#monthly post March 2021

[slavghoul]

Hello, I prepared some statistics to give you a short overview of Ghost's amazingly successful 2022. It is based on data I collected between 22/12/2021 and 22/12/2022.

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The big Ghost event of 2022 was of course the release of the band's fifth album, IMPERA.

Since March 11, it has sold nearly 500,000 copies, won the American Music Award for Favorite Rock Album and received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance ('Call Me Little Sunshine').

Within the first week of its release, the album reached #2 on the Billboard 200 (ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States) and ranked in the top 20 best-selling albums in 19 countries across the world:

#1 in Sweden, Austria, Germany, Finland, Spain

#2 in US, UK, Belgium, Norway, Netherlands

#3 in Australia, Canada

#5 in Switzerland, Ireland, France

#7 in Poland

#8 in Hungary

#12 in Denmark, Portugal

#20 in Italy

IMPERA is Ghost’s best charting album to date.

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On YouTube, the band amassed a staggering 260 million views. 840,000 people subscribed to the channel this year, which makes up 42% of all current subscribers.

5 most watched videos on YouTube in 2022:

Mary On A Cross (Official Audio) – 32 million views

Call Me Little Sunshine (Official Music Video) – 15 million views

Square Hammer (Official Music Video) – 11 million views

Mary On A Cross (Live in Tampa 2022) – 8.2 million views

Spillways (Official Music Video) – 6.8 million views

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On Spotify, the band amassed 1,285,625 new followers. That’s around 61% of all followers since the band appeared on the platform.

5 most streamed songs on Spotify in 2022:

Mary On A Cross -  193,709,473 streams

Call Me Little Sunshine – 41,108,589 streams

Square Hammer – 29,720,042 streams

Dance Macabre – 26,494,053 streams

Spillways – 24,910,870 streams

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It goes without saying that the viral success of Mary On A Cross on TikTok brought in a lot of new fans this year, but the magnitude of it becomes even more astonishing if you look at numbers.

On this graph, I marked a few events that resulted in a noticeable spike in the number of monthly listeners on Spotify, including the approximate time when MOAC began to gain traction on TikTok. As you can see, nothing, not even the release of a new album, gave the band as much attention as the 3-year old song suddenly raising in popularity on one single platform.

Between end of July and beginning of October, the number of monthly listeners on Spotify skyrocketed from 2.5 million to 12 million. This is a 380% increase.

Although the numbers have been in decline since then, it appears that for the past month they have stayed at a steady 9 million. As of today (Dec 22, 2022) the exact number is 9,110,996. Exactly a year ago (Dec 22, 2021) the number was 1,999,951. A hefty 355% increase in only a year.

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Some other milestones and fun facts:

On June 7, Cirice, Dance Macabre, and Square Hammer were all certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 units in the USA. Following the viral success, Mary On A Cross was also certified Gold on November 20.

The band's most liked post on Instagram this year was a video of Papa throwing the first pitch at the White Sox game (273,241 likes).

The episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live where Ghost performed Call Me Little Sunshine was watched by around 1.3 million people.

In September, Ghost reached over 12 million monthly listeners on Spotify and was the 450th most streamed artist globally - that's 450 out of over 11 million!

As of today with over 1.6 billion accumulated streams Ghost is one of the 1,000 most successful artists on the platform of all time (currently #808).

On September 11, Mary On A Cross peaked at #1 in the Viral Hits chart on Spotify in 54 countries across the world.

It was also the highest charting Swedish song on the platform in 2022, peaking globally at #31.

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At this point I think it’s safe to declare that Ghost’s global success reached unprecedent heights this year and even allowed them to officially join the ranks of mainstream artists. With all of the above, 70 completed shows this year and many more to come in 2023, and with media of the likes of The Wall Street Journal proclaiming Ghost “the next generation of arena stars,” it looks like that the band is well on the way to become one of the biggest rock acts of this century. Not bad for a side project started by one Swede in his bedroom somewhere in Linköping. 

Let us hope 2023 will be as devilishly good!

[gunsatthaphan]

~ Monthly BL Breakdown: February 2024 ~ 

🌱 Happy March!!! 🌷

Disclaimer: ALL shows can be streamed here or here, as well as on Youtube and other platforms. For more info on where to watch what, check out this post! 

New breakdowns are coming at the end of every month - feel free to add stuff! -> previous breakdowns

What came out this month? (green = seen/currently watching)

🌟 Anti Reset - February 2nd (Taiwan)

🌟 Love Syndrome: The Beginning - February 8th (Thailand)

🌟 Baka Pwede pa? - February 9th (Philippines)

🌟 War of Y: The Reunion (special episode) - February 10th (Thailand)

🌟 1000 Years Old - February 14th (Thailand)

🌟 My Strawberry Film - February 16th (Japan)

🌟 A Secret Love - February 17th (Thailand)

🌟 To Be Continued - February 19th (Thailand)

🌟 Unknown - February 24th (Taiwan)

🌟 Wedding Impossible - February 26th (South Korea)

🌟 Kiseki Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 - February TBA (Thailand)

🌟 Ambiguous - February TBA (South Korea)

Monthly likes/dislikes

❣️ I'm gonna have to list Cherry Magic and Cooking Crush again just because they filled me with so much serotonin lol. Truly beautiful productions, so carefully written, so well executed and with so much wholesomeness and so many green flags lol. I had the best time watching them and the fact that 2 OG pairs had comeback shows back to back gave me so much nostalgia lol, especially since the genre is reminiscent of their old shows. It's been a blissful and therapeutic few months and I'm extremely sad that it's over 😩🥺🫶🏻 A+ content from everyone involved. 12/10 for both.

👎🏻 It has been a year lmao a lot of things happened this month, the Pawin situation makes me sad, we don't know what actually happened but the whole thing is messed up either way. James dropping out of LUAT came as a surprise as well, I'm not a NetJames fan but if they really had a falling out like the rumors say then that's sad. Singto coming back to gmm has been a nice surprise amongst the scandals lol but other than that I hope things go uphill after this 🥺

New series & movie announcements

🎥 My Bias is Showing (manwha adaption) - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 All About Lust - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 A Balloon's Landing - Date TBA (Taiwan)

🎥 Roommates - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 Good Night to Get Drunk - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 First Note of Love - Date TBA (Taiwan)

🎥 Living With Him - Coming April 11th (Japan)

🎥 The Young Gangster - Coming 2025 (Taiwan)

Other news from the BL world

❗️ Actor Singto Prachaya has returned to GMMTV as an artist. He previously left the company in 2021 to work as a freelance actor & producer after being under contract for nearly 5 years. It is unknown whether he will be part of any projects of the 2024 lineup.

❗️ The Thai BL Playboyy is getting a second season.

❗️ The upcoming Korean series High School Return of a Gangster announced the removal of the original BL plot. The show will air as a censored version, focusing on the friendship between the male leads.

❗️ Actors Charles Tu (HIStory 4) and Michael Chang (My Tooth Your Love) were confirmed to star in the upcoming BL First Note of Love. The series tells the story of a musician who is struggling with stage fright and one of his fans. An air date has not been announced.

❗️ Actor Non Ratchanon will no longer partake in the upcoming BL Live in Love. In an official statement, the production company stated that the decision was made due to disagreements between his agency and the one representing his co-star Hearth Chindanai. A recast for his role has yet to be announced.

❗️ GMMTV actor Win Pawin was accused of physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend, who made public allegations with photo evidence of her wounds. As a result GMMTV released a statement announcing the suspension of Pawin from all further work activities until legal investigations are complete. This lead to him making a public statement saying he is withdrawing from the upcoming BL We Are. He was cast as one of the 8 protagonists and was paired with his former partner Marc Pahun. GMMTV released a followup statement today, announcing Pawin's character would be recast to newbie Poon Mitpakdee.

❗️ Actor James Supamongkon announced his withdrawal from the upcoming Domundi BL Love Upon a Time. He released a statement on Twitter, saying he wants to expand his career and focus on other projects as an artist apart from acting. The company stated that Net and the others will stay part of the cast and that a new partner for Net will be cast shortly. This caused a big uproar amongst the fans who have been waiting for the series since it was announced over a year ago. Whether James' dropping out has anything to do with a dispute between him and Net is not confirmed.

Upcoming series & movies for March

👉🏻 Love is Better the Second Time Around - March 5th (Japan)

👉🏻 Deep Night - March 7th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Two Worlds - March 21st (Thailand)

👉🏻 High Demand - March 23rd (Thailand)

👉🏻 Wuju Bakery - March TBA (Thailand)

👉🏻 The Star - Date TBA (Thailand)

👉🏻 Blossom Campus - March TBA (South Korea)

👉🏻 Jazz for Two - March TBA (South Korea)

[yourlocalartsonist]

MONTHLY MFIP UPDATE✨✨

9/24 | Month 2 | Next Month | Month 1

Hey folks 🦐 I finally got the chance to make this month’s MFIP Update cuz god damn life was kicking my ass. College is fine for the most part tbh, just a lot of reading and writing cuz of the specific classes I chose. HOWEVER I have 💥FUCKING PMDD💥 so um skill issue on my part but it’s why I’ve been kinda exhausted as shit this week and was late with the update so my bad folks! (Also for more info on PMDD, click here! I don’t wanna spend this post yapping about it but wanted to leave a resource to spread awareness just in case :3). Also, Imma be tagging some of y'all who have been reading/supporting MFIP consistently just for this post, so yk you guys actually know these updates exist. I was gonna do that for the first ever update but as with many things, I forgor, so I'm doing it now! They’re supposed to come out on the 18th of every month, but yk sometimes life happens and I’m a lil late. It won’t be any earlier than the 18th tho so look out for these once it hits that date! Anywho, cheers to this month’s update!

Alrighty folks we be starting with the Art~!

Alrighty so obvious new thing, WE GOT RAPH’S REF SHEEEEEEEET TEEHEEEEEEE

BRO IM SO HYPE ABOUT IT! It turned out so genuinely amazing and I’m ridiculously proud of it! Especially cuz I honestly thought Raph was gonna be a harder design to figure out yk? I’m not used to drawing his body type, I wasn’t as familiar with his outfit, and even tho I’ve sketched him a few times before, I was just a bit nervous with Raph. Funfact, he’s also been the hardest to figure out how to write back when I was first starting MFIP. I genuinely don’t know why, but I got there eventually (I actually really love writing him now—) and same thing happened with his design!

