#lots of tom in these thumbnails

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

beastlife: skyfall session 2 is up now!

[thenightshadowqueen]

New play premiering tomorrow???

[uzumaki-rebellion]

Some new fandom/fanfiction writing thoughts from me...

Author's Note:

This is just some thoughts I needed to get out because they kept me from finishing my Vampire!Terry Richmond Fic and forced me to start writing my "Sinners" fic I hadn't planned on dropping until April, but my spirit was moved to write by some aspects of the media hype of the "Sinners" new movie trailer release. It's stream of consciousness straight from the hip for Black History Month, so let ya girl cook!

Who remembers this movie?

Do you remember this dynamic duo? (Yes Dr. Karen Jenson!)

Do you remember what happened to most of the "Blade" fanfictions in that fandom as the series progressed (even into television)... and who got centered instead of Blade/Karen Jenson?

Blade essentially became a secondary character in his own franchise. He stopped knowing other Black folks, too. Even the writer of the original franchise David S. Goyer confessed that the studio wanted Blade to be white from jump.

Bitch...whut?

Others have written of this before with the Blade franchise. I personally have lamented the missed opportunity to expand the role of the sexy, beautiful, dark-skinned genius hematologist, Dr. Karen Jenson, played by the gorgeous and talented N'Bushe Wright. Who is still fine just so you know:

The de-centering of Black characters from their own leading roles in fandom is nothing new. Y'all remember this oldey but goodey?:

Remember how they did our girl Abbie Mills (played by the lovely and fabulous actress, Nicole Beharie)? She was the heart of the show with great chemistry between her and Ichabod (Tom Milson). But the Sleepy Hollow Showrunners started centering this heaux:

They even brought in Ichie and Katrina's old ass son Henry Parrish/Jeremy Crane:

Baybee, me and a ton of other Black women were OVER the sidelining of Abbie Mills. Don't even get me started on how they did baby girl by writing her off her own show. Soon it was looking like this:

Chile when I tell y'all Black women rode in like the Sin Eaters on that show and burned that bitch to the ground! No Abbie Mills? No more Nicole Beharie? Alright, bet. Nan one of you hoes is working then. The industry treated Nicole so bad after that show. She was blacklisted and experienced a hostile work environment with that American flavored soup du jour: racism. A recent book, "Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood", broke down all the horrors Nicole Beharie went through bts.

Here was a show that gained popularity because of BLACK WOMEN. We started the weekly Tweet storms, chatted to each other, wrote fics, did panels about it at fandom conferences (I spoke on some and attended a few myself about the TV series). It was a sexy multicultural cast, a literal crack fic come to life that first season.

But then...the centering of whiteness rears its ugly head and ruins nice things.

Which brings me to the new "Sinners" movie trailer release, and my fears at seeing a lot of the media hype online (thumbnail photos, clips etc) pushing Hailee Stenfield a lot more than Michael B. Jordan (in a double role as twins!) or even the other Black women characters in the trailer.

They got Wunmi Mosaku in this bitch with Jayme Lawson.

You know Wunmi, right?

Marvel Wunmi in the Loki TV Series:

Lovecraft Country Wunmi:

Wunmi with Idris in "Luther" Season 5:

Then there's the exquisite Jayme Lawson from "MLK/X: Genius" with our new fic king at the moment, Aaron Pierre. He plays Malcolm X and she is Dr. Betty Shabazz:

Jayme playing the Queen in "The Woman King":

Jayme as the mayor in "The Batman" (she could be our next Angela Bassett with her acting range and beauty!):

Now, about that elephant in the room for me personally.

Hailee Steinfeld and Jack O'Connell.

Their images are everywhere, often more so than images of the star Michael B. Jordan. Twitter (I will never call it X), Threads, Bluesky, YouTube, TikTok et al, have them hyped up to the point where I'm worried that it will turn into a Blade situation. The white characters overshadowing the central Black one.

Of course, they're playing the vampires. The bad guys. The ones we want to see the Black people vanquish. Some bad guys are sexy if we're being honest (cough--Killmonger--cough). Life in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the birthplace of the Blues, is tough enough with racism, lynchings, prohibition...just white people nonsense in general, let alone white vampires. A horror movie has to have compelling antagonists to keep our interests. But again, the overshadowing of Michael in some places...

On IMDB, Hailee is listed first as the star, then comes Jack O'Connell, and then Michael B. Jordan. Y'all, the two white actors are listed first BEFORE Michael is. I don't care if Hailee was nominated for an Oscar at fourteen. (Black people should know by now the Oscars are highschool popularity contests for white people, and every now and then they throw a bone at negroes who act circles around them on any given day.)

How is Wallace Vince Killmonger Adonis Creed John Clark (aka Muffin to me), listed third in his own goddamn movie? Maybe this will change when the movie comes out, but...excuse me?

Give me a minute. I need to sip some tea to calm down.

I barely see Wunmi in online hype, and she has been in some pretty high profile roles the last few years, especially in superhero action projects. And it looks like she plays a Hoodoo practioner (like myself). I want to see more of her promoted too. Like why can't I see a photo of this on more fandom websites?

That question was rhetorical. We all know why.

The centering of whiteness even in Black spaces.

I already know the fanfiction that will be churned out soon by non-Black people. Shippings of Mary/Remmick (Steinfeld and O'Connell's characters in the movie). There will be the I/R shipping of Mary and Stack (Steinfeld and Jordan) because the ads are playing up their sexy juke joint dance everywhere. I'm beginning to get a sense of deja vu...a la Blade/Sleepy Hollow decentering vibes.

