#maybe in December 2023 at the earliest

[sunshineandlyrics]

Tweeted 8 November 2023 x (rumour)

So it could happen during the 2023/24 academic year.

Louis will be part of the Speaker Sessions organized by The DU Law Society at Trinity College Dublin - 12.09

[sleepanonymous]

Hi, I was wondering if you knew when Vessel started 'dancing' on stage? I'm pretty sure he started doing in in the late Sundowning-ish era/ TPWBYT era but I thought you'd probably be the best person to ask about finding videos from when he started dancing.

Oooh this is an interesting rabbit hole, thanks for asking Anon 🖤

So... I guess it depends on what you mean by dancing, because Vessel has always sort of moved on stage, you know? But what he did back then and what he's doing now is completely different. Like... maybe a better word for what he used to do is "writhing." The earliest video of a ritual I've seen of Sleep Token's was their third ritual in (what I'm assuming is) late 2017, and "writhing" is probably the best word for what Vessel was doing on stage (and I say that affectionately/respectfully).

TLDR; Conclusively I would say Vessel started dancing, as we see him dance on stage today, in the summer of 2022. He's always moved on stage, and even acted unhinged during Sleep Token's earlier rituals. Below the cut, I go through rituals on YouTube from 2018-2023 to try and pinpoint exactly when Vessel started dancing like we see currently in 2023. (I went through quite a few videos, most not even mentioned in this monster of a post, so I made a YouTube playlist here).

A great example of Vessel's early "writhing" dancing is this YouTube video of Nazareth from the 2018 Leeds Festival (he's also an absolute menace here!! He steps on III, he didn't paint his waist or his back, and he strangles and spits on the original OG IV. Like... the man had demons and I am here for them). The dancing that's most similar to current times starts around 2:37 and 3:40.

2019 is impossible to find good videos for lol, since they did most of their rituals for the Beautiful Oblivion tour as an opener and, apparently, nobody films openers. But there are some with decent audio quality from ArcTanGent (my favorite being The Offering). Interestingly, he's less animated, still writhing, but not a menace to the rest of the band while doing so. If anyone is even slightly photosensitive please don't watch these ArcTanGent videos, the lighting effects really didn't agree with the camera's shutter speed.

This is a video of Higher from December 2019. The sound is not as crisp, and the videographer is quite a bit further from the stage, but Vessel is still moving, especially towards the end. The breakdown starts around 2:15, and while III and OG IV are definitely more animated than Vessel, he's still dancing with them. He even jumps down to scream the end of the song at the barrier (and has a mini-wardrobe malfunction) at 2:39. That crowd was really feeling it and so was Vessel.

Because of the plague in 2020, all of Sleep Token's shows were in January. Vessel's behaviour was very similar to the video posted above (just with less crowd interaction). The first show they played in 2021 was the Download Pilot. This is the best audio quality of that show, and Vessel also moves/dances the most in this video, though it's toward the end around 2:31, where the videographer forgot they were filming and just started vibing, so it's really hard to see, lol. I don't blame them, but it's also shakycam to the max. (Also, a quick fun fact, this is the first show the band played with our current IV as far as I can tell.)

This is another video from 2021, but from Sleep Token's TPWBYT rituals tour. It's Hypnosis, and in the very beginning, we see some Floor Vessel, which is neat and reminiscent of the most recent NA rituals, before he does some of his usual writing, though quite a bit more animated. Around 4:06 you can see the writing again, but after 4:19 it morphs into what we've seen from more recent rituals. (Also, if anyone wants a full 70-minute video of this show, filmed from the center of the balcony looking down on the stage, you can watch it here. Some parts have major flashing, so just be careful).

Here's another video of Hypnosis, this time from September 2022. Here, finally, we see Vessel's current version of dancing, hops and arm flails included. It starts right when the song kicks in at 0:13, and he does it again at the end, around 4:29. Technically they did a UK tour with the Architects in May (see this video of The Offering at 3:50) and an Australian tour in June 2022 with Northlane (again, see this video of The Offering at 0:20, 1:37), with similar behaviour from Vessel, but that BRRF Hypnosis video is the first video I ever watched of Sleep Token live so it's very dear to me and it's also better sound quality than anything I could find from earlier in the year.

I went way overboard with answering this question, Anon, but it was super fun, so thank you again for asking 🖤🙏 Again, I made a playlist of all the videos + several others. If anyone has any recommendations for me to add to the playlist, send the links my way (especially if they aren't The Offering or Hypnosis lol) and I'll add them in chronological order.

[oldfashionedmorphine]

hi! happy sunday everyone! here’s more snippets of:

on the same frequency

-.-. .... .- .--. - . .-. / ....-

December 25, 1995

“But… ten years is a long time—I… I haven’t even known you for ten years yet.”

Shit. The thought hadn’t even occurred to him—that Will had already been gone for longer than the years they had together. And it makes him sick to think about it—how little time they had. Especially when some of his earliest memories of Will were so fuzzy now. And then thinking about just how young Will was when he died—only three months shy from turning fifteen. It just wasn’t fair.

December 26, 1985

And with that thought, Will sets his half eaten bowl of cereal down on the counter and without hesitation he runs out back to the shed where his mother kept a rifle—grabbing it off the wall and then sets it on the workbench while he searches around for a box of ammunition. Once he finds it, he loads it up with a pair of shaky hands, and then cautiously returns to the house. Will locks the back door and then double checks the front door too, and for good measure he ensures that all the windows are locked with the curtains drawn as well. To say he was paranoid was an understatement. But even though everything was secured and he was now armed, he still felt vulnerable. Maybe it was just his anxiety talking, but there was an eeriness in being all alone. And if not for the ticking of the clock on the wall in the living room, the house would be dead silent, which didn’t help his nerves at all.

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick…

🎶 a song from chapter four 🎶

rating: mature

tags: alternate universe, not canon compliant, major character death, grief/mourning, ptsd, blood and injury, supernatural elements, time shenanigans, butterfly effect, thriller, angst with a happy ending

release date: 11/26/2023

✨ previous chapter previews ✨

ch1 | ch2 | ch3

tagging:

@kaiminluu @greenfiend @total-serene560 @across-thestars @boahey @magentamee @daydreams-in-the-moonlight @soyboystan @foodiewithdahoodie @booksandpaperss @likegoldintheair @mandycantdecide @hazmatazz @sparks-olivarpente @1-tehe-1 @lucasvenkman @rebellius @maru-chu @septembr-moon @kamomillatea

(if you’d like to be tagged/untagged for the next preview, please let me know!)

