#not much of a capsule

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Last night it was like 3 am, so I couldn't. Which is bad btw, because now I am dead, but I couldn't avert my eyes from this train wreck 😒 only made it to like 30% tho.

And man, I am torn. Usually, I don't leave negative comments. Recommend the ones I love, ignore the ones I hate, at most bitch in my private discord club of book connoisseurs. But this book pissed me OFF!

Obvious ableism under the cut 🙃

I was looking for a book with a protagonist with cerebral palsy. Which is hard enough already. All you usually find are children's books or books that are listed under the tag for a side char. I found one, and it's a romance. A christmas romance (gagging noise) but ok, I'm not judging that. One person's unnecessary showing and random meandering thoughts is another person's beloved prose, one (aroace 😂) person's unrealistic behavior because they're in looooove is another person's reason to read this.

So the protag is a woman with quadriplegic CP. She walks with crutches and has motor issues as well as speech issues. Sounds not too bad, right? Now I don't have CP, but I raised an eyebrow when she was mentioned to use her computer with eye tracking software. Ok ok perhaps I am wrong but that seems unnecessary complicated for someone who still does most of her own household chores and even some makeup. But whatever. The real issues.

Something something genre expectations. I am not on board with the blanket advice of never having a disabled char talk negatively about themselves or their disability, especially depending on genre (cough whump cough). But this? This is a whole other ballpark. Every few pages, she laments how unlovable she is, how broken her body is, how hard it would be for anyone to build a family with her, up to a self-proclaimed pity party in which she remarked on sometimes wishing the doctors hadn't saved her life at birth.

I've read a lot those past months. I have no doubt that there are people who think that about themselves. I am, however, not sure someone reading a fun christmas romance wants to have it thrown into their face like that. Do they really want her body to be called misshapen in the middle of a make out session?

She was aware that her speech was slurred and accented in a way that made her seem like an imbecile. How could he be happy with that?

thousand yard stare

The moment I started yelling at discord in all-caps btw was when the guy she's in love with invited her to dance, and afterwards she decided to be daring and - ran off with him LEAVING HER CRUTCHES IN THE RESTAURANT. Her only pair of forearm crutches. Without knowing whether her sister would notice and fetch them. To ride a motorcycle (which he remarked on "he couldn't fit the crutches anyway"). And then say good bye to him at the door because she didn't want him to see her having to crawl all the way through her house because SHE CANNOT WALK WITHOUT CRUTCHES. To her spare pair of underarm crutches in the bedroom, which she doesn't like. Which weren't even hers but her sister's from when she broke her leg or whatever. As if you'd need an excuse to have a second pair (she's not lacking money.)

And next day when they were out and about he just TOOK THE CRUTCHES FROM HER to put them back into his truck and helped her walk around town instead, so she doesn't have to be worried people would give her strange looks :) I AM INTERNALLY STILL YELLING. You CANNOT tell me she would just give HER MOBILITY AIDS AWAY LIKE THAT?? HELLO?? What if she needs to pee, will this guy she's been seeing for all of ONE DAY carry her ass into a public toilet?? (Yes yes it's romance toilets don't exist) How is it ROMANTIC to take her independence away because boohoo mobility aid bad let's make you look more NORMAL???

And again, it doesn't feel like I have a "right" to complain, but all of this just feels icky to me. This isn't a book for disabled people. This is a book for abled people to be like "awwwww so inspiring, writing this must have been so hard" and be on their merry way.

This has 88% 4 and 5 star reviews on goodreads, btw.

[ID: An xkcd comic turned into a meme. It shows two stick figures talking. They have been edited to say: Disability representation is second nature to us, so it's easy to forget that the average person probably only knows not to call a char the r word and one or two mobility aids. And daredevil, of course. Of course. Bottom text: Even when theý're trying to compensate for it, experts in anything wildly overestimate the average person's familiarity with their field. End ID]

Would be nice if I could read a good book this year.

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 2 - Bulky Vendor

[the-amazing-digital-time-capsule]

So... there's a new fic by @thescarletnargacuga.... here's a little scene from it.

Choice

[forsoobado137]

It must be embarrassing for nations when humans find their old stuff. Imagine being a teenaged nation filled with hormones and keeping some kind of journal. After a couple of centuries being forgotten, it's suddenly in the national museum for all the world to see. I'm sure Prussia has some entries in his diaries that he would rather keep private.

I bet England loves showing off old 18th century paintings of himself with America and Canada. He thinks fondly of the memories, but they're both like "Oh my god, England! stop showing everyone our baby pictures!"

