#like. not utopian. not by a long shot.

[meat-loving-meat]

I want to write a Vanyel/Stefen modern-with-magic AU soooo bad but I don’t know Valdemar lore like at all. There are six books standing between me and feeling comfortable enough in the lore to imagine what Valdemar might look like with the internet and planes

[stumpyjoepete]

Thinking a bit more about Megalopolis (see prev post). It's not really the case that the script is as disjointed or schizophrenic as my post makes it out to be. The central plot is pretty simple: an egotistical city planner has an ambitious and futuristic vision for redeveloping the city, and he butts heads with the Mayor and others who oppose him in this. He ultimately succeeds in building his utopian "megalopolis". Everyone is happy, the end.

And yet.

There's this... intense centrifugal force that prevents everything from cohering into a unified whole. It's like a puzzle where all the pieces are cut from the same picture, but upon closer inspection, no two pieces quite fit together. Or like that collection of nonsensical objects. A fork where the tines and the handle are connected by a chain. A watering can with the spout facing the wrong way. A quick glance leaves you confused, and that confusion is only deepened by further contemplation.

I think this is especially clear in the pseudo-intellectualism of the title cards, narration, monologues, and quotations/references:

Laurence Fishburne does this heavy-handed narration at the beginning and end of the movie (and several random points in between). And there are these associated title cards that look like they were made by applying an "Ancient Rome" theme to some PowerPoint slides. "Or will we too fall victim, like old Rome, to the insatiable appetite for power of a few men?" My brother in Christ, you are making a movie where the hero is named Cesar, and the happy ending is when he successfully pulls a Robert Moses. This is not a story about power corrupting or good intentions going awry. What are you doing???

Cesar Catilina interrupts Mayor Cicero's speech (where he is introducing a plan to build a casino) in order to lay out an early plan for "megalopolis", which is an ambitious and long-term alternative to the (short-term) casino plan. He prefaces his megalopolis pitch by reciting the Hamlet soliloquy. What exactly does Coppola think "To Be Or Not To Be" is about? He must thinks it means, "I am a dark and brooding bad-boy intellectual", since it's hard to see how "I'd like to kill myself, but I fear death" fits into an argument about the importance of long-term thinking in urban planning.

Cesar says several negative things about "civilization". "[Imagine] humanity as an old tree with one misguided branch called civilization... going nowhere." (Shot of notebook shows an illustration with 'war' and 'cruelty' offshoots from said branch.) "Emerson said the end of the human race will be that we'll eventually die of civilization." (Note: unsourced, probably fake quote.) "Civilization itself remains the great enemy of mankind." Umm... you're an urban planner! You're doing a high modernism. What exactly does it mean for you to call civilization the enemy? Is "megalopolis" somehow anti-civilization because it looks like a Georgia O'Keefe painting instead of a bunch of straight lines and right angles? Will the "war" and "cruelty" branches wither and die when buildings have labia?

Also, there's this amazing line read that completely inverts the meaning of a fake Marcus Aurelius quote (the quote was attributed to him by Tolstoy but is not actually something he said). "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape... finding yourself in the ranks of the insane." Why did you put in that pause??? Fake Marcus Aurelius is turning in his grave! You're supposed to be fleeing FROM the ranks of the insane! I suppose this isn't really inconsistent with the characterization of Cesar, it's just such a fucking batshit thing to say.

All of the cargo-cult intellectualism listed above could perhaps be excused if the vision that the film is supposedly about had any content whatsoever. Or, alternatively, if the movie was about something more substantive, and the vacuous megalopolis vision took place off-screen in an epilogue, like the "happily ever after" of a children's story. But no! The movie repeatedly interrupts the plot to grab you by the shoulders and scream in your face: "I have a vision! For the future!". And then--now that it has your undivided attention--it shits the bed like a man who has just polished off an entire bag of sugar-free gummy bears and washed them down with a fistful of Ambien:

"Conversation isn't enough. It's the questions that lead it to the next step. But initially, you have to have a conversation. The city itself is immaterial, but they're talking about it for the first time. And it's not just about us talking about it. It's the need to talk about it. It's as urgent to us as air and water."

"Mr. Catalina, you said that as we jump into the future, we should do so unafraid. But what if when we do jump into the future, there is something to be afraid of?" "Well, there's nothing to be afraid of if you love, or have loved. It's an unstoppable force. It's unbreakable. It has no limits. It's within us. It's around us. And it's stretched throughout time. It's nothing you can touch. Yet it guides every decision that we make. But we do have the obligation to each other to ask questions of one another. What can we do? Is this society, is this way we're living, the only one that's available to us? And when we ask these questions, when there's a dialogue about them, that basically is a utopia."

After the revolution, we won't have conflicts anymore; we'll have dialogue instead. We won't have a need for the "jobs" and "sanitation" of "now"; we'll have the "imperishable" "dreams" of "forever". We won't have problems that need solving; we'll all be too busy asking each other questions. Now, if everyone could just shut up and get the hell out of the way and let Cesar implement his vision, then "everyone" will soon be "creating together, learning together, perfecting body and mind." A chorus of children's voices gradually morphing into Laurence Fishburne's, chanting, "One Earth, indivisible, with long life, education and justice for all." It's eschatological anti-politics made entirely from cotton candy. Please, for the love of God, stop making Adam Driver monologue at me! Let's get back to Aubrey Plaza stepping on horny fascist Shia LaBeouf!

The incoherence of Megalopolis's vision is compounded by how anachronistic its depiction of our fallen world is. There are some half-hearted (and ham-fisted) gestures in the Clodio sub-plot towards the dangers of Trumpian populism, but the script was first written in the 80's, and it's extremely obvious that Coppola is writing about New York City in the preceding several decades. The city's finances are in dire straights. (There's literally a "Ford Tells City: Drop Dead" reference!) The city is full of slums, the streets are full of crime, and the elites are all decadent. (For Coppola, decadence means that ladies are doing cocaine and smooching each other in the cluh-ub.) The main character is Neo-Roman Robert Moses, and the conflict of the film is about urban renewal. In case you, like Mr. Coppola, have not been made aware, slum clearance is not a major political issue in 2020's Manhattan.

Two thirds of the way through the movie, a falling Soviet satellite provides a deus ex machina, blowing up the financial district and clearing space for megalopolis to take its place. Ironically, a previous attempt to produce the film came to its abrupt end when two planes flew into some buildings in the financial district. Perhaps you heard about it. The financial backers of the film at the time considered Megalopolis's plot a bit too close to current events for comfort and withdrew their support.

But Coppola's depiction of Manhattan was already decades out of date by then. Moses stepped down in '60. Jacobs' book railing against urban renewal came out in '61. The Power Broker came out in '74. One presumes popular opinion of Robert Moses soured in the following years. The crisis of the city's finances that peaked in '75 was over by '81 when NYC balanced its budget and reentered the bond market. The crime wave of the 70's and 80's had receded by the year 2000. The demand for housing in NYC proper is as high as it ever has been, and it's only getting higher. Megalopolis imagines America as an incoherent mishmash of several decades of mid-century NYC, dressed up in the toga of the late Roman Republic, calling out for (Robert) Moses to part the slums and take us into a promised land that is literally beyond any description, and whose only concrete feature seems to be glowing people-movers.

A Robert Moses with the power to stop time, at that!

Oh, did I forget to mention that part? Cesar discovers he has the power to stop time in the opening scene of the film. I forgot because it's literally irrelevant to the plot. Time stops a few times, and then it starts back up again, and the events of the film just plod inexorably forward. For a movie as temporally dislocated as Metropolis, perhaps that's just as well.

[sith-shenanigans]

The thing about the Omelas story is that I don’t hate it, actually.

Don’t get me wrong. Usually, when I think about it, it drives me up a wall. I also—on the subject of responses to it—didn’t really like The Ones Who Stay And Fight. (Most of my reasons are said, better, in this article. Not the part about the tone, but that it shot for ambiguity and ended up in “somehow, the clearly magical power of child suffering made more sense than intolerance being a memetic virus that can only be solved through police murder.”) I’m fond of responding to trolley problems by asking who’s tying people to trolleys, and then insisting that it is morally relevant that someone tied those people to the tracks, because you wouldn’t be deciding who lives and who dies if someone hadn’t made the deliberate choice to put those people in mortal peril for no pressing reason.

(I like to think I’d save the five people. I think a lot of us would most likely panic and do something entirely unhelpful, and in practice, I have no idea if I’m one of them, because no one has ever tied anybody to a trolley track in front of me. It just hasn’t come up. But the ideal would be to save the five people. That’s not my answer in the organ-harvesting version, though, because it’s bad for everyone to live in a place where a surgeon can decide to kill you for your organs, no matter how many people doing it just this once would save.)