[coralpolyp]

The Complete Works Vol 1: Finding the Flow

Wide version of the book cover I threw together in Procreate for this fic at the time - there's another version which is arranged to fit a Wattpad cover

Welcome to The Complete Works! This is a two-part archival project I'm doing, where I gather together every piece of unreleased Splatoon writing I've ever done that does not pertain to an ongoing project, and put it all up publicly on AO3, alongside my own personal reflection on it, both over there and over here - what worked, what didn't, why I didn't finish it, and how it influenced what came after it. And I mean everything - full multi-chapter sequences, half-written chapters, plot outlines, one-sentence headcanons, and French revision, it's all here.

Finding the Flow

Started: 9th October 2022 (Earliest dated work in private)/20th December 2022 (First chapter posted to AO3)

Abandoned: 14th February 2023 (Last AO3 update)/29th June 2023 (Final attempt to work on it in private)

The fic itself: AO3

Unused content/Complete Works: AO3

It feels like it's been much longer than it actually has been, but this is the first piece of fanfiction I ever wrote - and the first one I ever gave up on too! I had original writing experience outside of school prior to this, but it was my first time working in a fandom, and my first time posting anything online.

This one was supposed to be a prequel/origin story with Marina as the protagonist, beginning at the end of Splatoon and ending with the beginning of Splatoon 2. I got the urge to start this not long after having watched the absolutely phenomenal Takotsubo Heartbeat, and also having just finished Better Call Saul. It goes without saying that I was in love with the ethos that both stories shared - that of taking intriguing but underdeveloped characters from an existing story, and building an unexpected and compelling backstory for them, which sheds new light on the source material without ever retconning or contradicting it - you never would have imagined that these characters had suffered so much when looking at the source material, because not even the people who created it imagined that - but once you see it it makes too much sense to look away.

Finding the Flow was a flawed, if noble, attempt at picking up what Takotsubo Heartbeat was putting down, and exploring Marina's life as an illegal refugee just trying to have a music career. Maybe I would have succeeded if I finished this one, but when I look back on what I wrote I find it rather hard to read, it's just not very good.

I had a very hard time writing the opening to this one, given how tricky the tone was to nail down - lesbian fluff, xenophobia, break ups, and killing someone don't usually need to occupy the same story, but here we are. I had this one fully plotted, and to this day I can somewhat applaud myself for the overall flow of it when I look back - there was some quite bold and satisfying payoffs, such as the police station scene, the breakup, and the big fight, but even at the time I was acutely aware of the sheer lack of meaningful character arcs outside of Marina herself. I feel like this was before I actually enjoyed writing, and it was more fun to daydream about it in lessons than it was to actually write it. It took me a long time to realise that being an "idea guy" isn't good enough - anyone can do that, the people that get remembered are the people who put in the work to make it real themselves - which still isn't quite as applicable to myself as I'd like it to be.

Once the daydreaming ended, and I burned myself out on caring about Off the Hook, this fic was as good as dead. One of the few subplots this fic actually had ended up being expanded into its own thing, All My Favourite Songs, which I also never finished! I feel like I still occasionally pic plot ideas from this thing's corpse whenever I'm going near similar subject material, and in my head I still treat most of what I had planned for Marina as canonical - not that that matters because she's only had one speaking role in my work since then.

What happens in it:

Marina narrowly escapes from Octo Valley, getting wounded in the process. She journeys aimlessly, (as did I as an author) in search of where the Inklings live, infatuated with the Squid Sisters and their song. To keep herself company (and asa bandaid solution to the fact that there is not a single other character for like 8 chapters), she makes the Squid Sisters her imaginary friends, albeit with their personalities completely wrong as she has never heard them speak before - it is then revealed in a flashback that this tendency towards imaginary friends and other such childlike behaviour is a result of military recruitment at an early age, and premature repression of such tendencies.

She spots the Inkopolis skyline from atop Mount Nantai, but has to hide when an Inkling Girl (Pearl) climbs up, screams a whole bunch, and then leaves.

Marina is fascinated, and regrets not confronting her. She decides to camp out near the observation deck until the girl returns, during which time she records the Ebb and Flow demo on a beat-up keyboard - the only thing she took with her, revealed to have been a gift from her Sergeant - a woman fiercely loyal to the regime, albeit with a more sympathetic and supportive approach to leadership, which brings with it a misguided and self-righteous sense of knowing what's best for everyone, better than they know themselves.

The Octarian forces catch up to Marina, and a firefight breaks out at dusk. She fends them off and retreats down the mountain, accidentally bumping into Pearl again - literally.

What would have happened next:

(This is abridged, the full version is here)

Feeling guilty about her usual abrasive tendencies, Pearl takes the paranoid and distressed person with weird hair speaking a different language home with her to try and help her out, not knowing what Octarians are. Marina plays her the Ebb and Flow tape, and they form a band.

Later, when her Inklish is much better and they're working on their debut album, Marina sees a wanted poster of her own likeness in downtown Inkopolis, put up by someone who is apparently wary of the "Octarian menace". Knowing she is now being hunted down by both her former allies and the people of Inkopolis she is trying to assimilate with causes her a great deal of distress, which Pearl notices, but never gets an adequate or truthful explanation for. She processes her emotions through writing more personal songs and going for long walks at dusk.

During their debut gig in a small lounge, Marina impulsively sings in Octarian on the last song, which gives her a deeper connection to the lyrics and makes her performance incredibly moving. From then on she always sings in Octarian.

The next morning, Marina is arrested, and has a humiliating experience at the police station at the hands of Octarian-hating police officers. The man pressing charges interrogates her personally, and identifies himself as the author of the wanted poster and an audience member of the gig - Craig Cuttlefish. The interrogation is interrupted by his grand-daughter Marie barging in and urging him to drop the case, saying that he's taking his NSS duties way too far. He does so upon learning that Marina likes the Inkantation. Marie sponsors Marina's residency in Inkadia, and they are both given a mountain of paperwork to do.

