#recommending to people who watched the show is tricky

[bagofbonesmp3]

i’m trying to get into the daredevil comics and it’s all your fault, pls pls send recs on where to start/what to avoid i don’t know what i’m doing (i’ve seen the show and read man without fear)

okay, comics to avoid: MAN WITHOUT FEAR

comics to start with: as much as it pains me, Frank Miller is where you start with daredevil. his run is what lay the bases to a lot of what came next... the next big run was Brian Michael Bendis', which I hear people really enjoy as their first daredevil comic, but I feel you'd miss a lot of character context from Frank miller's run at least. that would give you a good head start, if you finish those (it's a lot of issues) you can come back!

[lurkingshan]

Hi Shan!

Help! I am looking for another Japanese drama to watch. However, my queue is only filled with BLs right now and I wanted to venture outside of the genre a bit. So my question is - do you have any favourite non-BL doramas to recommend? (Preferably not romance-oriented, but any genre will do)

Ooh, fun one. I do have a few I've seen that might be interesting to you, though honestly I do find that Japanese queer media is more to my taste than their more mainstream het stuff. Here are a few to try:

Koisenu Futari

Honestly on my hands and knees begging everyone to watch this fantastic drama about two people on the aroace spectrum who form a platonic bond and create their own kind of family.

Silent

This one has romance, but the narrative is not about romance. It's really about the process of coping with becoming disabled, the harm caused by abandoning your loved ones in a fit of noble idiocy, and the slow repairing of relationships. So good.

One Room Angel

An utterly beautiful show. Though it aired as part of Drama Shower, it's not actually a bl. This story is about healing from trauma and finding a reason to live. It’s also one of the most visually stunning shows of the last year.

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat

Only just barely a romance, this is the female WDYEY and it's so precious. Two women develop a close bond and learn about themselves as they form a relationship around one cooking meals for the other.

Monster

This is a movie but I simply had to include it. I am not telling you anything about the plot, but it's excellent and a must watch for Japanese cinema fans, IMO.

Chugakusei Nikki

It wouldn't be a proper jdrama list without some taboo content! This is a serious, deep, thoughtful exploration of what happens when feelings develop between a teacher and student, and the fallout that comes with it. Probably the best treatment of this trope I have ever seen.

Rinko-san Wants to Try

This one is a romance with some classic tropes, but one I think does some really interesting things with gender dynamics and sex positivity. It's a fun watch!

If you end up liking any of these, let me know! A few of them might be tricky to track down, as well, so hmu if you’re having trouble finding anything and I’ll point you. I have a few more on my upcoming watchlist that may end up being future recs, as well.

[listofwhyyouloveher]

can you write gang x reader who is really into theater? Thank you🩷

Summary: The gang and a theater person

Warnings: none

Authors Note: none

PONYBOY is so wowed by your performance in the school play that he talks about you every day. Eventually, it circled back around to him, and you started talking to him. He was always praising you, telling you that you could be an actor, or a Broadway performer. He's all smiles around you.

He loves watching your plays, he thinks it's fascinating how you can portray people so perfectly.

JOHNNY isn't a big fan of plays but went because he likes you. He ends up really falling in love with theater and will secretly watch all your old plays that have been recorded when he comes to your house. He's always helping you memorize your lines, saying one's that you find tricky at random times to remind you.

He wants to one day try theater but he doesn't ever really try. He thinks it's a little embarrassing and he might not be good enough.

SODAPOP is actually in love with theater. His Mom used to reference it a lot, so he's grown his passion from there. He'll always try and catch a free play whenever he can, so he's come to all your school ones. He thinks you're the perfect actor and will always try and tell you that after your plays. He starts talking to you every time he sees you and eventually you guys start dating.

He will always help you rehearse. He'll have some lines memorized, and he'll act it out with you. He finds those moments really beautiful.

STEVE is also crazy about theater because Soda introduced him to it when they were younger. However, his tastes are more war and violent plays rather than the things they'd show at a school. However, McBeth was a good enough alternative. He was absolutely stunned by your performance. It was one of those performances where people could tell that you were going places.

He'd always try to catch your plays after that, and asking you on multiple dates. He'll always try and recommend more action plays for you to do but you just laugh and say maybe.

TWO BIT didn't know theater really existed around him. He thought Broadway was the only place and that it was only for rich people to enjoy. However, he asked you out once and learned that you do theater, so he decided to check it out. He was blown away at how good you did and started attending all the plays that you did.

Sometimes he let's his sister tag along and she stops you from holding hands because it was "only for married couples", she will stand in between you two and hold your hands and make you swing her like a swing. You've gotten a lot of comments about how "cute of a family you have"

DARRY doesn't have time to enjoy things like theater. He'll go because Pony once did a play. It was required by the school so everyone was in it. You were directing the play and Darry saw you and was smitten. You were a recent hire so he just asked around for the new teacher and found you. He apologized for how brash he was but that he wanted to take you out. Obviously it worked.

He'll always buy you tapes of plays from Broadway. He knows that you love watching them and he wants you to be happy.

DALLAS thinks you're a nerd. But he'll date you because you're pretty and smart and good enough to get him out of trouble. He'll never go to your plays if you invite him, but he will watch you mrk out and rehearse for your college drama exam. He thinks you're pretty good at it and he's always pushing you to try acting because he thinks actor is better than "theaterer" (that's what he calls it).

He sometimes finds himself repeating the lines you've been rehearsing to cool off when he's mad.

