#it's just something I found while searching for the original source

[popqorn]

Stay cool, everyone!

[thetreetopinn]

Sources for Somerton's Plagiarism from Hbomberguy's Video (as much as I could get)

I went back through Harry's video, focused entirely on the sources James Somerton pulled from in the hopes of creating as much of a comprehensive list as I could--though my Google-Fu is not very strong. I did however find something I thought was forever lost and that made me very happy--specifically the magazine Midlands Zone containing the column by Steven Spinks that Harry poignantly used as an illustration of gay erasure... while Somerton uses it to sound like HE is waxing remorseful about the very subject.

This is not a complete list, I'm sure. For one thing, I was only able to attempt to pull sources that Harry himself mentioned in the video. Surely there's so very much more out there. I expect there to be a great deal more internet archeology to unearth just how much writing and culture Somerton has stolen like he's the British Museum of Natural History but for gay people.

- - - - -

Harry's list of mentioned youtubers:

Alexander Avila - https://www.youtube.com/@alexander_avila Matt Baume - https://www.youtube.com/@MattBaume Khadija Mbowe - https://www.youtube.com/@KhadijaMbowe Lady Emily - https://www.youtube.com/@LadyEmilyPresents Shanspeare - https://www.youtube.com/@Shanspeare RickiHirsch - https://www.youtube.com/@RickiHirsch VerilyBitchie - https://www.youtube.com/@verilybitchie

Harry created a convenient playlist of videos by these and other people he wants to bring to everyone's attention.

Please give them your support.

- - - - -

Midlands Zone Magazine - Column by Steven Spinks

After a great deal of searching, I found an archive of the "Midlands Zone" magazine, where you can read through past issues dating all the way back to February 2014. I have also found the issue from which Somerton took Spinks' poignant discussion of gay erasure: Overall archive Specific Issue - Pages 16-17

It will not allow you to download it, but you can read it exactly as it appeared in print form.

- - - - -

My best effort to find the exact book or article Somerton lifted from to be able to get attention to the original writers

Tinker Bells and Evil Queens By Sean Griffin

The Celluloid Closet By Vito Russo Wikipedia article about the book Wikipedia article about the documentary My weak google-fu could not find where you can access the book or documentary. Check your local municipal or university library for book or documentary, or if you know a good source for one or both, please reblog with it added

Camp and the Gay Sensibility By Jack Babuscio

The Groundbreaking Queerness of Disney's Mulan By Jes Tom Personal site with links to social media accounts

Why Rebel Without a Cause was a milestone for gay rights By Peter Howell

Why "The Craft" is still the best Halloween coming out movie By Andrew Park

Opinion: From facehuggers to phallic tails, is 'Alien' one of the queerest films ever? By Dani Leever

Women and Queerness in Horror: Jennifer's Body By Zoe Fortier

[Pride 2019] We Have Such Sights to Show You: Hellraiser and the Spectrum of Queerness By Alejandra Gonzalez

Revealing the Hellbound Heart of Clive Barker's 'Hellraiser' By Colin Arason

Queering James Cameron's Aliens (1986) By Bart Bishop

Demeter and Persephone in space: transformation, femininity, and myth in the 'Alien' films By David Greven

Fears of a millennial masculinity: Scream's queer killers By David Greven (Scholarly site, unable to access original work, offers a way to request a full copy of the text in PDF)

Queer Subtext in Stephen King's It - Part 1: 'Reddie' Character Analysis By Rachel Brands Rachel is the very unfortunate lady who found out she was being stolen from because she supported Somerton through Patreon and saw one of his videos early with her writing--lacking any form of citation or credit

How 'It: Chapter Two' Leaves Richie Tozier Behind By Joelle Monique

When Horror Becomes Strength: Queer Armor in Stephen King's 'IT' By Alex London

Why Queer People Love Witchcraft By Amanda Kohr

'The Favourite' Queers The Past And The Present By Giorgi Plys-Garzotto

(Wuko) Crush (Mako x Wu) By MoonFlower on YouTube

5 Terrible Movies With Awesome Hidden Meanings By J.F. Sargent

The Radicalization of Sexuality: The Queer Casae of Jeffrey Dahmer By Ian Barnard

Netflix's 'Dahmer' backlash highlights ethical issues in the platform's obsession with true crime By Shivani Dubey

The Possible Disturbing Dissonance Between Hajime Isayama's Beliefs and Attack on Titan's Themes Original Article by "Seldom Musings" (Author has made all posts not related to Attack On Titan private and has retired from the blog)

Everyone Loves Attack on Titan. So Why Does Everyone Hate Attack on Titan? By Gita Jackson

- - - - -

The following people are otherwise named in the video. There are no direct citations of articles or books by them in said video. I am unable to guarantee that I have identified the correct individual.

Darren Elliott-Smith Michaela Barton David Church Claire Sisco King Amanda Howell Jessica Roy

- - - - -

Telos announced and cancelled a film likely based on this book: The Final Girl Support Group - By Grady Hendrix

- - - - -

I refrained from including certain sources.

First off only focusing on Somerton's work.

Secondly not including anything that might be visible enough to not require amplifying their voice (I cannot speak for all of those I have found links to, but journalism is frequently a thankless job).

Thirdly any source that is of a nature that is antithetical to the very existence of the queer community, such as the right-leaning source that didn't make it into Somerton's video, but Harry was able to identify as a source he had considered using.

If you feel I have missed a mentioned source--or you know of a source from material that was not covered in Harry's video--please do not hesitate to reblog with added details.

- - - - -

Please share this information far and wide, and please add to it if you find more material that can be positively identified and linked to the creator/writer.

[lazycats-stuff]

U know those adorable videos where big brothers are the most gentle and just keep picking up and kissing their baby sibling no matter if the baby was sleeping or not? I imagine babybatbro (triple B lol) will be napping next to Bruce in bed and then which ever batbro will come in and steal the baby with no explanation hehe, I'd like to see something like that with all 4 batbros please

Awww... My heart, my cold heart is melting slowly but surely... So much fluff...

Summary: (Y/N) loves to nap, but everyone keeps picking him up.

Warnings: fluff, so much fluff, minor cursing,

Babies are wonderful little creatures. So cute, adorable, extremely cuddly, kind of defenseless, but one hell of a boost for serotonin. Babies were also a source of anxiety. Whenever (Y/N) cried, one of the boys or Bruce or Alfred would check on him and would gently shush him and try to figure out what was wrong with their little brother, son or grandson.

Usually it was easy, but sometimes it was a little bit more complex. No one ever said that raising a child is an easy feat. It's incredibly difficult, but also fulfilling at the same time. You get some incredible memories on the way and a nice cuddle bug who to a certain degree has a calming effect on you.

Of course, while the baby is calm and sleeping.

Speaking of sleeping, (Y/N) loved to nap. Whenever he could nap, he would. Public, home... It does not matter where they were, (Y/N) would nap. Even when the press was around and was loud, if it was nap time, (Y/N) was out cold. It was funny to see it and nothing but hunger or a soiled diaper would wake him up.

More importantly, the little bat or little shit if you ask Jason, loved to sleep next to someone in bed. And considering the fact that every member of the family needed a nap, (Y/N) was a perfect person to nap with. Some said that (Y/N) was like a cat. You know, eat on time, sleep on time...

Almost like a little kitten almost.

And when (Y/N) was asleep and cuddling with someone, those who weren't napping would take the little baby. At this point, they only used nicknames like little bat or kitten.

Now, back to the napping situation.

Whenever (Y/N) was napping with someone, the others would just take the little baby into their own arms and slowly move away from the original napping person. Yes, it may sound confusing.

For example, if (Y/N) and Bruce were napping, Jason would come in, sneakily take (Y/N) into his arms, gently of course.

The first time anything like that happened, Bruce was napping with (Y/N), in Bruce's room. It was quiet and Jason wanted to see his little brother. So what does on do to go get his little brother? He sneaks into Bruce's room and ever so quietly takes the napping baby into his arms and slowly sneaks out of the room to go to his own room.