Marie and Callie take Marina out of for coffee, and offer to kickstart Off the Hook's career - pushing for them to be signed to the same record label as them, recommending them to their producer, Shy-Ho-Shy, and letting them open for their next concert, where they perform their debut single Ebb and Flow, which is released the same day.

While preparing for said concert, Marina discovers a homeless community of Octarian refugees one night - they had followed in Marina's footsteps, but received no support from Inkling Society on arrival. Marina realises that she has nothing to give them, despite her life of luxury, as all of it actually belongs to Pearl - they warn her that she is no better off than them, but she does not understand. When she gets home, Pearl and Marina begin dating. As the relationship goes on, Pearl becomes more uneasy with Marina's inability to tell her who she is and where she comes from.

The relationship is not made public until their second concert. Pearl tries to kiss Marina on the lips on stage, without her prior consent to the stunt, which angers her greatly.

Later, Pearl discovers Marina's paperwork, which includes mention of her having been arrested at one point. Marina still fails to explain anything, and they agree to break up, with the band going on hiatus and Marina leaving the house with nowhere to go.

She returns to the homeless community, which she discovers has been completely wiped out by her former sergeant, who is disgusted by her betrayal of the Octarian regime. Penniless and alone in a individualist society which doesn't want her and has little to no welfare provisions, she almost accepts, but ultimately refuses, doing battle with the sergeant and killing her when left no other choice.

Marina goes on to live a meagre life in hiding, DJing under a pseudonym, producing for Harmony, and crashing at Marie's apartment every night, sleeping in a room that used to belong to Callie, who has now gone missing.

Dissatisfied with her creative output without Marina, and aware of the ggrowing legend around the band's sudden disappearance, Pearl tracks Marina down and Off the Hook is reformed. Together they complete and release their debut album, and are hired to host Inkopolis News.

For more, read Finding the Flow or The Complete Works

[e-adlirez]

An Independent Callout Update

Hi everybody, this is uh, this is exactly what it says on the tin, and I figured I'd make one.

Last you saw me I was offering some appreciation for some funni Tumblr art, and sharing a project long-ish in the making (it was like two months it's not that long). I figured y'know, maybe we can let sleeping dogs lie, maybe I can work on other things and maybe take a br--

NOPE JUST KIDDING someone's still up and about and still trying to prove himself somewhere in the blameless route. I've genuinely never seen someone make this many backflips to make them look innocent since Grace Chastity, which is an accomplishment, by the way! Not a good one by any means, but an accomplishment nonetheless!

Let's dive into it, shall we?

Here we have a Cadillac trying to claim that he was hacked. As you can see, he's failed miserably at trying to ping @2deadkat, @ratonahat and @bloombirdreads, in an attempt to call for help. He's failing to ping them because they blocked his ass a whiiiillleeeee ago. And of course, the "it wasn't his fault, it was someone else acting in my name!" excuse! This is peak "I can't be having impure thoughts! This is the other guy's fault for making me horny!" Cadillac is there something you wish to confess in front of the class?

Two holes in his excuse:

One, you didn't seem to have any issues when you were trying to convince me into thinking that you were trying even the tiniest modicum of owning up to your mistakes (which I have screenshotted here in case you think you can delete them and say I can't prove anything). It was really more of a "I'm changed in literally 2 days, I'm not like that anymore!", which is about as believable as falling into a black hole and coming out alive. In other words, not at all. Even less believable since your writing style doesn't seem to have changed from your older posts to your newer posts, hm....

Two, Cadillac, even if you were telling the truth and got hacked, how did you not notice? Getting your account hacked is a very big deal! You could lose personal information, get doxxed, have your account become a mouthpiece for scams, and that's only the half of it! How did you only notice this just now, on December 22nd of 2023? This is a big affront to your internet safety! It would be impossible!

And if you want to say this is a recent development, then uh, buddy, I have some news for you.

Here I have a screenshot from one of my personal Discords, and so far it's the earliest secondary record I have of Cadillac's shenaniganery.

And you can tell it's really early because a reply to the mini-rant around the same day mentions this funny little detail:

This was back when Cadillac had only made two shirtless G posts on his blog. From July 26th, 2023 to December 22nd, 2023-- that's a five-month time period! Almost half a year of not realizing that you've been hacked! And the strangest thing is you haven't changed a bit before or after! This hacker must've done a very good job making your posts sound like your own by extrapolating your internet personality from-- and I counted-- eight bare-bones posts, hm? /sarcastic

Well okay, remember how I said Cadillac's been very consistent this whole time? Well, I lied. There's Cadillac's most recent post as well:

Dear me, you're sounding awfully mature and respectful here! Is this a miracle? Could you possibly have actually been hacked and the person behind the screen is actually a decent person all alo--

OOP I GUESS NOT!

Buddy, I didn't even need to pull up GPTZero for this, you were sounding so corporate and so fake it wasn't even a contest. You ain't slick, Cadillac, not slick at all.

And for the record, I plugged my entries in the callout post in there too because why not

Yep, a lotta hooman to go around with me, Cadillac. This one in I'm writing right now took about an hour :D Whether or not it's because of having to find sources or just to find a good way to say what I want to, I'll leave that for everyone else to decide.

Anyway, this is your Cadillac callout update, goodnight tristate area.

Yes Cadillac you can bet your ass that the only reason anyone would ever be unblocking you would be for no other reason but this: making callouts that aren't going any time soon. I will admit, one flaw in my original post was the fact that I hyperlinked more than I screenshotted, giving you an opportunity to wipe the evidence. Well, you've got nowhere to hide now, Cadillac. I've caught you in 4K, and these posts aren't going anywhere.

[henrysglock]

it doesn't make sense for them to put the play on netflix this year, maybe just before s5 drops and the Broadway run is over i think. they would lose a lot of money releasing it before that , wouldn't they? i know seeing it live is much better, but most people would rather watch it at home. it would be a dumb move

As far as I know there haven't even been rumors of them putting it out before the London show closes mid-December. I've always said they wouldn't put it out before London closes. Broadway sounds like it's going to be Q1 2025, so anywhere from January-March 2025, and we actually don't know how long it'll run, yet. Could be a year, could be longer depending on whether it's open-ended or not. Being a Stranger Things hit show playing in the US, it could go on for quite a while since an open-ended closing date only depends on ticket sales. You can't beat an in-person show, and I think it'll be a smash hit in the US given that the fan base here is massive. That's why POTO ran on Broadway from 1988 to 2023: It was too popular to close.