[stanfordsweater]

hello i'm new to the supernatural fandom and you have been in my recommendeds for a while, reasons to ship wincest???

i thought for a long time about how to respond to this so imma link catherine tosenberger's excellent analysis of the first few seasons where "the most resistive aspect of Wincest fan fiction is that it gives the main characters a lasting happiness that the series eternally defers."

to begin with, there are a lot of people who will argue for the toxic codependency and i love them and also love it but the reason i've been here for well over a decade is because of the way that wincest offers you two paths: you can follow the path of those who write endless meta about how one or the other brother is abusive and how toxic it is and eventually brainwash yourself into being unable to ship it, or you can follow the path of love and light and perspective and recognize 1. these are fictional characters and b. there are no two characters in genre tv who are as devoted to each other as sam and dean. there is no plotline that follows through fifteen seasons of being obsessed with each other.

by choosing the incest pill, you grant yourself access to fifteen seasons of generally good tv ABOUT YOUR SHIP EXCLUSIVELY. sam and dean are the main characters and you will always know, opening up an episode, that they will be there, doing their weird-ass jealous obsessiveness, and you will never despair about not having them present, together, even if they're fighting or struggling or depressed. that is a very special thing!

now, beyond that, assuming you've watched the show, there's many reasons to cross the incest line. FIRSTLY, everyone involved was well aware of what they were doing. we have a few choice quotes i've collected below about their relationship that ramps up the intensity:

--

"Ultimately, they are pathologically dishonest with each other because John Winchester was pathologically elusive to them," consulting producer Ben Edlund says. "They learned that the truth is this dangerous thing, and that you shouldn't speak it. He even taught them to keep secrets from each other for strategic purposes." With all of the supernatural, apocalyptic, tragic drama woven into the show, Sam and Dean's relationship is rooted in human emotion. "When you look at the dysfunction that they show to each other, it comes directly from how they were brought up, and that's a kind of dysfunction that people in this world continue to face. 'Why didn't my dad tell me that he loved me yesterday?' We're just people sharing the same kind of thing," Edlund says.

--

"Why do you think Dean has had such a hard time forgiving Cas when he did forgive Sam for a similar betrayal?"

I think the easy answer is blood, I think the easy answer is family, even though if there was a family in this show it would include Bobby, it would include Cas, it would include these-- these-- kind of, broken war-torn heroes we've come to know, and you know, Bobby has that famous line, "family don't end with blood," but it is his brother, at the end of the day, that's the closest he has to a companion, and has had for a companion for many years, so I think with Cas there was always, "he's unnatural, he's an angel," and I think that for Dean, relating to someone like that, it's tricky, relating to monsters, relating to anything supernatural, his brother is flesh and blood, it's tangible, he can touch that.

--

Obviously the relationship between Sam and Dean is central to our show but we’ve been building this rift between Sam and Dean all season, so that led to the idea of having this young male character that sort of idolizes Dean and does all the cool stuff that Sam won’t do, and that’s Dean’s perfect mate.

(the thing sam won't do is literally swapping spit with him. tell me i'm lying)

--

in the hunt, page 37

--

Not all fans are content simply to attend conventions. Some of them want to take a hand in the story, and their fan fiction can explore areas mostly untouched on the show, like the latent homoerotic suggestiveness of the Winchesters’ intense relationship.

-THE NEW YORK TIMES

--

"eyefuck" became a well-known script shorthand because of how intense j2 looked at each other as sam and dean

--

it's a terrible life draft script:

Note B) They are supposed to be together

Note C) each been all alone in separate life finally found kindred spirit

--

in the hunt, page 158

--

i haven't included any eric kripke quotes because he has so much wrong with him that i don't want to enable it. this is a compliment. it is one of the highest i can give.

SO-- what these quotes tell us:

sam and dean are relatable because their relationship is intensely human

sam and dean have shared secrets they cannot voice to one another but that nonetheless make them inseparable

people have been writing motherfucking essays about sam and dean's homoeroticism since the show aired

within the mythology of the show, sam and dean are meant to be together above all other relationships

...oh, you need more? i didn't think i'd get this far. um... okay... look at them???

if you choose to walk this path you will find yourself crying and taking screenshots every time they look at each other or touch each other or hold each other and you will thank the lord in heaven that we were granted this intensely wild and beautiful homoerotic relationship back in 2005 and praise jesus that you can always return to their raw sexual chemistry-- "In fact, much like the early X-Files, the show is fueled past its failings almost entirely by the chemistry between the two principals, the boys who, like Mulder and Scully, generate enough sexual tension to power a small city" as quoted by whitney cox in 2006 in an article that otherwise fails to bring anything to the table, sorry if you love it for your meta but also literally just go read the catherine tosenberger essay

you still need more????? jesus, what have you shipped prior to this? well, go watch the pilot and enjoy the fact that the first scene these two have together they are wrestling on the floor (sexually) and getting all romantically silhouetted against this beautiful lighting

and then go watch a few fanvids like this or this and then watch the pilot and watch this and then read this post about how supernatural happily wields incest as a tool of horror and as comedy and then scroll through my entire family horror show tag to understand more and then watch this immaculate video that deals with the whole thing and think about how all these things were happening in 2005 and remember the fact that sam and dean are the main characters of the universe... and then maybe just watch the show and please do not become an annoying shit poster who just talks about how they hate it🙏

[hillbillyoracle]

Intro to Planning with Astrology

A lot of my friends enjoy using various astrology apps that will ping them with suggestions as transits go exact. Sometimes, though, they'll complain that they wish they had more lead time so they could plan around it but hey money is tight and what if the premium features aren't worth it?

Or perhaps you've seen the cool Honeycomb almanacs I'm always recommending and thought "You know that's cool and all but I don't even know how I'd use that. How do I know if it'd be something I'd actually use?"

Fear not. You can test it out for yourself with free tools. This post does assume some basic astrology knowledge, but should be relatively easy for an experienced beginner to follow.

TL;DR: Use Transit Viewer and list out transits with your annual time lord (bonus: sect benefic, out of sect malefic, chart ruler) and use Honeycomb Collective's sentence builder to interpret transits. Use divination (tarot or similar is best) to get advice on how to handle them if you're unsure. Schedule any needed actions.

