#just the subjective nature OF art and creation and word play and etc etc

[dangerous-advantage]

finally caved and just bought all of the heaven official's blessing books. look out for the myriad of long-ass analysis posts that are sure to follow

[thisismenow3]

I feel like this is missing the forest for the trees. You keep decrying “virtue” when art that is made in a certain way is often different categorically from art that is made with other tools. People are getting caught up in the metaphors here so let me try my best; this ain’t “digital music” vs trained musicians using analogue instruments, this is a painting of food vs a website for a restaurant. The way you create something often separates it categorically within artistic persuits not just from analysis but from experience.

Human history can be simplified to be just us “finding the easier way with better and better tools” but that reaches oversimplification here cause that has more to do with tech broadly, not with art or politics/culture I’d argue. With music people ain’t just reacting to the sound, we are always conscious of many layers of context. That’s true of all art. Knowing someone wrote their own lyrics can enhance a song for people, knowing that the sounds were created using live instruments can help a listener feel the feeling they want from the sound better because their ideas of what music is come from an idea that it is “primal.” People ain’t wrong to say they prefer someone who’s more than just a parrot for the words, especially with genres where half the point is this idea. And live recordings exist to help further a “primal” feeling for people who prefer their music mostly analogue.

But in all these analogies the common thread ain’t “human uses tool” it’s “human uses tool but in a way that has to have some work to it because that work is a prerequisite for it to be the art we agree meets this definition.” A person dancing, however subjectively good or bad, is very different than a person rendering a 3D subject doing the same dance. We can all argue over which we like better but both are a kind of art.

‘machine learning art’ is a person asking Siri to render a 3D model dancing for them. That ain’t art, that’s fundamentally different than the digital counterpart in the dance example because at a certain point sufficiently advanced tools change the category of art and machine learning art is sophisticated enough it’s essentially just making a DJ request to the universe. There can be uses for people obviously, but those uses don’t change the fundamental nature of the thing. Not everyone can draw or play guitar or sing well or dance well or take a sample and change it enough to meet a know it when you hear it level of effort be their own, and all of that can be deemed still whack by someone with different tastes. Machine learning art is actually not art because it is both theft and even in hypotheticals where it’s fed all things given willingly the lack of anything other than guidelines means no one created it, it’s shapes in the cloud that haven’t been photographed or painted yet.

Your turning on a light analogy worked perfect except for where you landed with it. When we say we turn on a light we don’t think about how this is shorthand for “I manipulated one switch that only helps bring light because of work someone else did installing the wiring and etc.” But turning on a light is using FL studio to make an instrumental, machine learning art is a CEO giving parameters to RandD about making a product they envision but don’t have the skills to tackle even a piece of the creation on their own.

My god my girlies

MY GIRLIES. I am still crying, I am still crying about this. Every day I cry about this.

You bitched so hard about being forced to read 1984 in school when it’s so problematic (tm)

Maybe you should have actually paid attention when you read it

Because all these AI fics

You are LITERALLY MAKING THE GARBAGE NOVELS FROM 1984 that are written by machines

You have literally recreated the worthless soulless machine-made books

Literally,

Literally. Every once in a while it hits me in a fresh wave of disbelief and anger. You have literally created the dystopian book from the dystopian story about why dystopia is bad, and you are passing it around like it’s this amazing thing. I’m crying, I’m crying.

[nkworld4u]

Free Online AI Image Generator: Text to Image - Unlimited

Artificial intelligence (AI) has made incredible advances in recent years, especially in the field of computer vision and image generation. Now, anyone can use AI to generate unique images from text descriptions by utilizing free online AI image generators. In this article, we'll explore the capabilities of text-to-image generators and provide tips on how to get the most out of these futuristic tools.

The Rise of AI Image Generation

Just a few years ago, automatically generating detailed images from text prompts was limited to research labs and startups. But in late 2021, OpenAI unveiled DALL-E 2, an AI system capable of creating realistic and diverse images from natural language descriptions. This kicked off a surge of interest and development in text-to-image generation.

Shortly after, other tech companies like Google, Meta, and Anthropic released their own text-to-image models. Meanwhile, startups have created free web apps to give the public access to this technology. Now, anyone can enter text prompts to instantly generate custom AI art, icons, logos and more.

Top Free Online AI Image Generators

Here are some of the most popular free AI image generators as of late 2022:

DALL-E 2: OpenAI's original text-to-image model. Users get 50 free generations per month.

Midjourney: Generates abstract and stylized images via Discord bot. Unlimited free for old users.

Craiyon: Browser-based AI artist formerly known as DALL-E Mini. Unlimited free generations.

Nightcafe Creator: Creates AI art from text + image uploads. Some free credits to start.

StarryAI: Mobile app for iOS/Android. Offers limited free daily generations.

Lexica: Quality text-to-image generator with streamlined UX. Some free generations daily.

There are constantly new entrants into this space. While some services offer unlimited free generations, others limit users to a set number of free images per day or month before requiring paid plans.

Crafting Effective Text Prompts

The key to generating great images with AI lies in writing creative, descriptive prompts. Here are some tips:

Focus on vivid sensory details - describe textures, colors, lighting, shapes, etc.

Avoid generic prompts like "dog on beach." Go for "a golden retriever playing with a red ball on a sunny beach."

List adjectives and stylistic keywords - "retro," "futuristic," "impressionist," etc.

Be selective yet open-ended. Let the AI get creative within the bounds of your prompt.

Try unusual combinations or mashups, like "an armchair in the shape of an avocado."

Edit and refine prompts that don't work. Tweak words and phrases iteratively.

With experimentation, you'll learn what types of prompts produce the best results for your desired style and subject matter.

Using AI Image Generation for Content Creation

Text-to-image models have exciting implications for content creators, marketers, and online publishers. Potential use cases include:

Illustrating blog posts and articles with custom graphics.

Creating social media post images, ads, banners, and infographics.

Generating eye-catching thumbnails and cover images for videos.

Mocking up logos, app icons, book covers, and other designs quickly.

Producing concept art for gaming, animation, architecture, and other creative projects.

Personalizing content with "AI-assisted art" to make it feel more authentic and human.

Just bear in mind - while AI art generators are powerful tools, they work best complementing your unique vision and creativity as a content creator.

The Future of AI Image Generation

Text-to-image technology still has room to grow. Most models today have some limitations around coherent detail generation and object permanence. But rapid improvements are happening, with AI mimicking artistic styles and 3D modeling on the horizon.

As these systems keep advancing, we can expect generative AI to become increasingly accessible and integrated into creative workflows. There will likely be some concerns around originality and copyright protections as well. Nevertheless, the possibilities for content creators and casual users alike are tremendously exciting!

We've only scratched the surface of what's achievable with text-to-image generators. As these AI tools mature, they promise to revolutionize how we visualize and share ideas. The imagery you imagine could soon become reality with the help of artificial intelligence.

#nkworld4u #ai #prompt_engineering #ai_image #nkworld4u.com

[samrriegel]

As creators, it’s important that we strive to create a positive relationship between our content and community while still retaining our rights. With this in mind, we’d like to share our new content policy covering how you can use our IP.

(you can click the link embedded above or click the readmore. there is a lot of text!)

Everyone at Critical Role is extremely honored and humbled by the interest our incredible community has shown in the stories that we tell, the shows that we produce, and our company in general. We think it’s pretty amazing that our fans want to create artwork, websites, and other works (“Projects”) based on our intellectual property (“IP”). Our IP includes any unique material our team creates — things like the names of our campaigns (for example, Vox Machina and Mighty Nein), our characters (for example, Grog Strongjaw or Beauregard Lionett), story locations (like Whitestone or Nicodranas), company slogans (such as How Do You Want to Do This?), as well as written content and all related artwork, music, etc. We are generally cool with Projects that follow the rules outlined below, but we reserve the right to remove Projects that, in our view, misrepresent these rules or use our IP inappropriately. We want our fans to continue celebrating our world and sharing their talents with the community, but for Critical Role (“CR”) to exist as a company, our legal advisors have suggested we establish some ground rules for how our IP can be used!

1. What can I develop with Critical Role’s intellectual property (“IP”)?

Free stuff for the community to view, with some exceptions. Critical Role allows you to use, display and create derivative works based upon Critical Role’s IP, strictly for noncommercial (except as specifically provided below) community use. CR reserves the right to use our sole discretion to deny anyone the use of our IP at any time, for any reason or no reason. If we deny you the right to use our IP, you must stop developing, publishing, or distributing your Project immediately.

In all cases, the use of our IP with your Projects must be appropriate for our Critter Community. Projects cannot be defamatory, offensive (including but not limited to anything transphobic, sexist, homophobic, racist, ableist, ageist), or harmful to others (as determined solely by CR).

2. Can I create a project that is commercial in nature?

You may not create commercial Projects, including any Project that (without a written license agreement from us):

i) crowdsources any portion of its funding; ii) involves a business or legal entity; iii) gates the content with a paywall (e.g., Patreon, YouTube Premium, etc.), unless it is also legitimately available elsewhere for free; or iv) involves the sale of merchandise utilizing CR IP

We prohibit the use of our IP in interactive games, apps, and downloads. Please do not take any part of our IP (e.g., character appearance, character abilities, maps, icons, items, etc.) and use it in a game or app for other than your own private, noncommercial use. We do not allow any Projects utilizing our IP to appear in any app stores, including the Apple Store or Google Play, unless they have a written license agreement from us.

No monetized novels, theatricals or the like. You are not permitted to write, produce or create any novels, theatrical productions or other adaptations that include CR’s intellectual property without our express written permission.

Fan fiction is generally permitted (and enjoyed!) by CR, as long as the content is not monetized and otherwise follows the guidelines of this policy.

You are not permitted to manufacture, promote, or distribute (for free or otherwise) any merchandise (such as apparel, game pieces, accessories, etc.) that bear any CR IP without a separate, express written agreement between you and Critical Role.

Critical Role, on occasion, collaborates with and licenses third parties for the creation and distribution of Official CR Merchandise. These agreements are separate from this CR Fan Content Policy.

3. What about passive ad revenue?

This is one of those exceptions we mentioned earlier. We permit fans to promote their Projects on websites, streams, or videos and passively generate revenue through appropriate advertisements, including pre-roll ads, ad breaks, and sponsor ad overlays. No inappropriate direct ads or sponsorships—we alone decide what qualifies as inappropriate, but if you won’t see it on Critical Role, it is probably not appropriate.

We permit individual fans to solicit personal donations or offer subscription-based content while livestreaming, so long as non-subscribers can still watch the live stream concurrently. In other words, you may have your Project behind a paywall, so long as the Project is legitimately also available for free in some other way.

Your use of CR Content must be transformative in nature. You cannot simply re-upload our content. Examples of potential transformative works include:

Animatics

Compilation videos

Remix edits

Added commentary

Music/ music videos

Cosplay content

Art / draw alongs

GIFs / memes

React videos

For longform CR content: Originally 2 hours or more in length (e.g., Critical Role, Exandria Unlimited, and One-Shots)

CR allows your passive monetization of under 10 minutes of content usage per episode

CR may claim monetization or execute an automatic takedown for over 10 minutes of content usage per episode

For medium-length CR content: Originally between 1-2 hours in length (e.g., Between the Sheets, Narrative Telephone)

CR allows your passive monetization for under 5 minutes of content usage per episode

CR may claim monetization or execute an automatic takedown for over 5 minutes of content usage per episode

For short CR content: Under 60 minutes (e.g., Handbooker Helper, All Work No Play)

CR may claim monetization or execute an automatic takedown, which includes any “clips” or “memes”

4. Can my Project make reference to Critical Role?

We’d love that! Just make sure that your Project follows the other guidelines in this policy and clearly let people know it is a fan Project and not an official CR Project. That is, you are not permitted to state or imply that your Projects are affiliated with, sponsored, or approved by Critical Role. You may not create a Project in a manner that could cause other Critters to believe that it is an official CR work. If you share your Project with others, please conspicuously include the following disclaimer (e.g., on your Project’s website):

Portions of the materials used may contain trademarks and/or copyrighted works of Critical Role. This material is not official, is provided for free, noncommercial entertainment purposes only, and is not endorsed by Critical Role.

