#species: living shitpost

[canniba1cl0wn]

Vulcan who dresses like a manwhore because it’s logical to be aesthetically appealing

Romulan girl who is just really into bugs

Klingon therapist who really wants to see you thrive

Angsty Betazed teen that just wants to be left alone and some peace and quiet

Cardassian that has a special interest in different alien cultures and absolutely loves them all and wants to celebrate them

[starscreamingg]

I just wanted to design an alien species but then three hours of anatomy studies of apes showed up like hello :) hi :) oog :)

[hasellia]

Watching det Toro's Pinocchio after Alien Covenant got me thinking about sad old white men.

[less-dev]

We're making a Starbound/Terraria inspired space sandbox game!

We're making a 2D sandbox game similar to Starbound! Or uh, terraria in space.

#nodev contains shitposting

#planetarium contains dev progress

Specifics under the cut

Who are you?

Aspen - Project Lead, Programmer, Pixel artist, Sound Designer.

Hey! I'm Aspen, I've been programming and making games for many many years in basically every engine there is... But never felt the drive to finish one, until now! I consider myself very experienced in the engine we're using (Gamemaker Studio 2.5) and have confidence we'll be able to make this game a reality. I also run the Tumblr account, so assume it's me behind the wheel as a default. Thank you for checking the game out!

Alec - Concept artist, Character Designer

H a l l o I'm Alec, I like writing and drawing and painting and designing shiiiiiiiit. I adore world building and have frequent bursts of creative possession in which I conceive and birth the greatest ideas and concepts in a mere moment. Otherwise, I can be a total dumbass and completely useless. I'm good at colours 👌 I have been a 85% a home-brew DM for about 2 years now and that is the greatest proof of my ADHD-given God powers of creativity. Slay.

What a cool guy!

Design pillars

Immersion. Above all else, I would like roleplay (casual or serious) to be natural and well supported. I would like players to find engaging with the world, and it's characters to be very personal.

Innovation. Tropes such as "You spawn in a green forest and can walk left or right" will be actively avoided. Biomes will have generation that presents more unique movement opportunities. Such as geysers in rock pools launching players high up, or giant twisting vines that hold up chunks of land to hop between.

More quality less quantity. Planets will be significantly more content-dense than Starbound, and perhaps controversially travel between them will be more difficult/expensive as well. This would encourage players to take advantage of all the resources presented on each planet, instead of hopping from one to the next. This would also encourage us throughout development to give each planet as much love as possible. Each planet should feel like a 'miniature terraria world'. Though actually achieving that is easier said than done.

Meaningful content. Procedurally generating creatures from 100 different pre-set monster parts could technically produce limitless alien creatures for players to encounter. But in both No Man's Sky and Starbound. I find this novelty to wear off quick, these creatures are not manually, meaningfully crafted and beyond an unusual appearance and some shallow gameplay changes... They do not create much of a memorable experience for the player. In my opinion, anyway. I would rather hand-craft every creature and make them all significantly unique and interesting. That's not to say procedurally generated creatures won't ever have a place in the game, but they certainly wont be as prevalent as others games.

Okay well... What's finished?

Fundamental lighting shaders akin to Starbound.

Some world generation brushes and basic commands.

A text mark-up language (heavily optimised), and game chat.

Extensive custom debugging tools

Hard and soft-loading of chunks to save on as much memory and CPU usage as possible.

Complete unloading, and compression of chunks on top of the previously mentioned system. As well as a live-saving system.

Setting, Story baseline, and conceptualization of the first 3 playable species. Each species will have a different starting planet, and immediately different playthrough.

Designs and cultures of several additional unplayable races.

Character proportion tests, sprites and sketches.

First-pass on collision functions.

Weighted Tile variance and tile connections.

CONCERNS

Multiplayer. While I have made an online multiplayer game before and it's definitely doable for this game, it would require some practice in a one-off test game to be fully confident. It would also take a LOT of time.

Modding. As far as I know gamemaker games are notoriously difficult for players to modify. Something like Unity is far easier even without mod support. Gamemaker on the other hand is difficult even if I want to design systems in favor of modders. This is kind of a problem for later, I have faith there'll be something we can do to make it work... But a cursory look says it won't be easy. I would be extremely disappointed if there was nothing we could do.

[sorcerous-caress]

Worldbuilding and human kink? Is it my birthday /lh. This has me googling “halfling sex” and being a little surprise someone has thought about it enough to write a generously large paragraph.

Apparently it’s not uncommon for them to have more casual sex with close neighbors and friends indulging in it together. I genuinely think it would be hilarious for a halfling with a human, elf, drow, orc, dwarf, etc (the more uptight races) friend/neighbor to ‘seduce’ and then being very friendly and kind, but not exclusive or even inherently romantic.

Halflings 🤝 Humans

Being horny on main.

Oh my god imagine a poly relationship that's a human who thinks this is a casual friends with benfits deal, a halfing who thinks everyone here is just friends, and one high elf who acts as if they're robbing a bank whenever they watch the human go down on the halfing.

Add a dragonborn who is sweating over which one of those people is gonna end up as their mate for life, who isn't phased by the sex but it's the romance part that's considered a big taboo in their culture to even date someone for love, so imagine seeing more tha one person?

High elves being sex repressed 🤝 Dragonborns being romance repressed

Also I really love world building AAAAA i wanna invent shit and make shit up and shake it around like a snow globe. I believe elves went to the moon much sooner than humans with just magic, dwarves have found fallen space rocks and meteors and used them to forge their weapons, winged elves or any species who can fly already mapped the world and drew all the know maps before humans even learned how to tame horses.

Also the horses is funny, elves has seen them all their lives but never bothered to tame it because it feels weird yk? Why would they ride on an animal, plus their cousin is a centaur so it feels even more weird.

Then they see the humans coaxing the horses with carrots while holding a saddle behind their back, skip a few years and suddenly the horse population skyrockects as humans steal this one animal to their side.

