#lots of tom in these thumbnails

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

beastlife: skyfall session 2 is up now!

[scuderiasundays]

chili’s angels

summary: carlos can’t say no to his little girls, leaving him with some explaining to do on media day + a little insta au at the end 🌶️

words: 806

a/n: this one was in my drafts for a while but i brought it out for @thatsdemko and all the dad! carlos girlies out there. i know there are a lot of you! tagging @vamossainz55, @sainzcaleruega, @monzabee, and @diorleclerc just because. feedback is much appreciated as always. hugs and kisses 🫶🏼

When Y/N found out she was pregnant with twin girls, Carlos was over the moon. He had been raised by a vivacious mother and alongside two sisters, who despite driving him mad as a child, had become his closest confidantes. Carlos stopped wearing the Tom Ford cologne you once loved when it started to trigger your nausea. He rushed to a nearby drive-through at midnight solely to satisfy your craving for fries and a milkshake. And when your shoelaces needed tying, he was always there to help.

“I feel like I’m asking way too much of you,” you spoke. He smiled and gently caressed your growing belly. "Never, mi amor. Taking care of you and our girls is my purpose now," he said tenderly. "You're an amazing mom already, and I can't wait to see our daughters grow up with the same strength and love that you have."

You had held off on naming the twins because you strongly felt you owed it to your daughters to meet them and get an actual feel for their energies. Together, you spent an evening brainstorming a list of potential names, Carlos voicing a particular preference for their names starting with the same letter. Labor proved to be more challenging than anyone had ever prepared you for, leaving you drained once it was over. Carlos cradled the newborns in his arms, softly uttering their names, "Melina" and "Mila," while his gaze shifted from one little face to the other.

Flash forward, and your twin daughters thought the world of their dad. You loved getting to see Carlos in a new light, your love for him only growing as you watched him interact with your girls. "Can we go outside and play? Please!" Melina and Mila were like the Energizer Bunny times two on the rare weekends when Carlos was home. Although he rarely said no to them, they were both feeling under the weather, so he shook his head. "How about we stay inside and do some drawing?" he suggested.

"Can we paint your nails? Mamá always lets us," the girls asked, their eyes widening as they edged closer to him. Carlos paused for a moment, thinking, what harm could it do? Eventually, he nodded in agreement. The girls knew exactly where their mother kept her nail polish kit and eagerly fetched the equipment. "We have Barbie pink and Ferrari red, just like our cars," Melina said, holding up the bottles with her pudgy fingers. "Mama wears the red one when we watch you drive on TV," Mila chimed in. He assumed Melina was referring to the little toy LaFerraris he had bought the girls on their birthday. He loved watching the girls as they raced in their garden, a tangible sign they had inherited his passion for cars.

"What's that thing you always say, Papá? For the Ferrari?" Mila looked up at her dad with chocolate brown eyes. "Forza Ferrari, mija," Carlos replied. Before he could even pick a color, Melina grabbed his hand and started painting his thumbnail bright red. The girls both had a hard time staying within the lines, so Carlos took it upon himself to clean up the edges. After they were done, he was instructed to place each hand under the UV lamp. He couldn’t help but wonder if the nail polish would come off easily later, but he soon noticed the excitement of being nail artists had worn the twins out. He picked them up and gently laid them down for a nap.

As Carlos boarded his flight to Hungary, he realized that his red manicure was not coming off without a fight. He absentmindedly picked at his nails, silently wishing his wife had been there to offer him the mini nail file she always carried. With media day approaching, he knew that people would definitely pick up on his vibrant nails.

"Nice nails, Carlos. Whose handiwork is this?" Natalie, a familiar face, pointed at his hands with a smile. Carlos chuckled and replied, "Oh, this masterpiece? My twin daughters painted them. I just don’t know how to say no to those two." He shrugged, shaking his head.

"Well, here they are to say hello.” The TV presenter had organized a surprise Zoom call with Y/N and Carlos' daughters, who had been nicknamed "Chili’s Angels" by his fans.

"Buenos días, mis hijas. I hope you're feeling better," he greeted them, waving at the camera. Melina proudly held up her mom's hand, showcasing her red nails. "Look! You and Mamá match now!" she exclaimed. Carlos winked at his wife, grateful for the little moment of connection despite the distance.

"Forza Ferrari, Papá!" Mila squealed, waving goodbye. ���They really are my angels, all three of them,” he thought, setting off a mental countdown of days until he was back in their arms again.