5. Can I create CR-related video content before the content is available on Critical Role’s YouTube channel?

No. Please be considerate. So it’s clear, any posting or other unauthorized disclosure of CR-created content prior to its official release on YouTube (or an authorized media-sharing platform) is strictly prohibited. In regards to spoilers, even after an episode’s release, spoilers can ruin a fan’s experience and we always aim to avoid them. Please be respectful of others and do not deliberately push plot reveals on people who are actively avoiding learning about them. If you are releasing fan content after its official release on the CR YouTube channels, we ask that you please offer spoiler disclaimers (or appropriate hashtags) as a courtesy.

6. What about CR fan art that’s shared publicly during or after a livestreamed RPG broadcast and before the VOD is available on YouTube?

Boy, we love ourselves some amazing Critter fan art. We also want to ensure that artists are taking every precaution not to spoil an episode before its official release on the CR YouTube channel. Please ensure that your artwork is not audiovisual in nature and follows the guidelines set forth in this policy. Again as a general courtesy, please include spoiler disclaimers (or appropriate hashtags) whenever possible.

7. Is all content in a Critical Role video available for use?

No. Certain CR videos contain music or other content that Critical Role doesn’t own. Critical Role, at times, enters into licenses with 3rd party content providers to enhance CR videos for viewing. Since CR cannot grant you a license to use someone else’s content, you’ll need to get permission from the copyright owner(s) before using their content. If you include non-Critical Role music or other content in your video, do so at your own risk. Your video could be subject to filtering or takedown notices by the owner of the copyright in the original work.

8. Can I use Critical Role’s Logos or Trademarks?

Generally, no, and only in limited instances. Use of Critical Role’s brands, logos, character names, actor names, actor and character likenesses and other IP are only to be used in connection with the discussion of Critical Role works, Official Products and non-commercial Projects in compliance with this Policy. Critical Role expressly prohibits uses of its Trademarks to promote your business or merchandise. You may not register domain names, social media accounts, or similar stuff that uses any of our trademarks, trade names, character names, etc. without expressed written consent.

You definitely may not use any CR trademarks as keywords, titles, or search tags for products that are infringing or counterfeit.

9. Can Critical Role use my Project?

Yes. We want fans to create and share cool things with each other, and we want to remove barriers to sharing. Because you are using Critical Role IP, if we celebrate or spotlight a fan Project, or make something that somehow resembles a fan Project, by posting it publicly you give Critical Role permission to spotlight or share your Project with the world. By using Critical Role IP in the creation of your Project you give CR authorization to share your Project in any way at our sole discretion. Critical Role will always attempt to contact artists in these instances and/or provide proper artist credit whenever possible.

10. What if my Project is not covered here?

If your creative efforts are not covered by this Policy, you’ll need our prior, written approval before you put it out in the world. If you have any questions or creative content you want to make that isn’t covered by this Policy, contact us by sending us an email to info@critrole.com. Written approval is required for Projects that are outside of the scope of this policy.

If you don’t hear from us, it does not mean we approve of your requested use of our IP.

11. Anything else?

Yes. Critical Role reserves the right to change this Policy at any time with no notice whatsoever, but we’ll do our best to communicate any changes widely as soon as we can in the interest of remaining transparent with you.

Please note that we are constantly developing new content and creating new IP that will fall under these guidelines.

Thank you so much for your attention to this policy. Our main goal is to ensure that the Critical Role community remains creative and vibrant as it’s always been. Our content policy will protect what we own today for the long haul so that we can continue to create magic for all of you for many years to come. If you have any questions at all, please reach out to us at info@critrole.com or via critrole.com/contact.

[the-river-person]

Mistral Sans is now Community Shared

To echo the words of @undertaleauoc, Mistral is "open for use" without the need to request permission from the creator (me) though I’d like to be tagged and credited still. Mistral Formerly named: Sans Age: 10 to the power of 100 years (technically a little more than that by now, but the number is so huge that it's no longer relevant.) Gender: Male Appearance: Appears much like Classic Sans, except for the silvery-white crystalline formations growing all over his body. These can get quite large if he hasn’t removed them in a while, and are often quite sharp to anyone with flesh instead of bone. He makes an effort to keep the Kenón from growing up over his head and face, or from completely encasing his body, but it's difficult to keep up with since it grows faster whenever he happens to be in the Void itself. He wears a long brown overcoat, gloves, and long black trousers, mostly in effort to hide the Kenón as much as possible or keep the sharp points from cutting people by accident. He also keeps a red bandana around his neck, something given to him by Papyrus. His eyes never went back to their original state after the Void-Sickness. Instead of dark hollows with a white iris, they seem to be a pale grey, like a well of deep nothingness. Backstory: Mistral’s Universe is based upon the question “What would happen if the Human just never stopped the Resets, but went on forever?” And the resulting Tale that followed was one of mindless repetitions for time out of mind as the Human would Reset in order to prevent the Underground from being destroyed. Eventually the human, who was no longer human, stopped when Sans suggested a different means to preserve their Universe without killing. This Underground has a deep history of worship and lore that surrounds their Angel, and Sans played the role of Judge, a historical job where someone representing the Angel’s Justice would be called upon to make an absolute Judgement upon anyone or anything. The King called upon him to bring his judgement upon the entire Underground for their part in everything. Formerly a scientist under his Uncle Gaster, he helped come up with the “Solution” which the entire Underground was inoculated with to help them remember beyond Resets. He himself was a victim of the Void poisoning like that which affected Gaster’s Followers and was only saved from being wiped to a blank slate by Gaster’s efforts. A fragment of Kenón (Void-stone) and determination was placed in his soul, causing the crystals to spread from it. In later years as the Underground thrived despite the Resets, he pushed himself to get another degree, this time in psychology, and eventually became a practicing therapist/psychologist (as well as the Underground’s willing delivery boy. He liked being able to see and talk to people all the time, and get to know things.) Upon the destruction of his Universe he was thrown into the Void with his Uncle Gaster, where they were rescued by the mysterious River Person. They met with Ink!Sans who explained the Multiverse and gave them the means to travel it. Now they travel from Universe to Universe, or sometimes wander the Void itself, or the Anti-Void. Gaster (now named Majuscule) is searching for his children, and Sans (now named Mistral) is helping while searching for the Ship his brother escaped with and whatever survivors of his people there might still be. Personality: Mistral is old. Though he was in a mindless forgetful repetitive state for much of the Resets, and has few memories of his own childhood beyond what Papyrus reminded him of, he is significantly mentally older than most of the other Monsters from his Universe. The determination in his soul (along with the Kenón) makes him very strong willed and much more powerful than he was before. It also gives him a minor energy boost. His years as a scientist specializing in studies of the Soul and Physics, as well as his later degree in psychology and practice as a therapist, make him a fairly discerning person who is easily approachable and can talk about a number of different subjects with ease. Despite his actions during the Genocide Routes, he is a much more mentally stable person (possibly one of the most stable Sanses out there from what I see) and is very much a pacifist, refusing violence altogether and choosing to let his words and mind guide him out of trouble, or his teleportation to let him escape danger. Because of his refusal to consider physical violence, even in his own defense, his skill in using fighting magic has atrophied. He can no longer summon the blasters at all, and his bone attacks are weaker. His teleportation on the other hand is much stronger and he can do it more often without tiring too much. The other effects of his refusal to fight means that he must proactively avoid confrontation whenever possible. Mistral uses his knowledge of how people think and act to guide his interactions with others, putting even Monsters from the Fell Universes at ease with well timed and thought out humorous comments, as well as just generally being willing to listen and try to see from the point of view of other people. He can tell puns, but they usually sound a bit forced, like he memorized them somewhere and was just waiting for a point to use them. Very rarely he’ll come up with the perfect one on the spot and be absolutely thrilled with himself. More often he uses dry humor, throwaway lines, or Hyperbole.

His willingness to try and defuse the tension caused by aggressive Monsters he’s dealing with can sometimes backfire on him and serves to make the Monster even angrier and more violent. Mistral will then flee, not wanting to fight them, but often marking himself as guilty or suspicious in the process when this happens with an authority figure who has confronted him for his presence.

The Kenón crystal growing all over his body tends to freak people out as well, which is why he hides it as much as he can beneath the overcoat, gloves, and bandana.

Like all skeletons of his Universe, Mistral has a great knowledge of fonts and writing systems, punctuation marks, ciphers, and typography. It is a very important subject to them as it very closely ties with how they see themselves, their identity as a person. This may be rather strange to skeletons from other Universes who do not share this background. A similar problem comes when skeletons from other Universes find out how strongly he and the Monsters of his world believe in the mythical Angel of Mount Ebbot and often pray to them or swear by them (or use “Angel” as a swear).

He’s also very interested in the concept of Identity and how it can change over time or be altered by events in your life, and how names connect to the concept of identity.

Can I use Mistral in my comic/story/animation/etc?: Sure. He’s a wandering type character, so it's likely he’ll show up in countless Universes and places all over while searching for his brother and his missing cousins. Sometimes he’ll be with Gaster and sometimes not.

One thing to note is that his story will have a continuation, so if in your story you detail events that involve him beyond just a brief meeting, chat, or background character… Just be aware that it's probably not going to be canon to the story I’m planning for him (though if we take other Multiverses into account it could be canon elsewhere).

I would like to insist that you tag and credit me on his use (Credit is good. Tagging me makes it so I can come see your wonderful creations).

Can I ship Mistral with this other character/characters?: Yeah, why not?. Canonically he’s aesexual and only very passingly interested in the idea of romantic relationships. But sure, ship him with whoever you like. Just know that it's not canon to this Multiverse.

While I would still like to be tagged in stuff that involves him. I know I can’t stop nsfw art/writing and other things of that nature from happening, much as I might like to. But be warned, If I see it or am tagged with that, or am sent asks of that... I will block you. Fontcest, Incest ships, child ships, or smut in general will all get you blocked instantly.

Canon height and weight: 4-5 feet high (same as Classic Sans). Weight was trickier. He’s a skeleton. A human skeleton is only about 15% of your body weight. So classic is probably somewhere around 16 or so pounds. But Mistral is covered by continually growing crystalline structures of Kenón. Since the crystal is heavy but spread out and somewhat kept under control, it probably only doubles his weight, making him 32 pounds.

Canon strength: Mistral isn’t a fighter. His attacks are weak because his desire to actually fight is nonexistent, even if he has to defend himself or others. But his actual physical strength, as opposed to his magical attacks, sees a significant increase to that of your normal Sans. The Kenón crystals actually increase his defense by making his bones stronger and more crack resistant, and his self healing is well equipped to deal with most breaks, though they’re still quite painful.

He also has increased endurance for longer physical or magical activities so long as combat or confrontation isn’t part of it.

Since he weighs more, he can’t jump as high as a Sans who weighs less (not that it's a huge difference. He’s only 32 pounds. Plus his strength can mostly make up for it by pushing himself off harder when jumping.)

Is it okay if I draw him with another gender, age, height, or sexuality?: Go for it. Have fun. Tag and credit me. But remember that it’s not canon to THIS Multiverse that I’m working in.

Canon Birthday?: September 16th (though he hasn’t celebrated in a LONG time. He probably doesn’t remember his last actual birthday party. Papyrus might though…)

Font?: Used to be Comic Sans. But now it's Mistral (upper and lowercase).

Original AU: Aeontale by

a_river_is_a_liminal_space

(or the-river-person. basically… me)

Can I send Asks for more details if I need or want them?: Yes. My askbox is open. I’ll answer what I can. I’ve put everything I can think of on here, but inevitably there’s always something missed in things like this. So ask away.

[siryaksalot]

Stealing from AI 

BOLD all that applies to your character I ITALIC all that somewhat applies to your character I STRIKE out what does not apply to your character

4th Wall Awareness: Some Cartoons have the ability to acknowledge that there is an audience or some type of people watching them, and they're working for a cartoon company.

4th Wall Interaction: Cartoons and users of this power can actually communicate and interact with the audience or people watching them, or the people animating them.

Accelerated Metabolism: Cartoons and users of this power can eat vast qualities of food but never seem to gain permanent weight as they lose it in later/certain events or shortly afterwards.

Acme Arsenal: Cartoons and users of this power are able to be creative and use anything and everything as a weapon.

Anatomic Construct: Caricature without any life-threatening effects.

Anatomical Liberation: Users may be able to detach their body parts.

