’s an A.I. model of his voice, used, presumably, without the artist’s permission. It’s another example of illusory realism. The human-written song is good on its own, and would be perfectly fine without the fake Jay-Z, but the familiar voice adds something ineffably compelling to the track, making it sound like an unreleased B-side from the nineteen-nineties. It has more than two hundred thousand plays on YouTube. “The thought of enjoying this and it’s AI is beyond me,” one user wrote in the comments. I feel the same kind of existential confusion. It sticks in my brain like an unsolved puzzle. I don’t care that it’s not actually Jay-Z, in large part because the A.I. quality is good enough that I, a non-expert, can barely tell the difference. But it seems that a Rubicon has been crossed: It doesn’t matter that these artifacts are generated by A.I.; we can just enjoy them for what they are. It happened faster than I thought possible, but now that A.I.-generated pop culture has entered the mainstream, it seems unlikely that we’ll ever get rid of it. ♦

[linisiane]

[Image ID: A Chinese video of a series steamed buns called mantou rising in a steamer pot. They are hyperrealistic imitations of other objects, akin to the "Everything is Cake" meme, and we are viewing them through the glass lid.

The first is a hyperrealistic tea set. When the dough finishes rising, the baker takes off the steamer lid and pours gorgeous golden liquid out from the spout of the hyperrealistic teapot into the surrounding hyperrealistic teacups.

The second is a set of hyperrealistic notebooks with Chinese calligraphy on the front cover. When the dough finishes rising, the baker takes off the lid and opens the hyperrealistic notebook's pages, revealing different pages with actual writing inside. They then rip the book in half, highlighting its bread or cake like texture.

The third is a set of hyperrealistic unpeeled oranges. When the dough finishes rising, the baker takes off the lid and opens one of the oranges, revealing hyperrealistic orange slices inside of the orange peel. They rip one of the orange slices in side in half, highlighting their cake/bread like texture.

The fourth set is some hyperrealistic corn on the cobs. When the dough finishes rising, they rip the corn in half, revealing that the cross section is also hyper accurate to real corn, with corn kernels surrounding the core. They rip the corn niblets off in rows, revealing the core underneath.

/.End ID]

So, dumplings require a meat/vegetable filling! :D In terms of texture, dumplings are wet/soggy/smooth the way noodles are. They are indeed, however, made of the same rice/flour starch(1*) as mantou are! The other dishes you probably saw that looked like dumplings were baozi, which are meat buns made of mantou and an inner meat filling. They taste very different from dumplings though, as they are dry and much fluffier. 

It’s like the differences between bread sticks, pizza, and calzones. They’re all grain/carb dishes that look similar, but you wouldn’t consider breadsticks a type of pizza. Rather, breadsticks, pizza, and calzones are all types of carb dishes. Other related dishes would be youtiao, Liangpi, congyoubing, and bing, as they would all be made from the same rice/flour as mantou, but overall they don’t really look like dumplings.

Overall, I would say mantou are more akin to bread in terms of function, taste, and texture than they are to dumplings, but they are indeed still quite different from bread. I guess the closest equivalents are hamburger buns/hotdog buns. Those buns are dense with a crumblier inside and a smoother outside ‘skin,’ which is closer to how mantou feel. Mantou have a more distinct outer layer of skin, less dry/powdery and more smooth like outside of sweetdough. They’re also lightly sweet, like rice, not sour or moist the way bread is. 

This video makes the bread parallel less clear, but here’s what they normally look like.

Like little sweetdough balls.

Looking this kind of info up in English is rather stumping because the American tourism/cooking websites just resort to calling everything dumplings if it has a meat filling. Even wikipedia is unhelpfully western in perspective. I’d call them more ‘ 面粉 ’ (mian fen) dishes or “白面的做法” (bai mian de zuo fa), which is more akin to calling them carb dishes. The direct translation is ‘flour’ dishes or ‘the practice of flour,’ which is how Chinese people would view them as a group. For instance, this website I found on a chinese search engine, baidu, is oriented for Chinese people rather than Americans/Europeans and groups all the dishes I’ve listed together. 