Since MFIP’s taking place a few months after the Krang invasion, i’m able to take creative liberties and update the boys’ designs more! For some clarification btw, in my story’s lore, the invasion took place in September 2020, and MFIP starts on March 2021. Anywhizzle, my ideas for the boys’ designs is to combine their movie look with their show look, cuz while I do LOVE the black on them, it doesn’t feel right to me to not make them still unique in their own ways. These guys are all about authenticity, so why make their gear exactly the same, ya get me? I basically recolored his show gear to be black and red (and added a lil asymmetry on his legs) cuz I think it makes Raph feel older and more sure about himself, just feels right for him! I also just think the red fade on the black is hella cool! Fun lil color theory i think application, the black is more of a really dark, inky blue, so it makes the red pop out even more! I decided to make a bow out of his mask tails, too! I don’t wanna spoil the entire lore reasoning for it yet (it’ll pop up in the story), but I can indeed say it’s intentional that it looks a little like a lunamoth with damaged tails :3 I also took a BUNCH of creative liberties with his sais’ handles, since we haven’t really seen it much so like idk gaslight yourselves into thinking it’s always been this epic✨✨

Also I gave him his shorts back because FUCK YOU I LIKED THE RED TRIMMMM—

OH I ALMOST FORGOT yes he has longer eyelashes! I saw he grows to have really pretty eyelashes in the future cuz of his turtle species, and I wanted to lean into that by showing they’re starting to grow now :3

Bullshit Gag Because Yes‼️‼️

There ain’t shit to say about this, I just pulled a silly. I saw the fact Donnie was supposed to have a “Doctor Donatello” persona in the deleted episode where Dale turns into a werewolf. I’m really heavily on the train of Leo being the team medic and into medicine in general. I don’t think it makes sense for Donnie to be the medic judging by his sensory issues and this mf being as much of a germaphobe as my mom, and in my opinion it felt too stereotypical anyway to have Donnie be the medic. Ofc, to each their own, and this is just my interpretation of it, but I thought it’d be funny if Donnie still had this persona and was passionate about it, but was like horrifically bad at being a doctor. I made this dumbass sketch that I’ll finish sometime in the future (it’s gonna be a chapter in Arc 3 probably) and I just wanted to share it with yall~

THEY’RE HUMAN NOW⁉️

My ass wanted to show off cuz I’m sketching out some ideas of what my human designs for the boys culd be. I already did Leo’s like ages ago so he’s not on here but I’m realizing as I’m typing this my dumbass forgor to post it so um my bad I will do that in a few days—

But I wanted to design (or more accurately, redesign cuz I did draw em once a while back but I’m not satisfied with them) and I think I ate so far so uh yea. There isn’t any logic to sharing this, I just thought it was cool😭

And actually, imma share them here too just so y’all can see my boy ;w;

(A lil outdated cuz I didn’t give him lips at the time)

Okay there we go~

As you can see, I want all the boys to look kinda etherial and like they'd turn heads, and I think I am SUCCEEDING SO HARD SO FAR CUZ DAMNNNN THEY'RE ALL PRETTY AS SHIIIIIIIT TEEHEE✨ Also am tryna make sure they actually look Blasian since that's what the canon of my story says they are. I'll talk about them more another time when I have all of them on here~

But yea that's all for art this time folks :> ONTO THE NEXT THINGGG

Chapter Progress Time Whoop Whoooop‼️‼️

I didn’t make much progress on anything this month due to college—again, it’s fine, but there’s a shit ton of time management going on in my part to just manage everything and make sure I’m on track—BUT I am indeed still working on chapter 10. We’re up to 20 pages now which is only two more pages written from last month, but it’s kinda cool writing Donnie and I feel like I’m getting a better understanding of him! One thing I’ve been tryna do is understand autism better as a condition cuz I do wanna acknowledge and show bro’s autism instead of just ignoring it due to a lack of understanding. Donnie ain’t Donnie without it, ya know? I don’t know everything and tbh I would say I still have A LOT to learn on the subject matter, but I’m tryna expand my knowledge every opportunity I get and experimenting with how to better show it! This is to say tho, I’M NOT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, NOR AN EXPERT ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM. This is what I’m finding and comprehending via my own research, and can tbh end up being wrong so please don’t quote me as a reliable source, I’m still learning ;v;

I remember one of the things I kept hearing about was autism leading people to struggle with empathy. The best way I heard it being described was someone bringing the example of when their friend was upset. That person can’t truly feel their friend’s emotions because they’re not the one experiencing it, so can’t properly understand how it’s making their friend feel. But they can see that their friend is communicating their sadness, and they still try to comfort them and make sure their friend knows they’re there for support. I understood it as bringing logic to emotions in a sense; collecting data and figuring out how to handle the situation based on the data rather than using intuition alone.

I’ve been using that to figure out how Donnie might handle more emotionally subtle situations, where he might try to rationally work through what’s happening and kinda substitute it in place of natural empathy. Like the little tidbit I gave above! Instead of just automatically being able to get vibes that the other person is upset, I felt maybe Donnie would instead notice the fact their tone is kinda different from before; it’s basically a data point. With that data point in mind, he could connect it to past experiences where a tone change could indicate a mood change, and as a result he might conclude that Salena’s tone change means she’s upset. I comprehend it as manually working through empathy rather than it being second nature, if that makes sense. Obviously and thankfully Donnie isn’t gonna spend the entire chapter playing a guessing game or anything with Salena’s emotions, it’s just one lil moment that I thought was cool challenge to myself with when writing him! I really love putting myself in the characters’ shoes when I’m writing them or their dialogue. I highly recommend it as a tool too, since it's helped me a lot with staying in character!

Last Lil Segment Y'all

Aight so, I wanted to try doing something cool if y'all are up for it. I really love rambling about my story and lore and characters blah blah blah, but I don't really know how to do so tbh. I'm not that familiar with how social medias work cuz I just never took it seriously, and I don't wanna just keep being like HEYYYYY ASK BOX IS OPENNNNN like I'm screaming from the top of the hill either. Sooooo insteaddddd

I think it'd be fun to do Q&As here! Or at least something similar. I'll open my ask box again and feel free to send any questions you want; it can be about the story, past lore, design questions, getting to know the characters, absolutely anything! Then when I'm gonna do my update for the month, I'll compile all y'all's asks, (prolly will have to tag to make sure you guys know I answered it, or if you ask anon then uh idk look out for the monthly update) and then answer them during the monthly update as the last section! I think it'll be a cool way to make this feel more interactive, and gives me an excuse to ramble. Don't be afraid to ask potentially spoilery questions either! If it's something I can't spoil yet or even give hints or vague answers about, I'll just say so in the update!

Anywhizzle, That's All Folks~!

I'm glad there was so much to talk about this month! I actually deadass thought it would be short but I should know better with my yapping' ass💀✨ But yeah, thanks for reading everyone! I hope y'all enjoy the rest of your days, and I shall see you next month~ Bye :D

Tageroonies:

@yosajaeofficial @chaoticspeedrun @ramblehour @randomcerealbrand @goldanrabbit @m1sf0rtun3 @foundthethief @ackalice @jellyfishheartsss @dollyrin @harukonene @iieieiw @mwantstossleep @zipzaizen @hypocriticaltypwriter @lordfreg @rainbowpr1sm @idioticsky @oleander-nin @cheeselord-official @skittlesqueen101

By the way, if you guys think you’d like to be tagged whenever an MFIP chapter is posted, lmk in a reblog or comment (no asks or dms plz, too inconvenient) and I’ll be sure to tag so it’s more reliable than tumblr notifs :3🫶

ROTTMNT: Moths Fly In Packs

[rainmustfallts4]

One Stormy Night (Short Story)

Theme: Horror/Suspense/Thriller

Challenge/Date: Monthly Simlit Short Story/March 27, 2021

Genre: Friendship, attempted horror, crime

Word/Picture Count: 999 words/12 pictures

Original Note: So, I’m not at all confident in this story :/ I feel like it’s super cliché and just… stupid. But I put in the work, so I might as well post it, hey? This was written for the March 2021 edition of the Monthly SimLit Short Story Challenge. I also struggled with the word count. I was over 700 words over and had to seriously downsize, so I feel like the “story” is way too choppy but I can’t think of anything better so… here’s my trash lol

Warnings: Blood, murder/killer

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ☔ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ 🍂 ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

Bennett preferred his life as a hermit, living deep in the woods of Granite Falls. This left him isolated, something he had grown quite fond of. His day started like any other, the sky covered with clouds, the air chilly.

He had just finished watering his plants and headed inside when he heard a sound coming from the storage room. Curious, he headed over to check.

What he found was more than he bargained for. A man dressed in all black stood there, axe gripped within his hand. He saw his target and the man raised the axe high.

Bennett’s lips parted and the man brought the axe down with one quick stroke, impaling it within the hermit’s skull.

The body flopped to the wooden floor, blood pooling beneath. The man regarded the corpse before tossing the axe onto the shelf, pulling out a knife from his pocket. All he needed now was to cut off the man’s thumb and return home to claim the riches he deserved.

Thunder roared, rain beginning to fall in droves. He was beginning to step out of the room when he heard voices outside, barely audible. He cursed under his breath, gripping the weapon tighter. The hermit was a loner, so who were these people? He quickly ducked back into the room, closing the door and pressing himself into the corner.

Outside, Alexander and her friends approached the cabin, their clothes dripping wet.

“Told you we should have brought umbrellas,” Octavio huffed.

“Where are we?” Amari wondered, looking around.

“The hermit’s house!” Alex grinned. “He’s an old friend of mine and his place is the perfect getaway spot!”

“There’s too many mosquitos,” Jaiden muttered, swatting at the bugs buzzing around them. “Can we go inside?”

Alex knocked on the door and waited – there was no answer.

“The rain is starting to come down,” Astrid squinted up at the darkening sky. “We should head back.”

“No way! We came all this way,” Alex wrapped her fingers around the doorknob and turned. It clicked and the door creaked open. “Come on in, dry out by the fire.”

“We can’t just -” Landen swallowed nervously, looking around as the others headed inside. No one else seemed bothered, just wanting to get away from the storm and the angry bugs. With a groan, he followed.

“You home?” Alex called out from the bottom of the stairs. “I’mma check upstairs, maybe he’s sleepin’. Make yourselves comfortable but don’t break anything.”

Landen pouted. “Why are you looking at me? I would never -“

“Not on purpose,” his brother interjected with a snicker. “But you’re super clumsy, bro.”

Landen could only grumble as his cheeks warmed up.

Alex stopped at the top of the stairs and glanced around. She could see every corner from the spot. With a shrug, she returned downstairs. “Nope, he’s definitely out foraging. I hope he finds those rainbow bugs or the black fluffballs. Those are my favorites!”

Astrid’s brow furrowed. “You mean dust spirits?”

“Yeah, those!”

Octavio stood near the kitchen, glancing around. “Hey, you think…?”

Alex grinned. “Go for it, I could use some grub!”

“Here’s some,” Jaiden smirked, tapping his finger against the glass of one of many insect containers. Inside was a thick, pale green worm with spikes.

Octavio, being a lover of cooking, jumped at the chance to make food.

Amari shuddered at the thought of eating bugs, browsing the bookshelf to get his mind off the subject. Most of them were focused around insects, though, but he found a cookbook.

The food was prepared quickly and the group grabbed a plate, taking whatever seat they could find. The mood within the group was cheery until the storm picked up, a bolt of lightning striking nearby and lighting up the sky. The wind was slamming against the house, thunder shaking the windows so hard they almost broke.

“Shit!” Octavio screamed in fright.