But I don’t dislike the story that Omelas came from. I don’t even dislike trolley problems, unless people are trying to insist that the context doesn’t matter. (The context always matters.) The problem is that everyone treats Omelas as a trolley problem. “Here’s a utopia where one innocent person has to suffer horribly. Is it worth it, to keep so many other people from suffering? Would you stay and be complicit, or would you walk out to go anywhere else?” The child is the central feature of Omelas, the only thing that matters. The child is nonnegotiable. You can’t rescue them, you can only walk away.

But the narrator did give us the chance to believe, before adding the child in.

Omelas is described to us as half place and half thought experiment, by a narrator that adds things as they go, a narrator that says this at close to the opening:

As they did without monarchy and slavery, so they also got on without the stock exchange, the advertisement, the secret police, and the bomb. Yet I repeat that these were not simple folk, not dulcet shepherds, noble savages, bland utopians. They were not less complex than us. The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain. If you can't lick 'em, join 'em. If it hurts, repeat it. But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy.

And goes on, in the narrative, to consider the reader’s opinion, to ask what they’ll believe.

I wish I could convince you. Omelas sounds in my words like a city in a fairy tale, long ago and far away, once upon a time. Perhaps it would be best if you imagined it as your own fancy bids, assuming it will rise to the occasion, for certainly I cannot suit you all. For instance, how about technology? I think that there would be no cars or helicopters in and above the streets; this follows from the fact that the people of Omelas are happy people. Happiness is based on a just discrimination of what is necessary, what is neither necessary nor destructive, and what is destructive. In the middle category, however – that of the unnecessary but undestructive, that of comfort, luxury, exuberance, etc. – they could perfectly well have central heating, subway trains, washing machines, and all kinds of marvelous devices not yet invented here, floating light-sources, fuelless power, a cure for the common cold. Or they could have none of that: it doesn't matter. As you like it.

[…]

But even granted trains, I fear that Omelas so far strikes some of you as goody-goody. Smiles, bells, parades, horses, bleh. If so, please add an orgy. If an orgy would help, don't hesitate. […] Surely the beautiful nudes can just wander about, offering themselves like divine souffles to the hunger of the needy and the rapture of the flesh. Let them join the processions. Let tambourines be struck above the copulations, and the glory of desire be proclaimed upon the gongs, and (a not unimportant point) let the offspring of these delightful rituals be beloved and looked after by all. One thing I know there is none of in Omelas is guilt. But what else should there be?

Omelas is a story being told to a listener, a utopia being described; the reader is an implied participant in a conversation, the narrator reacting to what they said where the page couldn’t hear. And so, after all of that, the narrator says:

Do you believe? Do you accept the festival, the city, the joy? No? Then let me describe one more thing.

And the narrator goes on to describe the child, the terrible price, the self-justifications that people employ. Because the listener doesn’t accept the festival, the city, the joy—only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. So the narrator engages in “the treason of the artist” (if you can't lick 'em, join 'em) and regales us with the child’s sorry state.

[…] They know that they, like the child, are not free. They know compassion. It is the existence of the child, and their knowledge of its existence, that makes possible the nobility of their architecture, the poignancy of their music, the profundity of their science. It is because of the child that they are so gentle with children. They know that if the wretched one were not there snivelling in the dark, the other one, the flute-player, could make no joyful music as the young riders line up in their beauty for the race in the sunlight of the first morning of summer.

Now do you believe in them? Are they not more credible?

I don’t think we’re being asked, as readers, to consider whether it’s worth it, though it’s certainly something we can consider if we want. But the narrative seems quite clear that it isn’t: to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. A description of Omelas, of why Omelas should be believed in, but how could that be anything but a condemnation of a city powered by a forsaken child?

And, of course, everyone wants to ask—why don’t we free the child, why don’t we comfort the child, why don’t we change things and take the risk of making everything worse? Why is the best thing we can do to walk away?

Because we needed the utopia to have suffering in it, to believe it. Because it couldn’t be real until there was a cost, a price, something cruel and unfair to balance out the scales. Something had to be wrong with Omelas, as the narrator spun it up before us. Yes, perhaps we could save the child, perhaps we could ruin everything, perhaps we could be heroes—wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t that be the story we want, here, where someone is suffering and only we (who are of course more compassionate than everyone else) can fix it? That would make it a real utopia, if we could kick down the doors and fix everything ourselves.

But it would have been better to believe that Omelas could exist without someone suffering for it, when we were asked.

[dirtreally]

top 5 manga spread page (or double page)

5. the dungeonmeshi thing

honestly i like the tankoubon version of this way less but whatever this shit is still cool

4. sorry for double dipping on ggwp

actually gonna triple dip because it's followed by this shit like 3 chapters later

3. This shit from bokura wa mahou shounen. honourable mention also to yuri espoir which does the same thing but to a lesser degree (but i kinda like the yuri espoir one a lot more since the bokura wa mahou shounen one is like at least 30% a joke lol (bokura wa mahou shounen still extremely god tier manga tho))

2. this shit from girls last tour

actually since ive brought up girls last tour can i just say something. i dont like shimeji simulation and how it ended. shimeji simulation makes a lot of formalist improvements from glt with the panelling style (its still impressive how much tkmiz was able to wring out of the 4koma format even in the earlyish chapters) but the ending of shimeji feels insanely insular compared to glt. glt ends with yuu and chii (and the reader) having to witness and recognise the whole world and becomes even better with the tankoubon release adding that crazy ass bonus chapter that is ALL two page spreads that could have just as easily ended up here. shimeji on the other hand feels insanely insular in comparison. with shimeji i dont know how im supposed to experience anything but dread from the idea of everyone getting infinite utopian power and then immediately using that to hole themselves up in their own personal worlds. the shit with the art teacher and that other girl was really ebic tho

i cant fucking find it cuz i swear to god i had the epub file somewhere but i apparently just don't but arawi keiichi's CITY has this insane fucking chapter that's like. 12 consecutive two page spreads and every single one of them is the same shot of a town fair or festival or something and it's just this extremely long sequence of the whole CITY(!!!!!) moving forward in time and you can see like twenty characters acting independently of each other. i'm kind of a speedreader so i really appreciate shit like this that just forces you to slow down due to the sheer impact of the whole thing PLUSSSS it really gave me the feeling of reading one of those richard scarry kids books where he just draws a big ass factory where you can see a log slowly get turned into a stack of paper but like BIGGER and more CITY. certified Extremely Fun Manga Experience nobody fucking does it like arawii

[the-californicationist]

Just read through the chapters for The Window..... do you have plans on updating at all? Asking for a friend. No pressure!!

Thanks for being so kind with your ask, anon. I appreciate that, big time. Short answer: yes! Finished before October is the plan.

Long answer?

Let’s talk about The Window.

The Window makes me have really mixed emotions. It’s beloved. One of my most popular fics, plenty of comments and kudos. It has fans. It’s also the sort of story I’ve always wanted to write. I love the dynamic they have. I identify strongly as pansexual and polyamorous in the most foundational sense of the term. Truly free love. And I think the way that the 141 interacts with the reader serve to showcase what those types of interactions look like in my prototype of what poly/amorous freedom might look like. They rely on each other, respect each other, and they physically engage with each other without bias. It’s idealistic and utopian. It’s the most indulgent thing I’ve ever done (almost).

However.

The way that it has been written is not the story I wanted to tell. This piece was meant to be a one shot. It wasn’t meant to have a plot, and the plot that it does have is just laziness on my part. I wanted to write something else. Another poly fic, but I wanted backstory. I wanted conflict. I wanted context. I wanted character development. But I wanted those things in a true multi-chapter fic. Not in this one-shot.

This is my own fault.

I thought I could shoehorn it. I thought I could just casually move past the complexities I wanted to add and write it as a series of vignettes. None of these subsequent chapters were meant to exist. It’s a cheap imitation or counterfeit of what I wanted it to be, and it sucks that I allowed myself to indulge in it without taking pains to construct the chapters in a way that I knew it needed.

My problem is that, at the time, I was excited that readers were excited. I was getting piles and piles of asks and DMs every day. I deleted so many, but I wanted to dive in and explore with them. I was excited too. But, I wanted to be in the story that I envisioned, and not in this one shot. And I thought I could be satisfied with this revisive version. But that was a mistake. My mistake.

The truth is that it’s done. The fic is already finished. It has two more chapters to be uploaded, and then I will probably delete it on tumblr and orphan it on AO3. I know that everyone who was so excited with me in the beginning will be disappointed with the ending I’ve created, but I’m finding it hard to even open the file. I just don’t want to upload it because it’s something I’m not proud of, and I’m hurting my own feelings because of it.

