#in the tradition of the annual book post i will list them all at the end of the year with some amount of thoughts | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hoodienanami · 4 months ago

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in the first of what will hopefully become an annual tradition, i've decided to make a post to commemorate my favorite books, movies, and music that i experienced for the first time this past year!

my schedule was pretty packed with both the personal and professional but the art lover grind never stops. not even when a branch went through my roof! so here's my favorites of 2024 in no particular order:

books

the devil finds work (1976) - james baldwin

the heebie-jeebies at cbgb's (2006) - steven lee beeber

the secret public (2024) - jon savage

how to hide an empire (2019) - daniel immerwahr

as usual my favorites are all nonfiction with three out of four of them focusing on pop culture. i'm always eager to listen when brilliant people talk about music and movies. baldwin, beeber, and savage provide great insights into some of the 20th century's best (and worst) art and artists through the lens of racial and sexual politics. immerwahr's history of the american empire was also fascinating and a real eye-opener for me. thank you @chateauofmymind for recommending it to me, it's an essential piece for anyone living in the usa

hopefully i'll read more fiction in 2025. and more books by women

movies

young soul rebels (1991) - isaac julien we are the best! (2013) - lukas moodysson swing girls (2004) - yaguchi shinobu the living dead girl (1982) - jean rollin

once again i have to thank @chateauofmymind as they're the reason i watched all four of these fantastic movies. young soul rebels, we are the best!, and swing girls rocketed up into my favorite movies of all time list incredibly easily, they're just so infectious and so damn good. young soul rebels in particular is the best punk movie i've ever watched. the living dead girl was also lovely, i should have watched it way sooner

a special shoutout to martin (1977) by george romero. it's a truly wonderful picture but it's not on the list because i feel like i need to give it another watch as i was a bit too depressed while watching it the first time to give it the focus it deserved

music

fine art (2024) - kneecap megan (2024) - megan thee stallion carnival (2024) - sheena ringo the doors (1967) - the doors

i finally listened to the doors self titled all the way through and goddamnit it's really good. light my fire nearly made it onto my spotify top five most listened list. goddamnit jim morrison. anyway, 2024 was a fantastic year for three of my favorite modern artists. kneecap's fine art was definitely the highlight, what an amazingly put together album. megan and ringo's albums blew me away too, it's been very exciting to keep up with them and see where they're headed musically

another special shoutout to i'd much rather be with the girls by donna lynn/i'd much rather be with the boys by the rolling stones and i wanna o.d. by the demolition doll rods. they're singles not albums but they deserve a mention due to how much i love them

well that's about it! happy new year and here's to enjoying more books, movies, and music in 2025!!

i've got a few things planned for this new year that you guys should get excited for...no spoilers though, you'll have to wait and see what's in store. until then, hoodie says mwah! love you all!

#hoodie talks #year end favs #happy new year to all of my friends and mutuals and followers <33 youre all the best!#long post

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gaelic-symphony · 1 year ago

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hi!! :)

i hope this isn't weird, but i love reading your posts about judaism to learn more from it. i don't follow any religion but i love getting to know them from people who do

and if you don't mind me asking, what are your favourite things about it? <3

i hope i have expressed myself well and you don't mind this 🫶🏼

I actually love this ask, and I'm so glad you sent it! There are so many things I love about Judaism, it would take me forever to come up with a list of them, but here are a few of my favorites:

I love our everyday rituals. I love keeping kosher and going to the kosher supermarket. I love that every time I eat or go grocery shopping, I'm affirming my connection to my people and my ancestors. I love that we have blessings for the most mundane human activities like washing our hands. I love ending every week with Shabbat. I love how it gives us a day to rest and reflect and be thankful before we start a new week, and I love having the weekly marker of Shabbat to track the passage of time. I love that you don't have to subscribe to any particular version of Jewish theology or believe that we do these things because Hashem commanded us in order to participate fully in these rituals. You can do them just because you find meaning in them. You can do them just because you're proud to be Jewish and follow the traditions of your ancestors.

I love our holidays. So many of them commemorate our survival against those who tried to wipe us out: Purim, Chanukah, Passover. Every year, we tell the story of our peoples' perseverance. We reflect on the strength and courage of generations of Jews before us that allowed our continued survival into the present day. Other holidays are seasonal markers of time. Tu B'Shvat is a little over a week away, and it's our "new year for trees," the time of year when the earliest trees start to bloom in the Land of Israel. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur mark the end of the old year and beginning of a new one, and give us the chance to leave our mistakes of the past year behind and learn from them moving forward as we start fresh with a brand new year. Sukkot is a traditional celebration of the annual harvest. And other holidays, we're just so happy to be Jewish that we need to throw a party about it! Shavuot celebrates the Israelites receiving the Torah from Hashem at Mount Sinai, and then we celebrate the Torah again on Simchat Torah, when we read the very last verses of the book of Dvarim and start all over again with Bereshit.

I love our music. Our daily prayers are set to music, with special nusach (melodies) for Shabbat and holidays. When we read from the Torah or the books of the prophets, we chant the words to the same melodies our ancestors have done for centuries. We sing as a way to connect with each other and with Hashem. We sing the psalms of King David, and we sing wordless melodies we call niggunim. We've developed our own styles of secular, non-liturgical music and dance: klezmer and canciones, the horah and the Yemenite step, and many, many more!

I love our scholarship. Our scholarly tradition is one of questioning and arguing, neither of which are viewed negatively in Jewish tradition! We love to ask ourselves "what if" and "why," and the point isn't so much finding a singular answer as it is the process of engaging with the text. Does it really matter as a real-world issue whether there are any Pokemon that would be kosher to eat? Of course not! But that's exactly the type of thing we love to argue over, and if the ancient rabbinic sages like Hillel and Akiva and Rashi and Maimonides were alive today, I guarantee you they would have opinions on the matter.

I love our joy. There is so much joy that comes with being Jewish, a joy we feel just for being alive against all odds. Most of our prayers are not asking Hashem for the things we want, but thanking Hashem for the things we have. We have a brachah we say specifically to thank Hashem for the opportunity to fix what is broken in this world. Our history has rarely been a happy one, but we have always found reasons to rejoice. We danced and sang and celebrated our holidays and life events even in the Warsaw Ghetto. This past December, during one of the saddest, heaviest, and scariest times for our people since the Shoah, Jews all over the world celebrated Chanukah like we always do. In the midst of our mourning, we found joy. Literally and figuratively, we came together as a tribe to create light in the darkness.

#asked and answered #anon #jumblr #jewish #jewish positivity #jewish joy

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christiansorrell · 2 years ago

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RPG Read-through: Himbos of Myth & Mettle

After my recent read-through of .dungeon//remastered (originally posted to Twitter), someone there was like "I really like your old read-throughs. Have you put those somewhere else for when Twitter inevitably dies?" I hadn't! So here is a read-through I did last year about one of my favorite releases from the last few years Himbos of Myth & Mettle! - Christian

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Time to read-through one of the most fun games I've played this year: Himbos of Myth & Mettle by Maxwell Lander!

Right out of the gate, this game has such an exuberant, fun energy to it, and I like the voice throughout the writing. The concept could be done much more impersonally/traditionally, but it really wouldn't carry the same feel at all.

Straightforward d20 roll-under system with guidance to create drama and fun over everything else. I've played with the dice chain optional rule and enjoyed it! It's something I love in other games and it's fun to see its inverse here (smaller dice are better).

Interestingly, the system has a mixed success component as well - although you may not expect it with the d20 base. It takes something like your ability modifiers from a traditional game and makes that into a window of error that gets you success with a complication.

The magic system is a lot of fun here. Any himbo can use their Heart stat to attempt superhuman or supernatural things. You answer some quick questions to determine the cost and roll to see if you pull it off. There's an effect table too if things go wrong with some wild results.

The Heart system is a good encapsulation of what I enjoyed about this when I've had the chance to play it. It has this vivacious, positive, and often cartoonish energy to it where things almost always go big, in good and bad ways. It's very heartfelt (no pun intended).

Fun art (by Mary Verhoeven) and quotes throughout this book too. I wonder if these were real player characters from playtesting or maybe in-universe Legends of Himbodom?

One of the most memorable lists of player stats out there. It stresses letting players use most stats for most things. Doing something very courageous in combat? Roll Breast over Thighs. Flirting with an NPC to distract them while you pick their pocket? Roll Lips over Hands.

Death is rare, rather Himbos take Scars when they fall to 0 Heart (acting primarily as health but also "mana" to some extent). Each scar makes them more and more jaded, a bit more negative. After 4 scars, they retire - becoming a hero maybe (yes, heroes are bad here!)

There are special abilities, skills (gained from a lifepath system), and Heat (a bonus pool that reflects how sexy you are in the moment). I had a lot of fun with the special abilities in particular when I played.

