#see my most recent patreon post for more details

[tlbodine]

Fae Horrors: Errementari & Draug

Our fae horror film series continues! This pairing was loosely coupled as "period pieces," which was one of the only things they had in common.

Errementari: The Blacksmith & The Devil is a 2017 film written and directed by Paul Urkijo Alijo. It's produced in the Basque language and based on a Basque folktale, which already makes it super interesting.

Basque, for the uninitiated, is a distinct cultural and ethnic group of people living at the border of France and Spain in the remote area of the Pyrenees (the mountains, not the dog), whose historic seclusion and cultural isolation meant their language developed completely independently. Apparently Basque has really nothing linguistically in common with any other language. Neat!

Anyhoo, the plot here is pretty simple: It's the year 1835 and a blacksmith who sold his soul to the devil to return home from war, only to come home to find his wife cheating on him and his life in shambles. Now he lives alone and everyone tells rumors about him being a real scary dude, supported by the quantity of barbed wire and bear traps around his home. But things are not what they seem, and it's all blown wide open when a mistreated orphan girl from the town crosses his path.

I don't want to spoil anything about the plot because I think this movie is delightful and I want you all to go watch it. Aside from how cool it is as a cultural and linguistic artifact of a culture we don't get to see much of here in America, it's a well-made film with excellent practical effects and a solid story.

Also mad props to the little girl in this, played by Spanish actress Uma Bracaglia. She kills it in the role, bringing pathos, vulnerability, and feistiness to it. I was solidly in her camp the whole time.

Movies with similar vibes:

Pan's Labyrinth

Apostle

Tale of Tales

Draug (2018) is a Swedish film written and directed by Klas Persson. It's set in the 11th Century, at the end of the Viking age, and is centered on a rescue party who venture into a rural pocket of pagan worship in search of a missing missionary. There they encounter a witch and some restless undead spirit creature ice zombie fellows called draugr. They're known for guarding burial mounds and killing those who try to grave-rob them.

I didn't enjoy this one as much. It was a bit of a slog and honestly pretty forgettable. There are some wonderful spooky visuals and the vibes are good, but I kind of lost the thread with the plot and checked out mentally somewhere along the way. We're having rough luck with Swedish filmmaking over here.

Movies with similar vibes:

The Northman

The Blair Witch Project

The 13th Warrior

[kaypeace21]

[The future of this BLOG]: SHOWS I'm planning on analyzing here & on YouTube

Interview with the vampire

Invincible

House of the dragon

The boys

Umbrella acadamy

Bridgerton probably (still haven't had time to watch part 2 yet)

stranger things: I have mixed feelings about reviewing it given what certain staff has said and done. I oscilate between wanting to review the final season or wanting to boycott it (especially as someone who has been part of the BDS movement for 1/2 her life). But, on one hand, It's not the fault of the underpaid (and talented) writers and staff who don't have these views. And I do believe some of the writing staff may have good intentions and want to give us a positive and powerful message to the audience about healing from childhood tr*uma. However, other members of the writing staff may just want to go down the stereotypical and popular-easy route. We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the last season. If I hear the ending isn't simply another re-hashing of prior seasons and it's more like s1-2 (without the cliches of s3-4). I'd be more inclined to review it by *cough* and watching it elsewhere. Once I was logged back on to tumblr: I did have a whole draft saved about my politics since I was a kid and why I still feel so strongly about such conflicts, today . But, I shouldn't make the topic about me- and I'm not sure anyone wants to hear my life story XD. So, the big point (to my followers) is regardless of whether I chose to watch it or boycot it-

I'm not deleting the old ST content: so do what you want with it (like, reblog, add details to reblogs I didn't notice). Have fun :D !

Analyzing ST certainly helped me improve in terms of media literacy (and it'll be beneficial for the future content I make). So even if it sometimes got messy here, I do appreciate all the positives the ST blog and followers brought to me.The kind words meant a lot. For those who want to unfollow me for my political beliefs , that's totally fine. That's your prerogative. For those who want to unfollow cause again ST was pretty much my whole blog: again I TOTALLY understand and I wish you the best :). I'm not going to judge, take away, or guilt anyone, for their choice of media they like. Enjoy it (I truly mean that).

For those who continue to follow my blog . I appreciate you SO MUCH! I've been gone from this blog for such a long time cause of school (and I appreciate those who stayed and were excited to see me again). The positive words meant a lot over the years. Everyone have a lovely day. Take care of yourselves.

Sincerely, Kay

ps: I'm open to other media suggestions too so you can drop them in my message box (recent films/ shows, mini/limited series, animation, heck i'm open to comedies and foreign media too).But, analyzing them will most likely be after the shows listed above .Right now I'm focusing on my national exam and my mental health. My first video will probably be in late August or early September. My test is August 20th. Hope everyone is doing well .I'm feeling much better mentally. Hope everyone is feeling the same way :)

for my 1st video I’ll just post it to youtube . But for other videos I may make a early access patreon (like a week before the next video comes out free on youtube). Have to google how all that works (or if there's better alternatives) . Totally fine if you can't afford it (you'll get to see it for free on youtube regardless :D) . I'll be honest . I'm primarily thinking of doing it cause I need to pay off those student loans and I'm trying to hopefully move out of state in a few years. Plus, I love analyzing media anyways (so making it a part time job would be a dream come true .

[bladekindeyewear]

Beyond Canon 2024 October and November Artist/Writer Commentary

So the new Artist and Writer commentary for this month's latest upd8 popped up on Patreon, and even though I've been working (pathetically slowly) on a draft post that goes back through the commentary in order from the past where I left off, I feel like the last two updates have been HAMMER BLOWS in terms of the seriousness, hopelessness, et cetera and I feel like everyone wants answers as badly as I do, and the teaser we got at the end of the last upd8 to whet my excitement can offset the bad news only SO much on its own. So even though I'm kind of too sick to be doing this today, I want to help myself and others cope by liveblogging the last two months' posts of Artist and Writer commentary each so we get some more... words from the word of God on why they're subjecting us to this.

As much of this is Patreon exclusive content I won't be quoting everything, I'll be making just a couple out of context quotes and summarizing or paraphrasing things that I find important to point out about what I'm reading.

I'll put a TL;DR here above the cut once I'm done-- ahem: "Oh yeah Rose was even more doomed to feel fucked in that sort of situation than I realized, and also there's a hiatus because an animation is coming to kick off the End of Act 1 / Start of Act 2, holy shit. Maybe I’d have known that already if I’d read the news posts, oh well".

10-24 Artist Commentary

This is the artist commentary for the update I liveblogged starting here.

They mention how it contains a lot of standout moments, "things are coming to a head in the story"-- there was indeed a climax between this update and the one that followed it, I certainly agree. Since this is the artist commentary, they talk about their appreciation for proposed pacing, the jaw-dropped yelling of some on reading the proposed script... there's a shot of the story board, of course.

They go into some interesting detail on how they went about devising how they wanted Jade's "Space force fields" to look.

Everyone loves Jade's paw-print gloves, as they should.

Haven: this panel showing “how rose ‘sees’ things now” was added late into this update's production and floral didn't have a description other than “haven go wild” 

Yes I can certainly believe that. Nice touch in retrospect thematically coloring Rose's blood with her color instead of the literal red it'd be.

"generic troll soldier bumps into a god"-- nice how they're lumping Kanaya in with the god-tiers when referring to the Gods of this world.

Oh I never actually noticed the rebellion's "massive crab tanks" in the background of all these other shots, no wonder they surprised me the following update.

The full hemospectrum of Blood around them grasping hands:

Haven: sometimes very blatant symbolism is the way to go.

exactly, noted, noted...

Some notes on how they did up Jane's office and her bridge, and the storyboard for that BRUTAL scene with Jane and Jake, ow.

Practice the different artists had at drawing Jane and Jake in "Guardian Mode", which is the new clearly adult sorta-hero-moded silhouette term that I probably would have gotten from reading the other artist commentary in order.

Nice thoughts on how even the framed photo of Tavvy next to the blaster button is a distant shot-in-passing photo that doesn't communicate a close family.

The shot, the heal, the turnaround and beatdown.

I got storyboarder brain and I love the excruciating anticipation of making people hold their breath between panels... When you know something’s coming but you can’t help but clasp your hand over your mouth like, “OH NO…”

Yeah, no kidding...

Nothing too concrete to note in this artist commentary, the writer commentary's probably going to be richer. So to save my sanity I'm going to do the next Artist Commentary first:

11-2024 Artist Commentary

This is the artist commentary surrounding the most recent upd8 i liveblogged.

Oh holy shit, this one has some big news I wasn't aware of!

Chumi, hoping you guys had a Happy Thanksgiving: Welcome welcome! 🎉🎉 We’re really getting into the holiday season with this one! Unfortunately, this is our last update until the Flash Production break. Look forward to the Flash guys, we’re working really hard!

I didn't expect them to start off our new session with a big flash, but if they're going to bust out some Animation to really emphasize any new stepping stone in Beyond Canon, the introduction or pre-introduction to The New Session™ is probably the time to do it. I'm pretty busy and/or sick lately (the annoying sort of sick not the dangerous kind) so I'll be glad if it takes a little longer before the next upd8 than it did this one.

They talk about how they carefully gradiated the sky over past updates to reflect the danger closing in, much appreciated.

Tavvy writes with something called "Magic Link" handwriting apparently; they go more into it here.

An Andrew-embossed-seal reference, huh? I'm not gonna elaborate on that but it is funny.