So I’ve been avoiding it. When I had a family member pass away earlier this year, I used that as an excuse to put it on the back burner. Then, I leaned on my other WIPs to avoid it this summer. Every time I open my GDrive, it sits there mocking me in some sort of smutty rendition of The Cask of Amontillado; evidence of my own crime.

All that to say, it’ll be done before September ends, because my October writing schedule is buckwild.

Sorry for the big wall of complaining. I just wanted to be transparent.

[rattlyglitch]

Hello, you wrote that you accept requests. I hope this is still relevant? I made a request for this idea a long time ago to another person, but they are more focused on one-shot stories. So it would be great to see it in your performance. So what do you think about the idea that Silver is not a person? The idea is that the Knight of the Dawn is not a person but a selkie. Mythical creatures from Scottish and Irish folklore, sea people, beautiful seal people. One day he was caught and having stolen his skin, he was not allowed to leave. And then Silver appeared who took over the nature of his father. Almost nothing is known about selkies. Even in the time of Lilia's youth, they were no longer there. Many of Silver's kind either died in the ocean from predators or were caught by people. Most often, they were caught by sailors and forcibly taken, taking away their skins, thereby not allowing them to return back to the sea. Because of this, their kind disappeared. And they became a myth. The peculiarity of the selkies and their value was that they could become people without a potion and also in their beauty. And Silver belongs to this species. Now after so many years he is drawn back into the water. Most likely it will pass on the day of Lilia's departure, but instead of the overblot of Mellius, they have the utopian Silver who tried to. He is stopped by Ortho (or anyone else who is suitable, as you think), who saw that he was heading towards the water. Realizing that he intends to continue walking until he is completely immersed, Ortho saves him and carries him to the others for help. The others do not understand what is happening. After all, Silver never had such thoughts. In an attempt to figure it out, Lilia and Mellius somehow learn the truth. Lilia, even at the moment when she found Silver, takes the seal skin in which the child was wrapped and hides it. They also learn the reason why the selkies disappeared. And they simply cannot let him go there. They come to the decision to lock Silver away from the water and his skin. I would like more carpenter yandere Lilia and Mellius. And their thoughts about it. Starting with the utopian attempt ending with learning the truth. It would be great if Silver himself did not understand what was happening to him and instead of the truth he was deceived and forced to believe that he was not healthy. I would like the story to be from the perspective of Lilia and Mellius But this is purely my vision. You can change it as you wish. I hope that this idea will interest you.Also, if you are already tired ofSilver, it would be great to see a story about Leona.The idea is that he tries to commit suicide but remains alive. And his family takes care of him. Trying to understand why he tried to do this. His brother, sister-in-law and nephew love him very much and sometimes there can be too many of them. I'm not sure about the parents. If I'm not mistaken, they have not been mentioned yet. But in any case, I will be glad to see any of your stories! Thank you for your attention and have a good mood.

i love both of these ideas. I'll definitely write them. Their amazing and I plan to bring your ideas to life truly. My only question is the Silver idea is like canon age Silver right? I'm not sure if you know about the Silver au I have but I wanted to make sure I'm right that it's canon Silver age (which it does sound like) and find out if it is canon age are there any ships you want.

Also that Leona idea is amazing. I will definitely write that as well. I've always want d to explore the kind of dynamic I'd think they'd have.

I can't estimate a time when they'll be started or finished but hopefully it'll be started in November/December so first chapters of either or both fics will be out in those months or January because I'm working to make my Christmas oneshots in November.

I'll name you the Fairy Anon and @ that name so you know which chapters that have names belong to the fics you've requested. (They'll be added to my master post along the way)

[kayas-kosmos]

Ko-Fi Challenge - 2024, the Year of Solarpunk!

[This post is intended for the Ko-Fi January 2024 challenge. However, I receive an error message every time I try to post this blog on Ko-Fi so I am uploading it here instead. I therefore don't know if I will quality for the challenge since I cannot get my posts to work, but it's worth a shot].

Hello everyone, I hope you are all having a great start to the year!

I have decided to dip my toes into the Ko-Fi January challenge and let everyone know about my plans for this year. Really, I only have one plan – Do something small every day to make the world a better place. But I plan to go about doing this in a big way.

The last several years have been extremely troubling with a lot of catastrophic Global crises happening on a daily basis. It's all around us and it feels inescapable. People are tired of the constant flood of bad news, they're tired of doomscrolling and they're tired of the deluge of films that portray some different flavour of the apocalypse. Even us artists can't escape into our art for comfort anymore because of the constant spectre of AI technology threatening to make our work obsolete. The future looks very grim and a lot of people are not looking forward to the year ahead.

That's where "Solarpunk" comes in.

Solarpunk offers an alternative to all of the doom and gloom and presents the idea of a bright future in the face of cataclysm. It is a movement both political and artistic designed to reignite our souls and excite imaginations with ideas rooted in science and observation of the world around us. Even if it is utopian, it's a utopia grounded in what is realistically achievable and the current tools we have at our disposal to succeed.

Here is a short video that gives a great summary of what Solarpunk is all about.

Now you know what Solarpunk is, here is where my art comes into all of this and what I am planning for the year ahead.

Flowerpunk.

The first and most important project I want to launch this year is Flowerpunk.

Flowerpunk is my webcomic that I have been developing since 2020. Taking place in a universe where magic has been reduced to nothing more than a commodity, the magic itself is starting to decay, causing the soul of the world itself to become sick. It is up to a group of punks and outcasts to take back the magic and heal the world of this rot.

For those who haven't seen it yet, I put up a trailer for the webcomic on Webtoon, Tapas and GlobalComix. Please check it out!

These first 9 chapters follow two main characters, Kimi and Ludwig. Kimi is a gentle soul who has a thing for pastel colours and Ludwig is a rebel with a burning spirit and big hopes.

They both have a pretty terrible taste in music as well!

A lot of work has already gone into this project. I have most of the world-building done, there's a whole myriad of magical creatures featuring in this universe and the first part of chapter 1 is only 11 panels away from completion.

Furthermore, Flowerpunk is an IP under a CC BY-NC licence, meaning that you can legally use my characters and creature designs for anything that is not monetised provided that credit is given.

"This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. Credit must be given to the creator. Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted."

To give some examples of what you can do:

~ Make derivative versions of my work (writing, art, AUs, etc...).

~ Make OCs from my species, or use them for your own stories removed from the original universe as long as the work remains non-commercial.

~ Use my creatures or character likeness for RP characters or in DnD/tabletop campaigns.

~ Using my work for any educational purposes (such as copying a drawing for an art study).

I want this project not just to tell a story of radical hope, but to also encourage the creativity of others and their own storytelling projects based in this universe.

But that's not all! Once Flowerpunk launches, this will lead me onto the next part of my plan which is...

Merch.

I would love to launch some new merch to help support Flowerpunk's development, including stickers, pins and most importantly, motivational posters. This image below is the kind of thing I am aiming for:

These posters will also be used on social media to help inspire people to take action and fight for a better world. And speaking of social media...

Social Media, TikTok and Twitch.

I plan to start Twitch streaming my process later in the year and I may even consider inviting guests to do chats and interviews with. This is inspired by the time I appeared on a LumiRue Twitch stream back in March of 2022 and the extremely productive conversation we had about art and activism. I also have shorter videos planned for my TikTok discussing a variety of topics, including Solarpunk (obviously), my webcomic universe, autism and disability and much more!

Recently, I created a Solarpunk feed for Bluesky and I plan to continue contributing more positive news and ideas to this feed. The feed consists of art, videos, book recommendation, games, real-world projects (such as re-wilding projects) and much, much more! The feed has seen a great success so far and I want to continue using it to spread positivity. I may even start inviting people to add their own contributions to the feed!

In Conclusion.

Despite the challenges we face this year, I feel like it's going to be a good one moving forward. There is a lot to look forward to and a lot of cool stuff on the way!

Also, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of the people who have supported me here on Ko-Fi over the years, it really means a lot to me and has helped so much. Even small donations make a huge difference, especially in times like these when things have become so precarious for artists.

Hope you're all excited!

[pumpkinnning]

INCREDIBLY intrigued by solarpunk au, may i hear some about it? hehe

ahaha well this is actually a folder of follow ups to my one shot sunshine, starflowers, salamander root in which sebchal are solarpunk wizards in a mostly utopian futuristic-magical city (the vibes are kind of like Miyazaki meets Star Trek but make it fantasy and with interdimensional travel instead of space)

The idea is to write more slice of life one shots at different times of their life - Charles' job is to travel across dimensions while Seb works in a little magic shop on top of a hill overlooking the harbor and they keep in touch via an inter-dimensional radio that Seb made. Very fluffy and whimsical with some more bittersweet moments and the yearning associated with long-distance relationships.