They were filming TFS back last December when I went to see it, and ST5 is rumored to be Q4 2025 at the earliest, so I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a fall or earlier release for TFS on streaming in 2025.

[nicomrade]

I saw your tweet about Usogui happening in 2008, if so, on what date did Kaji and Baku meet? Since during the chapter 2 we can see on the horse race ticket it says 06/04/2006. If we assume that they are on the previous day, then Baku met Kaji on April 5, 2006.

oh anon you have insanely good eyes. i reread the first couple chapters trying to see if theres any time indications there n never noticed its right there on the ticket, so thank you for catching this! its kinda blurry but itd be 2006年4(?)6日, right? i cant read japanese i just vaguely know what dates look like so i cant tell what kanji is after the 4, im assuming its for the month

my 2008 claim comes from 2 places, one (the simplest) is during the air poker gamble its said eba died "10 years ago". we know he died in 1998, so air poker happens in 2008 (and so does everything else since radio tower since we know theres only 1 month between it and drop the handkerchief) but maybe this is supposed to be "almost 10 years/a decade" and the nuance was lost in translation?

the 2nd place i got it from (and what i first noticed, and ill admit its less precise ence why ill say i "guessed" it happens in 2008) is during the paper labyrinth gambles we can see the whiteboard w dates available for the gamble. uhm i realize this is kind of convoluted to explain why it takes place in X year, but heres the explanation in short

yukiide has a 10 year memory gap that he only woke up from 2 years ago. he wants to fill this gap through this gamble, therefor hes only offering dates FROM this 10 year memory gap. (chapter 83)

the dates range from may 1997 (at the earliest) and december 2006 (at the latest) thats almost a full 10 years length so there IS some wiggle room here but not a lot (chapters 84 and 89 give us the best views of the board)

SO yukii was unconscious until somewhere around late 2006/early 2007, and that was 2 years ago. so its AT LEAST 2008 in canon. i KNOW this isnt 100% solid proof cause itd mean if he woke up at the earliest on december 24th 2006, labyrinth takes place at the earliest on december 24th 2008? but we know what happens on that date thanks to the Eba death info, and its the protoporos arc! not labyrinth! so lets accept wiggle room into all of these indications ("eba died almost ten years ago", "i woke up roughly 2 years ago", "i was in a coma for about 10 years") i think its still a strong case for protoporos happening in 2008.

one last thing that might be my strongest point, but its out-of story info so i dont like defaulting to "the real world" as the definite truth-holder for fiction. but in this case, in usogui world there is a leap second added to january 1st of whatever year protoporos ends on. in the real world, there was a leap second added to 31st december 2008 (US time, january first 2009 for japan) in usogui its also said "its been 3 years since they last did it" which aligns with 2005 (2006 for japan) in the real world. (aside- protoporos cant end on january 1st 2006 since that ticket is dated to april 2006, no need to check if itd lign up with 2006 as the starting point) all the info about the leap second in chapter 525 aligns with my quick read through of the real world wikipedia page. again its not because it aligns with the real world that it HAS to be the truth (my own webcomic is not in sync with the real world moon phases, it doesnt make it NOT happen in 2023 all of a sudden though) which is why im NOT contesting the 2006 horse track ticket. it says 2006 therefor the story starts in 2006 end of discussion.

but it DOES brings up a super interesting question cause when i talked about this with people we all kind of assumed the story didnt take place in over a year & agreed on the 2008 confirmation with the eba line, but this would make the story span 2 years. when i read usogui again ill pay attention to time more (again) n try to get a coherent-ish timeline out of this seemingly 2 years gap? if anyone else has ideas about where all this time might be coming from you are also so so free to add your own speculation onto this. usoguis too big for me alone to remember everything about it no matter how many times i reread it lol.

though the simple answer is usogui started being published IRL in 2006 so the early chapters use 2006 as the placeholder year (including on the labyrinth whiteboard?) and then sako toshio changed his mind/forgot by the time he got to protoporos and made that 2008 to lign up with the real world leap second. i value what art has to bring to us over what the real world can bring to it so ill reject that notion but other people are free not to care as much as i do

[songofsaraneth]

ok i finally realized i FORGOT to actually post any update here about Kazul's tank upgrade whoops! It has been a whole Saga. Mostly because the guy I buy tanks from took (Boaphile) his website offline in 2021 just as I was ready to place an order... i thought maybe he was just updating it (since it looked like it was last revamped in perhaps 1995), but after 6 months, it was STILL offline.

So I did what any normal, hinged person would do and used the wayback machine to get to the archived version to track down his phone number and call him. Turns out he wasn't dead but he DID have to have rotator cuff surgery so said he wouldn't be able to make tanks again until summer 2022 at the earliest. I'd been hoping for earlier but Kazul was still under 6ft so I was like ok fine. Well September 2022 the website finally started coming back online in bits and pieces (while now more modern i would not actually say it is more Functional, and there are still now Lorem Ipsum text blocks here and there, but whatever). Spring 2023 the banner that things were under construction finally disappeared and I placed my order!!

At the time the advertised wait time was 12 weeks. I checked back in June, and there was another banner saying they were flooded with orders so had temporarily closed them to catch up. Ok, sure, running behind. August comes around and I'm like ok I should have an update by now at least and played phone tag for a few weeks... and eventually discovered that my order had gotten lost along the line somewhere (as in the printer paper with my tank details on it telling them what to build, not a whole tank lost in the mail). Sooooo i got put at the start of the queue for the next batch and FINALLY it shipped and arrived at the end of November. To compare the first order I placed took pretty much exactly 10 weeks back in 2017 so I do think this was just bad timing and fluke. However... they forgot to include the thermostat i also bought :| So I had to wait another 2 weeks for that to ship out to me too.

