#kerning from hell

[blnxpc]

Move

[justalittlesolarpunk]

I’ve teased it. You’ve waited. I’ve procrastinated. You’ve probably forgotten all about it.

But now, finally, I’m here with my solarpunk resources masterpost!

YouTube Channels:

Andrewism

The Solarpunk Scene

Solarpunk Life

Solarpunk Station

Our Changing Climate

Podcasts:

The Joy Report

How To Save A Planet

Demand Utopia

Solarpunk Presents

Outrage and Optimisim

From What If To What Next

Solarpunk Now

Idealistically

The Extinction Rebellion Podcast

The Landworkers' Radio

Wilder

What Could Possibly Go Right?

Frontiers of Commoning

The War on Cars

The Rewild Podcast

Solacene

Imagining Tomorrow

Books (Fiction):

Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness The Dispossessed The Word for World is Forest

Becky Chambers: A Psalm for the Wild-Built A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

Phoebe Wagner: When We Hold Each Other Up

Phoebe Wagner, Bronte Christopher Wieland: Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation

Brenda J. Pierson: Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology

Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro: Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World

Justine Norton-Kertson: Bioluminescent: A Lunarpunk Anthology

Sim Kern: The Free People’s Village

Ruthanna Emrys: A Half-Built Garden

Sarina Ulibarri: Glass & Gardens

Books (Non-fiction):

Murray Bookchin: The Ecology of Freedom

George Monbiot: Feral

Miles Olson: Unlearn, Rewild

Mark Shepard: Restoration Agriculture

Kristin Ohlson: The Soil Will Save Us

Rowan Hooper: How To Spend A Trillion Dollars

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing: The Mushroom At The End of The World

Kimberly Nicholas: Under The Sky We Make

Robin Wall Kimmerer: Braiding Sweetgrass

David Miller: Solved

Ayana Johnson, Katharine Wilkinson: All We Can Save

Jonathan Safran Foer: We Are The Weather

Colin Tudge: Six Steps Back To The Land

Edward Wilson: Half-Earth

Natalie Fee: How To Save The World For Free

Kaden Hogan: Humans of Climate Change

Rebecca Huntley: How To Talk About Climate Change In A Way That Makes A Difference

Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac: The Future We Choose

Jonathon Porritt: Hope In Hell

Paul Hawken: Regeneration

Mark Maslin: How To Save Our Planet

Katherine Hayhoe: Saving Us

Jimmy Dunson: Building Power While The Lights Are Out

Paul Raekstad, Sofa Saio Gradin: Prefigurative Politics

Andreas Malm: How To Blow Up A Pipeline

Phoebe Wagner, Bronte Christopher Wieland: Almanac For The Anthropocene

Chris Turner: How To Be A Climate Optimist

William MacAskill: What We Owe To The Future

Mikaela Loach: It's Not That Radical

Miles Richardson: Reconnection

David Harvey: Spaces of Hope Rebel Cities

Eric Holthaus: The Future Earth

Zahra Biabani: Climate Optimism

David Ehrenfeld: Becoming Good Ancestors

Stephen Gliessman: Agroecology

Chris Carlsson: Nowtopia

Jon Alexander: Citizens

Leah Thomas: The Intersectional Environmentalist

Greta Thunberg: The Climate Book

Jen Bendell, Rupert Read: Deep Adaptation

Seth Godin: The Carbon Almanac

Jane Goodall: The Book of Hope

Vandana Shiva: Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture

Amitav Ghosh: The Great Derangement

Minouche Shafik: What We Owe To Each Other

Dieter Helm: Net Zero

Chris Goodall: What We Need To Do Now

Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac

Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Stephanie Foote: The Cambridge Companion To The Environmental Humanities

Bella Lack: The Children of The Anthropocene

Hannah Ritchie: Not The End of The World

Chris Turner: How To Be A Climate Optimist

Kim Stanley Robinson: Ministry For The Future

Fiona Mathews, Tim Kendall: Black Ops & Beaver Bombing

Jeff Goodell: The Water Will Come

Lynne Jones: Sorry For The Inconvenience But This Is An Emergency

Helen Crist: Abundant Earth

Sam Bentley: Good News, Planet Earth!

Timothy Beal: When Time Is Short

Andrew Boyd: I Want A Better Catastrophe

Kristen R. Ghodsee: Everyday Utopia

Elizabeth Cripps: What Climate Justice Means & Why We Should Care

Kylie Flanagan: Climate Resilience

Chris Johnstone, Joanna Macy: Active Hope

Mark Engler: This is an Uprising

Anne Therese Gennari: The Climate Optimist Handbook

Magazines:

Solarpunk Magazine

Positive News

Resurgence & Ecologist

Ethical Consumer

Films (Fiction):

How To Blow Up A Pipeline

The End We Start From

Woman At War

Black Panther

Star Trek

Tomorrowland

Films (Documentary):

2040: How We Can Save The Planet

The People vs Big Oil

Wild Isles

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

Generation Green New Deal

Planet Earth III

Video Games:

Terra Nil

Animal Crossing

Gilded Shadows

Anno 2070

Stardew Valley

RPGs:

Solarpunk Futures

Perfect Storm

Advocacy Groups:

A22 Network

Extinction Rebellion

Greenpeace

Friends of The Earth

Green New Deal Rising

Apps:

Ethy

Sojo

BackMarket

Depop

Vinted

Olio

Buy Nothing

Too Good To Go

Websites:

European Co-housing

UK Co-housing

US Co-housing

Brought By Bike (connects you with zero-carbon delivery goods)

ClimateBase (find a sustainable career)

Environmentjob (ditto)

Businesses (🤢):

Ethical Superstore

Hodmedods

Fairtransport/Sail Cargo Alliance

Let me know if you think there’s anything I’ve missed!

[pedge-page]

i love your preggo wife drabbles soo much!!! could you write one where joel takes care of reader with her morning sickness? 🫶🏻

Joel dealing with Preggo Reader: Morning Sickness

Notes: Idk why I keep making reader so mean but he's such a trooper! I'm also no pregnancy expert obviously so plz take my minimal effort in research with a grain of salt.

Warnings: mean reader, language, vomitting, morning sickness

- - - -

"I hate your penis."

Joel rolls his eyes. It's only the 11th time you've said it today while being hunched over the toilet, with Joel caringly hovering over you, holding your hair out of the way as you take a deep breath and hurl the breakfast he made you this morning.

"I hate—"

"I know, sweet pea. Just breathe."

You nod in an almost drunken state. He knows its because you've got no energy in you to really fight him, with the baby giving you all the first batch of hell in the life long journey of headaches in child bearing.

He rubs over your spin, caressing the shivers raking over your body so you can focus on not dying right now.

"I hate your toes. I hate your shampoo. I hate your fingernails. I hate your toast.  I hate—"

"Ah huh..."

At first he was pretty upset and angered by how much you loath him, but at some point he's tuned it out and just holds and shushes you. While you pout your disdain for the man, you don't oppose his touch.

For now.

"Doin' so good, baby. It's only temporary, baby's just making sure you're a tough momma—"

"Shut the fuck up and get me some water."

Joel stands, his knees reminding him of his less than youthful age, before running downstairs and grabbing a bottle.

You were both a little surprised that all the morning sickness you were warned about hadn't really given either of you trouble in your first trimester. It came with a surprise by the middle of your second, and comes and goes on a daily basis. Today is honestly not so bad: it's your attitude shift that really gives him whiplash.

By the time he gets back up, you're already meandering out of the bathroom like a lost soul with puffy, sleep deprived eyes, and over to the bed, slowly crawling over the mattress, muttering "too tall". You feel his hand supportively on your back, but you snap "fuck off" and get in the bed yourself. He goes to tuck you in with the sheet, but again your hand slaps his away and you close your eyes into darkness.

You can still feel his annoying presence. "What!" You yell, eyes shooting open to see the bottle dangling from his hand. You snatch it without a thank you and gulp.