Don't know what all this means? Read on. (Long Post Ahoy)

Where to Find Upcoming Transits

TransitViewer

While there's lot of places you can find a list of transits, TransitViewer lets you look at the major transits coming up in a calendar format which I think is a lot easier for beginners. It also lets you look many months in advance so that you aren't waiting until a few days before for folks to release their lists.

While they do have a natal mode that will show you transits to your natal placements, I recommend starting with their mundane view. It's few transits to sort through.

I also really like the linear view that Honeycomb Collective releases on their resources page each month but some people find it confusing. Pick whatever works best for you.

Which Transits Matter Most

Annual Time Lords

One of the best ways to narrow down which transits to plan around is to figure out your annual time lord. Your annual time lord is the planet who's transits you'll probably wind up feeling most acutely in the coming year.

To do this, pull up your natal chart on a site like AstroDienst (or you chart site/app of choice).

Please note: this is a Whole Sign House technique, so this works best with a site that lets you toggle the house system. If you're using AstroDienst, you can select Extended Chart Selection and toggle it under the "Zodiac and Houses" section.

Then use this chart [PDF, credit to Chris Brennan] and your age to figure out which house is profected for you this year (from birthday to birthday).

So for example: if you're 32, you'd look for 32 on the chart and see it's Ninth House year. Then you look to see what sign your ninth house is. For me, my Ninth House is Virgo.

Your Annual Time Lord is the planet that rules that sign.

Planetary Rulerships:

Aries - Mars

Taurus - Venus

Gemini - Mercury

Cancer - Moon

Leo - Sun

Virgo - Mercury

Libra - Venus

Scorpio - Mars

Sagittarius - Jupiter

Capricorn - Saturn

Aquarius - Saturn

Pisces - Jupiter

So for me, my ruler this year is Mercury.

Chart Ruler + Sect

If you only follow one planet - I'd really recommend it be your annual time lord.

But if you'd like a few more transits to watch, the next ones I'd recommend are your sect benefic, out of sect malefic, and your chart ruler.

Chart Ruler

Chart ruler is fairly straightforward. It is the planet the rules the sign your Ascendant is in.

So for example, my Ascendant is in Capricorn. If I scroll back up to that list of Planetary Rulers, I can see that my Chart Ruler is Saturn.

Chart rulers do not change from year to year like Time Lords do. Sometimes your Chart Ruler will also be your Time Lord in a given year.

Determining Sect

To determine sect, you first need to know whether you were born during the day or at night. For most folks, this is fairly straight forward.

For others of us, it's a little tricky and I am a great example. I was born at 9:00pm in the middle of summer - so which does it count as? There are two ways to look at this. One is the chart itself.

This is mine. My DSC (descendant; roughly the horizon) is hard to read on here but it's at 11 degrees Cancer. My sun is below that 8 degrees, meaning it had slipped several degrees below the horizon making this more of a Night leaning chart.

The second way is environmental. Because I grew up coming back to the area I was born in summer, I know that there is no visible sun left in the sky in this area at that time thanks to the tall mountains. There might be some light but the sun itself is usually not visible - also making this a night leaning chart.

And if all else fails, take your best guess and try it out for a while. After several years of watching transits for accuracy and impact, I know that my chart does in fact lean toward the Night sect.

Sect Planets

Day Charts:

Luminary: Sun

Benefic: Jupiter

Malefic: Saturn

Night Charts:

Luminary: Moon

Benefic: Venus

Malefic: Mars

So my sect benefic as a night chart is Venus. My out of sect malefic is Saturn.

Benefics are planets that are generally positive or beneficial. They are supportive of life. Malefics are planets that have more difficult associations. They're more about culling or endings. So the benefic that is in your sect is the one that might be felt more in a positive way and the malefic that's out of sect might be the more difficult and therefore also one to keep an eye on.

What to Do With This Information

Okay so you've listed out the transits you want to watch/plan for. How do you interpret them?

Honeycomb Collective - Study Resources

Honeycomb Collective's study resources are designed to help you construct a sentence by piecing together the different aspects that they list for each planet, sign, house, and angle. It's a really handy way to get from learning the basics to useable interpretation very quickly and I really recommend it.

To help simplify a little:

Planets - parts of the self, people in your life and their needs

House - topic, area of life

Sign - adjective, method used

Angle - whether it is productive or difficult

If you're feeling unsure of what to do with the interpretations you've generated, it can be good to use divination to get further advice. Descriptive methods like Tarot tend to work a best in my experience. Feel free to use whatever advice oriented spread you like.

My favorite is a 4 card pull:

past - present - future - advice/alternate

What Does Done Look Like

So my Time Lord this year is Mercury. Here's what I wrote up following this process and taking inspiration from the Honeycomb Collective resource:

August 2024 Transits:

5th - Mercury Retrograde

7th - Mercury conjunct Venus

14th - Mercury reenters Leo

18th - Mercury square Uranus

18th - Mercury Cazimi (Mercury conjunct Sun)

23rd - Mercury trine Chiron

24th - Mercury sextile Mars

28th - Mercury goes direct

5th - Mercury Retrograde through 9th House

When Mercury retrogrades through Virgo; I will first try to analyze and communicate about life philosophy and spirituality in a precise and methodical way that seeks to improves things/get reassurance but I generally will not get the connection I seek.

7th - Mercury conjunct Venus (in 9th House)

I will seek connection through analyzing my life philosophies and spirituality with others. This may not make me feel connected but it will likely bring new perspectives and clarity for someone involved.

14th - Mercury Retrograde through 8th House

When Mercury retrogrades through Leo; I will then try be seeking to better understand death and/or my shared resources through a creative outlet or play. Either I’m unlikely to get the release I seek in this time or it will come about in unexpected ways.

18th - Mercury in Leo/8th House Square Uranus in Taurus/5th House

My desire to communicate about my shared resources or death in a commanding way will be at odds with a sudden change that’s been building for some time in my creative or sex life.

