#specifically by chris ware

[thingsifindonthegroundsometimes]

falling falling falling falling now i hit the window falling falling falling falling now i hit the ground, dying dying dying dying now i hit the window, dying dying dying dying now i hit the ground

alive alive alive alive (HOME SWEET HOME)

[gollancz]

Guys. Christmas is coming. Consumerism is in the driver's seat and GAWD don't I know about the existential ennui of all these faceless corporations trying to schill you their wares. It's cold. Impersonal. Bleak.

So I, a fellow tumblr user, will instead try to schill you MY wares, so that when you purchase these items you can say "Hey, that person from tumblr worked on this", and feel the warmth of HUMAN CONNECTION in a way that is completely normal and not parasocial at all. We really are friends. I promise. Yes, you. Love you, bestie. Remember the boop war? Good times. Fond memories.

THIRTEEN STOREYS and FAMILY BUSINESS by Jonathan Sims

Tumblr's favourite Nightmare Factory @jonnywaistcoat has two novels out and they're phenomenal horror that also punch you in the throat with SOCIAL COMMENTARY and FEELINGS. He's so adept at tapping into the specific part of my brain that feels fear like a small child - not the adult creepy scared that I normally get around horror, but specifically the kind of fear that almost freezes your limbs and vocal chords with a terror you don't quite understand because there is so much in the world that you don't know, but you know that somehow this thing might be quick enough or smart enough or sneaky enough to get you before you can get to the safety of your parents sort of fear.

THIRTEEN STOREYS is a haunted house novel, but set in a refurbished block of flats. Each chapter follows a different resident being haunted in a different way, with a style to match the flavour of ghost. It's all tied together phenomenally and brutally.

FAMILY BUSINESS is a story about ghosts in a different way, following a woman who joins a post-mortem house cleaning service while grieving the death of her best friend. But as she removes the stains from the houses of the dead, she begins to suspect something else is removing even more.

Both of these titles are available from Gollancz worldwide!

THE LAST UNICORN, THE WAY HOME, THE INNKEEPER'S SONG and A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE by Peter S. Beagle

Obviously Peter's work needs no introduction, and our editions aren't available in the US and Canada, but I've had a wonderful time working with Peter and his team to bring these beautiful books back to the UK. Meeting him at Worldcon this year was such a magical moment, and he was jet-lagged and I had gone through sleep deprived into hyper and was bringing an Extremely Weird Energy to every interaction I had that day, resulting in this photo:

THE LAST UNICORN and THE WAY HOME are a matched pair of wonderful fairy stories. THE WAY HOME has two novellettes in it, and the first - 'Two Hearts' - won the Hugo award. It will also destroy you.

A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE was Peter's first ever novel, and it's wistful and romantic and so beautiful.

THE INNKEEPER'S SONG is his epic fantasy quest, it's an adventure story that reads almost lyrically. Also there's an orgy in the middle which caught me by surprise when I was reading it for the first time on the train into work.

HIGH VAULTAGE by Chris and Jen Sugden

It's possible that someone on this website doesn't know I was involved with this book but don't worry, I will HUNT THEM DOWN AND TELL THEM. This is the first book I took all the way through the editorial process from end to end and I am SO PROUD of it and Chris and Jen and their wonderful world of @victoriocity. Officially one of the seven funniest books published in the UK this year, shortlisted for the Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. It's a chaotic, bonkers murder mystery set in an alternate Victorian London which is the most gleeful dystopia I have ever encountered.

Featuring:

Grumpy Sunshine besties

The Victorian Equivalent of the Chuck Norris Meme

A robot who undertook a course in People Management

An indefatigable beagle

This is another book that you can get from Gollancz all over the world, and you SHOULD because it's amazing. Go into your local bookshop and ask them to order it into stock. It's a great Christmas present. It's my firstborn book baby (like that's a completely normal thing to say when I didn't even write it). Also if you're a fan of the podcast, why not tell the Guardian how great it is, and make a nuisance of yourself until they review. (I would, but the form asks for your name and then they'd know I didn't suddenly discover Victoriocity this year. Either that or think I was a very careless editor.) If you've not listened to the podcast yet, you absolutely should. It pings all my Douglas Adams receptors in the best way. If you like HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE, if you like CABIN PRESSURE, VICTORIOCITY is the perfect addition.

HAMMAJANG LUCK by Makana Yamamoto

SLIGHTLY cheating because HAMMAJANG LUCK isn't out in North America until January (pre-orders make great Christmas presents guys), but it IS out in the UK and the rest of the world next week! This is my second big editorial project and it's a Big Gay Space Heist ft. disaster lesbians, trans characters, and a tech billionaire getting put in his place. It's joyous and energetic and crammed full of Hawaiian pidgin as a love letter to the diaspora. @makana-yama is a phenomenal writer and this is their love letter to their communities, families both born and found, while also a statement on the victims of gentrification (and how those are disproportionally BIPOC communities). PLUS:

friends to enemies to cautious allies to lovers

trans cyborgs

Suck It Space Elon

You know that One Scene in Charlie's Angels where Cameron Diaz is in the white body suit and breaking into the safe and has to stretch out to hit two buttons at once? Yeah. That's the vibe.

Being able to work with Makana is a delight, and HAMMAJANG tapped into all the feelings I got watching LEVERAGE for the first time, so I went to watch it again while I was editing. Also OCEAN'S 8.