ANYWAY. I finally got it in mid December, but didn't want to throw a whole new section on the week before i left to visit family for the holidays. So I didn't set everything up til January. I'll put all those pics in another post because this one is already long and not that interesting but I shall keep the timeline on record here in case I need to reference it ever. Here's a pic of her though because why not :3

[supercunninglinguist]

A month ago today, my cat Billy passed on. I keep putting writing this off because there was just so much to do for spring and summer now that my father is in the hospital. Their house still feels a little empty without the dog and the cat. Just one cat left now, Casper. Click the read-more if you want to see photos of him and some of our other pets.

Billy first came to their house when I was visiting Amherst to find housing and to meet my grandmother, Summer 2010. My parents told our neighbour that we had 1 gray cat - named Smoky - and she called me and said that now we have 2 gray cats. When we got back, we searched the backyard for him for a while without success until finally he came out of a rosebush - maybe he was napping - and immediately ran up to my mother, meowing for attention. My mother thought he was so cute. We weren't sure if he was a stray or abandoned, and he had no collar but looked healthy. I checked him for fleas before letting him follow us inside, and he just let me comb him over until he got bored and ran in. My father thought that he was about 10 months old, probably left behind by someone living in a nearby street. I moved to Amherst a month later, so I didn't spend a lot of time with him until more recent years.

This is the earliest photo I have of him, from 2012.

I miss that orange cat, Chester, a lot too. Billy and Chester mostly got along. Chester was already around 10 or 11 when Billy started living here. Chester was well-behaved and a badass adventurous alpha cat, so Billy definitely learned some of Chester's better behaviours over the 5 years that they lived in the house together, including staying out on the porch all night. Billy probably learned the best spots to catch rats from him. When Chester passed on that 2 September in 2015, Billy became the new chief rattenfaenger (Smoky was never much for catching rats). I regret that we never adopted a younger cat or a kitten for Billy to pass on his unique set of behaviours, and it especially stings because he was such an incredibly good cat.

I named him Billy after a friend came over and I asked him if he wanted to help name this cat, since he had helped me pick the name Chester for our new orange cat, back in 2006. He felt that Billy was a friendly name for a friendly cat. Sadly, Billy experienced a rapid deterioration starting in December 2022, becoming noticeable only by the end of December & early January. He went to the vet and recovered for a few months, but ultimately complications from a stroke did him in. After the stroke on 22 April, his recovery stopped and his condition declined quickly. He was so tired and frail at the end. But I cherish his memory, so I'm not going to remember my cat that way.

Billy was mostly friendly with Riley, my brother's dog, and most of the cats in the neighbourhood too. Riley passed in February of this year. Both of them were 14 years old. I tried so hard to keep him alive for the first 5 months of 2023.. but his little body just couldn't take it anymore. So he passed at 09h50, 09 May, 2023. He passed in the backyard, with me by his side.. I had already scheduled his at-home euthanasia for Wednesday. But he didn't even last long enough to reach the vet clinic 2 miles away. Maybe it was selfish of me to think on Monday that I could just have 48 more hours with him. Maybe it was foolish of me to try at all. But I had to. He was a great cat. A great cat is worth fighting for. It's the least we can do to reward him for all the rats he caught over his life. It's been a month and I still miss him. He was with us for 13 years, yet it wasn't enough. All I wanted was for him to survive to the end of summer, because that's a cat's favourite time of year... alas, it was not meant to be.

Even in his old age, Billy preferred to stay outdoors. He was an incredible hunter, primarily of rats, mice, voles, and other small rodents. He definitely caught his share of birds and lizards, but thankfully those weren't his primary targets because there were just so many rats. I estimate that he caught, on average for 10 years, 5 rodents per week. There were many nights that I saw him catch 3 rats in a single evening & night; even ~7 where he caught 5 in a single night. My parents definitely would not have been able to grow a garden or keep the tortoise safe from predation by rats without Billy & Chester staying out most of every evening catching rats. Both of them had outdoor shelters too, or sometimes used the dog's old house. Billy & Chester were both incredible cats. Truly my family has been fortunate to have such wonderful fuzzy creatures.

Billy learned to sit in a chair to eat from Chester, and all the cats since have been doing it. I wish we had more early photos of him, but hard drive space was at a premium. 80% of the 236 photos & videos are from the last 3 years. At some point around 2020, he also learned that he could get attention and better food by banging on the pan, or by tipping over (empty) cups.

Casper, the white cat, came to the neighbourhood some time around ~2013, possibly from our neighbour 2 houses down, already approximately 2 years old. My father was feeding him outside, and he started coming inside and living with us starting in 2019. Billy wasn't exactly fond of him, but they did get close sometimes. He sometiems would steal Casper's dinner. Casper actually came up to cuddle Billy one night when he was sick. Billy also got along with the tortoises too, never really bothering them except for a few sniffs sometimes. Mrs. Slowski liked to try hiding in his fur sometimes when he was asleep, which always scared him. Now that Billy is gone, Casper is the king. The King is dead; All hail the King.

This is the final truly good healthy photo I have of him, from 24 March. I think the only thing keeping him going in the end was love - for me, for my parents, and for this house & neighbourhood. He wanted to stay with us as long as he could because he loved us. And I felt that I had to grant him as much time as possible, because it would be dishonourable to take time away from his life which is so precious to us when he so clearly wanted to stay.

I wish I could tell his original owners - an air force family who received orders to move to somewhere, Colorado, I think - that we loved him so much, that he brought so much joy to this house every day. Right up to the end. I wish I could tell them that when I came home on his Sunday evening, he still tried to run to the car to greet me. I wish I could tell them that he purred and that the sun was shining and the breeze was nice and that Casper and Mrs. Slowski were both there for him during his final moments. And so was I.

Adieu, Billy. I keep telling myself that you're still with me, just in another form. I keep pouring out my spent incense onto your grave, which is near Chester and Riley's graves. You are at peace now. Perhaps I will put together a combination of incenses that I feel represents your memory. I think it would be an eclectic combination of rose, pineapple sage, black pepper, and minty\piney frankincense.

Now, all that's left are his memories, his photos, his impact.. and his love.

If you're reading this, because I want you to depart with thoughts of happier times, here is a short video of Billy slowly sanding me while I scratch his belly - his favourite activity in the world.