Imagine being a wood elf and in harmony with all of nature, then glancing over at the human city and feeling very confused on what these weird wolves are and why do the humans call them dogs, also why are they obeying the humans and holy shit that one is wearing bowtie.

Occasionally humans just wander into the forest, spot an animal that seems semi useful then kidnap it back to their city, suddenly their population spikes and they're the new best friends of humanity.

It happened the other way with cats tho, the wood elves remember overhearing two cats talking about the hairless apes wandering around and how one was betting the other that they can get them to share their food by just screaming at them.

Humans probably inspired their cuisine based on halflings' recipes since they didn't add soul consuming spices for fun like elves and didn't sprinkle in literal gem and gold dust like dragonborns.

A human with a Halfling neighbour who comes over every other day to share their stew because "they accidentally made too much and can't possibly finish it all themselves so how about you grab a bowl or two, human?"

One day the human makes a joke about how they're a simp or going to horny jail, whatever modern shitposting meme is trending, and the halfling takes it seriously and offers to sleep with them.

I mean, that is basic neighbourly hospitality to them. Of course they will fuck their friend who is in need, you don't even have to ask twice, come here and lay down and they'll take care of you until satisfied.

Now their trips over to your house are twice as frequent, half to feed you their cooking, other half to sate your lust appetite.

[blessed-velleity]

perfect

so remember that shitpost about a hole being punched in the wall? this one? yeah, well. hmm. RIOFY yuhua is a piece of work because there's so many yuus

[warnings: internalized transphobia for a second but otherwise it's just typical yuhua self-hatred]

~

You’re not perfect.

This is a fact. One you’ve been painfully aware of for far too long.

Every single comment ever made about you has been logged in your mind, most compliments forgotten and every insult or slight retained. When you mess up, when you hear someone say something about you, it becomes an obsession. Like a single drop of dye falling into water, something that everyone else will forget about in an instant becomes a fixation that spreads through you like poison. 

Every obsession in that fashion ultimately comes down to this one fact.

After all, you’re pretty weak and pathetic. Your stamina and physical strength is laughable. You’re slow on the uptake. You’re not good at making and keeping friends. You’re clumsy and butterfingered. You get anxious over stupid things easily, and you can’t look people in the eyes when you talk. You have no viable talents. You’re ugly, your proportions are all messed up, and some days you don’t want to go out because you can’t bear the thought of living with your own face. With your own body. Hell, you’re not even a guy like you claim to be.

You don’t have anything that makes you special. If you do, it’s something that makes you the circus act—the laughingstock, the one getting booed off the stage. 

…So why? Why did you have to end up with… all of these other people? 

Everyone is so much more unique than you. So much more vibrant. So much kinder, or dedicated, or capable, or confident, or good-looking, or talented. They’re all something, compared to your nothing. You’re all from worlds that aren’t this one, but they’re all so much more than you could ever hope to be. So much closer to “perfect.” Even the ones who are just from Earth, even the ones who are the same species as you.

It doesn’t sit quite right with you, to be lumped together with everyone else. If you had to make it an analogy more digestible for your own incoherent thoughts, it would be like putting a useless NPC with the cast of main characters. 

You simply aren’t good enough to belong. 

But the feeling is so strong that it overflows into your thoughts about others. It’s exhausting trying to get along with these “perfect,” “better” people. You’re bitter about being so obviously inferior and you hate the fact that you are. If you have to put up with another day of pretending to like people you don’t, you think you might just lose your mind and quit.

(You won’t. You won’t, and you know it.)

But you’re so tired of this. It would be so nice, to let loose. To be able to tell someone that you hate them. That you’re praying for their downfall. Except—that’s not quite right, and that’s not the “nice” or “situationally correct” thing to do. Besides, it won’t do anything to them. Everyone has friends and supporters, people who would choose them over you in a heartbeat.

They won’t lose anything. You will. Because they’re “perfect,” and you’re not. 

The thought of it pisses you off. 

What can you do about it, though? When you hold this anger in your chest, so hot it runs cold, do you really think you can let it out? Will you simply cry it out futilely, like a child? Or—

Without thinking, your body moves of its own accord. The aged wall gives way under your fist, crumpling and cracking around the edges. Classic Ramshackle dust attacks your senses as you retract your hand. The pain waits to set in, and then your knuckles sting. The joints of your fingers complain from being clenched so tightly.

Sure, it hurts. But it feels good, at least for a moment—to hurt something, to break something, because everyone else feels so untouchable and invulnerable. 

And then the “moment” wears off, and you stare at the hole in the wall in horror. 

You’ve fucked up.

[mariacallous]

Would you like to travel in the advance party to Mars, aboard the space rocket of a man who can’t sort a livestream? Ideally you would have to get in line for this species-level honour behind thousands of Earth’s leading shitposters, who not only trust implicitly in X owner Elon Musk, but truly believe that if they grind away for hours a day telling him that on his platform, one day he will see one of those posts. I hope he does, guys!

In the meantime, my favourite recent headline on this interplanetary settlement programme ran “Elon Musk denies his sperm will seed Mars colony”. Sure. It’s just a hunch, but I feel like they’re going to have way more sperm than they need up there. It’s the other bit necessary for human life that you sense will be in shorter supply.

Anyway, from the future of the red mist planet to the future of political discourse: Monday night’s conversation between Musk and Donald Trump on X (audio only, only almost an hour late, and only for massively fewer live listeners than advance estimates suggested). It was so dysfunctional that even Trump’s dentures were trying to escape. Hours after it had taken place, Musk issued an intriguing APB: “Anyone have a <1 hour edit of the highlights of the @realDonaldTrump conversation?” To which the only reply is: sorry … what? That is like NBC putting out a request reading: “does anyone have any highlights of the Olympics?” YOU OWN THE PLATFORM. How can you not have organised some highlights?!