One in particular I really want to write is them having to get married as an emergency the night before Charles leaves and them going through the city to find someone to marry them at this late hour and going through a lot of crazy little adventures. The first one was really fun to write and a nice change from the angsty vibes i usually go for so i really want to go back to it at some point.

Thank you for asking !

[sapphicscholar]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag, @lilolilyr!

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

135 fics total!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

2,436,430 words (jfc hahah)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Ever? Listing them in vague order of when I started writing for them: Supergirl, Wynonna Earp, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Grace and Frankie, This Way Up, Once Upon a Time, Madre Solo hay Dos (just on Tumblr), Abbott Elementary, Hacks, and Julia

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

ALL of them are Supergirl from back in the early-ish days of the show when it was a pretty massive (by femslash standards, I suppose) and very active fandom! It's actually so interesting seeing how absolutely nothing I've written in more than half a decade even shows up, since I've largely switched to smaller fandoms since then.

But the top 5 fics by kudos are:

Stronger Together, a collection of one-shots for various Supergirl ships (with a few gen fics mixed in), which has nearly 5k kudos (WILD to me as someone now in a fandom with maybe 25 people total haha)

Welcome to the Gayborhood, my first ever fic, a looong Sanvers and Supercorp professor AU that still keeps the alien/supernatural elements of canon

6,500 miles away...but getting closer, a Sanvers epistolary fic that my wife and I actually co-wrote and posted 1 letter/email per day every day for many months

Noise Complaint, a Sanvers next-door neighbor AU that, hilariously, given its placement in the top 5 here, is what catalyzed a series of events that led to me very much leaving the fandom (and fandom writ large for nearly a year)

Supercat Sanvers 2020, a Sanvers and Supercat political AU that was maybe one of the last long-form works I wrote before moving out of DC!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I really try to! Sometimes if it's from a person I know well, I end up responding via DMs, esp if there are questions about what comes next, plotting elements, etc., that I don't necessary want everyone to see while the fic is still being posted, but mostly I try to respond on AO3. I've gotten a bit worse in the past few years just because I'll manage to eke out a bit of time to write, which puts me behind on my work, and then I don't leave myself time to respond, and by the time I DO have time, it feels awkwardly late to do so. But even if I don't respond, I absolutely love/cherish/adore/etc. every single kind comment I've ever been given <3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Forgoten, but not Gone - a Sanvers amnesia AU set post-breakup that's heavy on the angst with a rather ambiguous ending. I got talked into writing a part 2 that resolves the angst haha, but taken on it's own it's definitely my angstiest ending!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Huh idk! Most of my fics end on fairly happy, if a bit open, endings. I'm not a big fan of having all the loose ends tied up, and I realllyyyy don't do the marriage/2 kids/white picket fence epilogue, so I guess maybe the political AU has to be up there because it actually envisions a world where a queer woman wins the presidency on a progressive platform, and that feels rather utopian 🙃

8. Do you get hate on fic?

Not in a while, though I used to back in the days, like super vitriolic shit (big fandoms with too-big emotions, man... which has really kept me away maybe forever from those kinds of fandoms!)

9. Do you write smut?

Haha very much so. I've written and posted before about why, but I really believe there's so much interesting character work and exploration that can be done by exploring characters' pleasures, their desires (both thwarted and realized), their fantasies, etc. Obviously smut isn't the only way to do this, but fanfic feels like one of the few venues where it's a real possibility!

10. Do you write crossovers?

Nah, not really. I've written a handful of bring characters x and y into the universe of another show fics, but that feels mostly different. Every so often I'll borrow vague character outlines for tertiary characters in other fics just to see if folks recognize them (had Grace Hanson as a grumpy background character in a Sanvers fic set at PT for instance hah)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Once or twice, but we got them taken down

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, one of my SG fics was translated into Russian! I'm not sure if it's still up (tbh I can't recall which one; it's been a long time!) I've also had a couple podfics now made of my fics, one of which I still need to go listen to when I get the time!!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yeah! The long-form Sanvers epistolary fic my wife and I co-wrote together, and a group of Supercat authors got together and did a delightfully chaotic round robin, each writing one sentence, then setting a timer for the next person to write the next sentence, etc., until we had Intergalactic Standard Cuddling

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Oh man, I really don't know that I have a favorite! I really appreciate what various ships can offer me at different times - there are certain themes that make sense to explore with one pairing but not at all with another, or certain AUs that work in one fandom but not really in another. Basically, if a show is giving me multiple female characters who interact in canon in ways that go beyond existing near each other, I'm intrigued, and if these characters actually get depth and complexity, I'm probably in! There are, however, some ships that I might not end up feeling fannish/creative about even though I love them as ships (I talked a lot to @trying-to-get-somewhere-real about this recently, actually!), so it's hard to name a favorite when the metrics get all wonky!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

I don't want to say never, but I have a Cat-centric fic that'll end on Supercat that just has a lot of angst that coincided with a period of unexpected loss and grief in my own life in ways that have made it really hard to get back into even now (it just feels so...enmeshed with that moment, even though the timing was utterly coincidental)

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do a good job with dialogue and getting characters' voices down - I'm really into the character side of things (which is also what gets me invested fannishly in shows! I want a show that cares about developing their characters first and foremost vs. a show where plot takes priority)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Certain kinds of action scenes haha - also I tire easily of writing things that feel repetitive to things I've done/written before (this was more of an issue when I took prompts)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Largely, this isn't something I've had to deal with much outside of maybe a few phrases and sentences from multilingual characters. I've talked before about how it was actually the language/translation barrier that kept me from writing for Madre Solo hay Dos. I don't speak Spanish, and getting a show entirely via the Netflix-provided translations meant 1) I was fairly certain there were some word choice/dialect peculiarities I was missing, and 2) I couldn't catch the rhythms of their speech, the cadence of their voices at least in ways that corresponded to the specific words. For me, voice matters so much, and it really felt like a barrier to not have access to the source language because I felt like I couldn't do these two women justice!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Supergirl

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Oh I've answered this elsewhere with 2-3 works, and tbh I don't think it's changed since then! I'm actually far more interested in others' favorite fics of mine because it's so interesting to think about the question of *what* sticks with a person from yours (it's often so idiosyncratic!!)

I'm getting to this pretty late, so I won't tag anyone, assuming many people already have been, but if ya see this and want to participate, feel free to give me a tag! I always love seeing people talk about their own writing :)

[autisticsupervillain]

It's Fictional Throwdown Friday!

This Week's Fighters...

Team Snakemouth vs Olimar!

Conditions:

Both sides are equipped with absolutely everything they can have. Olimar has a full team of Pikmin, with 14 of each type and 2 extra reds. Team Snakemouth has Chompy. Speed Equalized.

Scenario:

Team Snakemouth are called in to investigate a series of thefts plaguing Bugaria. While investigating, they find Olimar and his Pikmin escorting massive treasures back to his ship. Believing him to be responsible, Team Snakemouth rushes in to confront him.

Analysis: Team Snakemouth

The Land of Bugaria. A mythical world of adventure that draes in travelers far and wide in search of glory, riches, and even immortality. Queen Elizant the First, fondly remebered ruler of the Ant Kingdom, was the first to settle it, whereupon she created a utopian paradise where the Ant, Bee, Termite, and Wasp Kingdoms could co-exist peacefully. Yet, despite her great success, she could never complete her life long goal. She could never find the mythical Everlasting Sapling, the remnant of the Old World that some claimed could grant immortality.

It wasn't until many Moons after he death that a team of noble adventurers were able to continue where she left of. The trio of heroes who would come together to not only find the sapling, but also to save all Bugaria from absolute destruction. Their story shall live on forever as the legend of Team Snakemouth.

Named after the cavern in which they had their first adventure, this unlikely trio certainly wouldn't seem like heroes at a first glance. Kabbu, the noble, if naive, beetle certainly acts the type the most, but his fellow adventurers would likely give you pause. Vi, the greedy and impulsive young bee, has gotten the team into more than a few scraps with her headstrong nature and Lief, the undead, antisocial moth reanimated by cordyceps fungus, can seem very aloof and strange at a first glance. But rest assured, these three are among the mightiest heroes that Bugaria has to offer, each with their own strengths and weaknesses that make them nigh unbeatable when they team up.

Kabbu is the team's mighty juggernaut, armed with a razor sharp horn that can pierce the defenses of even the sturdiest of foes. He's tough enough to drill into the Earth and is sturdy enough to take far more punishment than the rest of his team, a fact that he exploits by taunting the enemy to make them target him instead of them. Given his strong sense of justice and honor, he can become quite easily angered by what he views as injustice or even by his iwn personal failings. His failure to save his original team in particular is a very nasty sore spot for him. Luckily, he can channel this anger to increase his strength tenfold, to the point of demolishing large boulders and surviving attacks that could previously one-shot him and his entire team. However, he cannot direct this anger against airborne enemies, as they're just out of his range, so he often needs to rely on his teammates or resort to throwing rocks to get past anyone he can't just clobber. Regardless, his paragon status makes him a source of inspiration for his teammates and he can even encourage them to get back up and keep fighting in the face of debilitating injury.

