#is a catchphrase i started using a lot lately

[b9horpet]

I think about this post every time i have some difficulties with my linux setup (basically daily)

[artsyannierose]

Movie sonamy hcs?

i feel like i haven't solidified an opinion of them just because Amy's character can be taken and interpreted in so many different ways, which inevitably makes it so that movie sonamy has many different possibilities

but here i'll try

1. I think Amy will live with the Wachowskis

i know a lot of people are concerned about her technically getting adopted, making her and Sonic adopted siblings but like...no?? She could just live there and have a familial relationship with everyone except Sonic and not get officially adopted

she gives sibling vibes with knuckles anyway, and im sure maddie is going to be thrilled to have amy in the house

or maybe they can all be her in-laws /j

2. Sonic and Amy definitely have beef at first

Doesn't matter about what, they're constantly biting at each other for the dumbest stuff

For example, Amy def likes manga the way Sonic likes comics, and they both fight about which is better

but like give them a week and now both of them never shut up once they start talking about their interests, and pretty soon everyone else just leaves the room and they will yap for HOURS

3. Amy's all girlboss since she's had to live on her own for so long, but the second she realizes she has a knight in shining armor now she totally plays the part

Like she beats up Eggman when he tries to kidnap her, but the second she realizes Sonic was coming to save her, she quickly runs back and sits all dolled up and pretty waiting for him

meanwhile eggman is sitting in his ruined rubble pile like "wtf"

4. Right from the get-go Amy makes it clear that she thinks Sonic is cute

She'll constantly make off-handed comments like "We can't do that, cause singed fur isn't a good look on your handsome face" and Sonic's thrown off at first but as she keeps doing it he eats it up

but bro cannot say that she's pretty to save his life even though she's literally the prettiest person he's ever seen in his entire life)

5. Sonic grows dependent on Amy’s attention

While everyone obviously believes in him and is not shy of saying so (save for Knuckles), there’s something different about having someone you like always hyping you up and doting on you, and he likes it a lot

Kind of like Twitter Takeover Sonic, when Amy said “You’re my one, perfect Sonic,” and he just laughed happily.

6. Whenever Sonic finds a new place of flowers while running around, he always brings one back for Amy

But of course, Amy always prefers it when Sonic takes her to the original place so she can take in the natural beauty

7. They start to mimic each other

This is a headcanon I share with modern SonAmy but you know how they say you act like the people you spend the most time with

Well yeah pretty soon after everything that happens in Sonic 4 you just see Amy tapping her foot when she’s impatient, Saying her catchphrase the way Sonic does, taunting her enemies the way Sonic does

But you also see Sonic showing more interest in fortune tellers, trying to cook chili dogs at Amy’s behest (which he usually would blow up the kitchen before), showing more interest in quill maintenance

im having a hard time coming up with stuff for him cuz idk how movie amy acts help

8. They are both AVID horror movie fans

Sonic used to have no one but Ozzie to watch horror movies with, because Tails sometimes gets scared but he’ll try to do it for Sonic, meanwhile Knuckles just flat out refuses

So when Amy comes along and she’s into horror movies as much as Sonic he’s just like “THE LOVE OF MY LIFE” and they just stay up super late watching horror movies only for everyone to find them the next morning all snuggled up with each other after falling asleep

Aaaaanyways maybe I’ll revisit this once we have a trailer of sorts but I hope this was entertaining :D

IM SO EXCITED FOR MOVIE SONAMY LETS SEE IF THEY OVERTAKE MODERN SONAMY AS MY FAVORITE

[ki56]

Sonadow Pride Month Prompts

I’ve seen a sonadow prompt calendar floating around and I really wanted to try writing some prompts from it. I did prompts 1-5 to cover the first five days of the month. Yeah, I did one day early, but I felt I could make it work.

I wrote these together to make a scene. It was a bit strange to since I don’t normally write quite like this when I make my fics, but it was a lot of fun honestly!

Credit for the sonadow calendar goes to @bloojay28. Thank you for creating this and sharing it! And Happy Pride Month everyone!

—————

Sonadow Prompts

*Shadow POV 3rd Person*

Prompt 1: Glitter

Shadow couldn’t believe he got talked into this. After constant nagging from Amy and begging from Cream, he found himself seated in the pink hedgehog’s living room. They practically ate his brain until he finally begrudgingly agreed to come over for arts and crafts. However, just because he came, didn’t mean he had to participate.

And thankfully, he hadn’t been the only one roped into this, or he would’ve thought that, if the other person who got dragged here hadn’t been Sonic of all people. To make matters worse, Amy and Cream decided they’d go to the kitchen to make treats; leaving the two male hedgehogs alone.

“Why the sour face?” Sonic probed with a smirk playing on his lips.

That stupid knowing grin meant the other was ready to tease and irritate him, which always made Shadow want to punch him. He didn’t hide this fact either as he muttered, "You hate this just as much as I do, so shut it.”

“Ah, don’t be like that,” Sonic chuckled as he laid an arm along his charcoal furred shoulders. “It’s not so bad now that we’re both here.”

“Get your arm off me.”

“Hmm~?”

Sonic hummed that annoying hum of his before invading his space even more. Shadow was on the verge of decking him, but then heard a whisper tickle one of his ears.

“You know you like this just as much as I do.”

Cheeks red as a tomato, the black speedster growled before he lunged towards Sonic, ready to knock him out.

The two hedgehogs got tangled in Shadow’s attempt to smack him, and they ended up fumbling off the pink cushions and onto the carpeted floor; not before the two heavily bumped into the wooden table beside them.

“Ah!”

Hitting the table caused an array of small bottles to topple over onto them, and to Shadow’s horror, it was a bunch of different colors of glitter that coated them both.

“You look like a sparkling rainbow Shads,” Sonic teased as he let out a breathy laugh, not even remotely bothered that he had just as much on himself. “Messing with you is always worth it.”

“Really now, because whenever I’m with you, I always wanna beat your face in.”

“Heh, you sure that’s really what you want to do in our current predicament?”

One dark brow rose curiously, until realizing what the azure speedster was referring to. Shadow had his hands by Sonic’s head while straddling his hips; their position making his tanned cheeks darken again.

“You’re so annoying.”

Giving a silly grin, Sonic made a shape with his hands to match his next words, “I heart you too Shads.”

Prompt 2: Heartbeat

Hearing Sonic’s stupid catchphrase he’s been using lately made Shadow grumble irritably. However, he didn’t get the chance to do anything else because Sonic suddenly lifted himself up on his elbows and instantly invaded his personal bubble.

“I think there’s other fun things we could do than just beating each other up,” Sonic whispered, his lips very subtly touching Shadow’s as he finished in a thick sensual tone, “Don’t you?”

Shadow’s heartbeat could probably be heard, it thumped so loud. He knew Sonic was messing with him. This wasn’t the first time the blue hedgehog did this teasing/flirting thing with him, but it was a more recent development between them, as it used to just be races and competitions. One day, Sonic randomly started adding all this suggestiveness to his words and actions that went beyond their usual ‘rivalry’.

Shadow didn’t know what prompted the other to change his antics, his best guess being that Sonic was just bored and trying to change things up a bit. Though, the azure hero didn’t pull this crap with anyone else, that he knew of anyway, which puzzled him.

“Not moving away? Finally realize you like this position?”

Sonic purred in a way that Shadow had never heard from him before and it made his heart race even faster while the equivalent to an electrical shock ran through his veins.

