#online test series 2015

[chirpsythismorning]

Well, it looks like I've been shadowbanned by the Stranger Things subreddit for talking about the strikes.

This might not seem like that big of a deal, but considering the ST subreddit might very well be moderated by Netflix themselves in some capacity, has me pretty pissed off rn.

For some context, Netflix creating the ST sub has already been speculated since the sub's inception. The first season of the show didn't even start filming until November of 2015, however the subreddit for the show was created a month before that, in mid October of 2015.

It's not uncommon for Netflix to create social media accounts across the board for all of their content in order to promote it online, and so it makes sense that in the process of getting filming ready, marketing was going about creating social media accounts on every platform (their other official accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were also created months in advance of filming as well).

Also worth noting that there is a separate sub called Hawkins AV Club, which fans created themselves to talk about the show and other things related to it that they weren't able to on the main sub, most commonly leaks, which are prohibited on the main one (Netflix don't like leaks...).

Recently though, I noticed all the strike related posts were getting removed, with it being flagged as breaking rule three.

Rule three is pretty simple, in that all it really states is that users cannot post stuff unrelated to the show.

As far as I know, the main ST sub has never made an official post about how the strikes qualify as being unrelated to the show, so it's not like this is some widely understood specific point that has been elaborated on that fans have to follow. To me, it looks like this rule operates as a loophole for a moderator to remove strike posts and list it as 'breaking rule three', without having to acknowledge how fucked up that is.

And so I wanted to test this theory and decided to post the picture of Finn picketing at Paramount Studios in support of SAG-AFTRA the other day.

Right after posting, I added the comment, 'Also ST sub if you delete this, you're confirming you have a Netflix bias'.

For the first hour, the post remained public and so luckily I was able to get some comments on it from other users in the sub. A majority of the comments just acknowledged the picture of Finn and voiced their support, though there was at least one condescending comment speaking negatively against the writers and actors striking. But most importantly, I got a few comments from fans asking why I was insinuating that the post would get deleted aka my time to shine.

I replied by saying that I noticed all the strike related posts were being removed for 'breaking rule three' and how it was bogus because plenty of other unserious posts, that are even less related to the show, stay up all the time. And so, considering the speculation over the years that Netflix played a part in creating the sub and therefore likely still has a stake in moderating it in some capacity, means they are essentially blocking fans from discussing the strike.

I then went into how ST has one of the biggest fandoms for a TV series and how the sub reflects that with over 1 million users. There are plenty of other fandoms out there that are much more niche and small in comparison to ST's base, that have been able to come together and make a big difference by donating and spreading the word as a community, and how it's kind of embarrassing considering our size, that we have not been able to come together to show support for our writers and actors in a tangible way.

And that's when I speculated how I didn't think it was a coincidence that one of the biggest fandoms in the world isn't able to even merely talk about the strikes, in the one place that affords them the ability to come together in the masses, to potentially have the ability to play role in putting pressure on the studios in order to reach a fair deal sooner than later.

These strikes literally depend on the writers and actors not talking about their content in order to put pressure on the studios, and this sub basically operates in the exact opposite way. It allows free for all discussions about the show, but doesn't allow any discussions of the strikes.

Who benefits from that? Netflix. The studios.

The reality is the strikes have EVERYTHING to do with the show. Making posts about an actor protesting so that the writers and actors of said show can continue production in a way that is more just and humane, is about the show. Technically, in a reality where things are never resolved as a result of this strike and the studios being greedy, the show could literally cease to continue. So again, this strike has EVERYTHING to do with the show.

I then ended my comment by saying that despite my suspicions, I hoped that I was wrong and that my post would stay up.

Returning to the sub the following day, I found that my post was not only removed, but also all of my comments were. Everyone else's comments remained including the anti-strike one, and there was also the addition of a pinned moderator comment explaining why the post was removed ie Rule 3.

Now, I have had some of my posts removed on Reddit in the past. Byler posts for example tend to get removed pretty swiftly because the comments get nasty and so that's the moderators usual excuse for removing those, however they don't say it outright with a moderator comment, you usually have to message them directly to get the gist of why it was removed. I've also posted memes before with them being removed and being flagged as breaking rule three, however I have never seen an actual moderator pin the details of the rule. They usually just tag Rule 3 at the top, with it being implied that you have to go look into their FAQ to read up on the rules yourself.

The way they removed my post just came off soooooooooo corporate to me, where the moderator(s) didn't even acknowledge what I said, but basically just proved my point by taking advantage of their rule loophole, by listing off the irrelevant argument against it based on said rule, with no further elaboration on what I actually speculated.

Initially, I wanted to make a post about what happened on here, but I sort of just shined it on because I already assumed they were going to remove it, and so all they did was confirm my suspicions.

But then today I was on the sub and tried to comment on a recent post, only to see that when I tried to reread it after posting, my comment wasn't showing up.

To test if it was a me problem, I went to another subreddit I'm in, Shrek (naturally), and commented on a post. Low and behold it showed up and stayed there...

I then went back to the ST sub to comment on a different recent post and again it did not show up right after I posted it.

So apparently I am a threat to the ST sub to the point where they do not want me commenting on posts anymore, specifically after I posted about the strike and the subs intense measures to prevent it from being discussed at all. Like... ya'll just literally proved my point tenfold.

Now, I do think there very well could be several moderators that are not associated with Netflix at all that are in charge of moderating the main sub. That's actually very likely. However, whether Netflix was involved from the beginning or not, it's also very likely they are now, as the sub is MASSIVE and they probably don't want an account on that scale to be controlled entirely by fans. That would mean 1 million people having access to leaks or anything and everything. Not being able to moderate that would be a pain in the ass (and we're seeing how now in the case of a strike, they also benefit from preventing certain posts from being seen).

So I think that either Netflix created the account themselves from the beginning and have recruited a handful of regular hardcore fans over the years to help moderate it, or they hopped on after a bunch of complications with leaks getting posted to hundreds of thousands of fans during s2-3, taking control at some point from the original moderator, only to join the mix of other moderators that already existed and are basically none the wiser.

In the case of either of those, they can play off that they are an unofficial ST reddit, all because they have a few fan moderators, when it's clear that is not the case.

Anyways, the ST sub has a Netflix (studio) bias and everything that's posted on there is likely moderated by someone that works for Netflix. So, keep that in mind.

[inkabelledesigns]

Have I ever told you why my username is Inkabelledesigns?

Back in 2015, when I first made this blog, I was enamored with user Tamarinfrog's Splatoon comics. I wanted to make my own someday, but that never ended up happening. If I had, they would've been about Inkabelle, an inkling who was finding her way in the great big world of Inkopolis, and may have been hiding an Octoling in her house named Damien. She had two older sisters that were tattoo artists, and she wanted to get into that business someday too.

I've kept the username because I'm a sentimental sap, and now most of all, I am feeling extremely sappy. As of last night, Splatoon 1's servers are officially down, along with the rest of the Wii U and 3DS' online capabilities. This game has been playable for nearly a decade at this point, which is more than I can say for most shooters. I've been here since the first test fire, if there is any game that grew with me, it's this series. I have so many fond memories of staying up late with my sister to play Splatfests, and how we'd round robin through it until we both reached Queen rank. I've loved every entry in this series, and even though the playerbase in 3 has been frustrating recently? I'm still in love. My brother and I played until the very end. I hadn't played Splatoon itself in a while since I've been enjoying other versions recently, but it was nice to go back and say hello. I hope everyone who was there with me had a good time.

Despite using my Amiibo cards to have different character load outs, I never made my original squid in 3. So last night, I amended that. The original servers may be gone, but Inkabelle is still here. I'll have to grab some photos with her, Fritz, and Dollface (my squid and octo for 2 and 3). It's funny, I have new traditions now, like taking a photo in front of Deep Cut each Splatfest. I wonder if I'll add in the other two now that I have the DLC. Just...feeling really nostalgic. Thanks for being here Splatoon, I'm glad I got to experience you.

[jbfly46]

Despite the popularity of "Stranger Things" it is little known that it is actually based on the Montauk Project, a conspiracy that supposedly involved the kidnapping of orphans who were subjected to physical and psychological torture to research the possibility of time travel, teleportation, & mind control.

In 2015, Filmmaker Christopher P. Garetano released his documentary The Montauk Chronicles, based on 10 years’ worth of research, and more recently continued his investigation for the History Channel series, The Dark Files. And he’s not the only one hooked by the conspiracy theory. The legends of Montauk – experiments on children, alien abductions, time travel, psychic powers, journeys to the far side of the galaxy, mind-bending drug tests, and monsters conjured out of thin air – were also the original inspiration for Stranger Things.