A scream ripped from Amari’s throat. “Why are you screaming?!”

“Lightning is terrifying!”

Alex snickered, heading for the door. “Nonsense! The chance of lightning hitting a living sim is small.”

The boys watched her head out into the rain with childish laughter. By now, they were used to her daring and dangerous actions and they weren’t worried at all.

Octavio screamed again, his eyes wide as he looked at something behind Amari. He grasped what little courage he had and turned around, only to shriek like a banshee and snap his head back.

“D-D-Demon!!”

“Yeah, so what?” Alex tilted her head. “What’s your problem?”

“Did you…” Jaiden quirked a brow.

“I’mma need to hear those statistics again…” The upper half of Octavio’s body slumped forward.

“Did it hurt?” Landen poked her blackened arm.

“Just a tingle!”

“Hah?!” Octavio grasped his hair.

Jaiden rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath about the idiots as he cleaned up the mess. ��Where’s the trash bin?”

“Storage room,” Alex answered. “By the stairs.”

He grunted, heading into the room.

Standing in the room was a man in black, trying to wipe up a pile of blood from the floor. Jaiden dropped the bag.

“Who the hell are you?!”

Alex, hearing the yell, rushed into the room as the man tackled Jaiden, stabbing him in the gut.

Alex screamed, freezing up as panic rushed through her body. Everything was happening so fast, her mind couldn’t keep up. The rest of the group scrambled into the room, trying to figure out what was happening.

The man stood, the knife clutched in his hand. He certainly was not opposed to taking the entire group down.

With a cry, Astrid gathered up her power and thrust her hand at him. His body flew back against the wall, suspended in mid-air, feet kicking wildly.

Landen gasped, his body trembling.

“I-I can’t look!” Amari squeezed his eyes shut.

“We have to – to remain calm!” Amari stuttered.

Astrid’s head was spinning.

By now, the sun rose over the forest, the rain coming to a halt, the sky clear.

[narutoevents]

2023 EVENTS!

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2024

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TBA

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[burningdarkfire]

blood moon (author's notes)

Putting this post on my resume as proof that I am committed to seeing things through to the fucking end. It might be 2024 now but here is a finished author's note for blood moon!!

It's been long enough that the below is more of a retrospective than what we usually think of as an author's note. Some of it dates back to two or three years ago, a lot of it doesn't. With the goal of finishing these notes, I recently reread the fic in its entirety, twice, and I still very much enjoyed it. That's all I can really ever ask of a fic, so I'm happy 💕

Writing Timeline

Blood Moon was a fascinating writing problem. I always knew it was going to be a long fic, longer than I usually wrote, and I also knew that I was bad at finishing long fics. I started writing in November 2021 with the promise to myself that even if I didn't finish it, I would eventually share whatever I had. I initially planned to upload chapters without editing because I suspected that it would bog me down in a lot of small details … and I was entirely correct! So here is the 18 month journey of the fic, in monthly word counts, from start to finish:

November 2021: 18723 

December 2021: (no work)

January 2022: 3591

February 2022: 2872 (finished the shadowgast oneshot, outlined the rest of the fic)

March 2022: 4353 (this is when i first thought "the ending was in sight" LOL)

April 2022: 3667 (i made the decision to edit/rewrite some chapters—at this point i had already written up to fjord meeting back up with the m9 after getting the third eye)

May 2022: 1163 

June 2022: 2028 (this was my initial estimate/deadline for finishing)

July 2022: (no work)

August 2022: (no work)

September 2022: 3371 (i copied over my existing work—up to fjord and astrid's conversation—and started a major edit/second draft)

October 2022: 1228 

November 2022: 2278 (posted the first chapter to ao3)

December 2022: 2144 

January 2023: 1876 (finished my second draft and sent to beta for edits)

February 2023: 126 (finished edits! left some very minor points to polish)

March 2023: 17

April 2023: (finished posting!)

Blood Moon Universe

Blood Moon is an original universe of mine that dates back to 2011. It has all the cliché vampires vs. werewolves vibes that I will shamelessly admit I have never grown out of. We didn't get to see a lot of it in the fic, but it's a very fertile, flexible environment—this is the fourth story I've set in this world, and even though they've all been vastly different from each other, the shell concepts have always served me well. Unsurprisingly, one makes original worlds that are conducive to the themes and motifs that one likes to write about.

Caleb and Fjord live in a dark age, where the last war between the vampires and werewolves decimated both populations so severely that the world is simply emptier than it used to be. Molly and Yasha raid abandoned manors, Caleb lives on ceded vamp territory where the wolves are also absent. Caduceus is alone in the Clay family home except for his temporary companions. Everyone is busy with their own survival, and there's no way for the scarce, scattered populations of the northern forests to repel the Shades on their own.

It was a big decision to write a story about two humans in this world, but Fjord and Caleb have always been underdog stories struggling with established powers. It's hard to imagine them any other way.

Canon-Related Concepts

One of my favourite arcs of Campaign 2 is the pirates arc, because the characters are asking themselves such deliciously heavy questions about their place in the world following Molly's death. I wanted to explore those facets of these characters. 

I've also always found it so interesting that Travis said Fjord would have left to find the third orb if the Wildmother hadn't come through for him. 

Caleb seeks an impossible magic for selfish aims, but he does it because he loves his parents. Fjord would make a deal with the devil for power, but he does it because he equates power with agency, and he wants the ability to protect himself and others. Caleb had a taste of that power, but it soured when he used it for the wrong reasons. Fjord is tasting it now, and can't imagine ever letting it go.

Related Works

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

The initial pitch of Blood Moon explicitly referred to Caleb as a "Frankensteinien" character. Pervasive in that book is the desire for a domestic life, in which love, happiness, and security are enclosed. Frankenstein loses his mother, and then loses everything else as a consequence of the actions of his grief and uncertainty. What if Caleb's desire to undo what he did to his parents outweighed everything else?

Blood Moon borrows heavily from the magic in The Raven Tower, where one can literally speak something into existence. The idea of a world where "if you say something, it must become true, or you die trying" is extremely evocative and has stayed with me. It was a beautiful way to explore how grief can change the world.

If I can be honest here for a moment, I actually no longer remember why I have The Magicians listed as an inspiration for the fic. I started Blood Moon 3+ years ago and read The Magicians shortly afterwards, and I've since forgotten everything about that book except for what it made me feel: a despair that was hard to look in the eye.

Themes

These are phrased like high school essay questions because I couldn't think of a better way to present them. These are some of the questions that I asked myself while writing:

"With great power comes great responsibility …" Perhaps the defining question of the entire story. How is the question of duty explored in the fic? What do different characters feel responsible for and how do those responsibilities compete? How would each character answer the question "What do we owe to one another?"

Magic is intention. In this world, anybody can do magic. How is the magical presented in relation to the mundane? How much agency do the characters have? What kinds of choices do different characters make? How much does magic change their perception of the world? 

The knowing is part of the price. Caleb and Fjord are both characters who don't know who they are or don't fully understand what made them. Initially, Fjord is resistant to the idea of learning more about his teacher at all. Vulnerability, he understands, is something that can only be given when you have power. What role do alter egos and second identities and our strange other selves play in this fic?

Life and death are the greatest changes of all. Caleb is determined to bring back his parents at any cost. Fjord is determined to live at any cost. Both of our lead characters have other forces calling for their dues. How are death and grief explored in this fic? How about ideas of rebirth and change? 

I am nothing like I was. I cannot teach you; I cannot protect you. The story of Blood Moon is the story of what happens when Fjord goes looking for a teacher. In fact, many of the primary relationships in this fic are a mentorship or potential mentorship between a teacher and a student. What role does learning and teaching play in interpersonal relationships? How do different characters challenge these categories?

Home is where the heart is. The residences of several prominent magicians feature heavily in the fic as their seats of power. What role does "home" play in Caleb and Fjord's lives? How do they imagine, think of, and build their homes? What happens when someone's home is destroyed or otherwise absent? 

Return. What is Fjord's relationship with the sea?

Misc. Notes

The enduring image of the fic that still lives rent free in my head is the burning house. Caleb's childhood house goes up in flames -> Isharnai's house goes up in flames -> the manor goes up in flames, and each time the axis of the world shifts just a little bit.

If you read and enjoyed the fic, please know that you have my eternal thanks. It means a lot to me.

And of course:

[aghostrandom]

W.I.T.C.H., interview with the creators

Some time ago, I made a post about "the original Elyon being a guardian," and since everyone was confused, I thought I'd translate the interview from which I read this information.

I don't know if someone else has already done it, but since I didn't find anything online, I decided to do it myself. I will translate the entire interview with the help of an online translator and a friend of mine.

Just remember that this interview was published in April 2021, marking 20 years since the release of the first volume.

Enjoy!

Here the original link in italian: https://heroica.it/w-i-t-c-h-20-anni-barbucci-canepa-intervista/

It is April 3, 2001 when Italian newsstands are hit by a small earthquake, which will soon transform into a hurricane...

The first issue of W.I.T.C.H. is released, a comic magazine that will shatter every sales record in a matter of months, embarking on a quest to conquer the world.

It all begins in Milan, at the headquarters of Walt Disney Company Italy, with an intuition of the then-director of the company's women's periodicals, Elisabetta Gnone, and the talent of two young artists, Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa, whom I have interviewed for you.

Interview with Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa

Let's start from the origins: How was W.I.T.C.H. born?

Alessandro Barbucci: It was 1997, Sailor Moon was still fresh in everyone's memory [the last series had been broadcast in Italy between March and May of that year, editor's note]. And then there were the Spice Girls...

"Sailor Moon was ironic, arrived at the right moment; the Spice Girls were five purely pop characters, worthy of a cartoon - during that period, we were big fans, we even went to see the movie in the cinema!" Alessandro revealed to me.

Elisabetta Gnone, who was then in charge of the women's periodicals at Walt Disney Company Italy, had a great intuition: she realized that there was a missing product for teenage girls, an audience segment that had never been considered by the major company before. When thinking about teenagers, one couldn't ignore what was happening in pop culture at that moment...

Barbara Canepa: During that period, a passionate fanbase for manga was beginning to take shape. it was clear how this new language was able to respond to the tastes and needs of teenagers - not just boys, but girls as well!

In fact, up until that moment, it was believed that girls didn't read comics. It was precisely with shoujo manga (like Sailor Moon, but not only) that this belief began to falter.

Canepa: Exactly. I had already been an avid manga reader since the days of Candy Candy: we're talking about 1986 when Mondadori released the first monthly editions at newsstands. I started reading my first manga at the age of 12, and at 16, I saw Akira (1988) for the first time in theaters. In fact, I was the one who got Alessandro passionate about this style, even though he already had some knowledge of it. We felt that the language of manga was the best way to visually "tell" this story.

Barbucci: Initially, I proposed girls in a steampunk, military style. I was a big fan of Tank Girl by Hewlett and Martin.

In my mind, Hay Lin had already existed for a long time: I had been drawing her since high school, but she was a punk with military boots," Alessandro revealed to me.