The trailer all but gave away most of the plot in terms of what the Black characters will be up against during Prohibition Mississippi. Moonshine and Monsters, with sprinklings of Black American Blues music, both real history and the myths of it with Robert Johnson/Crossroads energy. And clearly Mary, who starts off as human, will get turned into a vampire like Remmick...and then run off to dance with hot, sweaty negroes tryna have their own goddamn fun away from white racism and the dangers of white women turning into the o.g. Karen's of their day. Smh. Can't have nothing without white characters slithering in and causing chaos as usual, lol! (I'm looking at you Agent Ross in the Black Panther fandom, you dirty C.I.A. infiltrator!) Plus there's always some dumb Black man willing to risk it all for unseasoned coochie putting every other Black person in his community in danger.

I mean, even in real life, Black people can't even access DEI opportunities without white women taking all the spots. Now I gotta watch DEI Mary-the-vampire mess up Black people's good times? The horror!

Now I'm just fussing. America recently voted the orange racist/fascist menace back into the white house, and he brought his incompetent white people and their Pee-oh-See lackeys. (One day we have to have a conversation about why so many Indians from India in this country-- and their children-- side with white racism and use anti-Blackness to move ahead in America.) I'm a little salty with white folks right now, not gonna lie. We saw those voting exit polls where only Black women and Black men overwhelmingly voted for the correct side of history to try and stop the Magats by any means necessary with the little we had to work with. Forgive me if I'm grumbling and projecting this onto a fictional movie. Two beautiful dark-skinned women are also love interests in the film (based on the trailer), but I can't find them promoted as much as the white vampires? I don't like it.

Listen, I used to do screenwriting. I helped friends make short films for festivals. I also screened films to help choose projects for the L.A. Film Festival when that was still a thing when I was a member of Film Independent. I've done screenwriting fellowships, too. I understand film marketing, and the work it takes trying to get the largest audience possible to see a movie by pushing the big names or face draws to a project.

But...

I want Black things centered in "Sinners". In the long run it will be, because...Ryan Coogler is that dude.

I want this rambling lament to be a call to other Black fic writers who plan on seeing the film to write your asses off after you see it, and even before you see it based off the trailer. I want hundreds, if not thousands of "Sinners" fics stretching out the worldbuilding we'll soon see on the screen. Heck, I already have a prequel fic started that I want to post in the next few days once I finish it. @nahimjustfeelingit-writes has one out already, and I saw a couple more by other writers floating down my TL.

I want Smoke and Stack and their world steeped in Blackness so that they won't be isolated or damn near relegated to a corner like Blade or Abbie Mills was among their world of supernatural shenanigans by the end of their onscreen run.

I hope we write so much that no one would dare try to push these other Black characters aside. There's so much richness to work with: the Blues guitar singer (who has a fucking banjo inside the core of his magical guitar!), the Hoodoo woman, the Black sexy female love interest that Jayme plays, Delroy Lindo's piano player and his Native wife (I'm guessing), and even the Asian woman (probably descended from the Chinese railroad workers in Mississippi) . We need all the fics telling so many stories in this "Sinners" world.

Granted, fic writers are free to write what they want. Black writers will take a side Black character and create a whole universe for them outside of the main characters in a predominately white film/fandom. But that's only because Black characters are always set aside, shunned, or written in racist/stereotypical ways. They are often fetishized, turned into brutes, or given so much less time in the front. Me writing all this is not saying that non-Black writers can't write stories about Mary or Remmick or anyone they choose. They write/appropriate what they want anyway, so it doesn't matter. I'm only interested in what Black fic writers are going to create

I want to be selfish and see Wunmi and Jayme heralded and pined over even if their characters aren't used as much as Hailee's in the film. I want us to have our shine finally. I want "Sinners" fics that reflect that.

I want to see more Black fics with Black characters paired with Black characters.

I want Black fic readers discovering this new fandom and finding new writers and new stories celebrating us.

I want this movie to succeed and everyone who goes to see it having a good, scary, time.

I want to see Muffin show out in his first period piece. Dressed casket sharp with gold teeth, lol!

I want Black fic writers to be able to write Black horror period piece stories that aren't rooted in Black trauma. There will be so many magical/supernatural things to write about in "Sinners" that we don't even have to touch on the horrors of historic white racism in America if we don't want to.

I promise you, Black people back then experienced joy, wonder, falling in love, and going up against antagonists that weren't always white people or white racism, or even the remnants of our enslaved past. The Klan ain't got to show up! Lol! Hell, white people don't even have to show up in your story. Coogler even hinted that there were more things other than vampires going on in the movie. We'll see. But my point is, we can create "Sinners" fics that Black readers won't have to fear dwelling on Black trauma porn as a plot point.

So...my fellow MBJ/Coogler fans...can we write the hell out of this new fandom? Revel in Blackness? Enjoy our latest entry into the vampire genre?

I would love to hear people's thoughts after they see the movie in April!

Last thought: If you know of some "Sinners" fics, share them!

[i-may-be-an-emu]

hi Emu! every time a sfth question pops into my head, I immediately come onto your blog to see if it's been answered lol

I really hope this hasn't been asked already (if it has, I couldn't find it), but do you know what sfth stuff each of the boys does? like I think I've heard that AJ and Tom do the editing, Tom has a scheduling spreadsheet, and recently Luke has been writing descriptions for the videos.... do they stick to the same tasks or does each of them do a bit of everything? and what's all the "admin" stuff Tom keeps talking about???

anyway, hope you're having a fantastic day/night!

Hello! (Sorry for taking a couple of days to answer this, my tumbir keeps crashing right as I'm trying to post things)

Honestly there's bound to be a LOT of admin things that the guys do, and I don't quite know them all :) With most things, I reckon there's not really a sure way to know exactly who's done what. They might have set things they do for some tasks, and others that are more just any of them, but I really don't know. I do know that Tom does the longform thumbnails and some of the game ones, and Luke does the rest of the game ones. Tom and AJ also tend to take care of posting things on patreon.