DEEP BLACK by Miles Cameron

So, barring Branderson, Miles Cameron may be one of our most prolific authors. He writes a minimum two books a year, one SFF and one historical fiction (as Christian Cameron) and he is... An absolute phenomenon. He IS the Chuck Norris meme. I'm obsessed with him. He's former US military intelligence turned naturalised Canadian Hippy, has written over fifty novels, can turn his hand to any genre and write it fantastically, is a practical archaeologist - running large scale re-enactments from a variety of periods ranging from Bronze Age right the way up to the Victorian era, using traditional techniques to allow academics to study how the practicalities of weapons, clothes, food etc. would have worked in practice. Two years ago he won a medieval combat tournament in Verona, a clear ten years older at least than the next oldest competitor, he teaches Historical European Martial Arts, but ties it into the history of martial arts globally. He can make his own clothes, ink, leatherwork. He's a ballet dancer. I once took him for a day out and he ended it in a different shirt and shoes from the ones he'd started in. I asked him for an author photo and he sent me this:

DEEP BLACK is the sequel to his critically acclaimed SF debut ARTIFACT SPACE, where he has taken his research and experience of global historical cultures and extrapolated to create an interplanetary future where the best of all are celebrated. And then Aliens Happen. And then, in reaction, Capitalism Happens (which is covered in the short story collection BEYOND THE FRINGE).

He's such a thoughtful and erudite speaker, if you're curious about his work, I'd recommend listening to his episodes on the Friends Talking Fantasy podcast, and also his appearance on The Publishing Rodeo.

If SF isn't your bag, he's also got:

Arthurian fantasy

Bronze Age fantasy

Medieval Mages fantasy

A CURSE OF CROWS - Lauren Dedroog

I actually inherited Lauren when a colleague of mine departed for fresh pastures, which gave me the great opportunity to work on this series which is so vastly different from my usual fare. It's epic, sweeping, romantic and lush, with such detailed description and complex political machinations, while also being brutal, dark and heavy (tw: for sexual assault, torture etc, etc.). If you like Sarah J Maas and Cassandra Clare, this should hit the sweet spot. Lauren is an ICU nurse when not writing, and this was somehow created when she was putting in a million hours in hospitals during COVID. The feat boggles my mind.

A CURSE OF CROWS is out now in the UK, Australia and Europe, and it won the People's Choice for Standaard Boek's Book of the Year award in 2023, in her home country of Belgium. It will be hitting shelves in North America next September! A DANCE OF SERPENTS is where I get to pick up the editorial mantle, and that has just landed in my inbox this week so I am excited to dig in.

Featuring:

Harold, they're lesbians

Murder baby is actually a cinnamon roll

Sensitive wings are sexy

For serious, though, I'm lucky enough to work with a lot of authors I'm genuinely obsessed and astounded by. And yes, I do get to work on Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson and Andrzej Sapkowski, but they're not MY authors - they're led by the incredible Gillian and Marcus who I'm not 100% certain sleep. There are so many people on the Gollancz list who I could recommend for DAYS (and will, if you so request), but this is my stable of superstars.

[sturniolotrip-samandcolby-lover]

Matt sturniolo -little bean

Warnings -swearing,mention of abortion, mention of sex , vomiting use of y/n, arguing .Small age gap (matt 20 and reader 22) silent treatment

Angst/fluff Matt

Author note -thinking of making this into a series so let me know what you all think

Part 1

Word count-2k

I brush the hair out of my face ,as I wake up to a empty house.The house was full of silence as my boyfriend Matt and his triplets brother had left the house already for some business meetings taking place at the ware house.I look at the clock on my phone 10:47am shit thats late for me and im still shattered i dont even feel like ive slept at all. Im awoken from my sleepy daze by my stomach rumbled ,I get up brush my hair quickly and head to the kitchen to get something to eat .

I raid the fridge and cupboards in search for something to eat , I decide to have chopped up lettuce,pickled gherkins and some jolly ranchers .I finish my breakfast and head to the couch to watch some TV ,as I sit down I see a note that's been left on the coffee table it said 'hey baby me Chris and nick have got a few more meetings today then what we thought might be abit later home will bring back some late lunch with us .Matt xxxx'. A smile is present on my face the whole time I read his quick note with my cheeks blushed , Matt's smallest actions can still have a massive effect on me even after being together for over a year now .

I flick through the channels as nothing can satisfy me , I decided to open the YouTube app and put some Sam and Colby on specifically the conjuring from last year's hell week .I'm half way through the video when all of a sudden I feel so nauseous I can feel it building in my stomach like a tornado swirling around inside of me , it starts of slow and the next thing I know I'm running to the nearest bathroom thankfully it's matt and i shared one .I throw the toilet seats up and fall to my knees and close my eyes as the first bit of vomit comes rushing up my throat and out of my mouth .I sit there for the next hour bringing up whats left of this mornings breakfast and last nights dinner.

After minutes of waiting for the sickness to come back .I decided to stand up and reach for my toothbrush and paste ,as I brush my teeth I start to think of anything that could of gave me a bug or if there was a stomach bug going around .After minutes I've came to know conclusion of my sickness when it hits me .....shit Matt and I are usually careful if we don't use a condom we pull out or we get the morning after pill but a while ago I joined the triplets on their 6 million subscribers video .During the night having all the huts to ourselves Matt and I decided to get the hut as far from nick and Chris as possible .It safe to say there was some very animalistic behaviour going on in our tent that night , in the heat of the moment no condom or pull out was used and I could exactly get plan b pill from the gift shop so we just left it and thought well it's not going to happen .

I decide that before I start to get myself worked up in a panic , I'll go to the shop and do a test before the boys get back .Once I feel like I won't be sick again I go and throw some leggings and a jumper on leaving my top to go bra-less as I'm reminded of some achiness in them .I throw some crocs on and grab my car keys as i head out .