Joel's just got his hands on his hips, staring at you.

"Kern I hEp ouu, Hondah?" You gurgle through your water sloshing in your mouth.

He just chuckles to himself. "You're cute like this."

You swallow. "I'll fuck you the fuck up."

He laughs even harder, seemingly unserious in your threats. To him, you looked even smaller than before, despite the obvious roundness growing in your tum tum. You seemed like some small puppy finding her growl, or toddler pointing her finger trying to be intimidating but unaware of how badly you're failing.

"So amusing? Why dont you make yourself useful and rub my feet," you demand.

"You need to eat food, baby girl."

"BaBy GiRl" you mock with puppet hand mouth. "NAG nag NAG. I Don't WANT food. I want my FOOT. In your HAND. before I put it up your ASS."

Joel can tolerate the baby cock-blocking him for a few weeks and the endless assult of your words, but he puts his foot down when your basic needs arent being met. "I need you to eat food. You need energy. Baby needs energy."

"Fine! Crackers, you crackhead. Then—" and you thrust your leg in the hair and wiggle your foot in his face so he gets the picture.

"Okay okay!" And he walks out the bedroom.

Joel spends a record 4 minutes downstairs hurriedly putting together a fancy array of cracker options, from Saltines, to Townhouse, to Ritz. He also pops a few cubes of diced ham in his mouth and then holds a few in his hand to snack on later since he too had to abandon breakfast to service you.

By the time you're conplaining "it's been hours!" He's trotting up the stairs, you wiggle your bum so you sit upright in bed, hand over gurgling belly as he brings the tray to you.

Just as youre about to feast on these dry ass cardboard squares, your nose twitches. You see Joel chewing something in his grasp, popping one cube of pale meat quickly into his mouth, and it takes all of 2 seconds for the smell to travel to your brain before you're throwing the tray on the ground, crackers spilling all over the carpet and b lining to the bathroom again to throw up.

As he hears your dramatic gasps and hurls, Joel pulls out his little note pad he's been documenting your pregnancy so far. He writes "no ham" in the lines , right under "hates my penis", before tossing the paper on the bed and stroking your hair lovingly again as you empty your entire organs in the toilet.

By the time you finish, you've got snot and tears running down your face. "but I LOVED HAAAMMMMM" You screech.

It's true. You used to wrap a thick spread of cold butter on a slice of cheap deli ham and eatnit like a cannoli— something he thought was a weird aquired taste BEFORE he even got you pregnant.

Joel grabs a tissue and plants it firmly in your face, and you squeeze your eyes tight and blow right into his palm like a little snot nosed trumpet. He rubs his fingers in your nostrils to get all the boogers out before tossing it and helping you up to your feet again.

All the while you're bawling "l-l-loved—my hh-ham—n cheese" with gross babbling as he tucks you back in the duvet. You were fine with giving up other aversions like tomatoes, pizza crust, and yogurt. Even sex (occasionally). But your beloved ham is one baby step too far.

"Your—"sniffle— "big—"hiccup—"ugly—"choke—"WORM —" cough—"DID THIS TO MEEE," you accuse his crotch and wail into the air.

Then you hiccup very loudly and go quiet entirely.

You look around with curious eyes, fresh tears suddenly unbothering you at the moment.

"Mmmmmmmn crackers," you moan. "Gimme that one," and you point to the mess on the floor.

"What one?"

"That one!"

He bends down and picks up a piece.

But you shake your head. "No that one."

"No." "No the other." "No."

"Which one!" He shouts, unable to contain the lace of frustration.

"The one I'm pointing to, stupid!"

He finally picks up one hes pointed to 3 times already and you clap your hands.

You snatch it out of his grasp, pull a hair off its curved cracked edge before munching on it happily.

He looks at with uncertainty on his face.

You swallow the dry mushed bits and hum contently. "Mmm. Salty."

-

Not even 12 hours later  you two are getting ready for bed, and you mood has completely changed. Still sick, but instead of being unable to stand Joel's entire existence, you praise it.

"Joel, honey? Can you please prop my feet up Under this pillow. I'm sorry. I just can't seem to reach it myself."

"Baby? I'm a little thirsty. Can you get me some water?"

"Im so sorry, Joel. I just can't stomach this food, I know you put so much effort into it. Ugh! I loved this, I really did! I don't know what's wrong with me."

You rub over the discomfort in your slightly swollen tummy and try to be a brave girl and fight the tears, as Joel's been so attentive to your needs, aches, cries and cravings, only to hurl them back up.

You sniffle and look up to him.

He's a bit tense, almost in a fight or flight stance with fear behind his eyes.

"W-whats wrong, Joel?" you ask with a honey song voice.

"Who are you and what have you done with my wife?"

- - - -

Permanent taglist :

@harriedandharassed @lola8888673 @its-nebuleuse @zliteraturehoe @merz-8 @joeldjarin @pascalscoffin @pedroshotwifey @ghostslillady @innerpersonunknown @missladym1981 @mrs-oharaxx @survivingandenduring @milla-frenchy @cockykookiee @fairytale07 @daddy-din @pedropascalsbbg @spookyxsam @somehopeatlast @millercontracting @pedrostories @mishala005 @theoraekenslover @animez96

[noneorother]

The art director & the Good Omens book cover tier list of doom, part 1

part 1 l part 2

This is going to have to be a multi-part series because there are *checks notes* 64 different covers that I've found so far.

I am your resident Art Director/Good Omens enthusiast, and welcome to my completely meta-free book cover tier list. Listen, making a book cover is HARD. I should know. But while we salute these artists for their hard work and time, I think we can all admit that once in a while, the vision is just not on. And on very rare occasions, publishers seemed to have managed to commission the cover art directly from hell... 1. The original UK cover

Ahh, the standard by which all shall be judged. We're starting off with a nice & easy cover, with adorable woodcuts of Aziraphale and Crowley flanking a custom Good Omens font! While I have to take a few points off for the terrible kerning of the word "GoOD", the blockprint vibes and general bitchiness of Aziraphale's teeny weeny wittle face, along with the sick colour palette puts the orignial in my good graces. Tier: Great

2. The duelling US covers

Progress! Hail to the designer who figured out trying to make "GoOD" and "OMeNs" fit the same width was a fool's errand, and even managed to IMPROVE on the original handmade title by adding a little halo and devil's tale to the design. Aziraphale and Crowley are facing each other, while also managing to serve absolute cunt. Aziraphale is wearing EIGHTIES SNEAKERS. Crowley's little snake boots have HEELS. They've managed to keep the woodcut vibes and colour simplicity, while balancing out the full title of the book. Both authors get to trade off on who's name comes first! Dare I say, this is a work of genius. I could dock some points for Crowley's sad bat wings growing out of his right clavicle, but who am I to question greatness.

Tier: Blessed by God Herself

3. The Halo Master Chief(?) cover

How the mighty have fallen... As a Canadian child, I was subjected to maybe the most horrifying ad in existence by the War Amps warning children about machine safety. This cover is the paper embodiment of that ad. I am confused by the purple haze. I am frightened by the seeming ethereal flatness of Adam and Dog. I am strangely aroused by Aziraphale's eyebrows, and intensely saddened by the terrible outline/drop shadow they had to inflict on the type to fit "Pratchett" in that god awful space. Tier: WTF

4. Germany, Ein Gutes Omen covers

This cover inexplicably exists in two colour ways: red and teal. I put the audiobook cover here so you could experience the full illustration, and also how fucked up it is that they cropped the book version to include three horse-people of the apocalypse, but cut off DEATH on the regular cover. Points must be given for drawing a pretty slick Bentley, but I think we have to take even more points away for turning Crowley into a Ray Charles/Mike Wazowski hybrid. The ducks are nice. Tier: Not so Good (Omens)

5. Germany, Ein Gutes Omen covers continued

I don't know if the German designer of this cover *knew* that they were using western yeehaw cowboy woodblock letters when they made this cover, but judging by how they spaced the rest of the text at the bottom, THEY DID NOT CARE. And that seems to be a running theme for this one. We get kind of a duality thing going on with the black and pink background, but it just seems like somebody whispered the general themes of Good Omens into a jar, and threw it down a well, and this poor chap came along and picked it up. The baffling choice to align every piece of text on the cover *except* Neil Gaiman's name which is right aligned and rotated 90 degrees (not even real vertical type) will haunt my dreams, I think.