Animation: Create soldiers, escape Portals, traps, weapons, etc. with art materials, like ink.

Antagonal Impairment: Violent rearrangements are impermanent.

Cartoon Constructs: Constructs out of cartoons.

Cartoon Creature Creation: The ability to create creatures out of cartoons.

Cartoon Materialization: The ability to bring cartoons to life either by creating them with the mind, or using an already created cartoon as a base.

Cyclone Spinning: The power to spin in a tornado-like manner.

Deflation/Inflation: Cartoon characters can be inflated, like a balloon, and then deflated as a result (possibly too much).

Destruction: In setting off an explosive, user can destroy a larger area than planned, possibly annihilating an entire planet. This often leaves only a piece of rock and a character hanging from a root.

Digital Form: User's may acquire this ability while going into the cartoon dimension.

Direct Anvil: Anvil will fall directly on a caricature whether they are still or in motion.

Dream Walking: Can see and jump straight into the dreams of other characters.

Dynamite Action: Dynamite (ACME) and possibly other explosives cannot cause any fatal injuries, while only causing the victim to be covered in black soot and surrounded by smoke.

Empathic Weather Manipulation: Manipulate the weather with your emotions, when your angry you make storms etc.

Elasticity: Stretch limbs or any other part of ones body to absurd lengths.

Extreme Inertia: Any subject/object falls at higher speeds than terminal velocity.

Fantastic Travel: User may freely travel between the lines of variant world faculties (i.e. picture frames, drawings, television, cyberspace, storybooks, reality, painted black dots).

Fat Expansion: User may become much fatter by eating lots of food.

Flat Body: May actually become two-dimensional, like a cartoon character.

Gravity Manipulation: Body suspended in space (i.e. air) will remain suspended until made aware of the pertaining situation of gravity. Also, sometimes gravity still works in space.

Hammered!: This is where a character is slammed by a heavy object (such as a giant POW hammer, or fat people) where they will then be slammed deep into the ground. This usually results in the character making a crater in the ground shaped just like the character and the object combined.

Helicopter Propulsion: The characters can use any part of their body to fly like a helicopter.

Information Viewing and Editing: To bring up and edit a person's information, such as removing powers, adding powers, or doing other wacky stuff with it, even edit their own.

Injury Immunity: User's do not die and are not truly affected by injuries that would otherwise be fatal, but will at least be annoyed or experience some pain from it.

Instant Momentum: Can instantly reposition their body in any location without moving, allowing something similar to teleportation.

Invulnerability: User's can survive situations that can be dangerous, like falling from a certain height or hitting hard surfaces.

Knowledge Manipulation: User can use events to manipulate the knowledge of other characters, leading one of them to take the fall.

Letter Generation: Just like in a comic book, in terms of using swearwords, symbols like @# or ! may appear above the caricature. This may also happen in surprising situations. Words like "BLAP!" or "BOOM" can also show, just like in a comic book.

Luck/Jinxed: Cartoon characters can either be infinitely lucky or infinitely unlucky, to the point that impossible outcomes happen to them either way.

Fictional Mimicry: Cartoon characters are often seen mimicking others from different forms of media.

Omnipresence: If the following someone, the user may happen to be anywhere the follower goes, possibly learning to fly for a moment.

Opening Fanfare: Appearance may cause music to be played.

Pain Suppression: Users can suppress pain until they notice it or until they need to let out a scream.

Parasol Flight: Using a mere umbrella to fly, glide, and hover to various destinations.

Pencil Warping: The user can grab a #2 pencil (Or another tool(s) that can write and erase) and play God.... within comical limits. (IE, Draw Tunnels, Holes, Erase such, mess with attacks, draw attacks, ECT.)

Physics Infringement: In the cartoon world, physics is messed within a lot of ways.

Pocket Dimension: Ability to draw out large objects from seemingly nowhere, usually behind their back or in a pocket.

Possibility Inducement: User can make impossible and illogical events happen.

Randomness Inducement: User can make very random and improbable events happen for seemingly no reason.

Regenerative Healing Factor: Recover from damage and regenerate lost limbs, organs, and other body parts. Some almost instantly. For animal cartoons, this is mostly seen only applying to tails.

Reversed Vocifery: When saying things like, "Nothing can go wrong," something wrong can happen. The character ultimately says "I could be wrong" just to prove it.

Ricochet Inducement: Users can cause people or object to ricochet in a cartoonish fashion. Enemies may also cause them to bounce instead.

Semi-Immortality: Cartoon characters never age. They stay exactly the same age over the years.

Sharp Jab: Slightest perforation implicates caricature to shoot skyward, screaming.

Shapeshifting: If the character is interacting with the animator, the animator can erase the body of the character and replace it with a new one - for example, Screwball Daffy.

Smoke Generation: When a fight is beginning, a gray cloud appears and covers the involved caricatures, with hands, feet and/or heads sticking out.

Spontaneous Musical Number: Users can break out into song and dance or cause one. As with some musicals, this can temporarily create a different world suited for the song, and have a variety of physics-defying effects.

Supernatural Condition: Be physically/mentally superior to humans.

Synchronized Movement: Cause another character to move in a way that is synchronized with that of the user, until someone secretly breaks the chain.

Targeting: When discharging a firearm, user can still cut through its target, even if it looks like that they missed by a long way (but not too far).

Tasks: Some cartoon characters are willing to go through a lot of trouble to pull off their personal missions. If they ever put these missions aside for any reason, they come back to them at some point.

Technology Manipulation: User can cause technology to do bizarre things. For example, the cherries on a fruit machine can turn out to be bombs.

Teleportation: Can go inside one tunnel or door and come out of another one. This usually results in two characters ending in different places, despite going through the same door.

Zip!: User may run away at very high speeds. Some cartoon characters, like Road Runner or Speedy Gonzales, have this as a natural ability.

Nature Manipulation: This can also apply to every aspect of nature, possibly causing volcanic eruptions, earthquakes or meteor showers when angry.

Flattened: In some cases the character will be made paper-thin. However, this can also be caused by being hit by large objects, like a train.

Wing Manifestation: In some cases, they can use two things or body parts as wings.

Energy Solidification: Sometimes, this applies to kinetic or emotional energy, making it appear outside of an impact area or a sudden change in emotion for a split second.

Magic: An idea that messes more with physics, and is believed to be magic, can be part of the cartoon's storyline.

Metaphoric Shapeshifting: The character will turn into something depending on the metaphorical situation like a lollipop emblazoned with the word "Sucker" (the character has just been tricked) or a donkey with optional braying (the character is stupid or being a (jack)ass).

Tagged by: NO ONE

Tagging: DO IT

[blackwoolncrown]

i just saw someone reblog your post that was kind of outlining something you wanted to write about the reflection of what porn means about society and i would love to read that. you're absolutely correct that most analysis of porn and society come from swerfs and terfs and they're absolutely terrible if you look beyond surface-level anything. oh but also please never make me read the phrase "regular degular people fornicating" ever again lol

So…thank you for waiting. The first thing I’d like to say is…*clears throat*

TERFS/SWERFS absolutely suck and their awful rhetoric and invasive presence obstructs discussion of women’s right. TERFS are the footwomen of the patriarchy and absolutely brainwashed, useless voices. 

Now that that has been said…

Regular degular poeple fornicaiting. :D

Okay enough silliness, here’s my point. Usually critique of porn comes in two main flavors: “Porn is terrible and inherently sexist, a perverse product of patriarchy” and “All porn is good, actually and critiquing it is prudish and un-progressive”. And I would like to, as usual, submit that the actual truth is somewhere in the middle:

Porn is entirely neutral, and what porn looks like in a society has everything to do with the content of the people’s minds. The content of their minds is heavily influenced by that society’s social mores, habits, etc.

TL;DR - porn is a product of culture. if the porn is bad, that’s the culture’s fault.

The idea that porn is bad and wrong, all of it, is nothing but an extension of the sexual shame colonizers have been peddling along with their sham Christian moralism and oppression for centuries. Our culture fancies itself very open, free and liberated- hence porn and violence can be found in spades bc ~FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION~ but literally everywhere you look, people have complexes about sexuality that are deeply rooted in sexual shame. I want to note here that repression almost ALWAYS causes not an overall lessening of the repressed subject, but a diverted (perverted here is a relative word) and intensified expression of that subject elsewhere.

As a sex worker, when I came into the fetish world, I had the assumption that fetishes in general were like, a conscious type of self exploration done in the spirit of play. What I found was that ‘fetish’ is sometimes that but generally an unconscious mess of psychological expression that people think they don’t need to be critical of because it’s fantasy. To keep this short, most of the fetishes that could have a cathartic or expansive effect on a person’ are actually just sort of like, dead-ended expressions of the world we live in instead of being creative ways beyond it.

Ultimately these ‘fetishes’ and ‘fantasies’ are really anything but. They aren’t fanciful non realities at all- they’re actually sexualized versions of the oppressions we all know and suffer. And that’s horrible. 

The issue with porn, then, is that it reflects the minds and desires of the average person involved with its making and consumption. And in a world where (mostly but not all straight, mostly but not all ((but really really mostly here)) white) men disproportionately have voice, power and resources, then they are who porn is about and for.

‘Porn’ is terrible becuause a society with this kind of power imbalance is terrible.

THere’s an aspect of the mind/body where like…anything you like or are attracted to, there’s a part of you that can eroticize that feeling of attraction into something that may be experienced as more and more sexual the more it’s repressed/ignored. If you think of love as attraction, and attraction as neutral, then you can understand how, then, the very things our patriarchal society loves, celebrates and represents can end up eroticized into sexual fantasy and content. If power is good, then expressions of power feel good, somewhere in the mind/body. If violence is good, then expressions of violence feel good. If maintaining male dominance is good, then expressions of male dominance feel good. The simple fact is that if an individual is taught that expressing some quality *is good*, that thing is remembered as so because of the positive reinforcement. 

Somewhere in their mind, the conditions of that moral quality are associated with feelings of pleasure, positive stimulation, excitement, arousal (think neutrally here as ‘increased excitatory interest’), and feelings are felt by the body. In a certain way, then, the production/creation of porn based on patriarchal male desire and its offspring (fetishization of feminine subjugation, fetishization of racism, fetishization of gender roles, fetishization of sexual shame as a domination tool, fetishization of abuse etc), creates a feedback spiral that ends up ritualizing and reinforcing those things.So we lose a huge opportunity for healing and growth as a society when either of the following positions are taken:1) Porn is bad (sinful, dirty) and shouldn’t exist– this will only further repression and reinforce sexual shame.

2) Porn is good and also 100% fantasy/meaningless fun. Critiquing or questioning it is oppressive, prudish– this is what people with unresolved mental issues say to keep from having to examine what their porn consumption/fantasies are saying

The fact that pretty much all porn that exists  in main (and many side) streams is fetishization of exploitation, celebration of male dominance,  the degradation of the feminine or eroticized personal trauma is really really telling. But we can’t do anything about that in terms of helping people grow into a healthier way of experiencing/expressing sexuality if we go ‘Porn is bad so let’s get rid of it! Shame shame! Criminalize!’ 

Speaking for experience, people, specifically men, can actually be trained away from harmful porn and harmful positive associations (being turned on by violence is not, actually, ideal) and to something more relative. Of course they can- recovery is human, people change and relearn things. The complication here though is that the porn industry and the broad presence of mainstream and even indie porn exist within a capitalist market. Capitalist markets are by their very nature a) exploitative and b) manipulative, focused on controlling and exacerbating the consumers needs and desires. So the porn itself, its content and marketing, will overtly to explicitly imply to its viewers/buyers that they need it, that it is good the more you consume, that its extremity and ‘extra’ness is what makes it good, and that it is an addictive indulgence.

I have a lot more I could say about this but it would have to go all into fetish, content and psychology so I also want to say this: Understand that this is not a situation in which men actually benefit. In fact it gets them to perpetuate their own trauma, their own internal oppression. Encouraging them to mistreat their bodies, to have a dysfunctional view of sexuality, to degrade the feminine (something ALL people have) via the degradation of women– this by extension harms their minds deeply. Porn as it is is simply a recycling and eroticization, and extension of society at large. Thus it of course simultaneously revels in the exploitation of the feminine and turns men into tools of sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic oppression, coding into them the positive reinforcement of social mores so that they support and perpetuate them.