[chirpsythismorning]

just correcting a small detail but Finn is already 20, his 21st birthday is in December of 2023 not 2024! i personally don't want a release date that's too soon bc i'm actually hoping for good production and Love the time leading up to season releases just as much as the seasons themselves. but just technically speaking Finn would be able to drink at any premiere by the end of this year already (even though i don't think we're seeing s5 until autumn of 2024 at the absolute Earliest, 2025 is still pretty likely to me tbh)

YOURE RIGHT!

JESUS I am on the opposite of a roll today.

Why did I think it was already 2024 for some reason 😭

And I do agree! Hiatus is arguably the best time for fandom hijinks. It sucks rn bc it’s so early in hiatus and so there’s basically no content to dissect.

But once filming starts, promotion will start rolling out slowly but surely. Then once filming finishes they’ll be in post-production and promotion will really start picking up within the year leading up to the premiere, and then as we get closer to like 3 months and then mere weeks leading up to, it’ll grow exponentially.

I am hoping for either a fall 2024 release, like around the time of Will’s disappearance in November maybe? Either that or early 2025, maybe March around Will’s birthday..?

I would be a little disappointed if they waited until summer 2025, but we know how much they love summers so I am scared of that but, that would be the absolute worst scenario considering the possibility of potential delays. No later than that though!

[atmosphericradar]

Once again Tumblr has auto-suggested me a strange tag, which I decided to look into:

#gendie brainrot receipts

I'm getting a bad feeling from this one. Switching to desktop to investigate...

Ooohhh what the fuck is this???

Let's ignore everything but the first result for a moment. That first post comes from the blog gendiebrainrotreceipts. They highlight trans and enby posts on Tumblr they find mock-able, akin to other "Libs of Tiktok"-style blogs, channels, and accounts across social media. Unfortunately, this tag is from the "gender criticals". 😔

Ok, the obvious aside, what the hell is up with all of the muscley men? They're all coming from accounts which look like bots or throwaways. Is this tag being spammed?

Some quick digging finds one of the throwaway accounts has the answer: gribbler444. The earliest posts on this blog (from mid-December 2023) are sparkle-gif screenshots of other blogs complaining about spam posts in similar TERF tags:

And this:

Both of these are screenshots from gribbler444's blog. They are a suspiciously-spammy looking blog, visible in the screenshot from Tumblr search above. They are still spamming (as of an hour ago) as I write this post.

From what I can gather here, there's been an ongoing spam campaign from a cluster of bloggers, or maybe just one person with lots of sock-puppets or bots, within TERF Tumblr tags for the past month, roughly.

It's sort of confounding to realize that the most likely reason I was suggested the "gendie brainrot receipts" tag today was because of an ongoing campaign to disrupt TERF spaces. I'd never seen the tag before today, and now as a result of seeing it I've been made more aware of TERFs in my blogosphere. Just kind of sad all around.

P.S.: I have intentionally not shown the blogs of TERF commenters because I don't want to be in the business of naming and shaming people. I also do not want my record of this weird tag phenomenon to act as a permanent record of someone's transphobia. I did not properly link gendiebrainrotreceipts, because they are an active TERF who might harass me or others.

I sincerely hope that TERFs change their minds, and can grow to accept trans people as allies in the fight for universal LGBT+ acceptance.

[demoonlady]

This week's author's comment apparently sparked yet another wave of uproar in the JJK fandom. What's new with that fandom overreacting every week, tell me? [I used "that" because I'm in Gege Akutami's fandom, not JJK hewhewhew.] But seriously now, I don't understand why the community needs to react in such a manner AS IF it's the first time they're hearing about Gege wanting to end the series this year, precisely in 2023. The cat first mentioned it in an interview with Mando Kobayashi in 2021; he said the series might be over in two years, i.e. 2023, [although it was also reiterated that one doesn't have to believe a mangaka's words].

Video source: Waya

But then, just recently during the Jump Festa Super Stage last December, he technically gave us an update (which coincides with his previous statement AND goal of ending the manga in 2023) and asked us that we stay with him for *probably* another year, i.e. EOS in 2023.

Might I also remind everyone that Gege declared he already had the JJK ending planned as early as 2020? In the character databook that was released sometime in 2019, he claimed that Megumi's fate has already been decided on, but later in the 2021 interview with Mando Kobayashi, he changed his statement and stated that both Megumi's and Yuuji's conclusion are done up, but Sukuna's ending is still up in the air.

Original tweet: Kaikaikitan

Video source: Waya

While there is of course a chance that he's just trolling with us all, it could be true. And as far as I'm concerned, I personally don't think it a bad thing if he prefers to conclude the series early, or even later than he had originally planned. It's up to him, really, I'll just go with the flow. I don't think Gege's rushing the EOS at all too, given that he's been saying that the manga is set to end in 2023 (or early 2024, being generous). How can anyone say that he's rushing it when he already has the manga ending, as well as its main arcs, in mind since 2020?! Lol.

If it makes anyone feel better, though, we know that Gege often takes a week off writing - the pattern right now is like a week off after every 2 to 3 chapters. So counting that in, I'd say the earliest the series can end would be in 2024. It's still a ways away, even if the number of chapters left is scarily lesser than some of ya expected.

Whatever it is, if Gege wants to end Jujutsu Kaisen, then let him. IT'S HIS STORY. JUJUTSU KAISEN IS GEGE AKUTAMI'S STORY. Not yours. Who knows he might have aimed to end the series a long time ago but because of the sudden popularity the series received, he had no choice but to extend the lifespan and it's not what he truly wanted? Who knows he has probably lost interest in the series and it's a struggle every week - because your heart is really not in it anymore - trying to come up with new ideas, etc. to keep the story going? Who knows he's actually yearning for a vacation where he can just chill and not having to worry about the progress of his story or the plot, or what his editor or fans would talk about, and he doesn't have to get pressured anymore? Or... who knows he might wanna start on a new story which excites him more than what JJK has to offer? [Maybe he wants to start on Barabarujura serialization already? Or the "idol" manga that he once mentioned...?]

Video source: Waya

I don't know his exact reason yeah, but all I'm saying is just let the man do what he wants with his story; if he wants to end it, so let him. As long as the series comes to a proper conclusion (whether happy or sad ending), I think many of us should be cool with it. Rather than it getting axed/rushed. Why do some people have to be angsty over his decision, I wonder? It's not like the majority of you are happy with what he puts out every week anyway ever since the last few chapters dropped - there's always something that the salty fans had to say (or hate on) in regards to the (current) story pace, characters, etc.

