#plan for 2020

[uncountry]

Bonjour,

Je vais encore vous parler de Donald Trump. Désolé. Mais il se passe tellement de choses du côté de Washington qu’on oublie parfois qu’il a accédé au pouvoir il y a quinze jours seulement. C’est justement cette stratégie d���accumulation que je voudrais évoquer. En multipliant les annonces et les actes les plus ahurissants, le nouveau président et ses acolytes visent à créer un état de sidération qui anesthésie toute capacité de réaction.

Mais avant d’évoquer cette stratégie, je vous propose de découvrir nos articles du jour parus sur philomag.com :

Arnaud Orain : bienvenue dans le capitalisme de la finitude

Que dit-on quand on parle de “submersion migratoire” ?

Les grands concepts de Deleuze expliqués

Nous sommes stupéfaits, ahuris, tétanisés face à la destruction à la hache de pans entiers de ce que nous croyions être les États-Unis. Hier matin, les employés de l’Agence d’aide au développement ont trouvé porte close. Le site internet de l’USAid était inaccessible. Accusée par Elon Musk d’être une “organisation criminelle”, l’agence a vu ses activités soudainement interrompues. De son côté, le président américain annonçait une hausse des droits de douane des produits venant de Chine, du Mexique et du Canada… avant de suspendre la mesure pour un mois vis-à-vis de Mexico et d’Ottawa. La Cour pénale internationale s’apprête à être soumise à des sanctions, l’Ukraine va devoir réserver ses terres rares à Washington, et je suis certain qu’avant demain soir, d’autres chocs – contre le droit, l’aide internationale, l’indépendance des États, les minorités – vont survenir. Or tout ceci est absolument calculé.

Dans un livre publié en 2007, La Stratégie du choc (Actes Sud), l’essayiste et militante canadienne Naomi Klein montre que cette méthode, consistant à “intervenir immédiatement pour imposer des changements rapides et irréversibles à la société éprouvée par le désastre”, a été théorisée depuis longtemps aux États-Unis. Les économistes néolibéraux préconisaient des thérapies de choc. Les cadres des services de renseignement et les militaires appliquaient des méthodes de torture par électrochocs afin de rendre les suspects amnésiques et parfaitement manipulables. Les libertés étaient rognées au nom de la lutte contre le terrorisme. “Les partisans de la stratégie du choc, affirme Naomi Klein, croient fermement que seule une fracture radicale – une inondation, une guerre, un attentat terroriste – peut produire le genre de vastes pages blanches dont ils rêvent. C’est pendant les moments de grande malléabilité – ceux où nous sommes psychologiquement sans amarres et physiquement déplacés – que ces artistes du réel retroussent leurs manches et entreprennent de refaire le monde.”

Cette démarche avait déjà été préconisée par Machiavel, qui écrit dans Le Prince (1532) : “Le mal doit se faire tout d’une fois : comme on a moins de temps pour y goûter, il offensera moins.” L’objectif est surtout, aujourd’hui, de créer un sentiment de sidération. Ce mot latin signifie “subir l’action funeste des astres”, ou encore “être frappé d’insolation”, c’est-à-dire être totalement privé de tout moyen de réagir de manière autonome face à la puissance infinie des étoiles ou d’une puissance divine. Le rêve sidéral d’Elon Musk et de Donald Trump ne vise pas seulement la conquête d’un ailleurs, mais l’application ici-bas d’une force irrésistible. Atteindre Mars, la planète rouge du dieu de la guerre, c’est aussi traiter les humains du point de vue de la puissance cosmique. Devenue médicale et psychologique, la notion de sidération suggère l’anéantissement de toute force de résistance face à un choc émotionnel. On utilise également, face à l’avènement de Trump, le terme de stupeur, qui signifie l’engourdissement et la paralysie. Nous en restons tous stupides, donc, presque incapables d’exercer notre esprit critique et notre puissance d’agir.