I think I remember one of them once mentioned how Sam and Luke both have day jobs which means that Tom and AJ have a bit more time on their hands to deal with sfth stuff. I believe Tom and AJ also have all of sfth's footage between the two of them on hard drives.

SFTH have editors and an agent, as well as people who film them/take care of tech (eg live-streamed shows) (who also edit, I think?) The subtitle and translation teams are fan volunteers.

And to answer what admin is, it's basically just the things that need to happen behind the scenes for everything to actually go ahead (and go well) - so like the organisation and the paperwork and the contacting people and venues and the making big decisions and the planning patreon things, that's admin. Also stuff like making the thumbnails, writing the descriptions and actually uploading the videos would be admin too. I'd imagine that their agent would probably be contacting venues and booking shows, but ldk.

Hopefully this answers your question! :)

And I hope you have a good day/night

[thatimageoftomscott]

RE: the Kim Petras obsession. Unsure about the Slut Pop album or its controversy but he very much continued on to the Unholy era to the extent he made it a whole thumbnail bit (that barely even works mind you!) so…

Gonna make some wild assumptions and say he probably enjoyed the slut pop album too. Titular Slut Pop is a banger. I don’t listen to it anymore for obvious reasons but yeah.

My only misery is that he didn’t keep up the blog til now. I’d kill to see his takes on Brat.

losing it over this. did he really make ??? a kim petras reference ??? in the thumbnail of a youtube video about cheese??? and i never realised before now ??? tom.

anyway yes. ahem. honestly it just amuses me greatly thinking about him listening to songs named stuff like Treat Me Like a Slut and Throat Goat. which yes ive read the nsfw category on europlop, i know he is not above that and clearly neither am i. the titular slutpop IS a banger and so are most of kims songs tbh. and admittedly i do still listen to it, and i do think that its not bad to appreciate it for what it is despite the fact that someone like That was involved in its creation. also i feel like its a little unfair that kim petras got so much flak for this compared to other bigger (and dare i say more cis) artists who still work with that guy (not accusing you of anything of course lmao and yes she 100% deserves to be criticized but ive also seen a looot of people who were being wildly transphobic about the topic and it has made me raise some eyebrows). but what do i know. i only heard of this mess randomly yeeears after it went down (never underestimate how out of touch i can be), clearly none of this is my area of expertise. and sadly the music industry has always been predatory. anyway yes. titular slutpop. banger.

and of course europlop...its so beautiful. i cant imagine doing something everyday for TEN YEARS. this amount of dedication seems so impressive to me. clearly they liked talking about pop a lot. sad it ended but nothing lasts forever. and yeah, we really lost the chance to hear toms opinion on some spectacular pop music post 2020. i wanna know what he thought of lady gagas and marinas new albums SOOOO bad. also sabrina carpenter now that im lowkey obsessed with her. i know he linked to a video that had espresso (the sabrina song) in it on a newsletter a while back but she has SOO many other songs i like a lot more. i wanna know if he liked short n sweet. and of course i wanna know if he liked brat.

[thecrazygamingzombie]

How Viviziepop kickstarted the third wave of indie animation.

Okay, I've been seeing a lot of people talk about the tweet below and how Viv doesn't deserve to take credit for the success of other indie animation projects online but the fact of the matter is...she does, in an indirect way at least.

First, let's start off with a brief history of indie animation:

everything started out on a site called newgrounds, I'm sure you've all heard of it. Created by Tom Fulp in the 90s to show case some of his half baked game ideas. Which eventually evolved into a place where indie creators could post anything they wanted without fear of censorship; the rating system that automatically removed any posts that dropped too low being the only source of quality control.

This gave indie animation it's initial foothold online but without any way of obtaining a revenue stream it never really moved beyond a fun hobby done to practice one's art/coding skills or just screw around with friends online.

This problem got more significant as time went on and many of the teenage artists that gave newgrounds it's inital success, such as RicePirate and Tom Fulp, grew into young adults who needed a revenue stream. Luckily they found one in the form of youtube.

With these monetization policies, many indie animators were actually able to go into animation practically full time. Their pre-existing income bolstered by that of youtube and what followed was a golden era of animation, just an explosion of content across the board. You had stuff like Eddsworld, Salad Fingers, ASDF movie, and tons of other creators bursting onto the scene.

all putting their content out there on Youtube for the world to see. All bolstered by revenue coming in from Youtube...but the good times never last

See, back then youtube's monetization policies were pretty simple: the more views your channel got, the more money you'd make. Great for short form animators and also great for clickbait youtubers who abused the system with deceiving thumbnails and titles!

To combat this, Youtube changed it's monetization policies in March of 2012: instead of being rewarded on view count, monetization would instead reward the time watched during a video. Which created a system where longer videos with frequent uploads were rewarded

In theory this was supposed to stop clickbait videos as people would just watch for a few seconds and leave. But in practice? It meant that animators were put at a heavy disadvantage as now they'd have to put in significantly more work for the same result.

This caused a complete and total crash of indie animation online. Between an unfair algorithm and the rise of gaming channels, most indie animators couldn't gather the same level of funding they could before and had to either quit or scale back.

Only the big name animators who could coast by on brand recognition such as Harry Partridge and TomSka among several others, or larger channels with dedicated teams similar to tv studios such as Mondo Media and Rooster Teeth. Were able to keep going.