D20 tables throughout help build the tone really well. It's clear what kind of characters this game is focused on after looking these over. I really like lifepath systems in games, and this one is surprisingly extensive. It's fun to roll a random character and see who comes out.

Tips section gives some guidance about trying to create a different type of story and different types of conflicts than you typically see in fantasy RPGs. I really like the take on Heroes here. It's a great twist on the genre (and is probably more accurate, honestly).

It's got two adventures in the back, including the 12th Annual Fresh Meat Games which was the adventure I got to play through at EFCon. It's a local festival and competition that the PCs join to test their mettle in front of big crowds. Lots of fun.

Nice little thing: there's a library check-out card holder on the back inside cover with little character sheets in it!

That's the game! It's a lean little book, quick to read and quicker to play. It's got a straightforward central system with fun twists and tables throughout to ramp up the drama and really the entire text just exudes a unique, over-the-top, heartfelt tone I love.

It's available digitally for $10 USD on Itch!

The hardback version is great - really nice quality, it has a ribbon and those cool sheets in the back! I'd recommend picking it up HERE.

Lastly if you'd like to hear more from me, you can do that in my monthly newsletter (includes an article, an RPG freebie, and a list of cool stuff from myself and others over the last month): https://meatcastle.substack.com

#ttrpgs #fantasy #rpg #dnd #ttrpg #indie ttrpg #himbo #read through #himbos #maxwell lander

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adarkrainbow · 1 year ago

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Lost media quest: H&G Epic Tales (part 3)

Last time I ended my post while exploring the defunct epictales.com website. There was one page of this website (preserved in the Wayback Machine) that I did not add in this post: the About page.

The About page not only describes the Epic Tales line, but also lists the full staff that worked on this project. Here is what the website contains:

EPIC TALES™ is a developer and publisher of interactive storybooks for the iOS platform. EPIC TALES presents its own unique interactive adaptation of the imaginative and magical stories found in fairytales, folklore and world mythology.

All of our tales are narrated by our central storyteller, a most likeable dwarf named Silvertongue who used his magic to let our books and stories come to life. Each storybook offers stunning hand-drawn animations, a revamped storyline, original music scores, and spellbinding interactive environments that are sure to draw readers deep into the story.

EPIC TALES allows you to not only enjoy magical worlds and enchanting tales, but to experience them more closely than ever before.

We, the people at EPIC TALES, are always inspired by stories that fuel our ideas and imagination. We are storytellers, animators, and composers that gladly indulge ourselves in folklore, mythology, and the many tales and stories that have captured our imagination for generations. The result is a talented team of people driven to create original storybooks that are filled with whimsical characters, spellbinding environments, and interactive surprises. By combining creativity with technology, and talent with expertise, we hope to constantly produce exciting tales that bring every page to life. EPIC TALES is a joint venture between Cloud Castle Interactive and Anikey studios.

EPIC TALES Paul Hanraets, Founder of EPIC TALES and producer

Albert ‘t Hooft, Partner and creative director

Paco Vink, Partner and lead artist, animator

TEAM MEMBERS Lou Attia, Narrator and voice actor

Martin van Spanje, Software engineer

Joost van den Broek, Music composer

Arjen Schut, Sound designer

Sjan Weijers, Background clean-up artist

David Muchtar, Animator

Jelle Brunt, Animator

Ruben Zaalberg, Animator

The website also briefly offers descriptions/curriculum of the staff members:

Paul Hanraets Paul Hanraets has been a creative entrepreneur since 2002 when he co-founded Red Road Media, a media agency specialized in video games. Successful projects undertaken by Red Road include: Benelux largest annual game event Gamexpo, the tv show GAME FACTS broadcasted by TMF/MTV and the freely distributed game magazine Games Guide. In 2008 Paul founded Cloud Castle Interactive and was involved in the development of smaller game projects which further awakened his passion for the creative industry. As an immediate result Paul founded EPIC TALES, a developer of interactive storybooks for IOS and GAMBITIOUS an equity based crowdfunding platform dedicated to the games industry.

Albert ‘t Hooft & Paco Vink Albert 't Hooft and Paco Vink both studied traditional animation at the Willem de Kooning Art Academy in Rotterdam before they founded Anikey Studios in 2007. Anikey is an award winning animation studio which specialises in hand drawn 2D digital animation. Anikey creates independent and commissioned animations for television, films and games which have an emphasis on story, characters and fun. Anikey's first two independent films 'Paul & the Dragon' and 'Little Quentin' won several awards at international film festivals. In addition on working on the new EPIC TALES titles, Anikey is developing the first hand drawn animated feature film in the Netherlands since 30 years.

Lou Attia Working with the likes of Disney and Sesame Street, Lou Attia has been a professional voice-over artist for over 15 years. After studying professional vocals in London, England, Lou landed a radio host position at 104.2 Nile FM in Cairo, Egypt where he became Creative Director and then Program Director of the station. Throughout his seven years on the air, during which his morning show went on to be the No.1 listened to radio show in a city of 16 million, Lou continued to do voice-overs for numerous commercials, shows and features. In 2010 Lou moved to Toronto, Canada where he is currently a full time voice-over artist, writer and TV show host.

Martin van Spanje Currently co-owner of LayerGloss Digital Publishing, Martin used to program and design on 8-bit Sinclair machines in the eighties. Then came Macs, digital audio, ten years of IT-projects and finally, iOS. Nowadays he lives his life surrounded by Objective-C code, and he sometimes thinks cornflakes look a bit like people. Oh, and he doesn't do Twitter.

Joost van den Broek Joost van den Broek is a producer, composer, arranger and keyboardplayer based in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Starting out as a keyboardplayer for several metalbands like After Forever touring all over the world, he finished his conservatory with honour in musicproduction, keyboards and classical arrangement. Since then he been working as a freelancer in his own studio on several productions, compositions and arrangements, for acts/events like: Ellen ten Damme, Symphonica in Rosso, Wende Snijders, Games in Concert, Ben Saunders, Qlimax. Epic moviescores and/or/in combination with (pop/alternative)rock is what defines his style the most.

Arjen Schut Arjen Schut is a sound designer based in Hilversum, The Netherlands. As a freelancer Arjen has worked on numerous projects, both on location and in his own studio. Arjen is involved in sound effect creation for all sorts of media, but has a strong focus on interactive and animation projects. International blockbuster Killzone 3 being one of the larger projects.

I have taken upon myself to contact some of these artists, just in case they were open about talking or sharing information about the animation they worked onto. Is it a bad idea, or a good one? I don't know but that's the most straightforward direction one can take. I will warn you if I ever receive any response, positive or negative.

I forgot to link before the official page, on the Anikey Animation website, for their work on Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales. Not only does it contain large, high-quality screenshots of the artwork, but their "Production" page also has one concept art for the storybook. They also list the credits of the app as such:

Title: Epic Tales - Hansel & Gretel

Release: 2012

Directed by: Albert 't Hooft & Paco Vink

Animation by: Jelle Brunt, David Muchtar & Ruben Zaalberg

Backgrounds by: Paco Vink & Sjan Weijers

Music by: Joost van den Broek

Sounddesign by: Arjen van der Schut

Producer(s): Paul Hanraets for Cloud Castle Interactive

AppAdvice still has a page dedicated to the application. There is also a review by the MacTrast website that is quite interesting because, while today the pictures contained within it are "dead files", in the Wayback Machine you can fetch them back, and they are pretty rare screenshots of the game! Here's an additional Dutch article I forgot to add earlier. Again, not much to add since they all basically just announce the game's release and rephrase the storybook's commercial description.

I also don't think I have added this to my previous posts, but Cartoon Brew also had a page for the app's launching, which contained this text:

The Hague, the Netherlands — April 24, 2012 — Hansel and Gretel – Epic Tales animated storybook is the first in a series of tales as told by Silvertongue, the likeable dwarf and storyteller, and is now available on the Appstore for IPad and IPhone.

Hansel and Gretel – Epic Tales animated storybook offers a world filled with whimsical characters ranging from pesky gnomes to witty dwarfs; from brave children to wicked stepmothers and cunning witches.

“But we are not just another fairytale App,” says Paul Hanraets, founder and producer. “What sets Epic Tales apart from other storybooks are the incredible production values. Each of Epic Tales storybooks are digitally hand-drawn by our award winning animators, and offer stunning 2d animations, professional voice acting, original music scores and ambient sounds by game industry veterans. These elements combined offer spellbinding interactive environments that are sure to draw readers even deeper into the story.”