“Because let me tell you, I like us like this.”

Prompt 3: Quiet

Shadow was about at his limit with Sonic’s shit. This was their normal, sure, but that never changed how the other knew how to press his buttons because there was about to be a fight.

It was then he saw Sonic wiggle his eyebrows suggestively while giving, what would they call that expression, bedroom eyes? Whatever it was screamed things more on the risqué side, and not the adventurous/fighting kind.

“Are you gonna finally make the first move? Or should I just bite the bullet and do it?” Was questioned while Sonic oddly licked his own lips. “Because I don’t know how much longer I can hold back, especially with you holding that peeved look of yours.”

“Would you be quiet?!”

This would usually be the time that Shadow would shove himself off or push the other away from him, which always amused the blue blur since he’d laugh loudly after the fact.

However, Shadow didn’t know what came over him, rather than doing their norm, rather than partaking in what was to be expected, which would be to get up, instead, the ebony male pushed forward and captured the other’s mouth with his own — effectively silencing him.

Though this was not at all on Shadow’s to-do list, he did have to admit that the peaceful quiet that finally fell over the room was much preferable, and if Sonic questioned his actions, he could easily retort that he had been asking for it.

Prompt 4: Vortex

All was at a standstill after Shadow’s daring move. But that didn’t last long. The obsidian hedgehog hadn’t expected Sonic to suddenly grab both sides of his face and pull him down — their lips very much still connected.

With no idea what was happening, Shadow’s mind warped into a sudden vortex as a whirlwind of questions and thoughts raced through his mind, the loudest of those being, ‘What is going on!?’. He never actually expected the hero to not only allow him to do this, but become a willing participant in it.

Sonic broke the kiss, and Shadow felt the chill from the lost contact hit his lips.

“I’ve been wanting you to do that for forever.”

Those words cut through the vortex swirling in his mind. Finding it peculiar, Shadow couldn’t help but question, “Why didn’t you do it then?”

“Cause I figured you’d punch me.” Well, he wasn’t wrong. “But if you did it, then I could reciprocate.”

“I might have still punched you after the fact.”

“True,” Sonic agreed, before cheekily pointing out, “But you didn’t.”

Shadow wanted to argue, anything to not let the other be right, but the words were caught in his throat. It shouldn’t have been hard to give some kind of retort about how shocked he’d been, because he had in fact been stunned that Sonic had pulled his face down and kept the kiss going.

But maybe…no, he didn’t want to admit it. He couldn’t admit the real reason why he hadn’t pulled away from Sonic the moment he returned the kiss.

Out of the blue, his lips became warm again as Sonic closed the gap between them once more.

No, Shadow hadn’t wanted to accept it, but he couldn’t find it in himself to deny it either. Red eyes slowly shut as he gently pressed into the gentle liplock; the two sharing a quiet, sweet moment together.

Prompt 5: Memories

This predicament was nothing like how things were between them previously. Shadow never saw anything but a rival and occasional ally in Sonic. All the times they spent together, all of his memories of them in his head, showed this.

But now, if an outsider were to look in, what would they think of this chain of events? In the future, when Shadow looks back on this moment in time between them, what would he see?

This didn’t change their rivalry, and this didn’t make them friends, but what exactly did this make them then?

“Shadow,” Sonic whispered against his mouth once the two very slightly broke for breath. “I really like kissing you.”

No, there was nothing in his memories that could have helped him guess this shift between them. He had never participated in such activities, nor had he ever wanted to, but seeing Sonic below him with flushed cheeks and half-lidded eyes made Shadow feel things he never has before.

A certain temptation to draw nearer was there, a temptation he didn’t want to fight against, despite that normally he would have. And as if under a trance, Shadow couldn’t stop himself from coming back for more and connected their mouths again, drawing a pleased hum from the blue blur below him.

What took place today would be memories Shadow wouldn’t forget anytime soon; memories he didn’t want to forget. And truth be told, he was okay with that.

————

I hope anyone who read this enjoyed it! If I’m able to do more of these, I’m not sure if I’ll continue this or just start fresh. Either way, I had a good time making this!

Happy Pride Month!

**Update: I just realized the first prompt I wrote was very similar to bloojay28’s art for that same prompt. I wanted to make a note that was unintentional because I didn’t see their artwork for that day until after I wrote and posted this.**

[3wisellamas]

Analysis: Spamton Kept Something of Tenna's, Too

(long post incoming)

For funsies, I threw together all three Deltarune OSTs into a playlist so I could listen to them back to back. But this led to me...noticing something, about NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO BE A, BIG SHOT, and the audio version of Tenna's introduction VHS that Toby just threw onto the soundtrack for whatever bizarre reason.

So, I'm NOT the first person to notice that Tenna's got way more voice acting than any other character in Undertale OR Deltarune. He's got an entire 40-second cutscene where he's speaking the entire time! And he calls out his "IT'S!! TV!! TIME!!!" catchphrase every chance he gets.

When old video games around the late 80s-early 90s first started incorporating speech samples, they were often HEAVILY compressed, having very little resources to work with -- even on really good arcade hardware the speech quality was...not great, and it got even worse on home consoles like NES, SNES, and Genesis, sometimes making things difficult to understand. Not impossible, but difficult. Notably, there were two major issues this level of compression introduced: The first was basically Elmuh Fudd Syndwome, where Rs get distorted and basically drop out completely. A very famous example of this first type of compression error is the "Rise from your grave" sample at the beginning of Altered Beast.

The second, and I'd say more common type of error, is a distinct hissing sound on sibilants (S and Z sounds). The NES Ghostbusters title screen is a very good example of this one:

This is the one we hear HEAVILY in all of Tenna's speech (it actually gives him a pretty noticeable lisp!) Listen closely whenever he says "It's TV time!" and you'll hear that hissing from the compression on the first word, and during the VHS scene you can also hear it pretty clearly on "Coming Straight from your houSe!" and "The SenSation of your Screen!"

(This also applies to Jevil as well, since his voice samples are compressed in the same way -- you can hear it whenever he says "Metamorphosis"! I'm like 90% sure that all the voice acting in Deltarune is the same person, likely Toby Fox himself, using the same recording and compression so it makes sense.)

So, why am I talking so much about shitty 80s speech compression and Tenna's distinctive lisp from it? Because we've heard it before, in chapter 2. Specifically, in both of Spamton's battle themes.

You heard it here last, folks: throughout NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO BE A and BIG SHOT, the phrase (what else) "Now's your chance to be a big shot" is repeated over and over -- in the former it's higher-pitched, sounding more cartoony, while in the latter it's pitched back down and sounds closer to a normal voice. But, in both songs, all sibilants (S sounds) have that same hissing error from the compression. And what's more damning, the "lyrics" in NOW'S YOUR CHANCE sound a HECK of a lot like Tenna's normal voice, while BIG SHOT's lower-pitched lines also aren't far off from certain lines in Tenna's intro VHS.

So, the gist of my theory is, the "singer" in both of Spamton's themes was actually Tenna the whole time. I like to think that, when the two of them first formed their partnership, it could've been something Tenna said to Spamton as part of his "sweet talk" in order to seal the deal -- "Now's your chance to be a big shot!" -- and even after taking off and developing his hatred of Tenna, blaming him for all of his misfortune, Spamton still remembers that one moment of encouragement. Or is just repeating it over and over in mockery. Honestly with Spamton you can go either way.

