#less blending is the wayyyyy

[lmktreasure]

Reality Unobscured ~ also known as monkie jumpscare ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Something-something reading bout the eight trigrams furnace.... the unconditioned celestial state and the conditioned human state something-something~ and it had me thinking of MK getting the reality pep talk he needed to combat the self-inflicted insecurities bogging him down. A little one to one with the spirit within, Just with a little extra truth added in lol

ref image and stills below!

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

Alright, I took a quick nap and Ive decided that I wanna get the UTM reenactment over with as quickly as possible so Im reading chapter 42 and then I'll reward myself with some pain au chocolats and not thinking about this book for the rest of the day and watching the 2002 takarazuka flower troupe production of elisabeth instead. lets go

Chapter 42

here we fucking go with the illyrian wingspan-dicksize correlation, how would Amren even know that isnt she above sex or something. Honestly, I think Cassian would know wayyyyy more about that. on account of all the gay sex hes having i mean. I thought of that joke and then I realized that you could interpret it to mean that he knows about that because hes illyrian and has a dick, but I want to make it very clear that this is a gay sex joke

how come wings are so sensitive that just barely stroking them makes you moan and shudder but you can still fly with them in harsh winds with no issue. My headcanon is that wings arent actually that sensitive, Rhysand and Cassian are just weirdos with a specific kink

This conversation Feyre and Rhys are having about his wings is so weird, its like dirty and yet uncomfortably clinical

oh Rhysand is quicker than death just fucking kill me, im getting so angry again

Syphons are called 'Trichtersteine' ['funnel stones' or 'funnel gems'] in german which is more accurate to how we're actually told they work imo but it sounds pretty lame

Is it just me or is Rhysand being kinda weirdly paranoid rn. I mean granted, they did just get attacked with ash arrows so maybe hes actually doing a good job for once and Im just biased against him

Okay so we finally get some night court fae wearing white, but of course its not for moon symbolism its so they can blend in with the rock of the mountain because this series does nothing but disappoint me

The Hewn City actually sounds really cool, why couldnt this have been the secret city where we spend most of our time, you couldve made it a whole thing about Feyre healing from her trauma UTM through like, exposure therapy or something idk. That wouldve been neat and dramatic, her healing from her UTM trauma in the place that inspired it with the person that inflicted it. I mean, maybe that would be less healthy and even more controversial than Feysand already is but then you could atleast lean into the dark romance of it

I mightve said this already but you knowwww sjm is NOT a painter and consulted ZERO painters because Ive never heard of anyone think about creating art the way feyre does

and Mor is wearing red AGAIN why would you make this a trigger for Feyre just go back and edit it out its not like it matters

God, the description of her outfit is so deeply discomfortingl like it literally is exactly what she wore while she was being drugged assaulted but atleast they left the bodypaint out this time

"[Keir] looked at my face, then my body. I had thought that he would stare and drool greedily but... there was nothing. No emotion. Just ice cold. Shaking internally, - from anger and revulsion - I followed Mor." Im sorry, is she mad that Keir doesnt find her hot????

Theres something uncomfortable about Feyre referring to Rhysand as 'Mor's Lord' especially when we just had a whole paragraph describing her as a proud and empowered queen

"Usually, one Syphon was enough for an Illyrian to to able to steer his urge to kill down the right path." what???

Now shes describing Azriel as dark and beautiful as death and oughhhhhh i knoww im the only who cares about this and its for a pretty stupid reason but I care a lot and it makes me very angry

Feyre referring to a 19 year old Mor as 'barely more than a child' is weirdddddd

of COURSE hes wearing a black tunic for this, I cant believe this is the guy that the fandom has designated the fashion lover when he has two (2) outfits

Feyre describing Rhysand as sooooo powerful and beautiful with a face of nightmares and dreams makes me want to vomit, but more importantly, it makes me yearn to rewatch the 1996 takarazuka star troupe production of Elisabeth with Asaji Saki as Death who unirionically fits all of Feyres descriptors 1000 times better

Not Rhysand using Feyres Cursebreaker title while hes thoroughly humiliating her

Now Feyre is calling him a god, bro youre not gonna be able to have sex if you jack him off this hard hes gonna be all sore

Imagine being a hewn city noble and you all get together because your high lord wants something from you and youre kinda scared because hes the worst, and then you just have to watch him finger some random lady. and you cant leave because then he'll just kill you

I dont like that this is framed as empowering to Feyre, i think its one thing to write a female character who sexualises herself in order to empower herself but the fact that Feyre is doing this at the behest of Rhys automatically renders it non-empowering to me. Like yeah, she obviously consented to this but it wasnt her idea but this was not her idea and this is not something she usually does, the only times shes been sexualized like this is because it was part of some plan that Rhysand came up with

"[Keir] apparently clung to the power. But Rhys was the power." i hate that that sentence made me think of Keir/Rhysand as a ship why am I so goddamn yaoi-brained. And yeah, i know theyre related but according to Rhys himself, he and Mor are only cousins in the most distant sense, so. Man, that would make the IC dynamics so much more fucked up but also so much funnier

Theyre trying so hard to make this hot n sexy but its just so unappealing and dragged out. Granted, sorry if this is TMI, but I did just jerk off so Im all out of horniness for the next little while so maybe I just dont like this because Im not in the mood but idk. theres something so annoying about this, i think its how over-the-top and artificial Rhysands hotness feels, not to mention the fact that he is absolutely not my type

Imagine being Keir rn, just trying to do your job and tell your high lord everything that he needs to know, meanwhile his high lord is sitting in front of him fondling his new sex slave and you just have to keep a straight face. i mean, he sucks ass so i guess he deserves it but man

Presented to you with no further comment: "My breasts became heavy and full, longing, desiring, just like my crotch."

goddamnit, Rhysand just said that he put Feyre on his leash and then Keir made a kinda slutshame-y remark about her clothes and then I thought Rhys was like "maybe I'll put you on a leash too" but it was Feyre who said that. another loss for big gay incest

"He liked this as little as I did" uhhhhh no offense girlie but you actually seem to be having a pretty great time rn

I dont even know what to say about this part where Feyre is like, detaching herself from her thoughts that are calling her a traitor a liar and a whore ?? I think thats whats happening here?? Like, its trying so hard to be sexy but its invoking the imagery of Feyre's (and even Rhysand's) trauma and its just very strange

It took Rhys a fucking eternity to actually touch her pussy

What if Keir developed a voyerism kink because of this. would that be fucked up or what

Its so weird how Feyre thinks about how maybe Rhysand doesnt like sex or being desirable anymore because of amarantha and that certainly sounds like a trauma response he should have but instead it just never matters

"I had been tortured and tormented but my pain was nothing compared to his." YOU DIED

Oh man I cant believe I completely forgot about the absolutely iconic part where Rhysand gets so mad Keir for calling the woman he introduced as a whore a whore that he telepathically breaks his hand about it

what was the point of doing that, Feyre didnt even seem to like it that much

[koffing-time]

So… What would you say is your best espresso. I’ve been searching for alternatives after my favorite local spot closed.

