#so take what i say with a grain of salt

[vangoofy]

i will say that with fr bringing in baby skins we should get another way to obtain gems. more and more aspects of the site are becoming dependent on having a steady income of gems and if you aren't an active skin/accent maker it takes an incredibly long time to accumulate enough gems to afford the more "fanciful" items unless you're willing to spend actual money on the site.

[theunknowncowboy]

The real crime of Neon White's writing is how blatantly homoerotic White and Yellow are and that I as the player cannot choose to kiss Yellow.

And spoilers

That Neon Yellow gets killed like not even 1/3 of the way into the game. Like fuckin fr? In his dying words he is being gay as shit and you still kill him that early? Fuck off.

[marxism-leninism-utenaism]

personally i think baldur's gate 3 is pretty mediocre as an eroge, and also as an rpg. it mainly excels as an excuse to have spent that money on that graphics card

[sparkycinnamon]

have you ever wondered why henry and june are (most likely) 10 but they're in middle school. like that isnt possible unless they got moved up a grade

(disclaimer: in my hometown (where i lived for pretty much most of my life so far), there was no middle school and I don't really know if there are middle schools in my current town, so my knowledge on middle schools is limited and mostly comes from google searches.)

From what I know, middle schools in the U.S typically have 11-13 year olds attending, so yeah, it seems kind of weird.

Like, yeah, it's possible that they were moved up a grade for whatever reason, but Henry's grades are implied to be less than stellar in certain moments, so I honestly doubt it.

[heavenlyhischier]

https://x.com/hischiersdevils/status/1834055081919975692?s=46

Have you seen this?😆

i have! but i believe it was incorrectly translated 😅 i think he was saying that Jack’s hands (which i’m pretty sure he means the way he handles the stick) are smooth and fluid

[bookwyrminspiration]

idk if anyone asked you yet, but what do you think about lavacake?

I did talk about them a little here, but my general thoughts are it seems like a perfectly fine ship; no strong opinions good or bad

I do think it's one that's more difficult to sell/work with, given the lack of concrete interaction/similarities between Fitz and Marella. Like titz. it's harder to create a dynamic that isn't cookie cutter fluff when you're starting with so little

that is, of course, we're presuming a canon basis. and if we are, I do worry a little about Marella's gossiping. she's consistently bringing up other people's lives and relationships in ways they aren't comfortable with, like the poking at sophitz in stellarlune. i don't think that would endear Marella to Fitz, so i think we'd need extenuating circumstances or a bit of time in canon before they formed any sort of bond

For me lavacake is like. yeah sure. go wild. i'll need a bit more and convincing to throw my lot in, but its harmless and i'm glad people are having fun. you know?

[oh-katsuki]

im gonna SAY SOMETHING somewhat controversial!!! but it’s my opinion!!! 

when it comes to 2D animated characters in 3D spaces, ufotable runs CIRCLES around mappa. granted mappa is a smaller studio, but that being said.. the way ufotable works it’s 3D rendering of backgrounds and then places 2D characters in it is (imo) leagues better than mappa. that being said... mappa excels way more in ambient lighting than ufotable does. 

neither is bad at what they do at ALL, but my opinion is that ufotable blows mappa out of the water with this new demon slayer season. it works it’s characters into the spaces so well, the colors are fantastic, they’ve got gorgeous textures on their 3D animated subjects and backgrounds so as to not lose the stylistic choices present in the 2D animation. that’s not to say mappa is bad by ANY means. mappa’s animation of both jujutsu kaisen and chainsaw man is NOTABLY good, just in a different way that tends to stick within the 2D animation realm. they’ve got a fantastic handle on their line weight (esp in chainsaw man) that makes the animation feel more “real”, whereas ufotable leans heavily into it’s stylized line work. 

there was really no need for me to compare these two studios since they make different things, but im a big fan of both of them and i am fascinated by thinking about stylistic choices made by studios as part of a pattern. they’re both great in their own right. 

anyway.... ufotable outdid themselves with this new demon slayer season. it’s fucking stunning. i can’t get over how nicely their backgrounds and 3D animated objects work with their 2d animated characters. 