When Bruce woke up he looked for his son. He found him with Jason after 10 minutes of searching. Jason simply waved at him while (Y/N) was slowly waking up in his arms. Bruce just sighed and left to get some coffee.

Jason chuckled quietly and cuddled his baby brother who was waking up, slowly cooing and squirming in Jason's arms and Jason nearly puked from the atomic bomb that (Y/N) has dropped at the moment in his diaper.

" Oh you cheeky little- " Jason cut himself off with a gag before going to (Y/N)'s room to change the diaper and not die from the smell. He gagged as he undid the diaper and threw it in the trash. He is weak. He is Red Hood, but he is weak. However, this could be considered as a bio weapon.

Jason cleaned (Y/N) up, who was wiggling his legs and giggling. Jason smiled and then put on a clean onesie and then took him into his arms.

The second time that taking a napping little baby happened was when Jason was napping with (Y/N). He was sleeping in his room, his brother in his arms. And who dares to disturb them? Damian. He wanted to spend time with his little brother.

So what does Damian do?

After a second of planning he sneaks in and ever so gently takes his little baby brother into his arms, shushing him gently in Arabic when he started fussing. Then, Damian, slowly made his way to his room, gently humming to him to keep him quiet.

Once in his room, Damian started cooing to (Y/N) in Arabic. Yes, Damian has said to Bruce that (Y/N) should know Arabic. It's a language worth knowing, what can he say?

Once Jason woke up, he was pissed. Whoever took (Y/N) was a bastard. He grumbled as he started looking for his baby brother. He glared when he entered Damian's room. And more so when he saw Damian smirking, in the condescending way.

" You are weak Todd. What if I was a burglar? "

Damian was lucky that (Y/N) was in his arms.

Third time when it happened was when Tim took (Y/N) from Dick. Dick was sleeping on the couch, which was outstretched so it could accommodate Dick and (Y/N). It was a nice, rainy afternoon, perfect for a little nap with a little, warm and cuddly baby.

So that's what Dick did.

He took his little brother into his arms, laid him on a couch, covered him with a blanket and closed his eyes. He put his arm over his brother and fell asleep quickly. It was nice to fall asleep with his little brother and the sound of rain falling.

Well, it was nice until Tim popped into the living room.

Tim also wanted to have his brother in his arms. Everyone hogs the poor baby and Tim needs to make sure that he has his time with the baby too. Tim ever so gently picked his little brother up and left to his room. But not before leaving Dick a note saying where (Y/N) is.

When Dick woke up, confused as to where his baby brother is. Safe to say, he wasn't a happy camper when he saw what has happened. More so at the note. He just grumbled and went back to napping.

And the fourth time when (Y/N) was 'kidnapped' was when Dick took (Y/N) from Tim. The two fell asleep while they were watching a movie. And Dick, very gently took his brother into his arms, happy to have his brother back.

And once of the best things about (Y/N)?

He could sleep through anything as he was a heavy sleeper. He rarely ever made a sound while he was sleeping. So Dick took his brother back into his arms and simply left. And without a note even. Dick laughed in his room afterwards, happy to take his revenge.

This was all some revenge, but not a vicious cycle by any means. It was nice, fluffy, harmless revenge. (Y/N) was happy to be cuddled and held, especially during napping. And if it was a competition between the brothers...

Oh well.

[lizardsfromspace]

One aspect of TikTok that's faded, but which was the major driver of panic about it for most of its life, was the TikTok Challenge: the moral panic about dangerous or offensive trends on TikTok that were taking over.

And I do mean moral panic because even basic research turns up that the majority of TikTok Challenge stories were unfounded, or exaggerated.

Many of them straight-up didn't happen. There are trends that never had a challenge attached at all, like Momo, but others were never a thing on TikTok at all. The stories have a similar form to them. For instance, there was once the "shoot up your school challenge" that sparked a huge series of warnings and cries to repeal Section 230 and ban this sick filth...and then, at the very end of those stories, an acknowledgement that there was no source video - that no one had found evidence it existed on TikTok at all.

Let's define a "challenge", because any bad thing that happens on TikTok was branded a "challenge". But in my view, it has to contain, well, a challenge: some element of showing yourself doing it, and then daring others to do it, too. As we'll see, it's actually pretty difficult to find evidence many challenges ever existed

One of the more well-documented is the alleged Benadryl challenge. In mid-2020, a trio of teens overdosed on Benadryl and claimed they got the idea from a TikTok claiming you can get high off taking it. They were treated at the hospital, and TikTok deleted the video in question and blocked the relevant hashtags. But then a couple months later stories about Benadryl overdose deaths started attributing it to the "Benadryl challenge". But...all they were doing was citing the original story as proof the challenge existed. A story that doesn't include a challenge, and where the TikTok video referenced had been deleted and the topic blocked. When a reporter actually investigated, they found no evidence of any challenge videos, and found that, just as TikTok had said, the search itself was blocked. In other words, and this is a trend you see a lot in coverage, the existence of a panic about something on TikTok meant everything sprang from TikTok: because of that story, any teen overdosing on Benadryl *had* to have gotten the idea from a TikTok challenge - TikTok had to be grafted on to every relevant story regardless of relevance, and each new story including it became more evidence it was all down to TikTok. Because teens would never do something irresponsible without an app...would they?

So let's talk about the elephant in the room. Tide pods. The Tide pod challenge was a thing, but it was not a thing to the extent that the media made it into a thing. So how many teens ate Tide pods?

86. Non-stop global media coverage for months over 86 teens doing a stupid stunt. While over 10,000 kids were accidentally exposed to laundry detergent in the year before with hardly any coverage. Discussions over, hey, maybe memes aside it's bad for children to have this dangerous thing look so colorful essentially stopped completely thanks to this panic, during which time stories about children unknowingly eating Tide pods were folded into the panic and attributed to the Tide Pod Challenge. Discussion of actual product safety, discussion of how to prevent harm to over TEN THOUSAND people, had to give way to a moral panic about 86

86 sounds bad, but is a really small number in the scheme of things - and absolutely disproportionate to the media coverage, which lasted for months and endlessly blasted all young people for eating Tide Pods.

There are others. For instance, after Kia failed to include an anti-theft device in their cars, thefts of Kia cars skyrocketed, and some young joyriders posted videos of this on TikTok and other platforms - and posted guides on how to do it yourself. These videos were removed, but somehow "someone posted a guide to steal an easy-to-steal car online" turned into "there's a challenge on TikTok daring you to steal cars" which then turned into attributing all thefts of the car without anti-theft tech in it to TikTok. But in this case, there is a source video, an original video that made stealing Kias look cool.

It was posted on Youtube.

"Slap a Teacher" went viral, and was a complete hoax, as was NyQuil Chicken. Many of the videos in the "Devious Licks" challenge were, as well, hoaxes. These stories go viral enough to spark a well-meaning FDA warning saying hey, don't do this, which is taken as evidence that people were doing it. But in just about every case, it's relatively few people, or the challenge didn't exist. The stories have a familiar form: description of death or incident, statement from concerned parents, interviews with cops and maybe a child psychologist, and then a denial from TikTok. What these stories rarely, if ever, include is any citations of where on TikTok the challenge began, or any independent research into them. Notably, even stories admitting it's a hoax often go on to talk about how we need to control it anyway. When TikTok said a video didn't exist on their platform, it's natural to suspect the social media corporation of lying, but oddly they appear to have been telling the truth most of the time, and were rightly saying content didn't exist or only made up a few videos stopped early on.