(@numberonecameraman)

Hmmm, sorry for the late answer, i had to think about this a bit.

I can give you a few nods and infos, but it depends on your taste and preferences.

Well, let's start at the beginning. I'm not that much of an espresso kinda person, i'm more into standard coffee, but espresso is (genuinely) not much more than concentrated coffee. You have to be more careful when preparing it, but in the end, you have the same flavors, just more concentrated. (I promise, i can do that, i know how to make a banger espresso)

And, well, the flavors mostly depend on the coffee you're using. Obviously there are different grades of quality, but i'm assuming you want some high quality stuff, right? Now, i do have some standard beans for normal ass coffee, and you can do a lot of different things with that alone.

Depending on the place your beans come from, they'll have a slightly different taste, but i won't go into that rn because that would go WAYYYYY beyond the scale of this post lmao.

Something more managable is the color (or roast level). Rule of thumb: darker roasts give you more bitterness, a more full and earthy aroma and some chocolatey hints. More lighter roasts are sweeter, less bitter and the more nuanced aromas come out more.

Secondly, there are two different kinds of beans (for the most part. you can probably get some exotic shit as well, but i usually don't have that around). Arabica and Robusta. In general, Arabica is more popular bc it's more... light? i wanna say? It's gentler with its flavors, but the Robusta has more punch, more caffeine and will make overall stronger coffee (espresso). I don't actually have pure Robusta, because, if we're honest, pure robusta coffee (espresso) is REALLY bitter and kind of bland. Something more interesting is a blend between the two. Depending on the ratio, you can get a lot of different profiles. (there are pure arabica versions of course)

Third is the freshness. Of course, the fresher the beans, the better the coffee (espresso). Well... there are a few exception, but they always exist. That part is more important when you make it at home, check the roast date and go to a good shop to buy your coffee.

BUT something that is wayyyy more interesting imo than just... color and arabica/robusta ratio, that is... roast style. You can roast coffee beans in a variety of ways. You can just put them in the oven, you can put them on the grill and smoke them, you can deep fry them, there are tons of ways, and all influence the flavor of course.

One more thing i wanna mention is the fermentation: i love love love coffee that is fermented with the cherry. It makes the coffee (espresso) a lot lighter and actually gives it a fruity and fresh note. Those kind of beans are usually little bit more expensive, but trust me its worth it.

And, lastly, you can blend your coffee with a ton of other stuff to enhance your experience. Mix it with cinnamon, occa berry, cheri berry, chilli powder, i have so many blends here that are really really great. The italians hate me for it, but i again, i usually drink standard coffee, not espresso. That doesn't mean its bad in espresso though.

And to conclude, specifically for your question about our BEST espresso? Well, we do have an assortment of homemade coffee blends, and one is called the "Tix' Mix". It's got a little spice to it, but is mainly sweet and has a full flavor profile between chocolatey and herby. There's also "Olivia's Original" of course (and more varied ideas), but for integrity reasons i have to insist that my personal blend is better lol.

[xenon-demon]

hiya!!! just wanted to say i LOVED your kas!steve post so much it makes me squeal with delight no joke

any chance you can drop some details about steve's new appearance/abilities 👀 because i would love to hear more!!! (⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

Hi thank you SO much!!! <3 I have so many THOUGHTS about Kas!Steve constantly and am always keen to talk about it! (if I defeat my crippling executive dysfunction issues long enough to post more I can tag you in it if you'd like 👀👀)

Kas!Steve's whole deal is that Vecna revived him to act as his "ultimate weapon", particularly against the bunch of meddling kids who already interfered with his plans once. He's not worried about the government or any of the scientists ruining his plans, he's worried about Eleven and her allies. He knows damn well the Party & co are going to have a much harder time defeating one of their own, or at least something that looks like one of their own, than an assortment of inhuman beasts. Plus, having a second in command who is intelligent is an asset to Vecna (and Steve, while not academically gifted, is really good at tactics/strategical thinking).

This got wayyyyy longer than I thought it would so I'm chucking this under a readmore, I have "can't shut the fuck up" disease and it's terminal.

BASICALLY I wanted Kas!Steve to be at least a little different from the classic fandom depictions of Kas!Eddie, just for flavour - so to start with Steve absolutely Does Not have wings. Regarding his appearance, the main stuff is:

prehensile, multiple tails like the demobats do - Steve has 5 tails, with one (the central one) being slightly longer and thicker than the rest while the rest sort of loosely weave together around it at rest. They can be controlled independently, but it's quite difficult to do so and Steve is absolutely not at that point yet. It's like - if he went "I want to grab that object with my tails" they would all wrap around it to grab it securely like a human hand would, but it would take a looooooot of practice and experience with this new form to go "I want to hold a different object in each tail at the same time" (and even then it'd be tricky as fuck/take a lot of concentration).

FANGS. So all of Steve's teeth are now sharper and pointed, like the democreatures tend to have, but in addition to that boy's got MAD fangs. His top canines actually jut out from under his top lip and visibly dig into his bottom one, Steve has to relearn how to hold his face when his mouth is shut to hide them. His bottom canines are also larger and pointier than the rest of his teeth, but less egregiously than his top ones. Plus he has claws too, where his finger/toenails have essentially expanded and hardened so instead of just being a "cap" on top of the digit, his fingers and toes blend from skin to keratin and end in a hardened, sharp point. It is actually possibly to file/trim them without hurting him though, with appropriate tools (since they're harder than human nails).

Steve's eyes have vertical pupils now (like cats), since he's got what essentially amounts to DnD darkvision. They also glow gold when Steve's craving blood. Or craving... other things. (I'm talking about being horny his eyes glow gold when he's horny. In Steve's defense, bloodlust and regular lust are kinda intertwined when you're a vampire.)

His skin is also just that bit tougher than it used to be, Steve no longer gets scrapes or cuts as easily.

He does still eat food in addition to blood, he's just carnivorous now - lots of meat (can be cooked but tbh raw is better) and animals products like eggs and dairy. He doesn't digest plant products properly anymore and will throw up if he eats too much of it. As for human blood... he doesn't NEED it to survive, but he craves it, and it gives him a boost to his abilities when he's drank some recently (in that what I've described is him at Full Power™, and if it's been a while since he's had blood it's progressively harder and harder to do those same things). He also just Looks Sick if it's been a whie since he's drank blood. Also when he's out of the Upside Down (especially if, say, he was no longer connected to the hivemind) if he doesn't drink human blood on a regular basis he WILL go feral and revert to a much more animalistic state of mind.

Now the fun stuff, aka his powers:

Superhuman strength, pretty much no one would be able to beat him in a one-on-one, hand-to-hand fight. Bring a weapon, ideally a gun. He also has better stamina than a regular human would and tires much less easily.