Elisabetta Gnone told me that the concept was considered too "masculine," so she proposed the idea of the five witches, which directly connected us to manga. Some people at Disney Italy were afraid that, given the theme, it would veer into Satanism, but their greatest fear was the manga-style big eyes!

Canepa: For them, it was inconceivable to publish a comic even vaguely inspired by manga, which at that time were their direct competitors in the market.

Barbucci: At one point, they considered investing in the relaunch of Daisy Duck by introducing our five characters as anthropomorphic animals. It was an attempt to somehow connect with the Disney universe.

Canepa: Yes, exactly. The project was called Daisy D. and it was intended for the monthly magazine Minnie Mag. The story featured Daisy Duck as a private investigator, accompanied by our W.I.T.C.H. characters, who in this version would have had snouts and gloves, just like Minnie and Mickey! I still have the first page done in watercolors, as we wanted to make it like the pages of Paperinik's Trip...

The scriptwriter, Ilaria Isaia, revealed to me that the inspiration for Daisy D. came from the success of "Minnie and the Magnificent Five," a story published in Minnie & Company in 1993. It featured Minnie in the role of an investigator, solving a mystery connected to five girls. Daisy D. wouldn't have been very different: "It revolved around Daisy Duck as an investigator, called by her friend to investigate mysterious events happening in a college attended by five students with magical powers," explains Ilaria.

Barbucci: Fortunately, nothing came of it.

Canepa: We were well aware that a story starring Daisy Duck wouldn't resonate with teenagers. We needed five normal girls that the readers could identify with...

Barbucci: So, the W.I.T.C.H. characters returned to being human.

For Will's design, Alessandro Barbucci Alessandro Barbucci was also inspired by "Alita" (1990) by Yukito Kishiro.

The graphic style of W.I.T.C.H., while drawing inspiration from manga, remains a hybrid of the West and the East. It doesn't stray too far from certain Disney characters, starting with Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" (1989).

Barbucci: I can tell a funny anecdote about this! As we mentioned, Disney Italy opposed W.I.T.C.H. in every way possible: they particularly disliked those manga-style big eyes. Together with Elisabetta Gnone, we came up with a game, a kind of bet with the top executives of Disney Italy. I drew a series of eyes, including manga characters, Disney characters, and our W.I.T.C.H. characters. Only the eyes were visible, nothing else. "Since you have so much to say about these manga eyes, guess which ones belong to the W.I.T.C.H. characters!" That was the bet: they could no longer complain. Well, they were wrong: they chose the eyes of Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" (1989), the protagonist of the Italian magazine of the same name, directed by Elisabetta herself, and successfully published by them for years. They didn't take it well...

Indeed, Ariel broke the Disney graphic conventions with the proportions of her face.

Barbucci: It was a "graphic shock," something that had never been seen in Disney until that moment. It was certainly a step towards manga aesthetics, with these very large eyes that we later found in the design of many subsequent characters, from Belle and Jasmine to Anna and Elsa.

We remember that you and Barbara worked on the magazine "The Little Mermaid" in the 1990s, just before W.I.T.C.H. started. In the covers drawn and colored by Barbara, I can already perceive some hints of manga style. Was it intentional?

Canepa: Absolutely yes! At that time, I bought Japanese magazines like Newtype and Animage to get inspiration. In one of the illustrations I made, there's Ariel with a straw hat: I think I took inspiration from an image of Nadia from "The Secret of Blue Water" (1990-91), or maybe from some other cover. The close-up of the face, as well as the fluttering leaves [like flowers in shoujo manga, editor's note], the pose of a model on the cover of a fashion magazine... it was all too innovative and "manga" for Disney Italy at that time, which often had something to say about my work! Even before W.I.T.C.H...

The scan on the left is taken from the website www.onlyshojo.com.

Walt Disney Company Italy didn't want anything to do with W.I.T.C.H., as we mentioned. What made them change their minds?

Barbucci: We worked on it secretly for at least a year, even at night. Then, finally, a ray of light... At the time, the main headquarters of Disney would send representatives around to other offices to find out what was being done in the rest of the world. Elisabetta was lucky to come across an American manager who was a big fan of Wicca. [Secretly from the top management, editor's note], she presented W.I.T.C.H. to him: he fell in love with it and financed the project, ordering Walt Disney Company Italy to proceed with its production.

Concept art created by Barbucci and Canepa between 1998 and 1999. Notice the homage to Minnie in the first illustration!

Images provided by W.I.T.C.H. Italia.

The project then gets underway. How did you divide the work?

Canepa: It's hard to say. Officially, Elisabetta wrote the plot, Alessandro created the character design, and I took care of the color and atmosphere. In reality, the three of us worked together on the concept, characters, and the world they would inhabit. We drew inspiration from our personal lives when creating these five girls. The city of the W.I.T.C.H., Heatherfield, is a mix between our hometown of Genoa and San Francisco, which we had visited together. Will shares my birthdate, while Elyon shares Alessandro's. At the time, I was a big fan of frogs, just like Will! Cornelia's cat is named Napoleon, just like mine - I also gave the same name to Elisabeth's cat, the protagonist of the first volume of END, the comic I created with Anna Merli. For Hay Lin's restaurant, we were inspired by a small Chinese "hole in the wall" where we often ate near our apartment in Milan... In short, W.I.T.C.H. was built and conceived based on our personal experiences: friends, memories from adolescence, and more.

Based on these characterizations, I created the character profiles that you can find in the first five issues of the magazine, as well as some internal editorials.

The character of Irma is inspired by Barbara Canepa in terms of design and personality, while Will is inspired by Elisabetta Gnone: with her, she shares an introverted personality and the detail of touching his hair when she is embarrassed.

Scans by poochieandotherfriends.it

Elisabetta chose the ethnicities and names of the girls, coming up with the acronym W.I.T.C.H., while Alessandro created the symbols of the Guardians. To draw the Heart of Kandrakar, Alessandro was inspired by a pendant, a unique piece that I was very attached to and still possess to this day!

Scans by poochieandotherfriends.it

Lastly, I'll reveal something you may not know: I was the one who designed the Witch's transformed costumes! I remember when Elisabetta jokingly scolded Alessandro, telling him to draw them less provocatively... (laughs). As for their everyday costumes, Alessandro created them, often drawing inspiration from his and our friends.

Scans by poochieandotherfriends.it

Another significant responsibility of ours was to form a team of artists who would work on W.I.T.C.H. alongside us. In fact, Alessandro and I couldn't have done it all by ourselves: W.I.T.C.H. was becoming a massive and important project, especially since it would be released on a monthly basis! Therefore, we conducted courses at the Disney Academy: Alessandro taught how to draw the Witch, while I taught manga techniques, coloring, and graphic design.

Scans by poochieandotherfriends.it

Did you encounter any other issues with Disney Italy during the production?

Canepa: There were some controversies, but at that point, the project was already underway. There were several delays, actually: the first issue was supposed to be released on Halloween in 2000. I remember that they criticized the covers: they didn't like the white background, and in the first cover, they didn't like the difference in proportions between Will and the others, which is another typical graphic characteristic of manga.

Barbucci and Canepa created the first five covers of W.I.T.C.H. and the corresponding chapter opening pin-ups.

You create the comic of the first issue: On the third page, there's a very intense panel with Will partially nude (without nipples); she appears like that later during the Sailor Moon-style transformation as well. These are not erotic images, but they certainly deviate from the Disney style. Did you face any issues regarding this?

Barbucci: Strangely, no. Maybe they had already given up at that point...

Scans by poochieandotherfriends.it

You left the project after the sixth issue. What happened?

Barbucci: The back and forth with Disney to bring W.I.T.C.H. to newsstands was incredibly exhausting. By the year 2000, we were drained from the continuous meetings, discussions, and delays... Moreover, both Elisabetta and we had realized our potential as authors. She was the first to leave: she left the world of magazines to fulfill her dream of becoming a novelist. And she succeeded greatly, as a few years later, she created the Fairy Oak series of novels, which sold millions of copies worldwide! Barbara and I were already in contact with various French and American publishers. In France, they allowed us to express ourselves artistically in a completely free way. It felt like a dream! There were so many things we wanted to talk about, things that weren't even proposable in Disney: sex, religion, politics... Sky Doll was born during this period. Furthermore, there were legal disagreements with Disney regarding the moral rights of the Witch characters. In short, after a few years with the multinational company, it was time for us to move on to other things. We needed a change of scenery!

The story you had in mind for W.I.T.C.H. was different from what we later read in the issues after your departure?

Canepa: Yes, it was darker, introspective, and more complex. It was a glimpse into teenage life presented through five very different girls. The plot had different layers of interpretation, including ecological aspects. It was certainly closer to manga in terms of themes: there was more focus on the girls' personal lives, their adolescent struggles. There wasn't a clear division between good and evil: the girls would be drawn to the Metaworld and tempted to join, crossing over to the other side of the barricade. Elyon would be the first to succumb, but they would all do so to some extent, even fighting against themselves.

Moreover, the Metaworld was a fascinating place, a natural paradise that was quite different from the medieval setting that Disney eventually created. At the heart of it all was the concept of growth and transformation, which is so dear to adolescence: the girls would have had the ability to transform into fantastic animals! Like teenagers who find themselves caught between childhood and adulthood, the W.i.t.c.h. would have been caught between two worlds, remaining trapped in one or the other, by choice or against their will. It wasn't always clear...

The W.I.T.C.H. transform into adult versions of themselves, adhering to the main theme of many majokko ("magical girl") anime.

Even Elyon, who in the version you have read is the princess of Meridian, was a very different character in our story. She was the Guardian of the Metaworld and had powers related to time, wild nature, and death. She would have tried to bring the other girls to the dark side and then redeem herself: in the last issue, she would have sacrificed herself to save the lives of her friends.

In W.I.T.C.H. #2, you can perceive some traces of the original Elyon, who at a certain point addresses the girls repeating, "Come to me, come to me..." as if trying to lead them to the dark side.

I transferred her main power, the ability to "bestow" death, to the protagonist of END, Elizabeth: with this character, I have done and will do everything that I couldn't do with Elyon, who was initially supposed to have white hair like her.

Barbucci: What was actually realized was a harmless mythology, closer to fairy tales and therefore to the Disney style. There is no mention of witches anymore... We would have focused on a more New Age aesthetic, with references to Wicca, which was very popular in those years.

After leaving W.I.T.C.H., you left Italy for France, from where you embarked on various successful projects, with Sky Doll first. It can be said that you found your dimension and creative freedom. Now that 20 years have passed, what is your relationship with W.I.T.C.H.?

Canepa: It's needless to say that the bond has always been very strong and still is today. It was our own creation for a long time: seeing it succeed worldwide brought joy, but also suffering because we felt disconnected from it.

Barbucci: It was a love-hate relationship, but I must say that it gave me the greatest satisfaction of my life: seeing dolls of the characters I drew being sold in supermarkets!

Some sketches made by Alessandro Barbucci at the beginning of 2021, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of W.I.T.C.H.