18th - Mercury Cazimi (Mercury conjunct Sun in Leo/8th House)

I will have the ability to speak clearly and commandingly about my shared resources or death. My own perspectives may overpower those of others if I give into ego/vanity.

23rd - Mercury in Leo/8th House trine Chiron

I will be supported in speaking commandingly or publicly about my past experiences and trauma, particularly on topics such as family. This may overlap with discussions of death, inheritance, or shared resources.

24th - Mercury in Leo/8th House sextile Mars in Gemini/6th House

Difficulty with illness or a subordinate/pet will bring an opportunity to frankly discuss death or shared resources.

28th - Mercury goes direct

I will get more of a release around death/shared resources and clarity around spirituality and philosophy as Mercury retraces its steps.

--

Based on this, I will probably wait until the 24th to talk with my family about the illness that's been going on. I will also just generally try to make sure I'm leaving plenty of room for other people's perspectives and not talking over people to prevent miscommunication and tension. I'll also not schedule much interpersonal stuff this month and rest/reflect instead.

We'll see how it all pans out! It's certainly been an interesting month so far. Hopefully it is eventually better.

If you have questions, hit me up! I love to help where I can.

[bloggingboutburgers]

Hey there's something you might wanna know

George Cubbins/Karim from Lockwood and Co. is aroace :D

It's not openly stated or anything but like c'mon its obvious as shit

For example, in the last episode of the show George is helping Lockwood walk after he got injured and says "This is so touchy-feely." And you might think thats just his autism or something BUT THEN Lockwood replies "It's a medical necessity, George, it doesnt mean a thing."

:DDDDDD

Hey! Thank you so much for the recommendation^^

Personally, I haven't touched upon it much in my latest post but I'm pretty strict with what I consider rep and if asexuality or aromanticism isn't explicitly named in the story, or at the very least laid on very very very veeeeeeery thick with no possibility AT ALL to interpret it any other way (but really mostly... Yeah explicitly named), I don't consider it actual representation. (On that note, no, mere Twitter-or-Tumblr-confirmations don't count as proper representation to me either, if you have to go to a social medium to know about more things that "are in the show" then they're not really "in the show", are they.)

The reason is I think a- people who watch the series and don't know what asexuals or aromantics are won't know any better if it's not named, and b- I actually trust society on that so little that I doubt most writers even know what asexuals or aromantics are, OR if they do, CARE about representing them at all, so unless it's actually named, I'll mostly come to the conclusion that it's done by accident. In short... Maybe it's obvious to US who recognize ourselves in that orientation but to the average person, characters that only exhibit traits of asexuality and aromanticism without it being explicitly named are "haha so quirky" and kinda nothing more.

Basically we're at a point where asexuality and aromanticism are not public knowledge enough yet for mere hints to count as rep imo. Which is tricky because mere hints are enough for most orientations, but... I don't think the knowledge about us is there yet to the point that it'd be enough.

But... Yeah that's my take on it, and I AM pretty strict about those things, so I don't mean to ruin that for others if that's enough for them TwT Cus regardless it can be pretty great to recognize oneself in a character. So this is pretty good to know for people who don't need the orientation being named for it to count as rep in their book! So thank you for that^^

[tiny-tk]

hi friends !! bit of a different post this time, but i wanna talk about disney and it’s place in the agere community.

i won’t get into specifics, but events in palestine r making a lot of people (including me) decide to boycott disney by not doing anything that lets them make money. if you don’t know about this, i rly rly encourage you to do ur own research (ideally while not in little space since it’s .. very rough topics) and make ur own choice on wether or not u wanna support them after knowing the full story of what’s going on n disney’s involvement.

this post is for littles who feel conflicted by the calls for a boycott!!

first of all, i know it can be scary to find out that something you’ve been giving money to for merch or subscriptions or whatever is going to a bad place. but no one is blaming you for that, and if you didn’t know then you didn’t know. but you can always change!!

"why are people boycotting disney?"

i won't go in depth to keep this post little-safe, but essentially the israeli military is currently doing terrible things to the people of palestine, and disney is helping them fund and promote it. here's a couple links that go more in-depth if you want to learn, but i'd recommend not reading them while regressed:

https://insidethemagic.net/2023/11/disney-israel-palestine-boycott-jc1/

https://www.dailygamecock.com/article/2023/12/column-why-boycotting-for-palestine-gaza-is-important-opinion-vanderhorst#:~:text=There%20are%20currently%20three%20main,financially%20or%20through%20public%20statements.

but i mostly encourage you to try n find out on your own, rather than listening to some random tumblr user about it.

“but disney is a huge comfort source for me.”

this doesn’t have to change. you don’t have to stop liking their movies n shows. you don’t have to stop loving your toys or books of disney characters. if something brings you comfort, that is sacred, and no one can take that away. a lot of disney media made me who i am today, and yet i’m still writing this post against the company, these things can both be true !!

similarly, agere is a safe space for so many people, which can be used to justify supporting things that really don't deserve our support, since people want to protect themselves by not finding out why. put bluntly, people knowing that there are problems, but choosing to ignore them, is part of the problem itself. if you feel at all capable of educating yourself, please do. it's so important.

“ok, so what can i do?”

if you’ve decided to join the boycott, that’s wonderful!! all that is being asked, is to not spend money on anything from disney. so branded food, toys, a disney+ subscription, stuff like that. if you’re used to doing that a lot, here’s some alternatives!

. :+* get disney toys second hand - they’re pre-loved!! they’ve already started a life with someone, and they’re eager to continue it with a new kid

. :+* pirate shows n movies instead !! this can be a little tricky to figure out, but it’s how i watch pretty much everything hehe, and can be a lot of fun! alternatively, you could just borrow a friend’s subscription or buy dvds second hand if you have a dvd player.