Heightened senses - he can see in the dark better than humans ever could and his sense of smell is heightened (particularly smelling blood, human blood in particular). His hearing is actually not that much better than a normal human's, but very high pitched or "artificial" sounding noises grate on him in a way they never used to (e.g. Curse The Fucking Fluorescent Lightbulb Buzz).

He's connected to the hivemind like all UD creatures are, but unfortunately that means he's connected to Vecna. Vecna has a very strong connection to him, given that it was through Vecna's powers that he was revived, and he can plunge Steve into a hallucination whenever he pleases just like with the curse victims. This is how he communicates Steve over long distances.

Steve also has vampiric thrall/mind control abilities, but he can only really pull it off when he's freshly loaded up on blood. It also works best for simple instructions - he could exert simple, one-word-command type control over almost anyone, but complicated multi-step instructions or more abstract things (e.g. being encouraged to forget about something or instructed to not answer certain questions going forwards, indefinitely) would only really work on someone Steve has an extended, close relationship with. It works through eye contact - the gold eye glow also happens when Steve's using these abilities. But shhhhhh I'm sure Eddie's going to be totally fine, everything is chill he'll be fiiiiine ;)

God this is WAY LONGER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE I'M SO SORRY. I hope you enjoy the lore drop!! <3 Let me know if there's anything else you want to know about because I could talk about this AU all day, I'm obsessed with it

[dawntheduckrb]

I know I said I wasn't posting art but I'm like dying to share something I've done in my traditional art classes, since I've been mainly only drawing unshareable work

I don't really want this in my portfolio since it's copied either, so this ended up being perfect to share on my alt. Fun treat for myself for chilling out on personal work for a whole month now :D

I had to do a master copy study for my figure drawing class (no tracing allowed), and while I might have a few small adjustments to do, I'm gonna consider this one done :D

This isn't exactly right; my strokes are a little more smoothed out and slightly less sketchy. I'm thinking the original was wayyyyy smaller than the paper size I had to work on, because my lines just couldn't match the width of the original. In order to fill out the same amount of space, I had to use a blending stump (except for the shadow; to match the line width, I was able to use an oddly chunky piece of vine charcoal I found on the floor in the art building lol). Regardless, I think I hit the big parts, so I'm happy with turning this in ^-^

[empressofdiamonds]

A rough guide to tea

Whatever the quality of your tea is, or the teaware you're using, a good preparation will help things immensely.

Steep at the EXACT time indicated, or a bit less for cheaper teas as they tend to be very bitter.

Reheat your teapot with hot water to wash off residues of soap (if you do wash them, more about that later), and reheat the teaware (so it doesn't cools down and gives a subpar brew). The water temperature will be more stable too.

For black tea, the water should be ABSOLUTELY boiling, like, one second off the stove to pour into the teapot. It is NECESSARY to reheat the teaware beforehand.

Green tea will be fine with steaming biskly water, or you can boil it, then pour into the (reheated!) teapot wait one minute then add the leaves.

I'm personally not such a fan of white tea but if you want to prepare it, it should be about at the same water temperature as green tea, except that white tea is so much more sensitive to higher temperatures, so don't rush!

If you purchase flavored teas, make sure they're of high quality, it's worth shelling a few more bucks to get a good enjoyable product than suffering through a ton of cheaper subpar chemical-tasting product. David's Tea is terrible for flavored teas....

You can stick old vanilla pods (that have been thoroughly used up!) Into flavored black tea tins to give some depth of taste. Green teas could work well with this but I haven't tried this yet.

Same thing with (bio) orange peels, lemon peels, mandarin peels.

If you're bored of plain tea, try adding marmalade jam to black tea, or strawberry jam too.

Give DIY chai teas a shot! There's plenty of recipes out there and it allows you to adjust spices you like and don't like. And wayyyyy cheaper than buying it readymade.

You can actually reuse the same old leaves up to about three times, especially good teas. Every brew will taste different, in good or bad ways, but give it a shot.

If you love green tea, PLEASE give gyokuro tea a shot. It's too tier stuff mwah.

When you serve tea to guests, always give them the first pour: it is the most flavorful, and doesn't has the bitter bits the last cup has. I just consider it politeness, and I want them to enjoy the greatness of tea.

Loose tea is almost always better than bagged tea. It is a pain to clean out, I know, but some shops carry those nifty tea bags you can fill yourself. Bagged tea uses the tea dust/chips byproducts from making higher quality tea.

Chinese, Indian and Japanese teas are radically different in taste. If you don't like Chinese teas, give Japanese teas a shot and so on.

You don't need fancy teaware to enjoy tea, use the stuff YOU like and enjoy. I drink my own tea out of a cat mug I freaking love, some purists would be offended at my choice but... It's my home, my drink, and my enjoyment. Have fun!

If you want to choose a teapot, consider how much you drink (do you prefer to have small portions? Big mugs of tea? The teapot for each will be different.), And ask if possible to test the flow (some specialized shops will have no issue, don't ask this in normal cookingware shops they'll look at you weird hahahah), a good teapot will flow out smoothly without spilling, a bad teapot you'll have difficulty pouring out neatly. And you don't wanna a bad teapot, it takes out of the tea enjoyment!

"raw" clay teapots should NEVER ever be cleaned out and exclusively used for tea (no milk, no sugar). They absorb the tea flavor over time and they become better over time. Rinse out those teapots after use and air dry them right away. Don't leave them "dirty" for days...

A lot of the hot water spouts for tea (those machines where you pull a level to get hot water) are not hot enough for black tea, but are fine for green tea.

If you have difficulty sleeping, don't drink any tea in the afternoon and switch to herbal blends. People say it's fine to have caffeine drinks in the afternoon but some people's bodies have more difficulty processing the caffeine, and may take longer to do so.

[lexa-kom-skaikru]

Can we talk about how amazing this first episode of Batwoman season 2 was????

They did so well with managing the blend of continuing a show that has already been established with this new take on it that came with getting a new lead character.

I'm truly impressed.

Javicia Leslie fucking killed it. Such an amazing actress and I am so happy that she is the new Batwoman.

Right from her very first scene I was hooked and they kept showing flashbacks to the murder of her mom, and jesus fucking christ take the wheel. My heart was in shambles. She came into this episode ready to fucking slay and show her acting chops.

And then all the rest if my babiessss.

Luke... ma love. How did you not figure out that that was not Bruceeee. And Camrus fucking broke me when he tells Mary he feels guilty for what happened to Kate.

Mary just makes me so happy and proud every time she is on screen. She is literally the sweetest thing on this earth and I cant wait to see more of her and Ryan, and how they will bond over the fact that both their mothers were killed by Alice (I have so many theories).

Then there Pennymoore! My fucking ship! I'm being set up for fucking heartbreak and I am not fucking ready. Why can't we just have nice things???? I don't want them to break up!!! But I can feel it coming.

Julia's reaction to realizing Sophie is still in live with Kate while Julia had clearly fallen in deep with Sophie. DON'T DO THIS TO ME!