The stories are commonly thought to have started with the book The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time by Preston B. Nichols and Peter Moon, a novel about the supposed events. Nichols claims to be an electrical engineer who worked on the project in real-life.

“As I say in the book,” he tells Garetano in Dark Files, “you can believe it as fact, or you can believe it as science fiction.” Nichols’ account, along with those from alleged time-traveller Al Bielek, and a handful of survivors make up the popular narrative of the Montauk conspiracy theories.

Children are said to have been abducted and subjected to horrific torture – with many of them dying – to create Manchurian Candidate-style super spies. According to Nichols, they were “shattering their minds, programming them, then putting them back together.”

The survivors of these experiments are known as the “Montauk Boys”, and the most famous of them is Stewart Swerdlow, a self-professed “Hyperspace Intuitive” who’s part alien abduction survivor, part new age healer (he’ll “de-programme” you from the government’s mind control for a cool $300). According to Swerdlow, alien beings snatched him while his parents were brainwashed; he was then experimented on at Camp Hero, and sent back in time on secret missions.

Another survivor, identified under the alias “James Bruce” in Garetano’s documentaries, recalls mind-bending drug tests in so-called “Acid Houses” at Camp Hero. The drugs, he says, could create psychic link with other subjects.

The US government does have a proven fascination in paranormal phenomenon and parapsychology. In January of this year, the CIA dumped over 13 million files online, revealing details of the agency’s “Stargate” programme, which ran from the 1970s to 1990s and involved tests into psychic abilities, research into UFOs, and a particular interest in “remote viewing” – seeing far-off objects or places with the mind. One file even attempts to document an attempt at astral projection to the surface of Mars.

Between the 1930s and 1970s, the US authorities were responsible for some hideous experiments in the name of science and national security: the Tuskegee syphilis study, which duped African American men into being infected with the disease and left them untreated; MK Ultra, a secret CIA operation into “mind control” techniques for interrogation and torture, which administered drugs to unwitting civilians; and the experiments in Philadelphia’s Holmesburg Prison, where tests were carried out on prisoners’ skin using biochemical substances, including dioxin, a highly carcinogenic ingredient in Agent Orange.

“My thinking is, if happened in one place – or even two or three places – I wouldn’t put it past it happening at Camp Hero,” says Garetano. And with its already-dodgy track record, the US government testing drugs does sound credible next to aliens, monsters, and time travelling soldiers. “Survivors always talk about an injection being given to them,” says Garetano. “You can imagine that a highly experimental hallucinogen could cause them to think they’re seeing these things.”

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Thoughts: Joel Crawford Is *Not* Directing KUNG FU PANDA 4

Not too long ago, a Swiss Universal movie slate was making the rounds... KUNG FU PANDA 4 was on there, as the movie is - and has been - scheduled for release on March 8, 2024. The slate curiously listed Crawford, who directed PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH and THE CROODS: A NEW AGE, as director.

He is not directing KUNG FU PANDA 4, per a recent interview with him and LAST WISH co-director Januel Mercado... Perhaps whoever made that slate up in Switzerland made a little mistake. It happens, we're all human.

This seemed somewhat fitting, though... Crawford took over both the CROODS and PUSS IN BOOTS sequels, and him being handed the torch for KUNG FU PANDA seemed right.

THE CROODS: A NEW AGE was originally set to be directed by Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco, who wrote and directed the first film that came all out the way back in 2013. We're actually inching right towards its 10th anniversary, which makes me wonder... Where does the time go? And, #2, will we get some sort of CROODS 3 announcement to commemorate? Their CROODS 2 was set for various fourth-quarter 2017 release dates for a good while, until DreamWorks had their rough week in January of 2015... When they - in response to the box office performances of several movies released over the previous few years - shut down a whole studio (Pacific Data Images), rearranged their slate, and cancelled multiple in-development movies. THE CROODS 2 managed to hang on... But then... The Comcast acquisition happened a year later. Changing heads, changing administrations, projects killed in transition... THE CROODS 2, a sequel to a movie that made nearly $600m at the worldwide box office, was *surprisingly* one of those movies... It was on the grounds that, supposedly, the crew just wasn't feeling it.

This allowed Chris and Kirk to move on to other things, namely the 20th Century-released THE CALL OF THE WILD for the former (it's actually a pretty solid old school adventure movie worth checking out, even if the dog being CGI is a bit iffy for you), and Sony Animation's VIVO for the latter. (I dug VIVO as well.) THE CROODS: A NEW AGE was confirmed to be back in development in September of 2020, with Crawford taking over directing duties, making his feature directorial debut. Crawford had no involvement with the first CROODS, but was a story artist on all three KUNG FU PANDA movies, and was also a story artist on SHREK FOREVER AFTER... So he had some SHREK in his resume when being given the PUSS IN BOOTS assignment. More on that in a few...

Crawford worked off of a story from Sanders and DeMicco, though, and it seems like it was more or less the one they were developing for their 2017 CROODS 2, just with some changes here and there. There was a pencil test for the movie done by none other than James Baxter that leaked online about a few weeks before DreamWorks announced the revised CROODS sequel was back on track, and it seems like it was more or less what we got... Just a little different. The girl in the pencil test is presumably an earlier version of Dawn Betterman, she is a lot more modern-looking. It's as if the Crood family had stumbled upon a family in the 1950s. The duo were quite involved, all things considered, but just didn't direct. If anything, Crawford kind-of semi-rebooted THE CROODS... A franchise that was only one movie and a 2D-animated Netflix TV series at the time. This gave the caveman family comedy a fresh coat of paint, if you will, and it really worked out. Crawford's approach was noticeably different from Sanders and DeMicco's. Those who were onboard with Sanders/DeMicco missed that touch, those who weren't all that fond of the first film found the sequel to be a significant improvement. I personally really like both for those reasons, they both bring something of their own to this very base-level concept.

So that brings us to PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH. Previously, that was set to be a much different film, a sequel titled PUSS IN BOOTS 2: NINE LIVES & 40 THIEVES. An Arabian Nights adventure, it was to be directed by the first PUSS IN BOOTS' director, Chris Miller. He also directed SHREK THE THIRD alongside Raman Hui. In early 2014, DreamWorks had it pegged for a holiday 2018 release, until that bad week in January happened. It got removed entirely from the release schedule, but was still in the works per Antonio Banderas in an interview months later. The Arabian Nights movie got thrown out along the way, and after the Comcast acquisition of DreamWorks, Illumination founder Chris Meledandri started to get involved with the SHREK franchise and would have a hand in determined its future. There's something kind of amusing about that, by the way. Melendandri, prior to founding Illumination in 2007, was an executive producer on the first few Blue Sky films, of course that includes ICE AGE. I was rewatching ICE AGE a little while ago, and am watching the sequels for the first time (I'm over a decade late!), and that first ICE AGE is very similar to SHREK. In that, it's a big, annoyed, cynical guy with an itch to scratch, and an annoying smaller critter being a pain in the ass for most of the journey. Even as a kid back in March 2002, sitting in the theater, I caught that right away, like "Hey, this is a lot like SHREK." There's a similar vibe in Disney Animation's BROTHER BEAR, to go off on a tangent: Big teen bear Kenai, annoying little bear cub Koda... It's also set at the end of the Ice Age. There are mammoths in it. Coincidence is such a funny thing.

Anyways, where was I going with that? Oh yeah, ICE AGE. Similar to SHREK. Chris Meledandri was exec producer of ICE AGE, and went on to exec produce the next three Blue Sky movies (ROBOTS, ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN, HORTON HEARS A WHO!) before setting up Illumination... Chris Meledandri, after Comcast's acquisition of DreamWorks, becomes more involved with the SHREK franchise in particular and not DreamWorks as a whole. PUSS IN BOOTS Dos was announced once again in early 2019, with Bob Persichetti attached as director. This was *hot* off of SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, which he was one of three directors on. Persichetti, appropriately, was head of story on the first PUSS IN BOOTS. Seemed liked the best choice possible, but he appears to have had no part in THE LAST WISH, only a - presumably - archival recording of him voicing the "Oooh" cat, who makes a brief cameo in Mama Luna's place. I wouldn't be surprised if the film embracing a more SPIDER-VERSE-inspired stylized look and feel was his idea, coming off of that very film.

But I sense a pattern here, of sorts. Crawford breathed, with the help of his crews, a new life and zest into both THE CROODS and SHREK. It looked like he could've done that for KUNG FU PANDA 4... But, he said in that recent interview that he's not directing, and he's interested in playing around in the world of SHREK some more, which *could* imply that he is directing the fifth SHREK movie, whatever they decide to call it. He's not working on anything at the moment, that there are original ideas to pursue (his resume is currently two feature sequels, it'd be cool if he pitched a wild and fun original movie of his own, but he was also being quite vague.