*Elegant oil painting of France* "Oh la la, that neck ruff is so tacky! What was I thinking? Why is this portrait in the Louvre?!"

[almondcroissantsandink]

lawboy@stanford.edu studies

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

MDZS x Hollow Knight Part 3: The Rebugging

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 4

[badnewswhatsleft]

hi guys

so it looks like the few pro shot tourdust shows that were on jack edinger's vimeo are now unfortunately deleted/priv'd, along with all the other fob related vids that were on his profile - thankfully i was able to pull most? of them beforehand, so here are links to download them in full:

bristow, va (19 july 2023)

london night 1 (02 nov 2023)

london night 2 (03 nov 2023)

other videos

an addendum: i'm missing i think 2 videos that were up on his page, iirc they were titled something like "hold me tight or dont content" and "centuries content" - when i watched a little bit of the hmtod one it looked kinda like a lot of stock clips literally with watermarks and everything stitched together(?) like at a concepts stage.. ?? and unfortunately i didn't watch the centuries version.. but ig assumed it was similar? 😓

basically i considered them low priority to download at the time and now i'm kicking myself. lol. lmao even. so if anyone managed to get those pls feel free to sound off

otherwise take everything above and enjoy !!!

[the-chattering-tower]

Got these two up on the AH for 300g each. They're both (unrelated) G5s from my Pure Progen Lineage Project

[piromina]

wait are we getting more beast lore in the next update?????

[tetzuoshimz]

UR THE COOLEST AKIRA ARTIST EVER I LOVEEEE YOUR ART STYLE SO MUCH OMG!!!

[thebluestbluewords]

Retro-Red

Hi friends. Enemies. Reluctant allies.

It's been a long time since I had a really impassioned rant about the silly logistics of these silly dcom movies that I love so much. But never fear! I rewatched the first 20~ish minutes of Rise of Red the other day, and I've come back with some more thoughts about Red's outfits. 

Mostly that she DESERVED a silly retro vaguely 80s-90s outfit after the time travel.

My visual art skills aren't up to the task of drawing her a new outfit from scratch, but I love silly retro clothes AND dissecting costumes, so I'd like to present some ideas on how to 80s-ize Red’s costumes post time travel.

Main outfit: I really don't love her main outfit - I think the materials look cheap. Her jacket has fun weird sleeves, but they're not easily identifiable as "2020s fashion", and I feel like the costume designers leaned a little too hard into making the outfits look like what they thought "edgy fairy tale fashion" would look like, and not hard enough into making them fit the descendants style that was already established by the last three movies. I’d hoped for more of a distinctive wonderland vibe- maybe a more dramatic fantasy top, or mixing in some color that isn’t just the same matchy-matchy shades of red and black. Give her some white and yellow details maybe?? Or at least let Red visually rebel through her clothes by giving her a look that’s different from the rest of wonderland- make Wonderland vintage, and Red modern! Give her something to make her stand out, not blend in with her mom! Red outfit (the second picture) I actually don't hate this one. She's kind of working the coordinated athletic set look, which as best I can tell is still a trendy 2020s teen look! She's got enough impractical studs to read as VK-style, but not so many that I question how she was walking around set. (cough-chloe-cough) 

side note: I never want to bash a plot-significant shoe choice, but seriously. These are.....bad. 

How is she walking around in these?? The stones on the bottom are doing to give her no traction. I love a glittery shoe as much as the next girly, but these look like a pair I used to own during my middle school days, not a pair fit for a princess. I’d rather see Chloe in some materials meant to genuinely imitate iridescent glass, rather than regular silver rhinestones. Something like these:

(Sporty and coordinated feels like the ideal Chloe vibe, and as best I can tell, that means immaculate un-creased sneakers)

BUT!! My biggest complaint about the costumes in this movie isn't actually about the costumes we did see- it's about the costumes that we were TRAGICALLY DEPRIVED OF SEEING. 

Red and Chloe DESERVED 80s/90s inspired outfits to wear after the time jump, and I’m here to deliver some very accurate and normal ideas for what they COULD have worn!!

consider this a reference image: what Red and Chloe were actually wearing around Merlin Academy.

Red’s general vibe- she’s got the big jacket, the layers, and a sort of cool-girl-slacker vibe.

I think we can make her jacket More 80s. She needs bigger shoulder pads! Her sleeves are big in her modern clothes, but they’re big at the end of the sleeve, not the shoulder! Give this girl VOLUME.

once we’ve got the shoulder pads in place, we need to think about color variation. Colorful details are FUN. They give IMPACT. They bring in the mismatched, retro vibe. Imagine the first Big Shoulder jacket with pink and red collar details- adorable! In character! It ties Red visually to Bridget! And if she needs a sportier look, well, the tri color leather is also a solid option.