(I'm mainly talking about America, but this happened internationally, too. There was, as I understand it, a major panic about the "Charlie Charlie" challenge in Latin America - indeed, it was the panic that brought it to the Anglosphere - but it was, you know. Literally just Ouija boards/Bloody Mary. Meanwhile, the "Blue Whale" challenge started in Russia, off a reporter essentially imagining a game because two teens who died by suicide had images of blue whales on their computers, but there's no evidence of any challenge - but the press, normally reluctant to report on suicides, rushed to give breathless coverage to teen suicides - which, after all, only happen due to the Blue Whale game - likely causing copycats of a game that never existed. Most ridiculously, when a video of a creepy statue of Michael Jackson went viral, Mexican police warned parents about the "Ayuwoki Challenge". Which was...looking at a creepy statue of Michael Jackson online)

But let's address the real elephant in the room. Of the TikTok challenges that really took place to some degree, what are they? Devious Licks was about vandalizing school property. The Tide Pod challenge and its ilk were about eating something stupid. The Milk Crate challenge and its like were about doing dangerous stunts.

And I experienced TikTok challenges like this when I was in high school. I remember this group of kids who egged one of their number on to punch glass, which shredded their hand; I remember people being dared to snort pixie stix dust off the table; I remember people stealing the soap dispensers from the bathroom and the mouse balls out of the mice, because oh wait, it wasn't TikTok challenges, all that happened when I was in 9th grade in 2004

The TikTok challenges that are *real* are just...routine teen misbehavior? Being attributed to an app ruining the kid's minds. Teenagers have been peer pressuring each other into doing stupid things since time immemorial; it didn't start because of phones.

The people who spread these panics did or saw equally dumb things when they were that age. Now that they're older, and parents themselves, it's scary and dangerous. How do you reconcile that? You don't - what you did as a kid was an innocent prank, the same acts happening now are scary and Never Happened When I Was A Kid. So there must be some explanation. In the 80s it was metal music, in the 90s & 00s it was video games, and in the 2020s it was TikTok Challenges. There always has to be some media corrupting the youth into doing what the youth have always done, because "you grew up and became more mature and aware of your own mortality" is not an option you want to dwell on. Meanwhile, actual harmful trends go unnoticed; most of the people who spent a year dunking on teens bc 86 people ate Tide Pods have no idea about how many teen boys have become, essentially, cultists for figures like Andrew Tate or how hard they're being recruited; coverage was lavished on challenges that never existed, but not on true crime obsessives starting a hate campaign claiming a trans woman on TikTok was a serial killer

There are two other factors here. One is a drive to not take the issues facing young people seriously. This has been a long-term function for moral panics - since it's easier to say kids don't face any real problems, they're just being corrupted by outsiders, and we just need to ban video games or "Satanic" music or Slenderman or TikTok challenges to 'fix' it. You had real problems as a teen; but these kids today, they're just whiners. If teens no longer overdose or act out or harm themselves for any reason but Being Told To Online, then there's no need to look any deeper at society

The other is that the defining moral panic since 2020 has been the idea that young people are a barely-literate fascistic mob of unruly hooligans who are acting out More Than Ever, a moral panic that's being used to push legislation that harshly cracks down on the rights of young people and their access to society and their ability to be independent from their parents. But I heard some anecdotes that kids are, like, totally mean now when they never were before so it's probably true, and we should make them their parent's property to stop it

[hearthwrm]

𝒜 Collection of My Favorite Vocals From Yeosang

As a firm Yeosang bias, I decided to share my favorite collection of moments where Yeosang's vocals shine. I was going to share this for his birthday, but I think I would rather take a dive into the fashion they dress him in. So, I will—with hope—be working on that in the future. Truthfully, it is a shame that KQ Entertainment gives him so few lines. I won't wonder or speculate as to why that is, as I find it can be quite the intense topic for some fans. I will say that I am anxiously awaiting his birthday, so we may get more glimpses of his vocals. Hopefully, anyhow .. ♡

BLOOMING DAY

I urge anyone to watch the video (provided here) in full, as his stage presence is the aspect that enamored me the most with this performance. Not only his, but of the group as a whole. If someone told me they were an official group, I would believe them. I find that Yeosang plays soft roles in a manner that comes across as very genuine and bright (also seen in the "I Like You" performance here). One aspect I don't see people acknowledge about Yeosang is just how easily he seems to click with others when performing. In this case, Xiaojun and Hyeongseop. While, yes, that may mean he takes a back seat mostly when groups are bigger than three, he harmonizes with others in a seamless way. Which makes it to me obvious as to why a lot of companies would want him. He comes across as reliable. Professional.

Personal Favorite Section: 2:14 – 2:20 min.

INTO THE NEW WORLD

I will preface by saying that Jongho was the one that distributed the lines in this performance. Is it selfish to say I would wish he could be in charge of such a thing? Perhaps it is because of his very… vigorous vocal training in his youth, but his ear for others' vocals is delightful. Not only that, but the way he made every member shine is so heart-touching. Yeosang had a small dance intermission, and all three shared the center with their own sections of solos. I am thankful to the ATINYs who captured this moment and uploaded it for us to watch (please spare them a view, here and here). I used the former for this audio clip, it would be my hope for everyone to give the original posters some love. Unrelated, but do Jongho, Yeosang, and Wooyoung have a name? I was searching for one to place in the artist category, but found none. So, I placed ATEEZ even when the eight members aren't physically there. As I feel it still fits.

Personal Favorite Section: 1:08 – 1:43 min.

ONLY THEN¹

According to a commenter on the video on YouTube, Yeosang had this to say about this specific cover:

“This is when later~

Of course, it's much later. Just long after when I, someday in the future, have to part ways with ATINYs. [through the song I want to say] That right now, instead of worrying about it and having those thoughts, it's something that we'll see to at that time. In the present, I like you, and you like me, too. So, let's live happily!”

Is this true? I don't know. I would think most of this information—if true—would either have been said in a VLIVE, fromm chat, Universe, or another Korean-based app that I cannot get my non-Korean (cough, broke) hands upon. Then, if said information was shared, it was probably done so on Twitter which... I don't have. If anyone has any basis to this, I would be more than happy to add a source! Still, I think it's a nice thought. Even if it did not come from his mouth. It also fits into the narrative if you take into consideration the song that follow this one. Which is a cover of "Don't Forget About Me" by Chris James.

Personal Favorite Section: 2:50 – 3:36 min.

TO MY YOUTH²

Have I cried to this cover? Yes, and I am not ashamed to say so. This is just my interpretation of Yeosang (that is his persona, not his person), but I always felt he had this sort of bright melancholy to him. By this I mean there's this bittersweetness of youth that clings to his aura. It reminds me of lemon tarts. Which, as you may have guessed, is why this post is all sort of shades and tints of yellow. Brushing past that, however, I think that this cover shows a subtle stroke of his range. He can do deep ranges—portray the drums of a revolution in HALAZIA or a bone-deep thrill as seen in Dune—but it's hard to portray authentic tenderness. I listened to the original by BOL4 (Bolbbalgan4), and her voice brims with authenticity. The thing, however, is that with the original, there's this crescendo at the end. Akin to screaming on top of a coastal cliff. With Yeosang, there is none of that. It remains contained in oneself. It reminds me of squeezing a fruit too hard. Cathartic for a second, but once you look down at your hands, you realize everything is still a mess.

Personal Favorite Section: 2:55 – 3:17 min.

With this, we conclude this very long post. Hopefully, to those that have made it this far, you have enjoyed this small journey. This took me… much longer than I thought it would .. (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

I tried to make most of them .mp3 files so, hopefully, everyone can listen to them!

FOOTNOTES:

¹ This song is part of an unlisted playlist (which can be found here). Why is it unlisted? I believe KQ Entertainment did so because the QR code in Yeosang's birthday photobook redirected to this playlist.

² To note is that this is a special clip that can be found on YouTube, yet it also is the first song in the array of covers he did for his "The Middle of June" photobook previously mentioned.

[vickyvicarious]

It seems like the general first impression was "The Demeter crew is suffering and sleepless and dying, while Mina is having a nice sightseeing vacation", but... Doesn't it seem less of a contrast than that?

Lucy's now increasingly odder sleepwalking was there from day one of Mina's arrival, making Mina sleepless. While the crew sleeps with one eye open.

Even on the first day on Whitby, Mina was taking about death and lost ships. While the crew was beginning to lose men. Mina and Mr Swales talk about tombstones and suicide. While the First Mate jumps to his death.