Rose covering the kids' eyes before the shot:

I thought I was so clever putting a bit of shadow underneath her hands… Because her aspect is Light… She’s blocking the Light / knowledge from reaching the kids…That’s why she’s a silhouette too… Heh…

Yep.

Kim: This particular bit gets me every time I think about it… Jade loves her child!!! The way it completely throws Jade off her game when the most precious thing in her life right now is suddenly in the middle of a freaking battlefield of a WAR. These kids just can’t stand still for one minute can they!!

Gahhh, it just tears my heart out. Rose could have stopped this with a word, earlier, but didn't... why not?! What does she KNOW where she sees this path being the better path forward than others?!

Jade getting shot...

Floral: I can feel how much this hurts, it’s so good.

Guhh my heart. Owwwwuch. Can bad things just stop happening to Jade Harley for once? Can some good things start happening where she gets to be cool and not shoved out of the way unceremoniously by the narrative? :C

Okay there's something interesting here.

Floral: I did a single panel for this update too, featuring Dirk’s bell tower and the rest of the human city that stands between it and the meteor site. So much to parse. Wonder what the significance of it all could be.

Implying this has some significance... does it have something to do with what's brought into the game session? With how much IS and how much isn't? Or are dramatic things happening at "Dirk's bell tower" repeatedly being themed to be brought home by something else happening there later? Hmm.

Oh:

The impact is also knocking over whole tanks and the trees around the area, so the Rebellion guys near the meteor are totally vaporized. Sorry fellas. The two peeps in front are just some random soldiers to fill the empty space HEHE.

This explains my confusion around the explosion. The crab tanks I hadn't noticed earlier that they helped point out above, and these indeed being two random soldiers and PROBABLY not a stealth inexplicable Aradia appearance. PROBABLY.

So the "End of Act 1" bit:

Chumi: We are not done with Act 1 just yet…

I was wondering how much the "psyche" meant, if it meant psyche regarding our place within the story, how much was left to go, whether this was a real act ending et cetera... apparently the end of Act 1 is coming somewhat soon from the sound of it, and that gives us an idea of what exactly is planned for this lovable clusterfuck that is Beyond Canon. Is this a three-act tale we're planning, or effectively one, sort of like our three most major build-ups and climaxes across the six acts in the main story (Descend, Cascade, Collide)?

A slight preview sketch of the computer exploding in GC's face you can see if you opt for the Patreon commentary, and that closes out that. Now we'll have a look at the really, REALLY juicy stuff for the last two updates, the WRITER commentary. I'm dreading seeing them drill down into the dread these last two updates gave us before the hope of a new session with our favorite new kid-kids in it, and I'm desperately hoping that as they explain their choices they sprinkle in some EXTRA hope they hadn't given us with Rose's twisted hopeless perspective, because I could use the positive reinforcement.

10-2024 Writer Commentary

Been so excited/apprehensive for this update to drop!! It’s been months and the entire time we’ve been going back and tweaking and playing with things to perfect it and it was worth it. Super satisfied with the response.

Any writers getting ready to write such meaningful dialogue and traumatize their audiences are going to be chomping at the bit to, I've had the taste of that in my mouth before as someone on the writing end and the twists you're ready to unleash can have you salivating even when you know they're going to cause suffering. ESPECIALLY when you know that. It's the entire author's curse that is essentially THE ENEMY in the form of Dirk Strider in this narrative.

And I was inspired to handle it in a way true to a Seer or Light, heavy in lore and reminiscent to Rose’s GameFAQs Walkthrough of the SBURB Beta.

That's a very good inspiration for putting most of Rose's predictions in her narrations below her walking away from that conversation.

They go a lot into the idea of her creating a Spatial shield, whether it would fall into the confines of her powerset. I like a lot of the keywords used here:

A stray missile comes towards them and the shield won’t bounce it off but manipulate and control the space around it.

Note the keywords 'manipulate and control', the change/control/manipulate keywords we've always held so central to the theorized Witch role and possibly the Heir role by extension.

And ultimately:

I think in general, a lot of aspected powers are limited only by the user’s imagination!  But even putting that aside, it makes a lot of sense to me that she’d have the tight control necessary of a spatial perimeter necessary to do something as basic as maintain a shield.  We’ve seen her do way crazier shit before.

--who could disagree?

FLORAL: There was a lot to explore with this conversation between Rose and Jade, the first one they’ve had privately since fucking… ACT 5, 2011?

Yeah, they barely got STARTED with the unpacking. And Rose refused to continue it because she foresaw that it'd be ultimately pointless.

Many thoughts of how their dynamic could be and how their dynamic would evolve under current conditions went into it and it was so fun!! Writing two people that obviously understand one another so well while feeling completely misunderstood and frustrated because they’re not being empathized with is complicated! But exactly how you show a character's specific perspective the best in my opinion. Rose and Jade share a lot of experiences, especially considering their Aspect switcheroo fake out, and have taken such completely different lessons from them. I love their friction! 

What's also unsaid here is how their Aspect switcharoo fake out was also secretly potentially paired with a REAL class switcharoo in the form of role inversion that they BOTH underwent, Jade getting a distrust of Seeing and Rose gaining a distrust of Witchcraft in making any ultimate difference as this wasn't the way they were best meant to operate as themselves, but can't help but project onto each other when stressed.

We know from Meat that even without all of Candy’s baggage they aren’t close. So why? There are very probable, passive answers and then there are equally probable drama answers, that actively communicate parts of these characters we never got to see clash.

Really interesting. And yeah, we DID get to see that from this update.

MILES: I think, and this is something that we’re going to touch on later in this commentary/update, part of that is that they really aren’t that compatible in terms of their interpersonal problem solving styles. 

We talked about this in a great deal of detail surrounding the update in question, and I'm glad they were intentionally provoking us to think about these things!

Okay there's a section here that I'm going to quote in FULL from the Patreon commentary, and it also outlines a divide, a HUGE rift between Candy Jade and Candy Rose that Meat Jade/Rose wouldn't have experienced, and the tragedy of its basic inevitability because of how events turned out:

MILES: And speaking of dear, sweet Yiffy, and the way Rose and Jade’s attitudes differ, there really isn’t a better example of their incompatibility than the two entirely polarized attitudes they take towards Yiffy’s existence: Rose’s detached view of Yiffy as amounting to nothing more than an inconvenient favor she did for a friend, as part of a cosmic obligation she barely even understands (more on this later), spits directly in the face of Jade’s knowledge that Yiffy is, without question, the most important thing in her life.  It’s arguably “right” that Rose chose to completely sterilize any feelings she might possibly have had (but probably barely even ever did) for Yiffy in terms of maintaining some modicum of emotional fidelity to her Actual Wife and her Actual Daughter, but obviously that’s going to chafe Jade.  Jade’s a lonely person!  Yiffy was a way to fill that void, and although having a daughter has absolutely brought some purpose, companionship, and stability to her life, the complications that came along with it have absolutely served to isolate her even more in other ways. 

:'(

With all the setups being given to us like Dave's stuffed corpse falling out of Jade's pocket, or the idea of Kanaya finding "new love" before Rose is saved that she refused to Foresee (I'm still banking on that Light Between Space OT3, you can't stop me), I'm really hoping that Candy Jade can both live through this and come to a MUCH LESS LONELY peace than she's come to in other timelines we've been forced to witness. I don't want Meat Jade to be the only Jade that comes out of this healthier and happier than she went in.

The commentary gets into Jade and Rose's debate on what Truth means, from a Light perspective or a Space perspective almost...

That’s why it was felt important to comment on Rose’s estranged relationship to Roxy too, in her ramble. Really cementing questions that were hinted at before, can you find closure in another, younger version of your dead parent? How does that evolve over the years?

I really hope that we get a version of Rose and Roxy out of at LEAST one of the two ongoing timelines that end up MUCH closer than this update implied Rose's parental relationship had forced them to stay estranged rather than get closer like they could have, possibly should have. I want them to come to terms with each other because they could be SUCH good sisters to each other. And maybe in the Meat timeline when they're put into direct conflict, when Roxy achieves some sort of victory over Rose, Void over the gaps in Ultimate Light, that it finally punches through her emotional barriers and lets that version of Rose accept her essentially-sister the way her Candy Self never let happen.

And now we get to that horrifying future-sight screed of Rose into the narrative text zone...

FLORAL: Everything Rose talks about in her monologue was so, so nerve wracking to write, to take so many points of what makes this character who they are laid out for the reader.

Yeah, it made so little sense why she'd say such callous things to Kanaya earlier unless she had been DELIBERATELY trying to push her away... which as it turned out in this monologue, she absolutely had been, having foreseen her own coma.--

Which is hard for serialized media because you guys don’t get those answers the way you would if you were watching a movie or a book, there’s real time waiting completely out of your control. It’s anxiety inducing! I’ve had a good deal of Homestuck induced anxiety myself lol.

Hell to the fucking yes. We're all feeling that incredible anxiety and only the writer knows, for sure, that it's all going to turn out okay, but we the readers have to wait in limbo with our anxieties gnawing at us all the while.

MILES: I totally get where you’re coming from, on that.  This bit felt like a part we really did need to write, partially for that exact reason; taking the readers on an exciting voyage to the twisted shores of Rose’s nihilisthmus is a peek behind the curtains that hopefully DOES serve to contextualize just how checked out she is and provide some more clarification on why it is she’s acting the way she does.