Canepa: After twenty years, perhaps it can be said that we have made "peace" with what happened. The hardships we endured have now drifted away with the wind, and that's how it should be. Today, I can talk about W.I.T.C.H. with more tranquility, almost with tenderness. For many years, I didn't even want to face it. Initially, leaving Italy helped, but then W.I.T.C.H. reached France and the rest of the world. Over time, this forced me to look at it with more "serene" eyes, so to speak. If I hadn't left W.I.T.C.H., I would never have created Sky Doll and END, and perhaps I would have never become the director of a French series that, today, celebrates nearly 100 books 12 years after its creation. Destiny, then? I believe so. Fate wanted to take something away from me to give me something else. In hindsight, I truly believe there was a magical thread in all of this... or rather, a true witch's touch! There is a happy ending to it all: today, history reminds us that we are the true creators of W.I.T.C.H. The readers know it, and so do industry professionals. Even Disney, in the end, acknowledged us. Every now and then, Elisabetta, Alessandro, and I talk and, laughing, we say, "What if we got back together and remade W.I.T.C.H. in our own way?" In any case, this remains and will always be the most important project of my life. And to have touched so many hearts around the world... well, there's nothing more beautiful and satisfying. So, thank you all. I was happy to give you these five girls.

For Women's Day 2021, Barbucci drew again the famous pinup from the first issue, Halloween.

Current and Future Projects

Alessandro Barbucci His most recent work is "Le Sorelle Grémillet" where he returns to portraying teenage girls ("it's a bit like how I would have liked to create W.I.T.C.H. back then, but it wasn't possible"). Additionally, Alessandro continues to work on "EKHÖ" and other projects. Follow his Instagram and Facebook to stay updated!

Barbara Canepa For over 12 years, Barbara Canepa has been the editorial director of the Metamorphose series for the French publisher Group Delcourt, with over 100 published books. She has several projects in the works, including "MINA's Diary," where she will serve as the writer, while Isabella Mazzanti will handle the artwork and coloring. The work is a free interpretation of Stoker's Dracula, introducing a new way of conceiving vampires. For the past two years, she has been finishing the writing of 12 volumes of a new jeunesse series, "GREENWOOD," aimed at rediscovering and respecting nature to the fullest. Stay updated on her activities by following her on Instagram and Facebook!

[neon-ufo]

Luv's Monthly Makeover 2022

I wanted to show all 12 pieces of this project, and add a little paragraph about each of them, their themes (if applicable), and their inspirations. 

The point of this project was to redesign my mascot Luv every month, trying out new art styles and techniques in the process. Luv changed every month, but still remained the same recognizable character throughout. The idea was to embrace the beauty and challenge of change, and grow with it.

💕January Luv is generally a very androgynous-looking character largely due to cuteness and fashion, but for this piece I wanted to give him a somewhat more masculine look, which created the little fire goatee. Technically this piece was drawn in December 2021 before I thought of this project (in February), but it hasn't been posted until January and it fit the bill so I counted it as the January piece.

I wanted this to be a more ‘serious’ piece, so there’s no exaggerated fashion or detail to it, aside from the realistic heart in place of the usual love heart on his chest. This is the oldest of the pieces, but I’m still very happy with how it looks!

The Japanese text is from the song Hello by Fire Bomber, saying; "We fear nothing, We go on along this path”. The vibe of the drawing was inspired by this song’s classic rock tune.

💕February This piece was largely just playing around with clothing textures and such, and the main idea was to present Luv's heart mask in a different way. Some looks had a much stronger thematic vision than others, and this is definitely one of the weaker ones. I don't have much to say about it tbh

The jacket is inspired by a Coach x Keith Haring collaboration jacket, and the mask is a "Lover" mask design by LikeADrugg.

💕March This was done when Ousama Ranking was airing and I fell in love with the demon's heart-shaped mouth, which I referenced here. Contrary to popular belief, Aku from Samurai Jack was not the inspiration for this.

There isn't much more to say about this one, I wanted him to look creepy and spindly. I had a blast with the rendering, very proud of how it turned out!

💕April I was really excited for the concept of this one, but it did not turn out how I wanted it to.

He was supposed to be essentially mask-less on this piece, with the visor of his hat casting a heart-shaped shadow on his face. I also wanted to push more in the fashion aspect in this one, the main inspiration being a pair of RoseCut pants & Vivienne Westwood's Love logo, which I used a few more times in my work after this.

💕May Ok I suddenly got struck by an extreme passion for punk fashion at this point, and I poured it heavily into this iteration. Another different play on the heart mask, this time it changed to heart-shaped glasses. Various spikes become a pretty recurring element from here on lmao. There's also the Westwood Love logo again.

A fun fact; this is actually largely a re-used design of a GothPunk Luv I tried drawing once, but scrapped because I didn't like how it was going! I loved the ideas behind that design and am really glad I got to bring it back here. <:

💕June This is a very simple one, as I was dealing with the loss of a beloved pet, and I simply didn't have the energy to draw anything bigger.

This actually turned out to be one of my favourite designs for Luv, as it's very simple but very fun, and easy to draw. It became my go-to design for doodles. Lyrics is from "It Gets Harder" by Good Luck

💕July Tried something very different with style here. I wanted the style and colours to be a little bit more ethereal in vibe, hence the very bright soft shapes and floating gold bits. The doll-like face also adds o the dreamyness, with the matte black eyes and no shine. I think that adding some thick lineart in the centre of the drawing makes the image a bit disorienting, which I quite like.

Main focal point is the golden Jeremy Scott + Adidas Wings sneaker, which was basically what this entire piece was built around.

💕 August This is another one of my favourite looks. I really love the outfit elements of it, as well as the colours, and I can definitely see myself drawing it again sometime, which is not something I can say for most other looks in this project!

Despite it being one of my favourite designs in this series, I don’t have much to say about the piece  itself though. The shirt was inspired by a shirt worn by Donquixote Doflamingo on one of the One Piece manga covers.

💕September This piece has recently been chosen to partake in a group exhibition in the capital city of my country, which is quite a big deal for me!

Luv is sporting a very casual streetwear look with a graffiti can in hand. This was the first time I familiarized myself with gradient maps, experimenting with which helped me choose the final palette. The "Love & Peace" sign in the background is taken from a Trigun episode title. The decorations on the pants were inspired by Lirika Matoshi's S/S22 collection, and the shirt evokes several Junya Watanabe/Comme des Garçons shirts from the early 2000s.

💕October Spooky Luv for spooky month, I really love this piece. It's one of my favourite recent pieces!

Again a lineless piece like the month before, but I took a very different approach to shading, and honestly I expected it to be so much harder than it was. It was a blast to work on this one and I love the effect that pitch black shading has on a monochrome body. I did a lot of experimenting with the background and used gradient maps again to get a cool background effect. I was aiming to get some kinda old video game cover look with this. The text on top is my favourite quote from Dracula. The background is a photo from the Croatian coast that I took last summer.

💕November The aim of this one was to capture the nostalgic early 2010s anime & deviantART style. I looked to a few anime for reference, but I think in the end Lucky Star was the most helpful.

I tried to channel deviantART character designs I remember from that era, using typical design features I remember from it, such as demon wings, stripes, collars, off-the-shoulder oversized shirts, and checkered belts. The fashion inspiration here is largely the signature Chrome Hearts crosses, while the shoes were inspired by the fantastic toothed heels from the GCDS spring/summer '23 collection which I only now realized does not fit the Y2K theme I was going for with this one lmao

Either way, I'm very happy with this one, I think I achieved what I went out to do!

Oh yeah, and the text in the background is the entire lyrics of the album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance.

💕December Last piece of the challenge was almost entirely re-drawn, as I didn't like the first look of it. There isn't much specific inspiration for this one, but I wanted to make it vaguely connected to the December season.

As a reference to Christmas, there are elements of angels in the design, with a bright halo and tiny wings. The symbol I personally associate with new year is the peace sign☮️, because I remember that my dad used to give family friends a New Year's card with nothing but a peace sign in it. He stopped doing it recently, so I'm taking up that mantle instead.

The little sleepy Luv on the right side is taken from a different Monthly Makeover piece that I scrapped.

I'm not sure if it's clear, but the shape at the bottom says 2023.

Thank you

[dandelionsresilience]

I’m not sure how reliably I’ll be able to keep up with it, but I’ve been wanting to start posting weekly or monthly Good News compilations, with a focus on ecology but also some health and human rights type stuff. I’ll try to keep the sources recent (like from within the last week or month, whichever it happens to be), but sometimes original dates are hard to find. Also, all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.

Anyway, here’s some good news from the first week of March!

1. Mexican Wolf Population Grows for Eighth Consecutive Year

““In total, 99 pups carefully selected for their genetic value have been placed in 40 wild dens since 2016, and some of these fosters have produced litters of their own. While recovery is in the future, examining the last decade of data certainly provides optimism that recovery will be achieved.””

2. “Remarkable achievement:” Victoria solar farm reaches full power ahead of schedule

“The 130MW Glenrowan solar farm in Victoria has knocked out another milestone, reaching full power and completing final grid connection testing just months after achieving first generation in late November.”

3. UTEP scientists capture first known photographs of tropical bird long thought lost

“The yellow-crested helmetshrike is a rare bird species endemic to Africa that had been listed as “lost” by the American Bird Conservancy when it hadn’t been seen in nearly two decades. Until now.”

4. France Protects Abortion as a 'Guaranteed Freedom' in Constitution

“[A]t a special congress in Versailles, France’s parliament voted by an overwhelming majority to add the freedom to have an abortion to the country’s constitution. Though abortion has been legal in France since 1975, the historic move aims to establish a safeguard in the face of global attacks on abortion access and sexual and reproductive health rights.”

5. [Fish & Wildlife] Service Approves Conservation Agreement for Six Aquatic Species in the Trinity River Basin

“Besides conserving the six species in the CCAA, activities implemented in this agreement will also improve the water quality and natural flows of rivers for the benefit of rural and urban communities dependent on these water sources.”

6. Reforestation offset the effects of global warming in the southeastern United States

“In America’s southeast, except for most of Florida and Virginia, “temperatures have flatlined, or even cooled,” due to reforestation, even as most of the world has grown warmer, reports The Guardian.”

7. Places across the U.S. are testing no-strings cash as part of the social safety net

“Cash aid without conditions was considered a radical idea before the pandemic. But early results from a program in Stockton, Calif., showed promise. Then interest exploded after it became clear how much COVID stimulus checks and emergency rental payments had helped people. The U.S. Census Bureau found that an expanded child tax credit cut child poverty in half.”

8. The Road to Recovery for the Florida Golden Aster: Why We Should Care

“After a five-year review conducted in 2009 recommended reclassifying the species to threatened, the Florida golden aster was proposed for removal from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants due to recovery in June 2021, indicating the threats to the species had been reduced or eliminated.”

9. A smart molecule beats the mutation behind most pancreatic cancer

“Researchers have designed a candidate drug that could help make pancreatic cancer, which is almost always fatal, a treatable, perhaps even curable, condition.”