Tier: Bad

6. US, UK The Traffic Jam cover

For the love of Good Omens, WHY. I can think of so many more interesting symbols to put on the cover of this book than the ODEGRA SIGIL TRAFFIC JAM. Props for keeping the good colours and type, but like, I think this cover was secretly designed by @amtrak-official, or someone who just really, really likes public works. Tier: Does the Job

7. France, De bons présages cover

Leave it to France to make sure people know that Aziraphale and Crowley fuck severely. While I can't condone leaving out half the title of the book (and thinking a red carpenter's square counts as decoration), I can begrudgingly acknowledge that Ron Pearlman and Benedict Cumberbatch's love child is excellent Crowley casting. I think I give this a solid dark academia/10. Tier: Good (Omens)

8. France, De bons présages covers continued

Just imagine with me, if you will, the absolutely hilarious reality that this cover posits: Good Omens is exactly the same in every respect, but Crowley drives a pink 1950s convertible. Why do all of the colours on this cover look like they've been pre-digested? Why are the font choices and placement so bafflingly bad. My face is the demon's face holding that car. I feel his pain.

Tier: WTF

9. France, De bons présages covers continued

Minus points for not managing to write the full title of the book once again. I don't know what it is with the French. They seem pretty set on Good Omens being demonic. While I do appreciate a good Bosch-style demon party, the dude in the middle confounds me. All-caps Museo Sans that isn't even *centred* in the frame is just so lazy. I am le tired. Tier: Bad

10. France, De bons présages covers continued

Uhh. The font. The font is okay.... I think? Yeah. The font and kerning are. Okay. OHHH GOD I LOOKED DOWN BELOW THE TEXT WHYYYY. Tier: WTF

END of round one. I need a nap.

[siampie]

Risk and Reward||Chapter 1: When I Met You

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 4.1k

Summary: You have a hard time settling into your new life but with new acquaintances and newfound friendships. You slowly find your footing.

Warnings/tags: 18+ contains smut (not sure, don’t know how to write it but I’ll try), angst, fluff, mutual pining, idiots in love, childhood trauma

A/N: So, this is a first for me. Please be indulgent. I am no stranger to writing fiction. I’ve done it before just not on this platform. Also, this is my first time writing in 2nd POV and for Matt Murdock. There isn’t much of him in this chapter but I hope the small bits I have is as close as it is to his character. I did what I always do before writing fiction, read other writers' work and see how they capture the character and watched videos or episodes to get a good feel of the character. So, I hope you will like it. Feedback is welcome. And just enjoy! Also English is not my first language.

Chapter List || Next Chapter

Masterlist || Join my tag list

Dividers by @cafekitsune

Song the title is referring to:

You gave me a reason for my being

And I love what I’m feelin’

You gave me a meaning to my life

Yes, I’ve gone beyond existing

And it all began when I met you

“Another day, another week.” You whispered to yourself as you stepped in the building where you work. You smiled quickly at the receptionist before making your way to the elevator. After you made the big move across the states, you were lucky to land a job as a proofreader in a publishing house. It wasn’t your dream job but it was the next best thing.

For as far as you can remember, you have always been taking care of your family. Many expectations and responsibilities were put on your shoulders from a very young age. So, when your brother stepped in and decided to move your father in with him, you felt some relief. A load was being taken off of your shoulders. You loved your family. But over the years, you had started to resent them slightly. You resented your father for being sick. You resented him for taking out his bad moods on you. You resented your siblings because they get to live their lives. You resented them for leaving you behind in the dust. You knew you loved them but you resented them. And you didn’t want to hate them. So, you left.

You made the move to Hell’s Kitchen, six months ago and you had big plans. First of which, was to properly kickstart your life. You didn’t think it would be easy. You knew it would have been a challenge but you didn’t think it would be that hard. After six months, you thought you would have made some friends or at least some acquaintances. But shy as you were, and as cautious as you were, making friends did not come easy for you.

You dropped your bag on the ground next to your chair. And dropped your coat on the back of it. Your desk was already stacked with manuscripts that needed to be proofread. You always started your day the same, first you read your emails and answered the most important ones. Then came coffee and then came reading with a red pen. You were to review any typos that may have somehow slipped past the author and the copy editor. You were also to review for issues like kerning and stacking and whether the running head is consistent. Proofreading was the last step before publication. You knew it was an important step, so you did it thoroughly. And you did it well. At least, you thought you did. Your boss had not complained about your work so far. And you took it as a good sign.

One of your coworkers stopped by your desk and softly called your name. You looked up at her. You knew her, you had barely interacted with her a few days before. She had long, red hair, that you loved, and legs for days. Her name was Amelia. A few nights ago, as you were leaving after workhours, she was standing outside of the building. A cigarette between her lips as she was looking for something.

“Excuse me?” She stopped you. You turned to her. “Do you have a lighter?”

“Yeah.” You nodded quickly. Your best friend from high school, had convinced you to buy a pack of lighter once. Telling you that it was the best way to meet people and to make friends. More precisely to meet your future boyfriend. “There you go.” You handed her the lighter.

“Thanks.” She lit her cigarette before giving it back to you. She took a long drag at it. The tension in her shoulders dropped. “I needed that.”

“You’re welcome.” You smiled at her and turned to leave.

“You’re that new proofreader, aren’t you?” She asked you.

“Yeah.” And you gave her your name.

“That’s a pretty name.” She remarked. “I’m Amelia.”

“Nice to meet you.” Amelia was not a proofreader. She was an acquisitions editor. The one, literary agents would come to, to sell a book. The book landed in her hands first, and if they made it past her, they landed in yours last.

You stayed with her long after she finished her cigarette. You walked with her because it was dark out. And Hell’s Kitchen wasn’t the safest place to be after dark. And there was strength in numbers. Coincidentally, your flat and hers weren’t that far apart. So, you walked her home before going to yours.

After that, you had not seen or heard much of Amelia. You thought that was it. But there she was, talking to you.

“So, some of us are going to grab a drink after work and I thought that maybe you would love to join us?” She sat on your desk.

“It’s barely 9 and you’re already thinking about the end of the day.” You scoffed lightly.

“Well, I need something to look forward to.” Amelia laughed. “So, wanna come?”

Your default answer was ready to come out of your mouth. You were already making up excuses to not go. And then you stopped yourself. Why shouldn’t you go tonight? There was no one waiting for you at home. You had no obligations. It could be a fun night out; you could even make a few new friends. Might even start a new friendship with Amelia. After all, she came to seek you out. She wanted to invite you.

“Why?” You had not meant to ask this out loud.

“What?”

“Why invite me? We barely talked to each other? Why ask me?”

“You said you just moved here in Hell’s Kitchen, remember?” Amelia gave you a tight smile. And you nodded at her words. “I figured I do the nice thing and invite you to come with us. Since, you don’t really know anyone here.”

Now, you felt stupid. You could feel your neck and cheeks heat up with your embarrassment. Not everyone was going to hurt you. There were good people in the world, you had to remind yourself of that.

“Sorry.” You apologized quickly. “I—I would love to come.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” You nodded quickly.

“Good, I’ll come and get you when it’s time to go.”

You pressed your hands against your neck. If you could see yourself, you were sure there would be splotches of red all over it. Of course, you had to go and ask why? If “no” was your default answer most of the time, “why?” wasn’t too far behind. When your niece had first told you she loved you, your first answer wasn’t to say it back. It was to ask her why? And she had answered very sweetly: “Because you’re funny and you give the best hugs. And you always play with me.” And after that you never asked again. You only said it back. Because you did, you loved her very much.