“Of course, our alternating witty and wacky humour and the high quality of our animations are amongst the things that separates Hansel and Gretel from other storybooks,” says creative director Albert ‘t Hooft.”However, what ultimately distinguishes Epic Tales is the implementation of our central storyteller, Silvertongue the dwarf.” Using the magic of pesky gnomes, Silvertongue brings the stories to life and narrates them.”Silvertongue used to be quite the adventurer, travelling the world in search of the most intriguing tales and stories, and now looks after your storybook collection in his humble bookstore. He is a truly gifted storyteller who can take an audience from a gasp of fright to a roar of laughter in just the twist of a phrase.”

Epic Tales is a series of high quality, interactive fairytales that allows you to not only enjoy enchanting tales, but to experience their magical worlds more closely than ever before. Children will love the sense of wonder and discovery,while adults will certainly appreciate the clever and wacky humor.

A final piece to add to the dossier so far is Muchtar Productions' page for Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales. Muchtar Production is the WordPress website of David Muchtar, a 2D animator and illustrator who worked on the Epic Tales animation as a (I quote) "Rough and Clean-up animator". He notably put within his portfolio an important number of concept art for the game's character designs. But, as with last time, I will keep it for the NEXT post!

Or... an almost final piece. I wanted to keep this for a much later post, but I ultimately decided to share it here. I vaguely described before one unofficial source for content about "Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales". And that is an online review, a Youtube video, by a Youtuber named "Crazy Mike" specializing in app reviews. Here is the video, and the reason why this video is important (beyond it being the last remaining video review - unless I manage to get back the one from the defunct website) is because so far it is the only visual recording we have of the app outside of the trailers. Not only that, but at one point Crazy Mike opens the list of chapters within the app - which gives us a full glimpse of the story's main episodes, with thumbnails of each "tableau". Mind you, it is tiny details at the bottom of the screen so we can't get much of it... But with all the additional material I gathered, it will be a key element in my reconstruction of what the storybook looked like and was about.

#hansel and gretel #lost media #hansel and gretel epic tales #hans en grietje epic tales #hans en grietje #fairytale cartoon #lost media animation #fairytale animation #interactive storybook #animated storybook #dutch things #netherlands #traditional animation

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rabbitcruiser · 1 year ago

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Towel Day

Towel Day on May 25 is an annual holiday created to celebrate author Douglas Adams by his fans. Adams wrote the classic sci-fi novel, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” This day was organized in memory of him after he suffered a sudden heart attack at the age of 49. His fans wanted to find a way to commemorate his life’s work, and after having one towel day, its success made it a yearly event. On this day, fans carry towels around everywhere they go. Today, we are celebrating this holiday with a towel wrapped around our necks because, we too, love Douglas Adams!

History of Towel Day

Towel Day is celebrated on May 25, two weeks after the date of Adams’s death in 2001 — May 11. The day has, over time, received the status of being a kind of ‘‘geek holiday’’ due to its connection with the popular series.

Why a towel? It’s said the towel holds much importance in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Adams wrote about towels as being the most helpful item for an interstellar traveler. In chapter three of the book, he writes, “A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value — you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon…” and so the uses go on.

Adams’s strongest advice was “Never go anywhere without your towel.” This day has been celebrated now for 19 years and is a great occasion for science fiction fans all over the world to come together and rejoice … with their towels. It is said that Adams was a humorous writer and witty character and that this day reflects his lovable silliness.

Towel Day timeline

1978 An Oeuvre is Born

Douglas Adams's radio series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is broadcast for the first time — kickstarting a long line of adaptations into other formats.

2001 Wrap It

The first Towel Day ever is celebrated on May 25, 2001, just two weeks after Adams's death on May 11.

2012 Mind Bogglingly Big

In January, the Huffington Post lists Towel Day as a cult literary tradition.

2013 The Good Towels

The Norwegian public transport company Kolumbus gives away special towels to customers.

2015 What is the Universe for?

On Towel Day, astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti signals a Towel Day greeting and reads from ‘‘The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’’ from the International Space Station.

Towel Day Activities

Carry a towel

Use a line from the series

Visit the website

The hardcore fans of ‘‘Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’’ will be carrying a towel around for the day, so grab your towel and join in! Just make sure that it’s clean. Take a photo of you wearing your towel, and upload it to social media with the hashtag #towelday.

Weave in some of the phrases from the ‘‘Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’’ into your conversations. Try "Life, the Universe, and Everything", "Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them around to dinner", "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so", or "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." It may confuse folks around you, but those who know, know.

Check out the towelday.org website and see what everyone else is up to on this day. Inspire yourself and find other ways to celebrate or join in with others as a group in your area or even your country. Or be a go-getter and make your own Towel Day event that fans can attend.

5 Facts About Douglas Adams

An asteroid is named after him

He appeared in a famous TV show

He was friends with David Gilmour

He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro ... but there's more

He wrote a few "Doctor Who" episodes

In 2001, Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project discovered an asteroid and named it 25924 Douglasadams.

Adams apparently made a brief appearance as an extra called Dr. Emile Konig in an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus — he also contributed to the writing of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

An avid musician himself, Adams owned between 24 and 35 left-handed guitars, appeared on stage at Pink Floyd's 1994 gig at Earl's Court in London, and named the band's album that year, "The Division Bell."

Adams was an environmentalist and loved animals, campaigning on behalf of endangered species for most of his life — in 1994, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in a rhino suit to raise awareness for Save The Rhino.

He was a contributing writer for several episodes of the famous British series, "Doctor Who."

Why We Love Towel Day

Online antics

Book marathon

Galaxy binge session

You can get loads of information on the day from the twitter account @towelday and the official website, towelday.org. You can find out stuff like information on the life of Douglas Adams, details on the “Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” radio series, and interact with the 7,000+ fans who follow this day.

This holiday gives us a chance to read or reread Adams's life’s work. Go back and immerse yourself in the trilogy of “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” as well as “Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency”, “The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul” and many more titles that made Adams so beloved.

This day also gives us a chance to binge on the shows linked to Adams. So watch a movie or a TV series derived from his books. Do it with your friends and carry your towels together. Celebrate this great author and come together to watch some good and classic TV.

Source

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atariaction · 1 year ago

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Kay’s 2023 Wrapped

Well, that about wraps it up for 2023, which means it’s time for my letter summarizing the computer history work that I did in the past year. I’ve been writing these letters since 2016, making this my eighth annual letter. I wish I had started this tradition in 1996, the year that my computer history efforts began when I launched the Digital Antic Project, which grew into Classic Computer Magazine Archive.

My goal this year was to publish six interviews on Antic: The Atari 8-Bit Podcast. I published just one. (It was a good one, with Rodrigo Castro about Atari in Chile. Why not six? My Internet Archive work and, simply, a lack of momentum on interviews. Once the process is going, it’s going! But getting that engine re-started is hard.) My goal for 2024 is to publish 15 interviews, which I fully expect to actually do. Between us over the years, Randy Kindig and I have published 436 interview episodes on Antic. Our collective goal is to reach 500 by the end of 2025. So to keep my end of the bargain, that means I’ll publish 15 interviews in 2024.

Scanning, though! I turned all sorts of rare paper material into easily-searchable digital material at Internet Archive. I scanned a lot of Atari newsletters, including many from Hughes El Segundo Employees Association Atari Computer Enthusiasts, South Bay Atari Computer Enthusiasts, and West LA Atari Users Group.

In other scanning news — let’s talk about MicroTimes. MicroTimes was a California-focused computer magazine that was published from 1984 through 1999. It was there in the thick of it, published in the state that brought us Silicon Valley. I wrote for MicroTimes for a few years starting in 1992. So I am especially proud of this: 41 issues of MicroTimes magazinewere added to Internet Archive in 2023, bringing the collection to 62 issues. Here’s the long-story-short summary of 10 years of effort: I made this happen. I willed it to happen. More issues will be added in 2024.

I also added two more books to the collection of Russ Walter’s Secret Guide To Computers at Internet Archive. The newest additions are hard-to-find editions from 1976, about BASIC programming and computer applications.

My Scantastix project (if you don’t know what that is, here’s a short article describing it) did some great work: we scanned 321 items totaling 22,577 pages. The scans include some rare Microsoft material, even rarer pamphlets and manuals for Compucorp computers (have you ever heard of them? The computer that came with them is on its way to Vintage Computer Federation) and so many Apple II manuals. Check out all the latest additions here.

Also, a weird scanning side-quest happened this year: My friend Cabel Sasser handed me a pile of more than 50 DAK catalogs, which I scanned for him, then he wrote a blog post about them that blew up the Internet for a few days. It’s a fun read.

Once again, I processed and edited videos of the presentations at Vintage Computer Festival West 2023and VCF East 2023. And I helmed a project to rescue audio from VCF West 2003. These were recordings that were made of talks twenty years ago, then the tapes were lost, then found, then given to me, then it turned out that the tapes were recorded terribly. It took a small team of people to get any sound at all from those tapes then turned into something listenable. They include the voices of C. H. Ting, Jef Raskin, John Ellenby, and Gary Starkweather, who have all passed since these were recorded.