Lastly: The idea that what one fetishizes/consumes doesn’t say anything about them is FALSE and its often a subconscious expression of the mind aimed at resolution. Whether its fanfic, art or videos it’s all porn and yes, ones fantasy mind is actually a manifestation of their mind in general. The world of fantasy is meaningful, actually.

[mandylau]

What is Art and what Art Trends Will Continue into 2021

We are in a time where we can also find art and design in everything we do or use; from buildings to an everyday outfit. Subconsciously, art plays a small but important role in our daily life.

With the rising awareness in the appreciation of arts, people start to put more emphasis on the inclusion of art into businesses. As a result, many job opportunities that never exits in the past have been created for arts and design students alike.

But what is Art?

There are countless arts schools around the world with a different school of thoughts, emphasizing on different forms of arts. But ultimately, art is basically how we share our experiences with the world.

Art is the range of activities people do to express their thoughts, ideas, and emotions. It is a way to portrait the concepts that can’t be expressed by words, that aim to create powerful emotional connections between several cultures with different values. We can define art into four words: imagination, emotion, beauty, and performing artefacts.

History of Art

The history of art is as old as the history of humans on Earth is. Art developed when prehistoric people started drawing on the cave walls for different reasons.

It started to evolve in the stone age when our ancestors learned how to make different objects like arrows and bowls out of stone.

The development continues during the metal age when humans came up with creating objects out of metal. Essentially, art was born from the artefacts that prehistoric humans left behind.

Evidence shows that in the first period of recording history, art appeared through the first official writing language, the Cuneiform Script. People in the civilizations of Mesopotamia developed the Cuneiform language based on Pictographs where clay tablets are used to record alphabets.

Then, people in Egypt developed their special writing language named Hieroglyphics written on papyrus papers. The civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia also created their enormous art with bold artworks such as Ziggurats and the Great Pyramids.

Romans and Greeks created another aspect of art when they started drawing human models while other artists used nature subjects as their art model.

The start of modern art was with the Art of Antiquity published by Winckelmann in 1764. Modern art slowly began to gain traction in the late 18th century and rose in popularity in the late 19th century.

From then until now, art continues to evolve by the day and found new meanings every now and then. In the 21st century, art is not just limited to drawings and sculptures. Everything from photography to an electronic product can have art infused into it.

So what art trends do we foresee to continue making waves into 2021?

Art Trends in 2020

Street Art

Street art has been a popular form of art since the 1990s. Its popularity has not dropped and looks set to continue into 2021.

Over the past decade, we are seeing the rise of prominent street artists like Banksy and Keith Haring. Street art gives these artists the freedom to express themselves in the form of art to the public where they are - on the streets.

The big canvas of the walls and road on the streets made available to the artists provides the best platform for them to market themselves, gaining them a sizeable following with many having corporate sponsors as a result.

Wellness Art

Something that traditionally wouldn’t be considered as an art, wellness art has slowly gained both recognition and importance among a niche group of believers.

With the improved access to both education and wealth, people in developed countries are beginning to realize the importance of their mental wellness and care about this topic more as one age.

New researches have shown that art is able to affect a person’s long-term happiness and the connection between a wellness cure and creativity is strong. This can also be explained by the surge in demand for an adult coloring book and adult summer camps to find that long lost “child” in one.

The latest trend is creating a calming and peaceful environment with things like a tabletop statue or sculpture. These artefacts have been said to make its owner feel happy anytime he or she sees them.

Maximalism Art

A term or some said a movement, that grew quickly again in 2019/20 – Maximalism Art. As if a response to minimalism, maximalism is the aesthetic of excess in art.

A popular form of art among the art circle, Artists use a complex range of vibrant colors, unexpected pairings, different textures, and designs in their works to utilize the space in the most creative and boldest way possible.

The use of this form of art combines different colors and patterns in such a rebel and powerful way that it could also potentially make people uncomfortable.

Nature Art

Using nature in art, also known as nature-inspired art, has always been popular due to its approach in using neutral things that are familiar with people. It could involve different elements of nature such as leaves, woods, and water, to create a piece of artwork.

The result uses the artwork to tell a story about the human relationship to nature. Since nature-inspired art is the way humans created art thousands of years ago, like when prehistoric people in the stone age made marks on cave walls using mineral pigments like metal oxides, it is an art in its purest form and has the strong ability to connect one to mother nature.

In order to seek the meaning behind this kind of art, may requires one to take a step back and smell the roses, sometimes literally.

Pop Art

Though the pop art movement emerged in the 1950s, it is still popular today in 2020.

It is normally presented in the form of anything that is popular (hence the name) like comic strips, soup cans, movie characters, etc., to deliver a message to its audience.

The usually loud and bright tonality brings along with it a trend of a specific generation that should resonate with the audience that it is targeting at.

Pop art is essentially an art that crosses generations with different and evolves as the generation grows.

Modern Art

Modern art is developed during the industrial revolution in the mid-18th century and the early 19th century. It was the time when new forms of transportation such as railroads and steam engines are produced.

Like a hybrid between pop art and abstract art (to be touched on below), modern art moves with time and refers to late 19th and early-to-mid 20th-century art.

Before the 19th century, artists used wealthy models like churches to create religious or mythological artworks. During the 19th century, many artists started creating their artworks based on their personal experiences and thoughts, where it is later known as “Modern Art”.

Today, artists like to use modern art to express their personal emotions and experiences.

Abstract Art

Abstract art, also known as the nonrepresentational art, was developed about a century before. Some argue that abstraction developed with the paintings on cave walls about thousands of years ago during the cavemen era though, and they are not too wrong either since its evolution always circles around form, color, line, texture, pattern, composition, and process.

In short, it doesn’t describe anything at all. It is not a place, not a person, not a thing. Abstract art is not representational art and it can be based on a subject or have no source at all.

The art industry is an ever-changing industry filled with vision, beauty, and purpose in its highest form. It is in constant change and evolution and we see better creation as we progress.

[theshinobiway]

Isn’t it weirder to ship the characters with yourself than with other characters?

Hey There!

First, thanks for reaching out with a question like this. I want to do your question justice because it’s actually a complex subject. To start, I have a few topics I’d like to touch on:

What does it mean to “Ship” yourself with a character?

How can it be Beneficial/Harmful?

Is it Strange?

What does it mean to “Ship” yourself with a character?                             

“Shipping” would be best defined as the following: Initially derived from the word relationship, is the desire by fans for two or more people, either real-life people or fictional characters (in film, literature, television etc.) to be in a romantic relationship.

This is fairly broad, but actually doesn’t even seem to include a provision for self-ships. Does that mean that self-ships are too uncommon to even mention in the definition of shipping? well, no, not necessarily.

Because the question was phrased “Isn’t it weirder to ship yourself with a character” the implication comes across as though my writing is actually a self-insert of myself as an author. Let me take a second to address this:

When I write headcanons/scenarios, I’m actually not writing self x character. I’m writing reader x character, which separates me mentally and emotionally from the subject matter. I envision myself within my writing only as necessary to write sensory detail, such as the following:

“The alcoholic haze that blurred your vision before gave the world a surreal, almost painted expression. Scenes that would not have fascinated you before were prime entertainment for the intoxicated. Lights danced around the street, peeking out from the silhouettes of the passers-by as they went about their ways, unconcerned for the magical visions that surrounded them. And Kami, and the smell of the food stands was enough to make you hungry for seconds.”

When I write emotional and romantic scenes, I personally pull from my own experiences with romance. My writing has developed in this area only because I’m in a current, long-term relationship that has the emotional depth the likes of which I’ve never experienced before. It would make me uncomfortable to envision myself that intimately with a character because I’ve already got a real-life s/o. They’re the actual reason it’s easy to write the emotionally-charged romantic scenes that I’ve grown to love writing. It’s complicated to explain, but much of my writing is “purely business,” though the emotions are real.

That’s just me, though. If a writer does scenes more based on fantasy or puts themselves more explicitly in those situations, those habits are part of their private writing process and are entirely within their right.

So now, I’ve got two smaller questions to cover:

If someone envisions themselves in their own writing with a character, is it wrong?No. I’ll talk about OCs under the next heading.

If someone envisions themselves with a character at all, is it wrong/weird?Actually, it’s incredibly normal. But there are certain things to be aware of which I’ll explain in a second.

How is it Beneficial/Harmful?

Shipping of any kind, as we have seen in a variety of fan communities, can have the effect of being incredibly harmful. Shipping is not okay when the following is true:

One or more parties is a real-life person who has not consented to the ship. (Tom Holland x Spiderman)

Both parties are real-life people not playing a character (Sorry, K-Pop fandom, you’re getting called out here.)

Both parties are real-life people [who may or may not have already expressed their discomfort with being shipped, it doesn’t matter.] (Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, Zendaya and Tom Holland)

The ship is pedophilic in nature (Sebastian and Ciel from Black Butler)

Shipping of two fictional characters does not normally fall under this umbrella. Awesome! But wait, what about shipping with oneself? The real-life person has consented to the ship.

Fictional characters (fictional identities, such as Spiderman, Sherlock, and not Tom Holland or BC) are imagined and incapable of personhood, therefore they do not need consent the same way a real-life person does. The depiction of pedophilia is still a crime, therefore, they cannot be shipped.

All stories, by the way, were created because someone imagined them. I’ve often seen the phrase “self-insert” as a tool used to shame others who create an OC for a story. 

What this says, on a literal level, is that the creator of the OC has absolutely no right to create a character to their liking that lets them imagine themselves as part of a story they love or to share an original character that they created for an established story, no matter how much they deviate from the author. Other authors who create an original story, especially female authors, have faced this criticism as well. (Interestingly enough, this doesn’t come up nearly as often with male authors, unless a harmful depiction of a female is involved.)

Personally? I do not regularly envision my authors as their characters, and I know from personal experience that in my own creation of OCs and Characters that they can be incredibly detached. Many of my OCs share none of the same character traits as me, or if they do, it’s a few insignificant details.

Still, if an OC shares much in common with the author (as most firsts do) then that’s not an issue either. It has little impact on the story. Some people actually like reading the author’s OC because they find the character to be relatable, likable, or to have qualities they enjoy.

The argument that “Self-Insert makes the writing bad” is faulty. Writing is bad because the writing is bad. It is not bad because it’s a self-insert. The issues are that the character is uninteresting, static, or unrealistic.

Character x Reader/Imaginer shipping is harmful only when the fantasy prevents someone from living healthily because of their attachment to the ship. I am not a psychologist so I cannot explain this in psychological jargon, but any fantasy that creates a detachment from reality that is:

Debilitating

Causes serious hindrance to the fantasizer’s perception of reality

Affects the real-life ability to connect to others

is a harmful fantasy.

Fantasies that are enjoyed with a sense of impermanence and can be openly recognized as fantasies are not harmful or wrong, or really even “weird.” They are, once again, a normal part of the very human desire to imagine oneself in desirable situations.

The same way people create, commission, or request fanart, there’s a similar demand for writers. That’s where this blog falls in with the fandom. because I can’t feckin draw

What are the benefits? Two. And they’re pretty great ones:

In allowing themselves to indulge in romantic stories involving a character, many people end up discovering different traits about themselves (I’m passionate just like them! We both love XYZ!), or they can eventually isolate qualities they like in real-life people (“Hey, here’s a picture of all the anime characters I like, can’t you tell I have a type?)

It’s also beneficial for the sheer sake of entertainment for entertainment’s sake. People are allowed to have fantasies. They are allowed to share fantasies with friends/communities where this is a welcome topic. They are allowed to envision characters as they wish. They are allowed to imagine character romantically, the same way they could envision that “perfect s/o” that they made up all by themselves.

Frankly, I could care less who fantasizes about what. It’s all meant to be enjoyed and it’s nice if my writing gets appreciated along the way. People’s opinions about other things I disagree with don’t even cross my mind on a daily basis.

And unless it’s put in your face,  I firmly believe other people shouldn’t care about other opinions that much either. Isn’t it just draining? Let things just be.

Is it Strange?

Well, that’s relative.

A lot of people have preferences for ships in certain media, like Daenerys and Jon Snow. Other people prefer to just imagine about Jon Snow or Daenerys. There are just as many posts praising a single character as there are shipping them together.