And less but definitely not least... Alice aka the love of my life aka I'll do whatever you want me to do you little psycho. I am so excited to see what's coming for Alice. I mean... we thought Alice was unhinged before????? That was nothing. Alice without Kate is about to go rock bottom in her insanity and without any qualms about it and I NEED IT!

Also, MAKE ALICE BI! I said what I said.

I missed this show and these characters so damn much, and I just loved Ryan/Javicia's introduction to the show. I was immediately in. I thought I would feel a bit weird with the sudden shift, and I did (a little bit), but I felt it wayyyyy less than i thought I would. It was very close to seamless and Javicia stepped into the role like a natural. There was no not loving her.

Anyway... I want more eps right this second.

[pateldevs]

Hi! I hope I'm not bothering you, but I love your mood board edits and was wondering if you could explain how you go about making/colouring them? I see lots of places to find gifs but turning them into a set is so hard. Thank you in advance!

hi! first of all thank you so much and second of all it’s not a bother at all! i am happy to give some of my own tips even if my explanation probably isn’t super helpful. i won’t give like a ps tutorial but below the cut (since i included example gifs, it’s VERY long) is my process for my latest jily aesthetic:

i keep track of all my ideas/sets in a spreadsheet (which i won’t show bc there’s a lot of info i’d have to blur/black out) but i always have a list of what scenes i need to gif/what gifs i’m editing and where i’m getting them from. i also include a couple extra ideas in case the gifs i have planned end up being too hard to color or don’t fit in the set. i’ve found it’s best/easiest to start w the list bc there is literally nothing worse than spending hours on a set and then not being able to complete it.

as for actually finding the material, i have a pretty healthy number of scene packs saved in my giffing folder, esp. for things i know i will gif frequently. most of the time i will peruse youtube, vimeo, and instagram for any aesthetic scenes. i also have a lot of gif packs saved specifically for the purpose of making mbs (usually i mix my own gifs w gif packs), if you msg me i’m happy to direct you to some gif packs i use regularly or you can check my #resources tag. a couple tips for finding material: 

always opt for download when possible, i used to screen record and the difference when i switched to downloading was astronomical. (it’s easy to lose quality and esp if you’re on mac, quicktime duplicates frames so either you have to manually delete those extras or you get sort of choppy gifs when you load them into ps.)

always use 1080p or better, 720p will work in a pinch for 268px or 177px gifs since you can make up some of that resolution loss with sharpening, but don’t go any lower than that, just love yourself. 

for pale sets, look for the right colors. i tend to look for scenes w high color contrast especially if it features poc so it’s easier to color without whitewashing, ie if the subject is a person then i look for light colored or blue/green/violet/white backgrounds. it’ll make your life wayyyyy easier. this also means if you’re making a set try to find scenes with already similar lighting bc you won’t have to work so hard to make it look cohesive.

here’s a quick rundown of what i do before coloring:

import all frames and save all the files in a folder together!!

play around with frame delay so all the gifs are moving at about the same speed, usually keep it between 0.03-0.05s

crop and resize gifs (i use 268x145 most of the time)

convert to timeline

when it comes to coloring it can be really hit or miss, i’ve recently gotten back into my groove but i was having sooo much trouble earlier this year. in general, don’t stress yourself out!! sometimes it’s easier to just find a new scene/gif (hence my list of extras!) than to try too hard to fit a gif into your set. i color all my gifs by scratch (ie no psds) but i tend to follow the same pattern, i’ll explain using these gifs/psd as an example since then i can also explain how to fix white-washing:

first off when you’re coloring gifs with poc always always always make a layer mask so you can compare the edited and unedited skin tones directly! i use the marquee tool to make a selection in the middle of the character’s face, select the folder of my adjustment layers, and hit ‘add vector mask’ (the third button from the left on the layers panel, it’s a white rectangle with a circle in it). 

i almost always begin by using hue/saturation layers to highlight and delete certain colors. here i highlighted red and raised the lightness on yellow by a lot since it’s a very yellow scene. then i use a combination of brightness/contrast, levels, and curves layers to brighten the scene. here’s what i have now:

i add a gradient map set to black/white, change the blending to exclusion, and lower the opacity to between 5-10% (depending on the scene) to lighten the contrast further:

then i add back a little depth with selective color in neutrals and blacks:

now i have two main goals: 1. add contrast between the background and the subject, and 2. brighten the scene into a pale gif. to do this, i use color balance to tweak the color of the background, taking out the yellows. this step works best if there’s at least some shade difference between your subject and background, otherwise isolating the two will be impossible. here’s what i have after adding color balance:

i use hue/saturation to selectively highlight the background color. in this case i chose to adjust magenta and used the color picker (the first eyedropper on the left) to identify the exact shade i wanted to lighten. now i have a fairly neutral background and a colorful subject, which gives a sort of pale effect:

and now i use a curves layer and a selective color (white) layer to brighten further:

before i go further, i start fixing white-washing. keep in mind that some variance is normal since you are naturally changing the lighting of the scene; this gif shows it rlly clearly bc of how yellow and dim the lighting is, so some lightening is to be expected. however, both because the vector mask shows a lot of whitening and because i’ve giffed dev patel before and have a general idea of what he looks like in this type of lighting, i know what needs to be fixed, so i go back in under the psd/adjustment layers with a combination of selective color (red and neutral) and hue/saturation layers to darken his skin again:

now that some more contrast has been added in, i can go back to working on the psd and use curves and selective color to play around with the background again:

i use another hue/saturation layer and a black/white gradient to tone down oversaturation:

usually i leave those layers on top, so if i want to make any adjustments (like lightening the background more), i go in under those two. in this case i tweaked the whites and reduced the contrast a little to get this:

again, you can see his skin tone has changed from the original, but variation is to be expected given how much brighter the room is, the fact that i took out a lot of yellow lighting, and the brightening effect of the computer screen in front of him. some other things to keep in mind when coloring:

when you add layers to correct white-washing, you’re likely to end up with overly red/orange skin tones (red-washing). this can be fixed by upping cyans in the reds, desaturating/darkening the reds, or adding b/w or desaturation later on.

when in doubt, it’s better to be darker than lighter (the issue with white-washing is that it promotes colorism, and there is nothing inherently wrong with a darker skin tone) but really. just put in the effort to color poc correctly.

when changing the lighting a lot it helps to look at pictures of the subject in natural/bright lighting, since you get a better idea of what their normal skin tone is. 

don’t try to squeeze all your selective color layers into one. you’ll get less grainy gifs if you separate them out and work one by one. 