When I interview a programmer, I ask the person if they have any source code. I interviewed Jay Jaeger, creator of the Atari Program Exchange version of Space War, in 2016. At the time he said he had the source code… somewhere. I contacted him from time to time to ask about that source code. (I have a “nag list” of people that I contact from time to time to ask them about some material or other.) Patience and persistence paid off. Just a few days ago, in December 2023, he found the assembly language source code and sent it to me to share.

A bit of personal archiving: I write for Juiced.GS magazine, which focuses on the Apple II. I uploaded all of the articles I've written for Juiced to Internet Archive, spanning 2015–2022. There are some interviews, some product reviews, and some nice little reminisces about the old days of microcomputers. (I released them under a Creative Commons license, so if you want to republish an article in a non-commercial computer club newsletter or something like that, go for it. My agreement with the magazine says that they get exclusive rights to articles for a year. So my 2023 articles will be shared online a year from now. In the mean time, it’s a good magazine: if you like Apple II, subscribe!)

My work at Internet Archive as the curator of the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications is certainly one of the reasons I’ve had less time and energy for computer archiving. 2023 was my first full calendar year in this role. I hit my one-year anniversary in August! But there’s sometimes a nice overlap between the two efforts. For instance, in 2023 I archived several ham radio related programs for Atari computers and a few for DOS machines and even a handful for CP/M that were rescued from 8-inch floppy disks.

There’s something else, something that I’ve been teasing for years. In my 2018 letter I wrote “There’s a particular archiving project happening in 2019 that is really big and really important for microcomputer history. I’m not ready to talk about it, but hold your breath and cross your fingers.” Then at the end of 2019 I wrote: “That project depends on the help of one person who has been battling ongoing health issues. It is still very much at the front of my mind, and *crosses fingers* will move ahead this year.” It didn’t, and it couldn’t, but with patience and persistence, it’s finally happening. It’s already started, and I can’t wait to have something amazing to show you in 2024. Keep holding your breath and crossing your fingers just a little while longer.

If you support my archiving work on Patreon, thank you! Also please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Internet Archive, the non-profit online library that hosts all of my scans and interviews.

I hope we all have a pleasant and productive 2024. May your patience and persistence pay dividends.

#atari #interviews #computerhistory #internetarchive

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beyondxmeasure · 1 year ago

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Was definitely looking for more light hearted shows when mentioning fluffy. I will definitely at them to my list to watch.

I had noticed much my shows were like early 2000s I blame HBO for that. I got a subscription this year and was reminded of them.

Sons of Anarchy is also one of my favorites and can't believe I forgot about it. I started following Charlie Hannam's Carter because of that show.. Have you watched the Mayan spin off by chance? Also for old time shows did you watch Anne with an E.

Speaking of Matt Bomer have you watched The Last Tycoon? It has him and is set place in 1930s I believe. It was canceled after one season though. If I remember correctly it was based on a book by Fitzgerald

Don’t blame HBO. They have some great content. It’s an easy thing to get sucked into their vortex. That’s around the same time I got on my own and got a cable subscription with HBO so I know the 2000s stuff and most of their catalog pretty well.

SOA is fantastic. I’ve watched it 3x through and it still holds up. Don’t come for me about the possibly problematic language or tones in some areas… it’s a show about an outlaw biker gang. It’s bound to be a bit problematic. I did start watching Mayans spinoff but it was at a time when I was staying with my parents who had cable. I soon moved out and only had streaming services and I think it wasn’t available to me… either that or I forgot about it. Either way it didn’t leave enough of an impact for me to finish it.

It wasn’t bad, I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters like I immediately did with SOA. Maybe I’ll try again…

Although Ive heard good things about, Ive never gotten around to Anne With An E. It is my Netflix queue though! But I am so attached to the original A of GG CBC/PBS mini-series that I’m kind of afraid to tarnish my fond memory. It’s an annual family tradition to watch it the day we bring home our Christmas tree.

Yes, I know of The Last Tycoon! I remember putting it in my queue ages ago, probably when I first watched Downton Abbey or Peaky Blinders and got in the mood to watch all the things remotely historically adjacent. But I never got around to watching it. I think in part because it was only one season so I didn’t want to get invested. But I recently (post-Fellow Trav) revisited the trailer and am definitely planning on diving in soon!

Going back to your last ask about fluffy shows, and referring to my first list…. Definitely check out Ted Lasso and Schitt’s Creek for feel good shows. They will both fill you with loads of laughter and leave your heart immensely full.

Happy New Year, Nonny! 🎉

#ask me anything #anon ask #asked and answered #favorite tv shows #continued…

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acelucky · 1 year ago

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2023 - End of year favourite films, books, games & albums

As is an annual tradition for me, I like to share with you all my favourite media consumed and books read during the past year. Though I never include TV Shows and am not sure why, maybe next year!

Normally I make a separate post for everything, but today decided to lump them together - it's more for my own reflection that anything else. I've struggled to name 10 favourite books and felt it was a bit of a weak year film wise... Game wise I mostly played just 2 games. Music is where I struggled. It's been an odd year, a great year with some amazing trips - New Zealand (and Singapore), Budapest and Ireland. Some wonderful comedy highlights, a few comedy lows, a new internal job and many other ups and downs. It's probably why there were gaps in my reading and not so many games played.

Not all of the following were realised this year, some were late 2022 and some even earlier than that, but I just got to them this year.

Favourite 10 Films (by no means are some of these the best!)

Barbie - Greta Gerwig

Oppenheimer - Christopher Nolan

65 - Scott Beck & Bryan Woods

Napoleon - Ridley Scott

Saltburn - Emerald Fennell

No one will save you - Brian Duffield

Barbarian - Zach Gregger

Guardian's of the Galaxy Vol 3 - James Gun

Talk to Me - Danny & Michael Philippou

John Wick Chapter 4 - Chad Stahelski

Cousins - Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith (Okay this is number 11, I couldn't leave it off!)

Favourite 10 Books of the year

The Mad Women's Ball - Victoria Mas

MilkFed - Melissa Broder

Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Jules Verne

Grief is the thing with feathers - Max Porter

Life Ceremony - Sayaka Murata

Garth Merenghi's Terrortome

Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe - Thomas Ligotti

Lapvona - Ottessa Moshfegh

Gyo - Junji Ito

The final girl support group - Grady Hendrix

Favourite 10 Albums of the year

Sleep Token - Take me back to eden

Lana Del Rey - Did you know there's a tunnel under ocean boulevard

Father John Misty - I love you, Honeybear

Sparks - The Girl is crying in her latte

IAMX - Fault Lines

Avenged Sevenfold - Life is but a dream

Myrkur - Ragnarok

Electric Callboy - TEKKNO (tour ed)

Creeper - Sanguivore

Honourable mention to Gabrielle Aplin - Phosphorescent, two of the songs on the album (Skylight & Mariana Trench) are songs I've had on repeat and absolutely love. I enjoy the rest of the album, just not quite to fit into my top 10. Blink 182 - One More Time is another that was very close, I just haven't listened to it quite enough yet.

Song wise an honourable mention to 'Calm Down' - Rema & Solidarity - Gogol Bordello

Favourite 5 Games of the year

Bramble: The Mountain King - Hand's down, my favourite game of the year.

Persona 5

Fallout 4 - Yes, I finally started playing this again and am nearly at the end of the main story. I did play a few hours of Starfield, but wanted to wait until I'd finished this first.

Frog Detective - I loved this game so much.

Night at the Woods - This is me cheating, I've played it through twice before...it's been on a list in a previous year too. I just haven't played much new stuff this year.

I got Harvest Moon: Winds of Athos & Detective Pikachu Returns for Christmas, I also bought myself the AC: Valhalla DLC's - it is likely all three will be on my list next year.

#New Year #2023 #End of Year #End of Year Blog Post #Favourite Books #Favourite Music #Favourite Games #Favourite Movies

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neyatimes · 2 years ago

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SZA, Ice Spice and more

Barack Obama is weighing in on the songs and books we should all be diving into this summer. The former president turned cultural tastemaker shared what he’s recently been listening to and reading on Thursday in the annual tradition of sharing his summer lists. “Check them out and let me know what I should be reading next,” he wrote in his social media post about his recommended books. Obama’s…

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curiousconch · 3 years ago

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Seasons Change in Circles (Part 1)

Spinoff Synopsis: As the holiday cheer begins, Alex and Gabe finds themselves in the opposite sides of the celebratory spectrum. A figure from Alex's past attempt to bridge the gap between them, in time before the year closes and another season begins.