So anyways, whether or not the JJK manga is truly ending this year, or sometime in 2024, can we all just support Gege for this last stretch of his journey as a Jujutsu Kaisen mangaka..? And enjoy what little or more time that we have left with this amazing series? Man, I don't think it's that hard why do some of us even have to plead :')

I hate to say this too but for the people who read the manga for free, especially those who read on unofficial sites, some of ya really got the nerve to talk a whole lotta shiz.

[mysmorgasbordoffantabulosa]

I know you disagree, but I’m starting to think the maknae line won’t be enlisting anytime soon. My guess is Joon and Hobi will be enlisting mid-2023, Yoongi will probably be assigned as a social worker so it doesn’t really matter when he enlists. They’ll probably go on a world tour in 2025, after hyung line is done, and then maknae line will enlist. With the new age system coming into effect soon, they’ve got more time.

It’s just a vibe I’m getting with the way things are moving. JK seems to be resting and kind of set the Grammy attendance rumours to rest (maybe he’s keeping it a surprise, but then why read the comment in the first place?), plus the album is on pause, which is kind of what Tae said too, that he’s working on music, but mostly resting. Jimin signed with Dior, and it would be odd for it to be only a six month contract, they’ll want to parade him around for more than that imo (and it’s kind of telling that while Hobi attended, he hasn’t officially signed with anyone). I know k-media said they all signed with someone, but until it’s officially announced, I’m taking it with a grain of salt.

I’m probably dead wrong though 😂😂

That won't work though... Firstly, the earliest Yoongi will be back will be April 2025 since he'll be enlisting for 2 years. So that's the earliest they'll all meet up again as a group.

If they release an album in June 2015 for their anniversary, as many suspect, that only leaves 4 months (June - Sept) for promotions and world tour. Why? because Jimin will need to have enlisted by October 2025 and Tae December 2025. Four months is not enough time to mount a multi-city/country world tour. The only person who doesn't have to enlist is JK who has until 2027.

But I still think all of BTS will be enlisted by the end of this year. and all be back be Mid 2025.

Regarding brand ambassadorships... As I've mentioned it's likely that any contract with these designers will include a lot of pre-recorded/photographed stuff. Plus if you think having short-term is a problem how to do you explain Yoongi's considering he only got about another 8 weeks before enlisting (he has until the end of March, his birth Month. Whilst RM and Hobi have leg room for enlistment, Yoongi doesn't.

Regarding albums, they're on pause because they ain't coming out until later in the year. Jimin, Yoongi (possibly), RM and possibly Hobi will be likely releasing more stuff this year too.

[firstprince-ao3feed]

Got a will to win and a Cheshire grin

Got a will to win and a Cheshire grin https://ift.tt/eGILrhV by kiwiana Please find attached the list of collective bargaining agreement breaches reported by the Sports and Recreation Floor in December. As the designated union representative, it is my responsibility to ensure that the rights and interests of our members are protected and upheld, even (or maybe especially) during our busiest time of year. In accordance with the grievance procedure outlined in our collective bargaining agreement, we request that Santa’s Workshop takes immediate corrective action to remedy these breaches. Please set up a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss these issues further and explore appropriate resolutions. Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter. Words: 4952, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Alex Claremont-Diaz, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Corporate, But also, Alternate Universe - Non-human, (but only technically), (It Doesn't Come Up), Alternate Universe - Santa Claus, Crack Treated Seriously, by which I mean the concept is pretty ridiculous but it's played straight, Alex is a union rep, Henry is head of HR, except they don't call it HR on account of not being human, which I realised WAY too late into the piece lol, Explicit Sexual Content, Semi-Public Sex, Light BDSM, Unprotected Sex, because the author made an executive decision: elves can't get STIs, Christmas, POV Alex Claremont-Diaz via AO3 works tagged 'Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor' https://ift.tt/36TamOp December 27, 2023 at 02:09AM

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

The Next Animated Blockbuster Heavies, CONTINUED...

A little while ago, I made this post. A sort of culmination to my retrospective on Top 10 animated features at the box office over the years...

Three of the movies I listed and made predictions for, all 2023 movies, came out...

THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE unsurprisingly put up a hell of a fight, making $1.361 billion at the worldwide box office. This places it, currently, at #3. Behind THE LION KING (2019) and FROZEN II...

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE opened pretty big, and had some solid legs from there, but that picture was definitely more frontloaded than MARIO was. Overseas, it did okay at best, not matching its domestic total. Still, $690m+, excellent.

WISH is not going to make all that much... Not the heavy it could've been, like director Chris Buck's two FROZEN movies...

So, 2023 is pretty much over, unless MIGRATION really surprises. But I don't see that happening. $500-600m maximum, methinks. Possibly SING numbers. A leggy Christmas season movie, but not among the biggest ever. Why would I expect that out of a modest duck picture?

Some delays happened, too, between back then (early 2023) and now.

KUNG FU PANDA 4, INSIDE OUT 2, and DESPICABLE ME 4 are next, as BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE was delayed indefinitely due to it being faaaar from ready for a 3/29/2024 release a little after the release of ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE. Like, it was very clear that the two movies were NOT in production in tandem.

My guess is that the third SPIDER-VERSE movie debuts sometime in 2025. At the earliest... 2026 seems likelier now, which is fair. We waited about 4 1/2 years between INTO and ACROSS, so...

The other 2024 movie that I thought had a shot at getting into the Top 10 is the sequel/prequel to the #1 movie itself, THE LION KING (2019). MUFASA: THE LION KING recently vacated the summer for the holidays, as it now opens December 20, 2024... While I don't really see this movie making anywhere near what the first one did, it's still possible? Maybe? I dunno, I think it performs similarly to ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS and MALEFICENT 2, a follow-up to a remake that I don't think too many folks were clamoring for.