*Arrives back from shop*

I walk back into the house and I'm thankful that it's still silent meaning I'm the only one here .This is my first ever pregnancy scare so I'm not expert , I end up buying 7 different tests and some mints to settle my stomach and yet some more gherkins.I wonder around the kitchen with my hands full of tests in search of a cup or container as i dont feel like peeing 6 different times .I decided to keep one unused so i can do it again with matt incase he doesn't believe me .After finding a disposable cup I drink 3 cups of water and walk around the house doing some cleaning while I wait for the water to hit my bladder .I feel a urge to pee and walk to the bathroom, I position the disposable cup where it's supposed to be and let me bladder do it's job I open all the tests and when I'm finished place the 6 sticks into the cup .I start pacing the bathroom but decided that wouldn't be the best thing to do in this situation .So I make my way to the kitchen and put a kettle on figuring that a hot drink may help my nerves while killing the time awaiting the tests.I walk back to the bathroom once then minutes are up and as I pull all the tests out I stand in shock as they all say the same ....I'm pregnant.

Fuck fuck fuck is the only word that is running in my head , what am I going to do ,what am I going to say , what's Matt going to say his career is at its prime right now what will a baby do with this .Fuck their triplets , twins run on my side of the family what if there's more then one baby in there .I hold onto one of the tests in my shaky hands as I pace the bathroom.After minutes of walking around the small white tiled room I decided to hide all the tests and put them in a draw in Matt and my bedroom and I decide to text matt.

Y/n: hey babe was just wondering do you know how long you're gonna be xx

My phone pings instantly telling me that most likely it woul be Matt had texted me back

Matt:yeah not long just grabbing some maccies won't be long everything okay at home ? Xx

Y/n: yeah just got something to talk to you about xx

I avoid my phone until he gets back .I'm startled as I hear the door fling open and just one set of foot steps ."y/n?" I hear his familiar voice Matt is calling after me ."in the living room" I shout back to him .Seconds later he appears looking as perfect as usual "where's Chris and nick?" I ask him "they was fucking around when we was supposed to be signing cards for merch getting sent out so they went back to the warehouse to do their signing , Laura is gonna drop them off later tho .What's this thing you wanna talk about?" I pause with words moving rapidly around my head trying to think of the right way to tell him that I'm now pregnant with his child .I decide that no words are the right words so I take him by the hand and lead him to the bathroom.

His body stills while his eyes move over what the tests all say .The room is silent , too silent."Matt says something " I say breaking the silence ."when did it happen" he says still not taking his eyes off the tests "at the safari , in the hut that night" I respond back to him "fuck" he mutters to himself as he storms out the door .I stand there in silence as my eyes well up with tears.I hear the jingle of Matt's car keys and the door slamming telling me that Matt had left again and gone in his car .I walk into the living room now numb with emotions my hand rests on my lower stomach now knowing that through the layers of skin and muscle is our baby ,my baby the size smaller then a bean in this moment I know that I've got to keep this baby wether Matt wants it or not .

Minutes pass and my nauseous feeling comes over me again as I run to the bathroom again.I spend all the best part of an hour again with my head in the toilet when I stand up again feeling weak at my knees I brush my teeth for the 3rd time today trying to get rid of the vile aftertaste left in my throat .I hear the door go again but i hear 3 set of footsteps this time ,and voices nick ,Chris and matts voice ."what are you gonna do bro?" I hear Chris ask Matt "I don't know"he responds "well you and y/n have gotta talk this out Matt you can't just leave her in the bathroom like you did last time " I hear nick snap at the boys .

"Y/n" I hear nick call out me ."I'm on the bathroom just about to come out" I shout back as I walk into the kitchen .Matt's angry stare softens as he seen my face , I'm now pale and clammy with my skin layered in a thin amount of sweat ."congratulations" Chris says breaking the tension in the room "thank you" I say with a half smile ."so I think you two have gotta talk about this" nick states ."I'm not getting rid of it" I say quickly that being the only thing I'm sure of right now ."I wasn't even going to suggest that" Matt says with anger in his voice .Nick ,places his hand up to Matt in a urge to shush him "calm Matt" he says to him."is it mine ?"matt asks me looking me in the eye "are you fucking kidding me" i say in the exact tone that matt has.Nick and chris take this as a hint and both excuse themselves to different rooms "yeah I'm being real" he says raising his voice , it being full with anger ."you're the only person I've slept with matt you know that" i say to him storming off into our shared room .

*Few hours later*

I hear a knock at the bedroom door hoping that it's Matt ."come in" I shout sounding optimistic.The door opens and nick strides in with a sorry smile on his face "so that was intense" he says as he sits down next to me on the bed "yeah" i agree with him ."so i dont know if this is the right thing to say but im really glad your'e keeping the baby" he says nudging my arm ."yeah i am too , i just hope that matt feels the same " i say smiling properly for the first time today ."alright its getting late so I'll leave you to sleep i heard creating a baby can be tiring "he says with a small laugh.

Just as nick leaves the room Matt enters it , he ignores me acting as if I'm not in the room as he goes to the wardrobe grabbing some spare pillows and duvet he walks back out of the room as I sit in bed listening to him getting comfortable on the sofa .I think to myself how much of a long night I'm in for I can never sleep properly when I'm not with Matt and even worse knowing that he's mad at me .As the thoughts come to my head added with the extra hormones that pregnancy has brought on my eyes start to fill with tears when they fall down my face .I have so many questions running over my head thinking how I'm going to bring up a baby by myself although nicks previous words bring some form of comfort to me .As the clock strike 4 am and im still wide awake and emotional i decide to head to the bathroom and take a calming bath .Im thankful that both nick and chris's rooms are on different levels as I run the tab the sound of water echos through the room .I rid of my clothes and get into the bath now full of bubbles I close my eyes in attempt to relax.