Red’s canon pants are cut pretty tight, and I think we can roll with that!! #giveredstirruppants

If she needs the color block vibe, giving her some stripes with the heart cutout (probably not rainbow, but maybe a red/pink sort of look??) would fit the vibe, make her pants look different from her modern outfit, and still look distinctively Like Red.

Alternatively, give Red Big Detailed Vintage Denim. It would work for her too-cool-for-school vibe. Also the heart jeans are Extremely Cute.

For accessories, I want Red to go bigger with her hair. Claw clips are trendy in 2020, but they were ALSO a 90s trend, and giving Red a little half-up claw clip as a time travel alternative to her space buns would have been CUTE.

for Chloe’s look:

Big hair is ESSENTIAL TO ME. GIVE CHLOE CURLY RETRO BANGS. SHE NEEDED THEM. LET ELLA CUT THEIR HAIR TO MATCH IN A DRAMATIC BONDING SCENE. LET HER OFFER TO TRIM BRIDGETS SPLIT ENDS RIGHT AFTER AND EXPERIENCE THE INTIMACY OF HOLDING A BLADE CLOSE TO ONE ANOTHER’S NECK.

(I am. So normal. About them.)

as the sporty fencing queen of my heart, Chloe deserved to wear leg warmers. Preferably with jeans (because oh dear god what a trend), but they would’ve been cute with color coordinated leggings too. She needed these. They could have had crowns knitted into the cable pattern. They could have had GLITTER. Or pompom appliqués of a princess figure holding a cheerleading pompom. We could have had it all!!

speaking of sporty looks, I think Chloe would have looked adorable in a vintage varsity jacket. She could’ve had her dad’s old school jacket! There could’ve been a whole moment where she had to scramble to justify why she had it! More Charming family bonding!!

But if we want to stick closer to her canon look, Chloe is wearing a quilted jacket. The ambiguously historical 80s-90s had quilted jackets. Chloe could rock one of these. She could color coordinate it with her leggings!!

I don’t have a conclusion to this rant (this is a lie) (I have so many images of high fashion 80s prom gowns that the girls COULD HAVE WORN TO CASTLECOMING) but in not-really-conclusion, give these movies More Goofy Vintage Looks!! Adding a bigger costume difference between the modern Auradon Prep scenes and the historical Merlin Academy scenes would have gone a long way towards improving the overall costuming of the movie.

[thebest-medicine]

So someone sent me an anon ask saying something like “well you’re terrible at writing so maybe you should stop and get a new hobby” I don’t want to bother publishing the ask (already blocked and deleted oop) to give attention to it but one thing about it kind of stuck with me. My question for people with this thought process…. do you…..do you think you have to be “good” at something for you to be ‘allowed’ to have it as a hobby? My dudes..hobbies are about doing things you enjoy… for you and you alone…. it has nothing to do with being arbitrarily ‘good’ or not friend.

To anyone worried about not writing / drawing / whatever else because you aren’t good at it, you don’t have to be! life is about creation and fun and finding joy in the things you do and where you are

[kdramaxoxo]

Im literally *obsessed* with the Lovely Runner couple!

[eltube]

I recently finished playing both earthbound and mother 3 and could not help but amass a List

✅mean-spirited kid who no one likes and who hates everyone else in turn, has a chaotic life and upbringing

✅greedy above all else

✅vulnerable to making deals and alliances with powerful figures/entities in a personal quest for power, causing problems for everyone constantly

✅these alliances also come at a genuinely horrific personal cost for them but they either have little insight into this or just don’t care

✅long-standing rivalry with a pure-hearted protagonist which is the closest thing to a friendship they have (and may also be a gay thing)

✅somehow manages to amass teams of henchmen every time they try some new bullshit (also specifically this comes with Arab orientalism in both cases??)

✅keeps going through new insane body horror transformations throughout the narrative

So my question is like. Was this on purpose

[sonknuxadow]

shoutout to this drawing of firestar warrior cats with a gun that i found when cleaning out a drawer i havent opened in like 10 years

[sortanonymous]

I kinda got a fic involving one of these two to focus on (spoiler alert: it's the cooler one, and I don't mean the one HAL tried to make look cooler), but I'll just drop a meme like this and maybe save any possible rant for another day. Or hopefully someone else will beat me to that.