[bulliness]

whats like your process for writing i have ideas but ive just never like started writing ive tried planning but i get so bogged down and idk youre a writer so im just wondering what you do to like get started and stay motivated i guess (dont post if off anon btw thank you…)

For me, I either plan out so much and then write and then go back and plan more, or I do freewriting of an idea and just go back and edit and revise it until I like it!

For the first one, I suggest separating your planning into sections that you can switch between, instead of trying to tackle a whole story at once!

For example, my onenote sections are summary of the story (the blurb that would be on the back of a book or the description on wattpad) -> setting (time period, place, general history of the area) -> characters (work from main characters first, then add other characters as you write about them) -> outline (timeline of events and who is involved, climax, main story points) -> prologue -> chapters. This is how I'm working through my main story. It makes it so you can go back and easily edit information about your story as you get new ideas, and switching between each section once you get bored or overwhelmed with one is easy peasy.

For the second one I do, I just write down whatever! Incomplete sentences, random plot points unconnected, bits of dialog! And once I get the idea out of my head, I go back and edit it. And then I edit it again.......and then I add more......and then I edit that too!

I get a lot of story ideas in my head that turn out to be nothing, but it's hard to determine whether or not you can complete a thought when it's bouncing around in your brain. So I definitely suggest freewriting!

And for your last bit about staying motivated, I don't :) don't try to force yourself to write if you are struggling! Step back for a few hours, days, weeks, or months if you have to! Start a new story, look up writing prompts to do, practice certain aspects like dialog or scene descriptions by writing out what people in a painting are doing!! But don't ever force yourself to write because you will go back in editing and realize that it suuuucks bad.

[joshneedsspace]

Particulary I hate terfs who are like "oh but they didnt go through the trauma of being a woman so theyre not!" like disrespectfully fuck off with that shit lmao. Trauma gatekeepers over here choosing to define being a women with how much you have to suffer, as if there arent outside and systemic reasons behind why women are put through more to begin with

[finally-got-a-diagnosis]

Hello! I've been really debating if I would want to major in computer programming or art. I have an interest in digital art, graphic design, and computer programing. What major do you think would be best for me?

Since I personally don't know you I won't be able to fully answer your question. However, I will say this. It depends on what you want to do.

I'd highly recommend doing some research on the potential jobs that you could get for each major. Also looking into what a day working in each career would include also helps with the elimination process. It'll help you to envision what your potential future might look like.

Computer programming was a major of interest to me as well but I ultimately decided against it because it seemed boring. (sorry computer programmers of Tumblr)

If any of my followers have any other advice feel free to share.

[hellenhighwater]

I have a maybe silly question, but uh. How do I become a more interesting person? I have a horrible habit of staying home and not going out and doing things. How do I not do that? This feels very goofy as a thing to ask, but you appear to have an interesting life, therefore making you a reliable source. Do with this what you will, and please say hi to your creatures! Here is my mischief goblin Jammer for your troubles:

It may seem backwards, but...don't try to be interesting, try to be interested.

Find things you find engaging, and then find ways to pursue them. It's best if you can find some kind of group or community that also does the thing you want to try--if you're struggling to find things you like, then just start trying things local to you. You've probably got a local birdwatching group, or a sewing circle, or a community theater, or a historical society, or a comic shop that does game nights, or a group of regulars volunteering at an animal shelter, or stained glass classes, or a makerspace, or any number of little communities that are out there. Try them! The first meeting will be the worst. And if you hate it, you don't have to keep at it, and trying will give you a fun story. Sooner or later you will land on something you like and then...keep turning up.

And if you're not finding things local and in person, then just take up whatever strikes your fancy at home. If you could be incredible at any three hobbies, what would they be? What's stopping you from starting those hobbies? You're going to fail at them when you start but you're already failing at them now by not starting, so what do you have to lose?

Here's the thing: nobody wants to talk with someone who's just singing their own victories. The best stories are the ones where we tried something new and different and silly and strange and maybe messed it up, but had fun. And the best stories are shared--ask other people about the things they're into, be interested and engaged and maybe see if they're open to teaching you a little, if their interests seem fun to you. It's not about being interesting, it's about sharing passion.

So find the things you're passionate about, and keep at them even after you've failed, and the rest will follow.

And pet your cat, he's doing his job so well!