But I'm not done yet; I also own a talking Spamton plush. And one could reasonably assume that the voice "spoken" by it would be Spamton's canon voice, right?

Squeezing the thing usually plays one of the following lines:

"Now's your chance to be a big shot!"

"Now's your chance to be a big shot!" (lower pitched)

"Be a big, be a big, now's y- shot!" (I admittedly had to look up and copy this one from the wiki, I never could figure out what the hell he was saying before "shot" ^^; )

"Be a big, be a big, (laughing) shot!"

All four of these are clearly copied from his music, without any instrumental backing but WITH the heavy compression and hissing on sibilant sounds. Which means...Spamton is literally speaking in Tenna's voice. This likely means he's using Tenna's voice in the game, too -- I've seen others speculate that his bracketed adspeak text is actually supposed to be a failed / glitched attempt to copy Tenna's fancy speech quirk. If he's literally using Tenna's voice, then this is definitely plausible! As a walking advertisement Spamton is also clearly able to copy others, more or less word for word -- at one point during the Spamton Sweepstakes he even repeated something Noelle included in one of her blog posts revealed during the same event, complete with her XP emoji.

I would think that, if he's mimicking others' words, he can probably mimic their voices too, right?

And we already know Spamton LOVES mimicking more than just others' words/voices to try and get ahead. His current look -- black hair and suit and two-toned glasses -- was a blatant attempt to copy Swatch, according to his own shop dialogue, and some artwork (particularly that one air freshener) depicts Big Shot-era Spamton in a red suit and yellow tie, heavily reminiscent of Tenna's outfit.

So, if he copied Tenna's looks in the past to try and make himself a success, why not his literal words as well? Why not try to BECOME the Big Shot he saw his former partner as, in more than just taking inspiration?

One last thing to point out with this is that scene in chapter 3, you know the one.

So, Tenna doesn't recognize Spamton at all. That makes sense -- he's clearly changed a lot since his Big Shot days! But, something I find really interesting about this scene is how Tenna reacts, or rather DOESN'T react, when Spamton speaks to him. If you haven't seen someone in years, they're bound to look different, but still sound the same, right? And they were former partners, in whatever sense you want to interpret it. Tenna likely has tapes of their old shows and commercials together. He knows very well what Spamton G Spamton's voice sounds like...and in this scene, he didn't hear it. So, Spamton isn't just unrecognizable appearance-wise, but his voice has definitely changed since leaving Tenna behind too.

But what it's changed TO makes Tenna's overblown freakout so much more appropriate! Imagine if you walk into what you think is your own private room, your greatest secret lying exposed in the middle of the floor, and then suddenly this...thing appears, that kinda-sorta looks a little like your old partner but not really. And then it starts speaking -- "[Trash heap]!!! YOU KEPT IT!!!" -- IN YOUR OWN VOICE.

I'm with Tenna on this one. Foam that creature and GTFO.

[savemeafruitjuice]

Tickletober Day 7- Fidget

First week down! Honestly, it's crazy to get so much writing done, but I really hope I can keep my motivation up and get enough time to do everything. Wish me luck I guess?

Also, this was an interesting idea I had, and wanted to explore it a bit. Enjoy!

Lee: Leonardo

Ler: Karai

TW!: MILD SWEARING! ANXIETY FINGER PICKING! (Like, pulling on the skin around your finger, just in case)

THIS HAS SPOILERS FOR LATE SEASON TWO! Just a heads up!

(This is not a ship. These two are SIBLINGS!! Please respect that.)

Why did he feel so.. awkward? Like he can't even have a normal conversation with his brothers, let alone Karai.

Their dynamic had been a bit different ever since.. Miwa?.. found out that she was a Hamato. Having a sister was weird, especially because she was older than them. There were so many things that were missing in their lives, and now they had a chance to make up for it.

Their family had taken a couple days to warm up to each other, but it was difficult for Karai to gain the trust of the younger brothers- especially Raph.

Even so, there weren't as many fights between them as there had been, and Leo had found himself peacefully enjoying their time spent together. More focused, more relaxed..

Except for today.

For some reason, Leo found himself stuttering over his words in front of everyone, using the the wrong moves for training, and even held his katana wrong, the blade facing him. Everyone would give him a weird look, but other than a disapproving comment from Mikey, no one really said anything.

And so he sat on the ground, hoping maybe television would make him feel better. One of the earlier seasons of Space Heroes was on, but even that made him feel weird. Captain Ryan's voice actor sounded so much younger than he would later on, that watching it made him seem incompetent, and inexperienced.

All of the things Leo couldn't be as a leader, and all of the things that no good leader should be. Especially his hero.

"Hey, Leo. I heard you were screwing up a lot today. Guess your 'perfect' act wore off, huh?"

The blue-themed turtle winced, turning around to greet his sister. His hands pulled apart, having been picking at the skin of his fingers, and he gave her a wave. "Uhm- Hey.." There was a slightly pause, but soon enough, she came and sat next to him on the ground. "Did- you want me to pause it?" He asked, head tilted to the tv.

"Nah, I wanna see what kind of nerd show you've been watching. What's it about?" That brought a smile to the younger's face.

"W-Well, it's about this hero, Captain Ryan, and he's the captain of a space ship." He explained, gesturing towards characters as they appeared on the screen. "He and his crew go through space and fight aliens, that- that kind of stuff. It's really cool. Captain Ryan has the best catchphrases like- ever."

Karai nodded, listening to his little spiel for a couple minutes. Eventually, the episode that was playing ended, and Leo started on a whole other rant, and the elder placed a hand on his shoulder to bring him back to real life.

"Hey, woah. Give me a minute, I'm losing track of it all now." Leo cut himself off, bringing his knees up to his chest. "Oh, sorry. I get carried away when it comes to Space Heroes."

The turtle wrapped his arms around his knees. Karai shook her head. "No, you're fine. Just gotta give me time to process what you're saying." She crossed her legs, slouching a bit now. "It's nice to hear about things like shows. Anything interesting, really."

Leo hummed, still feeling a bit embarrassed about going on a tangent. "Did you not watch any as a kid?" she shook her head. "The Shredder didn't want me exposed to things like that. I mainly just trained, or went to talk to friends, or.. was influenced into hatred."

The younger cringed slightly. The Shredder really was awful.. "Yeah.. That makes sense, I guess.." The heavier topic made him feel bad, and he went back to pulling at the skin on his finger. Karai watched for a second, then put her hand on his shoulder to get him to stop. "You shouldn't do that, it could get infected."

Leo huffed, but it.. didn't sound annoyed? More like he was about to laugh. She looked at him, and he quickly went to change the subject. "Uh- so! What.. did you want to do now?"

Her brows furrowed slightly. "I want to know what's so funny. Are you laughing at me for trying to help? That's really low."

By now, the kunoichi had already made the connection, having seen a couple of tickle fights between the brothers within the last couple days of her being here. Leo immediately shook his head, though a smile formed on his face when her hand moved a little, so that it was resting more on the base of his neck.

"No! No no, I'm not laughing at you, I just.. thought of something funny that happened." Karai didn't look impressed. "Oh, really? And what is it that's so funny?" Leo's face went pink as he tried to think of something, shoulders scrunching slightly at the anticipatory touch. Her hand curled into a claw form, fingers digging slightly into the side of his neck and shoulder. "..Or will I have to make you tell me?"

Leo's hand went to grab hers, to pull it away, or something, but he was slapped away. "No, you're going to tell me what you found so funny just now. I want to know." "It's nothing! Really, you won't even care!"