Suddenly my nauseousness creeps up on me again , who ever called morning sickness 'morning' has never experienced this cus it seems to be all throughout the day already .I jump up from the bath with my wet hair sticking to my body as I move quickly to the toilet I throw the lid up and sit on the floor as bile begins to leave my body .I startled as a soft towel is wrapped around my body ,I look up to see Matt crouching next to me with his eyes full of tears himself .His hand rubs circles on my back as I start gagging again ."let it out baby it's okay" he whispers I release bile 3 more times as I pull back and rest my head on Matt's shoulder as he pushes my hair out of my face ."come on let's go to bed and talk " he says so quietly careful not to wake his two brothers up .He stands up and picks me up bridal style still with the towel wrapped around me .He carries me to our bed and uses his foot to close the door as he places me gently on the bed .He goes to our wardrobe and fetches me some shorts and one of his tops , he helps me get dressed as my body is weak from the vomiting.Once I'm dressed I lay in bed as Matt walks over to the other side of the bed and jumps in to bed with me .I sit waiting for him to speak "y/n im sorry for what i said and done earlier i know that you would never cheat on me and id never ask you to get rid of it .Whatever you choose ill support you .Im sorry ive treated you like that when you needed me the most ..." I cut his speech off with a kiss "I know , I know babe and we're going to be fine I want to keep this baby tho" I say to him looking him in his eyes "we're going to be a mommy and daddy" he says to me smiling ."we best tell our parents" I say to him before falling asleep in his arms .

[arecomicsevengood]

My Favorite Thing Is Drawings

Got book two of Emil Ferris' My Favorite Thing Is Monsters out from the library yesterday. I read book one courtesy of the library too, and so did not necessarily remember all the finer details of the story, but was able to follow along pretty well. The reader is reminded of the basics up front. Ferris is an incredible artist, especially in color, able to capture painting-like effects of depth and texture through the crosshatching of colored pens, and it's always impressive. The thing that is weird about the book is that the most impressive images have basically nothing to do with the overall narrative: Images are copied from paintings in a museum, or from monster magazine covers. (It is possible the monster magazine covers might actually be Ferris' own designs, but within the context of the story they are copied images.) The main character is an artist, named Karen Reyes, narrating her life and telling her story, as well as the story of her family and other people that live in her apartment building, but there is almost a negative correlation between how important something is to the story and how much gusto she attacks it with. One important piece of backstory, once Karen learns it, is specifically described as being so upsetting that she has to draw it in a cartoon style rather than be overwhelmed by it. The book keeps going, chugging along, remaining compelling in its narrative. But then, the book's climax is not depicted at all, elided in a blackout of in-story head injury, as if setting up the story to be resolved in a third volume.

This last part is particularly bizarre or galling because the book is labeled as the conclusion of the story. Ferris and Fantagraphics were engaged in a legal battle after Book One became such a huge success - She made a shocking amount of money in royalties, but it seems like she was offered large advances for future books, and now has a contract with Pantheon for upcoming work, one of which is apparently a prequel to My Favorite Thing Is Monsters. But all of this is on some level besides the point when discussing the work itself. (Although I do think it's weird that reviews say the book ends on a cliffhanger rather than doesn't end. You get to a certain point in the reading when you realize the amount of pages left before the end is not enough to wrap everything up at the pacing the story has been told so far, and then you end up being basically correct.)

But what I think is interesting is, this book is blurbed by Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware, and Alison Bechdel. I'm not tryinand g to offer a hot take where I say the book isn't good - it's quite clear why people would like it. I think one could make a case that this book is more like illustrated prose than comics, but on a certain level, who cares, why make rules when the work is effective. Still, there is a take, which I guess I associate with Sammy Harkham, although I don't know who would disagree, that the way a comic works is, you draw all the parts equally. You make everything as visually interesting as you can, even the boring parts. I haven't seen anyone make the case that Ferris' book is effective because the drawing is sometimes really impressive and other times perfunctory. People instead note that she can really draw, wow, you immediately realize when looking at the book that she can really draw, and then there's this story that's really compelling that pulls you through.

What I have seen though is plenty of people that like comics just not really care, not really engage with the work, given its level of success and price point, and the sort of maybe-resentment that animates a dismissal of "that doesn't seem like it's for me" when a comic hits with the NPR crowd. These people are perhaps not wrong: The book is based around a very specific set of formal specifications that make it unclear what Ferris could do if she didn't have Reyes as her narrating main character to excuse her indulgences and the things she gives short shift to. There is this sort of disjunct of values that emerges between the comics that are like by people who read maybe one comic a decade and one comic a day where maybe the latter would never peruse the comic the former had so enthusiastically recommended to them. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters doesn't need to be good comics in order to be a good book. But you can see in how it doesn't conclude that it still benefits from the expectations people come to comics with, that for all the novelistic structure employed in its nesting stories it is still deferring its conclusion like the soap opera of a classic comic strip or a superhero serial. Part of me loves that, that comics are so much about you living with them and the jokes and energy a drawing conveys that add up to a worldview that they don't need to cohere into a form that carries a conclusive third act. But I'm not seeing anyone make that case for Ferris specifically, the same way I'm not seeing argue that her approach to having the best drawings be narratively extraneous is what engages the reader. I'm just seeing enthusiastic critical hosannas, which the book itself can't quite deliver on, at least in terms of eliciting from me.