KUNG FU PANDA 4 has at least one director, but for whatever reason, we don't know who that is just yet. The movie has got to be deep in production if it is coming out next spring. Sometimes with animated movies, we know who is directing. Right off the bat. But some studios, or their distributors, just say "So-and-so, coming out sometime in 2024!" That's basically all we heard about KUNG FU PANDA 4 since last year... It was a tweet that the movie was happening, an image of Po, and a release date of March 8, 2024. Keep in mind, this date sandwiches the movie in-between ELIO (a Pixar film, 3/1/2024) and SPIDER-MAN: BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE. (3/29/2024)

Does Jennifer Yuh Nelson, director of KUNG FU PANDA 2 and 3, return to helm the sequel? She has been supervising director on Netflix's LOVE, DEATH & ROBOTS, so I'd imagine she's been busy. Her last feature film, as director, was a live-action flick called THE DARKEST MINDS. Without googling, I think it was a Y-A movie? Hey, you wanna know something funny about Jennifer Yuh Nelson? She got her start as an assistant animator on... Various Golden Films/Jetlag animated fare. You know, those movies based on public domain stories that were cranked out in the early '90s to capitalize on the Disney adaptations? Yeah! She's credited on things like Jetlag's 1994 CINDERELLA and their 1995 ALICE IN WONDERLAND movie. She later graduated to TV shows such as SPICY CITY and SPAWN, was a storyboard artist on the film DARK CITY, and then started her DreamWorks tenure as a storyboard artist on SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON. Her first assignments being in Golden Films "fool the granny at the dollar store" movies goes to show... You gotta start **somewhere**!

KUNG FU PANDA 3's co-director, Alessandro Carloni, could be a candidate. Already heavily involved with the first two films, and several other DreamWorks hits, was director of the ill-fated ME AND MY SHADOW... He'd be great, but what's he up to now? Directing THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH for Skydance Animation, apparently. He was supposed to direct their debut film LUCK, but John Lasseter apparently - true to form - kicked him off the movie; or changed it up so much that Carloni decided to walk away from it. But yeah, that's apparently what he's up to, so I think that rules out KUNG FU PANDA 4 for him...

Maybe, on the off chance, the directors of the first movie came back. Or at least one of them. Mark Osborne, John Stevenson... Osborne previously worked on THE LITTLE PRINCE. He was - as far as I know - directing ESCAPE FROM HAT for Netflix. Previously a Blue Sky project, it entered production in 2018. Not a peep since... Was this a casualty of Netflix's ongoing animation purge? Stevenson recently worked on a short called MIDDLE WATCH, and is helming a picture called THE ANT AND THE AARDVARK, for - apparently - a 2024 release. So he's out of the question.

Who else could it be? One look at KUNG FU PANDA 3's story credits could give one a rough idea. I see that a lot of the time in animation, folks who were involved with films on the story artist/storyboarding level get graduated to director for the sequels. Barring Crawford, it could be any of these people...

Or someone whom we would not expect whatsoever... I wonder why they're quiet on this... And also that RUBY GILLMAN: TEENAGE KRAKEN movie that's supposed to open 3 1/2 months from now... And whatnot. DreamWorks is like super-secretive with what's coming, these days, to the point where you don't officially hear a thing until... Maybe 3-4 months before the movie in question releases! I like that, though. Kinda. It's like guessing games. It reminds me of the early 2000s when you only knew what maybe the next 1-2 Pixar movies were when a new one was around the corner.

All I know is, I was quite shocked when KUNG FU PANDA 4 was announced a while ago. I know that the third movie collected over $540 million at the worldwide box office, and that in the world of American feature animation, it's never really over. SHREK 5 is coming, TOY STORY 5 is coming, FROZEN III is coming, ZOOTOPIA 2 is coming, there's a third LEGO MOVIE in the works despite the 2nd mainline movie flopping at the box office. It never ends, and if it ends in a way where a sequel absolutely *can't* be made without some serious retconning? Like HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD? Oh, easy, do a streaming series set in the modern day that's well past Toothless' passing... Or do a goddamn live-action remake then. Anyways, yeah, these things don't end, but with the way KUNG FU PANDA 3 wrapped things up... I didn't know where it could go from there, though that new series - THE DRAGON KNIGHT - exists. I haven't watched it, I don't have Peacock. Is it any good?

I love the KUNG FU PANDA movies, personally. The first one is particularly resonant for me, because I see a lot of my autistic self and my life in Po himself, and the second film always makes me an emotional mess. I wrote extensively about that elsewhere. I was initially kind of ho-hum on KUNG FU PANDA 3, but the more the first two clicked with me, the more I found a lot to love in the third movie, even if it is a little uneven to me... But a fourth one? I love this world, the characters, the kinetic action that came with each movie, and everything else. If DreamWorks' artists really push the stylization we saw in the third film and beyond, we could be in for a real treat. Bring it on, I say!

Who do you think could direct KUNG FU PANDA 4?

[t1meslayer]

Going in for round 2!

I had a lot of fun with my Debrief for "Stone-Cold Lovers (Ch. 3)," and I think there's a bunch of interesting, insightful aspects to my writing here given Splatoon's setting offers plenty of aquatic-themed worldbuilding.

So, let's get into it! Check out my full author's commentary below the cut — but only after you've had the chance to read "By Moonlight," my latest Splatoon fanfic.

I've been playing Splatoon since the 2015 original on Wii U. But to be completely honest, the series never hit me until Splat3. I never bought Octo Expansion (though I did watch most of it), so "Return of the Mammalians" may have just become the first time I truly appreciated how insane the series' lore is. Playing through the final battle during a road trip back from San Francisco with a couple of buddies is something I'll remember forever.

I also fell in love with Shiver and Marie as a couple, spawning a whole host of fanfictions.

But that's neither here nor there. Because this story is about Pearlina.

(The featured image evolved over time)

Another consequence of my foolishness circa Splatoon 2 is I didn't realize how much I liked Off the Hook's music. In fact, the origins of this very fanfic came from a brief obsession with Marina's piano-playing prowess on songs like "Tentacle to the Metal" when Splatoon 3 released in 2022. A connection to the 1st Movement of "Moonlight Sonata" was baked into the premise by their similar set of three notes playing in succession.

Though, I should be clear: I am not a classical music nerd, nor any kind of music nerd. I have a pretty terrible ear for music, and as a result don't listen to much (video game soundtracks notwithstanding, most of my ambient noise is YouTube videos, TV, or podcasts).

If we want to get really deep into the weeds of how pathetic I am, my main attachment to "Moonlight Sonata" stems from Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak (2002) on the GBA.

My rendition of Marina playing the song even ends at essentially the same point as this game's usage, since it's baked into my soul.

When's Hamtaro coming to Nintendo Switch Online, cowards?

That being said, I largely based the in-universe playing on this video by Rousseau, a YouTube channel that creates fancy visuals for piano covers of classical and pop music:

My original plan was to have Eight gift the Beethoven book to Pearl and Marina as an oddity acquired through raiding Grizzco facilities following "Return of the Mammalians." However, the idea came back in full-force with the release of Splatoon 3: Side Order. There was a brief period where I considered applying to the Pearlina zine "You and Me Against the Universe!" with something similar, but that was before I fell into my drive to write for zines.

Side Order definitely feels like a test run for more fleshed-out Roguelike modes in future Splatoon games, but I'm enjoying it all the same. And I just had to include tidbits of lore like Eight joining Off the Hook's world tour.

As one final note on "Moonlight Sonata," this is the first time I've written a musical performance as prose. My Mariver fic "Harmonic Frequencies" ends with a bit of choreography for Deep Cut's tribute to "Calamari Inkantation," but that's about as far as it goes. Luckily, my sister is studying Music Education and Music Performance in college (and she graduates soon!), so I was able to lean on her as a source of knowledge.

She just had to suffer through my insufferable gay seafood to get there.

Her main advice was to think of writing musical prose not as a literal translation of sheet music, but instead to really hone in on the emotions of listening to music. It took a bit to figure out the right balance between describing the performance itself and the more emotive images it conjures in Pearl's head, but I love the outcome!

My sister said, "Also the moonlight stuff is fire af." Clearly I've peaked.

===

Fun Fact: She told me I should look into the creepier aspects of "Moonlight Sonata" while writing. Did you know that the song is dedicated to then-16-year-old Countess Giulietta Guicciardi (per Brittanica), a student whom he fell in love with (per New York Times)?

Because I didn't.