Book/Pairing: Choices - Laws of Attraction / Gabe Ricci x MC (Alex Keating)

Words: 600+

Rating/Warnings: Teen / language

Author's Notes: This is a two-part mini-series I wrote to answer the prompts requests (which will be in bold) for Alex & Gabe. I know it's been long since I posted anything here, but a promise is a promise. Wanted to share this to everyone who loved, and still loves Alex and Gabe. Thank you for your continued support, regardless of me being in hiatus. See you in part 2!

This was inspired by the song Circles by Post Malone. Disclaimer: Some characters belong to Pixelberry. I am merely borrowing them.

Winter Night, In a penthouse in New York

I honestly don't fucking get the hype of the holidays.

Well, maybe, that was then. But now...

Alex thought to herself, as she stood leaning on the glass wall of Gabe's spacious penthouse suite. All of the things that she discovered about her lover made her a little sentimental.

Gabe, for all of his bravado, had an weird fixation for the holidays.

Ever since the harsh New York winter came around, he had just became so... cheery. His usual snark was replaced by a borderline-creepy glow in him that emanated from his every waking moment.

Even as Alex watched him sleeping soundly on his beige couch, she could still feel his obsession for all things merry and bright.

It was obvious by the Christmas tree that stood in his living room, where décor of various shades of red hung and a string of fairy lights clinging along the edges of its leaves. It cast a soft yellow light against her outline.

Tonight had been the first time she saw the Christmas tree up close.

He explained once that Rob loved Christmas. And Gabe lived to its full as a sort of annual tradition to honor his memory.

Her lips pursed, tightening the furrow in her brows as she shifted her gaze to the city lights outside.

It was snowing.

Unlike Gabe, for the last decade, Alex wallowed in the bad memories that seemed to accompany the snow. Every time she closed her eyes and thought of the cold, white powder on the ground, she was instantly reminded of the night she lost everything.

She'd avoided anything that came with the season, spending most of it either alone or lost in a sea of revelers as a bartender.

And now, it's being shoved in her face.

She shuddered.

Alex had a sudden need to run away, far, far from it all.

And that's exactly what she did.

***

A few hours later

Gabe's deep slumber was interrupted by the incessant ringing of his phone.

He groaned, lazily grabbing it and shoving it to his ear.

Before he could say anything, he heard a loud roaring from the other end of the line.

"Gabriel Ricci?" a vaguely familiar female voice said.

His eyes opened. "Yes?" Glancing at the caller ID, he abruptly sat up.

It can't be.

Now fully awake, his mind became alert and confused. He looked at the armchair opposite him, the usual leather bag and the black heels nowhere to be found.

He looked once again at the screen. Alex Keating.

"Hello? This is Heather, Alex's best friend." He barely heard the words behind the boisterous racket of background noise.

"Why are you calling from her phone?" Gabe asked, standing up.

"Oh, well... It's a long story," the voice sighed. "Can you come here please? Alex needs you."

With that, she mentioned a name of a dive bar they frequented.

"Are you coming?" she inquired, when he heard the faintest sound of Alex's inebriated giggle.

Gabe frantically went out the door, grabbing his coat as he headed out. "Stay there. I'm on my way."

***

From the below prompt request:

Tag list: @adiehardfan @pixelnathayes @starryjieun @latinagiraffe @sarcastic01lily @spookycolorpeanut @ophrookie @suitfer @thegreentwin @mkatschoicesblog @made-of-roses @lillijil@kachrisberry @weaving-in-words @peonierose @wanderingamongthewildflowers

@choicesficwriterscreations @lawsofattractionfanfiction

#choices fanfiction #choices laws of attraction fanfiction #laws of attraction fan fiction #gabe ricci x mc #gabe ricci #gabe ricci x alex keating #fics of the week

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rabbitcruiser · 2 years ago

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Towel Day

History of Towel Day

Towel Day timeline

1978 An Oeuvre is Born

Douglas Adams's radio series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is broadcast for the first time — kickstarting a long line of adaptations into other formats.

2001 Wrap It

The first Towel Day ever is celebrated on May 25, 2001, just two weeks after Adams's death on May 11.

2012 Mind Bogglingly Big

In January, the Huffington Post lists Towel Day as a cult literary tradition.

2013 The Good Towels

The Norwegian public transport company Kolumbus gives away special towels to customers.

2015 What is the Universe for?

On Towel Day, astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti signals a Towel Day greeting and reads from ‘‘The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’’ from the International Space Station.

Towel Day Activities

Carry a towel

Use a line from the series

Visit the website

5 Facts About Douglas Adams

An asteroid is named after him

He appeared in a famous TV show

He was friends with David Gilmour

He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro ... but there's more

He wrote a few "Doctor Who" episodes

In 2001, Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project discovered an asteroid and named it 25924 Douglasadams.

He was a contributing writer for several episodes of the famous British series, "Doctor Who."

Why We Love Towel Day

Online antics

Book marathon

Galaxy binge session

Source

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acrossthewavesoftime · 4 years ago

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I hope you aren’t cross with me for answering this question in a post, but I didn’t want to be dependent on the character limit for direct messages, so here’s a little post. :-)

If I remember correctly, you did ask me once before, and alas, I still have no idea. The closest I can offer you is The Female Sailor, which dates to approximately 1710.

That however, does not necessarily mean anything at all; considering the wealth of dancing instructions, books and annual releases such as Playford’s English Dancing Master or Thompson’s Country Dances, not to speak of the many, less famous others, I’d say chances that the one internet rando you know who does that sort of thing is familiar with this one specific dance or knows exactly where to find it were low from the start.

The ‘problem’ with country dances is, they’re vastly different from what would count as traditional ballroom dancing nowadays in that each melody has a distinct choreography. Consider now the amount of country dances in existence, and it becomes nigh impossible even for professionals to know them all. That’s also why different instructors or dance groups often have drastically different repertoires; there are just so many to choose from. To illustrate this, as I was chatting with my dancing instructor about personal writings as sources on dances and the social events connected to dancing, I mentioned reading about a Scottish tune and accompanying dance called Mony Musk in Elizabeth Simcoe’s Diary, which I knew because I have a background in making traditional (albeit Irish, not Scottish) music and thus had come across one or the other video of people dancing to the tune and assumed it was fairly popular and well-known. Well, she’d never heard of it before.

There is a reason why modern-day historical dance events are either regulated by sending you a list of choreographies to study beforehand, or opt for a person explaining each dance to the room while dancing. Historically speaking, particularly the latter option isn’t even that off; when a specific dance was requested, the leading couple (i.e. those who requested it) would show how it is done to their immediate neighbours, causing the dance to ‘travel’ down the rows of dancers who’d proceed to observe and then join in with a little delay.

Of course, I looked around some databases and indexes, but sadly couldn’t find what you are looking for.

As for the naming of country dances, the people who choreographed them needed to come up with a distinctive title for each dance, because on account of the sheer number of dances there were, vague descriptions such as “the one with the dos à dos“ or “yet another double minor longways” wouldn’t have helped.

…Which is how we end up with the most randomly named country dances such as Wooden Shoes, The Chestnut, Johnny I’ll Tickle Thee, Excuse Me, or, my favourite, Lawyers Leave Your Pleading. It’s probable the person coming up with the name often just let themselves influence by their immediate surroundings. There are also lots of country dances named for places, people both real and fictional or specific dates and holidays. Current affairs or patriotic sentiments could also inspire a choreographer in need of a name (e.g. Marlborough’s Victory, His Majesty’s Health), not to speak of the slightly more risqué titles (e.g. Frisky Mollie’s Delight, Buxom Betty).

So who knows, maybe the person who named The Female Soldier was indeed inspired by Deborah Sampson, particularly if the dance was of local origin. I would guess though that particularly in the case of dances whose titles were chosen as references to current events, people (unless really famous like e.g. royalty) and pop culture of the day, these would have faded over time, particularly since these dances enjoyed a long history, with some of them, e.g. from the first Playford manuals in the mid-17thcentury, still being danced in the early 19th century.

Perhaps the document you found the reference in might be helpful in uncovering The Female Soldier. Are there any other clues? I know my way around the dancing manuals of the British Isles to some degree, but perhaps looking for American publications might be an option worth exploring? Assuming the title does indeed refer to Deborah Sampson, I’d guess she would have been more famous stateside than in Britain.

Happy searching, and be assured that you’re not the only one searching for an obscure dance; my goal is to find the mysterious Le Jupon rouge (The Red Skirt), a French dance Elizabeth Simcoe enjoyed on one night out partying in Québec.

So, to everyone out there: if you happen to know The Female Soldier or Le Jupon rouge, please contact @benjhawkins or myself! :-)

#ask reply #ask #benjhawkins #historical dancing #dancing #country dance #country dances #playford #thompson #dancing master

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leomitchellart · 5 years ago

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So… about this latest Inktober controversy….