[possessionisamyth]

previous anon about Carlos should have been in here: there is a few things about RE2R that I wish wasn't left out was Chris having anything to acknowledge why he didn't tell Claire himself he'll be "taking time off" and she had to hear it in the midst of the world ending from Marvin (in OG2 we find a file saying can't tell Claire I'm being watched and she would want to come with me to guard my back... does that get addressed in OG code veronica? i don't remember much all I remember is Chris "I always keep my promises"... hi call back in Village Mia in the cells says something like "you promised you would keep us safe") and Jill already being there and suffering/tying up loose ends (she had a planned time to leave its on her calendar and suffering is the pills on her bedside table and that letter "barely eating/ barely sleeping") the only people she had with her is Carlos and Tyrell and they were ubcs

the only form of "jealousy" i want to see from Chris when it comes to Carlos is none (maybe a little angst about Carlos did something Chris didn't which is get to Jill in time). Chris is in a horrible situation with Jill AND more importantly Claire who we barely get to see him interact with (he couldn't even try to reach for her when they were in neighbouring cells?) and then we throw in Carlos? who went through so much helping Jill (does Carlos know that giving the "vaccine" to Jill is what made Wesker want her- that her blood had the t virus specifically modified for the Nemesis and the vaccine?)

i enjoyed the film... the one time i watched. it any time I rewatch my enjoyment will be because i am watching it with my sister (after her first time watching it obviously) and we start making fun of it

(next and only time I want to see Leon again is when he is getting dragged by a horse. watch trick riding then watch that motobike scene in vendetta as to why)

Welcome back! There was a lot in the first paragraph, so I spent the day rereading and poking at what events you're talking about. I know after reading the rest of this ask that there's something I need to state.

I don't know what train of canon these movies are going for post-RE2 Remake (2019). Vendetta dropped in 2017 the same year as RE7 and as far as we know follows the canon timeline of all the games prior aka RE0-RE6. But after this? Infinite Darkness and Death Island? Entirely up in the air. With all the changes they're shifting to make things more realistic they could be going from the remakes, but Infinite Darkness dropped before the RE4 Remake and takes place after those events. Other than hard dates for what movie or game happens when, I'm genuinely adverse even considering touching which canon trail the movies and animated series are following from 2021 forward. The best I can do is say the original games are one canon, the remakes are another, and they're not supposed to be interchangeable, but Capcom is trying to shove them into one box for???? reasons??? (Money. The reason is money.)

I always try to compare them as separate trails just to see what the remakes try to pull from the original games based on inspiration and improvements. One of the most notable changes they make for the remakes is how important information is delivered to the player.

In the original games they make you read a lot. There are tons of documents and files sprinkled all over the area, in desks, behind paintings, on the ground, in lockers, on doors, in windows, in safes, under chairs, on the stairs, buy my wares, it's all over the place! And it's overwhelming! Especially because you don't even need half of the information you find to progress. It's good for people who want to know lore, but if you're a seasoned player, you can filter out the lore from the "this has a hint or keycode I need to unlock the next area". So you won't read what you don't care to read meaning character beats like Chris' notes can be skipped with no consequence other than losing some of the story. By having a different character voice this information to the player, you can't skip it. You are getting vital information that helps enrich the backstory and the nuance of the characters and the world around you in those same bites of time.

The best example of this is the changes they did for Luis from Resident Evil 4. In the original, you learn all of his information, his backstory, his motives, everything about him through a fuck ton of notes and letters that are very easy to skip or miss. From a storytelling perspective, there's no value in that. If you miss most of this information, he's just some guy the entire time, who's kinda sexist, and gives you bullets and healing items. In the remake, he's telling you and showing you who he is through his actions. You the player get to see his motivations and character through cut scenes with Ada and Leon with minimal sleuthing with a couple pictures and a singular journal you find that may or may not relate to him. And the last edges of the truth come out in just a couple documents in his lab before the final boss fight. It's not through this 20 page lore dump that's supposed to inspire sympathy at the end of the game. This change worked because everyone wants to fuck Luis now.

So it's small, but I do appreciate Marvin being the one to tell Claire about Chris. It highlights that Chris trusted Marvin adding a little more sadness to his death because maybe they were friends. It let's the audience know that Chris talks about Claire at work enough that Marvin knows how important she is therefore telling the player Chris cares about her a lot. It also lets Claire and the player receive this information very painlessly because not everyone is a completionist who needs to play the game 50 times and wring everything out of it.

As for Chris being in a bad situation with Claire and Jill, I really don't think that's the case. I know Chris drops the ball sometimes, but it's not on purpose, and it's never out of malicious intent. He tries, and he beats himself up when he fails. He's his own biggest critic because he's lost so many people, and it hurts him to see others doing what stupid shit he does, because he doesn't want them to get hurt. He wants the people he cares about to be better than him.

Chris did blame himself for not being there for Claire in Raccoon City, and he apologized to her in Code Veronica. As for not holding Claire's hand through the bars, I don't know how he would've done that.

Look at Jill's hand and how she grasps one of the bars of the cell. The gaps are very narrow, and Chris has huge arms. Maybe Claire could squeeze a limb through, but she'd have to bend her arm very awkwardly for Chris to make that reassuring contact unless they both sat on the floor. I know he very much did want to hold her hand, and I do blame the directors for not giving us a single Redfield hug. But I don't think it was a matter of Chris not wanting to make sure she's okay. He does love Claire. This movie was terrible about showing that kind of care between literally everyone in the cast.

As for Chris being on bad terms with Jill, I can't say that's true either. This movie takes place 6 years after Wesker is finally dead. Presumably that means this is Jill's first year back on the field since her traumatic event. Chris isn't going to leave her on radio silence after all they've been through together. She's not Leon. I like to believe Chris was there for her through a lot of her recovery and probably endorsed her return to the BSAA because she wanted to come back. It's a small moment, but when Chris first approaches her in the shooting range, Jill tells him not to worry about her and passes him a water bottle. There's an understanding here. Their friendship isn't gone nor diminished, but Jill is putting herself under a lot of pressure, and Chris doesn't know how to take that weight from her shoulders. That's why their conversation deteriorated the way it did.

As for Carlos, I think he'd have mixed feelings on knowing him helping Jill survive was a boon for Wesker, but I don't think he'd beat himself up for it. At the time, there were only two options which were save Jill or let Jill die. He's no scientist that could synthesize an alternate cure, and he cares about Jill as deeply as she cares about him. In any variation of the events of 1998, he wouldn't have let her die if he had the power to prevent it. He also knows if their roles were reversed, she would do the same for him. Yes, it's awful that Wesker manipulated Jill for a fact of her body she had no control over, but I'm sure Jill and Carlos would've had a long talk about not playing the blame game if the conversation came up between them. Capcom had to get rid of Carlos (and Sheva) because he actually has decent communication skills, and that doesn't work for their half-assed written angst dynamics.

Also don't get me started on RE7 and RE8 because I have a bazillion words about the Winters family and Chris. Like...too many...

But I'm happy you're having fun making fun of the film! I'll be doing that myself during my rewatches as I write out my rewrite with Carlos.

[biosurvive]

@deadaim -> Hey should we get the green kitchen set or the bronze one :/ I like both

As stressful as buying a house was, it was nothing compared to having to fill said house with things after living in an apartment for the last decade and a half. Shopping was never an activity Chris enjoyed, crowds and loud noises were not fun for him despite how much he loved his hometown of New York City, but a large city was different than a cramped building or two and in a store he couldn't see every exit. Luckily for him though, he had his anchor with him in the form of his darling husband and Leon kept him tethered to the mortal plane with both their entwined fingers and constant reassuring kisses to his cheek as they browsed wares and filled a rickety shopping cart with their bounty.

They hadn't even decided on if they were going to repaint the kitchen, and thus a color choice wasn't set in stone and the two for the last fifteen minutes had overly examined every brand and option the store had to offer until Leon finally seemed to narrow the choice down to two. Of course the green ones had caught his eye, his favorite color and Chris had a sneaking suspicion that his husband has pointed that one out specifically to make him happy, and the gesture alone had made warmth spread in his stomach and shot up to his chest until he finds himself leaning down to press his own kiss to Leon's temple.

" The bronze, the metal makes it look very urban and it'll remind us both of our roots. " His tone is soft, just as gentle as the look in his eyes as he returned to pushing the cart around, already set on moving onto their next choice, silverware. " I love you for thinking green, but I have my heart set on making the four season porch green themed, with plenty of plants. " He adds with a song in his voice, the cart squeaking as the hulking man is mindful to not bump into anything glass with his wide frame. " Think on it though, we have all day. Maybe we can go pick out a new bedspread quickly? I want to know what color you'll be spread out on after we wash it. "

[kittytangshi]

Project 2 process--Piratic man 'R'

Inspiration

The experience of buying pirated discs in Shanghai's Chenhuang Temple as a child was fun, and I was exposed to a wider range of films and musical art as a result. But as I grew into adulthood and became more aware of copyright, I looked back on the experience with ambivalence about piracy. This prompted me to start researching the historical and practical context around me and to explore the possible future of piracy.

Mapping

The mapping below recorded Chenghuang Temple's current state of piracy trade and its surroundings. Chenghuang Temple Market, the largest pirate market in Shanghai, contains both Chinese traditional architecture and modern facilities, which look like a collage space. It is easy to notice that the amount of boring and similar signboards and commodities breaks the beauty of traditional architecture. Chaotic noise is everywhere in the surrounding place.

Development

Storytelling and visualisation

Inspired by Chris Ware and Longhua ( illustrator of The Blind Men and the Elephant), I added more playability and exploration in the story. After many attempts and tests, the story combines ideas from Plan 1 and builds four eras based on the real background of Chenghuang Area, with the pirate superhero R as the core of the whole story, experiencing from making pirated copies for human beings to the awakening of self-consciousness to create an open source world with human beings in the four eras. The macro-expression of combines fisheye perspective and the micro-expression of R as the main story depict the impact and transformation of piracy on the society in the four different eras.

Scene and background Research

Referred to Chenghuang area architectures from the 1980s and 2000s photos collected from my relatives and online resources.

Composition Development

Initially focused the scene on a specific street scene but found that this way of presentation could not clearly show the main idea of the story. So I referred to the fisheye effect and found that the exaggerated composition can highlight the key points well, and the fisheye effect is more like seeing the world from the eyes of the protagonist R.

Design process

Packaging design process

Environment design process

Character design process

Sketches

Colour attempt

Working process

World 1980

The world was highly polarized, art and knowledge were monopolized by the elite, while ordinary people were extremely lacked creativity. People created the robot R out of boredom. R became friends with people and wanted to do something for them.

World 2000

R used its ability to pirate the resources of the elite to bring them to people, and the world began to flourish and grow to a seemingly balanced stage. People followed trends and pirated everything popular.

World 2050

R created a large number of new pirate robots and made a large amount of pirated copies, the pirated items started to make the city look unsightly, and the creators lost their passion for creating and no more new ideas come out of the woodwork. People began to boycott R and the other machines, and R decided to shut itself down.

World XXXX

R woke up in a utopian world where resources were shared, originality was protected, art and knowledge were no longer monopolized by the rich, and everyone had the opportunity to create. R and a few others worked together to create songs using an open-source system.

[maggie-parks]

Research Journal 2: Language

Artist 1: Kay Rosen

Form: Flash paint and acrylic gouache on canvas.

Content: "IOU" (2017) is a play on words that nods to hollow promises made to indigenous peoples, in this case, the Sioux nation, in North America

Process: Rosen's work is painted by hand. To create clean lines I imagine she uses a projector to trace the outline of the font she wants to paint.

I chose this work by Rosen because I'm drawn to the simple design yet straightforward and powerful message. There is only one word, but the careful choice of letter colors adds another level of meaning.