That rounds out 2024... I think INSIDE OUT 2 is the likeliest candidate of those four movies to make the most moolah. Maybe not take home "highest earning animated movie" champion status, but the biggest of the year period... and DESPICABLE ME 4 has a very good shot at it considering how many years it had been since the last mainline movie, and how well MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU did. Heck, the long gap between KUNG FU PANDA 3 and 4 could really boost KUNG FU PANDA 4 as well. Characters/stories people love, long wait for the new one, the kids who loved them being nostalgic, etc.

Who knows, like I said in the earlier piece, maybe there will be some surprises along the way? Watch, THE GARFIELD MOVIE ends up breaking the Top 10... I mean, I don't see why not? Garfield is a god, a titan whose power we just cannot comprehend. This may be to the 2004 live-action/CG GARFIELD movie with Bill Murray what the SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE was to the 1993 SUPER MARIO BROS. film. Certainly having "The Movie" in the title and the picture being all-animated solidifies that! GARFIELD the comic strip debuted in 1978, 45 years ago. That predates Mario's first appearance as "Jumpman" in DONKEY KONG by three years... You could argue Garfield is older than that, even. Jim Davis debuted Garfield in JON, essentially an early version of GARFIELD that run from 1976 to early 1978 in a single Indiana newspaper. Okay, so I'm largely being facetious here, I don't think THE GARFIELD MOVIE cracks a billion... But who the heck knows! A movie like THE WILD ROBOT or the next WDAS movie could do it, haha.

However, I think a lot of the Q3 and Q4 animated films could be up in the air, release date-wise, should the animation strike happen when the Animation Guild contract is up.

2025 is a little spottier. A few movies have concrete release dates, none of them I feel really have a clear shot at the big billion and the Top 10. 2026 is just some dates without titles. Still too early in the game...

So, we do know that the likes of SHREK 5, ZOOTOPIA 2, FROZEN III, and TOY STORY 5 are on the horizon. Entries in beloved franchises, some of which whose movies are on the Top 10 or are very close to the Top 10. It's also obvious that a SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE sequel *will* happen, and possibly just obliterate the first one in sales.

THE LION KING (2019) is at #1, FROZEN II is #2, FROZEN is #4. The first MINIONS is #6, TOY STORY 4 is #7, TOY STORY 3 is #8, DESPICABLE ME 3 is #9, ZOOTOPIA is #11...

FINDING DORY is at #10, and there seem to be no plans for another one of those Pixar fish movies at the moment. Ditto THE INCREDIBLES, as INCREDIBLES 2 is #5... But you just know they'll happen, because Disney likes money, and if TOY STORY 5 can exist despite how both 3 & 4 ended... Yeah, there will be a FINDING Somebody 3 movie and an INCREDIBLES 3, and they're sure to tear up the box office.

But again, something that isn't a sequel to a beloved favorite could make a splash. After all, Walt Disney Animation Studios got the big billion out of FROZEN and ZOOTOPIA individually. Both movies were not expected to do anywhere near as well as they did. I remember, back in mid-to-late 2013, that the scuttlebutt was that FROZEN would be lucky to make TANGLED numbers... And that ZOOTOPIA looked like some "CHICKEN LITTLE/DreamWorks" thing.

Sometimes Pixar got close with a not-sequel. FINDING NEMO back in 2003 - without the aid of 3D/IMAX/premium formats and with much lower tickets prices compared to now and a smaller international market - nearly made $870m on its initial run. INSIDE OUT and COCO were big 800s, too. Most Pixar originals hover around $600-750m on a good day. The likes of THE INCREDIBLES, RATATOUILLE, and UP. You know.

Outside of Disney and Pixar, you've got Illumination, whose biggest original movie was THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS, which made over $800m worldwide. No original since got there, though SING did pretty great for itself. I'm not sure where MIGRATION can land, but who knows. Is the public gung-ho for funny ducks at the moment? You can never guess where the zeitgeist will be. Only when the movie comes out, you find out.

DreamWorks' highest-earning not-sequel movie is KUNG FU PANDA, which made over $630m worldwide back in 2008. No 3D, no IMAX, lower ticket prices, adjusts to something a lot bigger today I reckon. Behind that is THE CROODS, which made $580m+ in 2013, and then MADAGASCAR, which made $530m+ in 2005, and then THE BOSS BABY made $520m+ in 2017. Nothing after BOSS BABY did that kind of money: Not ABOMINABLE, and certainly not the post-Omicron BAD GUYS. Maybe THE WILD ROBOT, from Chris Sanders - who directed THE CROODS and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON as you likely already know, becomes the studio's next big not-sequel smash hit.

Sony Animation's biggest not-sequel was THE SMURFS with $560m+. INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, for an all-animated film, is second at $380m+. No original movies are on their theatrical slate at the moment. FIXED is finished and rated by the MPA, but is without a release date nor any indication of where it'll play: Streaming or theaters? K-POP DEMON HUNTERS is to be a Netflix release. Everything else, like BUBBLE, TUT, TAO, etc.? Up in the air.

Paramount Animation, can't say. All of their not-sequels went belly-up or got re-routed to streaming/VOD: THE LITTLE PRINCE got offloaded to Netflix, WONDER PARK bombed hard in 2019, RUMBLE, UNDER THE BOARDWALK and THE TIGER'S APPRENTICE all skipped a wide theatrical release. No not-sequel movie has a release date, the only things close to that are still parts of franchises: TRANSFORMERS ONE, THE SMURF MOVIE, the untitled AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER movie, etc.

So, we gotta see where everything's at by the middle of next year... But I'll be curious to see how KUNG FU PANDA 4, THE GARFIELD MOVIE, INSIDE OUT 2, and DESPICABLE ME 4 - the movies that I think are guaranteed to meet their release dates - will do.

[doubleddenden]

I had a thought.

The DLC is slated for fall 2023 and winter 2023

Fall of course gives them a wide release range that encompasses their usual release windows for these types of things, mainly November BUT October has been used in the past.

But winter 2023 is... tricky. Maybe they just mean December as of now, but winter only begins Dec. 21st, meaning their release window would be pretty small to make that deadline. I almost kind of think they might be pushed to January, which is fine imo.

But essentially if we take it at face value, the earliest we get DLC content will be around September 22nd and the latest is December 31st. Imo the likely scenario is mid October and probably right around Dec. 21st.

I kinda wish they were able to release something for summer like last time tbh, but I'd rather the dlc actually function, so I'll accept it.