C’est le but. Mais la stratégie de la sidération employée par la nouvelle équipe dirigeante américaine est assortie d’une autre dimension. Elle est brouillonne. Il est presque impossible de comprendre rationnellement le fil X d’Elon Musk (j’ai essayé ce matin), parsemé d’insultes contre les “globalistes de la gauche radicale”, prétendument infiltrés dans les agences américaines, les “wow”, les “yes”, les “cool”, les vidéos loufoques et les mèmes invraisemblables… Les revirements de Trump sur les droits de douane ou l’Ukraine ajoutent également de la confusion à la sidération. Faut-il s’en réjouir ? Baisser la garde ? Essayer d’anticiper sans visibilité ? Rendre la brutalité brouillonne est efficace, car les éventuels opposants aux mesures mitraillées en tous sens sont secoués comme dans des montagnes russes. Ajoutez un sentiment d’improvisation chaotique à la radicalité agressive, et vous obtiendrez la méthode Gribouille. Non seulement les États et les sociétés civiles sont attaqués, mais personne n’y comprend rien. On se réfugie alors mollement derrière la supposée imprévisibilité du personnage en espérant qu’il bluffe et que la tempête se calme. Mais de la sidération à la soumission, il n’y a qu’un pas.

Michel Eltchaninoff

[potofsoup]

Oh look, it seems like there's a Republican-led movement to purge voter rolls in the lead-up to the election! It's almost as if your vote matters and they don't want you to vote! Anyway, I whipped up a quick map (based on this) that shows when the voter registration deadline is in each state. There are a few deadlines coming up in the next week or so.

If you live in a state that regularly purges voter rolls for infrequent voters (the orange ones in the first map), or if you moved recently, it's good to check if you're still registered to vote.

Vote.org makes it super easy to check your registration: https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

Just put in your address and DOB and they'll tell you whether you're registered. (And they give you a quick link to register online if it turns out that you're not! Only the 9 states in white on my map don't have online registration, and for those they provide instructions on how to do it via mail or in person.) If you want an extra verification, find your state's election website and double-check there.

So yeah, give yourself peace of mind -- do a quick check. :)

[tagerrkix]

Eden was their ✨disney princess era✨

[yamujiburo]

my new haircut makes me look like a little lad and i love it

[mimimar]

finally completed my comic based on the song ivy by taylor swift!✿ please zoom in to read the text and see the details~

✿.✿.✿

you can get the digital zine pdf here! it includes extras like character profiles, costume design, more art of willow and ivy, zine-exclusive sketches and an illustrated guide to the symbolism of all the flowers in this comic.

you can also get prints of individual pages here!

✿.✿.✿

[turbo-tsundere]

Content warning for gore, blood, burns & body horror.

A king with no crown and a holy fool.

(The element of venom/poison, stabbing/puncture wounds and destruction of a whole body is present in both of their deaths. Kokichi's pristine white clothes also end up being shoved down the toilet, and the poison made it difficult for him to breathe, so there's plausible callback to Miu also. Karma at its finest?)

If I could be the devil, you could be the sinner.

(Don't mind them, they're just spilling their guts)

(...)

(Concepts for scenes from a Gonta-centric survival horror game I'll never make. But it was fun to daydream about - maybe one day I'll finish other sketches and doodles relating to it into a more presentable state. The Cat Lady OST was playing on constant repeat while I drew this - Lily of the Valley, Don't Follow the Light, String, Plainwalker, Early Winter, Storytelling, Susan's Blue Sheep (alone again) - those in particular are now stuck in my brain when I look at those drawings, and what I imagine the "game's" mood to be like, at least the opening segment.)

(I felt both heartbroken and like a monster when drawing this one... But I wanted to draw something that doesn't conveniently erase nor tuck his mangled, swollen face away from view. Sure... in game it looks goofy. But I think mockingly disfiguring him was the point in all of this, too. And given the venom, the Schmidt pain index, how it rates some wasp species, the fact that those robot wasps could be packed with anything necessary really... it had to be awful. Really, every stage of Gonta's execution was excruciating and enough to kill a person on its own, but due to his strength he likely suffered through them all. I remember begging in my head he was at least spared the flame, that he was already gone by this point... But it's foolish to pretend it definitely was the case.)