*Mina voice*: the reports of my hot girl summer have been greatly exaggerated...

You're onto something here, definitely. Of course, in the original book, we don't see anything from the Demeter until a little ways into Mina's stay, so it (re)reads as more foreshadowing than it seems like a parallel, but that's one of the really fun things to notice in the daily format! I'm reminded of Lucy's three suitors and her letters about looking into her mirror coming so soon on the heels of Jonathan's encounter with the three vampire women and with his mirror getting broken.

I never noticed just how much a lot of Mina's storyline here lines up so well with the Demeter though. And now that I'm thinking about it... There's a bunch of those kinds of connections!

Of course, there are overall ones. Like you said, Lucy's sleepwalking begins right away, and it robs Mina of her sleep. Meanwhile, the crew of the Demeter are kept awake by storms, by double-watches, by having to pick up the work that no one else is left to do. But though that's pretty overarching, there are also some moments that line up really well. For example, July 27: "Lucy walks more than ever, and each night I am awakened by her moving about the room." and July 28: "Four days in hell, knocking about in a sort of maelstrom, and the wind a tempest. No sleep for any one. Men all worn out."

Then there are Mina's conversation with Mr. Swales, especially the latter one with its talk of suicide, of going to hell - only two days before the mate leaps to his death rather than allow Dracula to get his soul. Mr. Swales also parallels the first mate a bit in being, as Mina says, "a most dictatorial person in his day" and very insistent that there's nothing supernatural going on, though as yet he's not been proven so terribly wrong about that the way the first mate was.

On July 24, Mina says there is "a buoy with a bell, which swings in bad weather, and sends in a mournful sound on the wind. They have a legend here that when a ship is lost bells are heard out at sea." That same day the Demeter is approaching more bad weather, and later on they get lost in the fog. (Though we never get mention of any bell ringing.)

Mrs. Westenra is afraid of Lucy's sleepwalking because she "has got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on roofs of houses and along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly wakened and fall over with a despairing cry that echoes all over the place." On August 2, the captain is awoken by a cry that sounds close, but which he cannot see the source of in the fog. The next day, the mate runs up onto the deck crying out after being figuratively 'wakened' to the true horror of who he's up against just before he leaps over the side of the ship. Also on August 3, Lucy goes about searching for the key so she can get out, and the mate went searching through the boxes in the hold. He clearly found what he was looking for, and it had terrible consequences; if Lucy finds what she seeks in her sleepwalking, what might happen to her?

And, one that I can't believe never occurred to me before... Mina's not only worried about Lucy, of course. She's very afraid for Jonathan. Because he, much like the men on the Demeter, has vanished unseen. He went off to his work (on watch/work trip) and hasn't been seen since. Even when she hears from him, it's brief and she can sense the letter is uncharacteristic of him, short and lacking detail. The reason, though she doesn't know it, is of course that Dracula stopped him from saying anything else/more. Jonathan's real sentiments and words were 'lost in the fog' so to speak (the false trail laid by the letters being the metaphorical fog here). It reminds me of the one sailor's cry that awoke the captain. And even with that, she's still waiting for more word of him and should have had it by this point. But he's simply gone.

It's not endless horrors for Mina at the moment, but the ominous tone is certainly building over time despite more positive moments happening too. To use a weather metaphor, more and more stormclouds have been gathering over time, looming threateningly overhead. And it looks an awful lot like the weather Dracula brought to the Demeter.

[vetted-gaza-funds]

Info (WIP)

Complete master list of all campaigns on this blog here!

This blog is run by @palms-upturned. I am a white USAmerican, and I do not vet fundraisers. Unfortunately, I cannot help with the vetting process in any way. This blog is meant to be a place to broadcast fundraisers that have already been vetted by Palestinian bloggers and organizations, mostly by users el-shab-hussein, nabulsi, 90-ghost, and ibtisams. None of us will ever be able to thank these users enough for the life-saving work that they have done and continue to do. If you cite this blog, please do not say “verified/vetted by vetted-gaza-funds”. Instead, please consider copy/pasting the sources that I link in my posts, or at the very least link directly to my post about the fundraiser in question where the sources can be found and say “featured on” rather that “vetted by.”

This blog is also going to be used more as a directory/master list than an actual blog. The aim is for people to be able to search usernames of people in Gaza and find links to verifications from multiple sources, as well as things like raffles or giveaways promoting certain campaigns, in one convenient place. For reblogs/signal boosting, please go to my main blog, @palms-upturned. If you are a user in Gaza promoting a fundraiser, I am more than happy to promote it for you, but I will only post about it on this blog once, and all other promotions will be on my other blog. I promise I am not ignoring you.

Here is a post with a list/directory of organizational tags on this blog. (WIP)

Sources where you can find vetted fundraisers:

el-shab-hussein and nabulsi's spreadsheet

gazafunds.com

Operation Olive Branch’s spreadsheet

Strawberry Seed Collective’s master list

Operation Poppy Flower

Project Watermelon master list

GoFund(water)Me(lons) master list

Ottawa4Palestine

Pali Pals on instagram

If someone in Gaza reaches out to you asking for help promoting their campaign, here's some things that you can do:

Do not report someone unless they are a known scammer. This platform has been targeting Palestinian users in Gaza for bans and terminations consistently, forcing them to remake their accounts several times, so a blog that appears new is not necessarily a red flag and may even already be vetted. Some users also take longer to get verified than others, especially those who struggle the most with staying connected to the internet. If someone reaches out to you and you can't find verification, please, just wait.

Along with sharing their posts, make your own original post linking to their campaign, even if it's just the link and a few words saying that you donated to them.

Link to a verification source in your posts about fundraisers. People are trying to avoid circulating unvetted fundraisers, so they'll be more likely to engage with your post if they can see proof that the campaign is legitimate. It will also help people who come across your post while doing a quick tumblr search of someone's username or fundraiser to check if someone has been vetted.

Posts with artwork/graphics typically gain more traction. User aces-and-angels, with the help of volunteer artists and designers, has been compiling a master post of donated artwork that is free to use to help boost fundraisers for people in Gaza, so check it out here and consider using these images in your posts! Please consider submitting artwork of your own as well for the cause.

Please considering sponsoring a campaign! There are many ways to do this. Some users have put together raffles where proof of a donation of a certain amount earns one entry into the raffle. Some users have offered charity commissions in exchange for donations to a campaign. Some users offer to match donations up to a certain amount, or promise to do/make something if a fundraiser reaches a certain milestone. I plan on eventually making a tag for campaigns with no sponsors so that people can look through it and hopefully pick one to sponsor. If you let me know about your efforts, I will add links/information about it to the post about the campaign you’re sponsoring!

Please spare a few minutes to look through this post about some recently terminated GoFundMe campaigns and how you can help pressure the platform into hopefully giving the funds back to the organizers.

Icon source | Banner design source

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

Alright y'all, buckle up.

Bad news :( Irving Hall/Irving Place Theatre was not, in fact, the location of the real 1899 newsies rally.

GOOD NEWS! :D I have found that the real location of the rally was the New Irving Hall at Norfolk and Broome Streets.

BAD NEWS!! :( New Irving Hall was not a theater. It appears to have been simply an event hall, meaning that "Medda's Theatre" that we all know and love is not actually historically accurate to the real 1899 strike.

Allow me to explain this revelation.

As far as I'm aware, the stage version of Newsies does not ever provide a name for Medda's theatre other than that it was located vaguely on/in the Bowery. Meanwhile, the 1992 film clearly gives us the name of the theater as 'Irving Hall.'

When you do a google search for Irving Hall or Irving Hall theatre in NYC in the 1890s, the top (and pretty much only) result is Irving Place Theatre which was originally Irving Hall, a venue not a theater, that opened in 1860. Irving Hall/Irving Place Theatre seems to check out as the historical basis for Medda's theatre then. Right? Well...