"Then why is it such a big deal to not tell me?" She maneuvered slightly, scooting behind him. One leg propped against his shell, and the other wrapped around his torso. Karai began gently dragging her nails up his neck, and Leo immediately squeaked, shoulders shooting up the rest of the way to protect the sensitive area.

"EEK! Noho- wahait! I cahahan't!" Karai only smirked, reaching her other hand over to carefully pull his head to the side, smushing his cheek into his shoulder so that she could keep tickling. "I'm not letting you go until you tell me. Unless.. maybe you like this?"

Leo frantically squirmed, legs now drumming out on the ground as he tried to arch away. She had him held in place; he couldn't even move his head! He weakly slapped at her leg, face burning brighter by the second. His voice kept breaking, but through his struggles he finally got an idea. He could just pull his head into his shell!

It took a couple seconds of fighting with her hand, but his head successfully retreated inside his shell. Karai looked puzzled for a second, holding onto his shoulders to peer into the hole of his shell. "Wait.. you guys can just.. hide in there? What the hell, that's really useful."

The leader was having trouble stopping his giggles, and shrieked when she dug into his underarms instead. For a second, he flailed, then pulled his arms into the safe space as well, then his legs. "Pfft- Ihi- hehe I cahan't Karahai!"

The elder turner his shell around, grunting with effort because of his weight. "Don't think you've won just yet.." She laid his shell down on the ground, plastron up, and started scratching at his belly. "Are your shells ticklish too?"

As it seemed, they were. Very much so, in fact. Leo screeched, squeaky laughter filling the room as soon as her hands made contact. "BAHAHAHAH! KAHARAI! NOHOHOO! SNRT-"

"Noho way! Did you just snort? You guys are so funny." Leo let out a whine at the tease, unable to do much more than rock slightly, as he was basically immobile.

They were in a stalemate, Karai using her nails to scribble along his plastron, demanding to be told what he found funny, as all the turtle did was laugh and laugh. Well, until she decided to explore more of his shell, and raked her fingers down his sides.

"GHKAHAHAHAH! NAHAH- OKAHAHAY WAIHIT! SNRT- I GIHIHIVE UHUP! PLEHEASE!"

"No, you wait. I told you what you need to do."

"PLEHEASE- I LIHIHIED, IHIHI LIHIED! THEHERE WASN'T AHAHANYTHING FUNNY!"

Karai gasped in mock-offense. "You lied to me? I thought we were supposed to be family, but you lied! You don't deserve to be let go!"

Leo snorted again, spewing out pleas and 'sorry's. She scratched harder at his shell, sending overwhelming tickly sensations through him. On bare skin, it would've been painful, but on the hard exterior of the bridge of his shell, all it did was force the blue-themed turtle into uncontrollable laughter.

"IHI DIHIDN'T MEHEAN TO! IHI'M- SNRT- SAHAHARRY! PLEHEASE!"

Unbeknownst to him, Karai was smiling fondly at his crazed state, though her nails attacked him like he'd just committed an unforgivable crime.

"Sorry Leo, but this is your punishment. I'm going to make sure you never lie to me again."

-----

I thought this would be harder to write, if I'm being honest, but I actually really like it! All of my years of watching 2012 helped me write her dialogue better, I guess. Anyways, happy first week of October! 🎃🌕🪦

[cherrieguroo]

Animal crossing new horizons headcanons for the nerd bunch

Steph

- normcore I think that's what people call it but it's basically just like. a normal town with no specific style. but her house is decorated to her liking and she has her villager's home in a forest she planted herself. she also has mods and she has just a part near the top of her island where there's just a shit ton of bells just dropped on the floor.

-steph definitely gives me black tulip door wreath vibes.

-steph's favorite villager is cherry and she changed cherry's catchphrase to 'bitch' so now she says stuff like "Yeah, go for it, bitch. This oughta be good…’

-steph has a room in her house purely for 'summonings' after she found out if you combine a specific wall and flooring you can create a summoning circle.

-steph refuses to pay tom nook, so her house isn't upgraded that much.

-steph set up a small space in her island for the nerds to fool around in whenever they visited. that space now mostly consists of pit falls and stumps. someone also left a switch there and steph didn't even try to figure out who put it there and just kept it as decor for her house. also Steph has green mums outside her house which she says is supposed to be a weed farm.

Grace

-grace definitely has meticulously designed her island and it's fairycore. rip star fragment trees grace would have loved those. her island has a shit ton of pink tulips everywhere too. grace has a part of her island which is just a forest with a lot of flowers. she also has those like custom design paintings in said forest that read 'god is good' or some shit and she thinks every island should have a god forest.

-grace has the pink wedding event door thingy.

-grace has two tricycles she put outside of nook's cranny that she pretends belong to timmy and tommy

-favorite villager is ruby sorry

-grace loves the wedding event items and her island and house are full of them

Ruth

-her island is a mess to me lmao. her island tune is the iconic part in careless whisper and tiffany is her favorite villager. none of her island is actually decorated btw. and she constantly wears one of those custom design dresses that make it look like the villager has a bikini. ruth collects gyroids after she was taught how to get them by Richie. she just collects the little guys and has them outside her airport as a welcome thingy. ruth uses the effects feature a lot, mainly putting hearts on stuff. only decorating Ruth really did on her island is make a rainbow flower field which she and the rest of the nerds call the gay flower trail. ruth seems to be eternally broke. Richie offers her money and she accepts and ten minutes later she somehow managed to waste it all on the most useless decor

Richie

-his island is littered with references to animes. he has two godzilla statues outside his house. has definitely gotten much more advancements than the others. wishes he could have started out on a modded island but it's too late. his house is made to be his dream home and his room has custom designs of anime posters on the walls. he completed his museum and probably has most furniture items in his catalog. he also completed happy home designer and has a lot of amiibos. richie redecorated all of his villager's homes, both interior and exterior. richie made a crab rave on his beach. richie also collects gyroids and uses them to decorate. he also likes setting up little songs with them for specific rooms in his house.

richie's island flag is this.

Pete

-somehow the one with the best looking island. it's five stars somehow and each villager gets custom personalized yards. pete is really into flower breeding. he's also trying to complete the museum but keeps forgetting to catch some seasonal creatures and fish. pete NEVER skips blather's fun facts. in fact he writes all of them down and annoys Ruth and Richie with them. he's even memorized some for the more common fish and bugs that especially pissed Richie off when he was collecting everything (like sea basses)

petes house has the highest happy home academy rating

[neoncaptor]

I've been happy with the improved quality of language in the recent English kuroshitsuji chapters, which led me to wonder whether Yen had changed the translator since what I'll dub the "Late 2022 - Early 2023 Oopsie Woopsie Era"

so if anyone else is at all interested, I did some digging:

The same translator has been working on kuro since 2009 - however she's not a native English speaker and not entirely fluent.

A lot of manga companies used to do this, where a native Japanese speaker would do the initial translation and then other people would edit it into English that makes sense (these people are called adapters). Nowadays, most manga companies just hire native English translators who are fluent in JP. I think Yen must've skipped the adapting process on kuro for some time between 2022-23 because otherwise the sudden increase in mistakes makes no sense for someone who's been working on the series for so long (Doll's pronouns, Sebastian's literal catchphrase, phrasing that makes no sense in eng, etc). For this translator they definitely should've still kept an adapter... but it seems like they must've started adapting the translations again recently, which I really appreciate <3

[scotianostra]

October 12th 1929 saw the birth of Magnus Magnusson, writer, broadcaster and quiznmaster in TV programme “Mastermind”.