This started a brief dark age for online animation until the advent of story time animators. People like Jaiden Animations, Swoozie, and TheOdd1sOut who relied on simplistic art styles with minimalist animation that focused on content reminiscent of old vlogs where the animators simply share stories from their everyday lives that allowed them to put out longer videos faster; thus working around the monetization system that had put so many animators out in the cold.

While they didn't solve the problem, in some ways they made it worse by starting a trend that attracted countless copycats, they did help sustain an interest in indie animation online and ensure there was a consistent audience for such a medium.

Now it wasn't a total wasteland mind you, as I said there were still plenty of animators who survived the purge. There were even a few channels such as Shut Up Cartoons and Mondo Media, again, that helped produce dozens of animated series from indie creators.

But even at it's best, these series were still very amateurish. The passion was obviously there but these were still very simplistic flash or stop motion animations with low budgets and small teams, focusing more on episodic skits than any sort of overarching plot

This environment of amateur passion projects, where animated series were usually very small scale and never really escaped from the limited sphere of youtube, went on for several years and kept the animation community alive. Until Viv posted Hazbin Hotel and brought about the third wave of indie animation.

Unlike the previous examples, Hazbin Hotel was a VERY different beast from most indie animation. Not only did it have an extremely distinct visual style but the animation was so fluid, so professionally made, it felt like something you'd see out of a mainstream studio. It felt leagues above the average indie project in terms of quality.

Now Viv had already a decent audience from her Zoophobia webcomic, her speed draws, and the die young video. So it wasn't like she was starting from nothing. But there was no denying that this new form of animation caught people's attention and caught it FAST.

You all can probably recall the explosion of discussion that surrounded the original pilot and how it was all the internet was talking about for awhile. Viv road that wave and used the momentum to launch 'Helluva Boss' another indie production with a similar style.

This made her even more popular, especially when she started cranking out new episodes of the latter series with the same high quality as before, and soon her fanbase swelled to millions. A fanbase that was more than happy to crowdfund Viv's work through patreon and merch sales. Then other animators saw this and realized that there was a sizable audience for animated content; one that could not only sustain professional level animation, but was desperate for more content of this scale. Soon several other series started cropping up like MurderDrones, Lackadaisy, Monkey Wrench, and the Amazing Digital Circus. All of which followed Viv's lead of producing high quality, fluid animation with overarching plots that drew funding entirely from legions of online fans.

For the first time in a long time, indie animation was breaking out of it's original platform and reaching far more mainstream audiences than it ever has in the past on a scale never before seen and it's all because Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss kicked off this new animation renaissance!

Now I'm not gonna say Viv was solely responsible, the series we enjoy now have thrived primarily on their own merits and the creative minds behind them.

But as it stands, her work played a big role in setting the stage for other indie animation projects and creating the perfect conditions for them to thrive amidst the current digital landscape. Like it or not, Viv is the catalyst for modern indie animation. To deny Viv her rightful place in history out of spite is nothing short of historical revisionism.

Give the gal her due, she's done some amazing things for this crazy world we live in.

Here's the videos I got most of my info from, it's important to cite one's sources after all!

[rabbit-ina-trenchcoat]

YouTube just recommended me a video calling tc “the real american psycho”, seemingly implying that he’s the same as a murderer for… being a cult victim and acting slightly erratic. The video had like 5 million views too. I will always hate christain bale for saying that his performance in american psycho was inspired by Tom. People probably wouldn’t say shit like that about him as much if bale hadn’t said that (i would hope). I bet bale is one of those guys that thinks autistic symptoms are signs of a future murderer.

I hate how people single Tom out as “crazy” and “creepy” based on nothing when guys like Brad Pitt can beat their wives and retain their careers and positive images. I’m just glad there’s people like you who are working to bring the truth to light and acknowledging that cult members are victims.

sorry for ranting in your inbox. It just drives me crazy when people ignore the truth. I mean, even some of his fans ignore the truth (like that one blogger who perpetuated the lie made up by scientology that he was doing cocaine and having affairs while married to rogers)

rambling under the cut

i dont know if you're the same person as the last anon who left a long message abt tom in my inbox but i just wanted to say that either way its. really touching to me that you said that about me (people like [me] bringing the truth). i keep letting myself forget how serious i take this because nobody in my personal life seems to take it seriously. i got so invested in this that i was inconsolable for a week when mike rinder passed away. not only did i want to interview him, but i deeply admired his story and commitment to the truth. but i also admire his grown personal life - i dont think cult victims should have to dedicate themselves to "exposing the horrors" just to be considered acceptable.

i think christian bale is a little bit better of a human being than implied here, but it is still deeply disturbing how willing people are to point at someone who was abused before scn and still call him evil because theres "nothing behind those eyes". not to mention he is neurodivergent - and even if he doesnt have one of the ClassicTM neurodivergent disabilities, dyslexia has a lot of overlapping symptoms.

i know why people make youtube videos about scn and put tom on the thumbnail - its eye catching, its associative. but i honestly think thats what miscavige wanted to happen when he got his claws in tom. the celebrity center only exists to either attract newcomers or distract haters. you know how many people know about scn and tom cruise, but theyve never heard of david miscavige? its terrifying. its disgusting.

AND THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING THE COCAINE POST. IM SO MAD ABOUT IT. ITS SUCH A BAD LIE YOU CAN GOOGLE IT AND FIND WHERE SCN HAD TO RETRACT IT BECAUSE IT WAS SUCH A BAD LIE. saying shit like that just to convince your followers tom cruise is some repressed homosexual is insane. those are dangerous lies. i dont care if she thought it was fucking funny.

[jodilin65]

I'm so tired of selfish people and one-sided conversations; I really am. The kind where someone says something or shares a picture and you comment and ask questions, and then you do the same and you don't get shit in return. Why care about those who don't care about me?