Instead of taking individual text blocks, Miles is going to give us the whole shebang summary, so I'll pull it straight out of the patreon commentary wholesale since anyone suffering like me probably ought to hear it with me:

Overall, as a Light player trapped in a universe/timeline/whatever-you-want-to-call-Candy devoid of “real” narrative consequence (and thusly, devoid of any “real” fortune that might seek to inform her Light-aspected guidance), she’s been sort of adrift!  Imagine having access to a cosmic intuition that points you towards what’s “best” and then, one day, you notice it’s broken.  Still trying, but broken nonetheless.  Rose is already predisposed towards existential malaise; she’s always needed action to fill that void, and when the little voice in your head suddenly starts telling you that you live in a world where action is fundamentally meaningless, coping with that reality probably... fucking sucks!  She has nonetheless done an admirable job of trying to keep herself anchored with a wife she DOES care for and a daughter she DOES love, but fighting the creeping thought that none of it means anything at all?  Having what you believe is objective cosmic confirmation of nihilism woven into the foundation of the reality you inhabit?  That’s scary shit.  Honestly, it’s kind of a wonder she’s even as sane as she is, but Rose, for better or worse, is quite the badass. Not great for the people around her, though.

I'm starting to see, that's useful additional information. Rose's Seer of Light powers aren't just telling her that this timeline doesn't matter, they're also almost broken to the point of uselessness by the fact that so little 'matters' in the entire world. And those malfunctioning powers have been reinforcing her nihilism just as much as the message that this is a Doesn't Matter Timeline is. Gosh that's depressing... and I hope what Vriska, the Plot Point, and the New Session pulling in their children does manages to eventually shake her out of it, even if she needs to get miraculously saved from a coma first.

Moving on...

Karkat and Kanaya clasping hands being awesome, yeah.

Jake and Jane's confrontation. As much as they wanted in their hearts to give Jake a win, they had to make him lose here because Jane is just too wildly powerful to fall to him when he'd only just turned around, and had to make it sentimental and personal instead of doing something cold and unloading enough lead into her to kill a God of Healing, which wasn't something he'd prepared himself to do, doing something more Jake and "cinematic" instead.

Then we cut back to the kids, and the next update:

11-2024 Writer Commentary

Okay, here we go. What are you going to give us from that last update that was such an emotional whiplash of impacts?

FLORAL, loving some bacon: THE HOMEWRECKER IS DEAD!!!!!!

God damnit XD You fucking jokesters.

Some comments they have about Jake's letter here, which seems unintentionally tailor made to provoke Vrissy into a frenzy:

We’ve been trying to give him a little shade of passive aggression, just a hint of spice, and I think this letter was a fun place for that.  “Sorry but you guys are kind of weak as fuck, can’t do a single backflip, and so you need to sit here and eat these considerately provided packages of snacks while a real gymnast handles shit.”  It’s a flex, but I think it also demonstrates his caretaker tendencies.

I'm trying to dissect what they're saying about him and more could mean about, like, his potential Class and Aspect, but I'm coming up with bupkis aside from all our previous scattershot analyses. Gymnasts can be Breath, Breath can be Provokers, and plenty of classes can be Caretakers, but... I'm still not entirely sure where Tavvy is going to land on the hero spectrum.

MILES: Unfortunately, he probably should have accounted for the fact that these two aren’t really inclined to listen to him.  When Tavvy flips the script on their established relationship dynamic, as he has quite a bit these days, it rubs at least Vrissy the wrong way. 

Yeah it didn't seem like Tavvy was TRYING to provoke Vrissy to run out in rage and try to do something heroic to keep her kismesis from showing her up, but he definitely had that effect unintentionally as hard as it possibly could have been, and any variety of Breath player could have unintentionally managed that, even a Bard. The Caretaker thing is being reinforced by the soda and snacks though, and this writer commentary... is it pointing to a specific caretaker class like a Maid of Breath? Hmm.

On Jade dying right in front of them:

Clearly shit is popping off a bit more flagrantly than the kids imagined.

To put it mildly, yeah.

Tensions have been building for a while, but blood’s been definitively drawn now.  It’s been a lot of setup to get to this point, but it’s super satisfying to see it all reach a boiling point here, even if it comes at the cost of poor sweet Jade’s cranial structural integrity. 

Everything this entire-- well, "Act", now that we KNOW it's an Act, has been building towards THIS climax in particular. A moment where so much shit goes down that we can officially say in every way that Shit Has Gone Down, and they had to herald it in with SOMETHING shocking I guess... especially if they want to neutralize the lingering macguffin that is Candy Calliope's spare Ring of Life if I had to guess from the hints they've been dropping.

The act curtain drop, the psyche, and...

MILES: You’ll notice that, with this little gag (which felt so fun to do, by the way), we’ve returned to the ACT structure, abandoning the CHAPTER format HS^2 utilized before the production change.  This was a point of a lot of thought, for us, but ultimately we think that the Act structure makes more sense for the story it is that we’re trying to tell, for a variety of reasons that I’m not gonna get TOO into here.

With a new session on the cusp of starting, I can really imagine why.

That said, we’re coming up to the climax of what we consider... I don’t know, the “setup” period of the plot?  It’s been a long, long road, and it’s tough to say what final percentage of HS:BC this whole saga is going to represent, but capping it off all under the purview of one Act feels appropriate.  Everything, from the beginning of HS^2 to now, has been dedicated to fully selling the transition from the Epilogues to what has become Homestuck: Beyond Canon.  It’s been just over a year of updates on our end, and it’s so crazy to see this arc getting ready to finish!

That confirms a feeling I was getting but wasn't sure whether to confirm. That the entire time we've been experiencing HS^2, interrupted by that long hiatus in between, was meant to be a setup for THIS moment where we realize a new session is starting, and we're dumped fuck deep into the Game Session format with all the establishing situations and incoming vectors and player collisions to come laid out like bullets streaming in converging on a single point of impact.

And to finish it out, they analyze our new Dark Purple Text Friend!

HAVEN: “Negging” this is new! And again with this 108 number pattern, how curious.

I genuinely forgot they did that 108 earlier in Vriska's plot point. Read back on my Homestuck Liveblog tag for people pointing out the significance of that as HS:BC's act number.

This person seems to drag on each sentence... Before snapping back to finality.

A trait I hadn't noticed besides the bombs, but a trait one bomb-and-fuse oriented could be reasonably said to have without indicating to us which Doom class this obviously-Doom-player is.

HAVEN: A lot of information here! TC and AA, who are curious characters and what could their roles be? (well I suppose you could guess their upcoming roles.)

There probably ARE hints to TC and AA's literal hero roles, their classes and aspects (such as Oracle being listed there), but we don't have enough of them on hand to tell the wheat from the chaff just yet beyond that. I'm sure we're going to be getting piles of hints in the coming pages both up through and after and possibly within whatever flash-like animation they're taking extra time to cook up for us to celebrate the miracle of this new beginning.

They point out GC's "and we did spend a lot of time on it..." meaning they're the ones that must have coded this new incarnation of The Game out of the Ruins codebase.

HAVEN: Here I think there was going to be a line specifying they had “47 friends lined up” but it got switched out.  JAMES: I wonder if that's important. I guess we still need to be sort of coy about it.Which is horseshit. HAVEN: Yeah, that IS horseshit! Anyway our coyness continues.

I like how they wanted to make at least a JOKING reference to a 48-player Squiddle session that isn't going to happen, because I'm still betting that somewhere between 8 and 16 people is the most we can comfortably fit in a new plot like this, not to mention the Gene pattern that seems to be being followed so far, but we'll have to see.

Alright, that's the end of four posts of commentary. I've gained a LITTLE bit of meaningful information and some expectations on the upcoming timeline, and I hope you have too, and I also hope I didn't pull so much out of the Patreon exclusive info that y'all don't feel discouraged to chip into Homestuck Beyond Canon too like I'm doing if you have extra dosh to spare (but only to spare, don't impact your livelihood if you need the money for important/life things, that's advice they and anyone else would give you).

I'm feeling slightly less sick by luck now that I've rammed all this typing out of my fingers, and hopefully y'all feel a little less of the ominousness that can't help but hang around recent in-canon events. Phew.

I see in the Patreon comments some commenters are extrapolating from that cut "48" that Dirk wants to create the session that made the TROLL session (with the trolls' 48 star signs) to complete a solid loop, which I concede is possible, but I doubt his goals are really all that pedestrian, that wouldn't make him the most important the way he's aiming-- you already have my counter-speculation in hand that Dirk intends to create the session that gave birth to the chess game ITSELF, that gave birth to the Prospit/Derse system and the very seed session for the propagation of Paradox Space. Alt!Calliope seems like they're practically in alignment with him on the goal, wanting to tie Beyond Canon back down into a neat self-causing loop excepting that Alt!Callie's intending to ensure he doesn't get to make himself the Author Of All That Exists, no matter who it hurts when she forces the issue, which makes Alt!Calliope not much different from him. And between these dueling forces, we have the ever-underestimated plans of Calliope and Roxy across both timelines, the Muse of Space and the Rogue of Void, who seem to have SUCCEEDED in collaborating knowingly or unknowingly across the timelines to use Vriska as a shunt to SOMEHOW get the Candy Kids to be important friends and players in this new Game, bringing things all full circle in a way not even Alt!Calliope thought would save their home timeline but quite possibly can. How exciting!

It hurts, sometimes, but gosh do I still love Homestuck. See y'all whenever that next hiatusy bombastic probably Flash-animation-like update goes up in a month or two or however long it takes them, bless their diligent crazy hearts.

[cyberphuck]

The Patreon Post

SO HERE'S THE DEAL: I do not want to make anyone have to pay to see my art.