TURN OFF NIGHT SHIFT/NIGHT MODE! yes i KNOW it’s bad for your eyes (especially if you’re like me and gif at night, when the lighting outside isn’t changing every 20 seconds) but your gifs will look VERY different under f.lux or night mode compared to daytime screens. especially if you’re giffing at different times of day, blue light filters can really change the way your coloring appears. best to keep it consistent.

my sharpening settings vary depending on what i’m giffing but in general i do two layers of smart sharpen (500% with radius between 0.2-0.4, 10% with radius at 10px) and then gaussian blur at 2.5px and adjust the opacity so it’s somewhere between 15-20%. i try to strike a balance between smoothing out the graininess from selective color, and sharpening details like clothes and hair. here’s what i ended up with for the gif above:

then i rinse and repeat for the rest of the gifs in the set! i tend to start with the gifs that i know will be hardest to color, which is usually the darker ones (coloring is limited by how much i can brighten the scene) and those that include poc (again, limited by how much i can brighten and adjust the scene’s lighting without white-washing). then i check set cohesion as i go, using those first few gifs as benchmarks. once i have all 8 (or 9 or 10) gifs, i play around with composition and try to balance and vary the subject, colors, and composition of gifs next to each other. i go back and make a couple of adjustments here and there according to what i observe and what i think might improve the overall appearance.

and that’s pretty much it! i hope this was helpful, if you have other questions feel free to message me and i’d be happy to help/troubleshoot. happy giffing!

[my-robot-heart]

Hi!

I've just read your prompt-based ficlets (starting with the "hey, stay with me" one, because it's the latest, and then going back to read all the others) and, first of all, I want to say that I absolutely loved every single one of them ❤ Even the angsty ones were still much much better and far far less heartbreaking than what went down in the hellfic we call canon... which is not even surprising, considering that yours and many other talented ficwriters' fics are generally much better written and thought through than what the official screenwriters make up (or, rather, mess up, at this point).

Secondly, I'd like to ask a quick question, even though it's probably a silly one: you don't fill the same prompt twice? Even if you've got a different idea?

Least but not the last, if you don't mind, I'd also like to request a ficlet...

Perhaps,

Liz: “I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you!”

Red: “And I’m trying to subtly avoid it!”

?

🍒 (because I love cherries and feel like I'll pop in your inbox again)

Lolll hi 🍒

I should mention too that I'm saving the ficlets from tumblr prompts over on ao3 also, so you don't have to madly scroll and scroll forever to find them - just in case you want to revisit them or whatever, and it's virtually impossible for me to search back on my blog.

Um, I have only had the same prompt come in twice once that I'm aware of, and in that case I remembered my original ficlet and didn't really have another idea to use for the same line. I think if it was a line or prompt I was super inspired by then I would do it twice, but in that case I just didn't have another idea that I wanted to write.

Thank you so much for the kind comments about the prompt fics! I would say my maximum level of angst is still wayyyyy lower than the show so you can feel safe reading my ficlets and not having to go to therapy after or anything lol.

I'll do your prompt under the gif - and hope you enjoy 💛

"Okay, so we need to locate the safe and then somehow find out the keycode, and then- Red! Would you stop looking down my dress, I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you!" Lizzie folded her arms in front of her body and shot him a pointed look.

"And I'm trying to subtly avoid it," Red replied with a grin. "Lizzie we have plenty of time, plenty of wine, and a party full of rich people who'd be happy to give us the combinations to their safes with a bit of prompting."

"So you're planning to ignore the case at hand and what- just party all night?"

"I'm planning to enjoy myself, and I'm suggesting you do the same- after all, you're certainly dressed to catch people's eyes, not to blend in," he gave her another once over, causing her skin to warm and probably turn a colour that more closely matched the shade of her dress. "That dress is... stunning," he added, chewing the inside of his cheek.

"Thank you," she conceded. "Your tux is also pretty eye catching, I have to admit."

This surprised him, but he quickly recovered.

"You see? We're a force to be reckoned with tonight Lizzie. Let's enjoy ourselves and worry about keycodes and combinations afterwards." He held out an arm, and without entirely realizing it, Lizzie allowed herself to be swept up onto the dance floor into a quickstep.

Red moved with the confidence of someone who had danced often. Lizzie started off feeling like she was tripping over her own shoes, but when he leaned a bit closer and murmured, "Just relax, Lizzie," she focused on the feel of his hand on the small of her back and the smell of his cologne, and began to realize that it was easier than she thought. Red continued to lead her expertly around the dance floor, and she found herself forgetting about their case entirely.

The quickstep transitioned into a smoother waltz, and Red showed no signs of stopping. Lizzie felt people watching them, and wondered what they were thinking. She was thinking- that she would be happy to keep this up, actually. It felt... nice. Safe.

At the end of the waltz, the music faded out and stopped altogether, giving the band and the dancers a break. Lizzie was peripherally aware of Red's hand moving from her back to her waist, and as he broke their embrace, leading her back to a table to sit down. As his hand left her body, she felt a slight frisson of electricity, and she blinked a few times, trying to lose the lightheadedness she was feeling.

Red's eyes were on hers.

"Can I get you another drink?"

She shook her head. "I think I'll switch to water, I'm suddenly feeling a bit dizzy."

Well that made two of them, he thought.

"Maybe we should go outside and get some air," he suggested. Lizzie nodded gratefully at the suggestion.

They walked out some french doors and into a garden. The night air was brisk, and Lizzie gave a slight shiver.

Wordlessly, Red removed his jacket and placed it atop her shoulders, holding it in place for a moment longer than necessary.

"Thank you," Lizzie said in surprise, not feeling the slightest bit less dizzy at all. The garden, the stars, the night air, Red's jacket wrapped around her shoulders... everything was making her feel even more lightheaded than before, in fact.

"Why did you ask me to come with you tonight, Red?" she asked suddenly. "Aram would have been able to get the combination to the safe easily, and Ressler could have located it in half the time we're taking."

He gave her an unreadable look.

"I didn't think Aram or Ressler would fit into that dress, Lizzie."

She rolled her eyes.

"Don't be funny. I'm serious, why me?"

And then his lips were on hers, and she found herself more lightheaded than even before.

"Oh," she responded, a long while later. "I see." And she did.

[everyones-internet-little-sis]

Some Ilvermorny Headcanons

okay so ilvermorny? not the only wizarding school in the us

it’s just one of the best

like one of the ivy leagues of wizarding schools

also it’s wayyyyy more modern than hogwarts

it’s still got the ~old magic aesthetic~ but like they can use pens and stuff

teachers use SMART boards and no, them being magic doesn’t make them any better. students can still never see the slides

standardized testing but magic

kahoot is a thing 

so is jeopardy and they’re both super chaotic

“i’ll take beginner spell for 300″ “this spell lights up the tip of your wand” “what is lumos?” “correct” “YEEEAAAHHH!!!”