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

liked by yourusername, landonorris, and 57,575 others

carlossainz55: life is sweeter with my angels. hope i’m making you proud 🫶🏼

yourusername: we’re so lucky to have you! you just had to choose THAT photo of mila scarfing down her pizza? clearly my genes 🍕🤤

fan1: chili’s angels merch when? i swear i will buy it ALL

landonorris: ask melly and milly who their favorite uncle is and i’ll let you by at the start on sunday!

carlossainz55: “come over, uncle lando! we can paint your nails orange.” - melina & mila sainz

anasainzvdec: the most adorable nieces an aunt could wish for ❤️

scuderiaferrari: when mila said “forza ferrari” in an interview this morning! who’s cutting the damn onions?

fan2: carlos and @yourusername are starting them off young 🥹

[tomriddlehyperfixataion]

The Diary of Tom Riddle- Tom Riddle x Reader - Canon Complaint ending.

pairing: Tom riddle x Fem reader

warnings: Horcruxes, Manipulation, Tom being Tom, side effects of being possessed, bleeding, self-harm, vomiting, (y/n) is going THROUGH it. horror elements. Tom Riddle.

summary: 16-year-old (y/n) finds a mysterious black book on the floor of after it slips out of Ginny Weasleys caldron, curious, she picks it up and keeps it-which leads to one thing after another and discovers the book is far more than it seems.

-Part 1- -Part 2- -Part 3- -Part 4- -Part 5- -Part 6- -Part 7- -"Good" ending- -Bad ending-

=

(y/n) huffed in frustration as she looked through the restricted section for the third night in a row, constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure Filch or Madam Pince wouldn’t catch her.

Tom had told her to look for a few particular books that were filled with information about possession and how to expel it, but it seemed there was nothing in Hogwarts about that sort’ve thing oddly enough.

Explaining such a thing to Tom seemed to puzzle him, as in his years of school, he was quite certain the library had those sorts of books.

‘might’ve been because of the war and demons or possessive spirits were more rampant back then. Now that the world is in a peaceful era, there’s no need for those type of books.’

Tom had reasoned and (y/n) had to concede, because back then-during World War two and the uprising of Grindelwald, there had been a lot more to the defensive classes at Hogwarts, like full dueling classes and multi hour-long sessions of DADA.

How did she know that? Simple research in ‘Hogwarts a history’. That and she’d asked Tom.

She huffed in frustration again as she once again didn’t find the books she was looking for, leaving the library and sneaking back to her dorm room, carefully stepping back into her room-making sure not to wake up her roommates, and toeing off her shoes, climbing into her bed. She closed the curtains and grabbed Tom’s diary from her jumper pocket, grabbing her pen and opening the diary.

“I still couldn’t find anything :c”

‘Damn, not even the locked books?’

“no, nothing about ghosts other than how they’re created, but that stuff was in the normal part of the library.”

(y/n) sighed in frustration, rubbing her face as her inked words faded and Tom’s elegant scrawl replaced it.

‘I have an idea. I don’t know if it’ll work, but in my era-those types of books were available in the library, perhaps they’ll be available here.’

(y/n) bit her thumbnail, knowing what he was suggesting. Her going back into his subspace, all for the slim chance of possibly getting her hands on information to expel a possession. It was risky, because her going into his space meant either her using up a lot of her magic and leaving her vulnerable, or him using his limited supply of magic and being unable to communicate with her for a few days.

But it was a risk she would have to take.

“okay. Lets try.”

In a flash of familiar light and a tug at her wrists, (y/n) was within Tom’s diary once again. She felt his arms wrap around her as she landed and after a split moment of looking into his sepia-toned eyes, he took her hand and led her to the library, easily unlocking the restricted section with a wave of his hand.

She quickly pushed through the gates and looked through the books from Tom’s era. There were thankfully all titled, which meant the core Tom, the one who had enchanted his personality onto the diary, had remembered these books before casting the spell.

She grabbed one of the books titled ‘possessions and reanimations’ and the lock melted away like ink, and she glanced over her shoulder Tom-who was watching her like a hawk, his eyes intense. She swallowed down the feeling of nervousness and opened the book.

It was completely fucking. Blank.

She let out a low scream/shriek of frustration and shoved the book back into the shelf, looking through the other books as well. All empty.

“There's nothing here!” (y/n) cried, sinking to the floor, burying her face in her knees. Tom frowned, looking up at the shelves.

“Odd, I suppose I don’t remember these books as I thought I did, I apologize (y/n), I’ve wasted your time.” Tom said very softly, kneeling beside her and resting his hand on her head. (y/n) let out a long shuddering sigh, letting her legs slide out in front of her, her nose burning as tears built in her eyes.