(1*) I put this footnote here because I’m gonna be real, I have no clue exactly what flour is being used to make these dishes. Websites say that the flour I use for everything is wheat flour. However, when we try using American wheat flour, none of the dishes ever taste or look or feel right. Using Chinese or Korean brands of flours work much better, but they’re all in Chinese/Korean, and I can’t tell what’s different about them. Are they not wheat flour?? On top of that, the word for rice (米饭 mi fan) is used in the word my mom/dad uses for the flour (米粉 mi fen). So is it wheat flour or rice flour or am I fundamentally misunderstanding the usage of wheat here? 

chinese mantou (steamd bread or buns) be like

[rennyji]

appearances

Once upon a time I had hair. Me with hair and without it? I look radically different. I started losing my hair rapidly, upon realization of something surreal happening, while pursuing my Bachelors in Computer Science degree. Now, me with hair? Like other Asians or Europeans, I had a thing for leather jackets. My mother has good taste and would buy me quality shirts with collars in my high school/college years - that's right my mom bought my shirts! This is while my peers are wearing the freebies from joining a club in college.

So there's me with a leather jacket, my relaxed/fitting jeans, and buttoned up collar shirts exposing my, 80's style: minimal chest hair. Yes, I totally get shaving it all off is the norm! But that was my effortless look. But the cherry on top was my hair. In college, I was the guy who never got IDed at bars or parties, though I lost interest quickly. There's people pissing through the spaces in the floor boards, and bars weren't a place I enjoyed finding someone to walk side by side with. I was frequently met by frat guys, with their party invite professional cards, while walking through my initial engineering campus.

Kids in my old Church, thought I was the coolest guy. I was nobody. Just a guy who studied, while struggling with ADD/focus issues, with the hope of getting a decent job, so that I could start my life. My cousins would call me "the big man on campus" or "Mr. Bollywood." (Hollywood, but with a "B"). They all had these big impressions of me, but I was just a man with hair. Plain and simple.

At the onset of my "mind harassing" situation, I believe I experienced some accelerated male pattern baldness, within the years of 2012-2013. Now I'm not tall, I'm 5"8 or 5"9, I was beginning to get some gains from working out, but I wasn't like some of these East Asians on my campus, who were exceptionally cut. When I had my hair -and I"m a straight guy who enjoyed having bangs on his left and right temples ( because I wanted to look like 1980s "Billie Jean/Beat It": Michael Jackson) - I knew I was me. But when I lost my original look, I lost a part of me. I lost my face/I lost a core part of my identity. I went from being "that" guy and became "this" guy. If nothing else, it was my first experience with an aspect of mortality, or losing something I would never possibly regain, for as long as I live. That's somewhat of a big revelation, for a small thing, in the beginning of your 20's.

Dave Bautista, with his nicely "shaped" beard (and even without it), can pull of the bald look. And Jimmy Fallon has a lush/fluffy of a lions mane - I mean does he condition that/oil that? its clean/natural thickness where if you ruffled your hands through, it wouldn't get messed up/require hair gel...sorry man, or anyone, if I'm weirding you out-your hair is very much noticeable. I'm writing this, while watching Fallon's Friday night episode on March 1, 2024. I may not look horrible, but I'm no Dave Bautista, or The Rock (who pulls off the bald look nicely, compared to his "short hair combed down" look, from when he was wrestling: "Ifff yoouuu smeeellll ... what The Rock is cooking?! ... I think that was Dwayne Johnson's line.)

Now I say these things, not because I'm a narcissist. & Not because I think I'm exceptional. While I occasionally dabble with things like a Nutrafol supplement that just came out, now seen on TV, I've pretty much come to terms with not having my usual head of hair. I've accepted it. No need for sympathetic type comments like "You're still nice or good looking"...in a sense, I stopped caring.

So why do I say this now?