So why is it then that reader insert can be considered strange if the celebration/admiration/crush on a character is fairly normal?

The reason for all of this is simple: Many people find that the sharing of fantasies is an uncomfortable topic. And on some level, it is. People are often sensitive about their own imaginations, keep that part of them private, and prefer not to share or have that shared with them. It’s a normal and acceptable boundary to have.

Would you gush to your boss about how much you love Bakugo from BHNA, or would you be more comfortable sharing that with a close friend who also loves watching the show? Other people are fine relating to others over shared fantasies. Which is why there’s a community for it, particularly here on Tumblr.

The only difference between a character that one person creates and enjoys in their own head and one that has been established in media, is that the latter character comes from another imagination already has a story attached to them that has been publicly shared.

Is it weird to have a piece of media—art, writing, what have you—that lends itself to the reader to be the main character? 

Well, personally, that’s left to the consumer of media. Some people like the “choose-your-own adventure books,” some don’t. Some like video games where you create your own character (like Skyrim) some prefer a set main character with concrete traits (like Samus Aran from Metroid.)

All creators seek to replicate, on some level, an experience that they want their consumers to be a part of. They do this through the lens of their characters. This takes various forms in TV media: 

Main characters that are “Stock” (like Kirito from SAO: Talented young Japanese male, dark hair, dark eyes, noble “hero” personality. He’s similar to many other protagonists from other harem anime) 

Or that have “Strong” Personalities (like Naruto from, well, Naruto: Similar to other shounen archetypes but he can be differentiated easily, he has a strong personality, unique traits, and quirks.)

Watcher(Reader) x Character falls into the “stock” main character: Not many definable traits, easy to imagine yourself as the character to fill in the gaps, etc.

Thus, these types of character x reader stories exist in popular TV shows, with characters that the reader has the chance to envision themselves with.

It’s hard to do watcher x character when a character needs at least some physical form. Otome Games, Harem anime, Average joe-schmoe gets the guy/girl, High school girl in a movie gets her crush, etc. all fall under the same genre of the “main character with general traits that fits the most common denominator.” Surprise! The intent is that you do put yourself in the main character’s shoes and you can idolize the guy/girl they go after.

Thus, character x watcher(reader) exists in popular media already.

It’s basically the written form of “create your own character in a video game, now you get to marry/romance who you want!” Guess what other forms of media let you romance your preferred fictional character?

Mass Effect

Skyrim

Stardew

Dragon Age

Sims

Etc.

Yep, the most popular video games out there. Does everyone play these types of games? No. That’s perfectly fine.

Here’s the final answer, though: Some characters do not exist in video games that allow a romance option. Some do not exist in tv series that allow the teasing of a possible romance with a “blank slate” main character.

Reader-insert writing is only the written form of an open-ended particular romance arc with a character, meant to be experienced in the same way you could explore that option within a suitor-friendly video game.

If you find OCs “weird,” or a reader insert “weird,” then it’s because that particular form of media simply does not attract you. You are free to disregard that part of the fandom, just as much as I disregard shipping content that does not cater to my own preferences.

Thanks for contributing to the blog!

[pruebopruebapruebe]

30 days of autism acceptance 2020 part 2

Day 6.      Talk about music, art, writing, and other forms of creativity.  Are you a creative person?  What do you create?  Do you include autistic themes in your creations?  Does your creativity help you to deal with your autism?

I have revolved around the arts all my life knowing, or thinking, that they are out of my reach (we are middle class). Too shy, too old, too lazy, too clumsy, too ignorant… too unable of getting them right at the first try. I thought for a long time that I was a bad singer. I can’t perfome a play. I can’t even talk in front of my classmates.

But true be told? I have dream about the arts since ever.

When I was a child I took violin classes. My teacher said I had a talent for it, but I thought he said that to every kid to boost their mood. When my parents got divorced I couldn’t keep learning. In school I sucked in music, but somehow I learn instruments very easyly? I forgot them as easyly as well. And I sing fairly decent.

I drawed more when I was in school, sometimes as a form of communication, but my skills aren’t good, even if I have gotten better.

When I learned to read all I wanted to do was to write! I wrote my first story at age 6! And then fanfiction through high school and university. But my relationship with writting was a difficult one… People around me said that, if you write because you like it, then you don’t need to post it, and if you posted it then you wanted attention, that screwed me up for a long time because I wanted people to respond to me, to what I was expressing.

The thing is, sharing my thoughts in the form of letters -sharing almost whatever I write tbh- is HELL for me. It’s terryfying. Makes me anxious. Nothing makes me feel more vulnerable than someone reading my stuff. It gives me this weakness in all my body, I paralize, I can cry, lose speech. I don’t know why it’s such a big deal, but it feels like exposing my soul, and my soul feels fragile and soft. Like an egg yolk: one bit of preassure away from bleeding.

I also like stuff like theater and whatnot, but I have stage fright. I do really want to work on that, though.

Tbh I love art. I love animation, I love cinema, I love paintings, I love the artisan’s works: the clay pots, the burlaps, the architecture, wood sculptures, etc. Damn I just love the human capacity of giving meaning to things, of seeing something and say “this… this is beautiful”.

I think my creativity comes and goes with my mood and energy, but I am creative.

I create stories. I create a bridge of communication to tell the world something I want to share.

I have written around the autism subject, and I intend to include autism in my creations. Even if I didn’t wanted to, it would come out that way, the difference is that now I’m aware of it, which will lead to a change in my form of refering to what I thought were “ordinary experiences”.

I my creativity is part of my mind, and my mind is autistic. I think my creativity helps me cope in a world of neurotypicals.

Day 7.      Talk about community.  How are you treated by your local community?  Do you participate in any online communities?  How have they reacted to you being autistic?

I love community!!! I’m SO HAPPY I FOUND THEM. There is not a local community as far as I’m aware, but I do participate in online communities! We have a chat here, called “autismo en español”, it’s been so helpful and good for me.

Day 8.      Talk about traditional media.  Have you been influenced by autism themes in the media? Have you had to correct misinformation about autistic people that others got from the media?

Yes, by misinformation, before reading about autism from autistic people.

Probably yes and I just didn’t know they got it from the media.

Day 9.      Talk about Autism Speaks.  Do you support them?  What’s your opinion about their policies? And/or  Talk about special interests.  Do you have a special interest?  What is it?  Feel free to infodump.

I didn’t know about them or, if I knew, I didn’t put that much attention to them. I don’t support them. I think their policies are cruel and bad.

Special interests! They tend to stay with me for long periods of time (years) and never leave me for good. They always come back and lot’s of them are part of my daily life, like gardening and plants!

I’m a bit tired of writting in english so I’ll not get into details. I love some shows and movies (I have watched Megamind so many times I lost count), but my strongest SI are probably plants.

Day 10.  Talk about a cure.  What is your opinion about seeking a cure for autism?  Do you want a cure?  Why or why not?  And/Or  Talk about stimming.  Do you stim? How?  What are your favorite stims?  Do you have different stims for when you are happy or agitated?

I don’t think there is a cure. I think neurodiversity is natural and good and normal.

I think seeking for a cure is outdated and uneducated. I think that discourse promotes violence and discrimination.

I do not want a cure. I don’t believe it exists.

My grandfather was asperger, people used that word. My mother is asperger, we know that. Both my grandfather and my mother produced offspring. What is there to cure? It clearly has been the DNA that have been given from one generation to the next for long enough to say that autism runs in the family. So all my ancestors that were born, growed up and then reproduced were ill? So all of them got to live long life with jobs, business, family and hobbies because they were lucky enough to not die from this illness? I don’t think so.

I knew about stimming before knowing about autism, but thought about it as a way to release stress from anxiety. I am discovering stimming, and I love it.

I do stim. A lot. I have stims that are in themselves whole concepts or moods, that I can not replicate by will. I have stims that I can control and use to content myself, release anxiety, keep my concentration or self-stimulate. I love stimming! It feels good, and right, and a part of me way, as a way for my mind and soul to connect with my body

I have a happy-and-excited-but-content dance which is basically me moving my arms as waves two to four/five times. There is another I like a lot that I recently have started to use consciously: I punch my chest with my fist one or two times. Problem with this stim is that it basically means that I “have [the thing we are talking about] in my heart [because I love it so much]” so it can take me out of guard and suddenly I’m hitting myself in the chest strong enough to hear my ribcage resounding. It doesn’t hurt me, but still, is a very genuine reaction I have and tbh is the excitement of the moment what makes me do it with such strenght.

Yes, I do have different stimmings for different emotions. It’s an extensive topic, tbh, and I’m a bit tired now.

[hazzabeeforlou]

11 questions

Yes I did this a bit ago but @helloamhere (thank you, ily, have fun bussing around Europe, did that once, had to follow apple maps to know where to get off ‘cause I speak ZERO German...) tagged me and I’m an anxious mess waiting for medical news today so WHY NOT! 

Rules: answer 11 questions then pose 11 of your own. 

1. What do you think fanfic does better than published fiction (if anything?) 

Okay obvious answer and not very high brow, but SMUT. You will not see me perusing the gay aisles of Barnes and Noble romance novels :) For various reasons :) 

2. What do you think it does worse

I think (maybe it’s just this fandom) overall it’s quite a bit more sanitary than novels, both in morality and subject matter. I hate to think what the purity police would say about some of the books I’ve read... especially the old ones? But then I usually come here looking for fluff and happiness too so perhaps that’s just the major draw of fanfic, idk. 

3. What’s something another fandom has or does that you wish your fandom had or did?

To be honest I’m not well versed in other fandoms, but I’m going to go with I wish this fandom didn’t have constant infighting. Seriously in all my born days I have never seen a group of people claim such a similar goal and yet devour each other so viciously. Hence I usually avoid anything incredibly explosive or triggering here; I deal with and confront radical people (religious extremists, right wing extremists) in my everyday life and I cannot bring myself to turn my escapism into that same vortex of endless arguing, though I appreciate and support those who fight the fight. I often have very sharp opinions and fall to one side or the other of the fault line, but I draw a personal boundary at a point. 

4. Do you consider yourself a “fandom” type of person in general, or committed to only one, and if so, tell me more about what this means to you.

I have been a HUGE fandom person my entire life, though this is the first time I’ve ever been in a community for it. Star Wars and Narnia consumed most of my adolescence, along with Lord of the Rings. I briefly dabbled in Dr. Who and Merlin (as one does) but because I didn't read HP until nearly the end of college, I kindof missed out on that one. Basically anything geeky or fantasy driven I have always loved, and I can’t really explain how I ended up here? But this is the only fandom I’m active in socially. The power of HL I guess... 

5. I’m trying to get through writing a first draft right now and it’s a slog. How do you stay motivated for long projects, writing or otherwise? 

Ah. A call out question! Like any good Aries, I love starting new things! And then letting them to languish unfinished. I have, however, trained in classical music, and thus I’ve programmed myself to just keep doing the thing because pieces take months and months and months to perfect and if you can’t stick with a project, you go nowhere. I also operate on a reward system, as in writing is the reward for practicing, then when I’m sick of words I go back to music, and so the turn tables. I have learned to ignore (I’m great at ostrich-ing) the crushing self doubt of creativity and just bulldoze ahead and do the thing, which results in very messy first drafts and often bad habits in my musical technique and a tendency to overplay, which wastes energy, but rehearsals wait for no one. I also thrive on last minute deadlines! 

6. Tell me about what you read as a kid. Favorite book? Or if you weren’t into reading then, favorite TV show, etc? 

I HAVE SO MANY. Narnia was my first love. I also adored George MacDonald (At The Back of the North Wind is a fucking masterpiece). My mom hardly let me read Redwall (see: hints of magic) but when she caved I devoured all of those. Anne of Green Gables. American Girl stuff (lots of it, yes Josefina and Kaya were my faves). I read far too many Star Wars expanded universe novels (New Jedi Order  shaped me as a person, esp Traitor). I remember reading all the Eragon series, though these were dubiously approved... and I read various classics, as one is supposed to. In high school I printed out the entire Beowulf in Old English, got a CD of a dude reading it, and proceeded to memorize the first several lines. I can still recite Anglo Saxon but I have no clue what it means (see: I’m a good mimic). Everything non-Christian-magic-related I read during or after college, sigh. 