===

My presentation of Pearl changed a fair bit over the course of this writing. Pearl's They/She pronouns were pretty spur of the moment, and the idea of They/She Napoleon has since become a running in-joke between me and my beta reader, the incredible artist Trybard (who was the source of my great screencap preview post that I blocked out for anonymity of personal socials).

Pearl with full tattoo sleeves was also a sudden decision that's entirely inspired by a Twitter post; I unfortunately cannot find that post anymore, it disappeared after I shifted pages. Likewise, Pearl learning Octarian is part-cute girlfriend stuff, part-excuse to use the joke about them reading Beethoven as "Beat-Havin'" that came to me in a flash of divine inspiration.

Marina doesn't get nearly as much love in the personal headcanon department, it was Trybard who suggested she might wear a citrus-y perfume smell. I added the motor oil.

I also added the fact that she's living it up in Pearl's downtown apartment, and lending out goofy manga-themed sleep shirts.

Off the Hook's apartment setting only includes the windowed hallway and main foyer (which I hope adds to the sense that Pearl is rich enough to afford the most ridiculously huge apartment of all time). However, there are two tidbits about the setting that I quite enjoy:

First, did you catch the bit about the charred piece of hull? I wanted to keep it subtle in writing, but my intent was referencing the NILS Statue! Did Pearl or Marina take the trophy? Who knows.

Second, Off the Hook's wall of records went through hefty trial-and-error. I settled on the idea of giving them Gold/Platinum/Diamond records (ala the real-world practice of Recording Industry Association of America certification) while listening to the collective works of Off the Hook. Given this is pre-Splat3, I imagined that the new recording of "Nasty Majesty" and their Splatfest theme "Color Pulse" would have among the most attention.

I also imagined that Splatoon wouldn't just use an exact 1-1 copy of our record certifications. Thus, the Recording Industry Association of Inkadia (RIAI) was born.

Rather than using precious metals to delineate sales, I decided to go with the more Splatoon-feeling marker of "neon records." I actually did a minor amount of research, predominately leaning on the website of Brigham Young University physics and astronomy professor Harold T. Stokes to figure out Neon's color spectrum.

Using this, I equated:

Violet = Gold (500,000 sales)

Green = Platinum (One Million sales)

Yellow = Double Platinum (Two Million sales)

Red = Diamond (Ten Million sales)

I even formatted the text to look like an actual RIAA plaque, just with the color's name rather than a literal record. AO3's HTML formatting can only go so far.

I used the "acronym" formatting to add extra context in the form of each song's to-date sales, which was all I originally planned to say. Learned all about that option in my horrific opening chapter to the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fic "Paradiso," in which Arven has a nightmare that breaks the text "House of Leaves" style.

And that, my friends, is all she wrote.

I could go way deeper into the minutia Pearl's boisterous tone or Marina utilizing mechanical terms, but the broad strokes of where certain ideas originate seems like a better use of my "Debrief" time. Let me know what more you might want to see me discuss going forward, or what ideas for Splatoon fics you wanna see added to my eternal backlog! (The poll-winning Stardew Valley piece has to take priority now — no more game release distractions~)

Though, as one final note: Yes, the title is a Sailor Moon reference.

You're welcome.

[schooloftuneage]

Lesson 3: This is not a test...

CLASS IS IN SESSION

Rick Rubin is one of the most influential producers in the music biz. He turned Linkin Park from what could have been a two-album flash in the pan into one of the deepest acts in alternative music (no kidding, A Thousand Suns remains one of this berk's top 20 albums of all time). He introduced the world to more iconic acts than I can count. And before all that… he was in a shitty punk group that was more known for fake fights and fake arrests than anything else. (His dad was a policeman and would pretend to arrest Rick when he got into planned altercations with planted hecklers - an attempt at getting traction that failed.)

But at the same time, Rick was keeping his thumb on the pulse of the New York music scene, and when he found out about a few rapidly growing groups that were turning out incredibly danceable music with an antiestablishment ethos, his first thought on listening to them was that it was Black Punk Rock.

The music in question was, of course, hip hop.

Let's delve in.

Hip hop was influenced by numerous sources - talking blues, disco, R&B - and tracking all those down would be great, but we're going to truncate slightly today, because A) I'm saving a lot of that for a later lesson, and B) because the most pertinent one is actually disco, believe it or not. See, like punk rock, there was a single spark that ignited the movement, and while it was slower to burn, it had the perfect kindling. The place was in the slums of the south Bronx, in a rec room at 1520 Sedgewick Avenue. The person was DJ Kool Herc, who spun records for dance parties there.

The above documentary gives us a good glimpse at how Herc did his thing. Today we just know it as basic mixing, but back in the day, this kind of thing was revolutionary. Add in an emcee - Coke la Rock - who would handle the microphone while Herc was mixing, and you had the first emcee-deejay combo.

Over time, more groups came together. Grandmaster Flash picked up Herc's skills, and then hammered them down, bringing them to new heights of awesomeness. He couldn't even try to get on the mic while he was mixing, too focused on the beats he was crafting, so he got an enterprising B-boy they called Cowboy to do the honors. Over time he amassed a group of five emcees to work with him - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The Treacherous Three, the Funky Four (Plus One More) - you can see a sort of theme in these early groups. Rap battles were a thing, inheriting a little bit of gang battle ethos from their founders - early rap adopters the Zulu Nation were ex-gang members who were trying to veer into a more constructive direction, and they did so well.

But for most, the genre was locked away. Sure, rapping was easy enough to do, but to be a real hip hop artist you needed a deejay, and that equipment was expensive. As I said, the spark was there, but it needed kindling.

And just as punk had its watershed moment in 1977 in London, so hip hop did in 1977 in New York. On July 13th, NYC had a city-wide blackout that lasted just over a full 24 hours. A mob mentality decended over the city, with widespread looting… and in the aftermath of these riots, a lot of expensive sound equipment made its way into the hands of enterprising would-be deejays, either through their own actions or through pawnshops who didn't ask questions about where the equipment came from in the weeks after the blackout.

Now, there is much - MUCH - to say about this scene… but as I'm delving in, I'm realizing that someone else has already done this lesson, and arguably done it better than I could ever dream of doing it. Cartoonist Ed Piskor has done a series, Hip Hop Family Tree, that chronicles the early rise of the scene beautifully. And in the spirit of the early rap bootlegs that we're going to be discussing… you didn't get it from me, but hereyago:

That's twelve issues of greatness right there.

Now, with THAT link dropped, let's talk seminal moments for the origins of hip hop.

The first track on wax that was nothing but a deejay showing off their mixing prowess? "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel". This one was even more notable because Sugar Hill Records didn't like paying royalties to artists that they sampled, and tended to use original compositions rather than having Flash or other deejays mix in the background (which, yes, was kind of insulting to the art of the deejay…). Also, please note, there are NO editing tricks here. This was just Flash at his best, and he laid the whole track down in only four or five takes.

The first rap "superstar", arguably, was Kurtis Blow. At the very least, the man was both responsible for the first gold record in the hip hop genre and the man who brought it to Soul Train, with "The Breaks".

And now, we're going to zig-zag-zig back to an earlier point.

The early hip hop scene was full of bootlegs. Some were recordings of live events - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five had a full live track that had never been released recorded, and it's still more popular, as the studio version lacks the passion of the live recording. (Bozo Meko's version of 'Flash it to the Beat', fyi.) Unscrupulous producers would record artists in the studio under the guise of 'letting them play around' and release their work under different names - and again, that happened to the Furious Five, with "We Rap More Mellow" being released as the work of The Younger Generation. And then there were bootleg compilations released for the deejays - packages of "essential" disco songs pressed as unofficial collections, distributed behind the counter of record stores.

Our TRACK OF THE WEEK is the first of those. A recording of a live event - something that we now recognize as the first rap battle, Busy Bee Starsky vs. Kool Moe Dee. A battle that Starsky phoned in because he assumed he'd have no real competition, and Moe came loaded for bear for. This one's a slaughter, kiddos.

And we're gonna have a lot to say about hip hop in the future... but for now, that gets you to the starting line.

Class dismissed.

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Spoiler alert: if you don't know where that headline is going, take a look at who my blog is focused on again. LOL

It's been a number of years since an apparent screen test turned up online of Jenna Coleman reading lines for Suits around the time of her sojourn to the US between Waterloo Road and Captain America c.2010. Other clips of her from the same time show her trying out for the sitcom Two Broke Girls and the period series Magic City. Other than appearing in a short SF/horror film called Corporate Monster that wasn't release for a decade, none of these panned out and Jenna returned to the UK where a trio of minseries, a small role in Captain America: The First Avenger and Doctor Who awaited.