Let's be real: there are like fifty bajillion other, more skilled, and better-known artists on Patreon putting out more detailed, more unique, more in-demand, and just more art than I am (or want to). I'm a self-taught, frequently distracted amateur who's had an iPad for a year. I'm not gonna pretend that I am going to be able to pull in more Patreon subs-- or keep them, for that matter-- on the strength of my random doodles alone. I have never really thought or even hoped that I could do that, because it would mean Doing Art As A Job, and I absolutely do not want to associate "drawing" with "work." (I also don't have the means, time, motivation or experience to self-promote and/or keep a small community of followers entertained, and even the thought of having to do all that on top of having to Draw For Work is terrifying.) There's the self esteem-destroying gutpunch that someone with BPD (me haha!) receives when they ask if something they created is "worth" a certain amount and are answered with silence. (If you have BPD, you know that 'silence' is so much worse than 'no.') I don't think that anyone is actually saying my work is worthless any more than I think stairs were invented to fuck over people with bad knees, but I want to avoid one for the same reason I avoid the other: hurts and bad for healing. And also, maybe most importantly, most of the fans of my work are my friends, and most of my friends are poor people. I do not ever want someone to have to choose between "Eggman weeping as he cradles a slain Speedy Gonzales" and "rent." Lots of people I know just don't have any money to spare even for professionally made entertainment, or, like me, sometimes they have money (yay, beginning of the month!) and sometimes they don't (booo, end of the month). I'm not gonna put a paywall between my friends and my art. So, as always, you can view all of my art on Patreon for free, without an account*. (*you will have to have an account to view NSFW stuff but this will be in the 'free' tier as well.) H O W E V E R. You guys I am so fucking poor. If you follow my blog you know the whole story already-- mental illness, chronic illness, chronic mental illness, surprise rescue puppies, surprise fines from the city, the fukken recently concussed clown show that is social services in my area-- and you've seen me having to crowdfund for everything from food to gas to dog emergencies. We budget down to the cent and have cut out so many things (like the meal replacement shakes for my eating disorder lol) and we're still not making ends meet. I've got friends who help, and they help a lot, but I hate the miserable, humiliating task of asking for help every single month. (You guys also know that I don't have family that can help me, even if shit goes critical. I was on my own while I was a homeless sex worker, on my own when we lived in a shed with no windows, on my own when we were in a house with no heat and only one source of running water, and definitely on my own now, in desperate need of mobility aids, house cleaners, and a god damn break.)

So here's where I'm at: I can't ask a few people for a lot of support, but I can ask a bunch of people for a little bit. If you like my art and want to help me keep making it, want to help me make shitpost replies to people on the internet, want to help me do free askbox art challenges: Put your doodle prompt requests in the askbox. You can even request stuff anonymously! Participate in polls about what prompts you wanna see. Reblog the art you like, show off the doodle you got, leave keysmashes in the tags. The more people see the post, the more statistically likely it is we'll find the one person on Tumblr with disposable income. Also, people should know they can get free art when the prompts are live! Sub to the Patreon if you can spare three bucks a month (you can also do Ko-fi if you don't want to make a Patreon account). Ko-fi is also a good place to just plunk something into the tip jar once in a while. There are Artcards and Monthly Sketch sub tiers on Patreon for a little bit more, but I will send an Artcard to pretty much anyone who asks as long as I have some left. The art is free, it will always be free. But if you can, spare a dollar (or three).

[howtofightwrite]

First of all, I was very happy to see you share your opinions on assassin tropes and fight scenes. You brought up a lot of good points that I hadn't even considered in my early drafts! That being said, I'm trying to craft a game where the player starts out as a rookie. This means that I'll need a plausible way for someone to join a criminal organization without having grown up in that kind of scene. My original draft had the player join under the threat of exposure to the police, but I'm not sure if that's the best way to go. If you don't mind, then what are your thoughts? What other ways could get someone involved?

So, I'm pretty sure googling, “how to join a criminal organization,” will put you on some kind of list. Or, at least do some really goofy things to your search algorithms. So, with that in mind, this is going to be a little spotty, and there are different kinds of criminal organizations, which utilize different recruitment techniques.

Sometimes, the neighborhood background is mandatory. If your character didn't grow up around the organization, they're not trusted, and would not be able to join at all. This can apply to both gangs and organized crime. In other cases, not having that background would only be a serious impediment or create a glass ceiling.

Another common recruitment point is in prison. If an individual is so inclined, prison can function as an institute of higher education in criminality. It gives the convict access to criminals in an environment where their own status as a criminal is unlikely to be questioned. It gives them the opportunity to network with other criminals, and that can lead to options for (illegal) work once they've finished serving their sentence. I haven't followed up on it in a few years, but there's a YouTube channel by Larry Lawton, who used to be a professional armed robber, who discusses a lot of this in more detail, so his videos may be worth checking out for more context on how prison serves as higher education for aspiring criminals.

In some cases, criminal organizations might directly recruit individuals. The problem here is, most of the time it's children. So it becomes part of that, “growing up in the neighborhood,” background you're trying to avoid. Sometimes this is to use the kids as intentional cutouts, lookouts, or decoys, though not always, and how that shakes out depends on who recruited them.

In very rare cases, a criminal organization might seek to directly recruit an adult. Before you get excited about this, the only cases of this I'm aware of are former military, expats who have been approached by cartels, and this was certainly more of, “an offer you can't refuse,” style of recruitment. Now, to be clear, a criminal organization coercing someone into doing their bidding isn't particularly strange, but it's not usually a form of recruitment.

Another recruitment vector that's been a problem in recent years has been in the US military itself. This was an inevitable outgrowth of the policy of sending convicts to serve in the armed forces. Instead of reforming, they simply bring their criminal experience with them, and start looking around at prospective talent. It's enough of a problem that the military (usually) won't accept someone who's signing up in exchange for a deferred sentence, but some individuals do get through. While I haven't heard anything about it in the last few years, it did lead to a fairly significant gang problem that the armed forces were dealing with.

So, the options aren't extremely extensive. Doing a stint is probably the easiest route in for a character who already tried to get into a life of crime, but doesn't have the connections to make a go of it. If your character just randomly showed up at a criminal hangout, it wouldn't get them any access to the local criminal underworld.

-Starke

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.

[greekceltic]

FAQ Page

She/her | 38 | I like cats and rain. My comic: https://catswaycomic.com/ My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/greekceltic My Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/greekceltic Other links: https://linktr.ee/greekceltic Sorry in advance if you send me a message and I don't get back to you, I tend not to stress over messages/asks. I do try to read them though, and I'm always open to being asked questions about characters or my headworld/stories. I am already aware that my art is being copied. They're blocked. Please stop telling me about it. Rest of my FAQ is under the cut >

Can I repost your work? I don't mind as long as I'm credited. I'm less okay with my work being used as a pageviews grab, but it's probably not worth my time to care. If it's something I've selected to take down and don't have posted anymore, don't. If it's something you commissioned, go for it. You don't need to credit me every time you share it. Once in a while is cool.

Are you okay with fanart? What about OC interactions? Can I post it? Sure, just don't profit off of it and please credit me. If you want to draw my OCs interacting with yours that's also fine (and fun!)- though I prefer situations where their actions make sense. Alf wouldn't make your character cry, for example. He's grumpy but not cruel. Posting it is fine. Is it okay if I take inspiration from your art and concepts? I've been in a situation in recent years where another artist has taken far, far too much. It's a subject I'm pretty burnt out on. I recently saw another artist's take on this and it looked sensible to me. I'm just going to quote theirs. I have tried to find my own words, but right now I find myself more comfortable using someone else's. "Well, if you’re having to ask me for permission, either your design is too similar or you’re being overly nervous about a normal artistic process. You’re absolutely free to use my work as a source of inspiration but I’d strongly encourage you to think about the details from my design you like most, and remix them with other concepts into your own unique take."

Taking inspiration is something everyone does, but please don't become a shadow I get bi-weekly alerts about. Ideally your pool of inspiration will be many artists and concepts re-imagined into something unique to you- and that you're being honest with yourself about the result.

Your art is being copied! / Will you tell me who the copy cat is? I get a lot of messages about this and am tired. I'm sure if my art ends up somewhere it shouldn't be or there's something really worth my attention I'll find out through friends. Otherwise, I'm just sayin' get a second or third opinion before coming to my inbox. I probably already know about it.

I sent you a message and you didn't respond. Sorry about that. I tend not to stress about messages because it can be a drain. You're more likely to get a response if you let me know from the get go what you want, but nothing is guaranteed. Sometimes I didn't see it, sometimes I got busy or forgot, sometimes I plan to do it later, sometimes I just opted out. It's not personal. Where do you Rp? Are you looking for more partners? Discord mostly. Roleplay consumes a lot of time so these days I mostly only play with my buddy Thema. I probably wouldn't have time to play, but I like to hang around people that do and I don't mind being asked. Just please don't be sad if I never get around to responding! I'm most compatible with people who are comfortable with radio silence.

Can I use your characters in roleplay/as roleplay refs? Considering I actively roleplay my OCs and there's a potential for confusion, I'd rather you didn't. Though I think there's a difference between linking to my art and saying 'this is my character', and linking to it to say 'this has the mood I'm going for, but here's what's different about my character--'. The latter is fine.

Can I make Fan OCs for your setting? Thinking about this makes me tired. Maybe I'll get to a point where I'm more comfortable later, but for now I'd rather you didn't make something directly from my worlds. But lets be real, you don't need my permission to draw cat monsters and I take a huge amount of inspiration from ancient history. Many of my concepts are inspired by things that you can read about and be inspired too. If you see something and are curious if there's a historical source, just ask. Hopefully I'll remember.