Slept well and have had amazing energy so far throughout my day. Kept thinking it would tank any second, but it's still holding steady. Tom thinks that as long as I stay in bed for 8 or 9 hours without getting up, if I wake up too early, that will help. The vitamins may be kicking in too, along with my mending gums.

Still feel like I'm hypo, though, because my weight is up a couple of pounds, and I'm not overly warm, wound up, or having trouble sleeping. I also haven't been very regular. I'm dreading the moment I trade these symptoms in for hyper symptoms, but my TSH should definitely be dropping—especially with all the vitamin D I'm now taking in the multivitamin supplement I started 5 days ago.

Gave up on Menla because I didn't feel like I was getting anything out of it any more than I did with Helen, a real human. 

I think I might also give up the idea of getting a haunted doll and communicating with it because I just don't think I have that ability. I think different psychics have different abilities, and if there's anything unworldly out there to communicate with, I don't have that talent. I just sometimes know the unknown or things I shouldn't know, regardless.

Our cucumber plant has sprouted some cute little yellow flowers! Also, I clipped some of the romaine leaves to add to my turkey sandwich earlier.

It's been very windy ever since I got up, so I don't dare go outside for fear of triggering my asthma and allergies. 

I'm still amazed at how well I slept. I slept on my favorite flat, skinny pillow and spent a lot of time on my stomach. Makes me wonder if maybe I should clean the bathroom off the bedroom more often—not just for dust, but because the shower stall isn’t one-piece and is therefore more susceptible to mold and mildew. I just cleaned it yesterday.

Right now, the bot is finishing up vacuuming the kitchen floor, but I'm going to mop it myself because it doesn't do a great job with that part.

We had a little bit of rain, and I guess we're going to have some more coming through later on. Because of it, I'm guessing the Honker won't be leaving tonight.

My thumbnail still has fungus that just doesn't want to quit, but I'm terrified to take the medication for it, so I'm still using the lacquer. I also don't understand this nail splitting I've been having lately. How is it that I can stop polishing my nails and wearing nail stickers only to have my nails start splitting? I have a couple of fingernails and a couple of toenails splitting, but my research says it can't be anything serious.

Had quite a few PVCs today for some reason. 

Tom will be going for a 2-hour evaluation for cataract surgery next month.

The Easter challenge I was expecting to launch went live about 4 days ago and consists of five rides—four in the US and one in Canada. I rode in Washington State, and now I'm in Central Canada.

[hurrakka]

Hi! Artist here

Was wondering if you’d be willing to share how you make your comics. I’m very fond of how expressive they are, and it is crazy to me how fast you make them and such. Totally understand if you don’t though! You’re work is awesome! :D

Oh hehe *twirls nonexistent hair* ty <333 tho thinking Im fast is giving me too much credit bc I coulda sworn Im slow as balls! Ngl I haven't made these much comics since 2019??? RE (esp 6) was just the lil push I need to get back in the groove of things. So anyway here's a scuffed explanation of my process. Like all of my art, I'd begin making small thumbnails, general layouts, panel placements etc. But since these are comics, I have to make a script for the dialogue so I can allot the placement of speech bubbles as they are important to the composition (also I'm kinda terrible at dialogue in general so it's best to prepare it instead of writing them on the spot, after the comic's done)

Yes, this chickenscratch is how I visualize things. (1st one is 'Nick Startled the Witch' 2nd is 'Sasha Yeets Leon Off Roof' and 3rd is 'Jerma Vengaboys') To ensure clarity even at a glance or when I'm not wearing glasses. Sometimes whenever I read comics or manga, I have a hard time processing things (call it a skill issue sure) so keeping this in mind I want things to be easy on the eyes, make the elements flow naturally as you read. Something something golden ratio ohmygodisthatamotherfuckinjojoref- Okay ngl, there may be some merit to my speed in making these. Not all panels need to be perfect, so you don't have to spend every waking hour on every single detail. So only detail parts that you want people to look at the most. I remember someone once mentioned that you can get away w/ easy comics if the faces are drawn really well, esp when it's dialogue heavy.

Also that one phrase from DDLC "If your pen is stuck in one spot, it'll leave a splotch of ink" smthin like that, yea I apply that to art as well. Saves a lot of time! And for the expressive part, I mostly rely on physical/slapstick humor. The Jerma Vengaboys comic was a test to myself if I can still pull it off or improve upon it. My main inspo when making these comics, is isismasshiro on deviantart. They have so much comics, all portraying characters in a Tom and Jerry-like scenarios, hold on I'll grab some of my fav panels from them.

These ones, and others have stuck with me from high school until now. That's how you know a composition is so good, and I try to set myself to that standard (emphasis on trying sfgkheg). The influence their art has on me is clear as day in the Jerma Vengaboys comic lol Anyways, really glad you like my stuff :] and thank you for the interest in my process. Sure I have a lot to explain, but I either don't wanna make this longer than it should be or some of the info I may forget.

[justajsworkshop]

You have no idea how much your answer helped me. Truly, thank you so much. I was so so stressed. I really want to manifest my dream life but it seemed so far fetched and I was not making any kind of progress, despite being here for years now. It felt like I was just consuming info. I just realized that I’ve come across Be Something Wonderful several times but I never checked it out because the thumbnail and title felt kinda gimmicky and law of attraction-ey. But I will watch the videos you’ve suggested.

I used to struggle with ‘feeling it REAL’. I see every states based blog talk about making it feel real and it made me question if I was doing it right. Another thing was the emphasis on invoking the feeling of being calm and knowing that comes once you’ve shifted your state and made the state your dwelling place. I felt like I was forcing fulfillment. I agree that ed art definitely interprets Neville really well but I struggled to apply the info. And even Neville, towards the end talked more about faith and focusing on who you are. So it confused me when everyone made so many rules about what to feel.