Screen Rant is as far as I know the first media site (as opposed to fan blog) to report on this little piece of trivia. They even touch on with irony the rumour that Prince Harry and Jenna were dating around 2015, before he met Markle.

[sazorak]

Every Game I Played in 2022, Ranked

I didn't actually play that many unique / new games in 2022, but hey let's rank them all the same. Let's keep this nearly decade long streak rolling!

2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021

11. Tunic – 2022 – Steam – ★★★

I understand that my opinion is an outlier.

At the start I really enjoyed Tunic; I like Zeldas, I love me a good puzzle, and the overall mechanical design— built around learning things from finding pages of the game’s cryptic manual in-game to uncover secrets of the world— was fascinating. Those “Aha!” moments where you completely recontextualize something you had only a surface-level understanding previously? Very good. A game built around that? Sounds great!

Here's the thing: the combat in this game is atrocious. Like, yeah, I get it, that’s not really the focus, but boy y’all really decided to hang major portions of the game on this, huh? By time of the game’s “normal” ending I had completely soured on the whole thing. And while the secret “Golden Path” certainly isn’t combat heavy, and the puzzles within it are neat in principle, the actual experience of doing them was just one-note and tedious.

I had kind of expected given the open-ended nature of the exploration early-on that the experience was going to be more of a Metroidvania, where instead of necessarily discovering new traversal abilities you uncover contextual information that opens-up new rewards, opportunities, etc. While this is sort-of the case with manual pages, the game is mostly linear… and most of the unlocking of new sections is based on basic mobility abilities in any case.

Disappointing!

10. Capcom Fighting Collection – 2022 – Steam – ★★★★

Darkstalkers is a good series and Capcom should bring it back. This is a good collection that has Darkstalkers available for online play. I enjoyed my time playing Darkstalkers again. Darkstalkers.

9. Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course – 2022 – Steam – ★★★★

It’s more Cuphead! It’s not transformative, especially unique, or divergent from the original, base game. But… it’s more Cuphead! That’s pretty great. There's some truly astounding art in this DLC compared to the base game though, which deserves some serious props when Cuphead was already visually amazing.

8. Crusader Kings 3: Royal Court, Friends and Foes, The Fate of Iberia – 2022 – Steam – ★★★★

There have been quite a few pieces of major CK3 DLC this year— and they’ve all been pretty good. Royal Court was probably the most substantial and interesting, Friends and Foes added a lot of flavor, and the Fate of Iberia established a core system that’ll be very interesting as it’s applied more in the future.

In terms of the overall state of CK3 now as opposed to the start of 2022: it’s in a really good place. Which yeah, I’d hope so given the sheer number of major DLC that has hit within a 7-month span, but all these additions have, in one way or another, improved the overall mechanical underpinnings of CK3.

Do I wish there’d been more care taken to addressing under-loved regions on the map? Absolutely. The fact that the map is so big but the lack of definition to gameplay outside of Europe is still very disappointing. But hey, little steps, little steps.

7. Stellaris: Overlord, Toxoids – 2022 – Steam – ★★★★

Stellaris also had a major DLC this year in Overlord, but most of its best improvements have been courtesy of their new “Custodian” team. The Custodians go through the previous release content, and overhaul mechanical systems, and implement systematic, flavor, and ~lore~ refinements. The level of polish this has added has drastically improved Stellaris as a whole, making it both more balanced and more interesting. They even added more galaxy types! That's great!

On top of this, the Stellaris team has started doing more open beta testing of patches, which has resulted in greatly improved quality prior to major release. I’ve played a lot of Stellaris this year.

Hitman 3 – 2021 – Steam – ★★★★

The finale of the big ol’ Hitman Trilogy is, in all honesty, probably the worst of the trio on its own. Like, the levels are good, and the package as-a-whole is fantastic, but there’s just less new “Hitman 3” unique content in this boy compared to the previous titles, and two of the levels that are there are just pretty… whatever? Which is fine as a complete package but it does diminish the shine on one a little.

But man, as a whole? Good ass trilogy, good ass games. Looking forward to the new run-based Freelancer mode that’s coming out in ’23.

Inscryption – 2021 – Steam – ★★★★

Inscryption is one of those games where to explain it to someone who hasn’t played it would just diminish the experience for them if they were to then go and check it out. It’s also a game where to talk about it with those who have played it just results in an exchange of “wow this part sure was neat huh?”

For the former group, I guess all I can say is: it’s a very neat narrative card battling game with some interesting ideas and a very unique presentation.

For the latter group: wow it sure was neat huh! I think I preferred the opening section quite a bit more than what followed, but overall, it was damn good. Maybe I should check out the "endless" mode?

6. Pokémon Legends: Arceus – 2022 – Switch – ★★★★

This is really interesting. They went and did something truly different with the Pokémon formula, and it turned out quite well.

I think the game has a little too much in the way of busy work— I’m not especially interested in resetting maps to get the rare zones where certain specific Pokémon can only show up for capture— and the combat-and-capturing are a little on the basic side, but overall? This is neat.

I’, really interested to see if they evolve this formula moving forward. I like the classic Pokémon formula well enough, but it’s been the same for something like 25 years now. Varying things up more, evolving the formula here and there, would be appreciated at this point.

Though, like many of their recent titles, I think a problem all these games have is that they are just put together by a shoestring budget and a really small team. I realize this probably increases the profit margins for them, but the level of polish really isn’t enough for games of these “prestige” as it were. Imagine if they had combined the teams and levels-of-polish put into this and Scarlet/Violet this year.

Sneaking up on Pokémon and just slamming them in the back of the head with a Pokéball though: still very funny.

Disco Elysium: the Final Cut – 2019 – Steam – ★★★★

I’m not sure I have anything especially unique to say about Disco Elysium that hasn’t been said by a thousand people at this point: the writing is very good. The dialog system and the way it interacts with the RPG-system is great!

I don’t think I liked it quite as much as some— I think because I was sort of hoping for a more open-ended narrative given the flexibility in the dialog? But as far as linear adventure games go, it’s a very good one. Not necessarily my favorite (or even my favorite one this year, as it turns out) but still fantastic.

5. Neon White – 2022 – Steam – ★★★★

I am not the kind of person who particularly cares about speed running or any kind of record-based-gaming, frankly. That being said: I enjoyed my time getting the ace medal in each level of Neon White, a game explicitly about speed running. The gameplay loop and the overall flow of action is just fantastic. I even earned a few developer time medals, which hey that’s fun.

A lot of folks complain about the game’s writing, and I think they’re being melodramatic. It’s mostly fine-to-good; very 90s-Toonami-Anime-Vibes, to be sure, but that is an aesthetic they’re deliberately going for. I enjoyed the cast and the story, even as it did occasionally drift into “cringe” at times.

Also: game introduced me to Machine Girl, which is a fantastic band.

4. Pokémon Scarlet/ Violet – 2022 – Switch – ★★★★

For all my complaints in my Legends: Arceus blurb about how they’re not advancing things in the main-line titles, and for all the considerable— and very real— technical limitations of this game: Violet is one of the best core Pokémon titles in years. I don’t think it has the charm of Sun and Moon, and it has major problems with its progression, but as a game where you explore-an-open-world-and-catch-stuff? It’s damn fun.

The open nature of the game is both to its advantage and disadvantage. The actual catching parts of this game? Pretty good; not as viscerally enjoyable as Arceus, but good. The gym and trainer battling in game? Ehhhhhhhh. See, there’s no level scaling at all, so it is very easy to accidentally out-level everything depending on what you’re doing. The game eventually catches up if you’re not doing too many extra things by time you hit the Elite Four, but there’s whole swaths of the game that are kind of pointless to engage with with since you can just mash A and ignore it.

Graphically? It’s at best “compromised.” Patches have addressed the most embarrassing graphical bugs, but the game is still frame-y as all hell. But they actually managed to make the move to a true open world work quite well. Yeah, we lose a little from the traditional route-system— and I’d argue that maybe they gave us full mobility with the game’s legendary a bit too early relative to the game world we’re tasked with exploring— but as a space to explore it’s pretty fun, even more than Arceus was.

The story of Scarlet/Violet is pretty fun and pretty stupid, just like how I like a Pokémon. It’s not quite Sword and Shield or X and Y levels of stupid, but boy: it’s pretty dumb. Lots of fun characters. Wish there was more interaction with the Gym Leaders though.

The new Pokémon are as a whole fantastic. Great additions to the series. As far as temporary in-game gimmicks go, Terastylizing is interesting; the ability to shift a Pokemon’s type for either extra STAB or removing vulnerabilities is fascinating. Opens up some really unique space without being as obnoxious and back-breaking as Gigantamaxing or Megavolution.