Irving Place Theatre. Map and photo from my previous post on newsies locations

Over the years, many newsies fans have landed on Irving Place Theatre as being 'Medda's Theatre.' But Irving Place Theatre was located at Irving Place and 15th streets, a far cry from the Bowery as the musical claims. So I did some digging trying to figure out if perhaps the musical had chosen a different theater for Medda, perhaps one that Aida Overton Walker was involved with. But I found something else instead.

Great Meet of Newsboys. The New York Sun, July 25, 1899, page 2.

When you go back and consult primary sources from the real 1899 newsboys' strike, you find that the rally was held not at Irving Place Theatre or Irving Hall on Irving Place and 15th, but that it was held at New Irving Hall at Broome and Norfolk streets.

I went down a rabbit hole trying to find information on New Irving Hall in NYC in the 1890s and came up with almost nothing. But I did go back to my map and found Broome and Norfolk, which I discovered to be much closer to the Bowery (highlighted below in yellow) than Irving Place Theatre was.

Marked in pink, relative location of New Irving Hall in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

At last, I found a single 2019 article with information on New Irving Hall and found out two important details.

First, that New Irving Hall seems to have been built or at least turned into a hall in the late 1890s and then burnt down in 1907. This narrow timeline could explain the lack of historical resources on New Irving Hall and the predominance of Irving Place Theatre in search results.

New Irving Hall, New York, on fire. Fire and Water Engineering, Volume 41, 1907. The only photo or illustration of New Irving Hall I could find.

Second, New Irving Hall was not a theater. New Irving Hall, like Irving Hall before the year 1888, was just a venue hall or dance hall for events. In it's short history, it was used for fundraising concerts, political and cultural events (the hall had many ties to the local Jewish community in particular), weddings, gang activity, and the newsboys' rally in 1899. But never was it a theater.

To circle back to Irving Place Theatre, the theater was originally called Irving Hall when it was built in 1860 and was rebuilt as a theater in 1888. While I can't back this up with any concrete evidence, I think it may be safely inferred that New Irving Hall, which begins to show up in records in the late 1890s, was possibly built because the original or old Irving Hall was converted from venue hall to theater.

In a 1916 Times article, Irving Place Theatre is referred to as "old Irving Hall," implying that New Irving Hall is/was in fact the new location of Irving Hall.

Union Square Loses Its Old Residences. The New York Times, June 18, 1916.

This potential link between the two might also be the reason why the Irving Hall of Newsies seems to take inspiration from both the Irving Place Theatre and New Irving Hall.

Medda's theatre is a mix of fact and fiction. According the the stage musical, Medda's is located in some connection to the Bowery like New Irving Hall. But the very fact that Medda's theatre is a theater means that Irving Place Theatre is just as likely the inspiration.

In conclusion, the real location of the newsies' rally was New Irving Hall, and New Irving Hall was not a theater. However, the theater in Newsies, Medda's theater, blurs the distinction between Irving Place Theatre and New Irving Hall and likely took inspiration from both places.

Top: Irving Place Theatre (highlighted blue). 1897 map. Bottom: Irving Hall (highlighted blue). 1897 map.

[stolentrekblr]

Some FAQs

"I feel compelled to tell you I am pleased/angry/don't care about this!!!" I am not telling anyone how they should feel about this. While my blog title is a touch incendiary, I am tracking down the posts I find in the wild and tracing them back to their original poster. It bugs me when screenshots get reuploaded here when the original posts still exist, so I'm doing my best to track them down for you. I also wanted other people to know when their posts/art/edits/words officially escaped containment. While I'm personally irked by the behavior of taking without consent and/or credit, that doesn't mean you have to be. Your response is valid :)

"Why only Star Trek?" Focusing on Star Trek alone is already a massive undertaking. If I could do more, I might, but I am most active in the Star Trek Tumblr sphere and more capable of identifying and tracking down the original post.

"Can I send you something I found/my own post that was reuploaded?" Please do! I am but one person with a questionable attention span, and this is an ambitious undertaking. Tumblr may be the incubator of the Internet, but its search function makes finding things challenging. There is no way to automate this process that I know of.

"What's your issue with this particular Data page?" Initially, I didn't have a problem with this page. My Facebook friend had sent me a couple memes from it, so I liked the page and moved on. I assumed the page runner was just another Trekkie who made memes and reposted art. As time passed, I noticed that many of the memes that lacked credit were coming from Tumblr and from mutuals who had no idea their words/edits/art had migrated off the platform. I mentioned to a couple artists that their work had been reposted and none of them had any idea until I'd mentioned it. I noticed the page was uploading peoples' edits without credit and taking captions verbatim, and that bothered me personally. Two of my posts were lifted in a row, and I had made a couple posts on my main ( @thresholdbb ) about it. It eventually hit a point that I decided this endeavor needed its own dedicated space.

Maybe it's because I spent my entire professional career in education, repeatedly citing all of my sources and teaching students that plagiarism is wrong. Maybe it's because consent in all spaces is vitally important. Maybe it's because the page runner repeatedly solicits money via subscribers, not to mention the "Gift" button that appears in the corner of every stolen picture. It seems disingenuous to present content as your own and also profit from it. On some level, I think the page runner knows what they're doing is at the very least morally questionable/dishonest/wrong, since they do not like or reblog any of the posts they re-upload to their page. (Believe me, I spent a long time trying to track them down before starting this blog.) Far as I can tell, they do not make original posts here, but I cannot confirm this. They make a few original posts on their Facebook pages (I think there's something like 7 that all have the same MO), but they are mostly selfies soliciting money. Like do what you need to do to support your family or whatever, but stealing from people in this way is not cool IMHO.

While it is the nature of meme culture to spread them around without credit, these posts are regularly being taken from a community in which I actively participate.

"Why would they watermark my post?" From what I can gather, straight up screenshots can get nuked because they go against some term of service, but I'm not a super active poster on Facebook and cannot confirm.

"What's your goal with all this?"

Awareness - now you know if a post has broken containment, if your art has been reposted, if your edit has gone uncredited, and where the original post is so you can reblog and add your own tags for OP to read. I'll often see a post in the wild and want to add my comments on my own blog but then can't find it, so I'm doing that legwork as much as I can for the tumblr community

"What if my blog has a do not repost disclaimer on it?"

It seems reposters don't particularly care, but I do. Even when art is reposted with the username/link/credit, the two can quickly become separated if your work doesn't have a watermark because of how some people tend to repost. Let me know you have a disclaimer and I'll add it to the repost report. If you have merch or a tip jar associated with your work, let me know and I'll add that too.

"I'm concerned about Meta's AI"

You and me both. I'm not wild about the fact that tumblr users have no say in what happens to their words, art, and images on another platform. Here they at least gave us the illusion of choice that we could opt out of LLM training, but that disappears once it migrates to Facebook and other social media platforms. People's art being fed into these algorithms without their consent is a concerning trend

"Can I reblog the post and delete your screenshot from it?" Please do! Let the original post be free! In fact, I encourage you to get rid of my reblog completely.

"Why are the posts delayed?"

This page runs on a queue system because I'm not allowing this pursuit to take up my time and mental space every day

"What's your Facebook name?" Must really suck when someone is anonymously taking screenshots of your posts, uploading them somewhere else, and you don't have a say about any of it. On that note, what's your Tumblr name? Mine is @thresholdbb :)

Update: it's @/gjoshmatheny provided they don't change it. This information is provided for blocking purposes only, not to engage with or harass them. Don't feed the trolls

"Why not make your own monetized page?"

I don't want to. I want to post, connect, and nerd out about Star Trek, not profit from my incessant posting. I could and might have moderate success, but it's a lot harder when the posts are original and haven't been vetted by another user base before reposting. I like the Ferengi, but I don't want to emulate them. Besides, even the Ferengi followed the Rules of Acquisition. As a side note, there is already questionable legality over profiting from a copyrighted franchise such as Star Trek, but I am not a lawyer; I'm just some brainrotted tumblr user

"What does the rest of the tumblr trek community think?"