Thank you for hearing me out. I was so confused and was response has helped a lot<3

ah, i'm so glad to hear that helped!

yeah, neville even says that when he talks about feeling, he's not speaking of emotion but of the acceptance that your desire is yours, but even that can feel unclear at times that acceptance has to "feel" a certain way in terms of sensations in the body and mind. and i have 100000% been there where i've been obsessed with what's happening "inside me" and seeing it as something that needs fixing because i struggled to believe, have faith, accept, etc. and that just turned into a downward spiral of me judging myself as unfulfilled.

then i once heard tom talk about the difference between confidence and conviction, and i realized i was always chasing the emotional high of "feeling good re: my desire." but when you focus on being convicted that you are your desired self, that knowing is immovable. and sure, you can have doubts, limited thoughts, and blegh feelings that move through, but you know that these are always changing, so you don't have to get attached to them. i used to remind myself a lot, not every feeling needs a narrative. not every sensation i'm having needs a whole story wrapped around it and lord alive, especially not one of nonfulfillment!

tom's video today talks about the difference between being a prophet, someone who can speak the law but feels separate from it, versus being the messiah, someone who is one with the law. and it made me think of your first ask, tbh. his content focuses on the law above all laws, even above the law of assumption, and that's the law of being: who and what are you conscious of being?

the good news is that you, the son of god who is one with all possibilities and all moments in the divine mind, can choose who you are, and it will instantly be so. remember, there's only one divine moment that our awareness is seeing from infinite vantage points. memories are just imaginal acts, and imaginal acts are just memories of the allness that you already are. so, there's no horizontal linear past of "failure" and nonfulfillment that you have to attach yourself to. there's no 4 years of struggle unless you continue to call it forth and place it here as part of your experience here and now.

you can decide and declare in this very instant that you've always been perfect at executing the law because you are the law. you've always been fulfilled and living your dream life because you are already all lives and all possibilities. an affirmation i've been loving recently is "i am that i am, who is living their dream life." because i am! i am the i am who is living the life of their dreams! because i am all dreams.

feelings are irrelevant to your fulfillment because your fulfillment just is—it's all that is. there are no conditions that must be fulfilled. no great subconscious that needs to be impressed. no higher power that must be appeased. you are eternal, absolute, and total fulfillment because your I AM awareness guaranteed that. that's the real power of robotic affirming. it's not about being mindless or affirming in vain; it's about choosing to be who you desire to be regardless of the emotional activity happening within the physical body and mind.

you got this! you always have. you've always been fulfilled. you just have to remember yourself as you desire to be. :) no go enjoy your dream life!

[music-interpretation-review]

This text is from a post originally made by @kiranwearscienceblues years ago. I'm copying and pasting it into a new post instead of reblogging because it has a dead youtube link at the top of it and the post bugs out on the dashboard because of it.

Do you want to pretend you’re on a starship? By more than just engine sounds?

Then do I have the YouTube channel for you!

I use white noise videos a lot lately to drown out my dad’s snoring, but oh my god this is the best.

YouTube user ender4lyfe has made a number of starship ambience white noise videos, but unlike other starship white noise videos, the sound is not just limited to the sound of the engine or warp core. They have included a multitude of other sound effects to make you really feel like you’re right there on the starship, including opening doors, button bloops, and even conversations among the crew in the background! In the Voyager Warp Core one (which is the one in the thumbnail), you can hear B’Elanna and Tom arguing quietly in the background, and in Ten Forward, you can hear Keiko talking about her day. 

Included in the channel are:

TOS USS Enterprise Bridge 

TNG USS Enterprise-D Bridge (+ extended version which is an hour long)

TNG Ten Forward 

TNG USS Enterprise-D Engineering Warp Core

TNG Cargo Bay 

VOY USS Voyager Bridge 

VOY USS Voyager Engineering Warp Core

DS9 Infirmary 

DS9 Quark’s Bar (Busy Night)

DS9 Quark’s Bar (Slow Night)

DS9 Station OPS

Go forth and let your imagination soar, fellow officers (or foreign dignitaries, civilians, crew families, etc.)!

NOTE: I have just been informed that the crew conversations may sound similar to auditory hallucinations, so if you are prone to those, please proceed with caution! 

[autie-j]

Editing 100% done! I'm really proud of what I've made this time. This is probably the most ambitious one of my videos have been, particularly editing wise as I've done a lot of things that I've never attempted before. I have several video clips mixed in, one of Tom Kenny talking and a short clip from Spongebob. And I even have some royalty free background music that I got from YouTube music archive. It's something that I thought felt kind of oceany and a decent fit for the musical identity of spongebob, hopefully it complements the video instead of distracts from it. All of this is self taught so if anything feels amateurishly implemented keep in mind that this is new to me. Now I just need to make a thumbnail and I'm ready to upload! First video in well over a year, very exciting!

[sotogalmo]

2:56

More thoughts of Saturn :3

Saturn is a biology kid; born naturally. While her younger twin brothers were test tube babies (triton being sonic & comet. pluto being knuckles & comet. Comet is intersex. Saturn is the weird mix of all three parents, while triton and pluto are more,,, stable?? In their looks)

Saturn trains under grandpa Tom, but she really doesn't agree much with what he went thru and the whole police stuff- that's why she's a vigilante

I don't know if I said this before, but Saturn wears visual kei aesthetic clothes. A bit similar to Malice Mizer?? This one especially tho;

The one in black & orange from the thumbnail

Saturn has scars on her back; looking like she has lightning scars or so. But they are not lighting scars since she got them from Cinnabar (a vampire- Cinnabar is based on the song Sister's MercY! The two characters she's based on is,, Girlfriend from FnF, and Luka from Alnst. Instead of being another hedgehog and echidna, she's now just a bat. Just a bat- that's it. Moreso a vampire bat)

Saturn does have powers. She just likes to use guns (an item that has helped her deal with vampires. The bullets are very specialized silver bullets)

Funny thing. She was honestly,,, when I first drew her. She looked so much like Surge (basically a rip-off????). But now she's more,, Saturn then Surge👍

She has a very similar build to Knuckles! She has lots of muscle, and not too much fat to cover it all.