With a little bit of life experience, I come across News 4 like subjects, on Fashion Icon/Interior Designer: Iris Apfel , who passed away, with sentiments like "I'll never be good looking...", so I'll look flamboyant with big glasses and a Victorian big circular dress collar. At first sight, she looked a little scary or like someone who needs to be careful walking the streets. From my quick rush with her picture on the news, I wasn't a fan of her short hair (as I think women look better with chest level hair length, ending in twirls/curls/or just pin straight), but I saw nothing wrong with her face. I felt sad, even if this woman I didn't know/never saw before, had this sentiment. I realize everyone has a perception of themselves, as I did with my semi-long "hair gell-ed" hair. And all this coincides on a day, where I addressed flamboyant styles in the wrong places. On another news channel, I heard a newscaster say people have contradicting/coinciding/conflicting type thoughts. For someone to go through all the mental strain of, and settling on, something that makes them feel good/makes them feel like who they are, on the inside, who am I to make suggestions/corrections/comments?! I mean, in certain places, certain roles, you need to adapt for the sake of tradition/custom/location. That's not about telling you what to do or dominating your life. How you are on a typical day, stays with you, regardless, even when you have to make intermittent disappearances of aspects of you.

Over the years, outside of romantic interests, as I'm a bit of a perfectionist in terms of enhancing aspects of me, I see people for their innocent nuances or what they exhibit-kind of hard to explain what I'm thinking. Like, since my kindergarten days and my first Bollywood movie, I wanted someone that looked similar. But over the years, just from seeing different people, getting to know them, even though I may not have said it, even though I didn't expect it, even though it didn't match my Bollywood vision, I found myself quietly appreciating them, in their nuances.

In all honesty, I don't like saying or writing any of this. I'm not a creeper, but I just quietly witness/observe what goes on around me. When I give a viewpoint, there's always the risk, there's an individual who feels restricted or bound to what I'm saying. Ultimately, I say: you be you, I'll be me. If I say something, take it through the filter of your life, or see it through the lens of your own glasses/frames.

In my old/unanswered complaint forms to law enforcement and elsewhere, on my "mind harassing situation," I'd always say, regarding the things I mention, "these are my observations, not my botherations." I'm just going to/fro, where I ultimately return home to get away from it all (which hasn't been happening for more than a decade and frankly, for my personality: it's exhausting). I have no intention on burdening others by being overbearing, overreaching, or preachy. While born as a baptized Christian, influencing my views along with several other religions, my ultimate belief is in one, Big "G": God, who cares for me, as a parent for His child, and believes in me, even when I don't believe in myself.

In life, we're not machines. We can't live by rules, but only guidelines. Which is why the Golden Rule is important. From that everything else follows. Interpret what comes your way through those lens, and wake up to your self and surroundings.

One of my tweets on the matter:

Our Roles/Lifestyles/Personas InLife R like Quadrilaterals, which R 4 Sided Figures Like squares/rectangles/trapezoid/rhombus -shapes looking Different 2 Our Eyes-or illusions. Truth in them is they All Have 4 sides. Such R different people. We're all People, Of Varying Shades Which Is Y Golden Rule is Important. Another tweet in relation:

People R like analog signals. They don’t have fixedStates likeDigital 1’s & 0’s which are really electrical charges or the lack Of them. People are of all colors/shades of the spectrum, which makes them complicated, vague 2 understand, and not 2B judged 1 way or the other. Nothing is this or that.

I'm a programmer by trade. And in programming, we have something called if/else statements that tell a program or the computer, what to do for various situations (what's called: "conditions.")

It looks something like this:

if () { } else if () { } else if () { } . . . else { } We're not one thing or the other. Sometimes our beliefs and actions lie somewhere between the initial "if" clause above, and "else if ()", which is basically saying: "if this," "then that," "otherwise do that." With all the talk on meat on the news, an example would be: "if I'm hungry, I'll eat red meat" else "I'll eat white meat" What if you decide to eat a kabab with beef, chicken, and shrimp? Is shrimp even red meat or white meat? Isn't that seafood? This kind of setting throws off the if/else logic or you end up restricting yourself to a box with one or the other type rules. You need to be flexible and open minded. Look respectful, be respectful, but ultimately project your identity, while mindful of your situation and setting. No need to put yourself down or feel guilty. Respect yourself/others.