Teraraids are better than Max Raids, but still extremely half-baked. Buggy, with a ton of issues— especially if you’re attempting to do them online. The experience is still enjoyable enough, but man I wish it was better.

There’s a ton of quality-of-life improvements to the act of raising Pokémon for battling. You can just buy bottlecaps now! Ability changing items are relatively easy to get! Teraraids get you easy access to hidden ability Pokemon, as well as high IV Pokemon! It’s not even that hard to get EV reduction berries! Shiny hunting is also probably the easiest it’s ever been, thanks to picnic resets and the way the save-and-clock systems work.

But maybe the best thing about this game— and the thing I see folks talking about the least— is that the online co-op actually is kind of great? Like, it’s literally “oops our two worlds are dropped ontop of each other and you can just play through your campaigns individually.” That’s awesome! Like, yeah this is something we should be expecting from games in this day and age, but from Nintendo? From Pokemon? Being able to just tool around with friends and catch shit was really fun, especially earlier in the game.

It's pretty pointless once you're done, to which: I really hope DLC adds more post-game content, since all there really is at this point is doing more Teraraids and battling people which, while fine, I’d love a Battle Tower or Frontier. Nemona would love a Battle Frontier! Let her have fun!!!

I think if this game had some of its issues ironed out, it’d be a 5-Star given my level of enjoyment for it overall. Hell, if you added the catching-Pokemon-from-the-field stuff Arceus has, combine their movement systems? That’d be a hell of a game!

3. Pentiment – 2022 – Steam – ★★★★★

I am a huge history nerd, and a huge sucker for evocative aesthetics, and let me tell you: Pentiment is laser targeted at me. An adventure game styled after illuminated manuscripts, set in an abbey in medieval Germany? Fantastic.

It is funny, in retrospect, how much it’s borderline a The Name of the Rose fangame. But given how narrow a subject-matter that is, and the fact that this is a title published by Microsoft of all studios? Once again: Fantastic.

Pentiment is just a monumental achievement in visual semiotics in video games. Unique fonts that are styled based on not just the speaker’s accent and background, but also the player character’s impressions of that character? The fact that the illuminated script styling of each character varying based similarly depending on their background? The sheer skill at which they managed to singularly render this game in this style, with a narrative about this without any compromises? Again: Fantastic.

Pentiment is truly Art, in a way few games are.

2. Elden Ring – 2022 – Steam – ★★★★★

I have a lot of issues with Elden Ring.

It’s immense in scope, but a lot of that is borderline padding with repeated content. It’d be much better with a more focused, tighter experience.

The music is incredibly weak for a From Software title (bar one major exception).

Most items you find are throwaway, and the sheer repetition of encounter design in the mini-dungeons you can explore make doing them kind of pointless.

Many boss encounters are frustratingly designed, as they either have mechanics that exist just to compensate for horse-riding or varied weapon types but make Normal-Ass Combat kind of worse, or are incapable of handling someone not using the most basic weapon styles, or are sometimes just a duplicate from elsewhere put into a room they sometimes barely function in. When compared to a more focused combat experience like Sekiro, this "squishiness" sticks out.

Miyazaki takes his obscure narrative obsession to a new level by making the entire setting of the game being hidden in a dialog chain you can completely miss if you explore this "open" world game in the wrong order.

…

Ok, that all being said: I desperately wish there was more Elden Ring. Elden Ring is fantastic. Monumental in both size and achievement. I’ve put nearly 200 hours into Elden Ring this year, and that’s absurd.

Elden Ring is definitely still just One-Of-Those, a Souls-like with not that much evolution in terms of gameplay— but what quality-of-life changes are there are great. The exploration is indeed kind of throwaway, but there are so many weird things that you can find and the combat feels so good that you can forgive the paltry rewards. There’s so much variety of ways you can approach the game; while this does weaken the overall design of many encounters, the fact that you can play it so many different ways is still an incredible achievement.

The funny thing about the narrative is that, while it is as ~mysterious and vague~ as ever, it’s still a fantastic one. I really enjoyed the weird goober characters you meet along the way. It is weird, but never too outlandish. I want to see more set in this world.

Announce some DLC Miyazaki. Please. Oh God. I’m begging you.

1. Dwarf Fortress – 2022 – Steam – ★★★★★

Dwarf Fortress is a game I have known about for years but never played. Certainly I’ve heard many sing its praise, and I understood that, yes, I would love this game. But I always put it off due to the challenges of the interface; I did not have it in me to learn the ASCII graphics, the keyboard-only interfaces, to wrestle with the labyrinthine systems and mechanics.

Then it came to Steam. With graphics. And a mouse interface. So I figured, hey, why not, let’s give it a shot. I’m on vacation, I have the time!

And, turns out, yes: Dwarf Fortress is very good. Amazing, even. It’s a monumental exercise in the kind of weird stories you get just by assembling a series of mechanical systems and then hitting play. Dwarves engaging in their dwarf-y lives, occasionally beholden to your whims, more frequently beholden to their own, and with the world actively conspiring against both you and them.

For those of you who may not know what Dwarf Fortress is— very possible, since it is probably the most obscure thing on this list— Dwarf Fortress is a colony simulation game where you take a bunch of dwarves into procedurally generated world and try to stand up a successful colony. The big thing here is that the entire world is procedurally generated, with its own history and actors, and your dwarves act largely on their own based on a complex network of interlinking systems. You can submit requests, and they’ll get to them, but dwarves are very needy and sensitive creatures. When those needs aren’t met, or when the world goes against them, things go very awry.

They are all high-functioning alcoholics, which probably doesn’t help.

Here's an example: In one of my earlier forts, the very unfortunately auto-generated “Twinklechains”, I had a fisherdwarf. Every so often, this dwarf would walk out of her mountain-side home, through a little forest, into a nearby creek to go fishing. She was very good at it; she frankly was the source of 95% of Twinklechains’ food supply. She kept at it so frequently that she actually wore a path through the grass through her constant marches to-and-fro.

Problem is: it occasionally rained. She hated the rain. She was getting very salty about it. To the point where, to improve her mood, I freed her from her fishing duties. We had a functioning farm and we didn’t need fish now. But because she had been rained on so much, she now had so many memories of being slightly soggy, and she became depressed over it. Not only that, she was unhappy that she couldn’t fish anymore, so she spent 95% of her time now sulking and crying on the mayor’s shoulder about how unhappy she was.

Then a giant, fire-breathing, beak-less lark emerged from the caves beneath the fort and burned her to death. A tragic end for some, but a welcome exit for her, I think.

In my most recent fort, the also very unfortunately auto-generated “Twinklebasement” (why is it always Twinkle-???) the capital of my civilization fell in a war, leaving us somehow the new capital. But because this occurred before any nobility could be invested on-site, we now are just a pure democracy with just a mayor. Said mayor is obsessed with mandating we make statues, and also to never export statues. The hallways are lined with statues. He just likes them. And he keeps getting reelected, so more and more statues and filling this fortress, commemorating this new, last bastion of the Dwarven civilization of The Born Figure.

My best wall-engraver lost the ability to walk in an incident, but gets around plenty fine on their new crutches. Unfortunately, they only want to engrave images of traction tables. My walls are covered in beautiful, immaculate images of That Time He Was In Traction After His Legs Were Shattered By Goblins. Dwarves are weird.

This fort is on the precipice of total collapse now. See, they encountered a monster that exuded a goo that causes flesh to rot. This killed a bunch of dwarves (which the survivors weren’t thrilled about), but it also got on a lot of the dogs they had brought to the fight. Those that survived long enough managed to get back into the fort proper before immediately dying. Unfortunately, this goo seems to have gotten itself into somewhere the dogs and cats keep interacting with (there must be a puddle of it somewhere), which is cause them to constantly melt from the paws first, slowly releasing a horrible cloud of rot before falling over dead. There are so many pet dogs in my fort that are all slowly-but-surely melting into the ground that the entire population of dwarves are getting very crabby indeed.

I expect the whole fort will soon fall prey to the dread Tantrum Spiral, where-in everyone eventually gets so mad that they start a massive brawl that will destroy the fort from within. Hooray!

See, Dwarf Fortress isn’t really about “winning” the game. It’s about experiencing the systems to the point at which you inevitably lose in a weird and wild fashion, and then you start over again. Losing is the fun. Yeah, you want your dwarves to be happy and succeed, but current success is just the root of future failure. Armok demands only conflict and slaughter!

Play Dwarf Fortress. Strike the Earth!

[sa-game-remake]

The Ex-Spirit Animals Game

The Spirit Animals game was a multiplayer browser and mobile-app game based on Scholastic's book series of the same name. The books ran from 2013 to 2018, with the game remaining active until July 2019. The Android version of the game can still be downloaded here and be played in offline ("guest") mode, and iOS users who have previously used the app can reinstall it from their "Purchased" menu and do the same.