Do I have permission to draw NSFW art of your characters? No, for a plethora of reasons, some easy to explain and some not, but I probably can't stop you. Just don't profit off of it or show it to me.

Do you have a website for your OCs? I have RP pages for them scattered all over the place and many of them are outdated, but as I type this I recently put some up on Toyhouse. https://toyhou.se/GreekCeltic

Do you have a website for your comic? Sure do. It's an expensive fuck. https://catswaycomic.com/ When does your comic update? Sporadically. I work on it when I have time. My income is solely freelance commissions and Patreon- mostly commissions.

There's other places you could post your comic! Yeah, I know. I may do that someday, but for now I like having my own house, even if it's an expensive fuck. (Not really, the renewal just hits around tax time, Lol).

[zorlok-if]

Hi everybody,

It's been a while. Sorry that I've been gone so long without explanation or communication, I've been in a bad place. For more info check under the cut. Otherwise, hello! I'm alive and so is this project. Progress has been stalled and will continue to be stalled because this is a hobby and I have to focus on priorities. That doesn't mean that it's dead. I still intend to release everything when I can. I appreciate your support and interest.

Hope you're all well! 😊

Albie

(cw: discussion of bad mental health, anxiety, and depression; school shooting mention)

Okay, hello! Welcome to the rest of this post.

Basically, I've been in a bad mental place for a long time and have a lot of issues that I've left unaddressed or festering—most of which tie back to depression, anxiety, fear, and self-loathing.

To start, I wasn't able to graduate this past winter because I fell one class short of my requirements. That really sent me into a spiral and put a strain on my interpersonal relationships.

Then I tried to take that last class this spring but fear related to recent school shootings exacerbated and activated some bad ND habits and I won't be able to complete this course. That means I still won't be able to graduate until I find some online equivalent or professor who will allow me to remain fully remote.

Around the time I found out I wouldn't be graduating, I also got some really cruel anon hate which added onto how I was already feeling and made me hesitant to put anything else out online.

Other things have happened: family stuff, work stuff, health stuff, sociopolitical stuff, etc. (I don't want to go into details with some and won't burden you with the rest). But, essentially, I found myself at a darker place than normal. I withdrew into myself and have been stewing in crippling self-loathing while wearing a convincing smile in my everyday life. (being really honest with this stuff so that if anyone else is going through/experienced something like this they can know they're not alone)

Fortunately, I was able to get away for a bit and spent some time with loved ones I rarely get to see. I've also made a few irl friends recently and feel like I'm coming back out of my shell and starting to heal after traumatic events and relationships. For the first time in a long time, I feel invigorated. I mean, I still feel like stinking trash, but garbage with a will to live and better itself.

As of right now, I'm moving out and finding more work so I can better support myself financially.

If you've read all this going, where's the Zorlok/(other game) update? Here you go: I've been working on Zorlok somewhat, but in the situation/place where I was at, found myself unable to justify dedicating a lot of time to writing and struggling to feel confident about what I was creating when I actually did sit down to do so. This project is in no way dead and I want to work on it and release games more than anything, but I owe it to myself and other people in my life to keep my priorities in check.

This is a hobby and in the past I dedicated time to it when I should've been doing other things. As long as this is a hobby, I can no longer take time away from my priorities to do something I just want to do (no matter how badly I want to do it). So, that's where we're at. I'm continuing to focus on critical things and stop feeling like a jerk for doing that. I know that this might disappoint some people, but that's how things are right now.

If you want to know more about where things are literally at: I'm close to finishing a heavily updated and expanded prologue but episode one has been undergoing changes. I feel pretty shit about myself and that's seeped into my view on what I create which is in turn stalling my ability to make meaningful progress that I don't immediately want to destroy. I've worked on potential Patreon content (including an exclusive game and a Creating Goncharov director's cut), made a Twine template and tutorial, and made progress on updates for Mousetrap and System Processing. I've avoided making changes to the Zorlok page (and my other itch.io pages) these past few months since I don't want people getting their hopes up seeing some sort of "update" from itch.io—only for that update to be "there's no game update yet." That's why those are still out of date, but I'll be fixing them as soon as I can.

So, that's where we are. I wish that I had way more to talk about and release, but that's not been a possibility and I'm just going to be upfront and honest—even if I am disappointed and somewhat afraid and ashamed to admit it. (that's it for the game updates, the rest just gets back to personal)

In general, I've always struggled with shame and fear and those are the main culprits for why I've been radio silent until now. I couldn't find a way to address these topics or talk about them without my odious inner critic getting triggered and shutting me down. However, I'm trying my best to not listen to that asshole because this (*gestures at everything*) must stop.

To be honest, I'm not content with prolonged existence anymore. I want to live—and that's more than I've been able to say for a long time. To be perfectly honest, for the past decade or so I've lived simply because others wanted me around, not because I wanted to be here. I'm tired of being tired. I'm tired of indifference being my best hope for how I feel about myself. I'm tired of forcing an apathetic soul to drag my flesh through the muck of living. I don't expect what I experience to improve, in fact things will definitely be getting tougher, but I want to change how I experience it. I want to actively live rather than passively slip by. I want to answer questions like "what do you want to do with your life?" and "what are your plans?" with more than vague shrugs and dead-hearted replies meant to brush people off the topic of the future. I want to stop passing through life as a ghost.

I'm still trying to find the motivation, purpose, or courage to genuinely live for myself instead of existing for other people. I still haven't found my "spark"—that properly and blissfully selfish reason to live—but I think wanting to search is a good start.

Anyways, I'll be around more and I'll be more honest with where I am and what's going on. It's my personal mission to deny fear's control over my life and actions. Part of that means allowing myself to be more open with people even if I'm afraid of judgment or negativity.

Excluding a few outliers, you've all been exceptionally kind and encouraging. I'm always overwhelmed and astonished with the support that's been shown to me and my creative projects and I appreciate you all. Thank you so much. Thank you for reading through this. Thank you for caring. You're part of why I'm around.

I hope that you're having a lovely day/night/et cetera and if you aren't, you're not alone ❤️.

I'll see you around. 😊 Thanks again,

Albie

[t-hornapple]

Have you ever talked about your art process with a focus on composition and how you block out shape+values? I really admire how you do that in your work, and it’s something I find particularly difficult to do myself, so if you’ve ever posted about it (incl. on your patreon?) I’d love to read it. Thank you!

I haven’t, no one’s ever asked before!

Short answer is that tones can be a lot of trial and error (I don’t always know what will be black vs white vs filled in with stripes to knock it back a bit), and composition is just second nature these days. But I can illustrate my thought process and show you how compositions work with a few examples:

The Knight of the Tapestry has a really busy cloak pattern and, arguably, the details of the armor read quite busy as well. And since the knight and these patterns are the focus, it needs to be surrounded by things that will 1) balance it out and let the eye rest; 2) provide form contrast so we can see the subject clearly.

The cloak is balanced out a lot by the black shadow and the black lining. The white window panes to the left also help give some balance to it all. You could also use the word “contrast” instead of balance—I am contrasting Highly Patterned with no pattern, just black or white. This is what b&w art really makes you good at—instead of balancing color, you really balance the heaviness of an area, and focus on balancing out levels of detail to help guide the eye to the subject.

Compositionally, all the lines around the subject guide to the subject. This is one reason why I like putting so many windows in my work, they’re a really really easy way to get the background to do a lot of heavy lifting for you.

The rule of thirds is… sort of at work here with the window / knight / screen filling up (roughly) thirds of the piece. This breaks below his feet, though, where the composition is split into two, and the horizontal line of the floor is also at the half-way point (though the knight’s feet are slightly closer to a 1/3rd mark horizontally.) Just goes to show, rule of thirds has some wiggle room. If you do struggle with compositions, though, try the rule of thirds. Or try my favorite guy, the Van de Graaff layout. (I will talk about this later if anyone’s interested, though I don’t use it TOO much in my illustration work, but only for book layouts, etc)

This one I struggled a lot with figuring out what should be black or white, and how many tiles to give a pattern. Medieval tiles could be very elaborate, and a lot of extant medieval floors show a multitude of different patterned tiles being used all together in a mad sort of mashup. I tried that—and it was overwhelming. I had to really pick and choose 1) what pattern I was going to use; 2) how many tiles were going to have a pattern. I ended up with this triangle one because the geometric pattern balances out the organic patterns of the cloak. It lets them breathe and be, really, the only very organic pattern in the piece (the quatrefoil cut outs of the screen are arguably organic, but also geometric…). So this was a lot of trail and error. For me, still, tones and black fill are very much a “fuck around and find out” sort of exercise. There’s one I did more recently that was a HUGE trial to figure, and I’d talk about that one, but despite everyone being clothed in it, tumblr keeps banning it when I try to post it. (It is very suggestive, I won’t lie.)

Okay, let’s look at the Martyr’s Cross Club, one with (at first glance) quite odd composition. You “should” put the subject in the middle, right? Or maybe not have him so far out on the left there…? Except he’s not the subject. This is a piece looking at the men enjoying him, so they get more emphasis.

For tone and balancing, the very busy damask (which is based on a real damask by the way from the Met), is the background to the two figures on the right. The right-most one is just in his shirtsleeves, and his hair is just filled with flat black. This balances out/gives contrast to the patterned curtain, and lets the eye rest. The guy next to him, for contrast, gets to have some fun pattern on his coat. The rest of the room is black and white, and the heaviest use of black is on the cross, which is up against a wall without much detail so that I get the maximum contrast possible. It really sticks out, despite there being an insane damask on the right side of the piece.