Brooo. If Saturn met other sonknux kids, she will flip so badly. She's an adult!!! The only one!!!(Minus her brothers who are just 2 yrs younger then her). The others are like. A kid(eclipse, I know how he looks but I don't remember his creator), a literal baby(the green echidna baby by @scribble0rat ), and a toddler (I don't remember the creator,,) !!! (Minus her brothers who are very young adults but still teens). She will bawl her eyes out and cry so badly

The only 20 year old kid in a pack full of actual little kids-

[lyrepyre]

""liveblogging"" the first 10mins of the newest tom scott :D

THIS IS A LONG POST (press J to skip post)

(liveblogging in the sense that its live but itll only be one post, i guess this is spoilers but its a tom scott video so not sure what i would spoil, i also know VERY LITTLE about the subject of the video so dont expect me to start making peer-reviewed opinions on the content, this is about the video not the telescope. GO WATCH THE VIDEO!!)

(when i mention tom scott or 'him' im probably talking about tom scott as a channel and not as a guy, a lot of work goes into these videos by multiple people)

starting off with the title. pretty normal for a modern tom scott although the asterisk is interesting, i cant remember the last time he's clarified in the title, normally when he makes a 'hyperbolic' claim he explains it within the first few seconds of the video (this is why people like to talk about how he always 'gets to the point'). i suppose you could say that him putting '(yet)' at the end of the explosion measure-rer video is similar but here it feels more like a "tom knows that this is pretty much wrong" instead of a "this is technically true and here's why". the thumbnail is also standard for modern tom scott, he's become more familiar with the modern youtube 'guy pointing at/admiring thing' format and here he does it again, with the subject of the video in the background as usual.

the first surprising part of the video for me is the length, HALF AN HOUR!!! every time tom makes a long video its normally one of his best (itll be alright on the night is my favourite and in my opinion the best tom scott video (yes i like it more than the video about the youtube sponsor video (the origin of the vape meme (its not actually a vape!)))). from the length alone i know that this is a video i'll enjoy and so i metaphorically grab popcorn etc

now the video actually starts! he starts with himself in protective gear which is standard for his videos (except from when he does the 'this isnt what i expected' preamble which:) he does! he clarifies the title (as usual with the pseudo-clickbait titles) and talks about how he prepared a script etc etc, for a long scott video this is surprising, these long videos take ages to make so if he throws out the script something is different. and then:

TITLECARD!!

a titlecard essentially screams that this video will be high-production and GOOD. seeing writing credits is especially nice, with recent videos we can see tom acknowledge that it isn't just him making these, with 'alright on the night' there was a long end credit and for years he's put credits at the end of his videos, but here it is at the start, with himself in the same typesize and on the same level as his editor and script assistant, with an awesome rotating drone shot around the telescope (i think i would prefer if it was a drone shot at sunset for continuity with the previous section, but obviously getting shots at any time of day he chooses would be infeasible)

sidenote to talk about the captions. tom gets a company to caption his videos for him (caption+ by js* the majority of the time but i wouldnt be surprised if for some videos he gets someone else to do it). the reason i brought up the captions is that for voice-over the captions are in italic, which gets annoying to read long sentences of (yes i know academic papers and whatnot but idrc!!), in other videos captions for sentences spoken directly from tom 'in scene' are normally prepended by a dash, and voiceover is given no formatting, or alternatively no formatting for voiceover and tom gets his own colour. this switchup isnt major but i think i would prefer if it wasnt in italic, as first reading the captions it made me wonder if there was some sort of special reason it was in italic except from simply being in voiceover, but it seems there isnt.

re: 'scientists love giving names to telescopes like that', seeing tom scott make jokes in his videos or at least add a bit of humour to them is always nice, sometimes i feel his videos have become a bit too corporate and i loved the old stuff where it felt more personal (please PLEASE a return of matt and tom's park bench), so hoping that more jokes/casual moments are in the video, maybe even a post-credits quip. however for subjects like this where these videos are likely to come up in professional/educational settings, i can see that it makes sense to actually keep things professional (think tom on computerphile/language files)

tom clarifying that the agencies had no editorial control is sort of a given with tom scott videos, but its nice for him to clarify. sometimes in the comments therell be some random who gets mad at tom getting paid to cover it and paint it in a good light or whatever so its good that he almost immediately clears it up.