You did not know why you did this. It was almost as though you did not believe that good things could happen to you. And if it did, it was not sincere. It was because someone wanted something from you and once, they got it. They’d leave you high and dry.

As the end of your day was nearing. Your anxiety was starting to get the better of you. You dreaded the moment Amelia would come and pick you up. You had agreed to it earlier because you genuinely wanted to. But now, all you wanted, was to go home. Not because you were drained or overstimulated. No, because you simply did not feel like going anymore. You were hoping she would forget about you. Or at least, it would have been cancelled.

It wasn’t cancelled. And you couldn’t just bail on them. It was the first time, since you arrived in Hell’s Kitchen, that you had been invited to hang out. If you bailed on them now, you might not be invited ever again. So, you went. And who knows, you might have some fun.

“Josie’s.” You read out as you stopped in front of the bar with Amelia.

“Yeah, it’s a dive bar, really.” Amelia told you quickly. “But the drinks good enough.”

“Okay.”

She pulled you in after her. You both stopped at the bar to order your drinks and she then took you to their table. It was a small gathering. You recognized a few people, there was the receptionist; Clara. Then, there was another proofreader, you had interacted with. Barely. His name was Sebastian and some other people. You sat next to Amelia.

As soon as you sat down, they resumed their conversations. You were a silent observer. You laughed at their jokes. You listened intently to what they were saying. And you were really brief when they asked you questions about yourself. And redirected the attention on someone else as quickly as possible. You did not want the spotlight to be on you.

While your coworkers were conversing with one another, you couldn’t help but glanced around you. Your eyes travelled over the numerous patrons in the bar. Bikers, blue collar workers and some white-collar workers. They were many. The bar seemed to be quite successful.

And then your eyes landed on him.

Dark haired, with red tinted glasses and a cane. His plump lips were begging to be kissed, his jawline was to die for. His hair looked soft to the touch and you were itching to run your fingers through them. His shirt was so tight that it left nothing to the imagination. You could tell that he was well built underneath it. And his smile—oh, his smile was the most beautiful, you’ve ever laid eyes on. It lit up his whole face. Made him look younger. He looked perfect in every way.

You quickly darted your eyes away. You did not want to be caught staring. However, it was too late. Unbeknownst to you, Amelia had caught you looking.

“So, you look like you’re enjoying yourself.” Amelia said as she pulled you to the bar, to grab another drink.

“I am.” You nodded. “Thank you for inviting me.”

“No problem.” Amelia nudged your shoulder. “Would you want to do it again sometimes?”

“Yes, but can we space them out?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that.” She snorted. “It’s only when the urge strikes.” And she turned away from you. She looked over her shoulder briefly. “So, someone caught your eye.”

“What? No.” You answered quickly.

“That’s not what I saw.” She smirked at you. Josie pushed your beers towards you. “You kept staring at glasses over there.” She waved her hand towards perfect man.

“No, I did not.” You protested while pulling her hand down.

“Oh, come on!” Amelia insisted. “It’s not a crime. He’s pretty and you have eyes. It’s okay to stare a little.”

“Stop.”

“But you know what would be even better?”

“I’m going to regret this.” You rolled your eyes in annoyance. “What?”

“If you spoke to the guy. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Rejection.” You simply answered.

“Well, rejection is part of the game.” She shrugged. You gave out a deep sigh, and put your chin in the palm of your hand. “You got nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

Nothing to lose? Easy for her to say. After all, she wasn’t the one who had her heart broken, so many times, that there was barely anything left of it. When it came to the matters of the heart, you did not think that the risks were worth it. Even if it was for a Pretty Boy.

Your eyes landed on him again, in spite of yourself. His eyes seemed to be on you and Amelia. Almost as though he was directly looking at you. But he was blind, right? That would be impossible.

“You’re staring again.” She teased you. And you turned back to the bar quickly.

“Drop it.” You told her sternly. “It’s not worth it.” Her eyebrows went into her hairline. “Plus, a guy like him would never go for a girl like me.”

“What? Beautiful and sweet?”

“I’m not beautiful. I’m not ugly but I’m not beautiful. I’m average at best.” You shook your head. “And I’m not sweet.”

Amelia looked at you baffled by your defensiveness over compliments. You acted as though she insulted you. She pushed your beer away from you.

“First, those were compliments and not insults. So, take them.” Amelia said. “And why would he go for someone else when he could go for you?”

“You’re being this nice to me over a lighter?”

“It’s not just about the lighter.” She told you. “You walked me home. You didn’t have to but you did. It was very kind and sweet. Thus, proving my point. You are sweet.”

“It was practical. My flat isn’t too far away from yours. And it was as much for your safety as it was for mine.” You shrugged. “It’s dangerous at night in Hell’s Kitchen.”

Amelia rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration. “You are going to take that compliment. I will beat it into you, if I have to.”

“That would be assault.”

“You thing you’re funny, uh?”

“I think I’m adorable.”

“Bitch, you’re testing my patience.” And that got a laugh out of you. She shook her head and laughed with you. “You really are annoying.”

“That’s more like it.” You grinned at her. “Want me to walk you home again?”

“Yeah,” She nodded and clinked her beer with yours. “We finish our drinks and then, we’re good to go.”

“Okay.”

She waved her finger at you. “But this conversation is not over.”

“What conversation?” You retorted, taking on a faux air of innocence.

Amelia glared at you which elicited a chuckle out of you. “Put a few drinks in you and you turn into a comedian. Who would have thought?”

“I could have mentioned it. Save you some time.”

“Do you need to have an answer to everything?”

“Should I answer that or--?”

“Oh, shut up.” And you snorted.

She raised her beer to her lips and toss it back. She gulped the rest of the bottle down and slammed it back onto the counter. Both of your empty bottles were left on the counter and you walked back to your small group of friends. On your way there, your eyes automatically found Pretty Boy, once again. Again, his gaze seemed to be on you and you dropped your eyes to the ground immediately. Feeling guilty that you were staring again, you let out a long sigh and muttered to yourself. “If he’s ever going for someone, it would be for Amelia.”

“There you go.” Amelia handed you your coat and bag. “What are you muttering to yourself again?”

“What do you mean again?” You asked stunned, blood rushing to your neck and cheeks. “You caught me doing that a lot?”

“You are not really trying to hide it.” Amelia shrugged. “So, what was it?”

“Nothing. It was nothing.” You pouted while you put on your coat.

“Was it about Pretty Boy?” She smirked at you.

“Oh, stop!” You said as sternly as possible with your lips jutted out in a pout. “It wasn’t about Pretty Boy.”

“Hmm,” She nodded smugly. “I’ll pretend I believe that.” She laced her arm with yours as you both exited the bar.

“He is really pretty.” You smiled shyly. Amelia’s shoulder nudged yours, as she giggled along with you.

“Next time, we see him. You’re talking to him.” You groaned at her words.

That night was the first time, you ever laid eyes on him. And you thought it would be the last time.

What were the chances for you to stumble upon him in this city ever again? He could be living outside of the city. Or it was only chance that brought him there tonight. And this was a once in a lifetime chance to meet the love of your life. And you blew it.

“Shut up!” You groaned as you slapped your forehead. “I did not blow my chance because there wasn’t one to begin with.”

“Voices in your head?” Amelia put down the lighter next to you.

“They’re really loud today.” You shook your head. “And you don’t have to bring it back all the time. You can keep it.”

“I won’t have an excuse to come and see you. anymore”

“You don’t really need one.” You sighed.

“True.” She smirked. “Wanna go to Josie’s tonight?”

“What are we celebrating?” You retorted.

“Nothing.” Amelia shrugged. “I thought maybe we could blow off some steam.” She shrugged and sat down on your desk. “Seeing as those last two months were kinda crazy.”

“Yeah, they were.” You agreed. “I mean we are nearing the end of the season.”