10. Nurses’ union at Austin’s Ascension Seton Medical Center ratifies historic first contract

“The contract, which NNOC said in a news release was “overwhelmingly” voted through by the union, includes provisions the union believes will improve patient care and retention of nurses.”

This and future editions will also be going up on my new Ko-fi, where you can support my art and get doodled phone wallpapers! EDIT: Actually, I can't find any indication that curating links like this is allowed on Ko-fi, so to play it safe I'll stick to just posting here on Tumblr. BUT, you can still support me over on Ko-fi if you want to see my Good News compilations continue!

[lookingforcactus]

Non-paywall version here.

"Shawna Freeman Lane, 34, continued to teach college-level business by laptop after she gave birth by C-section in 2017. Her husband, Eric Lane, was home with her in Fircrest, Wash., for three weeks. The same thing happened in 2018, when their second child was born—except this time, Mr. Lane only got two weeks at home.

Having to leave his still-healing wife in the lurch was hard for Mr. Lane, as was tracking his children’s development via text messages while at work. But when their third was born last May, things were different. In 2020, Washington state had passed a new law entitling working parents to 12 weeks of paid leave, to bond with their newborn.

“It felt like winning the lottery, honestly,” said Mr. Lane, who stayed home for six weeks after their son was born, then another six weeks when Ms. Freeman Lane went back to work.

They are part of an explosion in the number of workers taking parental leave. In the 12 months through February [2023], a monthly 406,000 workers were absent on average due to paid or unpaid parental leave, up 13.5% from 2021, according to Labor Department data. The 478,000 working parents absent in January was the most since records began in 1994.

One driver behind the upswing is likely the increase in births in the past two years versus the prepandemic trend. The pandemic itself may also be a factor, as lockdowns and Covid kept many workers home.

But the main factor appears to be government and employer policies. While the U.S. remains the only advanced economy without nationally mandated paid parental leave, the share of workers with access to leave is growing, to 25% in March last year versus 19% in 2019, according to the Labor Department. Seven states plus the District of Columbia now require employers to provide paid leave, up from four in 2018, while private employers are also expanding the benefit. Four more states will require paid parental leave by 2026.

“As the state laws have passed, there has been a culture change, and more awareness and support for mothers and—especially—fathers around taking leave,” said Jane Waldfogel, a public affairs professor at Columbia University.

A greater propensity by fathers to take leave is an important contributor. The number of men on parental leave tripled to an average of 76,500 in the six months ended in February [2023] from five years earlier, whereas the number of women rose 11% to 336,000, according to census data.

More parental leave-taking benefits the economy in the impact on families’ well-being, said Emily Oster, economics professor at Brown University—ranging from near-term outcomes such as infant mortality rates to longer-term measures, including child test scores and adult earnings. “In this sense, leave now is an investment in the economic future,” Ms. Oster said...

Leave policies are a small but increasingly key way that firms compete for workers, according to Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. About 3% of currently active online job postings nationwide explicitly advertise parental leave, about a fivefold increase from before the pandemic, ZipRecruiter data show.

Industries seeing the biggest increase are retail, and transportation and warehousing, said Ms. Pollak—something she calls the “Amazon effect.” The e-commerce giant was at the forefront of offering parental-leave benefits, prompting competitors to do the same...

Parents are also taking longer leaves. The typical mother now takes 120 days of bonding leave, up from 110 in 2019, and the median father is out for 60 days, a 15-day increase, according to Sparrow, a leave-management platform. New York state family bonding claims data show a similar trend, with moms claiming 9.9 weeks in 2021, a three-week gain from 2018, and dads extending their average leave by 2.3 weeks, to 6.9...

“My son is so much fun now. He’s getting to the stage where he’s his own human,” [Jonathan Leslie, a 36-year-old software engineer] said. “Having the open-ended play with him—that opportunity won’t come again.”

-via The Wall Street Journal, 4/8/23. Non-paywall version via ProgramBusiness, 4/10/23.

[marveltrumpshate]

May 2024 MTH fills

The best way to see all the fills that have been shared with us is our monthly roundups tag or our #MTH-fills channel on our Discord, but you can also view them through the following methods:

Our Tumblr tags: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Our AO3 collection (only has works posted to AO3; see "subcollections" for specific auction years)

Completed works tag list

To find specific content, use our completed works tag lists above which includes instructions on how to search for a particular character, gen or romantic relationship, universe, and fanwork type. 

SOLO CHARACTERS

Carol Danvers

@kerravonsen - Carol Danvers jewelry set composed of a red, blue, and gold chainmaille necklace, bracelet and earrings for @illogicalkat

@secondalto - Cross-stitch piece of Carol Danvers in her uniform with her helmet on, with her symbol in the background for kourtain

Erik Lehnsherr

Sayah1112/ @sayahs-corner - Two shirts with Magneto's helmet on it and one shirt with a triceratops for @v-thinks-on

Natasha Romanov

@messypeaches - My Little Pony Natasha with red hair and her Black Widow outfit for logan97

GEN/PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS

Clint Barton & Phil Coulson & Natasha Romanov

@uofmdragon - "Brave Enough to Make the Right Choice" (Batfam!Clint & Phil & Nat fic where Clint meets runaways Clint and Nat) for @oper1895 and stillcentre

SHIPS

Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers

@darter-blue - "A Good Tart" (Steve/Bucky Great British Bake Off fusion fic) for @kalika999 (MTH 2021)

@kinstein-art - Two illustrations of Steve and Bucky kissing from "History of American Capitalism," a football player Bucky/history major Steve college AU fic by and for @zenaidamacrouras1 (MTH 2022)

lou2 - Beta service for "Private Dancer, Public Shame," a non-powered Steve/Bucky AU fic for @buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (MTH 2022) (posted in March 2023) - Beta service for "What Comes on the Stage," a historical Western arranged marriage Steve/Bucky AU fic for buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (MTH 2022) (posted in March 2023)

Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

swtalmnd/ @amysnotdeadyet - "Corner" (Bucky/Steve/Tony AU fic where Steve and Bucky making breakfast and discussing being in a relationship together with Tony) for @saganarojanaolt and newtypeshadow (MTH 2022)

swtalmnd/ amysnotdeadyet - "Starter" (Bucky/Steve/Tony AU domestic brunch fic) for saganarojanaolt and newtypeshadow (MTH 2022)

Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark

Dogsled & @summerpipedream - "My Hero" (three-page 616 comic where Tony rescues Bucky from the rubble after an explosion at the Sokovian embassy) for @massivespacewren (MTH 2022)

Clint Barton/Phil Coulson

ArielT and NickiB - "Hawkeye and the Hermit" (Clint/Coulson AU fic where SHIELD agent Clint meets a reclusive Phil after an op gone bad) for oper1895

Matt Murdock/Foggy Nelson

@pomegranate-belle - "Before I Knew That I Had Begun" (Matt/Foggy Pride and Prejudice fusion fic) for Mooch (posted in November) (MTH 2022) - "One Man's Trash" (Matt/Foggy AU fic where vigilante Matt is rescued by garbageman Foggy who's involved with the mob he's investigating) for RoseLover (posted in February) (MTH 2022)

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

@ashes0909 - "A Date with Death" (telepath Steve/vampire Tony True Blood AU fic where they investigate a string of vampiric murders) for thewaywerust (MTH 2020)

RoseRose/ @tehroserose - "Sonnet 2012" (Steve/Tony sonnet where Steve and Tony don't get along at first, and then Steve realizes Tony's better qualities) for @wilmakins

[levbolton]

Mokumoku Ren/ Mokmok Len interview in Kono Manga ga Sugoi!

A manga uploaded to Twitter became a big buzz, and this is their first full-length work, "The Summer Hikari died," was selected as No. 1 in the Male Category. A bromance depicting the summer days of two high school boys…. How was the next generation horror work drawn by an up-and-coming newcomer born?

Mokumoku Ren debuted with the short story "Period" included in the appendix booklet of the “Monthly Comic Gene" June 2021 issue. From August 31, 2021, KADOKAWA's "Young Ace UP" site started publishing the manga series "The Summer Hikaru died". This is the first serial work.

1. Please tell us your impression of being selected as the number one winner.

Mokumokuren (hereinafter referred to as Moku): I never thought that I would be chosen as the number one winner, so I was very surprised. When it became popular on TikTok, I had the impression that there were many female readers, so when I heard that it won in the man category I was surprised again.

2. This is Mokumoku Ren-sensei's serial debut. Please tell us the story of how she started serialization.

Moku: Originally, I didn't want to be a manga artist. Ever since I was a little child, Iliked to draw, and I liked to make up stories, but I never turned them into manga.

3. What kind of stories were you fantasizing about?

Moku: When I was young, it was like an original ensemble drama with fairies. I had never completed a single manga properly, but I had some time off due to the corona crisis, so I made the story and characters I had been thinking about for a long time into this manga format. Thanks to the buzz I posted on Twitter, I received offers from several editorial departments.

4. When the number of “likes” and retweets kept increasing, didn’t you get overwhelmed?

Moku: I thought, "Wow!" (laughs). However, when the serialization started and it went on TikTok, the reaction was bigger, so I hurriedly downloaded the app at that time. I saw a junior high school student saying “Omoshiroi”, and I thought “that’s a lie” at first. But if I were a junior high school student now, I'm sure I would read this work.

5. Why did you choose the web media “Young Ace UP”?

Moku: I myself had zero name recognition, so I thought it would be better for the series to be available to read for free, so I chose "Young Ace UP".

6. Did you have any ideas other than 'Summer when the light died' for the serialization?

Moku: I didn't. I said, "Let's just use what I posted on Twitter in the first episode." In the June 2021 issue of the magazine Comic Gene, I drew “Period”, and from April, I started to draw the serialization of “The summer Hikaru died”. I submitted it in January 2021, and published it in March. *

Notice: here is the post where moku announced the original idea that at the time was posted on pixiv, however you can see that the illustrations have been removed, i do not know if this is the same oneshot as the one translated

"Ku" slowly changes shape in the dark forest. Yoshiki, who has to go through a forest road, spots the hiragana "ku" floating in the forest. Eventually, "Ku" will change into something else... The motif is "Kune Kune" from an internet ghost story. It's scary to come over things that change form completely when you look at them from afar and up close. (Mokumoku Ren)

Notice: here is a cool drawing of the yokai Ku

Focus on Yoshinori and Hikaru's bromance-like relationship. Yoshiki and Hikaru, who are the same age and live in a village in the mountains, have "always lived together" since childhood. Because of their relationship, Yoshiki noticesthat Hikaru has been replaced by ‘something’, and she faints. “I thought that a high school student would be good for the main character, and from the beginning I thought it would be a boy. It would be nice if I could create an exquisite feeling because they are two boys. (Mokumoku Ren)

7. So did you have a bit of time to prepare for the serialization?

Moku: I didn't. The dialect used in the film is the Mie dialect, so I wanted to go to Mie Prefecture for coverage, but it was difficult due to the coronavirus pandemic.