“What am I going to do?” she whispered to herself, she had no one to talk about this to in the real world, and Tom could only do so much. Tom hummed softly and sat next to her, his foot knocking against hers gently.

“I wish I could do more,” he said softly and (y/n) let out another long shuddering sigh, sniffling and wiping at her eyes.

What was she going to do?

Moments later, Tom booted her from the diary-she understood why-her being there drained a lot of magic from him-or well her it seemed today, as her nose was bleeding again.

She sighed, wiping her nose and closing Tom’s diary, putting it under her pillow. She felt jittery, too nervous to go to sleep-worried that the heir might try to possess her again tonight while she slept.

Still, she lay down, hands going under her pillow, connecting with the diary and she clutched it, taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes. The diary was warm under her hands, it felt alive-reminding her that Tom was there-practically real, as real as a personality enchantment could get.

She fell asleep, thankfully waking up in her bed. She sighed, rubbing her face and tired eyes, grabbing Tom’s diary from under her pillow and slipping it into her bag as she got ready for the day.

At breakfast she was distracted, trying to figure out what she was going to do, her friends tried to ask what was wrong, noticing how out of it she was, but she told them she was just stressed from exams coming up and the whole chamber of secrets situation.

They understood and let her be after that, but each time she passed one of them on the way to class, they gave her a little smile or hug, which she greatly appreciated.

By the time classes were done, (y/n) was exhausted, like, super exhausted, she could barely keep her eyes open, and her eyes were almost hurting with how tired she was, which was unusual because she’d slept fine the night before.

She climbed into her bed, not even taking her shoes off, and passed out.

-

‘Get up.’

A voice in her head echoed, and without her will, she sat up, her mind still a haze as if in sleep-unaware of what she was doing. She slowly slipped off her bed, grabbing Tom’s diary from her bag, and walking out of her room.

In a daze, she left the common room, not responding to anyone that greeted her as she walked past. Her vision was dim, a hazy unconscious glaze in her eyes as she walked down the corridors. She went up several flights of stairs, passing by a teacher or two on her way, paying them no mind-and they didn’t seem to pay her any mind either.

She went to the 2nd floor corridor, just in front of the haunted girl's bathrooms.

She drew up her sleeve, raking her nails down her arm until she bled, and then coated her fingers in her blood, extending her arm to the wall and writing down the words that were muttered in her head.

She stepped away as the last letter was written, her arms hanging limply at her side, Tom’s diary clutched in her other hand. She turned her heel and walked into the bathroom, stopping in front of the sink and looking at the one just in front of her.

“Open.” She said in parseltongue, and the sink transformed, revealing a large hole beneath the sinks that led deep beneath Hogwarts.

She jumped without a moment of hesitation, the sinks closing back together and sealing the tunnel once again. The wind blew through her hair and at her face as she descended through the tunnel, hitting the slimy floor as she flew out the other side. She got up, making sure Tom’s diary was still in her hands, and continued through the tunnels, not even taking out her wand for light.

She went through several tunnels, crawled through a cave, and finally turned into a hallway with a dead end, two snakes curled up around each other with emeralds for eyes, which glinted at her eerily.

“Open.” She said in parseltongue again and the snakes' eyes glowed and they moved, a split in the wall appearing and opening the doors inward. She entered the chamber of secrets, her shoes splashing on the flooded flooring as she made her way towards the statue of Salazar Slytherin.

She took a breath, and then slumped to the floor, Tom’s diary resting on her chest as her vision went completely black again, a wet hot feeling coming from her nose as footsteps echoed around her.

-

She felt a sudden rush of energy as warmth overcame the coldness that had overtaken her and she gasped, her eyes snapping open just as a bright light engulfed the chamber, a strange visage of Tom disappearing at the same time-exploding into bright golden light.

She sat up, staring at the space where she just saw Tom, panting heavily as she turned, looking behind her to see…Harry Potter? Who looked pale and weak, the diary in front of him…bleeding ink.

“What…the fuck?” (y/n) murmured to herself, gently grabbing the diary, Harry frowning a bit as he did so.

“He was manipulating you,” Harry began to explain, sounding weaker and weaker by the second. “He was slowly possessing you, draining your life to gain his back…” (y/n)’s heart dropped at the explanation, her eyes glued to the diary that had a hole stabbed through it, a fang in Harry’s hand with blood and ink all over it.