I wanted to post something new, but I was either busy, ill, or focused on something else, so another sketchdump with oldies and wips it is. This time strictly 2020-21 stuff, drawn during the first few months after finishing the game; mostly to process the post-game/Ch4 sorrows. All very emotionally raw, very edgy stuff that I felt, to be honest, too shy to show before.

Like with any wip I posted before, I do hope to finish some of them properly one day, even though I don't know when. But that's fine, I've signed up for a very long ride with the bug man. Taking it easy is the priority.

Speaking of long-term projects, maybe there's no need to, but I do want to talk about my Gonta fancomic, so here goes.

It's a bit long, so I will continue under the cut.

(Some panel teasers first! ...Gonta sanity fine.)

I took a few months long break from personal drawings - an *actual* break, not just sitting in front of a screen, tired, stewing in guilt that I'm tired, and that I can't magically muscle through burnout, or headache, or exhaustion.

My brain was stuck in a loop of berating myself for underperforming, not doing well enough, for taking so long on "mere" 27 pages, when in the past I could finish a 90-page webcomic chapter much faster. I wouldn't let myself rest, because I didn't do enough; but I couldn't do enough, because I didn't allow myself to rest. And it's been going on for months and months.

What a stupid, unconstructive thing to do to myself. I was only spiralling down, intimidating and overwhelming myself with work on the one thing I specifically wanted to keep doing out of joy, not ambition and pedantism. So I decided to just say "fuck it" and stop for a while. Like, actually stop, do something else and try to feel unapologetic about it.

So I briefly took up sewing, a creative activity I had no personal stake in, and then I started PVP-ing in DS3 (sorry if I happened to kick your butt in there. Rest assured my butt gets kicked just as much), which did wonders, too, as non-artistic pastime.

And, in the end, it seems it worked.

I finally feel this internal drive to draw again. Sadly, I can't spend all of my free time on the doujin (I might need to open commissions soon), so my pacing will still be glacial... But there was an internal change from "I have to, I have to, I must..." back to "I want to". And this is all that matters.

Still, that makes me think... while technically I don't have deadlines, the comic has taken so much longer than I thought it would - and it will take a while still. Thus, I wonder if I shouldn't change my approach re publishing it.

The initial idea was to post it all at once when it's fully finished, but I debate releasing it one page at a time instead, while it's still work in progress.

Thing is, I don't think it would be good for overall pacing. I don't want to sacrifice it, plus I can't guarantee regular uploads, esp since I don't exactly work on the pages in chronological order (While the first page is done, it was drawn after I finished a few in the middle & at the end; and there are still a few important pages/panels in first half I'm a bit too afraid of touching just yet, wanting to do them justice. This is how I work in general, jumping around rather than sticking to overly strict linear order.)

The compromise would be to post like 3-5 pages per post, making it so each upload covers a specific scene, however, same issue arises - I can't promise regular uploads. In the end it feels like a half-measure. But maybe it's a good idea, despite that impression?

There's a secret option, too - if this takes absurdly long, my plan was to just post the storyboard, after replacing some panels/pages with already finished drawings. The thing is readable as is, and long finished on that front anyway. My personal deadline for that was "right before my current lease ends", but, well… I plan on extending it anyway, and again... it's just a back-up option for when everything else fails. In the end, I just want to finish the comic, and present it how it's meant to be presented, however long it will take.

All those things considered, I'll stick to the original plan for now... and then we shall see. I simply wanted to share where things stand currently, and where they might go.

And that's it! If you've read this far, thank you. See you in the undetermined future.

[carameatea]

🎃 Happy Halloween 🎃

[worstchosen]

its late people are probably sleeping quick post bad kids doodles

[ffc1cb]

happy to announce i’ve finally lost it and spent a considerable amount of time making a dragon age inquisition mod that lets your inquisitor use they/them pronouns. if there’s anyone out there besides me who wants to use it, here it is on nexus.

detailed description and personal commentary under the cut

update: as of 3.05 (may 3rd), the mod has been uploaded to nexus. see download link above for any future updates.

this is a mod for frosty mod manager 1.0.6.1. you MUST install the bioware localization plugin for it to work, otherwise the game won’t start. on fmm 1.0.6.2, the plugin is already built in, so you don’t need to worry;

this mod is a simple overhaul of the game’s base text; no changes were made to the actual voice lines. this mod also does not affect default romance flags (just like in vanilla game, you can only romance sera with a "female" inquisitor (or dorian with "male"), but the mod should, hypothetically, be compatible with other mods that edit romance flags);

you can install it at any point of the game. starting a new playthrough is not necessary;

works for all races and with all available dlcs;

along with the pronouns change, this mod changes all gendered words used to refer to the inquisitor to be gender neutral, i.e man / woman have been replaced with person or contextual variants. my lord / my lady and other similar titles have been replaced with messere (on the basis of this reddit thread);

some of the dialogue could've been mistakenly changed, since context was not always easy to parse. if you try this mod out, i’d greatly appreciate any help with pointing out my mistakes (blackwall’s romance in particular has given me the most trouble); additionally, i might have missed some lines in the codexes, since i skimmed through them very briefly.

i’ve no previous modding experience, so i went with the easiest option and, like i mentioned above, brute forced it and made a complete overhaul of the base game text as opposed to a pickable option i’d like it to be. ideally i’d love for this mod to be bundled together with this other one that switches pc pronouns (which was a partial inspiration for this mod). if anyone here has any knowledge on whether this is something that could be done, please hmu.

also, since in order to make this mod i had to read through the entire game text (it was torturous. not gonna lie) i collected some of my personal favorite bits and pieces along the way. if anyone’s curious, you can look at them here. there’s surprisingly many developers’ notes in there.

[peach-sea]

gakupo chat stickers for fun..... it'd be fun to do these as comms

[so-i-did-this-thing]

Doh ho ho ho ho!

(Pulled one of my old jackets and wool trousers as placeholders for now. Shirt and waistcoat from Darcy. Tie is true vintage.)

[evilhorse]

But you lecturing us about keeping secret plans is highly ironic.

(Absolute Power #4)

[piko-rose]

Weird af thought but what if Sonic Wachowski's quills spit out electricity for a brief second depending on how loud his sneezes are?

Like if was just a small sneeze, his quills would just glow for a moment, as if it was a small warning, to not touch his quills after he recovered from his sneeze before the light faded away.

But if it was, like, a HUGE sneeze, like "recovering from a cold" sneeze, then yeah, FUCKING RUN,

Because when he sneezes as loud as thunder, his electrical surge would spit out every which way, zapping anyone who is near him.

So every time Sonic catches a cold, the Wachowski fam needs to take care of him, of course, but whenever they hear "Ha... HA..." they need to book it.

Tom and Maddie ducked behind the couch, Knuckles pushed Ozzie under the table and shielded him to protect him, and Tails just enables a built-in bubble shield around him with his Miles Electric, just as Sonic sneezed and blue lightning just SHOT OUT from his quills, bouncing off the walls for a brief moment before his powers died down.

I love this headcanon because not only do we see Sonic's powers go a little crazy while the allergies are kicking in or that he's just sick, but also the hilarious scenarios that occurred whenever he does sneeze.

But, it might also be a little angst because Sonic might feel insecure about how dangerous his powers are while he's sick, and as much as he needed comfort from his family, he doesn't want to hurt them. :(

This is funny and cute I swear-

[bowtiesarecool11]

All Creatures Great and Small - Incorrect Quotes

[jullesmeade]

THE FAMILY PLAN

Dir. Simon Cellan Jones

[haveyouseenthisseries-poll]

Original title: Phom Kub Phee | ผมกับผีในห้อง.