. :+* get merch from independent sellers. this way, you still get brand new things with ur favorite disney characters, but you also get to support independent creators n not support disney the brand !! also, these are often higher quality than official products too, which is like bonus points.

. :+* if you're posting about somethin disney related, add a note that lets people know that you don't support the brand n encourages ppl to find out why for themselves

it’s a tough change to make, but any help is better than no help. if you aren’t sure what i’m talking about, please do your own research. the scale of what’s happening in palestine is huge, and boycott movements like this have been proven to cause real positive change in the past. i won’t get mad at anyone for choosing not to boycott, but it’s important to me that as many people as possible consciously make that choice for themselves, instead of blindly following a company that’s using their money to hurt people.

hearing about terrible things happening is exhausting, regardless of how much you're doing to help. but try to remember that any action is better than nothing, especially with activism, and keep doing whatever you can. <3 take care of yourselves friends !!

[blue-disco-lights]

✨ Weekly Tag Wednesday ✨

Honored and delighted to be tagged by @heymacy @mybrainismelted @energievie @stocious @deedala

@spookygingerr @lingy910y @roryonic @mmmichyyy @sgtmickeyslaughter

@jrooc & @ardent-fox - thank you! i love these chances to get to know everyone better each week!

=======

name: julia

age: X=(Nosho)x2

your time zone: Pacific Standard Time (PST) / UTC -8 (it's a pleasure to hang out with you Australians on discord at night!)

what do you do for work? manage operations for a small agency

do you have any pets? a cat and a dog who are the most reluctant roommates and eat each other's food

what first drew you to this fandom? i was perusing the schitts creek subreddit in 2021 and someone recommended the show, specifically these mysterious mickey and ian characters. I was looking for a new show so in i went... and i have yet to emerge! This is really my first fandom and i can’t believe how nice and SO talented everyone here is!

are you a morning person or a night owl? for those of us who stay up late reading fics and then wake up early and read fics, this is a tricky question...

what are your hobbies? reading, galladrabbling, learning to draw a little, walking with audiobooks

how tall are you? 5' 6”-ish

if you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? I’ve toyed with chicago, but considering how california i am, i’d probably freak out the minute the temp got below 45 degrees F (7 C?)

favorite color? aquamariney-blue

favorite book? tough question! one that comes to mind right now is Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

favorite movie?  I can watch Pride & Prejudice (2005) anywhere anytime

favorite fic? Well this is basically impossible. None the Wiser, ORFNSP, You Deserve Good Things, Like Real People Do, and and and ...

favorite musical artist: new order & depeche mode, as this will answer the above age question for you

what is your average screen time so far this week? uhh… i do a lot of stuff on my phone ok??

what's the first app you open in the morning? instagram & discord

how long have you been on tumblr?  2 years

finally (and i know this one is hard) tell me a fun fact about yourself: there’s a chance i might still be able to do a cartwheel

=====

(note: tumblr is glitching and can only tag 5 people per line!) I'm late today, but I shall still tag you

@krysmiss @suzy-queued @palepinkgoat @ms-moonlight-inn @mickeysgaymom

@tv-obssessions @astaraels @too-schoolforcool @bawlbrayker @deathclassic

@transmurderbug @ian-galagher @sandrashaine @francesrose3 @doshiart

@jademickian @piefrans @sweetbee78 @vintagelacerosette @gillyp

@gembu-tortuesouscafeine @heymrspatel @jessieoneday @callivich @look-i-love-u

@creepkinginc and anyone who I've missed and would like to play!

[cats-inthe-cradle]

@accidental-spice @kanerallels (and anyone else who happens to like the rookie and/or psych)

I have a show recommendation for yall if ya haven't already heard of it:

The Mentalist

The main character is deeply traumatized, has a very personal vendetta/grudge against a serial killer, is great with kids, has a skill set similar to Shawn Spencer, and like Shawn Spencer cares very little about keeping with any kind of social expectations.

He works as a consultant with his found family murder investigation team (seriously this team is all he's got in life it's kinda sad but also sweet). His superiors are constantly fed up with him but keep him around because he closes cases.

Him and the team's boss (Lisbon) act like the most married couple ever (they're besties, they won't stop arguing, they trust eachother with their lives, she's so fed up with him, she would follow him anywhere).

Rigsby and Vanpelt have had a thing for each other since day one, but aren't allowed to date due to protocol. Literally everyone knows about them (he can't stop looking at her Like That it's so hecking obvious). They're very cute.

Cho is the most unfazed person ever. He's awesome. He's the 5th wheel they can't live without. He's got their backs always. Most likely to go along with Jane's crazy plans and we love him for it.

Oh yeah and the main character's name is Jane (Patrick Jane).

Anyways yeah, the found family vibes are strong. Lots of murder investigations where's its genuinely tricky to tell who's guilty (seriously at this point I've come to accept that if they're not a member of the team then they're a likely suspect). Lots of Jane not doing what he's told (and doing a lot of what he's told not to, including casually hypnotizing people). Also some good angst so far (with lots more on the way, according to my friend). There's 7 seasons (of which I'm only on the 2nd), long seasons with long episodes, so that's nice.

So, yeah. Would highly recommend if yall are interested :D lmk if you decide to watch it (or if you've already watched it by chance 👀)

[genesisgijinka]

Do you have any tips for drawing backgrounds? Yours always look so nice

aww thank you! As for tips...

Tip #1:

Find references. I sketched the cover for chapter 4 three different times, because the first two didn't evoke the majesty of the Prism Tower in the way I wanted it to. And then I saw this

I think you can see how this translated into the cover

Tip #2:

Do studies. Be it from photos (your own or from a royalty free website like pixabay, but watch out for AI garbage bc the perspective is usually wrong) or from real life. It's not cheating, it's encouraged, and it's industry standard. Idc if you have photographic memory, get something from real life in front of your eyeballs and draw it. Try and keep your reference close to your drawing so that it's easier for your eyes to flick back and forth between the two. This is how you can train your eyes to really see what's going on in an image. Compare angles, shapes, sizes, and distances.