Vi, though cocky and a bit unscrupulous, is nonetheless a very crafty fighter. Her iconic Bee-merang allows her to fight at long distances, letting her create tornados to throw enemies around and knock flying foes out of the sky. As a bee, she is able to fly herself and even carry her teamates with her to a certain extent (Kabbu is very heavy). What's more, she can remote control her Bee-merang to either always come back to her or remain spinning in place and always carries a secret stash with her to help heal up herself and allies. And if all else fails, her needles can pierce the sturdy defenses of even the toughest of foes. Even if her greed and impulsiveness get her into trouble, she remains a competent fighter and trusted ally.

Leif the moth is a powerful ice magician, capable of freezing foes solid to completely incapacitate them or creating ice shields to protect himself and his allies. He can fly by creating ice beneath himself and walk on water the same way, as well as hit airborne targets by raining ice blocks down on their heads. Lief also has numerous ways to bolster his team mid-combat, increasing his own teammates stats by way of Fortify or Charge Up or nullifying his foes's stats with Break or Enfeeble. He can even nullify stat increases with Cleanse, forcing you fight him at your base level. He's like dropping an undead mage into the middle of A Bug's Life. A Bug's Lief. Despite how devastating he is from a support standpoint, Lief does struggle with his undead status. As he died several years ago, he finds the modern world under Queen Elizant the 2nd's rule very difficult to adapt to and he struggles to accept the fact that everyone he knows is dead and that he's basically a zombie. He's arguably the most traumatized of the team.

And then there's the team pet chompy. Although not capable of much on her own, her ribbons give her deadly bite some added spice, as they allow her to induce all sorts of dangerous effects, from paralysis to sleep to poison!

While each of these fighters are deadly in their own way, their team skills make them unstoppable, allowing them to combine their might with relentless attacks like Frist Relay, where Lief freezes the opponent over and over as Vi pummels them relentlessly, or Fly Drop, where Vi drops Kabbu on the enemy like a big heavy rock. Their deadliest team move, Frost Bowling, involves freezing Vi and having Kabbu toss her at the enemy like, well, a bowling ball, for massive damage!

Then comes the plethora of medals and equipment the team can come decked out in. They can increase the Team's stats in a wide manor of ways and help them resist status effects, ranging from sleep, poison, paralysis, and freezing. Even if you do get those status effects off, certain medals can make those effects transfer to the enemy on contact. Life Stealer sucks the life out of you with every hit landed, Miracle Matter lets them recover from incapacitating injuries after some time, and First Platting has them take no damage from the first hit the lands on them. And, of course, their Flame Broach lets them survive the all consuming inferno of the Wasp King's fire attacks.

With these incredible abilities, Team Snakemouth has overcome impossible odds on their numerous adventures. They've snuck into the Wasp Kingdom undetected and defeated the horrific eldritch Dead Landers, bugs mutated within the remnants of the old world. They even defeated the Wasp King himself after he consumed the Everlasting Sapling and became a veritable Everlasting God.

Their one true weakness? ...They're bugs. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Dead Lander Ω, something implied to be a mutated human child, is large enough to ragdoll and overpower them with ease and crush them all with just one hand.

Despite that, they are still among the toughest bugs out there. Team Snakemouth stands tall as perhaps the greatest heroes to walk the lands of Bugaria.

Analysis: Olimar

Space. The final frontier. And endless expanse full of countless treasures and endless adventures. But, the spaceman having those adventures might just be a fair bit smaller than you were expecting.

Meet Captain Olimar, trade captain and employee for the interstellar trading company Hocotate Frieght whose normal boring life was thrown into disarray when he crash landed on the desolate world of PNF-404. Better known as Earth.

Unable to breath the atmosphere of this post-apocalyptic world, Olimar needez some outside help if he ever wanted to get back home... or if he ever wanted to loot the planet's riches. That's when he discovered he could command adorable little plant like creatures known as Pikmin.

Now, on their own, Pikmin are harmless and helpless, especially the little young ones with only little leaves on their heads. But when brought together and command, they become a nigh unstoppable fighting force. Reproducing by bringing corpses back to their "onion" ships to harvest so that they can then be planted and plucked from the ground, Pikmin rely on their massive numbers to survive, overwhelming their enemy with as many as a hundred Pikmin simultaneously. Furthermore, they come in up to seven different types, each uniquely specialized to thrive in certain situations.

Red Pikmin are immune to and can to a certain extent control fire. Yellow Pikmin are immune to and can channel electricity, as well as fly farther through the air and dig faster due to their glider like ears. Blue Pikmin breathe underwater while Whites can see farther, are immune to poison, and are poisonous themselves, poisoning an enemy on contact or consumption. Rock Pikmin are especially durable and do considerable damage to anything they're thrown at, while Purples are ten times stronger and heavier than their counterparts, to the point where one hundred of them is equal to one thousand ordinary Pikmin. And finally, winged Pikmin can fly and carry Olimar around.

Purples in particular give us a fairly good estimate for how strong Pikmin generally are. It takes one hundred of them to lift a one kilogram barbell, meaning that the average purple can lift around ten grams. As they're ten times stronger than normal Pikmin, normal Pikmin are only capable of lifting about one gram each. For reference, the average bee can lift up to thirteen grams. While that might seem pathetic, even the mightiest bee would be overwhelmed by an organized squad of one hundred Pikmin and Olimar is very capable of providing that.

With his whistle, Olimar can organize Pikmin into a competent fighting force, allowing him to literally throw them at his enemies until they die. His whistles can cure Pikmin if negative effects, including being set on fire, being waterlogged, being exposed to acid, being poisoned, and being mind controlled by fungus. He's also heavily armored, with his suit protecting him from fire and electricity, as well as allowing him to breathe oxygen. In fact, his suit is so durable, it can survive a fall from space! ...Which isn't that impressive for him, as he's about the size of a bottlecap lid. Only about 22 joules. For reference, a rabbit stomps with a force of 23 joules.

Source:

Luckily, Olimar has ways of supplementing his Pikmin. Little specks of gunpowder, or "Bomb Rocks" let his Pikmin blow his enemies to Kingdom Come, while the Super Spicey Spray can amplify his Pikmin's strength and speed. Ultra Bitter Spray, meanwhile, petrifies his enemies for about nine seconds, turning them into brittle stone his Pikmin can easily destroy.

Indeed, Olimar and his Pikmin formed something of a symbiotic relationship. Not only did they help him survive on this hostile alien world, but he also taught them how to survive too. Many of the Pikmin's later evolutions likely only came about because of Olimar's guidance and, if he'd never crash landed, they likely would've gone completely extinct. Perhaps there's a lesson to take from all of this about the circle of life.

Throwdown Mashup:

Throwdown Breakdown:

This is an interesting matchup to break down.

First off, Leif is going to be doing a lot to help carry his team here. First off, his ice shields will help prevent his team from getting completely swarmed right off the bat while cleanse would completely nullify the Super Spicey Spray. Similarly, while Olimar would be coming in with a big strength advantage himself, Leif's various debuffs would help nullify this. Olimar's Pikmin would vary in their usefulness here, as numb wouldn't work on yellow Pikmin, poison wouldn't work on Whites and so on, while Reds would have their usefulness hampered by the flame broach and other similar resistances.

Purples, Rocks, and Bombrocks would be useful for getting past shields while Yellows and Flying can deal with flight, but Olimar has no easy answer to Kabbu's dig ability, which he can use to safely keep the whole team mobile. Vi's tornados can disperse Olimar's formation, forcing him to briefly disengage to regroup, and she can knock him out of the sky if he tries to fly away. The Purples and Rocks in particular are going to be hard to deal with given how strong they are, but if Kabbu gets one of his rage amps, he might be able to power through them. Might.

Olimar can one-shot with a Bitter Spray, as Snakemouth has nothing that resists that. Even with the shields, Olimar can just use the spray the break the shields, then spray again. However, Team Snakemouth can ono shot him just by piercing his suit, either with Kabbu's horn or Vi's needles, as Olimar can't breathe without it.

This is a very complicated match with a lot of moving parts and a lot of different ways it can play out. The one thing that ultimately makes me give it to Snakemouth however is Leif. Not only is freezing something that none of Olimar's Pikmin resist, but it's something that Olimar can't just whistle them out of. Leif has used his freezing as a permanent incapacitation before and none of Olimar's Pikmin should be strong enough individually to break out. If Leif's ice can hold wasps and ants, even temporarily, then it should hold something with a max lifting strength of ten grams just fine. Olimar would have to use his Rock Pikmin to recover frozen Pikmin, but that would just drag his attention away from Team Snakemouth and give them time to recover or follow up, either by healing up with Secret Stash and items or by further disrupting Olimar and his team with tornados and the like.