THERE’S WIFI

but the thing with the wifi is that it’s fantastic in some places somedays and than horrible the next

so some visiting british wizard comes make a lecture or something like that and he talks about the moving staircases at hogwarts

and the students are like “oh so like our wifi signal”

despite this meme culture is t h r i v i n g at ilvermorny

just internet culture in general

in potions class one kid says “two shots of vodka” as they pour an entire bottle of ingredients into their cauldron

there’s all sorts of places that are perfect for pretty aesthetic pictures and kids quickly take pictures there in between classes

at least one kid takes their notes in a bullet journal

since you more or less pick your ilvermorny house there’s more friendships within other houses

two students that each had the option to pick between Horned Serpent and Thunderbird and chose differently swap discuss why

the dress code is that perfect American public school blend between super strict but refusing a uniform

like the ‘uniform’ is just blue and red dress clothes so you can wear anything that fits that description but heaven forbid you show up in spaghetti straps

magic PE. that’s all I have to say. imagine that t o r t u r e

 imagine a gym teacher using their wand as a mega phone to recite the entire fitness gram pacer test speech

half the students are dying of laughter and half of them are dying because it’s the pacer

it’s definitely something that they mention to other schools that come for the triwizard tournament to make themselves seem more impressive

“i heard that the students at that school regularly fight dragons to prepare for the tournament” “psssh we run the pacer. we’re gonna kick their asses”

but they still take it so seriously because they’re americans and americans are competitive

speaking of that, when the hogwarts student come for the tournament it is the biggest culture shock

ilvermorny (and american schools in general) are so integrated that pure bloods completely understand muggle life

and then a hogwarts student is writing home to their parents 

“can I borrow a quill?”

“a what.”

“i need a quill to write my parents a letter”

“a  w h a t.”

cue the entirety of ilvermorny giving these poor sheltered british witches and wizards lessons in technology and slang and memes

the food there is served like regular american public school lunch, you know, three chicken nuggets some tater tots and vegetables on a divided up cardboard tray

but it’s magic so it tastes good and if you want more it just appears

care for magical creatures is the picture of chaos

if you make a single pokemon reference you get detention

there’s a no phones in class rule but teachers still tell you that you’re going to need them in class somedays

“but professor mine’s in my dorm room because you say we can’t have them” “i don’t need veritaserum to know you’re lying just take it out”

because the people making the curriculum at ilvermorny use basic logic they know that a lot of muggle subjects are still necessary

a kid runs into divination class “sorry professor my algebra two class is all the way across the school”

but at least they’re not the hogwarts kids that can kill the dark lord apparently but not calculate a tip

please add more i’d love to hear them

[missguomeiyun]

Korean street food lunch!

Usually I end my posts with the “final look” but switching it up this time! TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!

I am missing this wayyyyy too much. Korean street food (unofficially sponsored by Hmart lol)

Far left: deep fried seaweed rolls with glass noodles inside. This was the non-spicy kind. Bake it for ~10mins ish, comes out nice & crispy.

Middle: spicy rice cake with Busan fish cake. Nothing special here, I always add the same stuff (kimchi & capa cabbage bcos I feel like it needs some greens in there). However, I added something *new* to it this time; you’ll find out what that is below!

Bottom right: my own blend of ‘spicy salt’. I used cayenne pepper with mid-coarse sea salt. It is for dipping the sundae!

Top right: Korean blood sausage, aka sundae (pron. “soon-day”). Was not big on this until I had some at the Hmart food court with my coworker Soo Min. She taught me that it is dipped in spicy salt, & ever since then, I eat it now haha

This is what the sundae looks like. It is from the frozen dumplings area.

Instructions on back. It tells you to place the vacuum sealed sundae into boiling water for 5mins.

Here’s what it looks like. Different makers of sundae add diff things to it. Long story short: it has rice, glass noodles, seasoning, & pork blood stuffed into pork/cow intestine. That being said, manufacturers typically use sausage casing for mass production.

I didn’t want to follow instructions; I ended up taking them out & steaming it inside bcos there are supposed to be steamed. I steamed them for ~8mins. I may shorten the time to ~5-6mins next time bcos one of the sausages was very, very soft, with the skin borderline ‘melting’. Or I may actually follow the instructions for the remaining sausages haha

Ta-daaaaaa. Smells like the street food stalls. I think the flavour is quite mild; it doesn’t taste like what you’d expect. Esp with the spicy salt. You can also dip the pieces in the spicy rice cake sauce. That will REALLY mask the flavour.

Here’s the extra item I added to my rice cakes: rice syrup. I was watching a clip of a celeb making spicy rice cakes (can’t remember who.. .), but he added this to the rice cake. I have seen this used in other things, but I didn’t think I needed it ever. Since I was at Hmart & saw this, I picked it up & it came home with me. It smells & tastes very sweet.

The back. They show a piece of rice cake being dipped into this :O I might try that in the near future.

Anyway, I added approx 1 tbsp of this to my rice cakes, & I noticed 2 differences: it made the dish thicker/less watery, & the flavour was sweetened! I can’t say I NEED it in my rice cake, but it does change up the flavour. I also don’t have a preference whether I like the sweetened version more or not; I never add sugar/sweetener to my rice cake. Overall, I deem it as an unnecessary addition, & that I neither like it nor dislike it. Everyone has diff preferences :P

[migleefulmoments]

I love that Abby criticises the bar for having Disney themed nights as if little kids are going to show up or something. It's still a bar that serves alcohol, children will never know that a bar which has burlesque nights also hosts Disney nights and when they are old enough to realise they probably won't care.

Oh Lord, I can’t with this argument that the bar has a personality disorder and that it is a big problem.  She always says 

ajw: “The personality disorder is precisely as you describe, you can’t claim D/isney and Br/aodway and then do some variety of “burlesque.”  It is one or the other, both do not work”. 

 NEWSFLASH...it’s an over 21 Bar in progressive CA...it’s not Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World catering to families with preschoolers dressed in princess dresses. 

I would say the bar has a very defined personality- it’s a fun piano bar for everyone but it is reaching out particularly to the LGBTQ+community to be a safe space for top-notch, fun theme-nights for the LGBTQ entertainment.  Every bar in the world is allowed to define who they want to be and then if it is interesting to customers, they will come. If it isn’t, they won’t and they will either amend their business model or go out of business.  It’s as simple as that. No bar can make everyone happy -nor should it strive to. But to be angry because it is bawdy and gay is really rich of Abby-and don’t get it twisted- she is pissed because it celebrates the LGBTQ community and it’s sexy.  The community is more sexually liberated than the average straight American as they aren’t beholden to the bullshit patriarchal rules of sex in America. They have less shame and guilt about their own sexual pleasure. The Christian message straight America mostly lives by “sex is bad but reproduction is good” is not something they concern themselves with because sex and reproduction are not related in same-sex couples. From my position on the outside of the community, I see joyous sex and pleasure without the guilt or limits and slut-shaming as long as both adults are consenting. Nobody is doing purity hyman checks in the LGBTQ community!  All of this raw sexuality and openly gay people expressing their sexuality makes Abby upset and anxious because she has hard and fast rules for relationships and sex.  The only gay couple she “knows” had sex by touching noses to toes and prefer holding hands. That makes gurlesque WAYYYYY too much for her little heart to hold and naked women on the walls? NO f’ing way. We cover ourselves in public.    