I think this one is really good for showing how to use patterns/tones/high detail without overwhelming the composition or making it hard for the eye to read. Left to right, it goes: white / black / white / pattern / white / pattern. There’s white buffer between everything, well, not white, and that lets the eye rest, and makes everyone stand out clearly from each other.

As for the composition, this is an interesting one because we have invisible composition lines. The curtain and the cross are the strongest composition lines, but the gazes of the men take us across the piece to the guy on the cross. There’s no line, just the gazes of the subjects. We want to see what they’re seeing. It’s really cool. There aren’t many (or any) compositional lines really leading up to the mirror above the cross, which is why a lot of people miss it the first time they see the piece. It’s a little treat for those who linger.

For me, my eye always rests on the guy at the far right (but maybe just because I think he’s the hottest one in the piece.)

Lastly, we’ll look at The Vase, since this one gets the most comments about its composition (and I cherish them all).

This one follows the same rules as always: pattern and high detail is balanced out by white and black. A geometric pattern (stripes on that ottoman or whatever it is) is right behind an organic pattern, which is also up against a black window. The molding on the mantle is next to rough brick texture. The laurel frame is against a white wall. It breathes. You can wander from pattern to pattern, detail to detail. They all take the center stage—the subject is, after all, the vase itself. The people in the art piece are little bonuses to be discovered as you wander around.

Some of the lines go to the vase. Some of them don’t. This is a piece where the eye wanders a lot, but it never leaves the frame much. You keep getting pulled back in and around by all the weird shapes. I think the invisible striking arc of the crop could also be a composition line that people follow—I don’t, but it’s conceivable. (And of note: the crop is not in the act of striking, but it's being flexed in the guy's hands. That does not probably come across tho)

This sort of composition, where you deliberately fuck with the viewer and pull their gaze to something that usually isn’t the subject, is really fun to do. I don’t think the composition itself is anything weird—but what it highlights is unexpected, which makes it feel weird. I would highly highly suggest people start playing around with stuff like this since it can create a lot of different emotions & really surprise viewers. I don’t think it’s particularly hard, you just have to start fucking around and seeing what works. And when it comes to backgrounds, don’t be afraid of them! They’re your friend & you can use them to do a lot of work for you.

I hope that helps! If anyone has questions feel free to ask, I’m always happy to explain something.

[thevirginwitch]

Super Full Moon in Aquarius - August 1st, 2023

This post was released early over on my Patreon, where you can now sign up for a 7-day free trial! I offer free digital downloads/goodies, early access to my Tumblr posts, exclusive access to drafts and research notes, and free tarot readings - if you like my work and want to show your support, please consider checking it out!

As always, here is all the info you’ll need for the upcoming Super Full Moon on 08/01! We’ll be hosting an event where I’ll go over all this info and a guided meditation over in The Edge of The Forest Discord server (18+ only), - so be sure to join in if you’re interested!

I’m personally very excited for August, as there are a lot of astrological happenings going on - including a Blue Moon at the end of the month! I plan on doing a lot of research regarding Blue Moons in the next week or two, so be on the lookout for that!

SUPER FULL MOON IN AQUARIUS – AUGUST 1ST

Aquarius is one of the most powerful signs for the full moon, as the two go hand-in-hand with sensitivity, intuition, perception and emotions. There is a great sense of balance during this time; it will be rare to see any extremes going on.

You may also feel more passionate during this time, and may seek to learn new things or satiate your need to feed your intellect. This would be a great time to learn something new! Equally, this is also a good time to embrace new perspectives and focus more on “progressive” ideas.

With the Full Moon tugging at our emotions, the influence of Aquarius provides us the support we need to process these emotions, rather than getting swept up in them.

ACTIVITIES

Introspective journaling

Release negative emotions OR celebrate positive emotions and achievements through creative outlets

Ask friends/family about new things they’ve learned recently

Learn/try something new – conduct research on a topic you’re interested in, learn about a new magical technique and implement it into your practice, read a book you’ve been meaning to… the possibilities are endless!

Add something new to your routine

TAROT CARD PROMPTS

Pull several cards representing the “little things” going on in your life. Read into them in great detail. When you feel you have enough info, pull another card to represent the “big picture”. What is the relationship between these cards?

Pull one card to represent the ‘water’ (the moon) during this time period - which represents your emotions, intuition, perception, and sensitivity. Now, pull a card to represent the ‘air’ (Aquarius) - which represents communication, inspiration, and new ideas. How does this energy support you during this time? How does it hinder you?

Pull a card for something that’s hidden in your life right now — this could be an emotion you’re ignoring, a specific person you’ve been ignoring, or something that’s just been hiding underneath your nose this whole time.

Pull 3 cards — one for the way that you perceive yourself, one for the way that you expect others to perceive you, and one for the real way that others perceive you. How does your communication skills relate to these cards?

JOURNALING PROMPTS

What emotions have been coming up more and more for you lately? How can you address them?

What are some “small” things that are bothering you or worrying you right now?

What are some ideas or opinions you’ve heard recently that you’re not particularly fond of? Why is that?

What projects or ideas do you have for this month? Is there anyone in your life that you could call on for help to get these goals accomplished?

What’s something that I used to be very excited about in my life (for example: a certain job, education, personal projects, etc) but has since dwindled? How can I bring that passion back?

[kawaimoonshine]

Art Dump whoo✨

Although I feel like some of these artworks could be posted all by itself/themselves (I'm looking at you Knockout) but then I'd probably forget about it

And I also felt that an art dump would be appropriate as I've been rather inactive lately!

Tho I would love to be more active here! As well, I feel like Instagram isn't giving me some justice with showing the artworks to more ppl (and pretty much mainly shows for my followers and there's very few that are my active ones).. darn the whatever is going on with it!

Anyway, about the artworks themselves, the first one is a gift for myself, then there is a silly lil Knockout comic I made from a one-liner prompt or dialogue prompt whichever! The next one is of my new fursona, Zoey, in Halloween themed, and of course a birthday gift for my friend! Oktobartz on Instagram and the last one is a headshot icon of one of my older OCs; Cillienna the Skele

I'm not gonna into detail with Cillienna as she's the most recent I've drawn (too many WIPs god damnit lol also check out my patreon, I won't mention it for a while now)

You can kinda see the inconsistency of the shading between some of these, I already explained/ranted about it on Deviantart and I won't bother to explain it right now but to cut a long story short, I'm not that happy with my shadings! Partly bc idk what I'm doing, I'm just trying xD and it's only fixed if I actually put the effort in learning how to "properly" shade! Like looking at tutorials and references

Alright, enough of me rambling this is getting unnecessarily long lol until next time!~

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS (INCLUDING ETSY), Early May 2024

Welcome to my latest coverage of Etsy and other ecommerce news, early May edition. I am off for a short vacation Monday, so thought it best to get this report out now.

Want to get shorter versions of these reports but more frequently? Become a paying member of my Patreon. I will be adding new resources and content there once I get back from my trip.

Want to get these posts via email? Sign up here.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Etsy’s first quarter financial report for 2024 was not great, but that was expected.  The real news is that they no longer expect the current quarter to be much better [Tumblr post by me]. Also, they are still planning on changing search. 

Canadian shipping service Chit Chats is shutting a dozen offices in 4 provinces, starting April 29 through May 15 [LinkedIn Post by me]. It appears they expanded too fast and have much more competition now than when they first opened, so the additional locations were not very busy. Some may be replaced by drop off points. There is a thread in the Etsy forum with more info.

Etsy CEO Josh Silverman made over $16 million in 2023, roughly the same amount as 2022 [pdf; see page 56]. Almost all of that was stock options. Chief Financial Officer Rachel Glaser made over $8 million, as did Chief Technology Officer Rachana Kumar. 

ETSY NEWS 

Etsy buyers are receiving emails asking them to rate their recent purchases, as discussed in this Etsy forum thread. The owner of Garden Path Rosaries at Peter's Square Marketplace sent me the screenshot below, which popped up after they clicked the email to confirm they had received the order.

These questions may be connected to details popping in recent reviews, even though the popups and emails say the feedback “won’t be shared with the seller or shown on Etsy.” See this screenshot from Kathie from PillowDetail’s shop:

It’s also possible these review details come from a different test, or even from the act of leaving a review, as some buyers report getting similar options when they leave public reviews. [As is usual with Etsy, they change a lot of things without explaining how any of it works.]

Etsy seems to have deleted most Messages in seller spam folders without any warning, and some shop owners are not happy about it. [The only one I have left is a recent Message that Etsy moved there erroneously.]

Etsy is still promoting its TurboTax discount to Canadian sellers - even though the integration only works in the US. [post by me on LinkedIn]

Canadians no longer need to have a Canada Post Solutions for Small Business account to use Etsy Labels - and the discount for Tracked Packet to the US is very good. [Patreon post by me]

NBC News calls out Etsy for AI crochet patterns that don’t work. While the article blames the images being made by AI, I’ll bet the patterns were too. 

Despite this type of criticism over allowing AI items to be sold on the site, Silverman told a recent investors conference that he is still all in on AI in many forms. “Many sellers on the platform are generating content in collaboration with a machine, Silverman said, and a large amount of new item listings are generated in collaboration with GenAI. But given that Etsy is a platform for handmade goods, the boundary between man-made and machine-made required some clarification. “We had some discussions about, is that handmade or not? Does that belong on Etsy? And we decided, ultimately, that it was—in the same way that electronic dance music, the most popular form of music in the world right now, is collaborations between humans and synthesizers,” said Silverman. “I think this collaboration between humans and machines to generate art is actually going to be the next frontier.” He did admit that the search chatbot tested on the app many months back was poorly received. [The article is really worth reading, in my opinion.]