I'm glad you asked! I've compiled reactions here

Also as a side note, reposters sometimes take uncredited memes and images from Tumblrs that do have monetized FB pages/tip jars that post all original content

Overall, the Trek community has a lot of good will, but in my experience that typically comes with a strong sense of justice. I'm just out here spreading the word

[marimayscarlett]

17 years of "Emigrate" 💿🎶

Today, Richard's first Emigrate album with the title "Emigrate" was published 17 years ago on the 31st of August, 2007. Additional release dates were the 29th of January, 2008 for the US and the 2nd of February, 2008 for Australia.

Recordings for the album took place in Germany, the USA and Denmark, mainly at the Studio Engine 55 in Berlin and New York. Singing and guitar were done by Richard, Arnaud Giroux played bass and Henka Johansson played drums, Olsen Involtini contributed additional guitar sounds and Sascha Moser, the former drummer of Orgasm Death Gimmick, took care of Logic and Pro Tools. Same as several Rammstein albums, this album was produced by Jacob Hellner.

Before the album was released, and even before the promotional CDs were manufactured, the band held a vote on their website. Fans were able to choose which song they wanted to hear in its entirety, after the release of Wake Up. The vote was won by Babe. After that a promotional snippet CD was released, which included both songs in full, but both songs were slightly different versions from the ones later released on the album.

When the CD was released, several promotional sheets were included, among them an interview with Richard. Here he answered question as himself as well as his alter ego "Emigrate", both knew each other for a while and could work well together as they had similar styles and were interested in each other's work. A bit of a peculiar concept, but kind of endearing. The sheets are in german, here is an english translation of this interview.

Here you can see the standard edition inlay, the CD design as well as the alternative cover:

In this interview from one day before the release, Richard explains what kind of meaning the name "Emigrate" has for him and how he came up with it:

Interviewer: And behind this term EMIGRATE, what is the emotional meaning behind it? We know that you chose this name because you went to New York, but...?

Richard: I am someone who wants to be extremely independent. So this project is an emotional release for me. You're constantly faced with fears in your life, and I think there was a certain person waiting inside of me who also wanted to lead her own project, wanted to sing - basically just wanted to be the center of attention. To actually do that in the end, or not to do it, to have to do it, to deal with the public and so on, that certainly has something to do with fear. People always talk a lot, but often don't realize their ideas because they're simply afraid they won't be able to hold their own in the end. I'm glad that I did it.

Interview: Was the name EMIGRATE your preferred name from the beginning or did you also have other name ideas?

Richard: I think names come to you at some point. Searching doesn't help much. At some point I found a piece of paper on the street in New York with “EMIGRATE” written on it. Somehow I thought this word basically described my current state, not only physically but also mentally. Emigrating from my home country, emigrating from the band RAMMSTEIN...it all made sense somehow.

Emigrate entered the German album charts on September 14, 2007 at number 8 and in the following weeks it reached positions 28 and 50, remaining in the Top 100 for a total of five weeks. The song "My world" appeared on the Resident Evil: Extinction - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

Two songs were released as singles: "New York City" on the 12th of October, 2007, and "Temptation" on the 7th of March, 2008.

Little personal addition, since this is my favourite Emigrate album and one of my favourite albums ever - here are my three favourite songs from it:

Sources: 1 2 3 4

[chocodile]

Found your work through desperate searches for sylvanian family customisation or recolour resources and WOW your art/characters/worldbuilding are also astoundingly good... gonna be scrolling here a while. Out of curiosity do you do custom/commissioned sylvanian figures or do you have a tutorial/materials list someplace? Thanks for reading!!

Aw gosh, thank you, Anon!

I did one custom commission as an experiment (which I'm sure you've seen if you looked through the tag) and it was pretty fun, but man are these things a time suck! I tried to do too many dolls in too short of a time, got kind of burned out on them, and haven't touched them in months... I'm currently trying to work up motivation to get back into it and finish the projects I have materials for. If I do, I'll take pictures this time and put together a proper tutorial.

Unfortunately I can't take any commissions right now, but I'd be happy to share a materials list! It's under the cut:

The paint used is basic acrylic paint, like the kind you can get from Walmart or craft stores for under two bucks. There's a bit of a trick to painting them without making the fur clumpy, I described the painting process here!

For the hair, you'll want doll hair ("My Little Pony" size is way more than sufficient), a hair rooting tool/kit, and either a heat gun or blow dryer. I wrote some notes on hair rooting Sylvanian Family dolls here.

For the clothes, you can use a number of different fabrics, but you want it to be very, very thin. That super cheap, thin cotton fabric you can find at Joann Fabrics is pretty perfect and comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns, though some stuff like doll-sized flannel you might have to look online for (or DIY--you can use acrylic paint on fabric, it just makes it stiffer). I use ribbon for trim. Other accessories like jewelry, buttons, chains, crystals, and belts can be sourced from craft stores, too... I usually just bring my WIP doll with me in my pocket and hold it up next to anything I'm interested in buying to check if the sizing is right (the lady at the fabric cutting station was incredibly charmed by them, hah). For more specialty items, like tiny hats and replica firearms, you will probably need to look online.

If you can't find a specific accessory, or need to sculpt something like armor, you can try making it out of epoxy clay and painting it with the same acrylic paint you used for the figure. Mod Podge will help seal it and give it a nice glossy finish. (Do not use Mod Podge on Sculpey--it makes it sticky!)

Tails are generally pipe cleaners or occasionally pom poms. Cut the original tail off with wire cutters, digging out as much of it as you can, and super glue the new tail in the hole.

Horns are done with epoxy clay. For big horns on the head, I use wire cutters to cut the pointy part off a pin, embed that in the clay horn, and then stick the end of the pin into the plastic head to more securely anchor it.

Bat and dragon wings are done with leather sheets you can buy from a craft store.

Other essentials: Super glue, sewing kit, Dritz fray check. Super glue is essential for both tails/horns/etc and clothing (it's often better for ultra-fine detail than sewing). Sewing kit is needed for clothing. You will not have much success with clothing without Dritz fray check. It keeps the edges of the fabric from disintegrating, which is a major concern when working on such a tiny scale.

Also this isn't a material so much as a tip: I often use the pointy end of a pin to do fine detail painting. It's also useful for sculpting miniatures.

Hope that helps! Good luck on your customization ventures, and feel free to ask if you have any more questions!

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Miscellaneous Monster Tales 12

Doppelganger

Laios's explanation about how doppelganger mimicry works makes their skill way more impressive. The doppelganger's color-changing ability includes making the ends of its tentacles transparent.

I looked back through chapter 81 and checked Donato's hands. Most of the time, his hands were relaxed into an open-palm fingers-gathered pose but there were a few instances where his fingers were posed different from that default form.

None of these are particularly complicated hand gestures. The doppelganger might be able to make these gestures depending on which muscles it flexes. It might also be possible that there's more than one tentacle serving as each arm.

When it transformed into Laios, it used more complex hand gestures. Since the mimicry involves color-changing, maybe it can also change the color of its cells to look like it's doing a particular gesture. Like the finger pointing gesture is made by coloring some cells to look like a single finger while the rest of the "hand" is colored to look like a closed fist.

Since the doppelganger uses memories to determine its behaviour, nothing it said to the party while it mimicked Laios was anything new. It just managed to summarize everything. I'm assuming it read Laios's mind since he's the one it's mimicking. If so, that means Laios heard everything Kabru said about dungeons sealing demons that eat human desires and then Laios connected the dots himself that the lion is a demon and figured out what its end goal is. The doppelganger is just better at clearly explaining Laios's thoughts.

Alternatively, the doppelganger was being puppeted by the lion and the lion spoke through it. The lion wants Laios to become the dungeon lord and everything the doppelganger said was a setup to tell Laios that he has to become the dungeon lord to stop all this.

If this were canon, it would mean the party beat the doppelganger then decided to talk about it which gave it the chance to turn back into Donato. Then they decided to just kill and eat it.