Magnus was born in Reykjavík but grew up in Edinburgh, where his father, Sigursteinn Magnússon, was the Icelandic consul. Magnus’ Icelandic name at birth was Magnús Sigursteinsson, but in Scotland his family adopted British naming conventions and from childhood he used his father’s patronymic as a surname. Living in Joppa, he was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and was in the school’s marching brass band. So to those saying he’s not Scottish, he did live almost his entire life here.

After graduating from Jesus College, Oxford, Magnusson became a reporter with the Scottish Daily Express and The Scotsman. He went freelance in 1967, then joined the British Broadcasting Corporation, presenting programmes on history and archaeology as well as appearing in news programmes.

He retained his academic connections, however, and was Lord Rector of Edinburgh University from 1975 to 1978 from 2002 served as chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University. The Magnus Magnusson Fellowship, an intellectual group based at the Glasgow Caledonian University, was named in his honour. Magnusson’s books included I’ve Started so I’ll Finish, a memoir of his years on Mastermind, and Scotland: The Story of a Nation.

Magnus of course is most famous for the quiz show, Mastermind, it was originally broadcast late on a Sunday night and was not expected to receive a huge audience. In 1973 it was moved to a prime-time slot as an emergency replacement for a Leslie Phillips sitcom, Casanova ‘73, which had been moved to a later time following complaints about its risqué content. The quiz subsequently became one of the most-watched shows on television. Magnusson was famous for his catchphrase “I’ve started so I’ll finish,” which was also the title of his history of the show. The original series was also noted for the variety of venues where filming took place—often including academic and ecclesiastical buildings. The last programme of the original series was filmed at St Magnus Cathedral in Orkney.

To further add to Magnus’s credentials for being a Scot he married Glasgow lass Mamie Ian Baird and they had 5 children together, including Reporting Scotland presenter Sally.

On 12th October 2006, his 77th birthday, Magnusson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Magnusson mordantly noted that “This has to be one of my worst birthdays ever”. His condition forced him to cancel a string of public appearances. He died on 7 January 2007.The Aigas Field Centre a nature centre near Beauly has a building named in his honour.

In 2014 an auction sold off a lot of his belongings for the Scottish based Balmore Trust, a fair trade charity which sells fairly-traded goods in its shop The Coach House and supports projects in Africa, India and the west of Scotland.

Magnus Magnusson, Icelandic by birth Scottish through choice. Anyone still not convinced of his Scottish & Proud credentials, check out this quote from the man “I have got the best of both worlds; growing up in Edinburgh and now living outside Glasgow.”

Scotland is a welcoming country and have a rich culture which comes from all round the world, with his writing and knowledge Magnus brought so much to our country

Magnus Magnusson is buried in Baldernock Churchyard, East Dunbartonshire.

My favourite of the pics is the younger Magnus on Calton Hill, Edinburgh, the colour of The Hotel in the background, is how I remember it having been the window cleaner there before it had a full restoration in the late 80′s. The black and white pic is when he was installed as Rector of Edinburgh University, the pic with the ferry is on Orkney.

[k1ng0fsug4r]

⬇ Virgo Lore Dump ⬇

Thinking about Virgo late at night and his bio and constantly switching from 'ha, he's a little guy that makes up his own catchphrases and has half episodic half narrative driven adventures' to trying to find a simpler way to describe how his parents lived in an area of a sort of domesticated nowhere living unfulfilling lives before he was born.

And he was seen as 'odd' (neurodivergent) by the community because he didn't cry or say or relatively do anything but stare at people the entire time and for awhile he didn't care because he had his multitasking mom and comic-collecting dad, but when he started school, it kinda started to get to him, but he didn't really know it yet.

Then one day, during a 'bring your child to work' day at a factory, Virgo just wandered off and pushed a button to try and finally be 'worth it', but his dad pushed him out the way in time and got crushed in front of him. And it shocked everyone, but also sent his mom into this depressive spiral that made her unable to take care of him.

And so he tries to help again by touching her binder of notes and papers, but accidentally breaks it and when he tries again when his mother sees and tries to pick it up, she hits him in a way that blurs between 'accidental' and 'on purpose' while also delivering a harsh line about 'a mistake' with the same blurred context before she just locks herself in her room and so he just gives up and does that too.

And later on, for a period of time that's fuzzy to him, his aunt and uncle find them in comatose-like states and surrounded by filth with Virgo just staring blankly at a TV, and they take him with them to the harmony zone. And while he's recovering, his auntie teaches him to draw and his uncle takes him to a video shop that looked like the comic covers his dad used to show him.

And after watching some, he looks at the origin stories and how they felt singled out by the universe, but rose above it all by being super and overcoming their faults, and so that's when he becomes 'actualized' and makes his own costume and hesitantly puts on the cape his dad gave him once before adopting a more heroic personality that's fake at first and even more disorienting to people, but over time he grows to love it because now even though he keeps floundering and screwing up and getting himself hurt, its just a small step. Just a flesh wound until he gets on his feet.

And it's also the reason he picks up his 'enemy of fate' moniker because he genuinely believes himself to be some mistake that slipped through the cracks and was born to be bad luck or a constant detriment to himself and others. And that slowly accumulates into this fear that no matter how hard he tries, he's either gonna end up crushed under the pressure, either literally like his dad or figuratively like his mom. And he tries to be cool about it, but as time goes on, he starts being less loud and active and showing signs of regressing again because the days are blurring, and he's starting to think "Oh no…I put all my hope and efforts into this, and I'm gonna fail."

And then Kooky and the Sxratch and the M.R.D.H come along and despite how other kids wouldn't involve themselves, Virgo jumps in almost instantly because to him, this is literally his one chance. To him, Kooky is literally his miracle (she literally looks eerily similar to his first doodles) and even though she yells at him a lot, he's determined to make this work at first because of a guilty self-indulgence, but later on feeling a connection with her feeling's of being trapped and having to quarrel with the implications of 'not being real' and coming from nothing

[gwen-tolios]

Ace Bookclub Recap - Daugment

I love to share ace book recs (it's part of why I run an ace bookclub) and this month we read Daugment by August Niehaus. Book has been added to my Ace Rep Database.

Summary: Meet Pitney Scolan. Pit, for short. He's a decorated general and a venerated leader of the sprawling human race. He's protected his species' colonies from vicious native animal populations and hostile alien life. He's fiercely introverted, and he's really looking forward to retiring on his personal planet in the very near future. Except…now he has to be a dog. A daugment, to be specific: a cybernetically enhanced canine, previously the doting pet of Pit's biggest rival, General Tristan. It's the only way to escape certain assassination. So Pit grudgingly allies himself with a pair of well-meaning scoundrels and sets sail for seedier space in hopes of escaping Tristan's clutches. What he finds instead is a galactic conspiracy to force him to make friends.

Spoilers below!

I'll admit, of the six people who started this book, only one finished. It's not that we didn't like it, simply that there was a disconnect between what we expected and what we got. Reviews and amazon categories gave us the impression this would be a funny book - it's not. We all wanted a touch of whimsy we couldn't find, which made the first 3rd of the book, before the plot truly kicks in, hard for readers to overcome.