Another factor in Team Snakemouth's favor is their ability to recover on the spot. If Olimar wants to replenish his numbers, he'll have to go back to his onion, while Snakemouth has several methods of recovering themselves that don't take as much time. For all intents and purposes, all of Olimar's losses will likely be permanent.

Olimar can still win if he uses his numbers to divide the team up or if he uses the bitter spray. This is not an easy fight for them. But I think they have enough ways to avoid getting swarmed, enough ways to recover from setbacks, and enough counters to Olimar to hold out in the long run. Especially as several of their attacks have the potential to wipe out large swathes of Pikmin in one go if Olimar isn't careful.

This Throwdown's Winner is...

Team Snakemouth!

[dansnaturepictures]

Looking back on five of my favourite ever birdwatching days 

Seeing the Surf Scoter at Stokes Bay in 2015 

Seeing Pennington’s female Surf Scoter on Sunday inspired this post which was brilliant too, and this 2015 sighting of this mega bird has always stuck with me. A wonderful and thrilling moment, with the Common Scoters it was with and only my second ever Red-throated Diver seen other highlights in a day we saw so much. A long time Twitter friend of mine joked when I was sharing my sightings that night “did a Hoopoe fly by as well?”, clearly a good luck charm as that iconic species was the next new bird we saw later that year. I took the first picture in this photoset of the Surf Scoter and Common Scoters. 

Great Spotted Cuckoo at Portland in 2016 

2016 feels like the beginning of a few amazing birding years for us with so much seen and high year list totals at a bit of an increasing intensity and in hindsight this super bird at Portland was the key bird seen that year, when it looked like this rarity may have eluded us on that sunny afternoon it suddenly dashed over the path right beside us and we got a sensational view of a special species in a smashing wild bank holiday Sunday. I got the record shot in the second picture in this photoset of it. 

The first day of the Scotland trip we went on in 2018, in the Highlands 

On this sensational part of the amazing Heatherlea ‘Birding Bites’ tour a present for my 21st birthday I had one of the best days of my life, with dream after dream coming true in the snow covered landscape as I saw my first ever Red Grouse, Crested Tit, Capercaillie, Golden Eagle and Black Grouse as well as White-tailed Eagle, Dipper, my first ever Mountain Hare and also Red Squirrels and Red Deer seen in the way of mammals and more. Magical moments in an enchanting trip with wildlife and scenes to savour I always longed to see. I took the third and fourth pictures in this photoset of Crested Tits, fifth of Golden Eagle and sixth of the Black Grouse that day.

Seeing Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Tawny Owl on one afternoon in 2021 in the New Forest

Being two birds I dreamed of seeing for years and first saw in the same year back in 2014, this was a utopian day at a place I love when we thrillingly saw a Tawny Owl flying in the day and were ecstatic to see a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker weaving through the branches. Hawfinch, Woodlark, Stock Dove, Treecreeper, Reed Bunting and Fallow Deer were other highlights in an unbelievable list of species seen that day. This massive moment seeing them both together has sparked a good couple of years of seeing the owl and woodpecker a bit more frequently too. I got the seventh picture in this photoset of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that day.

Seeing an Osprey fly over Skomer Island whilst enjoying Puffins in 2022

My 2022′s answer to the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker/Tawny Owl moment which I have also replayed so much in my mind, I was so amazed when whilst watching the original birds I took to my heart getting into birding as a kid the seabirds and taking in all the splendour of this with Puffins ensconced in sea campion the other bird I first loved as a kid an Osprey flew over. I never imagined seeing Puffin and the other seabirds and Osprey in the same day so this was also one of the days of my life and was an inspirational personal moment for me in a year of changing things for the better last year. The crazy few minutes in a packed, momentous and sensational day also included other of my favourite birds Red Kite and Chough flying over. I took the eighth picture in this photoset of the Osprey and ninth of a Puffin that day and tenth of a Chough later that week away at Strumble Head.

[alexarodriguez00]

UTOPIA / DYSTOPIA: Proposals

Proposal 1:

Topic: Utopia-Nature life

The Utopia of Nature series will showcase various natural settings with minimal human influence, focusing solely on natural elements. The series includes landscapes, wildlife, and macro photography, all presented with an ethereal quality. Images will combine close-ups and wider shots, using compositional techniques like leading lines and negative space to guide the viewer’s gaze. The color palette will feature soft, muted hues with occasional vibrant accents, creating a serene and otherworldly atmosphere. Lighting will emphasize depth and create magical effects, favoring soft, diffused natural light. Techniques such as long exposures and intentional blur may be used to enhance the sense of ethereality and motion. The overall aesthetic will be minimalist, free from distractions, and focused on the natural beauty of the subjects, achieving a cohesive and tranquil look throughout the Utopia of Nature series.

In this series, I will explore the concept of Utopia, specifically focusing on how nature can embody this ideal. Nature provides a sense of utopia because it offers a refuge from the chaos of modern life. In its untouched state, nature represents purity, simplicity, and balance, qualities that many people yearn for in a perfect world. By immersing ourselves in natural environments, we can experience a profound sense of peace and connection, reminding us of the harmony that is possible in an ideal society. I will edit the photos to evoke an ethereal feeling, capturing the natural beauty of various settings. The photographs will be taken from different angles and under various lighting conditions to showcase the environment fully. Close-up shots of plants, animals, and other elements of nature might be included. The "Utopia of Nature" series will feature a collection of images that aim to capture the essence of the natural world, creating an otherworldly atmosphere. I will carefully curate the physical properties of these photographs to evoke a sense of tranquility and awe in the viewer.

Proposal 2:

Topic: Utopia- City life

The "Utopia of City Life" series will showcase bold and graphic compositions. It employs strong lines and geometric shapes to create visually engaging images. By strategically arranging elements such as buildings, streets, and people within the frame, the artist produces dynamic and striking visuals. This series features a carefully curated color palette that enhances the overall aesthetic of the photographs. Vibrant hues and contrasting colors are used to capture the essence of urban life. Bold reds, blues, and yellows stand out against the grays and neutral tones of the urban landscape, creating a visually dynamic and stimulating experience. Some photos will be during the day and some will be during the night, showcasing the utopia of the city, as a whole.

The concept I will explore in this series is Utopia, specifically in the context of cities and how they can embody utopian ideals. The cityscape, with its harmonious blend of architecture and nature, offers a vision of how urban environments can become ideal living spaces. By integrating green spaces and innovative designs, the city creates a sense of community and progress, inspiring hope for a future where urban living is both sustainable and enriching. A photographic series capturing a utopian sense of place can be achieved by carefully considering the formal properties of the images, such as composition, color, texture, and lighting. By utilizing these elements, photographers can evoke feelings of tranquility, harmony, and perfection, providing viewers with a glimpse into an ideal world. I also plan to edit the photographs, adjusting lighting and other factors to enhance the overall sense of utopia.

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

GOOD COPPOLA, BAD COPPOLA

Opening this weekend:

Megalopolis--The buzz on this long-cherished, finally realized project by Francis Ford Coppola is that people either love it or hate. But you may find that duality stifling. I kind of hated this movie, and I also kind of loved it.

It's an epic with sci-fi, fantasy and surreal elements, set in a city called "New Rome." New Rome looks exactly like New York, if New York was shot in exquisitely burnished metallic tones by the Romanian cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr., and if the men wore '90s-George Clooney haircuts. Against this backdrop, Coppola develops a story that very loosely parallels the Cataline Conspiracy of 63 B.C., as chronicled by Sallust.

Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver) still wants to take over Rome, but in this version he's a visionary architect and urban planner who wishes to create a new utopian downtown full of futuristic, even surreal amenities, made possible by a building material called Megalon. His rival Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) has, one might say, more modest ambitions for his town.

Trouble brews when Cicero's beautiful daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) goes to work for Cesar, and despite a dark secret involving Cesar's late first wife, he and Julia begin to fall in love. Into this basic conflict, rafts of supporting players and subplots and sub-subplots and digressions are interwoven, on the whole pretty chaotically.

The movie opens with a breath-quickening sequence in which Cesar stands on the ledge of the New Rome version of the Chrysler Building, leaning out, tempting gravity and stopping and starting time with the power of his will. The movie that follows seems to be Coppola trying to do the same with his art, and struggling with the awareness that time can't be suspended indefinitely.