8. Why set the story in Mie?

Moku: One of the reasons was that I wanted the characters to use distinctive dialects. I was looking for an exquisite line that was different from the Kansai dialect, and I chose the mountainous areas of the Tokai region. I also love the horror novels "The Higa Sisters" by Itomo Sawamura, and the first one, "Bogi Wanga ga Kuru", is set in Mie Prefecture.

What is the difference between Hikaru and "Hikaru"? Hikaru was replaced by something non-human. At present, there are few opportunities to draw the figure before being replaced. I try to portray “Hikaru” a little more childlike after the switch. In the black-and-white manuscripts, there is not much difference, but in the colour manuscripts, I changed the pupil colour. (Mokumoku Ren)

9. So, The Summer Hikaru Died is a mixture of all your favourite things?

Moku: Well, it's not like I conceived a new concept for this series, but rather that it's a mix of all the things that I've liked over the years.

10. You seem to like horror a lot.

Moku: As soon as I realized I liked it, I liked it already (laughs). I don't know why I like it, but ever since I can remember I've watched a lot of films. I've watched a lot of films ever since I can remember. I've always loved the 'True Horror Stories' series and the 'Ghost Stories Earbags' series, and I often refer to them.

11. Do you like 'J-horror'?

Moku: I like classic films such as Ring (directed by Hideo Nakata) and Ju-On (directed by Takashi Shimizu), and I watched The Room You Mustn't Live In (directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura) over and over again. But I also like foreign films. Recently, I watched Ali Aster's Midsummer and Hereditary, thinking, "Wow, the composition is really good".

12. Do you pay attention to the composition?

Moku: I pay attention to the composition, the colours, and also the direction. I think about how to switch it up here.

13. I was also impressed by the effective use of first-person POV (Point of View) in The Summer Hikaru Died.

Moku: I also like POV horror films. I've seen all of Koji Shiraishi's horror films. Recently, I went to see Welcome to the Occult Forest. (Okaruto no Mori e Yokoso )

14. In episode 3 (included in volume 1), Hikaru's past is revealed: "I fainted for two hours after watching a horror film".

Moku: Well, I didn't expect that, but I think it's just a plain old movie. Something classic that everyone has seen before, but that still makes Hikaru faint (laughs).

15. Has your view of films changed since you started drawing your own manga?

Moku : I started to think about what it would be like if I were to draw it as a manga. Like, "I'd probably split the frames here and turn the page here".

16. Is the cut-splitting of a film similar to that of a comic book?

Moku: I myself draw with a visual sense. When I draw, I think about the situation in which the character is placed. I think about where the light source is, the atmosphere and humidity, and whether it is clearly… visible.

Expressions of guilt crawling down Yoshiki's spine. The unique hand-shaped, a unique balloon expression. I wanted to do something interesting from a manga point of view. The guilt is like a crawl up the spine, so I thought it would be good to make a balloon crawl up from behind. I came up with this kind of expression when I was drawing the story. (Mokumoku Ren)

Supernatural images that exist in nature. The image of Yoshinori's hand inside Hikaru's body was 'processed from fractal images'. Fractal structure (self-similarity) refers to a figure in which a part of the figure is similar to the whole figure. The Sierpinski gasket, which is a series of triangles, is a typical example. The bottomless feeling of being able to see the same shape no matter how much you zoom in is weird. It's not good, is it? I like the fact that they are not artificial, but found in nature, like romanesco in vegetables or the veins of leaves. I also like the Lichtenberg figures drawn on wood with electricity, and other things that are in nature but look supernatural, which fits the image of this work. (Mokumoku Ren)

19. We've heard about the movies, but which manga works have influenced you?

Moku: Ever since I was a child, I spent all my allowance on manga. I collected HUNTER x HUNTER (Togashi Yoshihiro) and Jojo's Strange Adventure (Araki Hirohiko) with my own money. I also like manga with non-human characters, and one work that has influenced me in terms of artwork is Tokyo Ghoul. Whether or not the drawings are similar, I can say that I am influenced by the way Sui Ishida draws the facial expressions of the characters.

18. The Summer of the Dead Light has horror elements, so I am interested in what you find scary.

Moku: I don't find horror films very scary. If anything, I find them more enjoyable. That's why I can't help but say things like, "It's hot! I'm on a rollercoaster ride.” I watch horror films with a rollercoaster sensation. I guess you could say it's like watching a haunted house or an attraction. Personally, I'm scared of things I don't understand. Not the ones that have something to back them up, like 'the ghost of someone who died here', but the ones where you don't really know what it is. If there is proof, it feels like a story made up by humans. It's not about whether you've done something good or something bad, it's about when you're going to be attacked, irrespective of human convenience.

19. Any specific examples?

Moku: In 'The Summer Hikaru Died', it's the 'Ku' monster. I'm afraid of things that just appear. I'm scared of things that don't just appear out of the blue, but things that are clearly abnormal and appear in the distance, or things that blend into everyday life and are always in the background.

Countryside in the mountains where conventions remain.The story takes place in the mountainous countryside of Mie. The model for the story is my grandmother's house. 'The model was my grandmother's house. It was a narrow village on the border between the mountains and the sea, with houses densely packed together. It is surrounded by haunted places, and there are many suicide spots and customsstill remain. The only shop in the small village was my grandmother's house. There was old polished glass, a black telephone still in use, and neighbours would come and go as they pleased. The scenery I used to see when I went back home with my parents was the basis for the setting of this film." (Mokumoku Ren)

20. It's a psychic photographic way of showing.

Moku : I used to watch TV specials on ghosts without fail (laughs). Rather than showing shocking scenes with a bang, I like it best when the scary feeling is just about to arrive, like in ....... That's why in The Summer Hikaru Died, I wanted to emphasise the creepy feeling, so I tried to keep the shocking scenes to a minimum.

21. In traditional horror stories, non-human beings often can't communicate with humans, but “Hikaru” is a little different after the switch.

Moku: I think it's interesting that they go beyond people's imaginations, rather than from the perspective of a transcendental being, like the human ....... There are things that are similar to humans, and there are things that seem similar but are completely different. I originally wanted to depict the feelings of the non-humans who have been replaced by humans, rather than the feelings of the humans themselves.

22. More non-human than human: ......?

Moku: That came first (laughs). I wanted something familiar to be transcendent, or something close by to suddenly seem scary. I put my idea of what I think of as an non-human being into it.

The intention of onomatopoeia flooding the entire screen. The onomatopoeia is printed in a typeface font instead of drawn, which is characteristic of this work. Unlike videos, there is no sound in manga, so I distort the text and make it move to add variety. I use fonts because I want people to read them. With hand-drawn text, it blends in with the picture, and I feel that the eye slides over it and it's hard to get people to read it. I use different fonts for things I want people to see even if they don't want to, and hand-drawn fonts for things that they don't need to be aware of. (Mokumoku Ren)

23. By the way, your pen name comes from the name of a yokai (Mokumoku Ren), right?

Moku: That's right. I've always loved the anime GeGeGe no Kitaro, so I became familiar with yokai. As for the origin of my pen name, I was told by a friend, "Why don't you use a yokai's name?” It's not that I particularly like the yokai "Mokumokuren". I chose it because it has a cute sound. I've seen The Great Yokai War (directed by Takashi Miike) more than 20 times.

24. You are a big fan of yokai, aren't you? How did you decide on the title?

Moku: I couldn't come up with a good idea at all until just before the series started. Our editor had to come up with something, but I kept struggling with it.

25. What were some of the rejected ideas?

Moku: 'Hikaru is dead'. It just doesn't have the word 'summer', but it doesn't feel like a title at all, so it's weak. In the end, we decided on 'Hikari ga shinda natsu' (The summer Hikaru died), and I like it because I feel that the three kanji in it (Hikaru/light, death and summer) alone give an idea of the content, and it's very coherent.

26. I was a little curious, but in the story, Hikaru died in the winter, about half a year ago, not in the summer, right?

Moku: That's right. So, if you understand that it was summer when Yoshiki accepted Hikari's death. If there had been a 'winter' in the title, I think it would have been completely different.

27. Why did you choose summer as the season in the work?

Moku: I wanted to draw short sleeves. Another reason is that I felt summer was the most mismatched season. In this work, I put a lot of emphasis on the 'mismatch' in general. The content is dark, so I thought summer would be the most energetic of the seasons. The visuals are intentionally bright. The cover of the book is also brightly coloured, and the background music for the PV was deliberately bright. We wanted to create a mismatch.

Chaos overflowing from Hikaru. Episode 6 (in volume 1) Last spread. The preliminary picture of this page, uploaded on Twitter, was a collage of photographic materials. 'That's not so much a name as it is a base for a picture. I transformed that base and drew on top of it. I created the work in a fully digital environment, from the name to the preliminary sketch and penning, so there is no clear separation between the different stages of the work, but it is seamless. I thought it would be disgusting if it was more graphic, so I included the face of my dog in this scene. (Mokumoku Ren)

The pet dog, Pug, actually makes a cameo appearance.

28. What do you enjoy most when you are drawing?

Moku: It's fun when I'm drawing the parts that I know will be exciting.

29. In particular?

Moku: I think the last part of the first volume (episode 6) could have had a strong impact. I drew a kind of solution to that in episode 7 (included in volume 2), but I discussed this with the editor in charge, and we had a hard time deciding on it, so I think I did my best. Also, looking at the reactions of readers, there are some who have given it a lot of thought, and it's fun when I can draw a development that betrays their expectations. I know I'm going to betray the readers' expectations (laughs).

Various compositions are used in the work. I use fisheye-like compositions for scenes where I want to be able to see far into the distance, or when I want to draw a lot of background, or when I want to show a bit more space. (Mokumoku Ren).

Comparison between the finished manuscript and the name for episode 8. In general, characters are drawn with a 'cross on a circle' style in the story, but it can be seen that the facial expression of the character (Yoshiki) has already been decided in detail. The facial expressions are definitely decided at the story writing stage. Without facial expressions, I don't know how the characters are feeling when they say their lines. For this story, I think it's very important to know what kind of face they’re making and what they’re saying. Timing, pauses and, in a film, the acting part. I feel that I want to convey the message through acting rather than dialogue. (Mokumoku Ren)

30. What about future developments?

Moku: The story will start moving in the next three volumes. If the first three volumes were the daily life chapter, I feel like I'm entering a new chapter in the story. I'm sorry to have been chosen as the No. 1 winner when we're still in the early stages of the story, but I hope you'll look forward to the rest of the story.

► PROFILE: Born in Tokyo. “The Summer Hikaru Died" is the first commercial serialisation of this promising new author. Less than a year after its serialisation, it won 11th place at the Global Special Award [Traditional Chinese] in the Web manga category of the Next Manga Award 2022. Information is also updated on the Twitter account. Twitter account. @mokmok_len

Well, they removed the onedrive email i created to share this so this was exhausting to edit into Tumblr, I’d appreciate it a lot if you reblogged this post

Other Mokumoku Ren interviews translated:

CREA (7th Nov 2022) | Da Vinci (5th Nov 2022) | Kono Manga ga Sugoi 2023 | Real sound 31st December | Real sound 5th July

[mariacallous]

On Reddit and Truth Social, users have been trying to re-create the meme-stock magic for Trump Media and Technology Group—the company behind Truth Social—that boosted companies like GameStop in 2021. So far, they haven’t been too successful.