As it were in the publishing world, books are published in a three-season cycle: Winter, Summer and Fall. Winter season came to a close by the end of April and the datelines were getting closer. For the last two months, you and your team had been working nonstop. You and the author of the book you were proofreading, were going back and forth about editing issues he had. And his anxieties regarding the matter were also affecting you. Under pressure and anxious, you and your coworkers had no time to go back out.

“I could use the break.” You leaned back in your chair. “And a couple of beers.”

“It’s a date.” Amelia got back on her feet. “Meet you by the reception desk.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Amelia and you were on the sidewalk in front of Josie’s. She was smoking a cigarette before you both get in.

“Doesn’t it bother you?” Amelia asked you.

“I like the smell of it.” You shrugged.

She took another puff before she elbowed your side. You glared at her.  Her pointy elbow dug into your side painfully. “What’s that for?”

“It seems you’re in luck tonight.” She looked down at you. And with a jerk of her head, she indicated at something behind you.

You turned around and there he was. Tapping his cane on the sidewalk, holding the arm of a beautiful blonde. There was a man, blonde also, walking on his other side. Pretty Boy’s tie was loose around his neck and slightly crooked. A giant smile was on his face as the beautiful lady on his side threw her head back in laughter. You kept your eyes on their little group as they disappeared into the bar.

“Alright, tonight’s the night.” Amelia took a last puff out of her cigarette.

“What?” You turned to her confused.

“We agreed that next time we see him here, you would talk to him.”

“I did not agree to anything. You agreed with yourself.” You told her as she started to drag you toward the bar. “Amelia, stop!” You pulled your arm away from her.

“What are you so afraid of?” Amelia huffed in annoyance.

“Rejection. Humiliation. Mortification. Embarrassment.” You started to list out.

Sure, he was handsome. He was painfully handsome. And although, you had thought of his lips on yours, of his hands running through your hair as he whispered sweet nothings in your ear. Your hands flew to your ears at the thought. They warmed up as your blood rushed to them. You couldn’t do it. You couldn’t talk to him.

“I’m perfectly fine with watching him from afar.” You said quietly, dropping your hands. “Can we go somewhere else, please?” You crossed your arms over your chest, making yourself as small as possible.

She dropped an arm around your shoulders and pulled you into her side. “We already here, so we might as well go in.” You started pulling away from her. “I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to. Relax.” She pulled you back in and turned you towards the doors.

“Promise?” You put your pinky out.

“Promise.” She hooked her pinky with yours.

In most situations, you weren’t afraid to go after what you wanted. Of course, you had to pass it through a few people first. Just to make sure you were making the right decision. Especially, when it came to your job. But when it came to relationships—romantic ones, you never took the first step. You were always afraid that the people you wanted—you desired—wouldn’t want you back. Which explains your lack of experiences when it came to dating. And the disappointing sexual experiences you had.

You sat at the bar and ordered your beer. Amelia sat beside you but kept looking over her shoulder. You turned briefly to where she was looking. And surely enough, she was looking directly towards Pretty Boy and his friends. You sighed and turned back around.

“You promised, remember?” You told her. “Pinky promised. Those are sacred.”

“Yeah, I know.” She pouted and turned back around. “You’re going to regret it later.”

“Don’t I know it?” You exhaled deeply.

How many times have you let someone go before you were too afraid to speak? How much longer will you stay up at night wondering about what ifs? How much longer will you stand in the way of your own happiness? How much longer will you live in fear?

There was comfort in fear. It kept you on your toes. It told you where the edge was. It helped you survive. There was nothing wrong with fear. There were no broken hearts, no hurt feelings. It was safe.

And yet—you wished you could take that step. You knew you could. You’ve done it before. You left the comfort of your home. Of everything you’ve known to come here in Hell’s Kitchen. What was the worse that could happen in talking to him? Nothing, right? It was just talking. A simple conversation between two people. Or maybe, you would just give him your number. He could call you if he wanted to. If not—well, you would keep wondering why he didn’t call you. The thought of it was torture enough.

You glanced back over your shoulder at Pretty Boy. He was no longer sitting with his friends. His coat was still there on the back of his chair, but he was gone. You turned back to your drink, and sorrowfully starting to play with the condensation on your beer.

“What can I get you, Murdock?”

“Just another beer, Josie, thanks.”

You turned your eyes towards the voice. And there he was. So, much more handsome up close. His voice was nice and deep. Music to your ears. You turned your eyes away from him. Your heartbeat was now racing in your ribcage. You looked up at the ceiling, searching for some sort of answers.

“Hey, I’m gonna go out for a smoke.” Amelia announced slamming her bottle on the counter.

“I’ll come with you.” You squeaked out.

“You should definitely stay and enjoy yourself.” Amelia pulled her hair out of the collar of her coat. “I’ll be back in a moment. You should—you know strike up a conversation or two.” And she pointedly looked at the man by your side.

You gasped as she left. “You promised!” You called after her. “Pinky promised.”

“What did she promise?” Pretty Boy asked you. A grin plastered on his face.

You took a few minutes to answer, your eyes following Amelia’s exit out of the bar. And let out a breath. “To not make me do something I didn’t want to do.”

“And what was it? The thing you didn’t want to do.”

You couldn’t help the small grin that came onto your face before you answered. “Striking up a conversation with someone.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “Why not?”

“It’s kind of terrifying for me to—talk to people.” The blood was rushing to your chest, your heart was slamming against your ribcage.

“You’re talking to me now.” His voice seemed lower as he spoke.

You scoffed. “True. I am.”

“How does it feel?” His lips twitched up at the corners.

“Not as terrifying as I thought.”

He chuckled. And you smiled at the sound. “I’m Matt.” He extended his hand out to you.

You put your hand in his. Your breath hitched in your throat as your skin touched his. You cleared your throat before giving him your name.

“You have a pretty name.” He told you.

“You make it sound prettier.” You quipped back, feeling braver now. His eyebrows flew high on his forehead before he let out a laugh. You laughed along with him. “Nice to meet you, Matt.”

“Pleasure’s all mine.” He nodded, this boyish grin never leaving his face.

That was the night you officially met Matt Murdock. It wasn’t as daunting as you thought it would be. In fact, speaking with Matt came easy to you. His eyes were unseeing and yet, they were always on you. And for once in your life, you did not mind the attention.

You didn’t think anything life altering would come of it. If anything, you thought you were gaining another friend.

Little did you know…

Chapter List || Next Chapter

[bombdotmom]

Any other plus size baddie having a hell of a time finding a harness?

I've been on the hunt for one for the longest time and My Violet has a pretty good one I'm a little obsessed with this purple number although the back rides up a little high for my liking I think if I just add another notch to the belt we'll be good.

In celebration of the Maya Kern Minis makeing a comeback I busted out my old manu succulent miniskirt. I'm still figuring out perfect pairings for the new mini skirts I grabbed from the most recent drop

Maya please bring back the succulent pattern. I beg.

Harness: @shopmyviolet

Top: torrid

Skirt: @mayakern

Shoe's: Demonia

Petticoat: Target.

[socksenjoyer]

how i think wolf 359 characters would dress in their normal lives because nobody asked (no spoilers just characters you won't have heard of):

Doug Eiffel: self-explanatory. worst fashion sense ever. has to be coerced into not wearing a graphic tee to weddings. i think he'd love hair clips and bracelets and stuff tho

Renée Minkowski: Butch bi. INVENTED the jumpsuit-vest combo

Alexander Hilbert: Resents needing to pick his own clothes. I cannot imagine this man without a lab coat on. Thinks two identical shirts is enough to own

Isabelle Lovelace: I think she'd like quite light but practical clothes. I can very easily imagine her with a hawaiian shirt, and i think she'd enjoy fun patterns. She would love maya kern skirts with the massive pockets.

Hera: (Not sure if she can actually change her clothes but if she could) Has a lot of fun with it. None of it seems to match but it always works. If she could, she'd be the kind of person to put keyrings on EVERYTHING. Just so many accessories. If she ever found out about decora i think she'd explode with joy

Jacobi: pretty regular fashion, but i think he'd mend his clothes in very visible ways. some of his clothes are more mend than fabric. It looks sick as hell. I want to draw this now

Maxwell: Goth. Most of her outfits are pretty lowkey apart from the occasional elaborate tradgoth look. I refuse to explain myself. Also stop drawing her with glasses just because she's smart

Kepler: Not quite sure as I'm not a massive kepler fan. Start drawing this guy with glasses tho. i imagine him a little bit like Nash from street fighter before all the cool science experiment frankenstein shit and also less buff so make of that what you will

As for all the goddard management...idk. i don't know them well enough and frankly i hate them so much. Cutter has never worn anything less formal than a suit in his life tho he sleeps like that. And lovelace's crew...i love them but i don't know shit about them 😔 sorry guys. I'll get back to you about them

[pocketmau5]

“Never Satisfied” being discontinued feels like the end of an era for me.

Specifically web comics with privately hosted sites. All the webcomics I read at that time of its production are all “dead” now: Monster Pop by Maya Kern, Monsterkind by Enenkay/Taylor C, Cucumber Quest by GiGi, Paranatural by Zack, and I thought Sakana was gonna be but it came back after a 3 year hiatus. (There are more, but I can’t remember their names. There is one where I distinctly remember the alt text on a page saying how another artist “lovingly redlined Avery’s ass”) A lot of newer comics are hosted on apps, like webtoons, now. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I think it’s convenient that they are all here together, but I do miss how incredibly personalized and charming browser experience each comic had. It’s just kinda odd to feel the passage of time and how things change in this way

Majority of the comic artists I follow have shifted away from comics and instead have taken to writing novels because they hell of a lot easier. Which is great for them and I definitely encourage doing whatever it takes for your mental and physical health. I think having the ability to write novels are an incredible skill and feat in of itself! However, I can’t help but feel a bit dejected. Because of my reading disability and vision impairments, I can’t enjoy these stories when they are converted from a comic into written form. It’s difficult for me to read walls of text, and even harder for me to retain it. Even typing this is difficult. I just have to pray that I didn’t make any typos and that this shit is actually coherent! And since these books are all very small productions, none of them are on audible so I can’t even listen to it. Sure, there is text to talk, but BOY is it hard for me to retain anything I’ve heard when the Stephen Hawking synthesizer is reading to me. Maybe it’s the cadence? Regardless, a lot of the comics I listed above have an ending written out that I will never be able to know of because I suck at reading. Hell! I’d be more willing to “tough it out” and struggle for long periods of time, but reading fatigues me something fierce. I got maybe 5 minutes max before I have go lay down. I don’t even get to retain what I read either! I just get exhausted, and I’m useless for the rest of the day.

For some reason, comics don’t seem to do that. I have absolutely no idea why. It is the only written media I can consume with ease. All I know is that I hate it, and it fucking sucks to be this way. If I know how I could fix it, I would. But so far, nothing seems to do anything,

I know it’s selfish of me, but I am curious if artists would be more inclined to finish a project if there was better system for comic artists. Of the comic artists I have followed years ago and still continue to make comics usually have a partner that they work with. Perhaps if there could be some kind of business platform where there was a team of artists working on an idea, like what they do with animations. ….However, considering how underpaid and overworked artists in general are, I’m sure the only improvement would be the rate of production. I know that is especially bad in other countries. They overwork and underpay their employees, which doesn’t really help resolve burnout, the whole issue I’m trying to address. Not that I have any right to say anything on the matter. My stupid ass can’t make more than 6 pages of a webcomic before hitting an art block.

Unrelated, but something I think is kinda funny is how many artists and comic artists I follow that have come out as trans within the last couple of years. In hindsight, it is probably why I liked and connected to their work so much.

[autogynocrat]

can u tell us more about your childhood I think it would explain quite a few things

what would u like to know my childhood was boring and devoid of normalcy i was a princess in a tower or a homunculus in a laboratory

homeschooled my entire life closest i ever went to a real school was when i was really little my parents had me in daycare

at 5 lived in an RV bc my parents believed god gave them a vision that dad needed to become a deacon and save a church in a coastal city. that's the church where a girl named K became friends with me because the congregation would often meet at the B residence after church to discuss i have no idea what, but the kids would be left to our own devices. K liked to tie me up with her dad's old neckties. I unironically believe this was my submissive awakening because i had a crush on her.

when dad didn't become a deacon my parents i guess concluded that church was doomed or something abd we didn't go there anymore. i think we moved back to kern county bc mom was offered a good job with a company she used to work for.

a lot of my childhood from 6-13 is hazy and probably uneventful. i don't have good memory of it beyond not getting to have friends bc we didn't go to church much anymore and that was really my only connection to the outside world. i stated hitting puberty around 11, that was when i had my first sexual fantasy and orgasm. i thought i was going to hell for that. my little brother was born when i was 13 and we started going to church again to get him baptized. despite never going to church my parents were super catholic and so i was terrified of going to church again bc i believed that since i masturbated if i took communion god would literally kill me

13-18 i spend most of my time on mmorpgs 4chan and second life. really online gaming was my only source of socialization with the outside world at that time. i think you can imagine the damage it does to a teenage boy to be raised on brainrot websites. 14 i join tumblr but don't use it. 15 i start using it because "LMAO SJWS STUPID" bouncing around ideologically between "liberal who thinks some things are too crazy here" and uh. worse, edgier stances. i dont really want to get into that stuff but im sure i still have oldheads who follow me and remember what i was like at my worst

i think i became an atheist at 15 because some stuff about god didn't make sense to me anymore. now i kinda do believe in god again but not in the Christian way

i don't know what else to cover if you have more specific questions i can try to answer but sometimes my access to my own memory is limited there may be holes

[alaffy]

Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV

This isn't a review or, really, a recap of the program, just some thoughts I had watching it.

Like many, I grew up watching Nick. That being said, the time Dan Schneider started was around the time i really stopped watching. I've heard of all these shows, but beyond a few episodes of "All That," I really haven't watched them. The funny thing is, this documentary is the first time I realized that Schneider was one of the kids from "Head of the Class." (although, in fairness, I never really watched that show either).

One thing I think this documentary did well is how they were able to show these sketches weren't innocent. Look, there's no denying that there are people who look for things to be offended about. But when you hear the behind the scenes stories, especially how Schneider treated the women writers and the women in the costume department, there's no question that these sketches weren't innocent. I'm not saying that kids shows can't have some jokes aimed for adults. But there is a line. And having young kids act out something that is a reference to a sexual act, that is way past that line.

As for Drake Bell's story, that is just horrific. I know that Bell feels like Schneider supported him (and possibly he did in his own way), but the fact that Schneider was able to figure out that Bell was the accuser as soon as Peck was arrested, tells me that Schneider had to have realized something was off about how much attention Bell was receiving. And he chose to do nothing.

As for those letters of support...I understand that the actor's weren't told the whole truth. But I don't think that's an excuse. I mean, they might not have known who the accuser was until they were in court, but they would have known that he was a minor. And actors like Alan Thicke and Joanna Kerns, who would have been in their 40s or 50s at the time...yeah, there's just no way I could hear someone I knew was convicted of a crime like that and not have a thousand questions. And there's no way in hell I'm going to write a letter saying a 40 year old man was tempted by a minor.

As for Nick, and their lack of support for Bell, Bell does mention that he didn't know if Nick knew he was the child in that case. I'm sure that's true. I'm sure Schneider didn't say anything as it could cost him his job. But let's be clear, Nick didn't know because Nick didn't want to know. They had to have known Peck worked on their shows, they could have done an investigation. Hell, sending someone down to the courthouse the day Peck was convicted would have given them the truth. So, again, no excuse.

And, to wrap it up, how do we protect children on tv shows? Well, there are a lot of laws to protect them. But who enforces them? A lot of it seems to be left to the idea that the parents of the kids will do it. After excluding the parents who just see their kids as a cash cow and don't really care about their well being, you still have a bunch of parents who are in no way shape or form ready to take on these big studios. That's not to say there weren't times in this documentary where I didn't question why the parent didn't step in, even if it did end their kids career. But the only way to make sure the laws are being followed and that kids are physically and mentally safe, is to have someone onset who is versed in child psychology as well as the rules that dictate how child actors are used. And it would have to be an independent party, not someone who works for the studio. I doubt that's something that will happen any time soon.

[noneorother]

The art director & the Good Omens book cover tier list of doom, part 3

Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3

I am your resident Art Director/Good Omens enthusiast, and welcome to my completely meta-free book cover tier list. Listen, making a book cover is HARD. I should know. But while we salute these artists for their hard work and time, I think we can all admit that once in a while, the vision is just not on. And on very rare occasions, publishers seemed to have managed to commission the cover art directly from hell... here's where we left off last time:

21. Labas zīmes, Latvian cover

Our boys are back! And they are so ready to join the Dead Boy Detective agency. I would say that Latvians don't wear much tartan, so Argyle might seem like a similar print, but it just seems so... not Good Omens. Much like Crowley's flying purple people eater tail and Aziraphale's Conan the Barbarian sword, we're straying into niche AU fan fiction territory here. I mean, it's not *wrong*, but it certainly ain't right, either.

Tier: Does the Job

22. Bons Augùrios, Portuguese

Let me start by saying this cover is so close to being in the blessed category. The layout and spacing are divine, the imagery is simple and whimsical, it reflects the humour inside the gravitas to give you an idea of the *feeling* of reading Good Omens. So few of these covers have gotten this aspect of good design right. Honestly, I would slow clap if it wasn't for that random FLAME JIZZ stuck to the bottom right hand corner of the book. Who's idea was that? Dagon's?

Tier: Great

23. Semne Bune, Romanian cover

I admire two things about this cover: 1) Their utter commitment to a clean 3-colour palette and comprehensible layout. 2) Symbolic demon giving a principality head joke RIGHT ON THE FRONT COVER. This designer had balls. cotillion-sized balls. Now, does Aziraphale's sword have a sentient rooster tassel that watches said head-giving in horror? I sure hope not, but I don't see how that could be allegorical so, I'm torn. I feel like this goes in two categories for completely different reasons. And seeing as I'm in charge around here...

Tier: Great & Not so Good (Omens)

23. Semne Bune, Romanian cover cont.

Compared to the last cover's gigantic double-entendre, this feels so tame and logical. The text is centred and balanced. There's breathing room, and we have wing symbolism! I've never seen a cover try to split Terry and Neil's names like that, which is a fun twist but BY GOD that center line is not straight near the right end of the feathers and it is sending this cover straight down to Does the Job. It's grounded there forever.

Tier: Does the Job

25. HYVIÄ ENTEITÄ, Finnish cover

In this list, having something actually *relevant* to the main plot of the book and not mangling and main characters really puts you in rarefied air. All the motorcycles are book accurate which means somebody read something! Would I have ever picked the empty parking lot of Famine's restaurant as a subject worth a cover? Absolutely not. But the sick 80s lightning tips it into "fine" territory. The text is yellow. It's pretty.

Tier: Does the Job

26. Head ended, Estonian cover.

My face after staring at this cover for ten minutes and finally realizing that this is Hastur and Ligur waiting around for Crowley to pull up:

The artist's face after watching me do that:

Do I even need to rate this? It's called HEAD ENDED. I don't know how to be funnier than that.

Tier: WTF

27. Dobry Omen, Polish cover

Some good points for trying to be original with the layout of the title by drawing a custom pitchfork "Y", but the heinous kerning and the fact the whole text block is not even centred kind of makes me take all the points back. I feel like we're pretty heavy on the demonic, extremely light on the angelic in this take. Maybe it's because on his death bed the lead guitarist of White Snake will finally admit to having designed this cover in his spare time.

Tier: Not so Good (Omens)

28. Good Omens, Hungarian cover

If I told you this designer did not read the book, and instead just watched the trailer of The Omen (the movie) and vibed this heinous brown carpet swatch into existence, you would one hundred percent believe me. I can't even talk about the faux belle-époque font right now. I am irrationally angry.

Tier: WTF

29. Good Omens, Bulgarian cover

WHO. IS. DADDY. WIZARD?? Is all I can think when I look at this cover. Aziraphale & Grommet are recognizable enough, and you could make the case for telescope monkey being Adam, but I need to find this cover designer and shake them until they tell me who this deranged Gargamel is supposed to be. I must know.

Tier: Bad

30. BELAS MALDIÇÕES, Portuguese cover

After all we've been through on this list so far, this truly sucks. It's not even weird. It's just puce text layered atop text to create a great yawn of a cover. Shout out to the designer of the Diablo PC game font, I hope you got paid.

Tier: Bad

Part 3 roundup:

[an-aura-about-you]

ooo one of the characters in Father Brown is wearing a cute pink skirt that looks just like the new dusty rose skirt from Maya Kern and I want it bad. also she's paired it with a baby blue top and I'm like, "hell yeah transgender swag!!"

[obscuremilfoff]

ive begun collecting milf images! if you are a fanartist/know a fanartist and would like to contribute art of the women below the cut, please dm me. otherwise the Cover Art of their source will be used.

if youre not the artist of the piece, please make sure to include some sort of proof of their consent to their art being used in this tournament

Jill Hammond from Petscop

Buddy Aurinko from The Penumbra Podcast

Helen Justineau from The Girl With All The Gifts (yes i know theres a movie, but the character was whitewashed so im not using any images)

Avrana Kern from Children of Time

Kirana Javia from the Worldbreaker Saga

Lirah of Serker from The Lumatere Chronicles

Tindwyl from Mistborn

Panova Rakhel Mandelstam from Spinning Silver

Miriam Lubovitch Lloyd from The Diviners

Silence Montane from Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell

Roimata Mangakahia and Claudia Atieno from Within the Wires

[harry--vincent]

◂◂ HV-PLAYLIST-08 ▸▸

[PLAYLIST]

TRACKLIST: Waking The Witch - Kate Bush Savage Trash - Bus Gas Being Boiled (Fast Version / 2003 Digital Remaster) - The Human League Life On Your Own - The Human League Reformation (2010 remaster) - Spandau Ballet Bizarre Love Triangle (2015 remaster) - New Order Eyes Without A Face - Billy Idol A Face Without Eyes - Nmesh Cataracts - Dancing Plague Decades Go By - Dancing Plague No Life - Dancing Plague Ende - Glaring Pale Shelter - Tears For Fears Mad World - Tears For Fears Bela Lugosi's Dead (Official Version) - Bauhaus Play For Today - The Cure Cold - The Cure Hell Is Round The Corner - Tricky The Chauffeur (2005 remaster) - Deftones In Order - Second Still Work for Love - Ministry Get the Balance Right - Depeche Mode Medium - Balvanera Suffer - Patriarchy Flip U - COUCOU CHLOE The Devil Is In The Details - Boards of Canada My Immortal - Evanescence You Make Me Sick! - Ashnikko BREAKOUT - ST.EIN WWW - ST.EIN Black Celebration - Depeche Mode switch up - Lil Peep Oompa Loompa (From "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" Original Soundtrack) - Oompa Loompa Cast Army Of Me - Björk Nothing Stirs - The Body Chastity - Pussy Riot Notoriously Fast - VTSS Church Outfit - Poppy Unitive Knowledge of the Godhead - OM Twist Of Fate/ Cobra - Ho99o9 Gauze - Deftones Vore - Sleep Token

ARTWORK: Bespoke illustration graphic, overlaid onto scanned imagery.

IMAGE SOURCE: Circuit board: Flickr 49884956353 by Cole L.

TYPEFACE: ‘Kern’ by Pizza Typefaces.