The game was originally built in the game engine Unity, using the Unity Web Player technology. The Unity Web Player is now obsolete: web browsers started phasing out support for it and similar plugins in 2015. Furthermore, the game was tightly linked to Scholastic forum accounts, which, obviously, any fan servers for the game would not be able to connect to. These factors mean it isn't feasible to do a bit of technological magic and get the game up and running again. (Immediately.)

But the game was a good game, and it's fondly nostalgic, and this does make a good project. Hello, my goal is to rebuild the Spirit Animals game and get it (unofficially though it may be) online again.

Technology: three.js, a WebGL-based 3D graphics library, to substitute for Unity and its Web Player. This is not a real game engine. Not using a game engine will make the process slower, but this developer doesn't like Unity and does like stupid optimisation challenges. If you're tech-y you can try to convince me to use Godot. If not I am going to learn so much about game engines.

Assets and art: Nicked from the decompiled original game.

Network/multiplayer: Currently considering socket.io. Have not tested its suitability for this game's multiplayer modes at all, yet.

[cielospeaks]

meme from online here

more info:

2015: my boy severin! <3 weird little undertaker of my heart. i also love jojo so i daresay my art is both 1. finding a more "me" style and 2. improving.

2016: good art vibes continue as i discovered loid this year! also more gijinkas! the lovely and wonderful maddy, jellie, and pamela! <3

2017: this year was fun bc i wanted to draw a mokouzart every moth and for the most part succeeded. my art was wonky and bad proportions but i was having fun and thats the most important thing imo

2018: my art was still bad proportions but i was starting to get more self conscious abt it. art school does that to a guy -weary emoji face- but dont be concerned there was still a lot of heart and i was getting more into storytelling in fics. hence the kasulaeg good stuff.

2019: this was def a weird time for me artwise- somehow i wasnt satisfied with how anything looked most of the time. i think just lifewise weird stuff happened too so it was really a time of change. also my art self esteem had been damaged pretty badly from art college and mobile game fans online (you know who you are). this one of rosa and kasumi is really goated tho, probably the last time ive been really happy for and actively cheering on the c y l winners. (tho i am happy for chrom/tiki/robin/corn tbh)

2020: this year was kinda me trying to get my groove back tbh. socially stuff had happened too (in 2019) but weirdly this was a big time for self discovery for me. during the job lockdown i was able to binge d q 11 and realized how fun games and fantasy anime genre has the potential to be. and i made a new friend! this treblesal is actually a redraw but i love their faces in this the best <3

2021: this year was where i felt like my groove was finally returned. minor setback of a computer crash in january aside, i started a series of an-allegroface-a-week and it was actually really fun and satisfying. in oct there was this platonic fave month which was so much fun. <3 sevil and kisumi are one of the awesome results of it! (not the brotp but the artwork)

2022: i feel like this was such a big year bc of n w h but thats just silly. but at the same time its kinda true lol. my creative kick for aime tachi was back, along with a need to go to d l and a sense of right and wrong which had been tested over the years. sure its gotten me nothing but trouble but im still a bit glad for it. i also decided to get creative w shading and pencils, and found that thin pens work a lot better for antonio's luscious locks. and that meant a very cool trebletonio drawing for his character day! <3

2023: 2023 had a lot of good content imo, it was hard to choose just one. but its gotta be the monty one man. i spent the whole year working on it no joke. more weird stuff happened last year but i do think i made steps to improving at art. that being said i have more unfinished artworks than schubert has unfinished symphonies (thats not saying much. he has one.)

2024: this year is only halfway done and so far ive drawn some things(tm). but i had to give it to mokouzart, i love these little freaks so much. notably this year ive started drawing the shines in characters' eyes? i like drawing them w the quote unquote dead eyes but its nice trying this too.

[synaanand]

Unveiling the No. 1 Hindi Romantic Movie 2024 - A Must-Watch

Hindi romantic movies have been the heartbeat of the Indian film industry, casting an enchanting spell on audiences worldwide. But what makes a Hindi romantic movie rise above the rest? Which film, in its unending pursuit of unrequited love, stands as the quintessential example of this genre’s allure? In this detailed exploration of Indian cinema's most cherished category, we not only uncover the epitome of Hindi romantic cinema but also analyze its historical significance, current trends, and future projections.

The Enduring Charm of Hindi Romantic Movies

Bollywood romances aren't just cinematic; they're cultural phenomena steeped in the fabric of Indian society. These tales of love are an intrinsic part of life, music, and celebrations in the subcontinent. They are escapades into a world where love conquers all, taking viewers through an emotional rollercoaster filled with passion, heartbreak, and ultimately, heartwarming conclusions.

A Love Story Across Generations

From the classics of yesteryears featuring the likes of Raj Kapoor and Nargis to the contemporary portrayals by actors like Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, Hindi romantic cinema has evolved through time. Each era has given birth to love stories that reflect the social dynamics, cultural ethos, and zeitgeist of the age, ensuring that the genre remains a kaleidoscope of Indian life and values. Pre Wedding Honeymoon is well craft romantic web series by Sensationz media and arts production.

A Filmography of Love

Which Hindi romantic movie speaks to your heart the most? Is it the heartbreaking 'Mughal-e-Azam', the eternal 'DDLJ', or the bittersweet 'Aashiqui'? Our top 8 must-watch list captures the full spectrum of love from the reels of Bollywood. Here, storyline intricacies, musical charm, and memorable performances have collectively propelled these films into a league of their own, and the reasons for their inclusion will be thoroughly dissected.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013): A coming-of-age drama that traces the journey of four friends as they navigate life, love, and self-discovery.

Ram Leela (2013): A modern-day retelling of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' set in the backdrop of Gujarat, showcasing a fiery romance amidst familial conflicts.

Manmarziyaan (2018): A love triangle between a free-spirited girl, her responsible fiancé, and the unpredictable man she falls for.

Pre Wedding Honeymoon (2024): A web series that explores a couple's journey before tying the knot, filled with laughter, love, and lessons.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016): A complex tale of unrequited love, friendship, and self-discovery, showcasing the fine lines between passion and obsession.

Aashiqui 2 (2013): A musical journey of two struggling musicians who fall in love but face challenges as they pursue their dreams.**

Kabir Singh (2019): An intense and controversial love story that follows a self-destructive man's obsession with the girl he loves.

Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015) – A heartwarming tale of an arranged marriage between a mismatched couple and their journey towards understanding, acceptance, and love.

Trends and The Future of Hindi Romantic Cinema

As the world changes, so do our expressions of love, and Hindi romantic movies are no exception. From unconventional story arcs to diverse casting choices, the genre is evolving with the times. With streaming platforms providing an  even larger reach, we can expect to see more experimentation and innovation in the future. The rise of independent filmmakers is also a promising sign for unique and authentic stories to be told.

Conclusion

Hindi romantic movies have stood the test of time, capturing our hearts with their poignant and relatable tales. From iconic classics to modern-day gems, this genre will continue to enchant

Watch Pre Wedding Honeymoon web series Online On MX Player for free, Because in the world of Hindi romantic movies, every film is a love letter waiting to be unfolded.

[autonationx]

Cadillac Escalade Years to Avoid

While opinions on specific model years can vary, there are some common issues reported by owners and automotive experts for certain Cadillac Escalade model years. It's important to note that these issues may not be universal, and individual experiences can vary. Additionally, manufacturers often make updates and improvements in later model years. To learn more interesting facts about the BMW 7 Series visit autonationx.com.

Here are some model years of the Cadillac Escalade that have been mentioned for potential issues:

First Generation (1999-2000): The initial model years of any vehicle may have more teething issues as manufacturers work out bugs and improve designs.

Early 2000s: Some owners of Escalades from the early 2000s reported issues with the transmission and various electrical components. It's advisable to check the maintenance history and look for any signs of these problems.

2007 and 2014 Model Years: These years saw significant updates and changes. The 2007 model introduced a more powerful engine and a six-speed automatic transmission. The 2014 model brought about a complete redesign with improved interior quality and technology. However, the first year of a redesign can sometimes have unexpected issues, so some caution might be warranted.

2015-2017: Some users reported issues with the Cue infotainment system in these years. The system can be slow or unresponsive, and updates might be necessary.

2015-2018: In these model years, there were recalls related to issues with the power-adjustable pedals, seat heaters, and airbags. It's essential to check whether these recalls were addressed if you're considering a used Escalade from these years.

2018-2019: Some owners reported problems with the transmission, so it's recommended to check for any service records related to transmission issues.