[expergoe]

ROGER FEDERER and RAFAEL NADAL after their 2022 Laver Cup doubles match, the final match of Federer's career.

[grayisblogging]

‘gotham gazette’ newspaper promo for ‘the penguin’ hints at harvey dent addition to the universe— “is our legal system dented beyond repair?” + riddler crumbs :>

[thelaurenshippen]

finally taking the time to read through the SAG agreement summary and oof, I hope they have an AI town hall soon because...well, there are things to discuss!

so, in case folks are curious, here are my immediate takeaways from the deal as a SAG actor, a SAG producer, and person who is not any kind of expert but spends a lot of time being skeptical of contracts I sign. this is a summation/commentary, not a holistic breakdown of every point, nor even an in-depth discussion of the points I do talk about. and it is, of course, in no way legal advice or voting advice.

this post is already maybe the longest post I've ever written on tumblr (lol) and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. to be clear, nothing I'm saying here represents how I'm going to vote, how I think other actors should vote, or my be-all-end-all stance on a particular issue. this is me reading through, flagging what concerns me, and asking myself questions. and I'm here to take your questions too! though of course my expertise is limited.

(what?? something I wrote got annoying long?? in my tumblr? it's more likely, etc. huge write-up after the cut)

the good

self-tape stuff: this is one of the more niche/the thing that the general public will find least interesting, but they've put in a lot of provisions to make sure self-tape auditions have limits (# of pages, no stunts, no nudity, doesn't have to be professionally shot, etc.) which is amazing because these types of auditions have gotten out of control since the pandemic. this feels like a great gain

data transparency: in no world did I think the streamers were ever going to agree to any data sharing with either the wga or sag so even though the data is limited, this still feels huge to me.

folks who sing and dance will be paid for both of those things now, which is great

they've added MLK day and Juneteenth as holidays (about time)

a performer cannot be required to translate their own lines

principal performers are required to be given hair and makeup consultation or reimbursed for obtaining their own services - this seems like a small thing, but it's being put in here pretty much entirely because HMU services have generally been appalling when it comes to textured hair/a variety of skin tones. there's also stuff in here about working to hire more diverse HMU artists

it looks like it's going to be easier/provide a path for folks getting IMDb credits even if they're not credited on screen

miscellany: there's a bunch of gains in wage increases, P&H increases, relocation fees, franchise language etc. that all seem good to me, though my limited knowledge on those subjects prevents me from going in depth on them.

this is not important, but it tickled me, there's a term to replace all instances of "telegraph" in the contract with "email & text" which like...why has it taken us thirty years to do that lol.

the "...hm..."

intimacy coordinators: oof. when I watched the press conference SAG gave, I was fucking thrilled when they said that the new agreement required folks to hire intimacy coordinators for nudity and simulated sex scenes. that was almost reason enough for me to vote for it tbh - not requiring it is the exact reason I voted no on our last contract. however, reading the contract summary now, the exact language is: "Producer must use best efforts to engage an Intimacy Coordinator for scenes involving nudity or simulated sex and will consider in good faith any request by a performer to engage an Intimacy Coordinator for other scenes. Producer shall not retaliate against a performer for requesting an Intimacy Coordinator." this....sucks. "best efforts" and "good faith" are not the same as "required". IMO, an intimacy coordinator is the same thing as having a stunt coordinator or, like, any number of health and safety requirements. OSHA doesn't say you must "in good faith" put your "best effort" to providing fire exits. it's great that performers can request coordinators for any kind of scene, and this is still the strongest language we've ever had in a contract but....c'mon guys.

residuals: look, I can't speak to these new terms in any concrete way. there are increases, there are bonuses for streaming success, there's a whole thing about a fund regarding those successes that I need explained to me more in depth, but overall, it looks like we made some in-roads here. as someone who employs actors under digital distribution contracts that has no residuals (podcasts), I know how genuinely cumbersome the unholy trifecta of "views-success-profit" can be (as in views do not equal success, success does not equal profit, etc.). I also have no sympathy when the majority of companies dealing with that cumbersome trifecta are massive media conglomerates. anyway, long story short, idk if this is good enough, I'm hoping to attend the next info meeting sag has.