Still, in the absence of his, here are mine. We’ll kick off with Musk portentously informing Trump that “We’re at a fork in the road of the destiny of civilisation”. And ye shall know this fork for it is signposteth with an error screen. In the UK, we have an expression for benchmark incompetence: we say someone couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery. But a tech boss being unable to organise a tech event on a tech platform feels like a new industry standard: the brewery’s head of piss-ups being unable to launch a piss-up in his brewery. On Monday night you could watch live footage from any number of bird nesting boxes around the world, but it was impossible to watch any of the would-be president of the United States. That said, I’m afraid both species soiled their floors.

If only there’d been some warning that you could trust X to cock up these live events. Do recall that Musk was previously backing the former Republican nominee candidate Ron DeSantis, and managed to persuade the Florida governor to launch his campaign on X last year. The tech-fail that followed was “a DISASTER!” Not my take, fanfolk, but that of a certain Donald Trump.

Either way, making it audio-only felt less than futuristic. I saw someone say it could have been an email, but it would have worked best as a fax. It wasn’t so much like the tech revolution hadn’t happened, more like the Industrial Revolution hadn’t happened. Hopefully as time wears on, Musk will upgrade his server to a spinning jenny. In the meantime, he would like you to believe that there was some sort of cyber-attack on his ancient looms. He explained to frustrated users that X Spaces had been subject to a “massive DDOS attack”, which strangely didn’t affect any of the rest of X. This is definitely the most self-sabotaging excuse since Katy Perry claimed her recent plastic feminism single was “satire” and “a reset for my idea of feminine divine”. After Monday night, the haters need to understand: Elon’s aural frotting of Trump was satire, and a reset for his idea of masculine divine.

It was certainly a reset for the spectacle of 21st-century power broking. Behold, the billionaire hedge funder Bill Ackman, who recently came out for Trump, and who, on Monday night, could be found replying plaintively to his preferred candidate’s cobwebbed X handle: “Please let Elon know we can’t join”. Posting impotently at a presidential account that Trump has not personally used in three years to bleat that the meeting host isn’t letting him in … I’m sensing that a big part of the reset of the idea of masculine divine is old guys shouting that they can’t make their computers work. Have you tried simply switching the masculine divine off then on again?

Let’s deal only briefly with the eventual contents of Elon and Donald’s fireside chat, as long as we’re clear the fire they were sitting next to was a dumpster, sparks from which had long since set both their pants on fire. “I want to close the department of education,” Trump slurred at one point. According to Trump, Biden was ousted in a “coup”. Hey, at least the Democrats can organise a successful one.

For a genius, finally, Musk’s interview technique is surprisingly like that of a nitwit breakfast host. (Donna Air once asked the Corrs how they met.) He guffawed his way through most of Trump’s ramblings, reserving special admiration for the authoritarians and dictators he’d encountered. Trump mentioned meeting with Kim Jong-un. “That was cool,” gurgled Musk, whose platform is banned in North Korea. “If something happens with this election,” concluded Trump, “we’ll meet the next time in Venezuela, because it’ll be a far safer place to meet than our country.” Fortunately, as is the case with pretty much anywhere ruled by these freedom-loathing strongmen, X is also currently banned in Venezuela. So at least we’d be spared having to glitch our way through another meeting of minds like this.

[captainjacklyn]

Making my first DOL post today..random game I got into, it's so easy to get invested.

So here is my PC, don't be fooled- that's a boy he just likes his hair long cause an someone told him it looked nice.

Kinda felt like giving him a small description, how he views most of the LIs and other characters, maybe him as a person idk this really feels like a shitpost. I only recommend the game if you aren't a minor and have a strong ass stomach cause I almost vomited the first time.

!!TW!! mentions of SA, blood, gore, violence, human experiments, death, abuse (both mentally and physically), psychopathic behavior, murder, mutation, stalking, if I missed any other triggers please inform me immediately so that I may fix my mistakes. If any of these topics make you uncomfortable, I advise you to please ignore this post and find something else more suitable. !!TW!!

Degrees of Lewdity :

APPEARANCE :

The slender young man slowly stares back at you and returns your greeting. "Oh..it's you." his name is Elias, he's a resident at the local orphanage, he won't talk back if you try anything. Just avoid taking off his gloves unless he allows it.

PROFILE/MAIN INFORMATION :

Species - human, any hybrid Occupation - student Affiliation - orphanage, oxford street school Age - 18 years old Height - 178 cm Birthday - 04th of April Gender - male (can morph his system into changing sexe so female too) Marital Status - Dating Sydney, Avery's side hoe Zodiac Sign - Aries Best Subject - English, History Interests - Cross dressing, sunbathing, napping, gardening, makeup

PERSONALITY :

Elias is an unfazed and blunt yet somewhat gentle young adult who quietly cares for others from afar. At first glance, many would think that he only speaks up when others wish to converse with him, even then his answers are short with little depth. Though it is stated that his confidence becomes much more evident once he gets comfortable, Elias can tease his peers and act playful. Furthermore, he will occasionally invite friends to spend some time with him. Whether it be taking a nap together, walking along the beach shore or reading in the library. He can crave company and has no shame in asking for someone's attention.

Not only so, but angering/provoking Elias is a feat itself, he usually avoids confrontation by walking away and even when things get out of hand, the young man will still struggle for the sake of running off. Though reaching a certain state of insanity, he looses all control of reason and will attack the offender without limit. This livid persona gives him an animalistic instinct to kill, relentlessly harming the individual(s) who previously caused his senses to go a-wire. The way he does this can get more gruesome depending on the previously inflicted physical or mental wounds on Elias, from forcing himself on them to tearing their skin open and eventually creating a gash deadly enough to give them a slow painful end. He stops at nothing until he's satisfied with how much suffering his abuser lives through.

InGameAU/Canon

Note - The statements above is largely different to how he canonically behaves. I have a knack for 'book accurate' vs 'show representation' and wanted a similar concept for my character.

In the game itself, Elias is much less of a victim and instead finds himself to be in constant control (I've been wary of any nonconsensual interactions, making a save before every choice that could lead to gr*pe or getting..y'know v*red). He is manipulative, defiant and easily angered. Belittling any passerby who leaves him a crude remark, regarding his more manipulative tendencies, this does result in him being a bit of a player.

One ↦ Robin can only have a specific percentage of confidence, preferably leaning towards a hundred but never fully. There is the excessive guilt-trip technique, Elias takes care of him from time to time and the moment Robin says something that could waver the white haired boy's sense of control he half scolds him by reminding Robin of everything he does just for him.

Two ↦ Sydney's purity = max level at all times. He doesn't want to deal with the possibility of having a bratty little *sshole follow him around everywhere for s*x. Especially not if the church proceeds to act up along with his corrupted state. The two of them are dating in game, Elias mainly uses him for protection at school, status wise at least. Due to Elias' line of work and desperate need to pay off Bailey, my PC cheats on Sydney practically everyday, having intercourse with multiple NPCs who offer a good price in exchange for his body as well as acting as Avery's sugar baby.

Despite this, he does care, I promise that he does. But his way of thinking would be similar to Alicent Hightower from House of The Dragon. He isn't narcissistic and has never once acted that way, however Elias is heavily twisted by loneliness abandonment issues go brr, anxiety and peer pressure (e.g robin getting punished for not paying his rent, Bailey possibly selling him off to the farm, etc..). This causes him to appear collected and normal at one moment and then unexpectedly go nuts.

BACKGROUND :

Elias' past follows most of the in-game's PC backstory, he was raised in the orphanage by Bailey and supposedly lived within that town his whole childhood. Another NPC who is only present in Elias' story is Monika, an older sister-like figure who was also raised in the orphanage but soon adopted and taken away. She is said to have learned to read rather quickly and many youngsters would come to her for stories, including Robin. Monika was especially close to Elias, treating him like he was a blood relative than just another inhabitant, their bond grew strong as years passed and her depart created a rather detrimental impact on Elias. Who closed in on himself and ceased to socialize, a partial root to his present conduct.

However, there is a darker side to his story. This would also explain the truth behind his gloved hands which he hates uncovering at all cost, as well as his existence alone. Elias wasn't conceived naturally, instead he was created inside an artificial womb manufactured by a non-governmental laboratory which was currently exploring the nature of hybrids (e.g beings such as the Black Wolf or Great Hawk). A group of scientist took a step further, planning a project which was yet to be approved by their employer, and decided to combine several varieties of animal DNA along with human ones. Their goal was to revolutionize the science of genetic research. Unfortunately, the team was found out and reported to their boss, who visioned Elias' birth as a horrific mistake exhibiting complete disrespect to the laws of nature. The people who had fabricated the unnatural child were instantly discarded from further company work.

Up until that point, the infant mainly looked human and acted as such. So the executive ordered for the toddler to be dropped off at an orphanage and forgotten.

TRIVIA/BONUS FACTS :

Elias is rather fashionable, he sometimes goes into the supermarket to try on a set of clothes before leaving without purchasing a single item. (the art is in the savings)

It is stated by several NPCs that he has a bad habit of staring, this is actually due to him daydreaming/spacing out whilst looking ahead unconsciously.

His favorite drink is lemonade and favorite dessert is lemon tart, anything that has to do with lemons is usually enjoyed by Elias.

When adapting to an environment, his hands are the first to metamorphose. They also connect to his emotions/primal instincts, circumstances like these are what drove Elias to hide them.

His screams sound like a mix of Caraxes and Syrax, his sounds are more guttural than actual cries.

CREDITS FOR PICREW :

#1; #2; #3; #4; #5; #6; #7; #8; #9

[bargainoriley]

Ummagumma (1969)

Here are my thoughts on ummagumma! I also wrote my thoughts on atom heart mother but will be posting it a bit later today (I listened to both albums in the same day while on a flight)

1. Astronomy Domine - Live

The intro is very different but still sounds very awesome! I love the sound of the keyboard and guitar here as well! The wah-wah really adds a lot to this version. I also really like the improvisations here, but I still like the original more honestly.

2. Careful With That Axe Eugene - Live

I’ve never heard this song in full before! The keyboards and spooky groove at the beginning is really cool! Also the background vocals as well. Every instrument in this song is very very great (I especially love the use of cymbals here, and the keyboard, and the guitar, and the bass)! And once the scary/heavy beat drop hits this song becomes even better! I was legitimately head banging! The screams are really scary and make the song all that better (they made a shiver run up my spine)! How is this song spooky and really groovy and cool at the same time??? The improvisations are also really good. This song perfectly encapsulates a horror movie in my opinion.

3. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun - Live

This version is pretty good as well, but the studio version is a little bit better in my opinion since the sound/music effects in the original version are very good and really contribute to the feelings/vibes of this song, and this version is really missing them. I really like the addition of the guitar and the keyboard improvising though.

4. A Saucerful Of Secrets - Live

Oooo I love how the bass plays part of the original synth intro here, it sounds very good and cool! The intro here sounds way cooler than the original. This version overall has a very different vibe from the original; and in this case I like this live version a lot more than the original! The church organ/choir part here is even better than in the original, and the song just sounds better generally on this album. I don’t know why I like this version more, probably maybe because it’s a lot more melodic than the original! I think the original is good, but sometimes the chaotic part in there gets tiring to listen to

5. Sisyphus part 1

Very ominous! I like the drums and cello here!

6. Sisyphus part 2

The piano here is great and beautiful! God Rick can play so well… this is making me realize even more how talented he was!! And then it suddenly gets very chaotic…

7. Sisyphus part 3

The chaos from the last part continues here! This part is honestly kind of really bad, but I think it has major meme potential! I can just imagine this playing in a shitpost, or it just kind of sounds like a shitpost itself.

8. Sisyphus part 4

Pretty ominous, but relaxing! OMG then suddenly the organ comes! So much for relaxing! After that it kind of gets pretty creepy and weird… I do not like it :( honestly sounds worse than the most dissonant/chaotic parts from a saucerful of secrets. The orchestra though at the end is really cool and badass!

9. Grantchester Meadows:

The bird sounds and guitar intro is very lovely. The vocal harmonies are also very lovely and relaxing! This song honestly reminds me a lot of Simon and Garfunkel. This feels like a major breather from the chaos that was Sisyphus… I really like this song! Feels especially relaxing as I’m in an airplane right now listening to this album.. Also what was up with the ending where someone just straight up slaps/kills a fly?? That was so random

10. Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave Grooving with a Pict

Well that was…. a song. Very very bizarre! What were they even on to think of this??? The song kind of makes me laugh and uncomfortable at the same time… the second song that has major meme/shitpost potential/vibes.

11. The Narrow Way part 1

Very folky! I like this composition so far… the guitar here is lovely!

12. The Narrow Way part 2

Oooh, pretty heavy and ominous! I like it I like it, the melody here is especially cool.. so far this song with multiple parts is so much better than Sisyphus. This part honestly feels like you’re in a sci fi haunted house.

13. The Narrow Way part 3

I love the reverb guitar effect here!! This is the best part of them all! The reverb guitar and the entirety of the song honestly reminds me of later albums. The singing here is also very lovely. This part sounds very much like While my Guitar Gently Weeps.. probably because it is in the same key and used a similar melody to George Harrison’s song. The whole narrow way song with all its parts is really good and an underrated gem imo. So far one of my favorite songs on this album along with Careful with that Axe Eugene live and Grantchester Meadows. An absolute banger of a song!

14. The Grand Vizier’s Garden part 1

Feels like lord of the rings, very whimsical!

15. The Grand Vizier’s Garden part 2

Pretty ominous and weird sounding so far. Honestly feels like somebody is performing magic tricks. The melody after that intro is pretty relaxing though. When the windy melody started skipping I thought my phone was glitching. The drums being cut off and skipping feels like a sound collage almost… the drum groove/solo by Nick at the end though goes really hard!

16. The Grand Vizier’s Garden part 3

The beautiful orchestra ending the album is very fitting, but kind of underwhelming.

In general, I think the live sides of the album are very very different from the 2 other experimental sides, and I honestly liked the live sides better… because the experimental sides just weren’t my cup of tea most of the time. Except for Grantchester Meadows and The Narrow Way I didn’t really like the experimental tracks. I am also mixed on this album… I have to say this is my second least favorite album so far. More is only worse in my opinion because it is very forgettable except the underrated gems I like from that album (The Nile Song, Cymbaline, Green is The Colour). At least I’ll forever remember this bizarre album, and the fact that it is so bizarre and memorable makes it much better than More. It is also better than More because of the live sides alone (they are very very good). What I take away from this is that Ummagumma just has major shitpost vibes (including the album name itself) and that it was pretty tedious to listen to at times, but I felt it was definitely worth it for some underrated gems!

[mercury-prince]

Now, what I want to see from star trek is how aliens represent other aliens in art. Imagine if that ancient Bajoran guy who space-sailed to cardassia came back and told ppl how cardassians look, spawning hundreds of kinda shitty drawings in bestiaries after a long game of telephone where they barely look recognisable (like these: first is a scorpion, second is a panther)

[Image ID: a square medieval illustration of a creature with a human-ish face, a fish-like body, and four limbs sticking out akimbo. it has a sharp tail that is piercing someone's hand. /.End ID]

[Image ID: a deer-shaped creature with a red belly, face, and legs, a blue back, green butt, and beige neck. it has white streaks coming out of its mouth, as if it's exhaling or spitting. a group of rams, sheep and deer look at it, with very confused expressions. /. End ID]

All the pre-warp species that the federation had broken the prime directive with must have some sick paintings of vaguely humanoid creatures standing around in matching outfits.

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY: do other species have something like the zodiac? Or drawings of the star systems around their planet, using familiar figures to link different stars together? What did they call the foreign planets, before they learned they were called Vulcan or Romulus or Ferenginar? Imagine all the pre-warp star maps in different alien languages and art styles. the ones we have irl say so much about the cultures they were made in.

first pic [Image ID: a photograph of the nebra sky disk, from 1800-1600 BC. It is a turquoise coloured metal disk with a gold circle representing the sun, a crescent moon, and small circles depicting the Pleiadies star cluster. /. End ID]

second pic [Image ID: an annotated diagram of the Mayan Wakah-Chan Tree, a design found on the burial lid of Lord Pacal, from circa 680 AD. It is an illustrated diagram depicting the sun, moon and planets with intricately patterned symbols. /. End ID]

third pic [Image ID: an illustration from The Book of Fixed Stars by Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, circa 964 ad. it depicts the constellation of Orion, using a black ink drawing of a kneeling figure with the stars drawn as red circles on different parts of the body. Each of the stars are labelled in Arabic. /. End ID]

I could go on forever about how we love to look into the vast unknown to find reflections of ourselves, and how i think star trek is an extension of that urge we've clearly been having since the dawn of time. Its not just the need to study things that will help with our everyday lives (like looking at the harvest moon), its the way we often take a celestial body and make it the symbol of a human characteristic, like how klingons represent honour and vulcans represent logic. what we think about space and what we do to fill in the gaps of the unknown say a lot about how we think in general. and according to trek we think a lot about weird little blokes in weird little outfits so. yh fair enough

i think this is my most research heavy shitpost ever lmao. but please add ur thoughts or take these ideas however u like

[kevinexe06]

HIHI! Sorry I’ve hadn’t been posting. I grew this bad habit of never posting bc it might not be good enough ? anyway, I’m trying to get rid of it. I’ll just be sharing art whatever I have some!!

Here some actually. I have a shit ton of art

OH AND uhhh warning for mixed/multi fandom. If your expecting just ONE fandom, your wrong. Sorry, but not rlly but stick around for my cool, AMESOME art fandoms mentioned: OATD (ocs w/wo description), Inside out (oc), Trollhunters (oc), Mune:gotm (oc w description), Monsters inc/uni/aw (oc w description), MDTBH (doodles), transformers (shitposts)

OCS OKAY so i have a ALOT of ocs i made over the time I hadn't posted... kinda random but idc. I love every single of these guys!1! Most of these, I haven't wrote or made a description for yet... I will soon, but maybe not idk. If you wanna know about them, ask :3

Death: It is the embodiment of death itself. It's job is to bring souls to the afterlife and will guide them on there journey. Occasionally, he will offer souls a job, resulting in "human" entities that made humans who they are. For example: Disco Party, he was originally a human but was given a job by Death to bring the love of disco during the 70-80s.

Barrek: He is an monster that gradated from Monster's university and close friend with Johnny Worthington (yeah ikr, how original). He was originally with Fear Tech but after getting too involved with Monster's university, he got kicked out.

Smolder (bottom, middle): Smolder is a unknown species that arrived from the underground to aid the overworld. He has no intentions of causing harm and even befriended Sohone as cubs. In my vison of MGOTM universe, the underworld is where lava like sentient beings live, where Smolder is originally from. This species were also banished to the underworld due to their crimes (ancient times).

DOODLES

I got a ton :))! order: MDTBH, Transformers (animated, RID 2015),

Lefteria being a good father?!?!? (featuring Antivoids OCs)

TRANSFORMERS.... I drew A LOT of shitposts, but i lovelove it

OH MY GOD, IMAGE LIMIT. Guess this is my first post to my little art dump!! (more is coming)

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

I keep jumping back and forth shitposting about Scarlett on this blog, where all my OC stuff goes, and my liveblog blog, where I’m playing the DLC with her that provides the context to the shitposts.

Anyway. Pondering what N would think of Blueberry Academy’s Terarium - on one hand, I think it could be considered a way to promote understanding between humans and Pokémon. On the other, it’s a wholly artificial environment that the Pokemon who live there have no way out of. While in the wild most Pokemon probably aren’t so far-roaming that they would, in the Terarium, run up against the walls and boundaries of the biomes… like, they could. They could run up against that artificial limitation on their autonomy and behavior.

Blueberry Academy is said to be a “recent” establishment, and while I still haven’t exactly hashed out where the events of Scarlet fall in my timeline… it’s got to have taken some time to build the Terarium. Depending on when I decide the academy was founded, Team Plasma from the very beginning could’ve been rallying against it, too. That could be a fun little tidbit to add.

Anyway. Back to N, specifically. I started imagining him like, in the post-Black 2 era, following along with the development/construction of the academy and the Terarium, and in between whatever else he’s doing (like giving Zoe zero advance notice that he’s showing up in Kalos and plans to crash on her couch again), compiling research on the needs of every single Pokémon species that Blueberry Academy intends to have live in the Terarium. What is the average range of its territory? What is the maximum range of its territory? How does it tolerate other members of the same species? Of different species? Stuff like that, mostly regarding the spacial limitations of the biomes. For every type of Pokemon. Stacks of notes that are several feet tall (taking over floor and table space in, you guessed it, Zoe’s apartment).

One of several possible reasons that Scarlett didn’t attend Blueberry Academy, despite her parents being Unovan: Cyrano and Briar have stopped answering N and Zoe’s calls. Probably still accepted the research compilations, but do not take their calls.

Years later, Cyrano gets a recommendation from Carmine of a student they should invite on exchange, and he finds out this student is a mentee of his good friend Clavell, and he’s delighted by that coincidence! …and then he gets some of the paperwork back and finds out who Scarlett’s parents are and decides that’s too much coincidence. The universe needs to roll back on the coincidence.

Anyway so I still feel like, even if he’s convinced of the good intention of its makers and that they’re doing all they can for the welfare of the Pokemon that live there, and that it’s a tool for helping students better understand the lives of Pokemon - I still don’t think he would like it. I think he might grudgingly accept that it exists, but he would prefer that humans meet Pokemon where they live, rather than bringing the Pokémon into an artificial environment where the humans are.

Before she leaves for her exchange trip, N gives Scarlett a massive checklist of observations and inspections he wants her to make at the Terarium to be certain it’s the best it can possibly be, because he has Thoughts about her new school and she’s like :/ “okay dad” because mostly she’s just distracted thinking about getting to see Kieran and Carmine again.

[u2fangirlie-blog]

I made a thing! First real attempt at sharing a meme with a group.

Recently, I started watching Star Trek: Lower Decks. I unashamedly love it. As a lapsed Star Trek fan, it helped bring me back into the fold. I started following the Facebook "gronp" Star Trek Shitposting. I had an idea to make a meme about the Caitian characters M'Ress, from Star Trek: The Animated Series, and Doctor T'Ana, from Lower Decks. Here's the original post and photo.

I made a thing. New OC. What would Caitians think about Earth cats? Are polydactyl cats from outer space?

22 Sept. 2023 on Facebook group Star Trek Shitposting

Within the first hour, it had 100 likes and 75 comments. This went on for hours! I felt endorphins and happiness! I liked and replied directly to comments to encourage participation and show my appreciation for people interacting with my meme. I wrote a lot of comments! Lost track of how many comments are mine. So here's what I wrote on my timeline:

OMG GUYS! In an hour, it got over 100 likes and the discussion has 75 comments. I'm a Star Trek Shitite! Everybody wants to talk about Star Trek and cats! All the science nerds and weirdoes are commenting! Look, Mom! I'm not the only damn weirdo!

22 Sept. 2023 on Facebook.

Then the next morning I realized I needed to create an alternate text description of the image for people using text-to-speech readers, so I wrote one.

Image description: Two pictures. Right Panel is M'Ress from Star Trek: The Animated Series at her communications station on the bridge of the Enterprise. Left panel is Doctor T'Ana from Star Trek: Lower Decks in sickbay treating a patient on the Cerritos. Caption across the top. "Xenobiology Report on Caitian Anatomy: Polydactyl Traits." Caption above left panel: "Communications Officer Lieutenant M'Ress: 3 fingers, 1 thumb." Caption above right panel: "Chief Medical Officer Commander Doctor T'Ana: 4 fingers, 1 thumb."

23 Sept. 2023 on Facebook group Star Trek Shitposting

After 24 hours of trying to keep up with responses and comments, and boring my parents with talking excitedly about how freaking cool it is to find a group weirdoes who think about the same stuff, I made another post on my timeline.

STSP meme 24 Hours - 235 likes. 214 comments. My favorite comment so far. "Y'all are WAY overthinking this." No, my dude, we are not way over thinking it. My response: "Nonsense! I've been thinking about this for years. It's about time people started talking about cartoon science fiction feline species' fingers. LOL!" Everyone is having a good time. No one is fighting. So far people shared photos of their polydactyl cats.

The nerds have dug into deep lore in what is or is not canon for felinid species in Star Trek and depictions of Caitains and Kzinti in other ST books and media. We've discussed seafaring history of 6-toed Earth cats, and the frequency of polydactylism in big cats and domestic cats. Based on sex characteristics of lions, does that make M'Ress trans because she has a male lion's mane? That's valid headcanon! What advantages do extra toes provide for cats? Are they more stable and agile?

Are the differences between M'Ress's and T'Ana's fingers an oversight by the artist (working on 2 different shows 50 years apart) or was it a deliberate choice by the Lower Decks artist? A lot of people are talking about different animation styles depicitng people with 3 fingers and a thumb (as seen in Disney cartoons and The Simpson and Futurama) as opposed to 4 fingers and a thumb, which is artistically messy. The nerds confirmed that all the main characters in Star Trek: The Animated series, where M'Ress originated, are drawn with 4 fingers and a thumb. So the Caitian hand with 3 fingers and a thumb was an artistic choice. What explains the anatomical differences among Caitians? Living on different continents? Alternate universes? Or natural diversity within a species? Infinite diversity in infinite combinations.

Other differences between M'Ress and T'Ana people pointed out: Their feet. As one person wrote "digitigrade caitians vs. plantigrade caitians and their use of shoes." M'Ress walks on her toes and does not wear shoes. T'Ana walks flat-footed and wears shoes. Someone else pointed out that footwear would be a requirement for a medical officer. Their pupils: Someone pointed out that M'Ress's pupils are vertical slits, where T'Ana's pupils are round but can change into vertical slits. My final thought of the night is on the evolution of Caitain hands and whether or not the fingers and palms have hairless textured skin to better manipulate tools or if they adapted tools for hairy fingers. I need to know!

Next time we'll talk about the number and position of Caitian mammary glands. Stay tuned for future content!

23 Sept. 2023 on Facebook

[the-fossilized-one]

[ this is a shitpost forgive me lmao ]

[what is she yapping about??] Velociraptor (/vəˌlɒsɪˈræptər, vəˈlɒsɪræptər/;[1] lit. 'swift thief') is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaurs that lived in Asiaduring the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the past. The type species is V. mongoliensis, named and described in 1924. Fossils of this species have been discovered in the Djadochta Formation, Mongolia. A second species, V. osmolskae, was named in 2008 for skull material from the Bayan Mandahu Formation, China.

Smaller than other dromaeosaurids like Deinonychus and Achillobator, Velociraptorwas about 1.5–2.07 m (4.9–6.8 ft) long with a body mass around 14.1–19.7 kg (31–43 lb). It nevertheless shared many of the same anatomical features. It was a bipedal, feathered carnivore with a long tail and an enlarged sickle-shaped claw on each hindfoot, which is thought to have been used to tackle and restrain prey. Velociraptor can be distinguished from other dromaeosaurids by its long and low skull, with an upturned snout.

Velociraptor (commonly referred to as "raptor") is one of the dinosaur genera most familiar to the general public due to its prominent role in the Jurassic Park films. In reality, however, Velociraptor was roughly the size of a turkey, considerably smaller than the approximately 2 m (6.6 ft) tall and 90 kg (200 lb) reptiles seen in the novels and films (which were based on members of the related genus Deinonychus). Today, Velociraptor is well known to paleontologists, with over a dozen described fossil skeletons. One particularly famous specimen preserves a Velociraptor locked in combat with a Protoceratops.

[vergess]

What's covered by "prose editing"? Do you mean editor's services for articles and original work, SPAG for school work, beta-reading fanfiction, workshopping shitposts, what kind of services are we talking here?

I've edited for each of those media (primary and secondary school; fandom; shitposting), as well as the following:

Technical manuals (Chicago and Microsoft styles)

Newspapers, including strict character limits (AP style)

Copy and editing for research journal submissions (style provided by journal)

Print and digital magazines (style provided by publisher)

University level creative writing composition for short stories and novellas

Novel editing for slush submissions and indie publishing

The specific skills I have on offer include:

Spelling, punctuation and grammar (English-US and English-UK)

Developmental and structural edits

Content editing only for styles or fandoms with which I am already familiar, or for which a style guide is provided.

Redlining and line edits, with fact checks only for non-technical writing

Proofing, including print and digital proofing

Now, for readers who stared at "SPAG" for a second like "wtf does that even mean," here's some extra clarification on what those services are.

SPAG (spelling, punctuation, and grammar) is the most basic type of editing. It can usually be done by a computer automatically, though MS Word's grammar checker is notoriously bad.

Developmental edits are focused on helping the author decide their audience, conform to or break genre expectations, and develop the broad order of story elements.

Structural edits are focused on achieving the goals from development as effectively as possible. In fiction, this is the point at which cuts tend to start, with smaller characters being merged into single, more prominent characters. In technical writing, this is the point at which you determine things like the order in which data will be presented, what needs to be in the introduction rather than methodologies, etc. For writing manuals and documentation, this is the point at which you determine the specific categories and organization you will be using.

Content edits are what most people think of when they think "editor." This is the point at which the finished draft has been organized to the author's satisfaction, and the editor proceeds to go through it looking for style and factual errors. A style error varies based on the medium: something correct for a software manual in MSWG would be wildly wrong for a school essay in MLA or for a fanfic about Supernatural.

I consider informal manuals like Britpickers' Guides to be sufficient for most things in fandom, so if you have anything like that, then I'm happy to do content edits for unfamiliar fandoms too. However, if I am not familiar with a fandoms' canon, I cannot fact check the piece for canon compliance.

Line edits are sometimes called "punch ups" or "redlining." It is not related to the art technique or financial racism law. Line edit is the more common name. This is the point at which an editor goes line by line or paragraph by paragraph through a completed piece to adjust phrasing for maximum impact. If you've never seen a redline for text, here's an example of a redline I did last year:

None still living know what once sat where Refinement now rises from the Bismuth sea. > None alive yet know what once sat where Refinement rises from the Bismuth Sea. Rumors and speculation abound, but the one accepted fact is that the city sprang from the singular will and vision of one woman: the Founder. > Rumors abound, but only one truth is known universally: the city sprang from the will and vision of their singular Founder. No other figure in Refinement commands the same admiration and reverence. > No other figure in Refinement’s history commands more admiration and reverence. Though her name, age, and even species are argued over to this day, some details of her origins and mastery of the stuff of the Bismuth Sea are yet agreed upon. > Her name, age, and even species are as lost as whatever came before the city. Two pale shadows of her legacy remain: the myth of her origin, and the legend of her mastery over the chaotic tides of the Bismuth Sea.

Proofing is the last possible stage in editing, and occurs immediately before printing (traditional media) or publication (digital media). It's your opportunity to double check the piece for minor typos you missed before.

For print media in particular, it's extremely important to proof thoroughly. Once the book is printed, it cannot be changed. And worse, the process of composing a draft into a printable format can introduce errors, with hanging words on blank pages, or words cut off entirely!

For digital media, this is a less mission critical stage, as you can always correct the piece after it is live. There are two major exceptions to this: news writing, and school work. In both these cases, because the damage done by incorrect proofing is high and the opportunity to issue a correction is low, you should always proof schoolwork and news, even if it is submitted/published digitally.

So!

That's all of the editorial services I can offer!

Honestly, seeing it laid out like this, I think $10/1k words is a steal.

[babacontainsmultitudes]

15 Questions for 15 People

@locke-n-k3y thanks for the tag :] ah hm tbh I feel like my answers for these might be a bit boring but let's see...

1. Are you named after anyone?

Yes! (Referring to my legal name- which I still use), I was named after a character from the soap opera "General Hospital" haha.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Last week lol- which was... The first time in a couple months? It was nice but not enough.

3. Do you have kids?

Absolutely not. Never lol.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

Never did any sports outside of gym class! Not formally, anyways. I do workout (mostly strength/weight training) fairly regularly... But I don't think that really counts here lol. :0 Been thinking a lot lately about picking up boxing.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Yup! irl I often go for a sort of deadpan delivery of my sarcasm- what I've learned from other people is that I'm a little too good at that (I sometimes say very ridiculous things very convincingly). I won't usually specify unprompted that I'm being sarcastic, but you're always welcome to ask. Not as sarcastic online in general, however.

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Irl? Hmm. Hard to say. Maybe: eyes, voice, posture.

Online? Typing/texting style I suppose!

7. What's you're eye color?

Dark brown 👁

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Not mutually exclusive lol. But, happy endings. I don't "dislike" tragedies but I'm not actively drawn to them either.

9. Any talents?

HM. I mean obviously I have things I'm good at but I'm never quite sure what differentiates a "talent" from a "skill". I suppose a lot of friends have said something to the effect of me being "good at reading minds" haha- also "good at explaining things" which is debatable but sweet lol.

10. Where were you born?

Halifax! Which I feel fine saying cause I haven't lived there for a long time lol. A foggy fishing city that I miss even now.

11. What are your hobbies?

I guess a large chunk of what I do on this blog counts as hobbies? Writing (whether it's fiction or analysis or shitposts), drawing, audio clipping and editing apparently (though much of that I just keep to myself- same for drawing tbh). :] I've also gotten into making iron-on patches. Tabletop and video games for sure but... Neither as much as I'd like these days. I tend to collect a lot of things as well- most notably coins.

12. Do you have any pets?

I've had MANY pets of many different species- but currently just my cat Bok! I do tend to take care of my older sister's bunny a lot too though.

13. How tall are you?

5'4, which all my 6'0 friends love teasing me over 😒. I've been told that I "seem taller from the way [I] carry myself", however. (Despite everything, I'm actually fine with my height!)

14. Favorite subject in school?

When I was completing my bachelor's (in computer science) I was particularly drawn to graphics-related stuff! In highschool my fave was definitely drama haha (gee I miss it tbh).

15. What is your dream job?

I HAVE NO IDEA no idea and that's kind of my issue rn tbh. Plenty of things that seem interesting, but I don't think I'm the kind of person who could have the same job for my whole life, no matter how perfect it is. I'll presumably end up in something programming-related eventually, though it's not what I'm looking for now. OH OKAY ACTUALLY dream job? Probably doing video essays (or possibly let's plays) on Youtube haha.

15 PEOPLE IS A LOT OF PEOPLE TO TAG AND I ALWAYS FEEL SO SHY TAGGING PEOPLE IN GAMES and I have no idea who's been tagged already ahaha UM NO PRESSURE WHATSOEVER!!! @llumimoon @happi-tree @kaseyskat @abeinginsand @nolassolace @goldturnedgray @swiffin @insomaniiiac @meiwks @calamity-unlocked @coolfire333 @supremely-unsupervised @b1gwings @giraffeskull There! 15! Tried to get a few new people in there lol. But fr no stress!