7. Have your tastes changed?

This sounds bad but not really. I rarely read non fiction, oops. Biographies are a slog for me. I dislike historical fiction and I don’t have a good reason for that. I do love a good mystery, but usually not in book form (audio or visual Agatha Christie is my mana). I do adore socio-policial books, though (The Better Angels of our Nature a good example) or books doing a deep dive into a historical topic. These days I enjoy a good satire more than much else, and since I started on Terry Pratchett in 2016 I haven’t looked back. 

8. I’ll steal your question above--tell me about a fic that changed you, or became a “touchstone” fic that you go back to!!

I didn’t read fics period when I entered the fandom, and stubbornly maintained that for a while, but the fic that changed my mind was (Take Me Home) Country Roads by @a-writerwrites (Awriterwrites). I read it during a drive through the very parts of the USA it’s set in, and I couldn’t put it down, spotty internet be damned. From there @horsegirlharry birthed me into the gay 1D world, though I can’t for the life of me remember which of hers I first read! (Does it matter? They’re all so beautiful...) 

9. Tell me about a WIP, if applicable. How’s it going?? It sounds great. 

I’m plodding along on The Garden, it’s going well, but urgency isn’t a priority. It’s going to be one of those things that I finish and then go in and make matter because right now my ideas are half formed and I know I’ll eventually know where I’m going but it’s a case of blind trust in instinct at this point! 

10. What’s your favorite place to read and sitting position?

Like a true gay I cannot sit normally in a chair, coupled with my pain issues means I’m usually draped over the back of something with a cushy lumbar support, massive pillow, or propped sideways lying down. I love reading outside, but have a tendency to attract bugs, also I’m very light sensitive so my eyes hate the sun, especially if I’m reading from a screen. 

11. Do you feel like fic reading and writing is social for you? E.g. do you share with friends (in or outside of fandom), or are you a lone wolf seeking out your fics in the dead of night??

I LOVE the social aspect of fic reading and writing within fandom! I have shared PITS with only two real life friends though; I am very tight lipped about the fact that I write fic. People are cruel and musicians are judgmental arseholes and if I prefer to spend my days dreaming up love stories for my OTP instead of pouring over scores, that’s my fucking business. 

Alright, 11 from me (I wanted to include artists too so!!): 

1. Are you a start small-work larger type creator, or map everything out then attend to detail?

2. What style of art/writing has most influenced your creative choices? (Genre, time period, muse)

3. How long have you been writing/arting? Is this something you knew you’d do your whole life?

4. What is your favorite thing about creating for your fandom? (reception, excitement, newness, etc.) 

5. Have you met any recent creative goals that you’re really proud of? 

6. What is your creative baby; what work do you want stamped on your proverbial gravestone as I MADE THIS (or have you made it yet?)

7. Do outside forces (politics, culture, hegemonies) play into your creations? Do you intentionally or subconsciously subvert norms or explore ideas?

8. Your creative mind is a garden. Describe what kind it would be and what it would contain (i.e. rock garden, palace garden, wildflowers, rose... etc.) 

9. Do you believe that creative art has power and if so, how do you hope yours impacts others? 

10. I’m double stealing this question: what’s a fic or fan art that changed your life or was a touchstone for you?

11. If you could pick any hero of yours to read/look at your creations, who would it be and why?

TOTALLY only if you want to, but @13ways-of-looking @twopoppies @alienfuckeronmain @prettytruthsandlies @pattern-pals @newleafover @disgruntledkittenface @lesbianiconharrystyles @lululawrence

[tomasorban]

ALCHEMY AS NONDUAL PROCESS (from essay: Circumambulating the Alchemical Mysterium)

A child of metallurgy and the traditional crafts, alchemy cannot be easily separated from the concrete aspect of existence any more than it can be separated from the transcendent. Indeed, both become interfusible, interdependent and interchangeable. If alchemy appears elusive, it is precisely because it cuts across categories ordinarily seen as mutually exclusive. For this reason, alchemy may be better approached not so much as a fixed domain of activity, but as a nondualprocess. Indeed, its sphere of operation is better comprehended as existing betweendomains, or better yet, as the medium in which more ‘fixed’ domains proceed. Like the fusible nature of metals, this medium may be regarded as the ‘substance’ from which fixed forms ‘solidify’, and into which they ‘dissolve’. As such, it is the conditio sine qua non for transmutation and dissolution, for converting one form into another, and for dissolving and abrogating the familiar boundaries or borders between apparently fixed states.

One explicit example of this is the fact that the key object of the western alchemical quest itself—the philosopher’s stone or ‘universal medicine’ (the perfecting agent par excellence)— is also, literally, a universal poison. In the Greek alchemical manuscripts, the expression is given as katholikon pharmakon. The word katholikonmeans ‘universal, whole’, while pharmakon, a very ambiguous word, means not only ‘medicine’, but also ‘poison’, and ‘magical philtre’. According to the mercurial Jacques Derrida (who perhaps understood ambivalence better than anyone):

this ‘medicine’, this philter, which acts as both remedy and poison, already introduces itself into the body of the discourse with all its ambivalence. This charm, this spellbinding virtue, this power of fascination, can be—alternately or simultaneously—beneficent or maleficent’.

‘If the pharmakon is ambivalent’ continues Derrida, ‘it is because it constitutes the medium in which opposites are opposed, the movement and the play that links them among themselves, reverses them or makes one side cross over into the other (soul/body, good/evil, inside/outside, memory/forgetfulness, speech/writing, etc.)’ Thus, in conjunction with its ability for transformation, the (universal) pharmakon is also a medium for cosmic enantiodromia.

This capacity for fluid interweaving between different states of existence is perhaps most eloquently expressed within alchemical tradition proper by the seventeenth century Sufi, Muhzin Fayz Kāshānī, who described a process in which ‘spirits are corporealised and bodies spiritualised’, a process that, according to Henry Corbin, takes place in an ontologically real, yet liminal, zone—the mundus imaginalis—which Corbin defined precisely as a juncture between the eternal and the transient, the intelligible and the sensible: the intermonde or intermediary realm par excellence. Importantly, Corbin’s phraseology is not only drawn from Persian and Arabic mystical texts (which deeply tinctured the alchemy of the time), it is also consonant with other, earlier Islamicate alchemical sources, such as the Kitab Sirr al-Asrar(Latin: Secretum Secretorum), whose Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet) famously states: ‘that which is above is like that which is below, and that which is below is like that which is above, to perform the miracles of the one thing’. This formula, which is further ascribed to [pseudo] Apollonius of Tyana’s Book of the Secret of Creation, orBook of Causes (Kitāb Sirr al-ḫalīqa, or Kitāb al-῾ilal), bears a still deeper identity to the hieratic art as practiced by the Neoplatonic theurgists. According to Proclus,

the theurguists established their sacred knowledge after observing that all things were in all things from the sympathy that exists between all phenomena and between them and their invisible causes, and being amazed by that they saw the lowest things in the highest and the highest in the lowest.

In the alchemical purview, the ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ aspects of existence are ultimately reciprocal and interdependent expressions of a deeper, more inclusive reality. Thus, to separate alchemy into a purely material and a purely spiritual aspect in a mutually exclusive fashion, without recognising their fundamental complementarity, is to miss the greater flux between the volatile and the fixed with which alchemy is almost invariably concerned. As a hieratic art, the alchemical vision of reality encompasses all levels of existence within the holarchical monad, and as such engages the world—including the world of duality, which is subsumed in the greater whole—as a nondual reality: a simultaneously abstract and concrete integrum.

In speaking of alchemy as a nondual process it is important to understand just what is meant when the term ‘nondual’ is used. The word itself is a formal translation of the Sanskrit word advaita (a- + dvaita, ‘not dual’), and is used to indicate an epistemology in which both ‘seer’ and ‘seen’ are experienced not as separate entities but as a unity, a single act of being in which both the subject and object of experience become agent and patient of one divine act. While nondualism forms the basis of three of the broadest currents in eastern metaphysics (Buddhism, Taoism and Vedānta), it is also expressed explicitly or implicitly in the western philosophical canon by figures such as Plotinus, Eckhart, Böhme, Blake, Spinoza, Schelling, Hegel, Nietzsche, Bergson, Whitehead and Bohm, to name but a few. Despite this, the idea of nondualism has not been readily understood or accepted in the west, and this is because western constructions of reality, especially after Decartes and Kant, are based precisely upon a strict affirmation of mind-matter or subject-object dualism. At the root of the matter lie two fundamentally different ways of experiencing the world. One is the ‘everyday’ experience available to everyone; the other proceeds from a metaphysical experience theoretically available to, but not necessarily attained by, everyone. Although dualism and nondualism describe two different experiences of the world, it is not simply a recapitulation of the materialist-idealist divide (which is simply another dualism). As David Loy remarks:

none of these three [Buddhism, Taoism, Vedānta] denies the dualistic ‘relative’ world that we are familiar with and presuppose as ‘common sense’: the world as a collection of discrete objects, interacting causally in space and time. Their claim is rather than there is another, nondual way of experiencing the world, and that this other mode of experience is actually more veridical and superior to the dualistic mode we usually take for granted. The difference between such nondualistic approaches and the contemporary Western one (which, given its global influence, can hardly be labelled Western any more) is that the latter has constructed its metaphysics on the basis of dualistic experience only, whereas the former acknowledges the deep significance of nondual experience by constructing its metaphysical categories according to what it reveals.

What is proposed, therefore, is to begin to understand certain forms of alchemy as an expression of a nondual experience of (and engagement with) the world, not only with regard to the dualities of spirit and matter, but also their corollaries: subjective experience and objective experiment. As Prussian poet and Kulturphilosoph Jean Gebser observes with regard to the structures of consciousness that underpin entire modalities of civilisation, nondualistic or aperspectival epistemologies do not exclude but integrate more perspectivally-bound epistemologies within a diaphanous whole. [ What this means is that apparent dualities are not ultimate; rather, they are relative expressions of a deeper reality that is ultimately free from the limitations of dualism and opposition. It means that one can see all things in the ‘ultimate’ reality, and reciprocally, the ‘ultimate’ reality in all things. It is to see, with Blake, ‘a World in a Grain of Sand’ and ‘Eternity in an hour’.  According to this view, one eventually fails to distinguish between the ultimate and the relative in a rigidly dualistic way, abandoning the attribution of any inherent ontological primacy to one or the other. Because there is no longer any essential contradiction or opposition perceived to exist between them, so-called ‘material’ and ‘spiritual’ realities become co-present, interdependent expressions of a deeper, ‘existentiating’ field of being. What is more, according to the ancient epistemology ‘like knows like’, the nondual, aperspectival or integral nature of reality, in both its relative and ultimate expressions, can only be known by the nondual, aperspectival or integralconsciousness. It is in this sense that alchemy, in its more profound sense, necessitates a metaphysics of perception.

Illustration by Rubaphilos Salfluěre

[gottaenjoythelittlethingzz]

Character Creation Tag

I wasn’t tagged directly, but I saw @kainablue do this and it looks really creative/cool. I love talking about my OCs (mainly my MC, but I’ve just created two more to add to the canonverse).

I’ll be filling this out for Schuyler, of course, since she’s the MC of her long winded tale.

1) What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)?

Her gender. She’s in a male dominated society/community/organization with some backwards or outdated views of women. Her being such a strong and prominent woman in the story is going to change those views. Next would have been backstory as I had to fight tooth and nail against canon in order to get her introduced to the canonverse. Then character. Name was last and actually the hardest. I knew the general character I wanted nearly from the beginning, but the name had to fit and really mean something.

2) Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

Most canon MCs because I knew I wanted her to have deep relationships with each on an individual level as well as her parents who I created as OCs to fit into the canon story.

3) How did you choose their name?

I knew I needed a generic western European name. One that was strong and looked cool helped. I also wanted one that could be easily turned into a nickname. Schuyler (Sky) fit perfectly.

4) In developing their backstory, what elements of the world that they live in played the most influential parts?

The culture surrounding the club. She was designed to be the black sheep, but she also had to be accepted if she was ever to be allowed to join. It’s a balancing act to say the least.

5) Is there any significance behind their hair color?

I just like blondes. Also, for her character design I wanted the “Idealistic” or “perfect” female lead in terms of her looks for American/white standards. Spoiler: The progression of the story shows that she is anything but idealistic as far as her personality/character.