Time to begrudgingly chuck in my two penneth… (Remeber you can always press “J” to skip this post altogether)

As most of you may or may not know, Alphonso Dunn released a Youtube video wherein he publicly accused Jake Parker, and creator of the Inktober challenge, of plagiarising his book. Both of these men are public figures, artists specialising in pen & ink. In the video Dunn looks at the preview pages and flip through footage of Parker’s “Inktober All Year Round” and says they draw many similarities in the illustrations, language and layout that he used in his own book, “Pen & Ink Drawing”. Parker’s book was set to this month. Hense why Dunn only used footage and not a physical copy.

Since the video’s release, the art community has been very spilt down the middle. The book’s publisher has halted the launch of Parker’s book until the matter can be investigated. Even DeviantArt cancelled their own Inktober event thing (I’ll admit I don’t keep up with these things DA keeps doing). Parker has since released a statement in the matter. Now it’s up to the courts to decide what’s happening next. The video itself is an hour long, but it’s crucial to see it yourself.

People are, understandably, outraged after seeing it. This seems like a shitty thing to rip-off Dunn - not to mention stupid. Since Dunn is the more popular pen & ink artist with more social media followers and name recognition. Many have called to boycott inktober and condemn Parker. I’ll admit, I was right alongside them at first, at least for feeling outraged. The similarities are there. But if YMS’s Kimba video has taught me anything, it’s that, even if an accusation of plagiarism may be obvious at a cursory glance, sometimes it’s important to take a more critical eye and do more research to learn that things aren’t as cut and dry as they first seem. If there’s a lesson I can take away from the internet as a whole, it’s that no one thinks about the consequences of mob mentality.

The most common defence of Parker is that because they’re both books about pen and ink drawing, then they’re inevitably going to be similar. I’ll admit that, when you pick-up so many art books, a lot of them will cover the same basic grounds of materials, tutorials, strokes, techniques etc. The parts about rendering textures on spheres and cubes isnt new. Look up “texture study” and you’ll see so many examples of artists rendering these kinds of things digitally. I’ve also noticed a common theme of people more formally educated in art pointing out how none of these are original. Everything down to the steps and illustrations are things they’ve learned from years ago. Since I'm a pen & ink artist, inspired by my love of comics, I have quite a few books about inking: Dunn’s included. I own both his books and still highly recommend them. I didn't even preorder Parker’s book. Ironically because I didn't think it could offer anything new that my other books hadn’t already.

While Ethan Becker took the time to cross-examine Dunn and Parker’s books with several others, there weren’t many of the ones I actually owned. So I looked to my shelves to see what I could find. Books like:

“The Art of Comic Book Inking” by Gary Martin & Steve Rude

“How Comics Work” by Dave Gibbons & Tim Pilcher

“The DC Comics guide to Inking Comics” by Klaus Janson

“Making Comics” by Scott McCloud

“Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics”

I’m sure there’s plenty more examples out there. I was planning to go through all of these and take pictures. But ultimately that’s not the core point of these post. Plus it would’ve taken WAY too long and this post itself, is long enough.

Of course, none of the them are 100% close to Dunn’s in the way they’re displayed. Not as close as Parker’s could be considered. That being said, I know Dunn is trying to claim that he invented these techniques. The nucleus of the issue is how similar they are in terms of order and how these pages are displayed. Some I can chock-up to standard practice, while others seem more coincidental.

If there’s one thing I’m adamant about, it’s that I think that Dunn should’ve messaged Parker first before making the accusation public. Some try to dispute that this would've made it easier for Dunn to be “silenced”, whatever that means; but that sounds a bit conspiratorial to me. Ideally, you confront him about it in private, if he makes any threats or blows you off, get your lawyer on the phone and then make the video. Not only is it the more civil thing to do - but it’s the smarter thing to do. This is a serious legal matter, not just internet drama. While I’m sure Dunn had no intention of tearing Parker down or getting a mob onto him, that’s unfortunately what’s happened. A backlash both from the general artisan community and several companies. Wherein it was left to Parker himself to make this an official legal matter. If Parker’s found not guilty, then this could easily leave the gate open for him to sue Dunn for damages, loss of revenue, defamation of character or whatever else, should he see fit. As could the publishers, given how this affected their sales. Companies responded to the accusation of the video alone, before an investigation could be launched. Sure, it wouldn't be “acting the bigger man” but he’d be well within his right to do it. Dunn showed that Jake has mentioned him before, shown admiration for his career and referenced him in other posts. If it comes to light in court, that Dunn is even cited as an inspiration or source in the book itself, then it’s case closed.

Then there’s the other possibility that Parker might not have done this on his own, but that he has a team behind the book. If that’s the case, the most I can accuse Parker of is being a hack. I worry Dunn has kneecapped himself for just how badly he’s handled this situation. Made worse by him not having an actual physical copy to assess and just had footage of preview pages to go on. So far, the circumstances don’t seem on his favour.

I don’t think ill of Dunn. I do think he believes he’s been wronged and no malice in his intentions. I just think he’s made some critical errors on how to handled this. As for Parker himself, I couldn't give a donkey’s doo-dah about him. I’m sure you could accuse me of playing devil’s advocate earlier, but to me, he was the guy who released the annual prompt list. If it really does turn out that he’s a plagiarist and had malicious intent, then fuck ‘im. I never regarded him as an inspiration of mine or paid much attention to him outside of that. It was the community that made Inktober what it is. I’ve never met Parker. Maybe he’s a cool guy? Maybe he’s a bellend? I don’t know.

Granted this isn't the first time Parker has proved himself to be a controversial figure: - Last year people were upset about him trademarking (not copywriting, as many have erroneously claimed) the word “Inktober” and some artists were stopped from selling their related work or zines. Parker would issue a statement: claiming the takedowns were a mistake of “overzealous lawyers” and it’s just a matter of the logo being trademarked. People can sell their Inktober works and even mention they are Inktober-related. Just not use the official logo. On the one hand, from a business standpoint, I get it. It’s the bare minimum you need to do to protect your IP, especially when you have a store. BUT, like most people, I don’t like how, what’s intended as a community challenge, has slowly become more of a brand associated with one man. Hardly a surprise it left a bad taste in so many people’s mouths. But, since it doesn't actually effect anyone’s ability to take part in the challenge, outside of personal principle, I went ahead with it the previous year.

- The year before, when asked if one can do Inktober digitally, Parker said the following:

I know some are still bitter about that, but speaking as someone who inks traditionally and digitally, this came across as needless whinging and blowing things out of proportion. Claiming that Jake had derided digital artists and said they were invalid etc etc. Take it from me, challenging yourself to try out different methods to ink traditionally can greatly improve the work you do digitally. It’s like how learning traditional fundamentals of art can still be applied to digital. Plus he never said “No.” he just gave valid reasons about how it makes it a different experience. That said, if you’re someone who can’t afford any kind of inking equipment or pens and only have a selected application to draw on - then none of this applies to you. Just the aforementioned few who took it upon themselves to get angry over nothing. Recently I’ve heard from subscribers of his newsletter that he’s now embraced the idea of people doing inktober digitally, to the point of selling digital brushes for inktober. I’m sure some will call this “backsliding” or “money grubbing” because people aren’t allowed to change their minds or update their statements.

For weeks I’ve been torn on what to do, not being able to solidify one stance over another. One minute I thought #JusticeForAlphonsoDunn then I wonder “Wait maybe I should look again?” to “But wait, those are way too similar!” Having splinters in my arse from sitting on the fence for so long. The longer this went on, however, I began to realise that I can’t take one stance over another. This case is far too muddy and complicated. I don’t have enough sufficient knowledge or evidence. Nor do any of you. We literally only have Dunn’s video to go on. While it’s a good start, it’s not enough to be taken 100% as gospel when it’s the only thing to hand.

As previously mentioned, a lot of artists have decided to not take part in Inktober at all, or follow different prompt lists. That’s completely fine. A lot of them are based around a specific theme: halloween, kinky stuff, bears, transformers, OCs, Disney or whatever. That has massive appeal. I just can’d do it myself. I prefer the focus on random words, rather than all centred on a single subject; allowing me to be creative with my ideas and execution. I actually did try to make a list of my own random words. Problem is, I worried that because I was choosing my own, I might be subconsciously bias towards certain prompts and not truly challenging myself. Even narrowing down my options was taking too long. In the end…. I’ve decided to just do the official prompts again this year.

For me, that’s what it ultimately came down to. TIME. It’s the middle of September. I can’t afford to wait for the court case to be settled. No other prominent artists I respect have released their own prompt lists. I know there’s been some shitty people who are condemning this choice. Attacking others, accusing them of supporting plagiarism, looking to block anyone who does the official prompts. Even trying to make this a racial issue. Just…. no.