I use clip studio paint for Genesis, which has perspective rulers and they're super handy for speeding up the process (first image) and again, is not cheating. It's a tool to use in your arsenal. A little tricky to use, but once you get it down, it's fantastic. I also really recommend using other mediums, like a sketchbook and a sharpie (2nd image) or dinking around in Paint (3rd image). Limiting yourself in challenging ways is a great way to grow fast. Experimenting like this is also great for finding a style or technique that you click with

Tip #3:

Be aware of the cone of vision. This is a technical skill, but it's one of those things that you don't necessarily have to draw out every single time (tho I'd recommend doing it at least once to burn it into your memory better). If your drawing is looking wonky, the cone of vision being breached is a likely culprit. I'll link a video to someone who can explain how to do it better than I can.

Tip #4:

Learn how to draw things the same size in perspective. This is probably the thing I use the most. For example;

You have a tiled floor in a room. The lines going to the vanishing point are easy to do.

But how do you do the horizontal ones going across the floor?

Step 1: draw two horizontal lines, and put an X in one of them, going from corner to corner

Step 2: Going from the center of the X, trace a line back to the vanishing point

Step 3: from one corner, draw a line that goes through where that center line hits the tile edge

Step 4: at the end of this new line is where the next tile will start

Step 5: Rinse and repeat as needed

Ta-da! You now have tiles that are all the same size

This also works for vertical things like windows or telephone poles

One of the most useful applications I've found this trick for is making sure that everything is the right size. Sticking a person in a drawing is an instantly recognizable way to show scale

Whilst sketching the cover for ch 4, I'd accidentally made the doors way too small in the buildings in the back, so I slapped some people down to make sure they were the right height (This is in 3-point perspective, so the trick still works, regardless of if it's 1-, 2-, or 3-pt perspective owo b )

[explosionshark]

I've seen like one episode of Buffy maybe but I've watched most of Angel including the episodes that had Faith in them and I feel I understand the concept of Buffy the show and the character, anyway should I read Faith/Buffy fanfic and if so which ones?

god okay i REALLY think you should watch buffy though. i mean, i'm remarkably biased because it's one of my all-time favorite shows, but if you have the time and even the slightest bit of interest i'd recommend at least season 3 (IDEALLY. season 2 + 3 because they are very much part of one big conversation, but if you can only commit to one thing then i'd say prioritize s3 for the faith arc).

BUT you didn't ask me about that, you asked me if you should read faith/buffy fanfic so - yeah! yes. there's a lot out there that's SO good, of course you should read it.

i think ground-up AUs are good for this bc you can read them with basically no knowledge of the source (i mean. it's enhanced by source knowledge, but you can get by without) for this I'd recommend the no-powers college AU 2001 by @morningsound15, which does an incredible job of translating the important parts of the characters and their relationships and hang-ups and issues to a world where they aren't wrapped up in supernatural shenanigans.

Aside from that, I think there are a few season-rewrites that are pretty accessible if you've got a basic working understanding of the show and the characters. Some of my favorites are:

Coexist by @coraniaid which is a lovely (and recently completed!) canon-divergence AU that explores what would change if it was Giles, not Jenny Calendar, who was killed by Angelus in season 2. It's a rare type of AU that consistently surprises me with how intricate and thoughtful it is in exploring the ripple effects of such a huge change and it does some great character work with both Faith and Buffy.

to hold off the lightning by @episode5s which is a season 3 AU that picks up about halfway through s3. Again we get some really amazing character work (the character voice here is just insanely good) with a lot of amazing fallout from another canon-divergence point - what if Faith was able to be walked back from the ledge after killing Allen Finch? It's a tricky proposition - I genuinely think a lot of the best parts of Faith's character arc are tied into the fact that she has her heel turn and goes dark, but here the author is able to preserve all the best of the tension and trauma of that arc, while still allowing things to play out differently. Incredible slowburn romance here, too.

Finally, I'd be remiss to write a fuffy fic rec list without touching on a truly inspirational all-timer from one of the fandom's best and most prolific writers: the Vengeance verse fics by @aliceinwondrbra. The series begins with Vengeance a Wishverse AU - season 4 Buffy meets an alternate universe version of Faith that didn't go dark and experiences a belated gay awakening in the course of working together. The sequel, Hypnopompia, is where things really take off for me - back in her universe, Buffy is determined to help Faith. There's a ton of great stuff here: shared coma dreams, Faith redemption, a really great exploration of Faith and Buffy's sexuality and related traumas. Alice is one of the best in the biz when it comes to voice - absolute, total pro. I read this fic like two years ago and it changed my brain. Left me feeling like "wow, I want to write something that will make other people feel the way I felt reading this" and I don't know if I've done that yet, but I'm gonna keep trying.

ALL those fics are great and I can't recommend them enough. Luckily for you, if you want to get into this, the fandom has been going strong for years and there's a ton of good stuff out there I haven't linked here. There's plenty to discover. Enjoy!