I don't like how Laios refuses to eat cephalopod because of the kraken. I personally think it's a good idea to sometimes try foods you don't like. In the worst case, you'll confirm that you indeed don't like it. But you might also discover that your issue had to do with the preparation method instead of the actual food item instead. Or maybe you were served something bad but you can enjoy it when it's made properly.

I'm sure Laios would like takoyaki if he actually tried it.

Marcille's Army

Ryoko Kui's creativity with reimagining monsters extends to using non-traditional sources and more modern mythologies.

After a quick search on jackalopes, I found that horned rabbits have been a concept since at least the 13th century and may have originated from sightings of rabbits and hares infected with a virus that causes horn-like tumors to grow out of their bodies. The modern jackalope is a North American mythological creature whose current design was popularized in the 1930s.

When everyone was talking about jackalopes and winged pigs, the hippogriff got brought up as well. The original mythology of hippogriffs is they are a cross-breed between a mare and a griffon, and hippogriff is practically a shorthand for an impossible thing (Griffons eat horses). I can imagine Kui decided to make winged pigs a monster because she already included a monster whose name is practically a shorthand for impossible things.

It could all be explained in-universe that jackalopes and winged pigs are rare or extinct dungeon species that never managed to be confirmed as real.

back

[writingattemptsxx]

Levi x Reader

Sleep.

You’re sick of Levi’s all-nighters and decide to get him to sleep, even if you have to trick him.

—

Not too late for Valentine’s Day, right? It's not themed, but some romantic fluff.

No one read it before posting, so hopefully there are no glaring issues.

No pronouns used for Mc other than “you”.

—

Uhhhh… what was happening? Levi was just gaming a bit ago, and now you’re asleep on top of him. You were complaining about him needing sleep as he, admittedly, brushed you off. A bit after some silence, you offered to watch some anime with him, starting with one of his favorites. He was done with all his dailies and he’s beaten all the story out, so why not? Little did he know it was a trap he fell for so easily.

Both of you sat down on a nest of blankets and pillows you insisted on making. Unusual, but the floor isn’t the most comfortable. You sat next to him for a while, looking at him every few minutes. After about an episode you pushed him down, turning him to where the back of his head hit one of the pillows.

“Wh-wh-what?! M-Mc?!”

“You need sleep! And don't complain. I played you parallel to the screen, you can just turn your head. Just- just lay down. Please.”

You looked desperate. Desperate for him to take care of himself. His face felt hot. Why is that a normal reaction around you?

He turned his head away, facing the screen. “Fine. I won't sleep though.” He didn't even sound that confident, but any confidence that was there shattered as you snuggled closer. He hopes that you don't hear how fast his heart is, even though your head is resting on his chest.

While watching, he played with your hair to keep his hands busy. He kept watching until the end of the final episode. Why does it have to be so short? His eyes drifted to you for a second, only to jump back. You were asleep. You fell asleep. His face felt more than warm this time. It felt absolutely burning. What does he do now?

He searched around for the remote. Of course, it was outside of his arm’s reach. He tried to slide closer, but that jostled you. He froze as you made a small and annoyed noise and readjusted on top of him. He was still frozen for a while after, just to make sure you weren't awake. While he did find it adorable, he didn't want to risk waking you.

He tried to slide again, slower this time. Luckily he grabbed it, without moving you this time, and he slid back into his original space. He tried to change the show to something new, but he kept looking back at you. He put the remote down at his side. He cupped your cheek and rubbed it with his thumb. You gave the tiniest smile in your sleep. Why are you so cute?

He looked back at the screen. There was this anime he'd been wanting to watch, and now was the perfect time, right? To his shock, he put on an anime he's watched thousands of times, put down the remote, and turned back to you. He lied down and continued to play with your hair until his eyes closed and he drifted off.

—

There was this annoying rustling sound waking Levi up. What time is it anyway? He tried to ignore it, but it was too annoying. He opened his eyes, scanning the room. When he turned his head he found the source. Mammon, his brother, and the greediest demon alive. He was rummaging through Levi’s figures and DVDs.

The lowest and angriest growl he has made in recent memory accompanied his voice. “Mammon.” He froze at Levi’s voice, not even looking back at his brother. “Make a good choice here. Leave everything where it is, and leave. You dare take one thing and I will kill you.”

Mammon slowly side-shuffled out, keeping his back to Levi, and keeping his hands up. Once he opened the door, he bolted away. Levi huffed, turned his head back around, closed his eyes, and drifted back off.

[vanilla-lip-stick]

Brainrot

So I am about ten years late to the fandom, started reading Elsanna fics about half a year ago. A few times before that, Elsanna stories appeared in my AO3 searches, but I shied away from those because of the incest aspect, I won't lie. However, I was running out of femslash stories to read, to I thought, well, I can read the unrelated stuff, it's fine.

I found those two utterly charming and adorable, and I couldn't get enough. So I eventually peeked into the pile of stories where they were sisters but not only sisters. And I still found them utterly charming and adorable, but also, at times, broken, repressed, yearning, hurting, fighting, loving. It quickly became my favourite ship (and it currently still is), and I particularly like the sister aspect because I always was a sucker for forbidden love, always liked it when writers ventured into difficult territory, asked difficult questions, gave ambiguous answers, because that's what life usually is, at least from my perspective.

After, at the time of posting this, five published stories on AO3 with about 70 k words, I'll tell you a little secret: I have never seen Frozen. Most I know about it and about Anna and Elsa I know from fics, and bits and pieces from other sources. If you read hundreds of thousands of words of fanfiction about them, I guess something sticks.

Also, many of those fics have inspired ideas of my own. New entries keep popping up in my backlog, and I already have about 50 outlined in various degrees. Just to give you a taste of what's in there, have this screenshot:

Yes, those numbers on the right are page numbers. More numbers? Then have this:

Before I started to treat writing seriously some years ago, before I finally committed myself to try my best to become a professional author, I was one of those people you wondered: where do writers get all these ideas from? Now, I find myself on the other end of the spectrum. I have too many ideas. (That above is, mind you, just my Elsanna backlog. My backlog for originals is even longer. Not that size matters.) There's no way I could possibly turn every idea I have had until now into a story even if I turn 100. And sometimes, this thought is so hard to cope with because while I don't think each of these ideas is a gem, there are many of them I love in one way or another.

(Some ideas, I am really scared of, and one in particular makes me sick whenever I stumble across it because it covers a topic I, as a reader, usually give a wide berth. Not so long ago, I read a fic that had this, thought I could perhaps take it, and looking back I have so say: no, I can't, and I have to fight the images in my head when I remember certain parts of the story to stay somewhat sane.)

Anyway. I wish writing didn't take so long, and I wish I were immortal until one day I decided I have had enough. I'm sure many of you can relate. (If there even is someone out there reading these ramblings. If there is, come say hi. Or find my stories on AO3.)

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Haesorog

Welcome to this week's bestiaryposting results! This is an unusual one in that the entry is short, but we have plenty of physical details. We're also following up two obvious ones with a description I genuinely think nobody can identify unless they're familiar with the bestiary tradition itself, or the sources thereof.

If any of that was confusing to you, please consult past posts on this matter at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. You can also keep up with the current beast of the week -- and participate -- by checking out the tag "maniculum bestiaryposting". The entry that our artists are working from this week can be found here:

Anyway, art below the cut in roughly chronological order:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) took this in a rhinoceros kind of direction, drawing something that reminds me of paleoart depicting prehistoric rhino relatives that I have seen & enjoyed. I was going to say something like "I'm not sure if that was the vibe they were going for", but the linked post cites Brontotherium as an inspiration for the horn, so that's probably what I'm picking up on. The depiction of it defending its young makes this a really interesting image, I think; I like it a lot. Also, the design decisions explained in the linked post are genuinely pretty interesting, so I encourage you to check that out.

@moonygryffin (link to post here) ran with the "ibis feet, deer head" thing to produce something kind of like a flightless peryton, which I think is pretty cool. What's really clever here, I think, is how the body effectively blends elements of both animals so that it looks like a natural transition between the two. It's kind of bird-shaped, but you can see some deer-shaped elements at the top, and it's got this furry kiwi kind of vibe that's plausibly both "deer" and "bird".