Gift Mode has now launched worldwide [text with embedded video], and gift teasers will soon include videos from the giver. The teasers have been growing in popularity, with 7% of gift orders in March using the teaser. 

The Marketplace Trends report for spring & summer is out, and apparently there has been a 266% increase in searches for divorce gifts. Even more impressive is a ”2,159% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for lawn games”. Skim through the whole report if you want to know what is trending up. 

Etsy released 2 different “impact goal” posts on Earth Day, which included Reverb and Depop. While you can read a lot more detail in the 2023 Integrated Annual Report [pdf], here are the individual posts: 

Environmental impact goals: reduced carbon emissions, on track to be net zero carbon emissions by 2030. “[S]ellers created 108 million listings with circular attributes on the Etsy, Depop and Reverb marketplaces, including vintage, upcycled, used and secondhand items.” The document mentions increasing Disaster Response Grants (for U.S sellers only) and “open source resource guides that help makers access climate-related disaster information and funding.” 2024 goals are listed. 

Social impact goals: discusses gender, race and disability representation in its workforce, and funding for “creative entrepreneurs from low-income and underserved communities.” 

Related to the environmental impact goals, Etsy published a disaster guide (mostly US-focussed), and put out a (very short) funding guide for US sellers at the same time.  

ECOMMERCE NEWS (minus social media)

Amazon

Amazon added over 5 million sellers since 2018, 2 million of them in the US. That's only about 100,000 more than Etsy in the same time period, comparing 4th quarter 2018 to the end of 2023. 

There are now Amazon shoppable livestreams on Prime Video and Freevee. “Amazon Live’s FAST channel will feature 24/7 programming from popular creators and celebrities, such as reality TV stars …Brands like Tastemade and The Bump will also host streams to sell their products.”

Amazon drone delivery is ending in California, but continues in Texas and will soon start in Arizona. 

Amazon’s first quarter was great, but note that ⅔ of its operating income comes from the cloud services, not ecommerce. 

BigCommerce

BigCommerce announced many new features, including more country localization, new builder options, syncing inventory through Feedonomics, and of course, AI. 

eBay

eBay is now testing an Explore feature to put together a clothing shopping feed with AI. I don’t have this in Canada yet, but it has been spotted in the US and the UK, and the links in the article do work in Canada. I selected a bunch of women’s options and was presented with a feed that had a lot of men’s clothing, so this appears to work about as well as Etsy’s Gift Mode, which Liz Morton compared it to.

eBay’s sales and revenue were both up slightly in the first quarter, while active buyers were down 1% from the year before. 

Shopify

Shopify is reorganizing Support, in part to inject more AI into the process. Employees are worried about possible layoffs. 

Walmart

Cart.com is now helping new sellers start on Walmart Marketplace, and is offering multi-channel syncing for existing businesses as well. 

All Other Marketplaces

Vinted has turned a profit for the first time, riding the trend of interest in secondhand clothing.

Ruby Lane will be increasing its shop fee to $45 from $25 as of June 1, and will be removing the rebate for listing 15 new items monthly. 

Bonanza’s annual Spring sale runs May 8th to 15th. The coupon code sellers must activate is SpringSale2024. 

The EU has forced Shein under the umbrella of the Digital Services Act.”The European Commission specifically noted new requirements for Shein around illegal products on its site. The company will have four months to submit a risk assessment report and will need to introduce mitigation measures against “the listing and sale of counterfeit goods, unsafe products, and items that infringe on intellectual property rights.”

Shipping 

Labels service Shippo is introducing paid tiers for any businesses printing over 30 labels a month through its service. Anyone printing 30-200 labels a month will be charged $19 monthly; under that is free.

Canadian customers - who are already being charged 5 cents USD per label - are also affected, although we get fewer features and carriers [Shippo just confirmed this via support ticket.] Sounds like there are cheaper options for most of us elsewhere now.

[remnantsofthepast-if]

Monthly Update - October 2023

Hello there! October has been quite a... peculiar month for me. It's been a rather tough month, to be honest. The heat has been unbearable, and I've had several personal issues crop up, which have taken a toll on my health from the beginning. Even today, I'm still not fully recovered. To summarize, life haha.

Due to this twist in my life, I haven't written as much as I had planned. Nevertheless, I estimate that I have a little less than half of the chapter written, which I’m glad! Though there are many things to consider that will require review and plenty of testing when the editing process starts. But, even if I haven't accomplished as much as I would have liked, I'm happy to see progress!

Apart from this, there are other things I have done and am proud of. The first, and perhaps the less 'important,' if I can put it that way, is that I continue to tweak some scenes from previous chapters to make them more coherent and true to the story I want to tell. These are just a few details, but they make a difference, I assure you! In all of this, I've been contemplating changing the narrative style of the story. I started writing Remnants of The Past in second person because that's how most interactive novels I've read are written (in fact, my favourite is written in second person). However, for some reason, I've recently started writing short stories in first person, and I find it charming too. It's not something I'll change anytime soon, but if I were to, what would you prefer, to read Remnants of The Past in first person or second person?

The second, and the one I like the most, is that I've almost finished all the character drawings! Leire/Luca, Rayco/Gara, and Ada/Omar are done. Only Albert/Lavina are left to add to the game's information, which I think I'll be able to do this very week if everything goes well! They should be ready in a couple of days. *cough* I also have a drawing of the ‘nameless’. *cough* After that, I'll do the same for non-romance characters. Enid deserves her own drawing too!

This brings me to the third thing I've been working on, which is a Patreon page. The page is nearly complete, with its information, subscription tiers, and a couple of posts. However, it hasn't been published yet and won't be for a while yet. I'd like there to be at least some content for all the tiers before making it public. Among that content there will be character illustrations, Q&A sessions with characters, extra scenes, special and/or thematic scenes outside of the main story, and more. It will take time, but I hope to share it soon!

--

Happy Halloween if you celebrate it, and have a fantastic month! See you at the end of November ;)

[mary-is-writing]

Patreon, moving and trying stuff for the heck of it

The tl;dr is that my writing and tag games are moving to Patreon, for free. I'm still using this blog as my main and a writeblr. You'll likely won't see more writing here but you'll probably see lots of links to patreon posts. Since I'm new to Patreon, I'm open to advice about how to use it, if I should use it at all, and anything else. More details under the cut owo)/

You probably know that they've started approaching AI in here, which is a big turn off for creators. It's me, I'm creators.

While my main blog here works both as a personal and a writeblr, I've been thinking if, how and where will I migrate my writing to, specifically excerpts and small stuff like writing related tag games. After thinking for a while and getting reassurance from some writer friends, I've decided to migrate it to Patreon.

What does that mean? I hear you ask. It means that all the excerpts, character designs and art related stuff of my wips that would've been shared directly to Tumblr will now be shared directly there. Other stuff like updates on the state of the writing progress I'm making, that's not my writing itself, will most likely continue to be posted on Tumblr since that's kinda the only social platform I use.

So it'll be behind a paywall? You may wonder. No, it will not: all of those things I mentioned earlier (excerpts, lines, character designs and more) will be free to read and see for everyone. After all, they'd be free if they were in Tumblr, so I want to keep it like that.

You won't post them in Tumblr anymore, then? Like I said, no; not directly at least. I plan to try and see how it goes with me linking the patreon post to my Tumblr every time I upload there. It may be redundant to do all this just to post it here anyway, but it's a way to avoid the Tumblr AI that makes me feel more at peace than just an opt-out button.

What about writeblr tag games? A valid question, in a lot of those you have to share your writing. For now my plan is to do them in bulk so I can have one big post with all of them there, every other month or so, instead of a lot of tiny ones, and then link it over here. I think that'll work better, and it'll also give me time to stock on them. In other words, wether we're mutuals or not here, please tag me in things!! It'll take a while, but I promise I'll get to it. Eventually.

Why Patreon though? Well, I don't need to tell you that we live in capitalist times, and as a recent college graduate without a job that wants to be an indie writer, Patreon is a good option for me to make some sort of revenue. However, I don't work fast enough to show stuff on Patreon as rewards on a regular basis, that is, if you don't count stuff like small excerpts and tag games (which are sometimes one and the same), nor do I have a massive following that'd be willling to wait more between rewards. This is the second reason why I decided to migrate things there; first, to avoid the AI; second, to have something to show for my writing and do a little nudge to say Hey, if you like what you read, there's a way right here to support me so I can continue it. I could use other platforms like Ko-Fi, but if I'm gonna put time into something that allows me to earn some spare cash, I prefer it to be the one that'd let me have those earnings on a more regular basis.

Unless Ko-Fi has changed how it works, in which case I'll be checking it out later.

I don't have a set goal nor does my income currently depend on this, so I think it's a good time to start posting things to a Patreon without stressing myself that "it has to work". In the end, this is all just me trying things around to figure out what works and what not. If it doesn't work and people don't want to do an extra click to read my stuff, like I said, it's not like there's a lot of pressure on me right now. I've had a few years living with a Just Do It mentality and this is a extension of that, so for now I'll try this out, see where it goes, and how it develops.

I have a few things to tweak and prepare for the Patreon page to be ready for launching, so if you have any suggestions about how to use Patreon or if my approach is wrong and you know a better platform for this, please do tell me! Like I said, this is all just trial and error, so I'll learn as I do.

Thanks for reading!!