Artist 2: Faith Wilding

Form: Performance art. Poem recited as a monologue.

Content: "Waiting" (1974) is a 15-minute monologue recited by Wilding. "Waiting" is recited in a repetitive, monotonous cycle that describes a woman's experience of waiting for her life to begin as she spends her whole life serving and pleasing others.

Process: This monologue required memorization and to be recited in a monotone rhythm while rocking back and forth.

I included Wilding's performance in this journal because it was the first thing I thought of when I considered what a performance art piece that focused on language might look like.

Artist 3: Chris Ware

Form: Comic, poster. Ink, pencil, and white gouache on bristol.

Content: Ware creates intimate comics that tell slice-of-life stories about people in suburban Midwestern neighborhoods.

Process: Drawing lightly with pencil and going over with paint for the pictures, white gouache for the text bubbles, and ink for the text. I imagine this would be easier to design and type out the words in a digital format & then trace the comic onto a larger bristol paper using a projector.

I chose to feature Ware's comics because I love how simple his illustrations are while perfectly capturing the complexity of everyday moments that so many people can relate to.

Artist 4: Derek Erdman

Form: Digital media/graphic design print: poster

Content: A parody of an actual PSA poster about rat control in the city of Chicago.

Process: Using the original poster as a template/guide, recreate it in photoshop with a satirical twist.

I love Derek Erdman's art simply because most of the time it's hilarious. He has a few pieces like this that are either posters or yard signs that aren't what you expect when you first look at them. It's one of those things where your brain is conditioned to expect the usual messaging, but with a closer look, you notice the subtle changes.

Artist 5: Josh Eberhard AKA This Is A Zine

Form: Graphic design/ digital media. Print- Zine

Content: This Is A Zine is a collection of zines that each focus on a different social issue. "GUNZ 47" is a zine focusing on the issue of gun control and violence.

Process: Creating a digital file that can be printed in multiples. Cut and folded in a specific way to make a booklet without the need for glue.

I've been interested in making zines lately and this is just one of the people I looked at when browsing artists who make zines! I love the "no rules" freedom that comes with making zines, and I like ones like this that incorporate a powerful message instead of only pictures.

[possumcollege]

Additional asks answered

favorite piece of clothing to draw:

I like drawing heavy coats, boots, short jackets and gloves. I love thinking up new dresses whenever I draw the middle sister in Crittertongue. Specific character outfits and models can be dull for me so I always make up her dress on the spot in a new strip. There are elements I repeat but it's fun to take a new swing whenever I can. The oldest sister has pieces I like repeating because they're like things I own or just look fun to wear. I like drawing practical, functional clothes. And smetimes that function is looking cute.

what do I listen to:

Having something to listen to really helps me focus. Hi- I have combined-type ADHD so I have a visceral need for input that I can ignore in order to drown out the racing thoughts that keep me from paying attention to or overthinking the task at hand before I get bored.

For penciling or sketching I'll listen to my Spotify likes. I can draw to pretty much anything and my tastes are all the heck over, it just can't be anything I haven't heard before or anything with songs over 4-5 min. For inking and less decision-y work I'll most often put on a show I've seen a million times, episodes of Columbo, the Mike seasons of MST3K, Newsradio, nothing I have a terribly high emotional connection with and again never something new because those just become distractions.

a creator I admire whose art isn't my thing:

A tough one. I can sour on creators faster for who they are than what their work is. I like the style and visual feel of the Pogo comics but they are a cognitive chore to read. Chris Ware is extremely talented and interesting but his comics can really bog me down. I tend to be drawn to works of art/writing/music first and dig into the creator later. If the art doesn't hold space in my head, the creator will usually wander off with it. Unless of course I know them personally, and then I don't comment on whether it's my thing in public. 😅

Something others find hard that I enjoy:

Not sure what most others struggle with so much but I really enjoy hand-lettering! I also love drawing hands, faces, eyes, the expressive bits that are bears to get just right and really screw up a moment of they aren't quite there. A key exception to that is Jack Kirby's Devil Dinosaur, whose face is always correct even if it doesn't match that the speaking characters say about it.

I make a lot of faces to myself while I'm drawing. I feel like being behind the expression can be more important than having an image to work from.

media I love that doesn't inspire me artistically:

I almost said Mr. Ed but I'm not sure that's true. I enjoy lots of creators whose strengths are just not my own and I don't feel like I need to replicate. Sometimes the things that inspire me translate more into my mental processes than the images I make. I enjoy noir aesthetics, artists who play with panel design, artistic angles, historic accuracy and well researched background, I love mecha, anime, period drama, technical draftsmanship, color- but at the end of the day I focus more on getting the story on paper, then see where I can challenge myself in the details rather than trying to push toward something markedly different from my preferred modes. Not to say I don't experiment but when the choice is try something very far from my comfort zone or know I'll get completed work on the page, I do what feels natural.

For the ask game: 8, 14, 30!

Old projects I've lost interest in:

I only really have two big projects, Crittertongue and Dinosaur Sheriff. I've been writing DS since 2008 and there are only 3 complete issues but my enthusiasm for it is still going strong. Crittertongue has just been more sustainable since they're shorter, and the narrative structure allows me to do more with it amidst my work and parenting duties.

If anything, I lose interest in themes. I grew up watching a lot of action movies and shows, reading stories with a lot of combat, explosions, gnarly kills, bizarre anime weapons, honorable or hyperbolic violence. While I still like dope fight scenes, action, giant monster fights (💚) in my media, I've lost interest in using it as a major fixture of my own work. There are more interesting forms of conflict than the kinds a character can address with a sword, and the guns in my life are quiet more often than not. A gun has more narrative weight for me as a threat, as a desperate thing. They lose their teeth when they become punctuation. So while my work does feature the odd scrap here or shots fired there, I try to keep it tailored more to the purpose it serves rather than engaging in it for spectacle.