It's potent start, but after that Megalopolis splutters and flails for quite a while, with short, scattered, over-edited scenes that fail to draw us in, or sometimes even to communicate what's happening and who's who in relation to who. A half-hour or so in, I was starting to squirm, thinking this could be a really punishing disaster. Very gradually, however, a story begins to take shape that we can invest in.

The intent seems to be satirical, but Coppola's tone comes across as too earnest, even naive, for any real bite. The writer-producer-director sees our society as in decline, and he wants to have "A GREAT DEBATE ABOUT THE FUTURE." This seems like a worthy goal; our current debates about the future seem pretty lacking in greatness, with one side regarding the future as a place where Jesus will come back and then all the elitists will be sorry, and the other side regarding the future as a place where maybe we'll get people's pronouns right.

Coppola certainly has broader, more robust, more soulful hopes for the future than these. But his utopian ideals are unspecific, beyond a sort of technocratic optimism. Cesar's "Megalon" (no relation, apparently, to Godzilla's old rival) is a conveniently vague plot device, and much of what Coppola shows us as evidence of our decline are lots of nubile young women partying too hard.

All this and more undoubtedly makes Megalopolis seem dubious, even campy. It's the kind of grand, glittering cinematic folly that we rarely see any more, because perhaps regrettably we don't have as many auteurs with the same level of delusional hubris as we did half a century ago. Yet it's hard to shake the sense that, at bottom, Coppola is right about contemporary society; that it is time for us to pull our collective heads out of our asses. And his sense of spectacle can get to you. His style here recalls everything from Orson Welles to Abel Gance to Koyaanisqatsi to Things to Come, and after he settles down, his movie begins to get exhilarating.

In no small part, undoubtedly, this is due to the uncommonly glamorous and vibrant cast. The roles are grievously underwritten--Dustin Hoffman in particular makes a fine, energetically weaselly entrance, but then his part seems unceremoniously truncated. But these actors inhabit their pageant figure roles and flesh them out with their own personalities.

Driver is excellent, again showing his ability to be eccentric and vulnerable while retaining the commanding presence of a leading man, and Esposito's pensive, wary eyes make a perfect, puny-spirited contrast to Driver's virility. Emmanuel is able to keep Julia from becoming too much of an idealized love object despite Coppola's gauzy presentation of her.

Shia LaBeouf has a juicy turn as Cesar's cousin and enemy Clodio, and Laurence Fishburne is a reassuring presence as Cesar's chauffeur, who also serves as the movie's Greek Chorus narrator. As Cesar's rich uncle Crassus, Jon Voight, despite his real-life political leanings, gives what seems like a gleeful parody of a certain recent president from the Big Apple, and it's fun to see veterans like Balthazar Getty, James Remar, Jason Schwartman, D.B. Sweeney and even Talia Shire among the supporting players.

It's possible that the strongest performance in the movie, however, is that of Aubrey Plaza, in the role of Wow Platinum, a TV financial reporter who has snaked her way into the lives of both Cesar and Crassus. Plaza isn't subtle as the lewd, scheming Wow, and from the beginning the character refuses to get buried by Coppola's grandiose conceptions. Every time she gets up to some juicy mischief, the audience comes happily to life.

[alt-ctrl]

The Power of Simplicity: How Less Can Say More in Communication

Unraveling the Paradox of Simplicity in a Complex World

In an era where information bombards us from every direction, one might assume that complexity is king. But what if the key to cutting through the noise lies not in intricate explanations, but in the art of simplicity? Welcome to the counterintuitive world of minimalist messaging, where less truly can say more.

The Zen of Clear Communication

Imagine, if you will, a world where every advertisement, every speech, and every text message was a labyrinth of verbose prose. Exhausting, right? Now, picture a world where ideas are distilled to their essence, where clarity reigns supreme. This is the promised land of clear communication, and it's not just a utopian dream—it's a powerful reality that savvy communicators are leveraging to great effect.

The Attention Span Tango

In a digital age where our attention spans have shrunk to that of a goldfish with ADHD, the ability to convey a message quickly and effectively is nothing short of a superpower. It's like trying to catch a butterfly with chopsticks—you need precision, not a sledgehammer.

"I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one." - Mark Twain

This quote beautifully encapsulates the paradox of simplicity. It's often more challenging to be concise than to ramble on, but the payoff is immense.

The Apple of Simplicity's Eye

Let's take a bite out of Apple's playbook, shall we? Their advertising campaigns are the Hemingway novels of the tech world—short, impactful, and leaving you wanting more. "Think Different" and "Shot on iPhone" aren't just slogans; they're minimalist masterpieces that stick in your mind like that catchy tune you can't shake off.

But what if Apple had gone the verbose route?

"Our computational devices are engineered to facilitate cognitive processes that deviate from conventional paradigms, thereby fostering innovation."

Doesn't quite have the same ring as "Think Different," does it?

Nike's Just Do It... But What Exactly?

Speaking of slogans that pack a punch, Nike's "Just Do It" is the Muhammad Ali of taglines—short, powerful, and unforgettable. It's a call to action that doesn't specify the action, leaving it open to interpretation and personal relevance. It's like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, but for motivation.

The Simplicity Toolkit

So, how can we channel our inner minimalist and craft messages that resonate? Here's your simplicity survival kit:

Identify the core: What's the heart of your message? Find it, and don't let go.

Jargon detox: If your grandmother wouldn't understand it, simplify it.

Visual aids: A picture is worth a thousand words, so use them wisely.

Chunk it up: Break information into digestible bites. Think tapas, not Thanksgiving dinner.

Brevity is the soul of wit: And also of effective communication. Be concise, but not at the expense of clarity.

Coca-Cola's Name Game

In a world where personalization is king, Coca-Cola pulled off a coup with their "Share a Coke" campaign. By simply swapping their iconic logo with common names, they turned every bottle into a potential conversation starter. It's like they sprinkled a little magic dust on their products, transforming them from mere beverages to social catalysts.

This campaign is a testament to the power of simplicity in fostering connection. It didn't require a complex algorithm or a fancy app—just a name on a bottle. It's a reminder that sometimes, the most profound connections are made through the simplest gestures.

The Interdisciplinary Insight

Interestingly, the power of simplicity isn't limited to the realm of marketing. In fields as diverse as physics and philosophy, the principle of Occam's Razor suggests that the simplest explanation is often the correct one. What if we applied this principle to our communication strategies?

Consider this: What if the key to solving complex global issues lies not in elaborate policies, but in simple, clear messages that inspire action? Could the next great social movement be sparked by a three-word slogan?

The Perception Shift

As we navigate this brave new world of minimalist messaging, it's crucial to remember that simplicity doesn't mean dumbing down. Instead, it's about distilling complex ideas into their most potent form. It's the difference between a watered-down juice and a concentrated elixir—both may look simpler than the original fruit, but one packs a much stronger punch.

In Conclusion: The Simplicity Challenge

As we wrap up this exploration of simplicity in communication, I challenge you to look at your own messaging. Are you using a sledgehammer where a scalpel would suffice? Could your ideas be distilled further without losing their essence?

Remember, in a world drowning in information, the ability to communicate simply and effectively isn't just a skill—it's a lifeline. So go forth, and may your messages be clear, your slogans be catchy, and your communication be as simple as it is powerful.

After all, in the grand symphony of communication, sometimes the most impactful note is the one you don't play. Keep it simple, and watch your message soar.

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[spirk-trek]

These aren't just motherboards- they're ART, representing cityscapes!!! Here is a link in case you want to check them out from the source.

Also, here is the translated text from German (under the cut) since the website doesn't appear to be formatted for automatic translation:

"Iridescent streets, neon-lit house silhouettes, dizzying skyscraper canyons – you think you can see all of this in Heiko Hellwig's photographs. As if they were satellite images looking down from above on the chaos of megacities, the desolation of industrial areas or the labyrinths of suburban settlements. A futuristic scenario of points of light and neon paths at night.

Heiko Hellwig composes the supposed city views from the entrails of disused computers and game consoles. Over many months, Hellwig collected the material, a true treasure of fascinating motherboards, processors and microchips. In his studio he photographed the complex technical architectures floating under the ceiling with precise illumination using specially converted film spotlights and a camera that produces high-resolution images. Hellwig wanted above all to emphasize the plasticity of the actually flat-looking microelectronics, its wealth of detail and its impenetrability.

Processors don't simply reveal the information they house and transport, they hide it in their digital architecture.

Then everything was visualized on the screen and processed with the help of the computer: several photographs were layered on top of each other, the yellow, orange and purple neon shades were added until the photographs acquired their translucent opacity, their labyrinthine sparkle and this ambivalence of light and shadow. The series captures the complexity and opaque character of digital machines. At the same time, they look like futuristic cities from a science fiction film, photographed from the sky.

For Hellwig, the “Silicon Cities” that shimmer promisingly in the night represent at least two things: On the one hand, they point to the bright, utopian future of a fully technological world promised by computer manufacturers.