[yokozii]

personal opinion: maxis match players started alot of drama and set bar for alot of simblr chaos & self imposing judgment regarding their sims-blogs that people have experienced because of how 'gatekept' these players feel the game should be aesthetic wise. the majority of them are very young and old even who constantly have pushed the agenda that if you were not MM or your content whether it was cc creating, lookbooks, rendering, sims gameplay. if it wasn't MM it was not acceptable, appreciated, and just unprovokedly-judged. ex. I make fat sims. it's niche but alpha players make realistic sims also, as well as other alternative style players, alot of simblr is MM and while they are more catered to supernatural occult gameplay, alpha players are not. it's mostly realism & how realistic you can get your game to be. rendering sims have played a big part in alpha players posting, so much so creators offer blend/object files simply for rendering posts. majority MM do not like individualism or anything different or maxismix / alphamix players which cause more division, most alpha players avoid these spaces and retaliate for that reason. alpha aesthetic simply doesn't match with most MM content and I get why most of them avoid these spaces 100% mm players thrive in the likeminded spaces more than alpha players who have separated into subcommunities that still coexist in the 'sims community' more so that even modders who are not CC creators you see have leaned more so to the MM aesthetic than alpha because it has been seen as more appealing to the audience of majority or shall I say actively present because alpha players did move away from mingling with them. we rarely see tutorials and mods that give gameplay which I love, have an alpha aesthetic, enjoyed by all. everything is MM or MM - acceptable which makes alpha simmers seem left out in regards to who the content is for. food mods, plant mods, utility in game mods are almost all MM. patreons, websites that have MM themes do well even if in my opinion even if the items are not good, you will see it posted EVERYWHERE that 1 item. it's because it's the majority. Alpha content I've seen for download can have quality and it will still only be a few downloads or for a specific playerstyle or maybe not as known, the traction doesn't live up to MM. recently I've noticed there have been more alpha players who make detailed alpha aesthetic content and script mods and are doing so well, and those type of mods are slowly growing which I love, diversity & detail is everything for a fun modded game imo. while I am ALPHA+MM player MM has had the spotlight of being more creative and accepted around simblr when there are alpha players who are just as creative the resources & community is not there for them to create and produce mods of that same type as MM because of being pushed away from helping spaces and from even knowing where to find information to create and optimized their content like not having large file sizes + keeping quality to knowing how to make proper weights & learning XML etc, the knowledge is not exposed to alpha players as it is MM & other sims spaces that exist that aren't popular seem to just fall out of their view or interest. On the flip side there are MM players who want to play with alpha style cc and feel as though they can't because of how it would make their game look too different or 'ugly' or feeling of their posts being judged by PEOPLE. the fact the two styles are considered NICHE and not as COEXISTENT in simblr and at the same time makes some feel a type of way shows the division of simblr as a 'sims community' (there are many other communities outside of this one people don't realize) shows how sad it is that it exists this way. I wish sims4 players in general were more open to just playing the game how you want without the need to feel RESTRICTED by one or the other. there's too many cool and fun mods out here that exist that people are not talking about enough for both sides to enjoy. it's no community in it and it's all based upon the aesthetics

I know it’s a broad term, but for clarification, “aesthetic quality” for me can be summed up by use of third party shaders ( Reshade ), Photoshop, Blender, high quality graphics, pretty much anything that requires extra work for the aesthetic grind, but if you can think of anything else ( attractive sims, elaborate builds, drawn on details ) feel free to add it in the tags, along with an explanation for your answer, if you feel up for it of course.

This might be the opportunity you’re looking for to get some feelings around this very elephant in the room question off your chest.

[a-v-j]

They freaking found me

Ok, so remember how i basically moved out from my old house about 3 months ago? I just wish to be forgotten but noooooo.

One ugly face i hoped to not see again till the day of their funeral, showed in front of my doorstep this morning. I DONT KNOW HOW, but FUUUUUUU

They gonna keep showing up now, threat me again with bullshit and demand some money that barely last ME a month, since they know where i am.

I need to accumulate about $500 to move again, the other rents here are more expensive than the one i currently live in

So people please commission me. I know i know i still got a list and is slow with it but i cant stand the idea of them coming back to harass me again, as if the slander they tell about me to my old neighborhood wasnt enough, all while playing victim. URGHHHHhhhh.

I really hate disclosing my real life issue but i really dont have money to do something about it and i don't want to be in debt to rl friends 'cause they are also broke

Update: we're still short on the goal but I guess a good news is that I figured out how i got found. Some snitch from the old neighborhood saw me and tattled like GOSH that's none of their business, man! Im trying to settle some business with them and im trying not to be violent, gotta keep my private life unsullied

Anyways, been on the process of finding a new home from the listing but so far not enough funds yet.

Update: i, uh, landed myself a job and training starts in about a week from now. We'll see where this will take me

Commission details can be found here

Paypal here

For support, my Patreon here(you'll get a glamrock bonnie sticker!)

Pasting rules here for everybody to see(for my page only. I could only pin one post but i have to paste my rules because there are followers who doesn't know these rules)

RULES FOR NEW COMERS

Most especially if it’s a newly-made account and/or empty blogs or obviously recently filled with with likes from my work to not look empty

*Don’t ask me for requests or free drawings, i only do that for my friends(or announced events)

*Make good first impression(dont just compliment me that won’t work)(whether if it’s dm or ask), otherwise you’ll be labeled as troll alt acc and will be blocked after 3 violations(no notices, no warning). Automatic block for those who intentionally violate rules

*Know my work first before trying to befriend me(genuine interest in my work=genuine interest in me)

*Know im not always nice but will try to keep things friendly as much as possible

*It’s ok to make a mistake, but don’t make the same mistake twice

*Take note i occasionally make 18+ skeleton materials so when you happen to bump into one and it’s totally not your cup of tea, know that it’s on you for not reading this pinned post

*I’m very keen in details, so better get names right if you want me to have a good impression on you

*Don’t do “what’s everyone’s reaction to this” “what do you think of my oc” in my Ask box. Ask one to two characters only because like you, i get tired drawing too. Unless the question including multiple characters of mine is answerable with words then ok

*Note that i answer asks in three ways; with words only(occasional old art for visuals), drawings(static or animated) or not answering at all. So in such case i dont answer immediately with words, then your ask might be answered with a drawing(or with a gif if it’s taking longer, no promises) or has been ignored due to technical difficulties that i don’t want to answer it.

*Do not submit to me your oc that isnt even related to my characters, im not gonna be some advertisement ad to showcase your stuff in my blog even if that’s not your intention and im not an art teacher who you be submitting your art to. Im sorry, i just can’t give any genuine opinion on things i didnt make or not interested in(it requires me to think harder than i should and I don’t want that) but im not saying your art is bad or anything

*Jesus, one ask from one person at a time. If curiosity gets the best of ya, compile it in one ask. Youre giving me quite a workout, kid

*If you get blocked, im sorry, but you didnt read the rules

*Do not ask me for my favorite things because my head usually doesnt keep record of what they are, I would try answer my friends of course

*When sending an ask addressed to a character, make sure they are residents of Avjverse. See the full list here**. Asking a character i don't have will result in a block under the belief youre just deliberately doing it on purpose to spite me. So read for your own sake

**note: not everyone in this list are available for Asks

*auto-block for empty ass blogs with default avatar picture for profile pic cuz ur sus. I suggest putting content in your blogs first other wise dont follow me

A mini guide on how to get around AVJ, brought to you by 10:12,07/01/22 AVJ

Updated by 17:23,07/08/22 AVJ

Updated by 01:6,07/10/22 AVJ

Updated by 11:02,07/14/22 AVJ

Updated by 21:52,07/23/22 AVJ

Updated by 22:52,08/01/22 AVJ

[theramseyloft]

How are you considering "reopening" the loft if it was never closed? You've been sending birds out and are planning on sending more out. Why do you have time to publicly address this in the server but never answer asks publicly? Really feels like you're trying to hide from accountability despite asking to be called out.

To my dear apparent mystery Patron:

"You've been sending birds out and are planning to send more out."

Chiffon went out last Monday. 3/7/22

My flock started showing symptoms that Thursday (3/10/22), and I thought it was salt poisoning.

What kind of future vision do you think I have?

The Ice Boys departure was planned when I still thought they were salt poisoned.

Their adopter's greeting to me (on the 12th) was:

"I'm so sorry to hear about the troubles that you have had with your flock recently :( Have you found a home for those surrendered ice boys yet? If not, I could definitely take them."

They know.

They follow this blog.

And we have been in communication this entire time.

"How are you considering "reopening" the loft if it never closed?"

I thought it went without saying that while birds were sick, the loft was closed.

So I didn't feel it necessary to say it.

I put up a bunch of adds just days before this happened, I'm sure you remember.

I have been responding to emails and calls about them with "I am sorry for the inconvenience, but we are dealing with a bacterial outbreak yet to be identified."

Like a sane person.

"Why do you have time to publicly address this in the server, but never answer asks publicly?"

Because those Day in The Loft note are my personal records.

My Patreon Discord is a behind the scenes tour of what goes on in my loft as it happens, so that is just the most convenient and helpful place to write any observations I want to remember.

The manual maintenance tasks and reporting them to you took me seven hours today.

I genuinely do not have the time to get to much of anything else.

It's easier to screenshot the Discord Server and post it here (see previous post) than write up a second sufficiently detailed report.

"Really feels like you're trying to hide from accountability despite asking to be called out."

If that is what you think of me, why are you in my Patron server?

You see the updates in real time.

You can't even claim not to have known that I was screenshotting to post here, because you sent this after I posted the first update.

What was the point of this?