****My comments in italics & parenthesis******

Anonymous asked:

The bar makes me angrier than it should, I'll admit. Like if you want to be a sexy, cabaret lounge, more risque piano bar, then that is fine. Be that. I am not offended by nudity on the walls or even naked women on the bar. But then don't call it family friendly and start having Disney nights in the next breath. It's so bizarre. I'm all for having theme nights, but it needs to be in line with the establishment. Not this identity crisis this venue seems to have. It's so odd and unappealing to me.(Parroting back Abby’s words perfectly)

ajw: There are two issues with the bar, it has multiple personality disorder, utterly and completely and a lot of it is offensive.  (She finds female sexuality and LGBTQ sexuality “offensive” b/c she can’t understand they are taking back the words that men use to define us and belittle us as sluts and whores).  

The personality disorder is precisely as you describe, you can’t claim D/isney and Br/aodway and then do some variety of “burlesque.”  It is one or the other, both do not work. (Yes, yes you can.  If it’s your business you can do whatever the market will bear). 

No, I am not saying every pic of a naked woman is offensive, to each their own, not my taste, but I know many people do like this sort of thing.  But they have theme nights with offensive Names (d*ke night and corporate ladder/Corporate hoes), they use derogatory stereotypes (flannel shirt night), they have drink names that are misogynist (ones referring to large breasts, others calling women sluts), and the one picture i posted i think is body shamming as it is depicting 2 perfect women and telling us to achieve greatness. (Here her homophobia is on full blast. Straight women don’t get to decide what is offensive to lesbian women and since a lesbian woman hosts Open Dyke Night and Flannel shirt night, Abby needs to back off the generalizations about how offensive it is and admit that SHE”s offended by lesbians acting like lesbians.  She prefers them to blend in with straight women). 

And that doesn’t address the immature and childish touches that are plentiful. Or the rude bar staff. Or that there is an upcharge for ice.  Or that the AC has been broken for over a year. (Here we have Abby’s tendency to read something once- whether it is from a credible source is irrelavant0 and then turn it into a never-ending consistent thing. Rude bar staff? There are one or two fake Yelp reviews about rude bar staff and lots of comments on social media about how great the bar is as well as the staff gushing about working there. The AC was broken the first night. I have seen no credible proof that it continued but again, customers can choose to either go there or not go there knowing AC doesn’t work. You can’t vilify a bar you will never go to because they don’t have AC.   The upcharge for ice story isn’t very credible either and it was one Yelp review. I suspect the individual was a Darren fan who got a drink that was more expensive than they used to and they freaked out and wrote a nonsense reivew after being embarassed.) 

Anonymous asked:

What's the Cinderella thing

ajw: Just a joke about the sex club nonnie, contrasting D/isney night with the decor.

Anonymous asked:

You don't remember when Cinderella stripped down to pasties and a thong at the ball, but fled at midnight, leaving the prince to scour the land for the girl who fit her 8-inch platform stripper-heel shoe? Tbh, his trips to the bar don't bug me anymore. He only goes when there is a celeb or a vip who pays (the orig post of Sat's pics thanks a guy who is an Apple exec who, I am guessing, paid for D's "random" appearance that night). His "I'm there most nights I'm in LA" days are long gone.

ajw720 answered: Hahahaha!  Oh Nonnie I love you.  Now that i think about it, i recall that story well, if I remember correctly, before she stripped down, she was in silver sparkles, beads and feathers.  Now remind me, was she more of a gyrating with the beer tap on top of the bar kind of princess or one that simulates sex with an innocent teddy bear?

On D, you are right, at this point, he goes when there is a special guest.  He really has cut it down a ton, which considering he has an actual job makes sense.

Just discovered this trip to the bar, that featured ERW and a British music exec Rob D/ickins may just have been to promote a B/owie cover band featuring ERW that is going on tour. And guess who is another member of the band?  Ding Ding Ding, Platonic Roomie B/enny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (x). What a surprise!

flowersintheattic254

I love this type of coincidence @ajw720. You couldn’t make it up 😂.

Will M will be congratulating B publicly again on his success and will they use D’s SM so D can congratulate him personally. I’m eye rolling

notes-from-nowhere

She is so proud of her ma… oh, sorry, I got confused.

leka-1998

Gotta support his straight 🔥 music.

****************

Btw-Mia didn’t post this for Ben. It’s Ben’s own post but once again Mia is demonized for behavior she’s going to possibly maybe might do.

[wickymicky]

Was CLC - Devil directed by Digipedi? I haven’t been able to confirm whether or not it was... but I think it was. I wanted to show some examples of why... but this kind of just turned into a Digipedi appreciation post lol, but that’s fine haha here goes

The biggest reason Devil seems like Digipedi’s work, or at least inspired by it, is the use of color. specifically, when colors contrast, and when they don’t. Digipedi didnt invent color theory, but his utilization of it is so distinctive in kpop music videos, he treats them like works of art, not just products to function as advertisements for a group. here are some Digipedi video screenshots with a lot of contrast

(pentagon - naughty boy, fromis 9 - love bomb, fromis 9 - dkdk, fromis 9 - fun, exid - up&down, izone - violeta, gugudan - chococo, ioi - very very very)

and those are all great and really aesthetically pleasing. but one of the best things about his videos is how things with contrasting colors... well, contrast with moments when colors dont contrast. here’s what i mean. look at moments like these:

(loona - love cherry motion, loona - egoist, gugudan - a girl like me, exid - ddd)

now look at how those combine in this screenshot from Loona’s Heart Attack. the obvious contrast is the apple with the background. but not only does the apple contrast with the background.... but also Chuu specifically *doesnt* contrast, she blends in with the background. it makes her feel smaller, and like the apple (a visual metaphor for her love) is that much bigger of a problem in her life.

now..... look at CLC’s Devil

and especially, look at this scene here:

look how Seunghee’s green dress blends more in with the background, but Sorn’s yellow really stands out. i’m not sure why the chair is yellow, but maybe it’s to draw your eye towards Seunghee, but not quite on her, just in her general direction? having the yellow contrasting with the blue right there actually makes the green and blue contrast less, just by comparison. and of course, in this scene Sorn is there to sneak up on Seunghee and prank her or sabotage her or whatever, in this case light her on fire lmao, so it makes sense to have Sorn be a color that breaks the cohesion and really stands out. Sorn is the one doing the action here, so it’s important that she contrasts, whereas it’s important that Seunghee DOESNT contrast. just like how your eye does notice her as much you notice Sorn, which makes her kind of invisible and separate, it also shows that she is unaware of Sorn, she’s on her own, in her own little world, matching the walls and stuff lol. 