On the other hand, they also reveal something profound. In this way, they reveal the core of our digitalized society. This is controlled by information that we no longer collect and whose sources and paths we can no longer understand. The question of the use of information constantly leads to a shift in the boundaries of what is permitted.

The basic idea for the series came about a long time ago. An important source of inspiration for this is the dystopian experimental film “Koyaanisqatsi” from 1982, which contains accelerated night shots of motorway intersections and urban canyons in some sequences. It succeeds in the associative overlay of digital and urban architectures.

Hellwig, to draw today's cities as what they are: partly real and partly overlaid by the imaginary structures that the Internet age creates. “Silicon Cities”, invented somewhere in Silicon Valley and then incorporated into our minds as artificial paradises."

Heiko Hellwig: Silicon Cities (2017)

Colorful Circuit Cities Built From Motherboards, Processors, and Microchips. Hellwig built these cityscapes last year using the guts of old MacBooks, IBMs, and even PlayStations that he scavenged from eBay and friends' basements.

[shmowder]

I looked at your blog at work and the grinning emoji is so scary looking on that computer?? The chipmunk/squirrel is even cuter though!

I love and admire people who are capable of inventing an interesting reader insert backstory <3 Cause mine are. Well. Low effort and bad (although I say this with affection). Young woman who just happens to be there. Daughter of a somewhat important person, important enough to be spoiled but ultimately well-behaved, unimportant enough to escape most people's notice. Personality may or may not change a bit depending on the fandom. It's fine though... just don't think about it too hard or else you'll find yourself staring at a big ol' void 😌

Ooh, now there's a scenario I hadn't considered! iirc Yulia isn't originally from the town; if the surgery is only taboo in the town then ideally it could be done most easily in the capital if she can travel there. But where's the fun and drama in that? Seems best if Artemy doesn't get involved; if Daniil's around at that time then maybe he should be on hand for backup.

There's something... romantic about the third option, I have to say. The level of trust involved! She shouldn't have to do it all by herself - do you think she would, though? It would be lovely to see her around the town more <3

Speaking of dreams, I'm not usually a dream rememberer but not too long ago I had a dream where I got shot in the kidney for NO reason. This was before I started thinking about Pathologic again so I can't even use that as an excuse. When I was little, I liked to read about extinct animals and the most vivid dream I ever had involved being chased around my own house by an enormous Great Auk that was taller than me. 0/10 would not recommend.

And lastly, I'm happy to hear that ^^ This is definitely the most I've ever spoken to anyone on here but I'm enjoying it a lot. And honestly you're making me use my brain more than I usually do these days, which isn't a bad thing. Just wish I could put my messages under a readmore for your other followers sake :P

🐿️ anon

I said it before, and I'll say it again, you hit the jackpot with the squirrel emoji. It's truly adorable, one of a kind and stands out.

Thank you <33 I'm glad you like my idea. Honestly I spend a lot of time just imagining backstories for various reader concepts and how to seamlessly weave them into the game story yk?

Like the medical engineer healer with the prosthetic approach to curing the plague and Yulia being their proof of concept prototype. They replace the infected organs of people with prosthetic ones to cure them at the hospital. Yulia x reader focused with some Daniil x reader.

There is also a lawyer reader who isn't a healer but one of the utopians. They come into the town and help defend Big Vlad Olgimsky for his crimes. They are morally grey and know there is no concrete truth in the world, so they easily twist facts to their advantage. It's younger Vlad x reader centred.

Reader x herb bride one too! Basically, the reader is sort of a cowboy/gunslinger? Their first seen is with them drowning in the river, poisonous water seeping into their lungs before a herb bride pulls them out and saves them. They are healers, and rather than cure the plague, they make it their mission to get rid of the army and their weapons of destruction so the real doctors are granted more time. They have a forbidden love story with the herb bride.

Fresh med school graduate reader insisting they company Daniil to the town. You're a Thanatica intern, but he is not your supervisor. It's a different doctor. Once you learn that Simon is dead, you completely lose interest and refuse to help Dankovsky with the petty revenge murder search. You and Dankovsky are both dandies from the capital, but you two never get along and always disagree and oppose each other in medical opinions. You're not a healer in this but one of the humbles.

My current fixation is about a semi-knight reader who carries a big fuck off sword around? While the soul n halves help the Haruspex, the dogheads are your gang of kiddos and Khan gives you insight on the town inner affairs. You're allowed on the polyhedron and vow to protect these children from any harm since day one. Except the polyhedron slowly makes you spiral into madness the more time you spend inside and the Kains really want you under their thumb. You're a healer and help deal with the plague by evacuating people to safer areas, carrying the sick to the theatre hospital and preforming basic first aid.

Reader being the inventor of this big ass canon that the army brings to tramble the town. You're a genius mechanic with a history with General Block. I haven't decided yet if reader is a healer or not

Etc the list goes on.

There are so many tbh, they just manfiest into my brain while I listen to music at the gym. I indulge the fleeting fantasies and sometimes revisit them.

But I prefer coming up with these concepts myself yk? Because I can understand my own vision. That's why general or vague requests are the best, they give me a lot of creative freedom. While the more specific a request becomes that harder, it will be for me to make a comprehensive story out of the other person's vision.

Requests are already a writing exercise each time I make them. When writing stories on my own, I can consult myself for any changes, plotholes, or inquiries I may have. But with a requester, you can only guess. You write with blind faith and hope the other person ends up liking it.

It was hard at the start, but I have been doing requests for about 2 years now? So I got better at reading between the lines in requests, noticing the anon's style and what they might like. It becomes a subconscious habit to pick on other people's preference and break down the specific words they deliberately chose to determine what kind of story they're looking for.

It makes it fun. And I enjoy making requests for other people. Someone wrote a request for me once when I was 13 and afraid of people, i spoke with broken English and was terrified of strangers online... But the writer was patient and listened to my rambling and gave me exactly what I was looking for! I didn't mention my preference or detials like that but they managed to grasp my mindest through my rambling. It was like mind reading i tell you. I still have that fic saved and admire it from time to time.

Reading is beautiful too, I like making stories and making people happy. Especially that these people already read! Like it is so much easier to go play a videogame or look at fanart, but no. You decide to read words on a screen, to get your fulfilment through the oldest form of entertainment known to mankind.

I love reading, be it fanficton or books in general. Words are indescribable. I love talking too!

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Oh my god you got shot in your dream and didn't immediately wake up? Damn you must have pissed off the dream fairy or something. Most of my dreams are unpleasant so I feel you.

And dowhfksjsn being chased by a great Auk, especially a little kid too. 10/10 looney tones vibe dream.

Thank you for the praise <3 I do enjoy these conversations. It was a lonely empty blog before ngl- But please don't feel pressured into anything. I always be here and you can and go as you please, send an ask whenever you want.

Media analysis is the whole reason I fell in love with writing in the first place. I mean yes, you don't need to understand how a machine works in order to operate it, but once you do a whole new world opens before your eyes.

Art is a reflection of the observer. Whenever you like a piece of art, be it a video game, a movie, a story or a painting, you will be liking traits which you've already held yourself.

Think of it like light and colours. Each object under the light absorbs all the colours and reflects back one. Humans are inherently complex and filled with so many colours and traits much like light is, so when you observe art, it reflects back certian colours which originated from you.

That's why no one story will be the same. No one analysis of pathologic will be the same and not one single character depiction will be the same. Art will reflect different colours for different people. You and I can look at the same exact story and notice different things.

Even if we see the same colour and we both agree it's red, the hue will be slightly off. The saturation varying for each of us, it's brighter in some areas for you and dimmer in the corners for me.

When you ask someone for their opinion on a story or a character, they reflect back the same colour they saw in that piece of art. With their own special hue, you're seeing the story through their own eyes.

Nothing objectively holds any meaning. Words are just inky lines scratched onto preserved tree tissue.

The observer gives them meaning, You give them meaning.

It's always been you.

That's why you cannot possibly read too much into one thing, the curtians were blue for a reason. Much like the outside skies are blue and yet this character is sitting here, in a prison of their own mind between four solid walls. Yearning for freedom. For the blue skies just out of reach.

And the next best thing is a bittersweet reminder in the form of blue curtains.

Critcal thinking is a skill you nurture, a habit you build one day at a time. No one is born with great art observation skills, no one can glance at a piece of art and determine all the possible colours it can reflect.

But you can train yourself to shift the hue, to look at it from a different angle. To comprehend that art was never about beauty or skill, but communication. The artist will always leave a trail of messages behind them, even a kid's scribble can spell a new story if you pay attention to where the fingerprint smudges are located, that they drew they drew the house before the grass, that the smidges on the corner are from melted chocolate and cookie crumbs.