If someone doesn’t want to take part in Inktober, that’s fine. If someone wants to do the official prompts, that’s fine. If someone wants to do their own prompts, that’s fine.

Don’t go around aggressively making snap judgements or accusing people of taking a side. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable. This has been a shit year, let people enjoy something.

If you look at this situation and it makes you feel angry, and you don’t feel comfortable in taking part in a challenge because of it’s creator. I get that, I literally get that. It’s why I haven't done Mermay. And please don’t mention Pinktober, I’m aware of it, but given his insta video on the subject and the things he said, I quickly came to the conclusion that I can’t take this person seriously. I’m sure this might make me seem hypocritical, but how this differs, if only for me, is the sheer amount Inktober means to me. It’s more than a simple challenge. Inktober's the one thing I’ve been most excited about all year. As it was ruined for me in 2019, when I lost my home and I didn't get to complete every prompt. (Long story, I’m okay now). As we all know, 2020, has been an AWFUL year. We’ve got to take whatever joy we can. As I’ve looked longer at the official prompts, I found ideas I’m really excited for.

Once I started to really dedicate myself to it, it became a massive event. I hype myself up as I prepare for the busy month. Buy in supplies, clean the house and workspace, cook and freeze meals in bulk to save time, printing off a sheet that allows me to jot down ideas as I plan ahead. Then once it’s done, after so much work, it makes the reward all the sweeter: Ordering a takeaway, celebrating a great halloween night and still rocking those vibes throughout November. Feeling proud of myself for doing it and seeing myself improve my technique, discipline and earning a few lie-ins to make up for the sleep I lost working. I’m like a kid waiting for Christmas. That said, don’t think that there’s something wrong with you when you understandably can’t dedicate that amount time for a simple art challenge. If anything that’s plenty of reason to why you’re smarter than me. You have a life and don’t push yourself too much.

Now, I need to crack on with the preparations. If you want to boycott Jake Parker, just not buying any of his products should be enough. Doing the inktober challenge doesn't bring attention to him, as I doubt most people even know him as the creator, nor does it even line his pockets. I just hate how cancel culture can do such serious damage like this and then try and put pressure on others to act accordingly without even doing any research themselves.

As long as you’re not harassing anybody. Just do what YOU want to do. That’s fine.

#Inktober #Inktober 2020 #My two penneth #Jake Parker #alphonso dunn

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luthienebonyx · 4 years ago

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Friday's Child - Georgette Heyer, HEYER Georgette - Works Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Gil Ringwood/Ferdy Fakenham, Anthony "Sherry" Sheringham/Hero Wantage, Isabella Milborne/George Wrotham Characters: Gilbert Ringwood, Ferdinand Fakenham, Anthony "Sherry" Sheringham, Hero Wantage, George Wrotham, Isabella Milborne, Chilham (Friday's Child) Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Past unrequited love, Eventual Requited Love, Pining, Idiots in Love, just generally idiots, Friendship, Romance, Marriage, Pregnancy, Comedy, Romantic Comedy, a teensy bit of angst, The Season, Christmas, Road Trips, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED, On Purpose, hedgerows, Jealousy, Hurt/Comfort, Regency, obviously, elaborate descriptions of clothing, Minor Original Character(s), Across a crowded (ball)room, What Happened After, Post-Canon Summary:

The tale of a memorable and eventful six months in the life of Mr Gilbert Ringwood, Esq., following the marriage of his friend, Lord Wrotham, to Miss Isabella Milborne in June, 1817.

Okay, so this is my YULETIDE AUTHOR REVEAL, and there is quite a story to this one. Fair warning, this is an EXTREMELY self-indulgent post.

Every single story I've written for Yuletide over the years is one that I probably wouldn't have otherwise written, and every single one of them has also wound up being amongst my personal favourites of my own work. I've loved writing all of them. However, the story I wrote this year is one I've been talking about writing for quite literally twenty years, but the history of it goes back even further. So, sit back, and I'll tell you the tale of the long path that eventually led me to writing That Greek Thing.

Some years ago (Shall we specify that it was the ninth decade of the Twentieth Century? Yes, I think we shall!) there lived a girl who was at that rather difficult age when she was no longer a child nor yet a young lady. This girl, whom we shall, for the sake of convenience, call Miss L, lived in a village by the sea in a far distant, Antipodean land. She was a quiet, bookish beanpole of a girl, almost a bluestocking - the sort of individual who lived rather too much in her own head, in fact. One day, as Miss L browsed the offerings on the secondhand book table at the annual fete of the local church, she chanced upon a volume, sadly dog-eared and with a long crease right through the front cover, titled ‘A Civil Contract’ by Georgette Heyer, which had clearly become surplus to its previous owner's requirements. Miss L had recently read and loved Miss Austen's ‘Pride and Prejudice’ for the first time, and it was immediately obvious to her that Miss Heyer's work was set in a similar time period.

So Miss L bought A Civil Contract, and read it, and laughed heartily at the various supporting characters such as Mr Chawleigh, but her youthful heart found the arranged marriage central to the story rather more serious and subdued than she had been expecting. It was not really the book she had expected it to be, but it tugged at her memory, so when she was next perusing the titles at her local library and she chanced upon another title by Miss Heyer, she resolved that she should give it a chance.

She loved this book - though which one it was, exactly, of Miss Heyer's many works is lost to the mists of time - and thus was born a great and enduring literary love.

Miss L noted the very long list entitled "By the same author" at the front of ‘A Civil Contract’ and embarked upon a most determined pursuit, proceeding to haunt fetes, book exchanges and other such faintly disreputable premises in which secondhand books were to be found, in search of Heyers she had yet to read. Dear reader, you must remember that this was long ago, and if it was not quite before the Internet itself, it was certainly well before the advent of the world wide web. One could not simply conduct a quick search and download a book into one's own hands in the space of a few minutes. One could not even easily order books, except through the auspices of an official bookseller - and Miss L was young, and sadly short of funds.

So Miss L hunted most carefully, and over the next several years amassed a collection of all of Miss Heyer's novels set in England during that period between 1811 and 1820 known as the Regency. However, Miss L never met another soul who would admit to having even once read any of Miss Heyer's works, though clearly such persons must be out there somewhere - for otherwise, where would all the books in Miss L's collection have come from? So Miss L continued, hugging Miss Heyer's works to her as her special secret. She read other works set in what was then becoming known as the Regency romance genre, but they were as pale copies of Miss Heyer's sparkling and beautifully researched originals, and she soon lost interest.

Miss L grew older, and assumed the life of a young lady, and other considerations took up much of her time and attention. However, she always returned to Miss Heyer's novels eventually, greeting them like old friends who would never fail to make her smile in the midst of troubled times.

Things continued thus until the closing years of the century - and, indeed, the millennium - when Miss L one day stumbled upon that wondrous community known as online fandom. The fannish life soon consumed much of her time, and she read a great deal of "fanfiction" while also, hesitantly, trying her own hand at writing and sharing offerings of her own.

And then came a most unexpected occurrence. Miss L was reading through the daily bulletin from her favoured Xena: Warrior Princess/Hercules: the Legendary Journeys slash Mailing List, when lo, she espied a most intriguing subject line. It proclaimed, very simply: "FIC: Regency Fuck (1/?)".

Here we shall pause a moment to explain that while, in these modern times, the genre known as the Regency AU is quite well-known in fandom, at that time, more than twenty years ago, this was not at all the case. AUs themselves were not near as wide-spread a phenomenon as they are today, and Miss L had never in her life even considered the possibility of the existence of such a thing as a Regency AU - and yet there it was, before her.

She read the first chapter of Regency Fuck most quickly, and then went to see what other members of the Mailing List might have made of it. The chapter had been received in a most positive light, but everyone else searched and failed to find exactly the right description to do it justice. Most compared it to Miss Austen's work. However, Miss L knew something that all the other members of the Mailing List (except ONE other, clearly) did not: Miss Heyer's very first novel set during the Regency period had been entitled Regency Buck. Miss L had squealed with joy upon reading the first chapter of Regency Fuck, for it was not merely a story set during the Regency but rather, and most clearly, one set in Miss Heyer's very particular version of that period.

So at last Miss L gathered her courage and sent an email to the author. Its exact contents are also lost in the mists of time, however the general gist was: SLASHY GEORGETTE HEYER?! - to which the author of Regency Fuck replied, just as ecstatically: YES!

Thus began a correspondence about gentlemen in tight breeches that continues to this very day. The author of Regency Fuck, whom we shall call Miss Damerel - actually, no we shall not, for as everyone with any proper understanding would know, Damerel is a title NOT merely a surname. Therefore, we shall refer to her henceforward as Lady Damerel. (In any event, Lady Damerel was not then yet going by the pen name Damerel, for in that case Miss L should have been left in no doubt whatsoever about which of Miss Heyer's heroes Lady Damerel numbered amongst her veriest favourites.)