(Personally, I got 50% through but have decided not to finish mainly because I now have spoilers and there are other books that have just captured me more. 3/5 stars.)

This book has a lot going for it. There's little world building tidbits dropped all the time that are fascinating that I wish had been explored more, such as Pit's history and the potential of daugments to have an impact on society. A whole city designed to make Las Vegas's old catchphrase of 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' a reality. A sort of religion around being an introvert, complete with highly read texts, and censorship so strong new books aren't produced anymore (wild, when now millions are published a year).

Pit's learning about how to be a dog are delightful, if small, and Ravenna, a fellow daugment (our ace character) helps him realize that yeah, he has been a bit of an asshole. Pit missing friends as he's on the run, being surprised that he's missed them? Oh that touched my heart. But at the end of the day, he doesn't change his life plans and I'm not sure how much he changed - just that he's okay sharing a planet-sized space with people.

Ace rep is supported, and late in the book. The conversations and feelings about connection around belonging and share interests are good, if small, and the book is pretty clean. It's quietly queer - none of the main characters are, but several side folk are

If you go into this novel expecting a hard science fiction with a soft core, I think you'll be fine, but this is not quite cozy fantasy read.

[stevensavage]

Nothing Means Anything Anymore

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve's Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

There’s a peculiar dissatisfaction in First World modern life. A racing, seeking need is prowling around, so many of us are trying to get something. Whatever we churn out in technologies and media doesn’t quite seem to be enough. Whatever new social media or communities or movies that pop up, people still seem disconnected.

I get that strange, unsettled, need - and that feeling things just “aren’t like they should be.” Even when you remove toxic nostalgia and the human condition, something seems wrong. Lately, contemplating everything from music to politics, a phrase bubbled up in my mind - “Nothing Means Anything Anymore.”

So much doesn’t seem to exist for itself or because it’s just good as it is or even it’s cool or fun. I think that’s part of the dissatisfaction.

The latest new social media product is just a mixture of contrarianism, MLM, and fad so someone makes money. The latest big media sensation is part of a series being milked for money and flattened to the most marketable format. Every book cover looks alike and sells the same stories that went before it - even for indie authors.

How much of our culture is just marketing anymore? Nothing exists for itself, everything is how to get more money into a bank account, so much is “number go up.” How many times have you reviewed a film or a book for friends and caught yourself sounding like a professional reviewer or marketer? We’re so used to nothing being what it its, but being some kind of product rollout or initiative or whatever we start to sound like that.

Or maybe there’s the meaninglessness in politics and the seeking of political power. Carefully-tested bullshit is spewed making claims everyone knows are lies, but people don’t want to admit it so their side “wins.” Pundits spit out catchphrases and newspaper people are just asking questions since they don’t want to do real work. Even the conspiracy theories are recycled and the conspiracy theorists seem to be trying not to meet each other’s gaze as they know they’re full of crap.

Such multi-level meaninglessness even infects supposedly sane politics. Political discussions among friends and enemies sound like any argument held by pundits as we’re all trying to be pundits instead of themselves. Local politics can be amplified by some online influence-seeker who posts about your local town and next thing you know your city council is getting screamed at by people in other states or even countries. Number goes up, votes go up, clicks goes up, but it’s all worse somehow.

We’ve somehow managed to build a complex, high-tech First World where we know a lot of it is bullshit.

Yet when I do things like read punk mags (hey, I’m not as dull as I seem) or go to local zine fests I see meaning. There’s some meaning in these handcrafted, not-market-tested, weird, personal things. There’s satisfaction to be had out there, from weird streaming services to someone’s photocopied jokes on cactuses (really, I have it). Meaning is there to have.

I’m not proposing a solution or a diagnosis of cause right now. I’m just recognizing this right now. I do suspect some of it is that we’ve built very complex, profit-driven societies and created a lot of technologies and media we’re promoting that we may not need or want. At some point everything became so abstract nothing means anything.

But now I can ask myself what does it mean when I look at a book, a movie, etc. I can ask why I do something and what really matters to me. I can also act less like a marketer . . . at least when I’m not marketing.

Steven Savage

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

[devilsrecreation]

Headcanons about Njano specifically bc he is mine now

- He was born with his tongue sticking out, a trait none of the other skinks have. That and his eyes being wider apart led to everyone assuming he was an idiot. This obviously couldn’t be farther from the truth. He may not be as quick-witted as the other skinks, but he’s still very smart

- While he’s not an idiot, he’s still very much a little goofball when not spying on other animals and out of all the skinks, he’s probably the nicest one

- He was a lot less confident than he is now. Very unsure of his decisions and having to rely on others to tell him what to do

- He had an older brother, Danganya (cheat, deceive), who taught him everything he knows. Danganya saw right through his little brother. He knows very well he’s capable of deceiving other animals, he just had to get Njano to believe it.

- Danganya was an awesome mentor/brother. He was so sweet and always used to reassure Njano that he’s smarter than he looks. It was cuz of him that Njano finally saw his goofy look as an advantage. He’d pretend to be innocent and a little bit dumb, but when the animal least expects it, he’s already stolen your food and ditched you. His brother was so proud

- His main catchphrase was “You trust me, don’t you?”

- Njano was absolutely distraught when Danganya died (probably in a mini stampede or rock slide). He was originally the victim, but was pushed out of the way by Danganya. From then on, Njano followed his brother’s footsteps and became the crafty little skink we all know now. It was also the same day Njano said his signature “Trust me!” (“Don’t worry, I can take care of myself….Trust me…”)

- Every season, he goes to his late brother’s grave in front of his favorite tree and talks to it as if he were still alive. He wants to make sure his bro is all caught up. Sometimes he forgets to go back and you could find him sleeping right next to the grave, looking all peaceful

- He and Shupavu met at a young age, where they were both all alone. Shupavu randomly bumped into Njano and he refused to leave her alone after that lmao. Like that one annoying sidekick trope. They soon hit it off, befriended more skinks, and the rest was history

- He’s liked her from the start, he was just too shy to admit it

- He was her rock through Shuoavu’s grieving process after Ushari’s death. He knew all too well what it was like to lose someone close to you, so he did everything he could to comfort her. Then one day, it happened. Njano was comforting Shupavu, she mentioned how sweet he’s always been, they hugged which turned to a nose boop (the skink version of a kiss) which ultimately turned into a badly kept “secret” relationship

They were basically this meme:

- It ain’t no lie, he is bi bi bi

- He was the first skink to befriend Hodari, genuinely being nice to him and showing him around the Outlands. They’re best friends now :)

- He’s somehow the most desired male in skink standards. AKA he’s “the cute one”. He’s been hit on several times and he has no clue how.

Shupavu trusts that he would never cheat on her. Other female lizards aren’t so lucky

[0x4468c7a6a728]

you should do the Prime Numbers for the ask game

ok :3 (this will take a while...)

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

chocolate! but i don't really like hershey's chocolate much so maybe not in that case

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

i guess bubblegum? not really big on either of these

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

i haven't had soda in years so idk

7. earbuds or headphones?

i used headphones for years but i switched back to earbuds and have been liking them a bit more lately

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

there's a nice bagel place near the place i recently moved to so i've been eating a lot of bagels with cream cheese lately

13. lanyard or key ring?

key ring

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

i put off shoe shopping for multiple years because dysphoria so i have one pair of shoes that sucks, i should get new shoes

19 sleeping position?

right side holding large cat plushie

23. strange habits?

far too many to easily choose one

29. best way to bond with you?

in person it's going on a walk with me, online uhhh talking to me regularly i guess? i'm bad at initiating conversations but like having them so starting them with me is an easy way to make me like you lol

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

i don't think i do that

37. suitcase or duffel bag?

suitcase

41. last person you texted?

my girlfriend :3

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

hoodies are warm and cozy :3

47. favorite type of cheese?

not sure i have one

53. what is the current state of your hands?

clean because i just showered

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

i would be an npc standing in a train station at the end of the platform holding a camera and say "I love taking pictures of these trains! they're so cool!"