[thequibblah]

do you have any book (or movie recs) that have similar characters to James and Lily? I feel like when I am looking for enemies to lovers books, the characters are just off, or it's just like an aggressive perversion of a great trope. I just want more stories about two good people falling in love lol

i will say that it's so tricky to find media that has the same dynamic... it's usually missing a few ingredients from the special sauce, imo — like, the way the characters interact feels the same but the social positions are inverted... or the vibes are similar but some key detail is kinda off... which is good AU fodder lmao but anyway i say this because the same is true of all of what im gonna recommend here and i want to set ur expectations to where mine tend to be when my jily vibe radar goes off. i.e., i will take the parts i like and enjoy what is there for what it is and then dream up an AU

if you're the same anon who asked @clare-with-no-i about this late last year, you will already kno this, but i'm going to mention some of the classics people mention in terms of starter jily, plus some crowdsourced thoughts:

anne of green gables (which i never read as a child) // anne with an e (which i did watch and adore)

anastasia (1997)

parks and rec (for ben and leslie — i am not a watcher of this show but people do be saying this)

brooklyn 99 (for jake and amy — obviously not perfect but i do see this)

lockwood and co (my jily girlies do seem to love this show)

rogue one (yes the star wars movie, trust)

pirates of the caribbean (ALSO TRUST!!!!!)

here are some that are my stupid little opinions and some books i think r worth trying:

pride & prejudice BUT ALSO emma (james is emma, lily is knightley # real ones know) BUT ALSO persuasion — u can watch the first two but u simply must read the third

palm springs (2020)

a lady's guide to fortune hunting by sophie irwin

shipped by angie hockman

a crown of wishes by roshani chokshi

if you could see the sun by ann liang

the nonesuch by georgette heyer

been watching the artful dodger recently and this is an example of the inverted social status thing but it's real fun and i love it

and trust me on this: anything w george clooney and julia roberts as love interests

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: February 2024

A real grey month broken up by the colours and beauty of art. Here's how I spent the month of February.

……….FILM……….

The Beekeeper (2024) Perfect February movie.

……….TELEVISION……….

Succession (Episode 1.01 to 2.04) Wasn't sure I was going to like this (every single character is just awful) but now I'm keen to see how these awful people are increasingly awful to each other. So far I'm really appreciating every shot that shows the staff and just the sheer number of people responsible for making the lives of these awful people as low-friction as possible. We 100% need to tax the rich more.

Delicious In Dungeon (Episode 1.05 to 1.08) Now having seen more episodes, the shifting animation styles feels more consistent overall and I love the frenetic style during the high-stress/combat scenes. If you like this show then know it's a near 1:1 with the manga but still worth reading.

……….YOUTUBE……….

Pinocchio is a Story About Art and God by Jacob Geller This opened me up to a wholly new interpretation of what the story of Pinocchio is about. Also go watch the Del Toro adaptation on Netflix it's truly a work of art. VIDEO

Vape-o-nomics: Why Everything is Addictive Now by Tom Nicholas In short: everything is a subscription now and it's making everything worse. Worth the watch and looking forward to further installments in this series. VIDEO

This Experiment Undid Our Cities. How Do We Fix It? by Strong Towns Push back against any local government that doesn't want to introduce mixed use zoning into neighborhoods. The suburbs are subsidized by density, it's as simple as that. VIDEO

……….READING……….

How To Watch Football: 52 Rules for Understanding the Beautiful Game, On and Off the Pitch by Tifo (Complete) So I actually read this over the course of a month or two. I'd read a rule or two, process, then read a couple more a day or two later. I don't even really watch football but this helped so much and now I expect I'll crush the fantasy premier league I'm in.

The Big Four by Agatha Christie (Complete) Only my second Christie novel and this felt SO different. Turns out that's because it really is an outlier amongst her other works. So that was reassuring. Not terrible but I wouldn't exactly recommend it as it felt thoroughly disjointed (a result of stitching together a series of unrelated short stories).

The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett (Complete) Hey I love the Discworld series. You know this. I know this. But there's always gotta be an entry that goes on the bottom of any list. I love Rincewind, but prefer the other wizards in a less prominent role. Not one I'd recommend when trying to get into the series and probably not one I'll revisit. Oh well.

Catwoman: Lonely City by Cliff Chiang (Complete) Big fan of Chiang's artistry on Paper Girls and really enjoyed this interpretation of an aging Gotham. It has such a clear and singular voice it covers so much in just four chapters! Really great read.

Silver Surfer: Black by Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, and Dave Stewart (Complete) Every time I read this I love it more and more. It's truly what I pictured comics to be when I was a kid: vibrant, dramatic, and a little bonkers. Why does the villain ride a dragon? WHO CARES it looks cool. I love it all.

Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 4 by Ryoko Kui (Complete) Watching the series and rereading the manga is really making for a great experience. This volume really highlighted that Senshi isn't a man with all the answers. In the upper levels of the dungeon, he's competent, but as they go deeper and face more dangerous monsters, the rest of the party take more of the lead. It's so good. This series is so good.

……….AUDIO……….

Wolves of Glendale by Wolves of Glendale (2024) Comedy music is always tricky but for me, the comedy is second. If I don't enjoy the music having no understanding of the lyrics then I probably won't stick with it. Some tracks strike this balance better than others but I found The Gym to be a good introductory track.

……….GAMING……….

Disco Elysium (ZA/UM) On one hand, I tend to prefer more...active games. Something that requires hitting buttons at the right time. On the other hand, I'm really digging the mystery and complexity of the game. It really feels like I can play this detective however I want without being forced to follow any one playstyle. Not sure how far into it I am but I read the review that it's less a detective game and more a game about being a detective and that really feels right. But I do have to say that it's...rather buggy on the Switch so that might not be the recommended way to play it.

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Tuesday crew is working towards ridding the island of a competing group of adventurers. Hook wants them gone, the Gnomes want them gone, heck even the Moss Mother wants them gone. But will they be able to do it? And the more lengthy recap is over here.

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 D&D crew found a (literal) underground magic item shop so did a bunch of shopping after their big funeral heist. Everyone loves a good shopping session!

And that's it. See you in March!

[zee-reviews]

Cavern of Dreams (Steam)

First time?: Yes

[Note: this review will be as spoiler-free as possible, though some minor things from later in the game may be brought up in passing.]

If you're not aware of what Cavern of Dreams is, it's an N64-inspired exploration platformer by Bynine Studio. I've been following the creator on Tumblr for a while and this game has been on my radar since it released, and now that I've finally played it, I can honestly say I enjoyed it a LOT.