So Miss L and Lady Damerel continued their correspondence as Regency Fuck grew longer and longer, and it was no doubt at about this time that first mention was made of Miss Heyer's 1944 novel Friday's Child, and in particular two of the primary supporting characters, Mr Gilbert Ringwood and the Honourable Ferdinand Fakenham, and how very easy it would be to slash them.

"Someone should write it," Miss L opined.

"Yes, someone should," Lady Damerel agreed.

"I should probably write it," Miss L continued.

"Yes, you should," Lady Damerel said, with great eagerness.

However, Miss L did not write it, though she continued to mention the idea of it every now and then in the years that followed. And a great many years did follow. Miss L and Lady Damerel drifted in different fannish directions, but their friendship remained true - for who else in the world could quite understand their twin mutual and abiding loves for Miss Heyer's works and gentlemen getting each other out of their tight breeches?

Some eight years after their first acquaintance, Miss L journeyed to Great Britain, where she met Lady Damerel in the flesh at last. They travelled together to Bath, and spent a most diverting time there, imagining this or that of Miss Heyer's characters walking the streets, taking Georgian elevenses at the Pump Room, and drinking rather too much of a mysterious white liqueur (which they had discovered in a local tavern) in the evenings at their hotel.

At the end of their time in Bath, they parted sorrowfully, knowing that it would be long before they set eyes on each other again, and went back to their lives. Of course, the correspondence continued, just as before.

At around this time, Miss L first took part in the great fannish holiday time tradition of Yuletide. She was quite overwhelmed to discover that asking for a Heyer story was an option open to her, but she gathered her courage and did ask for such a thing, and received a most delightful story based on The Foundling as her gift. In later years, she received other beautiful little Heyer stories at Yuletide, but she could not quite find in herself the mettle, or perhaps the presumption, required to offer to write Heyer fic herself - for what if she could not do it justice?

Miss L did write Regency AUs in a number of fandoms in the years that followed, however, and she enjoyed the experience very much. She then fell away from writing anything at all for a number of years, and began to wonder if she would ever write fanfiction again.

She was, naturally, quite in the wrong in making this assumption, and in mid-2019 a new fandom set her to writing great screeds again. However, the very first thing she had written that year was actually a drabble - a story of exactly 100 words - using characters from Miss Heyer's Frederica in filling a request for Miss @thisbluespirit, in a small fandom challenge in which they were both taking part. It was a small step, but a very important one.

That year, Miss L took part in Yuletide again for the first time in some five years. However, it was not until the end of the following year - that damnable year, 2020, of which we will not speak further - that Miss L finally decided that THIS would be the year that she would finally write a full-blown Heyer fic. She signed up for Yuletide, offering nine fandoms in all, but rather stacking the odds by ensuring that seven of those fandoms were Heyer novels. It seemed as if Fate must have taken a hand when she received her assignment and discovered that she had been matched with her recipient, Miss @afterism, for none other than Miss Heyer's Friday's Child. Upon investigating further, she discovered that Miss Afterism was particularly fond of Gil/Ferdy - and so, at last, Miss L embarked on writing the story that she had been considering for so long, some 35 (or perhaps even more) years after first reading Friday's Child.

Dear Reader, she ADORED writing this story. She did, of course, e-mail Lady Damerel posthaste to let her know that she was at last writing Gil and Ferdy's story. She was also anxious to share with Lady Damerel - because she knew that no other of her acquaintance would quite understand - how she had quite burst out laughing when, while walking her dog - who is, of course, named Lufra after the family dog in Frederica - one day she had realised that this story could only be titled That Greek Thing.

And so at last That Greek Thing was completed and posted and, on Christmas Day, the Yuletide collection was revealed. Very fortunately, Miss Afterism was very happy with That Greek Thing. Lady Damerel also squeed in a most unladylike way about it, and others also commented with words of approval.

Miss L ventures to believe that this story is actually the story that she wanted it to be, and hoped so very hard that it would be, and she still cannot quite believe that she has written it at last. Of everything she has ever written for Yuletide, it is the most special to her.

She thanks you very much for reading both the story - if you have done so - and this most self-indulgent narrative.

#yuletide #author reveal #georgette heyer #friday's child #fannish history

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lgbtqreads · 5 years ago

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This is an annual feature that runs a little differently from the rest on LGBTQReads, as the post builds on itself each year and new titles/sections are added with asterisks. These books are all queer titles by Black authors, the vast majority of which star Black main characters. (Obviously this isn’t remotely exhaustive.)

Sites

Sistahs on the Shelf – SotS is run by Rena, a Black lesbian who reviews Black lesbian books. You can also follow on Twitter at @SotS!

WoC in Romance – this is a site highlighting all Romance written by WoC, but there’s a page just for LGBTQ Romances. It’s run by Rebekah Weatherspoon, whose name you may recognize as being a prolific author of LGBTQ lit herself! You can follow on Twitter at @WOCInRomance, and make sure you check out their Patreon; link is in the pinned tweet!

Black Lesbian Literary Collective – To nab from their site, “The Black Lesbian Literary Collective creates a nurturing and sustainable environment for Black lesbian and queer women of color writers.” Looking for more reviews of Black lesbian fic? Ta da! The site is new, so it’s not packed with posts just yet, but there is already an active radio show linked to it. Find them on Twitter at @LezWriters.

The Brown Bookshelf – this is a site dedicated to Black kidlit; here are the posts that come up if you search LGBT.

Books

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*=new additions this year

Middle-Grade

Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender (Stonewall Award Winner)

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson

Young Adult

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum*

The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta* (Stonewall Award winner)

This is What it Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron*

A Phoenix First Must Burn ed. by Patrice Caldwell

This is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kacen Callender

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender*

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert (Stonewall Award winner)

Until You Came Back by Jay Coles

Jake in the Box by Ryan Douglass

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi (National Book Award finalist)

The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons

Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett

The Secrets of Eden by Brandon Goode

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson*

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson*

Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson*

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

If it Makes You Happy by Claire Kann

37 Things I Love (in No Particular Order) by Kekla Magoon

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney

Escaping Mr. Rochester by L.L. McKinney*

Home and Away by Candice Montgomery (Bi LI)

By Any Means Necessary by Candice Montgomery

The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus (CSK Nominee)

Odd One Out by Nic Stone

Running with Lions by Julian Winters

How to Be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters

The Summer of Everything by Julian Winters*

The Beauty that Remains by Ashley Woodfolk

Black Enough ed. by Ibi Zoboi

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NA/Adult Contemporary

The Way Back List by Lily Anderson*

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole

A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole*

Hamilton’s Battalion by Alyssa Cole, Courtney Milan, and Rose Lerner

A Hundred Thousand Words by Nyrae Dawn*

Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

For Sizakele by Yvonne Fly Onakeme Etaghene

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo*

Work For It by Talia Hibbert*

Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala

The Spies Who Loved Her series by Katrina Jackson

The Welcome to Seaport series by Katrina Jackson

Neighborly by Katrina Jackson*

The Summer We Got Free by Mia McKenzie*

She Called Me Woman ed. by Azeenarh Mohammed, Chitra Nagarajan, and Aisha Salau

Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

When We Speak of Nothing by Olumide Popoola

You Make Me Wanna by Nikki Rashan*

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers*

Real Life by Brandon Taylor*

F*ths by G.L. Thomas

Sugar and Ice by Brooklyn Wallace

Tailor-Made by Yolanda Wallace

Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon

So Sweet by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Bliss by Fiona Zedde*

NA/Adult (Speculative)

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James*

To Terminator, With Love by Wes Kennedy

Shatterproof by Xen Sanders

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

The Deep by Rivers Solomon*

The Root by Na’amen Gobert Tilahun

Better off Red by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Every Dark Desire by Fiona Zedde

Comics/Graphic Novels*

Bingo Love by Tee Franklin

Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu

Memoirs*

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson (YA)

How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones

Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me by Janet Mock

Poetry*

The Tradition by Jericho Brown

When the Only Light is Fire by Saeed Jones

Black Queer Hoe by Britteney Black Rose Kapri

Reacquainted With Life by KOKUMỌ

The Black Unicorn by Audre Lord

[insert] boy by Danez Smith

Homie by Danez Smith

Featured Authors

Katrina Jackson

Candice Montgomery

Julian Winters

Kayla Ancrum

Rebecca Barrow

Kacen Callender

Brandon L.G. Taylor

Rebekah Weatherspoon

Discussion Posts

Where is the Queer Black Male Voice in YA Lit?

Have more to share? Add them in the comments!

Black History Month 2020 This is an annual feature that runs a little differently from the rest on LGBTQReads, as the post builds on itself each year and new titles/sections are added with asterisks.

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