Again, I don’t know for sure if this music video was Digipedi, but it dang sure looks like it, lol. If it’s not, I bet it was by someone who has seen a lot of his videos and liked them haha. 

and seriously, I tried to limit myself to one screenshot per video (besides Devil), but like, man.... seriously, all the videos I used up there are FULL of excellent contrasting colors. i mean, just go through some of them and pay specific attention to that and you’ll notice it aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall over the place. this director has done soooooo many videos too, most of which I’ve never seen, you can find a list here, although it might not be complete? it doesnt list Fromis 9′s Fun even though a director slate thing appears in the video with the name Digipedi on it, and he directed every one of their music videos except for Glass Shoes, so idk why he’d stop now. these examples were just from the relatively small number of videos of his that i know and love, there’s a lot more out there, going wayyyyy back. i urge you to watch some of these and pay attention to the use of color, it’s really impressive. 

[nightroo]

hey! im totally not dead!

(yeah no im dead)

i wanted to try to paint with less detail, because i noticed every good painting i did i didnt blend like a madman and instead i tried to imply detail, and not only it looks better, it takes wayyyyy less time.

and thats why my last tdp painting took 3 weeks to make and this one took only about 5 days.

and i love this one WAY more.

[themessyhand]

14. what I have made so far (sponsored by the quarantine)

Cinnamon Buns ★★★★★ - Was relatively easy and delicous!! Its more of a morning bun than a typical cinnamon bun. The cinnamon sugar did explode out of the muffin mold so definitely less of the filling next time. I halved the recipe and used active dry yeast instead. Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya ★★★★☆ - Easy and good. I had to use short grain rice (because I didn't have long grain) but not sure if its a staple in my recipes. Easy Matcha Cream Cheese Pound Cake ★★★★☆ - Easy and super delicous right when its out of the oven. I may have overbaked it because it became a lot more dry once it cooled to room temp (and its supposed to be a room temp cake). Tapioca Pearls ★★★☆☆ - Took waaaaaaaaay too long to make and the consistency wasn't as good as store bought (I mean obviously?) but I am not sure if it was worth the effort... ended up buying boba at my local 99 Ranch which takes 5 mins to make Rotibuns ★★★★★ - OMG!! I was so proud of myself when this came out awesome!! I love rotibun but the one store near me that sold this closed :( anyways, turned out amazing except for the top coffee part which I wish was a little thicker (was too thin)

Xinjiang Style Rice Pilaf ★★★★★ - First time a cooking dish came out this good (I ususally bake if you cannot tell)! I loved the softend garlic and I think it would taste good without the cumin. Half Baked Cheese Tart ★★★★★ - OMG TASTED LIKE 85 DEGREE BAKERY'S Hokkaido Cheese Tart but then again I haven't eaten that in a while so maybe its more of a substitute for that cheese tart... It was easy to make too but I totally forgot to add water to the egg wash ahahahah *facepalm* Chinese Chive Pockets ★★★★☆ - Easy to make but the dough wasn't what I expected... Though you pan fry the dough, its not as crunchy as I would have liked it so it came out pretty soft... tasted good though! Xinjiang Style Rice Pilaf ★★★★★ - First cooked dish I am truly proud of. I made it twice already (the second time wasn't as good as the first one as the rice was too mushy) and my family likes it too! The garlicy oniony... ugh delish!! I am interested in trying it with different meats like chicken. Jjapaguri with steak ★★★★★ - Does this count as a recipe when we are really mixing two ramen packages together?? Also don't judge that this is also was made popular by Parasite, ok? Because it tasted great!! I loved the combination. I honestly am not the biggest fan of jajangmyeon but with the spiciness... it just MWAH! I made it for the first time with Jolie and we both have bought more ramen packages to make it again and again hahaha! Chinese Steamed Pork Buns baozi ★★★★☆ - I had a sudden craving for Chinese steamed chicken mushroom buns and this recipe hit the spot!! For the filling, I did a mix of this pork one and the one on this recipe. The filling need to be a little saltier/flavorable but I am glad everything turned out soooo good mainly because I have seen more complex boazi recipes but this one is super easy. I will need to learn how to do them pleats tho... Black Sesame Rice Balls (Tang Yuan) ★★★☆☆ - Tang yuans are one of my fav desserts!! I was so excited to try this but I think I should have blended the sesame maybe two seconds more and maybe try a recipe where the sesame is more oozing. This recipe is makes pretty dry sesame inside the ball and I actually added more butter than the recipe to make it into somewhat of a paste (probably even add more). What a mess haha... Peach Financier ★★★★★ - I didn't have any peaches on hand so what I made is technically just a financier. Its a very delicious recipe and tastes very close to Madelines (does everyone eat those or is just local to me??). Cream Cheese Garlic Bread ★☆☆☆☆ - Its a Korean street food recipe from the very famous Nino. I don't know if I overkneaded the bread or something but it did not rise very much and the filling did not taste good. Its a super sweety and lightly savory bread and it was not my style. My mom's bf liked it tho so I guess it did not go to waste... Choice Cheesecakes ★★★☆☆ - My first attempt at making a recipe from a very old book! The crust on this cheesecake is delicious and I would maybe... double the recipe for that next time because it was super crumbly (most of it didn't really form into a dough) and didn't even cover my whole cake pan. I would also cut the sugar down by like half. It was wayyyyy too sweet. I also need to adjust the baking time. I followed instructions to a T but after all the baking time, my center was still not baked but the sides were pretty brown. I might just make a totally different cheesecake recipe next time. “Burnt” Basque Cheesecake ★★★★★ - Wow... this recipe is straight up wow! Its such a simple recipe of doing everything opposite of a good cheesecake and somehow I like this better than any cheesecake I have ever had. I brought a piece for my coworker too and she liked it! My own thing is the bottom burns too much and creates this thick black layer that doesn't taste that good. I like mine lightly browned to balance the sweetness with the savory of the burnt parts so I usually remove the bottom layer (after letting it set). Little Toast Stuffed with Meat Floss and Mochi ★★★★★ - Disclaimer: I did not add the mochi to this bun; I just could not fathom the combination of mochi and pork sung togher (also waste of mochi imo). This recipe uses poolish instead of the tong zhou method to make bread. I was a bit worried it would not turn out well because the only method of making fluffy bread that has worked for me is the tong zhou method, but EVERYONE IT TURNED OUT AMAZING. It is less messy and takes less active time to make so it will definitely be my favorite method to make bread. YUM YUM YUUUUUM Dan Dan Noodles ★★★★★ - OMG THIS WAS SO DELICIOUS. I didn't get to add the Sichuan peppercorn but I will definitely do that next time. I loved the combination of everything. I also made my own noodles using a recipe on handmade noodles (Authentic Dan Dan Noodles From Scratch and but rolled and cut by hand). Croissants ★★★★★ - I was so surprised that these croissants came out great!!! Mainly because I really messed up the dough in the begginning (I measured it incorrectly because recipe is in cups and I sometimes miscount how many cups of flour I already put in), but BOY WAS I DELIGHTED WHEN IT TURNED OUT SUPER WELL. It was so delicous and pretty easy (takes a while do to the rises you have to do). I still have half of it in my freezer :)