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

uhhhhh idk i'll just say "うわなにをするくぁwせdrftgyふじこlp" because it came to mind first

67. good luck charms?

no

71. least favorite pattern?

i'm not quite sure how to answer this, it's very broad

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

idk i like very boring foods

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?

both are horrible pre-hrt photos, but the driver's license one is marginally better

83. writing or drawing?

i don't do much of either but i don't think i can really compare them like that

89. who would you put before everyone else?

idk

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

3

[shamelesslymkp]

weird post, but I promise I haven't been hacked or whatever

(I mean. as far as I know.)

I've been thinking lately about all the things I or friends or family found that cost a bit of money but have legitimately made tangible differences in my quality of life, and how I always want to recommend them to people, and then I thought about how it's the xian holiday season and people are buying things for each other and making wish lists, so this just sort of seemed like a good excuse!

MKP'S List of Literally Life-Improving Things That Can Be Bought

Brand:

Flare Calmer earbuds - these are astonishingly life changing if you're sensitive to certain types of noise; it doesn't dampen overall volume of sounds but specifically targets certain frequencies that are the most painful for people, like the sound of nails on a chalkboard, or a buzzing overhead light. you still hear them, but they're somehow magically not as bad? I don't understand how it works but I know it does - I can use the vacuum with these in, instead of having the immediate urge to cover my ears.

Flare earshades - their catchphrase is something about turning down the volume on your life and like. that's literally what it does - it doesn't block as much sound as actual earplugs (which they also sell), it just lightens it a little. for reference, I wore mine during my brother's graduation, where a pipe organ was playing in a not huge chapel, so loudly I thought they couldn't possibly be doing anything, as I could hear everyone talking clearly and normally, but then I took them off and no yeah they were doing some major heavy lifting there

Capeables weighted cape - it's a weighted blanket that you wear! they have a whole bunch of other weighted products but this one was ideal for me

Brita Rapidstream filter-as-you-pour water pitcher - so Kate kept hearing me complaining about periodically not really drinking water because my brita filter tank would be out of filtered water and it would take me forever to refill it, and she pointed me in the direction of this thing, which - full disclosure, I still sometimes get in a cycle of not drinking water because the sink's too full to fill the pitcher, but it's a lot better - allows me to fill the pitcher at the same time I use it to drink water, so it's done a lot to keep me hydrated

Revlon Hair Dryer Brush - YMMV here, depending on hair type. I have very thick but very fine hair, which hairdressers and my mother assure me they'd kill for, but is also an incredible pain in many ways. I am ... not precisely coordinated, and I have a lot of trouble drying my hair with a normal hairdryer - it takes forever, so my arms start to hurt, and I usually hit myself in the head with the thing at least once, and it's just kind of a long embarrassing ordeal, ok? so I don't do it. THIS hairdryer is also a brush, and can get my hair almost completely dry (and looking great!) in under ten minutes. It also detangles super tangled hair with very little pain and hair-breakage? I guess because of the bristles? so there's that too!

Deskcycle - a... bicycle for your desk?? yeah, that's all I got in terms of funny description here; it's literally a little pedaling machine you can put under your desk or in front of your couch or wherever and use as an exercise bike, without the full uncomfortable bike seat or anything like that. (OK this one only works if you actually use it, so like. this is only intermittently life-improving)

Warmies Microwavable Stuffed Animals - smol friend! heavy from lavender-scented flaxseed filling! can be warmed up in microwave or cooled down in freezer! also available in long friend style, which can wrap around your neck!

BeKool Migraine Gel Cooling Sheets (& Roll-On!) - these are not as good as a full-on headache hat or even most ice packs, but they are incredibly portable, DO stick in place somewhat (if upright and doing things, I recommend using a cloth headband on top to keep it in place - if you're lying down you'll probably be fine), and last a surprisingly long time! it's not actual cold, just the cooling sensation, and you may need to remove it briefly intermittently to continue getting relief from it. the roll-on is cool, because you can target specific places (the strip is kinda.. limited in that respect), but be careful about using it on your temples because you can easily accidentally get close enough to your eyes to make them start watering from the menthol effect!

Generic:

Shower chair - if you get dizzy in the shower! if you have migraines or cramps and use long hot showers to deal with them! if you sometimes can't sleep and take a hot shower in the middle of the night but are so tired you find yourself wobbling! then a shower chair might be right for you!

Weighted blanket(s) - there's a lot of mass-produced ones on the market now, at reasonable prices and with reasonable quality, but I have to shout out to mozaic weighted blankets specifically for being the source of my first and dearest weighted blanket, handmade to my directions. (note: in general, getting a weighted blanket cover is a good idea and will prolong the life of your weighted blanket, but if you DON'T use a cover, you can often get a secondary benefit of a cooling effect from the blanket itself! the heavier the blanket, the more effective this is - it has to do with the volume of weighted beads or pellets and how long it takes them to warm through from your body heat.) (I think.)

Migraine glasses lenses - what calmer earbuds do for your ears, these do for your eyes! (note: Zenni optical now offers ROSE TINTED migraine glasses as well as YELLOW TINTED anti-bluelight glasses)

Hammock and/or Hammock Chair - this one really depends a lot on your sensory needs but they provide some of the Best Sensory Input possible for me. I have this lightweight convertible hammock/hammock-chair stand which I adore. [amazon link, with apologies]

Headache Hat - an icepack that you wear! there are many different versions out there, with variations on how/where the cold is applied to your skull; since I like having cold on the top of my head and not just around the sides, I usually get the FOMI brand - more specifically, I like to get the one with neck coverage, because I flip the neck part up to layer on top of the head part and it makes the hat as a whole stay colder longer. [amazon link, with apologies]

10 ft+ Charging Cords - look, they seem silly when you look at them, why would you get a ten foot charging cable, but once you've used them you'll never want to go back, you can charge your phone from your bed, from your desk, in your indoor hammock, wherever, it really does just cut down on the nuisance of it all

[apexart-journal]

Garth Gratrix apexart NYC fellowship. #Day 2

Title: Two sides to every Bagel, Conquered a Therapy Session, and Improvised My Way Through Manhattan

This morning was less “Empire State of Mind” and more “Stay in the State of Bed.” I think the Linford Christie sprint start I attempted on Day 1 caught up with me. And by “caught up,” I mean it took me down like a sack of spuds. I made it as far as the kitchen for breakfast — a bagel, cut with surgical precision (proud of that), and done two ways.

One half: peanut butter and jelly. Firstly, America — it’s jam. Jelly is the stuff that wobbles when you poke it at school dinners, not something you smear on your breakfast. Secondly, I’ll try anything once. Only once. The end.

The other half was a bold combo of Boursin Garlic & Herb roulade, organic hummus and some grated carrots. I’ll admit, it reads like a fridge roulette situation, but I stand by it — acquired taste, but yum.