“But…he,” (y/n) muttered, tears filling her eyes as the diary slipped from her hands and into the water below. “He…” she didn’t know what to say, her eyes drifting back up to Harry, gasping as she saw how beaten he really looked. “Shit-kid-what the fuck happened to you?” she asked, scooting closer on her knees, looking at his arm, her eyes widening at the large bite wound. “What did that?!”

Harry looked to the side and (y/n) followed his gaze, gasping as she saw a giant serpent, a basilisk, lying dead nearby. “You killed that thing?” she asked, and Harry nodded, pointing weakly at the sword next to him. “…holy shit kid,” she muttered, her brows pinched.

Harry was looking weaker by the second and she remembered basilisk venom was very very deadly; Harry would be dead at any second. “Shit we gotta get you outta here-fuck how do we get out of here?!” (y/n) panicked for a moment and then a screech came from above, Dumbledore’s familiar, Fawkes, came soaring from above and landed next to Harry, tears dropping from his eyes and onto Harry’s wound.

Harry smiled as he felt the venom in his veins disappear, his energy returning. “Phoenix tears have healing properties,” Harry muttered, smiling at (y/n), who gave a weak unsure smile in return.

They got to their feet, (y/n) clutching the diary as Harry collected the sorting hat (she wasn’t going to question anything right now) and the sword that had killed the basilisk.

They exited the chamber of secrets, finding Ron and the dumbass Lockhart (it lifted her spirits a bit to know he was a fraud and a coward and had lost all his memories, he kinda deserved it). After that Fawkes found a way out through the caves and air-lifted them all out, Audrey hanging onto Lockhart's ankle while Harry and Ron held onto her hand.

(y/n) clutched the diary in her hand as they made their way to Professor McGonagall’s office, and Harry pushed open the door. (y/n) felt her heart stutter seeing her mom, dad, and brothers, dropping Tom’s diary to the floor as her parents gasped out her name and she was engulfed in a hug.

She leaned heavily into her dad, sobbing terribly as he held her tight.

It was over.

Tom had tricked her.

He had lied to her the whole time.

Stupid fucking personality enchantment.

-

She was sitting in front of Headmaster Dumbledore, her arms crossed as she slumped in the chair in front of his desk, his eyes on her, kind and understanding.

“I do not blame you, Ms. (y/n), Mr. Riddle has always been charming, even when he was younger. You are not at fault for falling for those charms, especially when he so dutifully leaned into being your friend and pretending to be one.” Dumbledore said kindly and (y/n) let out a shuddering sigh, wiping away her tears.

She felt physically better than she’d had in months, months; ever since the diary had been destroyed, which was laid in front of her on Dumbledore’s desk, and now she knew why she hadn’t been feeling well. That didn’t mean she felt emotionally or mentally well.

Tom had been behind it all, Tom…Voldemort; had tricked her, gained her trust, and used it against her to slowly drain her life force from her to be able to resurrect himself as his 16-year-old self.

“When I look back on everything,” she spoke quietly, voice cracking and wavering as she remembered every conversation with Tom, all the gaps in her memory, all the times she’d woken up somewhere not in her bed, all the nightmares-how Tom seemed to know far more than she ever told him.

“I just feel so…stupid, it was all so obvious,” (y/n) mumbled, a sob breaking her sentence as she closed her eyes. “But he felt so…real, so genuine… but he was just lying to me all along.” (y/n) said weakly, burying her face in her hands.

“Tom Riddle was a very smart, charming boy who knew how to get what he wanted, regardless of what he had to do to get it. He even tricked me, and I could never prove when he was responsible for certain things that he did around the school-I believed he had been the one to open the chamber of secrets, as he had shared with me he could speak to snakes when I first met him, and I knew only those descended from the Slytherin line could do that, and yet I knew he had fooled everyone else to believe he was a charming, good boy, that could do no wrong. He did the same thing to you, and I refuse to let you believe you were tricked because you’re stupid. No, you were tricked because he’s too smart, and used your feelings for his own gain.” Dumbledore said softly, standing from his desk and walking around it, resting a hand on (y/n)’s head.

(y/n) sniffled and lifted her head, staring at Dumbledore who offered a kind understanding smile. “You are not at fault for what he did, you are a victim.” Dumbledore said softly and (y/n) nodded, understanding that, but it didn’t mean she still wasn’t blaming herself for getting caught up in Tom Riddles, young Voldemort’s, lies.

“I think Im going to go take a proper nap, Professor Dumbledore.” (y/n) said softly and Dumbledore nodded, allowing her to leave. She glanced back at Tom’s diary as she opened the door, and then closed it behind her, leaving the diary behind as well.

-CC ending.-

welp-here it is! hope you guys like this ending as well as the 'good' ending, took me oddly a long time to write, hopefully i can at least write the bad ending out before i leave for vacation, but in the meantime, you guys have this to read~!

taglist!

@dracosslxt4eva @dream-your-own-way @slaggylemon

@slytherinbackintomyroom @starryhiraeth @larallott

@kayytt-2 @chimchoom @joyfulnightmare-hq

@theicypiscean @discofairysworld @simpforih44

[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!

[rou-luxe]

as the certified #1 Alfons enjoyer, could I get your opinion?

so I've been listening to your alfons playlist (it's really good) but I'm also making one for myself that has more songs I'm into as well, and I was wondering if "chosen" by dua saleh fits him? I only know him from the eng server (and a few translations), so I would like an expert opinion before I commit to adding it.

only if you have the time or want to check it out, that is!

NAH MY BROWSER BROKE TRYING TO ANSWER THIS ASK

HELP... I'M THE #1 ALFONS ENJOYER NOW... 😭😭 AND I'M BEING CONSULTED FOR THIS... HEKJFKDHVKDLFJ

oooo you're making a playlist too??? could you send it once you're done 😇

ngl I'm from english server too (I know a bit of JP but I'm lazy 💀). checking this out right now. I am always free for Alfons research... I'm going insane...

about the song you mentioned - the verdict is go ahead 👍 I'd say it is more about him in a general way. says a lot about intoxication and the thrill. but honestly if I'm not sure I go pull up the lyrics and do an analyzation before deciding 💀💀

I forgot to make the thumbnails for the other LIs to publish the playlists thank you for reminding me 🌝

rambling under cut

my irl said "you probably think the alfons playlist is a masterpiece don't you? 😔"

I didn't think much of it at the time

Until I went on a listening marathon

speaking of my choice in songs for these playlists... it usually includes (examples from alfons playlist) - LI singing to MC - MC singing to LI (I would like to point out "KOE" - ASCA and "MEMORIA" - Eir Aoi. The main songs out of place. These songs are mainly about grief and loss, or forgetting someone / something. Alfons' MC, post-curse.) - joke / troll songs / inside jokes especially in alfons'. more hidden though. (Tom Lehrer is the most obvious) - vibe of LI - music mainly (eg. Chogakusei, "Loveit?") - vibe of LI - lyrics only. sometimes these songs don't really fit the LI musically but we cope

usually when making character playlists I keep these playlists to myself or just leave them public but never mention them publically like on tumblr - my brain works differently and I understand every little reference but that means I'd need to explain these playlists 💀💀

there are few songs that I feel suit them perfectly in both music and lyrics. these songs tend to be near the top of the playlist. however - due to certain headcanons occupying my brain recently about Alfons' curse, some songs feel out of place

some songs made me curl up and cry when in alfons context specifically - "House of Memories" - P!ATD - "Flight of the Crows" - Jhariah - "KOE" - ASCA - "MEMORIA" - Eir Aoi

there will be an explanation for alfons' at some point... not now though irl life is getting pretty busy

[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-

[aokozaki]

I don't know if anyone else will agree, but I really hate this whole "anti-clickbait" thumbnail/title combos a lot of science communication youtubers are trying to go with.

Veritasium says they've been experimenting with multiple titles/thumbnails in the early hours of a video going live, and using that data to fine tune how they do it. And that just feels like looking at random noisy data and trying to draw conclusions - nobody knows how the Youtube algorithem works and I refuse to believe you've figured it out.

But the biggest loss for me is with Tom Scott. Instead of videos being clearly branded with "Amazing Places" or "Things You Might Not Know" it's all just... this. Which sucks especially because he went back to old videos to update them to this style too.

I almost don't want to click on the new videos out of spite. Especially since I don't know what the "Shweeb" is and this title/thumbnail doesn't really make me want to know.

It's a glider or something I guess? And they gave it money and you don't know why, Mr. Scott? Then why should I care why?

[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?

[pulpatoon]

Joel,

Have you ever thought about doing anything more with Onion Jack? That was one of my favorite comics ever!

Wanna hear how Onion Jack came about? I was sweating a deadline which required me to make a four-page story over one weekend—from thumbnails to finished inks to lettering. I was feeling pretty stressed about getting it done. Then, AdHouse contacted me to see if I could do something for their Free Comic Book Day issue, also by the end of the weekend. An eight-page something. Twelve start-to-finish pages in one weekend! That's nothing compared to Jack Kirby, but it was a lot more than my usual output. Hence stick figures and superhero gags. I scheduled one-hour per page, skipped any prep, and drew the final art one-panel at a time, hoping it would come out to eight pages.