the bad

the new hair/makeup provisions are explicitly for principal actors. while I hope it leads to better, more inclusive HMU services all around I haaaate that this implies supporting or background actors (who oftentimes also have to sit in HMU) don't deserve the consideration. (then again, background actors are usually required to do their own HMU/bring their own costumes, but for productions where that's not the case, the same HMU provisions should apply IMO)

as with every contract, there's language that could be stronger, clarity that needs to exist, and important things missing - but this isn't the final contract and I'm not a lawyer, so I'm gonna leave that stuff to the experts.

but, "lauren", you say, "what about all the AI stuff? where does that go?" well, reader, I was planning on including that in the above but it's the hot-button issue right now and I think it's wickedly complicated, so I wanted to break it down separately, after I had a chance to point out all the good-bad-in-between stuff that's not getting talked about.

a note: in my career, I've learned there's two big things to keep in mind when reading a contract you might sign:

what is the worst case interpretation of this language (thank you to my lawyer, prince among men, for teaching me how to do this in practice (that said, anything I say here is not legal advice, he'd also want me to say that lol))

what are you willing to lose/compromise on/what are the limits of your pragmatism? contracts are not about a company giving you everything you want out of the goodness of their heart - it is always a compromise. pragmatism has to be a part of the equation.

so, with that said, I'm going to play a little devil's advocate here, and a) try to find the good/the pragmatic and b) catastrophize the worst case scenario. but first, it might be handy to look at this SAG infographic for some basic definitions. let's go.

the AI good

a ton of stuff here requires consent. that is not a small thing, and the consent continues even after your death (whether it was a yes or no; though this can be complicated by your estate/your union)

the language does establish that the consent must be a separate signing from the employment contract, even if its in the contract, which is great (but more on that below - timing matters)

actors often do get paid for use of their digital replicas, though it's different based on the use/type of replica.

the actor must be provided with a "reasonably specific description of the intended use". this language is vaguer than I would like, because it allows producers to decide what "reasonably specific" and "intended" means - there's always going to be some vagueness when it comes to this specific thing, but a good start would be for producers to require not blanket consent, but conditional consent for each significant use of digital replicas.

if the replicas are being used in other mediums, that must also be consented to, thank god.

replicas cannot be used in place of background actor counts on a given day - if I'm understanding this correctly, this means a production can't just have a bunch of fake background actors by themselves, they have to engage real people up to a certain number first (which in this new contract is 25 for TV and 85 for movies). we're already filling in background with digital people or copy-pasting of the same crowd over and over and have been doing so since at least the late 90s, so it's good we're continuing to put up boundaries around that.

the AI "...hm..."

it's unclear (to me) when an actor can be asked to consent. IMO, everything is meaningless if the consent is happening as part of regular contract negotiations. these things have to happen when - and only when - the actor has already been engaged in a role and feels empowered to say no

the use of independently created replicas (replicas pulled from existing footage, not created by the actor) being allowed without consent under first amendment reasoning - this is obviously concerning a lot of people bc first amendment arguments are so broad. that said, there's a pragmatism part of me that understands this is already happening/has been happening for a while and used in ways I think are perfectly fine - I was just watching the new episode of For All Mankind (one of the best TV shows right now!) and it's an alternate history, which meant that in the opening scenes of this season they had some bonkers good deep fakes of Al Gore saying stuff he never said. I think that's okay to do in a fiction show that imagines a different US history! "but Lauren", you might be saying, "Al Gore isn't a member of SAG!" are you sure? are you positive? because I'm pretty certain he is - he was in several episodes of 30 Rock, way more people are in SAG than you think (every NPR reporter for instance), and the two worst presidents we've had in the last 50 years (yes, those ones), are both definitely members of SAG (even if one is dead). now, the other side of this is that public figures like politicians are under a different social contract than actors, and if they wanted to sue, they could, unlike the average SAG actor who might have their image abused. this is why this is in the "hm" column - deep fakes and parody/satire/commentary use of replicas is already here and there's always going to be a 1st amendment argument to make, so we need to figure out how best to limit those and protect the most vulnerable.