Truth Social, former president Donald Trump’s Twitter copycat, lacks two essential ingredients to the narrative of previous campaigns: underlying fundamentals and the foil of institutional investors. Large hedge funds had shorted GameStop, betting that the price would go down. This time, the stock is owned primarily by retail investors.

Unlike other social media companies, the Truth Social doesn’t disclose how many users it has, but has said previously that just 9 million people have signed up for the site, compared with over 3 billion monthly active users on Facebook. TruthSocial visitors have declined from 5.4 million in January to around 5 million in February, according to web analytics firm SimilarWeb. The site’s lack of users has contributed to poor financial performance.

On the r/wallstreetbets subreddit, home of meme-stock boosterism, most users aren’t buying what Truth Social is selling. “If you invest in this on a long enough timeline you will lose everything. Thus is strictly a movement play,” wrote Reddit user Rich4718. “If you think Donald Trump is going to create an income positive social media platform you are an absolute fucking moron.”

The company started trading publicly on March 26 under the ticker symbol DJT and has already experienced wild swings in price. On Monday, the stock slid nearly 20 percent, erasing $2 billion in value.

In a filing on Monday, the company said it had just over $4 million in revenue and $58 million in net losses. This comes after the auditor for Trump Media and Technology Group made a startling admission: The company’s losses “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue,” according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on March 25. And yet the company is valued at around $7 billion, despite reporting these sizable losses. The valuation is propped up in part by Trump fans who see investing in the company as a way to support the former president. In some cases, these investors hold a genuine belief that Truth Social could become a major social media player.

Albert Choi, a professor of Law at the University of Michigan, says investors in Trump Media may be motivated by factors beyond traditional financial logic, like boosting the price through generating hype.

“If that’s your primary motivating factor, then you’re not going to care too much about whether the company is actually making money,” says Choi.

“I believe DJT is an investment in Donald Trump, not just Truth Social,” Reddit user autsauce, who declined to share their real name, tells WIRED. “If market participants start asking that question, which I am betting they will, they will likely arrive at a very different price valuing Truth Social in a silo.”

Choi noted that Trump winning the Presidential election could actually hurt the company’s stock, as investors' perceived need to support the former president financially by investing could fade.

“My guess is that the interest in the stock would largely disappear,” Choi said.

Some Truth Social fans have spun the company’s entry into the public market as a fresh start. The infusion of capital from people buying shares in the company will enable Truth Social to post an improved financial performance, they argue.

“With $300M to properly grow a company and Trump’s impending win in 2024, the entire situation has changed,” Chad Nedohin, who regularly livestreams about his support for the company while wearing a Jack Sparrow costume, wrote on Truth Social.

Still, Truth Social doesn’t really provide anything unique. The company’s defining feature is that it's the website where Trump is currently posting, and it is, unsurprisingly, home to many posts discussing conspiracy theories about QAnon, stolen elections, and deep state plots.

But Devin Nunes, Truth Social CEO and former Republican US representative, said in an interview last week with the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk that the company plans to combine features from other social networks.

“We’re trying to take the best of all platforms and put it into one,” Nunes said, “whether it be Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, et cetera.”

Truth Social still needs to comply with Apple’s and Google’s terms of service to remain in its respective app stores. Nunes claims, however, that Truth Social “doesn’t use any of the woke companies, referencing Parler, the social media company that was kicked off Apple’s and Google’s mobile app stores in the wake of the January 6 riot at the Capitol. “It’s kind of an interesting investment, because you’re really investing in your constitutional rights,” Nunes said. “We’re the only company out there that can’t be shut down by woke companies.”

[beardedmrbean]

California is facing a record $68 billion budget deficit.

This is largely attributed to a “severe revenue decline,” according to the state's Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO).

While it’s not the largest deficit the state has ever faced as a percentage of overall spending, it’s the largest in terms of real dollars — and could have a big impact on California taxpayers in the coming years.

Here’s what has eaten into the Golden State’s coffers.

Unprecedented drop in revenue

California is dealing with a revenue shortfall partly due to a delay in 2022-2023 tax collection. The IRS postponed 2022 tax payment deadlines for individuals and businesses in 55 of the 58 California counties to provide relief after a series of natural weather disasters, including severe winter storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides.

Tax payments were originally postponed until Oct. 16, 2023, but hours before the deadline they were further postponed until Nov. 16, 2023. In line with the federal action, California also extended its due date for state tax returns to the same date.

These delays meant California had to adopt its 2023-24 budget before collections began, “without a clear picture of the impact of recent economic weakness on state revenues,” according to the LAO.

Total income tax collections were down 25% in 2022-23, according to the LAO — a decline compared to those seen during the Great Recession and dot-com bust.

“Federal delays in tax collection forced California to pass a budget based on projections instead of actual tax receipts," Erin Mellon, communications director for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, told Fox News. "Now that we have a clearer picture of the state’s finances, we must now solve what would have been last year’s problem in this year’s budget.”

The exodus

California has also lost residents and businesses — and therefore, tax revenue — in recent years.

The Golden State’s population declined for the first time in 2021, as it lost around 281,000 residents, according to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). In 2022, the population dropped again by around 211,000 residents — with many moving to other states like Texas, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona.

Read more: 'It's not taxed at all': Warren Buffett shares the 'best investment' you can make when battling inflation

“Housing costs loom large in this dynamic,” according to the PPIC, which found through a survey that 34% of Californians are considering moving out of the state due to housing costs.

Other factors such as the post-pandemic remote work trend — which has resulted in empty office towers in California’s downtown cores — have also played a role in migration out of the state.

Poor economic conditions

In an effort to tame inflation in the U.S., the Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates 11 times — from 0.25% to 5.5% — since March 2022. These actions have made borrowing more expensive and have reduced the amount of money available for investment.

This has cooled California’s economy in a number of ways. Home sales in the state are down by about 50%, according to the LAO, which it largely attributes to the surge in mortgage rates. The monthly mortgage to buy a typical California home has gone from $3,500 to $5,400 over the course of the Fed’s rate hikes the LAO says.

The Fed’s rate hikes have “hit segments of the economy that have an outsized importance to California,” according to the LAO, including startups and technology companies. Investment in the state’s tech economy has “dropped significantly” due to the financial conditions — evidenced by the number of California companies that went public in 2022 and 2023 being down by over 80% from 2021, the LAO says.

One result of this is that California businesses have had less funding to be able to expand their operations or hire new workers. The LAO pointed out that the number of unemployed workers in the Golden State has risen by nearly 200,000 people since the summer of 2022, lifting the percentage from 3.8% to 4.8%.

Fixing the budget crunch

The LAO suggests that California has various options to address its $68 billion budget deficit — including declaring a budget emergency and then withdrawing around $24 billion in cash reserves.

California also has the option to lower school spending to the constitutional minimum — a move that could save around $16.7 billion over three years. It could also cut back on at least $8 billion of temporary or one-time spending in 2024-25.

However, these are just short-term solutions and may not address the state’s longer term budget issues. In the past, the state has cut back on business tax credits and deductions and increased broad-based taxes to generate more revenue.

Mellon did not reveal any specifics behind the state’s recovery plan in her comments to Fox News. She simply said: “In January, the Governor will introduce a balanced budget proposal that addresses our challenges, protects vital services and public safety and brings increased focus on how the state’s investments are being implemented, while ensuring accountability and judicious use of taxpayer money.”

[allthatslithers]

July ASWN: MONSTER REWIND MADNESS MONTH!

It's the All That Slithers Discord's birthday this month, and to celebrate we are going back into time to give you all the previous prompts from A Strongly Worded Notes past. :D

What this means is you can pick any monster from a previous ASWN prompt for this month!

As usual, the last week of the month is when we will share our retrospective monster creations, and be sure to let us know by @allthatslithers and using #aStronglyWordedNote so we can reblog them!

Also, we have an AO3 collection that you can add your works to if you wish, just please keep in mind that only works that meet our “monster” definition will be accepted into the collection. (As this rule is only applicable to the AO3 collection, you definitely can still post non-monster works created for ASWN.

If you’re new here or you’ve never participated in ASWN before and need a refresher on what it is, here’s all the info you need: ASWN is a low-pressure monthly event. No level of completion is required to post, and we strongly encourage everyone to join in and share. This isn't an event intended to stress you out — whatever you have, even if it's just a plot outline or a sketch, can be shared with us!

The List of Monsters Past:

Vampires (August 2021)

Aliens (September 2021)

Ghosts and Costume Party (October 2021)

Merpeople (November 2021)

Horned Beasts (December 2021)

Dragons (January 2022)

Fae (February 2022)

Equine Monsters (unicorns, centaurs, kelpies, etc) (March 2022)

Banshee (April 2022)

Werewolf (May 2022)

Eldritch Horror (June 2022)

True Forms (August 2022)

Harpy (September 2022)

Haunted House (October 2022)

Sea Serpent (November 2022)

Winter seasonal monsters (December 2022)

Elemental Monsters (January 2023)

Black Dog/Grimm (February 2023)

Modern myths and monsters (March 2023)

Minotaurs (April 2023)

Dryads (May 2023)

Build-a-Creature (June 2023)

[jjaydazo]

I posted 661 times in 2022

That's 137 more posts than 2021!

430 posts created (65%)

231 posts reblogged (35%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@jjaydazo

@mother-of-frans-organization

@kodizzzle

@stacycpr

@shorukarts

I tagged 513 of my posts in 2022

Only 22% of my posts had no tags

#frisk - 130 posts

#frans - 126 posts

#sans x frisk - 87 posts

#ask - 80 posts

#sans - 79 posts

#frisk x sans - 50 posts

#artificialtale - 45 posts

#undertale - 32 posts

#sona - 28 posts

#lmao - 23 posts

Longest Tag: 122 characters

#my phone got full of themselves witb files again now i have to start fresh again looking some of my artwork from ibis q-q

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I just remembered I rarely draw intimate Frans, sooo

Here ya go.

531 notes - Posted March 7, 2022

#4

See the full post

557 notes - Posted February 26, 2022

#3

Pov: You’re a handsome himbo kneeling on ground but then you look up to see a beautiful and possibly you’re soon to be girlfriend looking at you. 

Daux Frisk belongs to @nuvex​

604 notes - Posted April 27, 2022

#2

See the full post

787 notes - Posted February 26, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I wonder what context is this... 

lmao. (I just want to redo for frans monthly.) 

@frans-monthly : Meme

DauxTale! Frisk - @nuvex FlameHeart! Frisk - @ladysm ArtificialTale! Frisk - Iz mine 

Special small cameos: @shayromi @sharkowskii @stacycpr @feelisia @venelona @saturnbela And meh

1,847 notes - Posted May 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →