#product reccomendations

[novella-november]

I was recently reminded that "Portable Typewriters" exist for a few hundred dollars, and are marketed as "the only way to write on the go, distraction free with the small built in screen" and I would like to give everyone who, like me, is on a very very small budget and can't afford to drop $400 or $500 on a typewriter...

...here is an actual budget option for around $40, 10x cheaper, that you can use with any smart phone that has bluetooth built in, which is most modern phones.

[ID: A photo of a folding bluetooth keyboard by the brand ProtoArc, in the plain black version, which is a thin but full-sized Qwerty keyboard including a numberpad on the right hand side, with a few extra functional keys on the top right for use with a phone. End ID]

This keyboard is around $43; if you want a colored version (grey, silver, white, blue, or green green) it goes up to $53.

This keyboard has a charge that lasts around a week or two (depending on length of daily use) and fully charges in around half an hour or less with a USB-Type C charger, included in the package.

Once you pair it with your phone, it will pair automatically when you fully unfold it, and disconnect when you fold it back up; no on or of switches needed.

If you are someone who has been tempted by the concept of writing on the go, writing on a small screen so you're not distracted by a full desktop PC or laptop, but balked at the price of $300-$600+, please consider trying out a bluetooth keyboard with a phone you already own for $40, and see if you are either satisfied with this small price point and stick with it, or take the plunge and buy a portable typewriter now that you know the concept works for you, instead of shelling out a few hundred and never using it.

The folding keyboard is small enough you can fit it in a small carrying bag, and if you have a large fanny pack that would probably work as well; I have a small purse/sling bag that I use which fits perfectly, so literally anywhere I go that has a flat surface, I can whip out my keyboard and keep on writing my novel :)

The keyboard works with any app on your phone, so you can write in Google Docs, another word processing app, or directly on 4TheWords mobile website!

But yes, if you are interested in writing on the go and are on a small budget, I highly reccomend this keyboard, it is one of the reasons I have been able to write so much in the past few months.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TW35H1Z

No, this is not an affiliate link, and I am not making any money off of sharing this link; I am just someone who is living paycheck to paycheck who really loves to write and don't want people to think the only way to write while traveling is by dropping a few hundred dollars on a device--

-- especially if you are someone who for disability reasons cannot easily use the small keyboard on a phone screen. There are cheaper, more accessible options out there, if you're looking at non-medical electronics in a similar vein to "portable typewriter", there are plenty of cheaper, more versatile options out there as long as you can think of the most simplified versions to look up alternatives.

[brbgensokyo]

anyone serious about anime needs to watch magipokka to at least why its a brainmelter nearly two decades on

[lilmagiceverywhere]

i don't normally go to bat for disney but strange world was criminally slept on

LIKE. yeah its disney.

but

strange world was SUCH A GOOD FILM!!

and sometimes i think its important to recognize the individual filmmakers and animators outside of the corporation they work for. they're the ones whk make the art, disney just sells it

plus disney did it criminal with ths promotion of the film. grr

anyway. first of all, aesthetically, the film is amazing. its got sort of eco futuristic solarpunk vibes, i mean, LOOK AT THIS!!

and yeah we can make fun of the "first gay disney character" trope all we want but the gay character in this film, ethan, is one of the main characters, and his romance with his crush is treated normally. it's a bit pushed to the side as the movie goes on but its so cute look at them!!!!!!

AND THE STORY!! it focuses on the relationships between fathers and sons, between Jaeger (old guy) and Searcher (adult man) and Searcher and his son Ethan. it's about breaking away of your father's expectations but ending up like them. it's about how to heal the rifts generationally. it's such an interesting dynamic and focus for the story

BUT ITS ALSO ABOUT MORE THAN THAT! its got a strong environmental push in the film that i wasn't expecting. how should we, as humans, deal with an energy crisis when it is actively causing damage to the planet? how do we save the planet?

its kinda the environmental messaging that puts the onus on the collective people to save our planet than the billonare companies that make up like 90% of carbon emissions but it's still a good message to teach people of all ages that they can make their lives more eco friendly and that they can help save the planet

TLDR: Strange World is a good movie please watch it thank you

[crested-waveskimmer]

Experimental drawing to test out the range this new art App I downloaded is. Decided to draw my singular Undertide, Quake! Used a bunch of texture and halftone brushes and I love the result.

[kind-of-a-shitty-wizard]

plus two toxic yaoi movies to the watch list. thank you for your perfect taste (as ever) !

HELLO MJRDM my friend mjrdm... im so glad to serve you with the toxic yaoi movies 🫡 i highly reccomend both lol

my conclusion from watching a bunch of these movies from 60+ years ago is that theres unplunged depths of toxic yaoi hidden beneath the hays code stuff (also that the cinematography and scripts of the classics were fantastic etc etc but yaknowww cough)

as a bonus, if i had to recc another one besides lawrence of arabia and becket (peter o'toole 😩), it would probably be casablanca assuming u havent seen this classic already. its not on the level of the other two, but claude rains DOES just take the subtext and RUN with it lmao

[ankhisms]

YOU WANT HIS SINISTER HOLE

[chishiii-shuntaro]

I dont get people calling your hair crispy. Going from dark hair to so light, does damage hair in some way. After all you pretty much bleach the color away. I do it mysekf, both saloon and at home and if I dont condition my hair every time I wash my hair, its dry and crispy like yours. I understand that its hard to not just have time but also find the right products for your hair abd in the real world? Never heard of students getting enough sleep, let alone med students, so I guess people are happy enough to have the time to shower.

God almighty, give me strength. How many times do I have to repeat myself? My hair is neither dry nor crispy — it is the lighting and the unflattering angles that cause it to look like that. I am taking care of it, stop mocking me! — Chishiya

[istherewifiinhell]

Oh my knees hurting smth fierce. Anyway i wanna say for the record my first priority other that. 'Holy fuck' and 'im on the ground now?' was 'my headphones better be okay' [things flew straight off. Natch] THEY ARE. Made sure to pause my music using the button.. so i.. assume? I put them back on my head b4 pulling my ass to a bench. [UNSURE. if the bench move was a bad call. Shit got real hazy/blurry ear ringy for a sec] ANYWAY. upon further inspection they barely have any more dents in the plastic than they had previous. And no mechanical faults. And considering theyre for wearing and listening. Not looking at? Im very please. They must be??? 3??? Years old? [I am an every day headphones user loves]

[agentravensong]

i would make propaganda to make sure the boys get stay ahead in the poll but a) i have to do some adult planning for the future stuff today and b) if i’m gonna make an in-depth r&g post about anything in the next few days it’s gonna be a guil-specific thing. so look forward to that i guess!

[tandonshows]

How could this X-Files Poster lead to true love?

Find out in the newest episode of You Are What You Love! Alex C. Telander, writer and creator of the audio fiction podcasts Circe and The Ostium Network, joins to talk about the cultural juggernaut that is The X-Files. 

We discuss how the show was inspired by Twin Peaks and went on to inspire other cult classics, the dichotomy between wanting to believe and being grounded in science, and how the show helped Alex meet his wife. Tangents include fan convention culture, the beauty of DVD box sets, and what we'd like to see in an X-Files reboot. 

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[escargoonie-goo]

I just wanted to share that tonight's the opening night for a theater production I'm in. I'm super excited for it!!! The show is probably one of my favorite ones I've been in so far. Sadly, I'm pretty sure we'll only be performing twice, which kinda sucks because we've been working on it for a little over a month. Still, I'm super excited to perform in front of other people! Wish me luck!

[dappledxdiscoveries]

Haley Heynderickx and Loving Vinyls

Some of my favorite albums ever so of course I had to get them for my record player :P

[fandommemequeen]

how to figure out a skincare routine when i dont want to deal with a bajillion oils and retinols and cleaners and develop an extensive anti aging routine that costs hundreds of dollars and takes up all the time i have in the morning before school and leads me to succumb to unrealistic beauty standards

i just want to not have as much acne because acne is annoying is that too much to ask

[honeydropsoftea]

a new life - a diary, chapter 1

agh, i apologize for this rare rant but i need to vent someway somewhere. excuse the lack of grammar.

it is hard to be productive. it is hard to continue going when you are falling. is that possible? i feel lost, stuck, and like i’m falling all at the same time. my head feels like a cloud, i’m just waiting for the hurricane to break out.

i have sent emails to 25+ contacts, faculties, departments of 3 different colleges and … crickets. i had luck with 1 person fully - i even got a zoom meeting just to learn i should go into the other department since they have more research student opportunities. no problem, right? well, the few people i have heard from either say i am not a fit, they aren’t doing anything with students, they are retiring, on sabbatical, etc etc etc.

i expect or at least prepare for disappointment to some degree in many cases, but this is one of the hardest areas, chapters, of my life. i am planning on moving out, starting a career in academia (hopefully to be a research student, graduate assistant). i’ve lost all my routine. i’ve lost a lot of myself. i have no sleep schedule, no habit tracking, nothing. very few days do i have a ‘good’ day. i feel so lost, stuck when i get excited that someone has answered my email, just to feel crushed that they aren’t accepting students. i feel like a ping pong ball being shot to and forth.

i’m an environmental biologist whose range of studies and experience is everywhere - truly, i love learning just like a lot of people on productive tumblr, instagram, etc. i mean, we are a generation romanticizing learning, and besides some of the toxic content or messages (disregarding health, having to have perfect grades and no life outside of education, etc etc) i think a lot of us truly love and appreciate knowledge and academia. we are blessed to have it.

so, why can’t anyone accept me? i know, it’s not personal, but my current mind state is . . . lost.

i quit my previous graduate assistant job after a year and 3 semesters. it wasn’t research, the college was my ‘safe choice’ and that was a mistake, since personnel went to crap and the opportunities? there were none. there was only one professor in the program i was pursuing a masters of science in.

this whole summer, i had lists and plans. plans to get back on track, to find a school and job for spring 2025. i fall notoriously into the aggressive list making (i blame my ocd and adhd) but since my therapist said they can make me feel like failing - putting too much down out of reach, just to be unable to check it off at the end - that i need to make mine realistic. and i have gotten pretty okay at that. simple things. and in reality, my summer lists weren’t that ‘hard’ or out of reach. except they were for my current state. i am in the midst of changing my antidepressant since, for the past year, i have had a steady decline in mental everything. anxiety? off the charts. depressed nights? increasing. i blamed it on the job i was in, and partly it really was that. i had lost 2 of my pets. my other pet, a cat, is chronically ill. i’ve had so many external factors that i thought were the cause of my internal chaos, but it’s to the point i can’t live. i don’t feel like myself.

this sounds so ‘pity me’ and i apologize, i just…needed to rant. and maybe out there, someone is in the same chapter i am. we aren’t alone, i know that, but it’s hard to constantly remind yourself of that when everything feels like an unchecked list. this too shall pass, i say. the problem is i’m impatient. it has to come soon, i can’t live like this. but, i need to take care of myself first. maybe making this post will enforce the change, start the chemical reaction for my new life. i don’t know.

all images from Pinterest.

[futuremercifulnerd]

...

[cormancatacombs]

We don’t have an official release date for the podcast set just yet.

But if you’d like a taste of what’s to come (or are looking for a gift for the cinephile in your life), we recommend one of our primary sources:

How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime by Roger Corman & Jim Jerome