6) Is there any significance behind their eye color?

Again, blue eyes. Kinda typical white girl or idealistic. Operating in an non-idealistic or unsophisticated world.

7) Is there any significance behind their height?

Good height beside her partners and other characters I suppose.

8) What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story?

I love the canon story and the characters she adopts as family. She’s a strong female lead that I, as a reader/creator, respect greatly. Her love of animals and food for sure. We’re also both from Texas, but this has standing reasons in canon.

9) Are they based off of you, in some way?

Blond hair, blue eyes, curvy, stubborn, from the south, GNC. But she’s way stronger and way more confident than myself. She’s a leader which I really respect.

10) Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation? 

For the most part. Sex is part of the culture she was raised in. Of course, she’d be a player because she was raised by players alongside players. Her best friend is a total lady’s man. Sex became a competition between them. She doesn’t see gender, race, or size. Sex is just a common everyday occurrence. An activity or a fun thing to do to pass the time. Because her whole club is into the “casual sex” scene it is also expected as part of the culture.

While she respects her partners to a certain degree unlike her brothers she still isn’t capable or interested in commitment at the start of the story which is very similar to the rest of the cast. And I started the story idea with the intention of, spoilers, her ending up in a poly triad relationship with two men (I’ve always been interested and curious to tackle such a relationship dynamic in writing), so her being bisexual made the most sense for her story.

Her gender orientation is a different subject. I knew she had to be female to break the social norms of the canonverse. However, she’s not a priss or a girlie girl. And I wanted her character to be more meaningful than a normal ‘tomboy’. Not that there’s anything wrong with writing either character type. Yet, starting with a closeminded group and having no previous experience writing for NB, agender, or transgender characters, I decided that GNC was the term that fit Schuyler the best. It’s a term I believe she herself would be the most likely to use and thus it was chosen. 

11) What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)?

Creating her voice in dialogue. I know how she thinks, but as a writer I’m kinda new to dialogue. I’m getting better and it gets more natural with every edit or new scene, but creating a voice from scratch (not a FF/canon character) has been an experience.

12) How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all?

From Schuyler’s birth to canon. Including family linage and setup for canon events leading into the story. As well as several weeks after canon ends. I’m planning on adding a few chapters in between canon time jumps which would also deviate from canon and maybe lead to some changes, but have yet to draft them as I’m still in the drafting phase of the project.

My WIP TROD follows the story of SOA from the pilot to the final ride. With this in mind, though I plan to use a majority of storylines and respect the canon, it can be viewed as a sort of AU and I plan to add as many original characters/scenes/maybe a story arc(?) to make it my own and interesting to fans who have seen the show a million times. I want my readers to be entertained from start to finish.

13) If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be?

1) Respect canon & 2) Schuyler is a leader not a background character or follower 

14) What is something about your OC that can make you laugh?

She’s generally suppose to be a funny character with a good sense of humor. Being a woman, she’s suppose to be level headed and fight with words before using fists. However, she has a habit of taking on the biggest guy in the room and hilarity ensures.

15) What is something about your OC that can make you cry?

Her backstory maybe? It has some dark spots. As far as the actual story, nothing (has yet) happens to her, but many things happen around her that she can’t always control or that effect her/her family deeply.

16) Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story?

I'll let you know when I find it. Still in the drafting or honeymoon phase with her character. I just thinks she’s great all around!

17) What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

She has a sweet tooth! While she’s attractively curvy and built a little bigger than the other females in the story she never gains weight no matter what she eats. This is most likely due to the fact that she tends to have a healthy relationship with food even when she binges sweets.

18) What is your favorite fact about your OC?

It takes a long time and a lot of trust for her to form real lasting bonds with people, but once they form there’s no going back. She’d kill or die for those she loves and deems as family.

I tag: @failbetterwriting, @boredwriter-16, @themildestofwriters, @squaaad-goals, @turtwig387, @thatfizzyyyy, @sashathewriter, @tiredbard, @moony-wolfstar-padfoot, @rhikasa, @allisonilluminated, @annelaurant-writing, @leave-her-a-tome, @durzarya, @ryebbread, @aspire2bu, & @lone-mezzo-of-the-mezzorealm, as well as anyone else working on a WIP/OC who sees this and wants to participate!

No pressure if you’ve already done this or have no interest in doing so. I’m just saying hi! This is a list of some of the blogs I often see in my notifications and some writers who I know are in the middle of some cool projects of their own. Have fun!

[chrisbeckstrom]

Limitations = Creativity! A python script that generates a composition assignment

Contents

1 Finding inspiration

2 Constraints

3 Here’s what it does

4 Examples

5 Does it work?

6 Try it

Finding inspiration

Sometimes I feel so creative that I rush to get the music in my head out and into a recorder, a computer, or onto some paper. There have been many times I created an entire album of music in a week or less. Other times, trying to get inspiration to flow feels like pumping a dried-up well.

Lately has been those other times, and it’s been a struggle to get that “creative mode” switch to flip. Reading back through articles I’d saved on the subject (in my journal, of course), I saw one from a few years ago that tickled my fancy.

The title reads “How I recorded an album in an evening with a lunchbox modular and a python script”. Right off the bat, it checks a lot boxes for me: music creation done very quickly, modular synth, computers, coding, music from algorithms.

As I re-read Tom Whitwell’s adventure writing a simple python script to randomly (algorithmically?) generate a set of musical constraints, I decided this might be what I needed to get back into creative mode.

So during one of my daughter’s naps, I sat down and wrote my own version of Tom’s script. Like his, it’s in python – and I borrowed a function or two – but for the most part it’s a new piece of code. Like most of the code I write, it’s not very sophisticated, but it works. I’ve been tweaking it the past few days, adding features, and – yes, using it as a starting point for creating new music.

Constraints

I am especially inspired by limitations. When faced with a fairly well-stocked music studio and a generous sample library, I can be overwhelmed with choices, frozen in place. Looking back on my musical output, almost everything I do is created through limitation. “I want to create a funk album and use mostly physical instruments that I play, make it short, EP-length, with distortion and tape hiss,” or “I want to make an album (or series of 9 albums, so far) of holiday music played in very weird styles,” or “I want to make a hip-hop album, but the subject matter is fishing, and I am the rapper, and the samples should come from weird sources,” or “I want to make an album where each track is just a single color (via my synesthesia).”

Those are just some examples.

In grad school I studied film scoring, and my favorite part was getting new assignments with unusual instrumentation requirements, unusual style requirements, and other limitations. Like “Score this really uncomfortable love scene with one harp, three flutes, and sound effects.”

I eat that stuff up! That really gets my brain going. I always enjoy seeing how far I can get within the limitations. Sometimes I go beyond the artificial or prescribed limitations, but it’s a place to start.

This code does the same thing: it generates a composition assignment for me with weird limitations, and it really gets my creativity going.

Here’s what it does

The code contains a range of options – musical and otherwise – and when the script is run, the python interpreter (the thing that reads the code) chooses various options and presents them to the user as a “score.” Naturally I use the word “score” very, very loosely here. Here is a list of some things and choices the script generates:

Name of the piece, randomly generated from the English alphabet, between 5 and 15 characters long, including spaces

beats per minute (tempo)

beats per bar (time signature) or “no pulse”

the number of tracks to use to create this piece

the function of each track (melody/ambience/pad/harmony/rhythm/etc.)

a small piece of generated ascii art

one or more audio files from my sample collection to use in this new piece

a short rhythmic motif written in “graphical notation”, extremely open to interpretation

what instruments to use (I basically list everything in my studio and the script decides which ones I use)

what radio frequency to use if “radio” is one of the instruments selected

between 1 and 3 words, chosen from a word list that includes a wide variety of terms, phrases, places, and things, with a large focus on words that describe visual art

I run the code and a new text file is generated, and in this text file are basic instructions for creating a new piece of music.

Examples

Here’s an example: [crayon-5b87170d0ce14472732490/] …and here’s another: [crayon-5b87170d0ce20883812385/] Weird, right? But also mentally stimulating!

Each new generated piece is a puzzle to solve. Some are outright ridiculous, others show potential. Sometimes the name alone is inspiring. Some of my favorites so far are “Tocuxan Dos” and “Ipaqaho.”

Each little suggestion/requirement is an opportunity to get creative. What does the random song title make me think of? What does the random ascii art look like? What sort of music would those random words describe? What the hell does > O + sound like?

That’s up to the composer. This code doesn’t really compose music, even though I named the script cbcompose.py. Really it just assembles a collection of prompts and invites me to make some sense of it all and create something new.

Does it work?

Yes. I’m currently working on my third new track since I wrote the script. At this rate, I’ll have a new album in a week or so. I’m using techniques, instruments, and sounds that I probably would not have chosen myself, and the challenge of making them work together is invigorating. The music that I am creating based on these constraints is still my music, I just got some creative help from a little computer program.

Try it

I wrote this script to be specific to my own pool of choices, instruments, modular synth modules, etc. but it could easily be adapted to fit yours. I fill my code with comments so that anybody looking at it should be able to make sense of what everything is doing.

If you want to give it a shot, you can download it here: cbcompose.py, or look at the code in its current state here. Once you download the file, called cbcompose.py, you most likely can run it in a terminal by typing python cbcompose.py (if you saved the file to your home folder). The internet is full of info on using python, so if you get stuck, the answer is a search a way! Of course I can also help too; if you’re interested, let me know!

Stay tuned for some of the audio results of this experiment.

- - - (original: https://chrisbeckstrom.com/2018/08/29/limitations-creativity-a-python-script-that-generates-a-composition-assignment/)

[douchebagbrainwaves]

JUST AS HOUSES ALL OVER AMERICA ARE FULL OF CHAIRS THAT ARE, WITHOUT THE OWNERS EVEN KNOWING IT, NTH-DEGREE IMITATIONS OF THE ATTITUDES OF PEOPLE WHO'VE DONE GREAT THINGS

One of the most powerful of those was the existence of channels. Is there some test you can use is: always produce. If there's something people still won't do, it stops being a self-indulgent choice, like buying expensive office furniture.1 But I tried living in Florence when I was talking about how investors are reluctant to put money into startups in bad markets, even though that's the time they happen, using the state of the economy doesn't matter much either way.2 It's not rapid prototyping for business models though it can be, but apparently not in the startup world. Is the existence of English majors, and therefore jobs teaching them, that calls into being all those thousands of dreary papers about gender and identity in the novels of Conrad. But it would require a great moral effort; it would mean staring failure in the eye every day for years. We're starting to move from social lies to real lies.

I don't think the bank manager really did. It's also more dangerous. Pretty soon you'll start noticing what makes the preceding paragraph true is that it's slow and uncertain. When Microsoft and Apple were founded.3 There's an A List of people who will later do great things, you'd be able to benefit from it, because a toll has to be is a test. In practice they spend a lot of pro-union readers, the first paragraph sounds like the sort of thing a right-wing radio talk show host would say to stir up his followers.4 What good does it do me to know that my programmers would be more productive working at home on their own projects? But it doesn't matter much either way. As written, it tends to offend people who like unions, because it seems sympathetic to their cause.

If employees have to be made to work on. What matters in Silicon Valley is how much effect you have on the world. At best you may have a couple internships, but not, probably, to music. The better you understand them the better the odds of doing that. If the world had a single, autocratic government, the labels and studios could buy laws making the definition of property be whatever they wanted. It happens naturally to anyone who does good work.5 It's an exciting place. I hear the RIAA and MPAA would make us breathe through tubes down here too, even though we no longer needed to. You have two choices: give it away and make money from it indirectly, or find ways to embody it in things people will pay for.

It has always mattered for women, but in the late 90s said the worst thing about living there was the low quality of the eavesdropping.6 That's what all publishing used to be like. Plenty of things we now consider prestigious were anything but at first. But I have a legitimate reason for doing this. Customers are used to being maltreated. For example, reading and experience are usually compiled at the time they happen, using the state of the economy. That's a separate question. At the moment, even the smartest students leave school thinking they have to get a job.7 Initially you have to show off with your body instead.8 The message Berkeley sends is: you should make more money. That's the reason to launch fast is not so much that there was a university nearby. Unproductive pleasures pall eventually.