The plot of the game is that you are a young dragon named Fynn, and you are trying to rescue your siblings (who are eggs) from a bat artist named Luna. The cavern's guardian, Sage, helps you out by watching over your rescued siblings in the hub world, and giving you new powers when you reach certain milestones.

One of the game's defining traits is that there is no true "combat", to speak of. There are hazards, and you have attacks that interact with the environment, but there's no enemies or bosses to defeat, and no health or lives system. This works out well, as the focus of this style of game is exploration and platforming, so the experience doesn't feel lacking for the omission.

The movement in the game is somewhat unique, as Fynn doesn't quite have the jumping prowess that a Mario or a Banjo would have. However, he does have a roll ability that allows him to go very fast and even ramp off of sloped surfaces like Sonic. The roll controls similar to the roll in Yooka-Laylee, or the Spongeball in Battle for Bikini Bottom; it can be a little tricky to control, but you can carry the momentum into your standard run when you need more precise movement at higher speeds.

Fynn does get more abilities later on, such as a tail whip to slap objects, a glide, a bubble projectile, and perhaps most usefully, a bounce ability that can not only attack the ground, but also gives you more height than your standard jump. The sense of progression you get with each new ability is very satisfying, and towards the end of the game, you'll find the movement to be very complex and rewarding.

Now for the aesthetics. This game was designed primarily by a visual artist, and my god does it show. The game is GORGEOUS, and does a great job at paying tribute to the bold colors and lighting of games like Banjo-Kazooie or Spyro while also having a unique artstyle of its own. Different areas can have different moods; a wooded lake area in a cozy autumn sunset, the metallic interior of a sentient airship, the creepy black-and-white basement illuminated only by the occassional lightning strike, and so much more. I have so many screenshots just of areas I thought looked visually interesting.

My only criticisms of the game are nitpicks, really. For one, the sound design could be underwhelming at times. According to the credits, many of the sounds were grunts made by the people working on the game, or were sourced from freesounds. Nothing was egreiously out-of-place or anything, and it is a passion project by a very small group, so it's easily forgiven.

The only other thing is that I had my camera set to inverted, but the camera in first-person mode was non-inverted, and it would throw off my muscle memory when switching. Though, there aren't a lot of times where you need to switch to first-person mode, so it was never that big of a deal.

This isn't a particularly long game, it's maybe 2/3rds the length of a game like Banjo-Kazooie, but there's still a lot here to enjoy, especially considering the game is only $13 on Steam (even less if you get it in a bundle). I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who's even a little interested.

[wildpeachfarm]

I took one for the team and watched Lanza's video

Now, I have to be honest and say that I have not watched any of his other vids (and am also not someone who usually watches yt vids about "controversies" for a lack of a better word), and I am also slightly biased for obvious reasons, so take it with a grain of salt?

It seems like Lanza's video is meant to be a summary, with his own bias sprinkled on top of it. The first 5 mins is about Wilbur (+Shelby+Alice), and while it's not really in /defense/ of Wilbur, he does make it clear that he finds it tricky that neither Shelby nor Alice has provided proof. He seems to glance over the bit where Wilbur admits to the biting. Lanza speaks in terms of "allegations" and "claims" about the Shelby-Wilbur part.

The biggest part of the video is about George and Caiti. While he still speaks with his own bias, he makes some good points (although I am sure they came from other people because, you know, it's meant to be a summary. I've personally seen them on Tumblr and Reddit, respectively). Lanza leads us through the whole thing, with Caiti's stream, George's response, Caiti's response to that response, you know the drill. He also points out the main inconsistency, aka the Caiti saying they were drunk already vs. Ghostie saying they weren't.

The last part of the video, while short, kind of drags Dream into it all. Lanza says he doesn't care about what happens with whatever is going on with Dream, briefly referencing to the Punz' gf thing, Dream's Twitter Space and "hitting on an 18 year old at a college party" (putting that in quotes because I hadn't seen that online myself and I don't want to make any conclusions or anything about that). All he cares about is that Dream first got himself out of the toxic (mcyt) community/fan base, but now throws himself back in with all this stuff going on. He calls it pathetic and wishes Dream would go back to making vids and leave Twitter. (note: I am not sure whether Lanza wants him to do it for Dream's health or if Lanza is frustrated by Dream and thus wants him specifically gone. I couldn't really hear the tone well.)

It's a bit long, and my own bias probably shows a bit, but I hope this was useful? I wouldn't recommend this video to people unless they want a summary (and even then, I would not likely send them to Lanza, considering it's not an unbiased summary).

thank you anon for going through that and reporting back!

[cherienymphe]

What’s ur opinion on finding main characters attractive on shows that are about true crime etc.?

I watched White House Farm with Freddie Fox when it first came out and I found him attractive specifically when he was interacting with Julie (if you haven’t watched it and you like true crime stuff I really recommend it! It’s interesting in itself). But I feel a bit icky that I was thinking this about a man who was playing a literal killer.

Mmm I think it's tricky, esp when it comes to real life horrible people. I think it's natural to look at an attractive person in a horrible role and still find them attractive. Often times, that's why attractive people are casted. For some people it's just easier to separate the person being portrayed from the one doing the portraying. And often times there's no rhyme or reason or logic to it.

For example, Alexander Skarsgard is very attractive but even that wasn't enough for me to find him so in big little lies.

Or an irl example could be Zac Efron as Ted Bundy. Couldn't find him attractive in that role even if I wanted to.

But on the other hand, I found Sam Claflin very attractive in Peaky Blinders even though he was portraying a real life shitty person.

The same goes for Jacob in Priscilla (which I suspect is what prompted this question). I found him very attractive in Priscilla but as Jacob dressing up. Not as Elvis if that makes sense. Yes I watch the movie and I see Elvis and Priscilla but there are also moments where I'm looking at them and I see Cailee and Jacob and it's in those moments where I'm admiring him. I'm admiring the performance he's putting on