Anyway, I don't think there's any more story to tell with Onion Jack, but I should really think about telling more stories in that sort of manic-blur approach. I did the same thing for The Preposterous Adventures of IronHide Tom the following year, and I liked the way it turned out, too.

Thanks for asking after Onion Jack! It's nice to reminisce.

[theoristwiki]

Wiki Updates Nov 20th-Dec 22nd

Staff Updates:

Welcome another admin, Sidfurry153! Sid has helped us a lot with episode and thumbnail additions! (This will probably be the last staff addition for a while)

The Theorist Wiki YT is still getting new playlists, and we've started to put Theorist intros on there(more info on that below)

The Wiki Staff page has been remade so that it's not in the old broken format. All staff is on that page, anyone else is not a moderator. Contact any staff on their message boards if needed!

We now have affiliated wikis. Currently, our only affiliate is the Markplier wiki- UPDATE: Before we published this, we got a 2nd affiliate, the Random Encounters wiki. continuation of OG version: -but there could be more in the future. In the meantime, check out the Markiplier wiki(and Random Encounters wiki) if you want to!

New Pages:

Luke Barats(former Food Theory creative director)

GTLive 2025 Episodes(made in preparation)

Dad Feels ARG (complete list of MatPat/Team Theorist appearances)

St Jude Charity Livestreams/The Game Theory $1,000,000 Challenge for St. Jude! (created subpages for each year)

MatPat's 5 ARG Rules

Dreams and Demure (Lorefi Album)

Edited Pages

Amazon Prime Game Theory Episode Guide (completed thanks to Chikoritaboy11)

Game Theory Charity Livestream for Mental Health

Undertale Charity Stream for Hurricane Relief in Texas

Science Blaster/Intro Sequences(The intros are being uploaded onto the Wiki YT. We uhh haven't done too much. More soon!)

Matthew Patrick (updated up to 2018)

Stephanie Patrick

Santi Massa

Lee

Tom Robinson

Ryder Burgin (minor edit)

Oliver Patrick (minor edits)

GTLive Season 8

Game Theory

Poppy is pulling ALL the Strings

Poppy Playtime's New Villain FOOLED You!

You are NOT the hero of Poppy Playtime

Film Theory

Only One Thing Can Save Moana

Animator vs animation lore will make you cry

Baby Shark is Adopted…no really!

Don't Trust a Rat

Food Theory

Coke May Disappear Forever?!

How Nicocado Avocado TRICKED the Entire Internet

How to Brew the Perfect cup of Coffee at Home

I'm so Hungry I could Eat a Horse…But for Real Though!

Is Expensive Water ACTUALLY worth it?

The true cost of winning $1,000,000 at McDonalds

Why did Five Guys Get so Expensive

I found the #1 Gas Station in America

I cooked a steak in a DRYER…and it WORKED!

Why is Everyone going BACK to Chilis?

Style Theory

Fallout's Vault Suit

I Tested TikTok's VIRAL Makeup Filter Does it Work?

I Tested Anti-Anxiety and Stress Fashion

Color Seasons are a Complete Lie!

This shirt can protect your identity

[jackwatters]

CHILDREN'S SONG BOOK DEVELOPMENT.

Starting off this assignment I already have the sort of songs I want in mind. All of these songs will be more geared towards being "Child Friendly" rather than specifically targeting children, just for more flexibility in terms of options. It makes this assignment a lot more fun.

SETTING UP THE INDESIGN DOCUMENT: - A5 size 1754 x 2480 px - 12 Pages

CHOICES:

Are We Getting Any Closer - Songs Ohia Why? It's a pretty mellow song about getting close to somebody.

Place to Be - Nick Drake Why? This song is more poem like than the previous, it's more suited to these sorts of books. I would've just filled the book with nick drake songs, but I think having a wide array of different styles and approaches keeps the book fresh.

Potato Knishes - Ryan Dorin Why? This is an extremely surreal song that's just fun to think about, and it's about as non-sensical as some actual children's songs. The song itself is really weird and awesome, inspired by dadaism it takes advantage of a completely uncanny visual style to make an impact. I want to include the scene from the music video into my image.

Underground - Tom Waits Why? It's another absurd song, but it's much more grounded. It paints a clear image into your mind, which will be quite easy to put into an actual image for the book itself.

V. UNIVERSE - The Microphones Why? It's a song that helps you grasp the universe's immense expanse, and it reads like a really sweet kids rhyme. The song itself is something else (super atmospheric and scary), I wouldn't play that song to children, but I would read it's lyrics out to children.