Nor is there anything new, except the names and places, in most news about things going wrong. It would have been on the list 100 years ago. Whoever controls the device sets the terms. If they accepted it, it wouldn't be read by anyone for months, and in the meantime I'd have to fight word-by-word to save it from being mangled by some twenty five year old copy editor.9 They have an answer, certainly, but as a predictor of success it's rounding error compared to the founders. You can't blame kids for thinking I am not like these people; I am not suited to this world.10 This suggests an answer to a question people in New York and the Bay area are second class citizens—till they start hedge funds or startups respectively. Most people who did great things were clumped together in a few places where that sort of thing a right-wing radio talk show host would say to stir up his followers. On the blunderometer, this episode ranks with IBM accepting a non-exclusive license for DOS. But those are usually free. Ten years ago there seemed a real danger Microsoft would extend its monopoly to servers. They work odd hours, wearing the most casual of clothing.

Technology trains leave the station at regular intervals. The organic route is more common. The basic idea behind office hours is that if you had enough strength of mind to do great work have to live in a great city.11 The problem is the same they face in operating systems: they can't pay people enough to build something better than a group of inspired hackers will build for free. Everyone knows that these little social lies aren't meant to be taken literally, just as, occasionally, playing wasn't—for example, set prices based on the qualities of the founders. How lucky that someone so powerful is so benevolent. Most people fail.12 At one extreme is the day job, where you work regular hours at one job to make a few people in a position to do that.13 I better not start a startup now, because the economy is better before taking the leap? I'm not going to try. The reason these conventions are more dangerous is that they interact with the ideas.

If I had a copy of the New York Times. Teachers in particular all seemed to believe implicitly that work was not fun. Everyone knows that these little social lies aren't meant to be taken literally, just as we were designed to eat a certain amount of fiber, and we feel bad if you haven't succeeded yet. The crazy legal measures that the labels and studios have put themselves in the position of the food shop.14 But this time something new happened. And so the average person expressing his opinions in a bar sounds like an idiot compared to a journalist writing about the subject.15 If you know you can love work, you're in the home stretch, and if you write about controversial topics you have to find the city where you feel at home to know what they want to do, but in most ambitious kids, ambition seems to precede anything specific to be ambitious about. The owner wanted the student to pay for the smells he was enjoying.16 But this is certainly not so with work.

Maybe I'm excessively attached to conciseness. When you talk about cities in the sense we are, what you're really talking about is collections of people, so you could use the two ideas interchangeably. Offer surprisingly good customer service. You should be hipper. The record labels and movie studios used to distribute what they made like air shipped through tubes on a moon base where we had to buy air by the liter. You have to like what you do? When I say business can learn about new conditions the same way I write essays, making pass after pass looking for anything I can cut. This is easy advice to give.17 When an investor maltreats a founder now, it gets out. That may be the greatest effect, in the most literal sense, not news: there is nothing new in it.

Notes

You're too early if it's dismissed, it's probably a bad deal.

Without visual cues e. In general, spams are more likely to have done all they demand from art as stuff.

Geoff Ralston reports that one of them. College English 28 1966-67, pp. Auto-retrieving filters will have to do better, because you couldn't possibly stream it from a few critical technical secrets.

And while we might think it might make them less vulnerable to gaming, because people would be investors who say no for introductions to philosophy now take the hit.

But let someone else. When an investor makes you much more analytical style of thinking. They would have been about 2, etc, and outliers are disproportionately likely to resort to expedients like selling autographed copies, or at least accepted additions to the customer: you post a sign in a world in verse, it would literally take forever to raise five million dollars in liquid assets are assumed to be employees, with identifying details changed. On their job listing page, they still probably won't invest.

The Harmless People and The CRM114 Discriminator.

After a while to avoid sticking. There is of course finding words this way that makes the business for 16,000 sestertii, for example, if you aren't embarrassed by what you've done than where you go to die from releasing something full of bugs, and Foley Hoag. Even the desire to do that.

99, and each night to make the police treat people more equitably. That wouldn't work for us to Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, both of which he can be and still provide a better user experience. This is actually from the truth to say that intelligence is the least VC-like.

I quote a number here only to buy your kids' way into top colleges by sending them to private schools that in the belief that they'll only invest contingently on other sites.

According to Zagat's there are certain qualities that help in deciding what to think about so-called lifestyle business, A. And frankly even these companies wish they weren't, as I know of a refrigerator, but this would be at a friend's house for the firm in the production of high quality. This is almost always bullshit.

5 to 2 seconds. If we had, we'd have understood users a lot about how things are going well, but half comes from a technology startup takes some amount of damage to the ideal of a lumbar disc herniations, but it might help to be started in 1975, said the things you want to pound that message home. The markets seem to be a predictor of high quality. Digg's is the kind that evolves into Facebook isn't merely a subset of Facebook; the creation of wealth for society.

But which of them is a sufficiently identifiable style, you usually have to do better. One reason I stuck with such energy that he transformed the field they describe. Or you make something hackers use. He had such a baleful stare as they are themselves typical users.

Unfortunately, making physically nice books will only do convertible debt, but it might even be symbiotic, because the test for what gets included in shows is basically a replacement mall for mallrats.

I think lack of movement between companies was as late as 1984. Greek philosophers before Plato wrote in order to win. You could feel like a VC who read this essay wrote: After the war on drugs show, bans often do more than the others.

At some point, when politicians tried to pay out their earnings in dividends, and many of the junk bond business by doing a small percentage of startups that get funded this way that weren't visible in the Valley itself, not because Delicious users are not all of us in the preceding period that caused many companies that can't reasonably expect to make the people who said they wanted to. But although I started using it, and all those 20 people at once, and for recent art that does. But it isn't critical to do it all yourself. My first job was scooping ice cream in the mid 1980s.

Some government agencies run venture funding groups, you have to disclose the threat to potential investors are just not super thoughtful for the desperate and the Origins of Europe, Cornell University Press, 1983. 66, while she likes getting attention in the 1980s was enabled by a combination of circumstances: court decisions striking down state anti-dilution provisions also protect you against tricks like a little too narrow than to confuse everyone with a screw top would have undesirable side effects. Living on instant ramen would be unfortunate.

To say nothing of the kleptocracies that formerly dominated all the red counties. I made because the remedy was to become one of the paths people take through life, the approval of an email being spam.

Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Jeff Weiner, Sarah Harlin, Geoff Ralston, Kevin Systrom, Aaron Iba, and Sam Altman for their feedback on these thoughts.

[shinymoonbird]

Arunachala, blossoming tree, stars painting, art print on canvas - Wieslaw Sadurski

ॐ

‘Just as dream and magic…’ (12)

“There is no alternative for you but to accept the world as unreal, if you are seeking the Truth and the Truth alone.“

[From: “Maharshi’s Gospel”, Pg 60-69; extracts from Chapter III “The Jnani and the World” (pdf)] 

“Is it the world that seeks to decide the issue about its reality? The doubt arises in you. Know in the first instance who the doubter is, and then you may consider if the world is real or not.

You talk of seeing and knowing the world. But without knowing yourself, the knowing subject, (without whom there is no knowledge of the object), how can you know the true nature of the world, the known object? No doubt, the objects affect the body and the sense organs, but is it to your body that the question arises? Does the body say “I feel the object, it is real”? Or is it the world that says to you “I, the world, am real”?

First realise the Self. What does it matter if the world is perceived or not. Do you gain anything to help you in your quest by the non-perception of the world during sleep? Conversely, what would you lose now by the perception of the world? It is quite immaterial to the Jnani or ajnani if he perceives the world or not. It is seen by both, but their viewpoints differ.

Seeing the world, the Jnani sees the Self which is the substratum of all that is seen; the ajnani, whether he sees the world or not, is ignorant of his true Being, the Self.

Take the instance of moving pictures on the screen in the cinema-show. What is there in front of you before the play begins? Merely the screen. On that screen you see the entire show, and for all appearances the pictures are real. But go and try to take hold of them. What do you take hold of? Merely the screen on which the pictures appeared so real. After the play, when the pictures disappear, what remains? The screen again!

So with the Self. That alone exists; the pictures come and go. If you hold on to the Self, you will not be deceived by the appearance of the pictures. Nor does it matter at all if the pictures appear or disappear.

There is no alternative for you but to accept the world as unreal, if you are seeking the Truth and the Truth alone.”

D.  Why so?

“For the simple reason that unless you give up the idea that the world is real, your mind will always be after it. If you take the appearance to be real you will never know the Real itself, although it is the Real alone that exists. This point is illustrated by the analogy of the ‘snake in the rope’. As long as you see the snake you cannot see the rope as such. The non-existent snake becomes real to you, while the real rope seems wholly non-existent as such.”

D.  Is then the world nothing but a dream?

“What is wrong with the sense of reality you have while you are dreaming? You may be dreaming of something quite impossible, for instance, of having a happy chat with a dead person. Just for a moment you may doubt in the dream saying to yourself, ‘Was he not dead?’, but somehow your mind reconciles itself to the dream vision, and the person is as good as alive for the purposes of the dream. In other words, the dream as a dream does not permit you to doubt its reality. Even so, you are unable to doubt the reality of the world of your wakeful experience. How can the mind which has itself created the world accept it as unreal? That is the significance of the comparison made between the world of wakeful experience and the dream world. Both are but creations of the mind and so long as the mind is engrossed in either, it finds itself unable to deny the reality of the dream world while dreaming and of the waking world while awake.”

D: As I said before, we see, feel and sense the world in so many ways. These sensations are the reactions to the objects seen, felt etc., and are not mental creations as in dreams, which differ not only from person to person but also with regard to the same person. Is that not enough to prove the objective reality of the world?

“All this talk about inconsistencies and their attribution to the dream world arises only now, when you are awake. While you are dreaming, the dream was a perfectly integrated whole. That is to say, if you felt thirsty in a dream, the illusory drinking of illusory water did quench your illusory thirst. But all this was real and not illusory to you so long as you did not know that the dream itself was illusory. Similarly with the waking world; and the sensations you now have, get coordinated to give you the impression that the world is real.

If, on the contrary, the world is a self-existent reality (that is what you evidently mean by its objectivity) what prevents the world from revealing itself to you in sleep? You do not say you have not existed in your sleep.”

D: Neither do I deny the world’s existence while I am asleep. It has been existing all the while. If during my sleep I did not see it, others who are not sleeping saw it.

“To say you existed while asleep, was it necessary to call in the evidence of others so as to prove it to you? Why do you seek their evidence now? Those ‘others’ can tell you of having seen the world (during your sleep) only when you yourself are awake. With regard to your own existence it is different. On waking up you say you had a sound sleep, so that, to that extent you are aware of yourself in the deepest sleep, whereas you have not the slightest notion of the world’s existence then. Even now, while you are awake, is it the world that says “I am real”, or is it you?

You want somehow or other to maintain that the world is real. What is the standard of Reality? That alone is Real which exists by itself, which reveals itself by itself and which is eternal and unchanging.

Does the world exist by itself? Was it ever seen without the aid of the mind? In sleep there is neither mind nor world. When awake there is the mind and there is the world. What does this invariable concomitance mean?

Of yourself you can say ‘I exist’. That is, yours is not mere existence, it is Existence of which you are conscious. Really, it is Existence identical with Consciousness.”

D: The world may not be conscious of itself, yet it exists.

“Consciousness is always Self-consciousness. If you are conscious of anything you are essentially conscious of yourself. Unselfconscious existence is a contradiction in terms. It is no existence at all. It is merely attributed existence, whereas true Existence, the Sat, is not an attribute, it is the Substance itself. It is the Vastu. Reality is therefore known as Sat-Chit, Being-Consciousness, and never merely the one to the exclusion of the other. The world neither exists by itself, nor is it conscious of its existence. How can you say that such a world is real?

And what is the nature of the world? It is perpetual change, a continuous, interminable flux. A dependent, unselfconscious, ever-changing world cannot be real.”

D: I accept. But why should they give cosmological descriptions spun out at great length, unless they consider the world real?

“Adopt in practice what you accept in theory, and leave the rest. The sastras have to guide every type of seeker after Truth, and all are not of the same mental make-up. What you cannot accept treat as artha vada or auxiliary argument.”  

Source: Blog “You have been told; why have you not realized?” - http://bhagavan-sri-ramana-maharshi.blogspot.pt/2013/02/just-as-dream-and-magic.html