Moonygryffin also suggests that the thing with the feet is the result of our favorite game, Manuscript Telephone, and it was originally the footprint of an ibex, which I think is probably correct. From some quick searching, it looks like Pliny just described this beast as having "cloven hooves". I think it's plausible that a later author changed it for purposes of parallelism -- "size of an ox, fur of a bear, head of a deer, feet of an ibex" -- and then someone else misread it and gave it bird feet. (Do ibexes/ibices* have cloven hooves? I'm going to assume they do, they're goats, right?)

*I checked the OED; both plural forms are attested, though the first is the more common. Which is probably why Tumblr is giving the second one the red underline.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) went for a similar concept as the above, but in a different medium and interpretation. Genuinely impressed by the realistic detail on the legs and head here -- CheapSweets has mentioned seeking out some reference material and art books recently, so I'm inclined to assume those are really paying off. Look at that thing. There's a lot of interesting material in the linked post, speaking to influences, research, and design decisions, which I think is definitely worth checking out. One thing I want to point out specifically because I missed it the first time I saw this drawing: take a look at the people & dog in the background at the top left. Now look at the trees next to them. One of them is a Haesorog cleverly disguising itself. Excellent.

(Also thank you for providing alt text.)

@pomrania (link to post here) has collaborated with @theforceisstronginthegirl on this one, which is a delight! Pleased to see you back, Theforceisstronginthegirl. Anyway, they've also clocked the error with the ibis thing: while they don't suggest it's an error for ibex, they do suggest that it refers to cloven hooves, which as previously mentioned is indeed what Pliny says about it. And then they also decided to give it bird feet anyway because that's more fun, which is very much in the spirit of the thing, excellent call. Anyway, the focus of this design is on the camouflage aspect. They've interpreted it as simply having stellar natural camouflage, which is why it's shown next to a tree here -- we can see that the pattern of its fur lets it blend in with the coloration of the trees around it, and that leaves tangled in its antlers along with its ability to stand on two legs enhances the effect.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) went with a similar quadrupedal design, shaggy deer-like thing with bird legs, but went the opposite direction with the camouflage. Her post indicates it's shown here "shedding some leaves from the last time it turned into a bush," which means this version of the Haesorog is suggested to have actively supernatural camouflage that allows it to shapeshift. (Which is definitely suggested by the text.) There's something very evocative about the eyes here, which I like. (Also, thank you for including alt text.)

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) continues to deliver beautifully stylized art. I'm really delighted by the the pose the second Haesorog is taking in order to blend in with the very pretty Stylized Plants around it -- I think this is maybe not the environment where color-shifting is hugely useful, as I have no doubt the first Haesorog is fully aware of its presence. Something that makes this particular design interesting is that between the default coloration displayed on the left and the shape of the feet, you get a kind of "this thing is a step too human for a quadruped" feeling that makes it a little more unique-looking than it might be otherwise. (Also, thanks for including alt text.)

Over all of these entries, I'm noting that one effect of the clear physical description is that it does provide a more restricted space in which artists can play -- it's much more obvious than in other weeks that all of these are the same animal. Whether that's an upside or a downside is, I think, wholly subjective. Now let's look at the Aberdeen Bestiary.

...

Okay, we can't do that actually. The page with the illustration is missing from the Aberdeen Bestiary. So we're looking over to its sister manuscript, the Bodley Bestiary. (MS. Bodl. 764, also digitized online.)

So this beast is of course the Parander.

Yep, bet everyone feels foolish for not recognizing such a common and well-known animal as the parander.

Also, of course, known as the Tarand or Tarander, of course. Or parandrus / tarandrus in Latin.

Right, so the reason that I was so confident nobody without a thorough background in the bestiary tradition (or Pliny the Elder) would recognize this one is because it's not a real animal. And it's not even one of the mythical ones that managed to get a foothold in the modern consciousness.

I might be overstating the "not a real animal" line, actually; odds are good it's based on one. Let's talk about that.

There have been some guesses as to the parander's identity in scholarship. The Bostock translation of Pliny has a footnote that cites two competing theories: "reindeer" and "elk [aka 'moose']". The reindeer one gets an explanation -- differently-colored summer and winter coats -- but the elk one is just kind of tossed out there as a proposed alternative. My guess (based on it already being past 10:30pm here and not wanting to put in the time to track down a source that's cited only by a last name with no other identifying information) is that that one's about the parander's size being emphasized.

You may say, "excuse me Maniculum, neither of those animals lives anywhere near Ethiopia. What are you playing at? Are you going to try and convince me that the pre-modern definition of 'Ethiopia' was so broad it encompassed the Arctic Circle?" The solution is that the parander wasn't originally described as being from Ethiopia -- Pliny says it's from Scythia. Which... also seems a bit too far south. But it's entirely reasonable that the Scythians were reporting on something seen on a trip north or something they heard about from northern neighbors, which would put "reindeer" and "elk/moose" both back in as options. Scythia is close enough to the range of both of those animals that it's plausible they would be familiar with them.

Someone you may have heard of took a stance on this issue, interestingly. An 18th-century biologist named...

... Linnaeus. Yep, it's codified right into the scientific name for "reindeer" now, and has been for as long as binomial nomenclature has been a thing. Anyone who wants to make the "elk/moose" argument is going to have a bit of an uphill battle.

All that out of the way, now take a moment and scroll back up to that medieval illustration. Mentally compare it to the description and the art shared in this post. There's something different, right?

You may notice that the artist has given it cloven hooves rather than bird's feet, having not been confused at all by the "footprints of an ibis" thing. Now, often this is the result of the art not actually being directly based on the text, but copied from art in a previous manuscript, so a scribe can write down the wrong word and it won't affect the art at all because the artist may or may not even be reading the text as they work.

Often, but not always. In this case, I would like to float an alternate explanation.

On the left is the translation of the Bodley Bestiary I have on my shelf, to which I referred when filling in material from missing pages in the Aberdeen Bestiary. On the right is the Bodley Bestiary digitized manuscript.

Now. I am not trained in Latin paleography, so it's possible that I'm misinterpreting an abbreviation. But that word on the right... the penultimate letter certainly looks like a C, doesn't it? Not, e.g., an S? (It would be a long s here, but that doesn't actually help.)

Which means that the manuscript says ibex. The ibex -> ibis confusion is a case of Manuscript Telephone, but it was telephoned in the 1990s.

Again, like I said, I'm not an expert. I've never translated a single page of a Latin manuscript, much less had a book-length translation published in a handsome slipcover edition. So it's very possible I'm missing something. But right now I'm pretty sure that everyone's been drawing bird feet not because of an error made by a medieval scribe, but by the modern translator.

Anyway, that was exciting, right? I hope that makes up for me posting this a few hours later than usual.

[a-bright-comet]

Porcelain Jester Doll Search Rabbit Hole

Hi so I'm in a weird little rabbit hole and could use some assistance in hunting down a specific doll's origin, I came across this white/silver and gold porcelain jester doll with green eye-shadow, blue eyes and purple accents-

-However the only source I could find was a singular Flickr post that just labeled her as "Camelot white clown doll" and was pictured standing next to another doll.

Thing is it was easy to find the red "sister" doll next to her, she's Pyrena and I found a listing that showed her tags, concluding that the brand is Camelot Handcrafted Dolls, and despite all the digging me and a few friends have done, I just cannot find the silver one and it's driving me insane- and honestly it seems Camelot branded dolls are just elusive cause for some reason they insist on not having any sites and something about QVC? there doesn't seem to be any fan archives either which is a pain in the ass. However there's also the chance she's not from that brand at all and was mislabeled by the OP so AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- while it would be nice to own her at this point I at LEAST want to find her origins and name to finally end this mystery and put my hellbrain to rest, my head hurts now lol. any leads or finds on this weirdly elusive doll is appreciated.