Visualizing Each Song:

General Visual Style: For general visual style I want to think about what would appeal to a kid. OR firstly, I should probably think about what wouldn't.

No: - Visually Complex Images (because children are more likely to attach themselves to simple, approachable characters made from simple shapes). - Gore/Violent Images (obviously) - Sharp Shapes (rounded shapes are more appealing)

Yes: - Animal Characters (people aren't interesting to children, animals are much more appealing via their cute/coolness). -Simple, Vibrant Colours (Keeping things simple and visually eye-catching will appeal the most to children). - Fantasy Imagery/Abstract Imagery (Not everything has to be grounded, kids aren't picking apart all the aspects of these images, so making them visually interesting over keeping them grounded is probably the best option). A design style I want to specifically evoke is that of Scott Benson:

^I love his appealing and simple style and think it would work well in a children's book. TITLE PAGE DESIGN: I've made sure to paint all of these images in photoshop (illustrator for the vector images) with A5 sized canvases to match the InDesign file.

Here's a thumbnail I drew for the Title Page (Front Cover). I want the words to look like they're coming out of the trumpet the cat is playing. In terms of colours I'm Thinking about using orange/blue/pink, an unusual pallet, but I think it will work. I don't want to use any sorts of greens unless I absolutely have to cause it'll clash poorly.

Here's the final image. I think this palette works quite well, so I might just roll with it for the rest of the designs.

I've made sure to keep this document multilayered, adding as many layers as I could just so I can control all the aspects of the image.

^ Something to point out about this background I painted in photoshop is that I specifically designed it so it had depth and also vaguely looked like a city, just foggy. It lifts up the image quite a bit, looking more dynamic.

These abstractions exist just to fill space. The composition needed something, and I remembered that a lot of jazz album covers from the 50s utilize abstract art. So I just borrowed that idea for my own composition.

^This being one example POTATO KNISHES DESIGN

Here's the thumbnail I drew for Potato Knishes. It's heavily inspired by the video for the song.

^A screen shot from the music video (and yes, when I said surreal, I meant it). I felt like moving towards a more realistic interpretation of the character would go over better with kids. The character depicted in both the music video and my design is called Little King John, and he's lonely, so I tried to capture that here.

^This is my final design, I feel like it will pop against a good background. I'm quite proud of this, it really depicts the character of the lonely little king with only potato knishes to keep him company, all captured within this one image. Not having to explain much through the song. I think I want to make these images like that, with characters who are apart of the images that represent the songs. It's much more fun that way, and it's visually interesting for kids. When I was a kid, I remember that a lot of my favourite picture books would be the ones which depict a scene without text, one that implies something, it sparks the imagination. Obviously I have to include text here, but I want to lean into sparking the imagination of the reader. UNDERGROUND DESIGN

^This design for Tom Waits' underground depicts a group of moles living underground playing poker while a cat person above listens to what's going on underground by using a cup to amplify the sound. The inspiration for this is Tom Waits' curiosity for moles, so I thought it would be fitting to have the image depict them.

This final design is quite good. It properly visualizes an interesting scene that compliments the song.

UNIVERSE DESIGN

^UNIVERSE is a very unusual song. It hasn't much strong imagery within the lyrics themselves, but I based this design on the feeling I get when experiencing the totality of the lyrics. The magical wonder of the universe specifically is definitely inspiriting, and when listening to the song I imagine myself on a field looking up into the sky at night taking in it's sheer size.

^I've changed the design quite a lot from the thumbnail/concept sketch. I wanted to mix up the character a bit, taking a dog instead of a cat (too many cats already). I've also aimed to make a face in the sky with the moon as an eye, reflecting that lyric in the song itself "Oh, Universe, I see your face looks just like mine!". This design specifically evokes fantastical themes, which I like a lot. It's a consistent theme currently, so yeah.

PLACE TO BE: VECTOR DESIGN #1

^ Vector Images are much more complex and difficult to pull off than the raster images I've been creating in Photoshop. For Place to Be I'm just going with a simplistic design.

Here I've utilized the Copy + Paste tool and the Reflect tool (O) to mirror the head shape for symmetry.

^This is my vector image. It's quite different, and it's hard to replicate the style I've been using in a vector image, so it's going to be a stylistic whiplash unfortunately, but it gets a idea across. A sad dog missing all the things he had, or a dog dreaming about the things he could have. Are We Getting Any Closer? VECTOR IMAGE #2

^Here I'm going for something Simplistic and easy to make. I'm running out of time. Since this is a song about getting closer to somebody, I am going to make that literal.