the way tom scott shows road footage and explains how he found his way around the site/area (the latter pretty usual for an 'unscripted' video) reminds me heavily of cgp grey's video on the tekoi test range, although that video is more of a vlog, so i guess tom's video reminds me of a vlog? not sure if thats a good thing or not

the footage of him walking through the residence with pristine blue pools and deck chairs while the voiceover explicitly states that its not a hotel is very funny, although necessary because i can imagine someone with more money than sense seeing this footage and buying a plane ticket to this middle-of-nowhere site in the desert because they want to be 'with the stars'

speaking of!!: tom scott's pinned comment (as of day of release) is weirdly poetic, 'and the stars were beautiful' originally made me think that it was a quote from hitchhiker's or a poem, but a search showed that no, tom just knows how to paint stories in peoples minds (and thats amazing)

another sidenote to mention the camerawork! a lot of the subjects tom covers are set in places like urban europe or some business park in california or whatever (the switzerland ones seem to be an exception with tom going all out with the camerawork, see the shooting range, the village with no cars etc, why does tom like switzerland so much??) so when its set in a place that looks cool it really makes the video a lot more engaging and tbh more awesomer, i love the shot of the petrol station and the wide shots of the 'village'

the drone shot of the very large telescope is also great, with simple 1080p im surprised by the quality of the rocky surface, and with 4k it feels like a movie. tom then completely negates this with the most whiplash-inducing offcentre blurry zoom on the extremely large telescope, i understand he wanted to show the distance between the site and the telescope but i feel he couldve done better. he then (i think) reuses the rotating drone shot from the titlecard but i think its cool so i dont mind

also: tom is quite clearly filming the voiceover from either the uk or somewhere in europe or america, and it is painfully obvious that he was at home/in a hotel and went 'i need a nondescript place to shoot, this forest near me will do'. if i was good at geoguessing/osint/geocaching(?) i would find where this forest is but im not so the 'telescope voiceover forest' will forever be unknown :(

this video has chapters but im not going to pick up on them too much because its a long tom scott video, so of course therell be chapters. does make the video cooler though. what i will pick up on is the uv index sign, which i cant describe any more than it just 'fitting', theres this vibe around it that makes the quick succession of shots much better and i cant figure out why, maybe because its a clearly man-made thing among nature or because you have to pause and focus on what it is saying to read it, either way i like it.

..and theres the twist that explains the title. most tom scott videos with these sorts of titles will have a twist of some sort that isnt a complete lie but helps to "clarify" the truth, here it being that its actually multiple telescopes! (:O) these sorts of twists have become mainstays of toms content now so there really isnt much to say, other than that it was there i guess

moving on though we have the first interview (an actual mainstay of a tom scott video). again i cant say much about the content of the interview other than the fact that the interviewee is wearing an awesome hoodie, especially fitting for an astronomer. i can imagine him coming into work beaming that he gets to wear his space hoodie for his space job where he researches space. this man is GOALS. what i will say though is that the 8.2 metres wasn't converted to imperial, which is what tom normally does for measurements, so i'll be the saving grace and say that 8.2 metres = 968.50393701 barleycorn. thank me later. the interviewee's captions were in a different colour (yellow) which is standard, and makes it even funnier when the yellow switches to tom's white when he explains the mirror mistake.

tom making callbacks to previous videos is always nice, its something he's started quite recently, presumably with the channel slowing down, sort of a 'protagonist reflects on the adventures theyve had', it also appeals to people who have watched lots of tom scott (like myself >:])

something that happens when tom interviews a super-expert on a topic is when he rephrases something or observes something (here being the precision of the telescope) and the interviewee just sort of brushes it aside, with the interviewee affirming with what seems almost passive-agressive responses (here being the shortest 'yeah' ever). i get that tom phrases it like this for the viewers, or so that he can understand himself, but it must irk the expert when the guy interviewing you is surprised that optical telescopes have to be precise

tom's gopro skills have definitely improved over the years, but i think they may be too good now, as i can see toms finger trace the path between all of the points on the telescope. this is really cool but seeing toms finger in the corner of the screen with the narration makes it feel like an interactive cutscene in the last of us, i feel like i should have an option to pick whether to be nice or mean to tom.

i feel like ive mocked tom a bit too much so im going to instead compliment him on how good of an interviewer he is. the classic rephrase/observation that i mentioned earlier is a great way to ask questions that although he might know the answer to, the viewers might not and the content of the questions and the attention to detail is just great. whenever i have a question its less than 20 seconds later that tom makes an observation and the question is answered.

the pov at 8:36!!! again with the your choices matter rpg cutscene tom!! theres also another unconverted metric with 30cm and 60m but im not going to make the joke again (i think tom said in a q&a on the park bench that he may only convert imperial to metric and not vice versa? i looked for the clip and couldnt find it and also i wouldnt be able to include the barleycorn joke so whatever)

thats 10 minutes!! i was originally going to do the whole video but that might crash my browser and the video has less non-topic related things to pick up on. it also means that if you havent watched the video and for some weird reason you read this post you can watch the other 2/3 of it. if for some weirder reason you actually read me ramble about a tom scott video then good for you i guess?

[inter--cept]

well if you're counting YouTube, Tom's Refurb (the guy from the I CANT STOP BLOWING TRANNIES (transmissions) thumbnail)

if not, I'm in for a lot of cartoon violence because I last watched FLCL

I feel like tom is capable of solving most problems given enough M18 batteries, oxyacetylene, and welding rods

You are faced with some random problem and the only person who can help you is the main character from the last piece of media you consumed (you can also do favorite character if there are multiple main characters). You can stay in this universe or be in the universe of the character, whichever you prefer, but the problem remains the same and the only person who can directly help you is the main character. That character can call on the help of those they know in their media, but when it comes down to it, they are the only person really helping you. How do you react to this situation?

Spin to find out your problem:

[baronvonriktenstein]

Tom & Jerry starring Mrs. Garrett and uhh a guy I recognize singing about money and there's a fat dog on a skateboard (Yes I did watch this on youtube just now, it started me ona whole thing so it jogged my memory but the thumbnail specifically was something I remembered anyway which IS why I watched it in the first place a couple years ago)

only remembering the most bullshit bits of movies I watched as a kid

Lady walking up gold coins stairs in a song sequence. Kid crying on a drawing. fat dog on skateboard I've talked about this before. Re: last post, Little Nemo

I remember a squishy key. I watched it a lot as a kid, I remember squishy key that is IT