However, I can provide you with some general advice on how to research and identify potential issues with specific model years.

Consumer Reports and J.D. Power: These organizations conduct reliability and customer satisfaction surveys. Checking their reports for the specific model years you're interested in can give you insights into common problems.

Online Forums: Car forums, such as those on Edmunds, Reddit, or dedicated Cadillac forums, often have discussions about common issues and owner experiences. Participating in these forums or just reading through existing threads can provide valuable information.

Recalls and Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs): Checking for recalls and TSBs related to the Cadillac Escalade can help you understand if there are any widespread issues that the manufacturer has recognized and addressed.

Test Drives and Inspections: Before purchasing a used Cadillac Escalade, it's advisable to take it for a thorough test drive and have it inspected by a qualified mechanic. This can help identify any existing or potential issues.

Model Changes: Sometimes, certain model years undergo significant changes, whether in terms of design, features, or mechanics. It's worth researching whether a particular year had a major update, as new technologies or designs may come with their own set of challenges.

It's important to note that these are general trends and not every vehicle from these years will experience these problems. Additionally, manufacturers often address issues with updated models and service bulletins, so it's wise to check if the specific vehicle you're interested in has had any recalls or if the known issues have been addressed.

Always consider having a used vehicle inspected by a qualified mechanic before making a purchase. They can provide insights into the current condition of the car and alert you to any potential issues. Additionally, staying informed about recalls and technical service bulletins from the manufacturer is a good practice when researching a specific model year.

[xprojectrpg]

(Yester)Day In X-Project - December 13

PHASE 2

2015: Little Paper Dolls: Doug e-mails Emma, Marie-Ange, Wade, Jean, and Domino about a field trip to the Great White North for Reasons.

2016: Nica suggests a Generation-X outing to volunteer at Tandy’s uncle’s soup kitchen. Bobbi is celebrating that she’s finally paid off her student loans, much to the dismay of all the students looking forward to that time in their lives. Lorna regrets that she can’t migrate to warmer climes. Kane, Scott and Sharon plan a series of medical exercises in the Danger Room. Doug takes Hope on a graduation exercise to test all the skills he’s been teaching her. Clarice admits that she’s made too many scarves and hats and will be giving them out to anyone who wants one.

2017: Topaz texts Hope asking if Warren is nuts for buying her all the university books she’ll ever need.

2018: Jubilee texts Kevin now that he’s back, informing him of an interesting wager she’s made. Jean-Phillipe makes a journal entry about footage from the Miss Universal National Costume being discussed online.

2019: Darcy reports that there is such a thing as too many chocolate martinis.

2020:

2021:

2022: Alani sends a text to Felicia about finding a formal dress and missing Clint’s birthday.

[toms-cherry-trees]

Not the same anon! But jt made me curious, what made you learn English? You speak so well!

Aww thank you! So, story time!!

I had mandatory English from kindergarten to end of HS plus 4 semesters in University, so that's English classes from ages 5 to 20. Besides that my parents would often play music in English at home. I used to sing the songs by following the phonetics with zero knowledge of what was I saying. As I grew and my skills improved, I managed to slowly catcn some words and fill in with gibberish the spaces in between.

When Internet became available I made it my goal to google every lyrics to every song I had ever sung, just because I really wanted to know what exactly was I saying. I read them until I memorised them, even though many words I didn't know yet. I have an expertise for going down rabbit holes online so I would end up googling every word I didn't know (because EVEN THEN I was too lazy to pick up my Eng/Spa dictionary)

In 2015 I began role-playing. We all obviously rped in English so that's when I got serious about perfecting myself. I would read outloud my replies, I talked to myself in English, I began to consume more English media and obviously became extremely dependent on the translator lmao

I always favoured series/movies in English but obviously I needed subtitles. I would often try to match the words with the subtitles but due to the translations not matching the original, many times the subtitles didn't either. Out of frustration I ended up watching the series with subtitles in English when available and pausing every five minutes to look up the words I didn't know.

I began buying books in English too because sometimes certain phrases and jokes were lost in translation, and now I only buy them in English.

I only watch series with English subtitles nowadays and sometimes even without subtitles at all. I obviously still struggle especially because I was taught British English in school and then most media I interact with is US so I still get words mixed up sometimes.

TL:DR It was a mix of school English and a lot of self taught. Also I have a C1 level and haven't done the certification test only because it is 300 dollars which I don't have but all the tests I got C1

[hookeaudiocom]

What is SteveWillDoIt Net Worth 2023: Wiki, Age, Girlfriend, And More

SteveWillDoIt is an American influencer, YouTube star, entrepreneur and founder of SteveWillDoIt LLC. He is renowned for his viral challenge and prank videos uploaded across various social media platforms. With over 7 million subscribers on YouTube alone, Steve has amassed a considerable fortune from brand collaborations and sponsorships.

Steve was born in Florida in 1992 and started his online career in late 2015 when he began uploading challenge videos to YouTube. His brash and unpredictable personality quickly gained traction. Early hits like the 'Eat It or Wear It' series saw Steve taste testing unusual food combinations or forcing friends to wear bizarre outfits. This won him a loyal fanbase attracted to his outrageous daredevil antics.

In 2018, Steve expanded into larger stunts and dares. Videos such as 'Spending 24 Hours Trapped in a Glass Box' received millions of views. As his popularity accelerated, corporations t - 67z8243eek

[lalune-brille]

⠀⠀⠀𓇼⠀ ִ ۫⠀ ⭒ㅤ ⠀⠀𓈒ㅤ⠀◌

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀

“Graceful as a willow tree, in the soft embrace of the moon, she moves gracefully getting ready to introduce herself to the world! Her words, a sonnet whispered throughout the day. Painting dreams with strokes of pure joy and leaving a trail of stars wherever she walks”

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ I ⠀⠀ ⠀ A brief information ⠀

Meet Shalunne Amandine, a lady who finds her sanctuary in serenity—you can simply call her Shalunne or Alun! Speaking of personality, she has taken the MBTI test some time ago and has determined that she belongs to the INTJ personality type. Rest assured, she has reached her early twenties under the zodiac sign of Gemini, and marking her transition into legal age. In terms of pronouns, she prefers feminine ones (She/Her). She uses her Twitter account as an expression of random things in her thoughts, not infrequently to share TMI(s), interact with friends, etc. She is a bit selective in following people on her account. She is also very much affectionately entwined with her beloved heartthrob, Adamian.

⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀II ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Her interests

⠀

﹒⟢﹒ Movies Series K-drama

She is drawn to movies, series, and K-drama. She is actually open to any genre, but she prefers thrillers, war, science fiction, horror, and drama. For reference, the best movies or series that come to her mind would probably be: Inglourious Basterds (2009), Jurassic World (2015), Little Women (2019), Where the Crawdads Sing (2022), Anne With An E (2017), Stranger Things (2016-Present), Vincenzo (2021), Our Blues (2022) with every amazing cinematic work in it. In addition to the references above, she also makes a watching list (which might be updated) with her watchmates, as well as her closest friends for leisure time. Here's a page that you can visit to find out more references about movies & series that they have watched:

﹒⟢﹒ Group(s) & Music

She has been a K-POP enthusiast for quite a long time. In more recent times, she's been more inclined towards staying updated on girl groups, holding a profound admiration for acts like aespa, ITZY, NewJeans, BABYMONSTER, Kiss of Life, and many more. However, when it comes to boy groups, EXO will forever hold a special place as her ultimate favorite! When it comes to music, she doesn't have a set favorite or a particular genre preference. She enjoys songs that resonate with her individual taste. Other artists who have captivated her with their music include NIKI, Taeyeon, Yerin Baek, Keshi, Taylor Swift, and many more.

﹒⟢﹒Other interests

Other things she enjoys are dancing and discussing social issues which she then puts into written form. Due to one or another reason, she hasn't been pursuing it much lately and hopes to continue to find activities that she enjoys. She loves spicy food, and sometimes sweets, too. Her favorite drinks are mineral water, milk, and matcha! She plays games for the fun of it like Plato and The Sims 4. She's a massive lover of dogs and cats.

⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀III ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Notes

⠀

﹒⟢﹒ Before you follow

Shalunne is open to any kind of friendship, she is an open-hearted soul, and always ready to welcome and cherish connections with those around her. She may not always be online or there may be times when she is invisible for a few days on her timeline, but feel free to approach her either through direct messaging or simply mentioning her. There may be some situations where she uses unpleasant words such as swearing, so please pay attention and make sure that you are at least 15 years old! Do not follow her account if you are a racist, unable to respect her favorites, anyone who spreads hate speech in public, problematic, and have no intention of interacting.