^This final design is simple, and gets an idea across.

MAKING THE INDESIGN BOOK

Numbered Pages:

^Just adding numbered pages to the document via the parent pages.

^All the songs are in including this contents page.

For the Title Page, I've researched this way of getting curved text. First, I make an invisible circle object, then I change the text tool to the "Type on a Path" tool which allows me to type on the curve on the circle.

^The raster image quality isn't great, I'll change that in the preferences.

^Changing the image quality.

^changing the colour of the pages. I might change them to a darker colour later.

^These are generally where I want the images to be in the compositions. I've also added some filler space where needed with the vector images with backdrop raster images.

^I've adjusted the parent pages with these pink borders I whipped up in photoshop. The frame really brings together a lot of the images and centers the eyes a bit more and fills a bit more space. I've also centered and lowered the size of the page numbers.

[sailsinstorms]

Legacy of the Girls - Part 5

Let's continue reading, shall we?

So Power Conservation Day finally ended, not long before HarvestFest ended. So I quickly had Molly toss together a grand meal. She still seems to dislike Radley even though they're literally having a conversation right now. And yes, you'd be right to notice that she's making something salmon based. And Radley is a vegetarian.

Molly: Time for dinner losers! Get the hell down here!

Radley: *notices Molly staring at her* Did you... is there fish in this? Molly: *nods slowly and stares* Radley was definitely sick after eating that. Poor kiddo. To be fair that's my fault. I forgot she was vegetarian. 

So… in this scene we have a household bonding session watching some good old-fashioned Brokeback Mountain. And Radley and Molly bonding over their desire to either A) Beat each other up — or B) Beat up the lecherous perv staring through the window. I should really invest in some curtains…

I don't know what Loren was doing "at work" today. It must have been some kind of commercial. But she came home in this cute af space get-up. I love it. She looks so cool! She passed out not long after this photo, but it was worth it.

Since Winter is in the doctor career that requires me to go to work with her every now and again. So today, we're going to accompany Winter to the hospital. Let's go!

Winter: I'm so excited to be here! I love helping people! Nurse: Go vacuum the supply closet.

Winter: Flat foot Syndrome is very common in Sims. I'm sure we can fix you. Child: Really Miss? Winter: There's a mod for everything. <3

I don't know about you guys but the constant stream of patients lining up in the waiting room is a constant source of stress for me. It's literally impossible to get to them all, let alone treat them all, and I always feel bad for them.

Caught this kid taking selfies of his mad gunz while some perv checks him out. It's nice to know the drama continues at the hospital as well.

Meanwhile, back at the lot, Radley and Solar are on the same work schedules.

So they leave at the same time and finish at the same time and often get promoted at the same time. Whenever they get home together they're often miserable.

Molly is up to her usual mischief shenanigans. I always assume that whenever she's pranking the toilet she's just putting glad wrap across the bowl. At least the girls are constantly improving their handiness skills whenever a toilet malfunctions.

SOLAR! Seriously, who is this man!?

Oh my God! The Peeping Tom guy is watching Solar and her man through the window and beating one out at the same time! I should have invested in those curtains I always said I was going to get but never did!

I really need to do something about this guy!

Here's a little more of Loren practicing her acting skills. I love watching her do this. It's so cute.

Winter: Mya! Please baby, come down from up there? I'll give you treats and cuddles?!

These two adore each other. Winter loves no man more than she loves her feline friend <3

Since Winter is always studying medical related things and she's very ambitious she's often wanting to get focused or skill up. I love her thumbnail whenever she's focused. Almost as much as I love Loren's "scared" thumbnail.

AH YES! IT'S THE DAY IVE BEEN WAITING FOR! WHERE IS THE SERIAL PEEPING OFFENDER!?

There he is, loitering at my back door.

Molly: Hey shithead! You're disgusting! Get off my lawn! Tom: It's a free neighborhood. I'll stand where I want! You don't have fences or curtains! Who's fault is that!?

Get 'im, Molly! Give him an uppercut! I don't know what wrestling moves are, but knock him out!

YEAH SHE WON! Atta girl! (I made her beat him up a few more times after this just to reaffirm their status as enemies)

Elsewhere, Loren is fighting random's in the street.

Loren: I can see that you're pregnant. So even though it's Neighourhood Brawl Day, I'm gonna let you walk away Miss Landgraab. Nancy: Thank you?

The next chapter is the Festival of Snow! *hearteyes*

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