alteration: with this language, a project can digitally alter without consent if the script and performance stays "substantially" the same. again, this language is too mealy-mouthed. I don't know that I have a huge problem with a line of dialogue getting replaced with a digital version of that actors voice if, for instance, a word was mispronounced, or wind garbled the sound or whatever - yes, it would eliminate the need for ADR, but if we put some limit on it like..."if there are more than 5 lines in a given episode/movie that require digital alteration in the service of clarity, the actor must be engaged for an ADR session or paid for the digital replacement" then I could see this being workable. I'm also personally okay with things like costumes being digitally altered but, again, we need limitations on that. digital altering cannot replace the art of costuming but, for instance, if a costume needs to be altered to include a hate symbol or something, I think that's fine (example: I have friends who worked at the VFX house for an alternate history TV show that involved a lot of Nazi costuming and set design - a huge part of that VFX house's job was to put swastikas in places, rather than props making nazi flags. I'm okay with that!) but again, these fringe cases do not a compelling arugment make, and this contract language can be interpreted too broadly for my comfort! like everything else in this "hm" category, I need to see the final contract language to decide.

the AI bad

there's a bunch of circumstances in which actors don't get paid for creating their replica/use of it and those circumstances are too broad for my taste.

synthetic performers - this is just awful. no. no, we should not be allowing AI to generate entire actors. just............no. there's some language about the producers having to talk to the union if the synthetic performer is "used in place of a performer who would have been engaged under this Agreement in a human role" but this doesn't apply to non-human characters so....wouldn't that be all roles?? leaving the producers room to be like "this role has to be synthetic, we never would've cast a human!" is bullshit. also, even if we're having AI create a magical talking unicorn whole cloth (which, like, also no, we have artists for this), that unicorn still needs to be voiced by a human person. this whole section is a disaster.

the exceptions to consent for digital alteration are bad-bad. I talked about the potential ADR replacement above and that has a whole host of issues with it that I didn't even get into, but I can see the argument. the rest are very troubling:

there is an exception under "any circumstance when dubbing or use of a double is permitted under the Codified Basic Agreement or Television Agreement" - okay, so does this mean we can replace dubbing artists and stunt performers entirely? this section is about digital alteration, but who's to say alteration couldn't turn an actor broadly miming a fight into an entirely digital, expertly performed fight that usually a stunt double would have done? with AI translation technology, does this mean we're replacing VO artists for dubs entirely? bad!

similarly, "Adjusting lip and/or other facial or body movement and/or the voice of the performer to a foreign language, or for purposes of changes to dialogue or photography necessary for license or sale to a particular market" - Justine Bateman has a great twitter thread on the terrible puppetry potential of this but I want to draw attention to the particular market bit - we all know that selling to china is such a huge part of studios' strategies that they'll remove entire scenes or lines around queer stuff. to me, this clause makes all of that so much easier. I know the argument here is going to be "we can replace swear words and license it for kids!" which.......sure? fine? but, uh, we already have ways to deal with that? and the potential for abuse here is terrifying to me. with all the digital alteration stuff too, there's just so much icky implication for the beauty/body standard to get so much worse.

if a background actor’s digital replica is used in the role of a principal performer, they'll be paid as if they actually performed the days for that role, which, sure, but uhhhh why are we saying it's okay for a digital replica of a background actor to suddenly be a leading role!?!?! I can't think of anything more demoralizing than going to set to act in background (a job I've done! an important job! a fun job a lot of the time! but creatively limited) and then getting a much bigger role (the dream!) and.....not being able to, you know, act that role or be in scenes with other principal actors or do the thing that you've dedicated your life to doing. nightmare stuff.

woof. there's so much more to say but I'm going to leave it there. these are the concerns I'm going to go into SAG's meetings with, and the concerns I'll be considering as I decide how to vote. I know there are things I didn't address and very possibly things I misinterpreted or misrepresented - if you're an actor, I highly recommend a) reading that Justine Bateman thread and b) attending SAG's meetings to ask questions and express your concerns. and I'd love to hear what y'all think! my ask box is open.

[5-pp-man]

as it started becoming clear who he was in a relationship with i was like "oh great. another student teacher thing" but this is like. the first time in an anime that I've seen them explicitly call out the teacher for being a pedo and putting it in a negative light. damn.

[miraculouslumination]

The audacity to be like "there's a problem with racism in transandrophobia discussions" while also unironically using the term "transandrophobia truther(s)"