LINK:

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A circular sticker with a Scarlet Red outlined landscape rectangle on top of a scanned image of a Green circuit board. On the top and bottom in a Sans-serif typeface that states ‘HV-PLAYLIST-08’. All on a Black background.

[treesap-blogs]

Sorry about being gone for an extra week! Finally putting up my TRR Reviews, starting off with “Hell Followed a with Us” by Andrew Joseph White!

Hello, Tumblrians! As some of you may know, I participated in Sim Kern’s Trans Rights Readathon this year! I only posted about it on my Instagram, since I don’t use Tumblr that often, but I read 5 books within the original deadline. The first of which was Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White.

Mandatory summary time! Hell Followed With Us follows Benji, a teenage trans boy turned into a bioweapon called The Seraph by the religious cult he grew up with (and is now on the run from). He’s found by a group of ragtag queer folks from the Alcheson Youth Center(affectionately called the ALC), but must keep a secret: the bioweapon virus’s been mutating him into a new entity altogether, and if he loses his humanity to it, he runs the risk of the group’s leader, the mysterious Nick, killing him. (Body horror ensues.) But Nick’s got secrets of his own, too. Can Benji trust him, as the cult and background he’s just left behind starts to catch up with him?

This is definitely a book that you can only read if you’re a) in the right headspace for it, and b) have a strong stomach. The (frequent) body horror and gore is both beautifully and vividly described, throughout the story our protagonist, Benji, is fighting to survive, and a multitude of tough subject matter is covered relating to toxic relationships and religious trauma/bigotry. But, I found myself so engrossed in the pages, and finished this in such a short period of time(this was something I read in under a day, started in the backseat of my drive to school and ended by my bedside lamplight). 

The premise itself was so interesting, and I just loved all of the horror elements, the parallels to the current day in how religion is used to oppress, how current events and the censorship of trans individuals and their creative works make this book an incredibly, disturbingly relevant read right now. Seraph was also written interestingly: oddly, it tied into Benji’s gender identity, as he began to embrace his transformation and view it as a way of separating himself from the female body he’d been born with. This was demonstrated in the final fight scene, with him being a little disoriented by his brief transformation back to his original human body, and how he got to eventually tell the rest of the youth center teens about being turned into a bioweapon (and choosing not to use those abilities to benefit the cult that raised him). Depending on how you view or analyze that, it can be a bit muddy, but I personally liked that approach; there’s something so fascinating about queerness being reclaimed in horror, after years of queer-coded villains and queerphobic archetypes within the genre. I enjoyed that in some of the subtext for The Honeys’ ending, and I liked it here. (Yes, before you ask, It Came From The Closet is on my TBR, lol.) 

I do wish, though, that the other queer kids within the youth center were fleshed out a little more. Found Family was such an important part of this book, as both of our main characters (Benji and Nick) came from unaccepting backgrounds(although the latter’s backstory isn’t revealed until much later), and both queer joy and survival is an essential part of this story. If we had a little bit more time, if the book was a little longer, we could have more time to really become deeply invested in all of these characters (well…except for that one asshole who I couldn’t wonder if he had an infamous truscum commentary YouTuber as his namesake). A bit of a side note, though, I think that this was the first book I’d read that featured a character that used neopronouns?!?! I use ze/zir along with he/they, so it meant so much to see that representation! And xe was also one of the highlights of the youth club, imo, xe had a talk-no-shit attitude that is useful in an environment like this.

I don’t know what else to comment about this, except for that I loved it a lot! I don’t know if “enjoyed” is the right term considering its heavy subject matter, but it had a satisfying ending.

(And here are some pictures I made of Benji, as I was making fanart for TRR.)

Book Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars! 

(Book content/trigger warnings: Graphic body horror and gore, violence; murder and mass murder including children, arson, warfare, and terrorism, transphobia; deadnaming and forced de-transition, return to abusive relationship and victim self-blame, ableism, religious abuse/Christian terrorism combined with elements of eco-fascism, emetophobia warning throughout, some instances of racism.) 

(Andrew Joseph-White has a comprehensive list of trigger warnings in his Goodreads “review”, with more general warnings included at the start of the book.)

~Paz, signing off!

Trans Rights Readathon Reviews: 1/5

[madamegixxysticks]

The Seven Typographic Sins!

Basically, 7 things to NOT do with your words, whenever it be fonts, where you put them, how they're arranged and whatnot!

SIN 1: COMIC SANS

The one font that's a sin at this point if it's not meant for kindergarten or elementary school! Comic Sans. Don't use it in your comics or ANYTHING, it would possibly and WILL ruin any mood that isn't for preschoolers you're trying to put in. It's just... A font for literal babies! You don't want that in anything you're trying to appeal to anybody older than 3rd grade! I feel horrible for Vincent Connare, who made this font.

If you want to be look like a pro and not some kindergarden level clown. Comic Sans would be like giving yourself a swirlie in public!

What you should do instead is to simply... Select another font that's more suitable, and thanks to the internet, there's plenty of fonts out there that are A MILE BETTER than Comic Sans. Like "Happy School" from DaFont. Or my Love in First Sight "Futura Handwritten"

SIN 2: BAD KERNING/NEAR UNREADABILITY

Kerning is the space between letters. You don't want your letters looking uncomfortably close together, or else it would look like a... THING!

You don't want your kerning to be like too wide...

O r e l s e i t w o u l d l o o k li k e t h i s.

Yeah, you also don't want a font that's like that NATURALLY.

And as for Near Unreadability, let's use Jokerman as an example, it has too much pizazz going on that it could distract readers because of that. And Bleeding Cowboys is ten times unpredictable, I mean, I can see it only being used as for decoration because of how over the top it is.

So, how do you avoid this sin? *INHALE* .... Use the Kerning tool. Toy with it until it looks just right and even. And like with the Comic Sans sin, don't use a font like Jokerman, and you don't have to use a font like Bleeding Cowboys either, you can use a much cleaner font and place a texture over it if you want it to look a lil' worn and torn.

SIN 3: TOO MANY FONTS!

Okay, this one explains itself, having way too many fonts would only make you look like a slop artist. So, limit yourself to about three fonts at max. And also, make them look like they can go together. Like let's say you picked a nice script or handwritten font, pair it with a similar one that complements it.

Hell, some fonts come with seemingly completely separate looking variants such as one of my favorites "Goodlife", its Sans version of the font seems completely different to its Brush variant.

SIN 4: BAD ALIGNMENT

Face it, we all used Word or similar software. And we all know the 4 alignment options, Left , Center, Right, and Justified. With Left Aligned being the most common and easy on the eyes, because most of us read from left to right. Right Aligned only works if its used right.

If you have ragged lines, it would screw up the alignment you seek. Using the Center Alignment will spell it out to you if you use it wrong.

All you have to do is adjust how long your lines are to make it look lovely.

SIN 5: LONERS

Let me clarify, I'm talking about words all alone in one line in a paragraph. Let me show you an example by pretending there's a tiny box with all my words, with the loner being in bold.

The quick brown

fox jumped over

the lazy brown

dog

There, do you see the loner? Thankfully there's a easy fix, like expanding the box, or spacing one letter to be with the loner.

SIN 6: SARDINE CANS AND VOIDS

What I mean about these is giving you text barely any space or too much empty space. I mean, who would put your words in a cramped box that seems to look more like a sardine can? Or just in one very big box it barely fills?

Think of it like Goldilocks, and the space being the porridge and beds. You won't want it "too cramped" or "too loose". You'll need to find that "Just right" for your text. Give it a bit of space to breath.

SIN 7: FULLY DISOBEYING GRIDS, MARGINS AND COLUMNS

Imagine, what would a modest breakfast menu of your design look like you just slapped the text randomly with no input? Yeah, doesn't look pretty.

So, you have... Let's say a .25 margin, you don't put anything that's not a background thing outside it! And any columns you have are there for a reason. Say.. You have 2 columns, making 3 columns of text. You don't disregard those! Just no!

All 3 of these will seriously help it so your thing isn't a mess! They're there for a reason.