The rest of the morning was caffeinated to the point of spiritual elevation. Not a bean left unbrewed. This was all in preparation for an online webinar with Ritta McLaughlin from FINRA, who was graciously trying to teach us about investing fundamentals and due diligence. No fault of hers, she seemed utterly delightful — but about 15 minutes in, I started dissociating somewhere between a pie chart and a dividend. It’s like my inner child heard “financials” and instantly faked a sick note.

It's become clear that certain topics tether me to home, and not in a warm-and-fuzzy postcard-from-mum way. More like, “here’s a big pile of burnout wrapped in a spreadsheet.” I tried to stay present. I really did. But it just highlighted something I’ve been chewing over lately: a lot of talk around “sustainability” seems to leave out actual creativity. Turns out a financially-literate brain is more likely to win the race. Good for them. I’ll be over here with my Crayolas and a deep need for a nap.

To shake off the Excel-induced lethargy, I hit the pavements (sorry, sidewalks) for a wander. My Keith Haring jacket was on. My Viktor & Rolf sunglasses were perched. I strutted. I even felt a vague sense of belonging, which is rare for me unless I'm near Greggs (Google it, visit and eat a vegan sausage roll, Nike says just do it ✔️)

Destination: apexart. I had a catch-up with Nia, who clocked the Haring jacket fondly and we had a good giggle and went over the weeks itinerary. Lots of diversity in the diary, this team seems to really care about experiences and interactions. Every time I chat to the team here, I hear myself saying, “I’m having a lovely time.” It’s my go-to line back home, and now it's clinging to me like a bad jingle. America will use my catchphrase, mwahahaha!.

Post-catch up, Nia took me to my first therapy session (part of the residency — yes, really!). We passed yet another absurd NYC skyscraper with balconies hanging off it like Lego gone rogue. I had to tell her — those balconies are "bloody ridiculous". Railings at waist height? That’s just a dare. If I can’t see a roof over it then all I see is wasted sqft or the location for a Death Becomes Her 2 "Madeleine, you pushed me off the balcony".

Anyway, therapy. Nancy. Lovely Nancy. Calming, professional, and with a well-decorated office that didn’t smell of incense or repressed trauma. I was surprisingly open, talking about turning 40, losing Mum, and the weird lull of being single when the world feels too heavy to flirt with. It felt freeing — airing all this in a space where nobody’s going to misinterpret your words or send you a passive aggressive “u ok hun?” text after.

I left feeling oddly grounded. Like I’d found the Rollerdex in the emotional attic and found a few heirlooms and contacts worth dusting off. I noticed my sometimes inability to fully switch off from observing others and Nancy's side eye was in fact a strategically placed clocks behind me to keep time, which as a result of my observation skills, I knew was coming ahead of anyone needing to tell me. In that moment I felt my need to collaborate in some small way fulfilled.

Next up: Opera America, near Times Square. Not to do a class in opera, don’t be daft —it was to do an improv theatre class. Which, honestly, felt more terrifying than if it were to have been Puccini. Maryam from apexart was also a first-timer, which softened the panic.

We had to pick stage names. Among the ensemble:

Great Garth (that be me)

Mean Maryam (not typecast)

Magic Mark (not Mike)

Always Alston (not a first timer)

Bitchy Bailee (complimented by 'sneakers' so actually nice!)

Cheery Chiraz (gave good teeth)

Doughnut Dennis (mimed eating sed doughnut)

Standing Steve (well he wasn't Sat down!)

Igloo Eileen (was not icy in the slightest)

Despite myself, I had fun. Turns out I’m a decent partner in crime. I say “yes, and...” with conviction, and I’m not bad at holding space for others to play. Soft skill? Secret power? Either way, I felt quietly chuffed. Also — mild concern: I kept drifting into a dodgy American accent. Somewhere between New Jersey barista and cartoon cowboy. My sincerist apologies to America, I'm no actress. But, play acting, gave me vocal energy I didn’t know I had and an outer body bravada that was perhaps essential. My default northern English twang is dry and monotone, improv needs upbeat and "Yes, yippee, and then..." Faking it in the moment doesn't diminish an overall desire to be authentic and of integrity.

To close out the day, I walked home via the Flatiron building, my NYC fave. It’s a triangle. Of course it is. Geometry that slaps. Sadly, it’s currently scaffolded to death — like it’s going through a phase. Rude, quite frankly. Could’ve at least dressed up for my visit.

Feet are sore. Brains been stretched and kneaded, Heart’s a bit fuller. Still not over the balcony thing.

Till tomorrow x

[scotianostra]

October 12th 1929 saw the birth of Magnus Magnusson, writer, broadcaster and quiznmaster in TV programme “Mastermind”.

Aye ah know he wasn’t born in Scotland but -I’ve started so I’ll finish!

Magnus was born in Reykjavík but grew up in Edinburgh, where his father, Sigursteinn Magnússon, was the Icelandic consul. Magnus’ Icelandic name at birth was Magnús Sigursteinsson, but in Scotland his family adopted British naming conventions and from childhood he used his father’s patronymic as a surname. Living in Joppa, he was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and was in the school’s marching brass band. So to those saying he’s not Scottish, he did live almost his entire life here.

After graduating from Jesus College, Oxford, Magnusson became a reporter with the Scottish Daily Express and The Scotsman. He went freelance in 1967, then joined the British Broadcasting Corporation, presenting programmes on history and archaeology as well as appearing in news programmes.

He retained his academic connections, however, and was Lord Rector of Edinburgh University from 1975 to 1978 from 2002 served as chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University. The Magnus Magnusson Fellowship, an intellectual group based at the Glasgow Caledonian University, was named in his honour. Magnusson’s books included I’ve Started so I’ll Finish, a memoir of his years on Mastermind, and Scotland: The Story of a Nation.

Magnus of course is most famous for the quiz show, Mastermind, it was originally broadcast late on a Sunday night and was not expected to receive a huge audience. In 1973 it was moved to a prime-time slot as an emergency replacement for a Leslie Phillips sitcom, Casanova ‘73, which had been moved to a later time following complaints about its risqué content. The quiz subsequently became one of the most-watched shows on television. Magnusson was famous for his catchphrase “I’ve started so I’ll finish,” which was also the title of his history of the show. The original series was also noted for the variety of venues where filming took place—often including academic and ecclesiastical buildings. The last programme of the original series was filmed at St Magnus Cathedral in Orkney.

To further add to Magnus’s credentials for being a Scot he married Glasgow lass Mamie Ian Baird and they had 5 children together, including Reporting Scotland presenter Sally.

On 12th October 2006, his 77th birthday, Magnusson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Magnusson mordantly noted that “This has to be one of my worst birthdays ever”. His condition forced him to cancel a string of public appearances. He died on 7th January 2007.The Aigas Field Centre a nature centre near Beauly has a building named in his honour.

In 2014 an auction sold off a lot of his belongings for the Scottish based Balmore Trust, a fair trade charity which sells fairly-traded goods in its shop The Coach House and supports projects in Africa, India and the west of Scotland.

Magnus Magnusson, Icelandic by birth Scottish through choice. Anyone still not convinced of his Scottish & Proud credentials, check out this quote from the man “I have got the best of both worlds; growing up in Edinburgh and now living outside Glasgow.”

Scotland is a welcoming country and have a rich culture which comes from all round the world, with his writing and knowledge Magnus brought so much to our country

Magnus Magnusson is buried in Baldernock Churchyard, East Dunbartonshire.