Growing up as a boy, there was kind of an ever-present background of casual violence that really stressed me out. Like I was fucking up by not fighting more, but when I did get physical, I was overreacting. Fetishizing the capacity for violence feels gross to me. Anyway, that's about as close to an answer as I have there.

Motifs:

I try to keep my environments simple even when they're large and rambling, but I am mad for surface texture, patina, weathering, "beausage." I love when an artist can make something look hard or sticky, fuzzy or beaten up with linework. Environments where nothing looks new are like candy for me. Cam Kennedy drew a number of Boba Fett comics that I read to pieces in middle school and his line work created such beautiful texture, amazing eye-feel (gross), and visual interest that really tied characters into their environments. Learning how to balance out that kind of thing feels therapeutic for me. I hate the greebled massing of shapes and textures to make things look more dramatic or technical or interesting. It's very noisy. I really prefer more functional, practical shapes, and keeping things repeatable without turning my brain to soup or my wrist to dust.

I apply this most often to characters' clothes. Designs where a character is always converted in elaborately layered straps, belts, sashes, gear, armor... stuff give me a hot brain. Do they sleep in it? Where do they put it? Do they pile 3 satchels, a cape, a sword belt, two pistols, and a rucksack in the corner when they have to poop? Is that an answer? Yes. Answered. I'm great at this.

A piece I think is underrated:

Dinosaur Sheriff is definitely under-utilized in my portfolio and the first art was done while I was a young, sleep-deprived college kid, but I'd still love more folks to get to read it. I think it's gotten better with every issue but havent had the resources to complete, print or distribute it. 😑Ffff... I'm working on it.

[megslovesbooks]

Well. I'm not going to get this little ghost story finished tonight, I'm feeling kinda bad so it's going to have to wait, which sucks because I really wanted to post something fun for spooky day. Alas. As an apology a new snippet. Hopefully I can finish it in the next day or two.

Hope you are all having a good spooky time.

“I think there’s a clearing at the top of this next ridge. Maybe we could see better from there.” Cara says, staring off toward the summit maybe half a mile above them, her gaze is focused on something specific, but when Eddie looks all he can see is a hazy wash of trees. It's as good a plan as any though, so he just nods and pushes away from the tree on unsteady legs. It's probably not the best plan, his head still swims and there’s a dull fire in his side that tells him something is wrong beyond bruises, but he still isn’t really sure how Cara is doing and if she’s bleeding internally and he can’t get her help she’ll die. They both might. 

“We better hurry.”  He says, keenly aware of how fast the light is leaving. 

The first few hundred yards are something like OK. The next are harder. The terrain is beginning to slope steeply upward and Eddie can feel his body threatening to quit even though they’re still so far from their goal, his breath coming in painful ragged gasps. Cara is silent, which worries him. Even though she seems to be managing far better than he is, her face is passive and the lines of her body seem relaxed. Still, he should get her talking, make sure he knows what’s going on with her.

“Where were you going today? Before our detour?” He means it like a joke but it just comes out like a wheeze. Cara glances over at him, confusion pulling her brows together. 

“Going?” She asks and Eddie feels a wrongness begin to creep up the back of his neck, but he’s not sure if it's for him or her. 

“Yeah, in the car.” He says around another labored breath “Were you driving to work or school or–”

“Oh.”  She says vaguely, and that sense of wrong flairs hot, “The car–”

“It's alright.” He says, worry and nausea waring in his gut, “You don’t have to tell me.”

“I was going to my mom’s” Cara says, and the strange timber of her voice is gone. “I have a long weekend off school and promised I’d come visit. We’ve been…clashing a bit lately. It seemed like a good chance to clear the air.” She pauses for a moment and then adds “I’m all she’s got.” 

The words stab something hot and painful through his chest. 

“Yeah.”  He says, then has to clear his throat. “I know that feeling.”

“Only child?” She asks. He’s too busy watching his feet over this patch of uneven terrain to look at her. The agony in his body is beginning to ebb. It doesn't feel like a win. 

“No. Two sisters. But my kid is, and he lost his mother a few years ago, so I’m all he’s got.” 

They’re old words, spoken and thought so many times he knows the shape of them by heart, but they aren’t true are they? Maybe they’ve never been true…not really, but now…now…well now his son is surrounded by more love than Eddie knows what to do with, Pepa, and Carla, and Karen and Hen and Bobby and Athena and Chimney and Maddie. May and Linda and his school friends and their parents and his teachers. Eddie’s parents and his sisters, who he may not always see eye to eye with, but who he knows would move heaven and earth for his son if they had too. And Buck Buck who has given and given and given. Buck who has put his actual body between Chris and harm, who loves Eddie’s son like his own and never expects any recognition for the things he sacrifices for him over and over again. Buck who’s name is typed neatly on the legal paperwork tucked carefully in the middle drawer of Eddie’s desk, who will fight for Christopher until his last breath. No. Eddie isn’t all his son has. It's the other way round, isn’t it…

“Eddie?” Cara’s voice seems to come from too far away, as if they’re on different tiny boats and are drifting apart on the tide. He blinks, realizes he’s stopped moving and is leaning heavily against one of the Gray Pines that cover the mountain side in droves. 

“Yeah,”  He says, the word is far shakier than he’d like, and the severity of their situation is really, truly beginning to settle over him.

[hmslusitania]

just realized I never sent you one of these myself! I read so many of yours that I just. forgot to send my own. anyways...how about...7 & 8 for buddie? :D

7. Florist AU + 8. Hospital AU

You get the extremely dubious honour of being the last of these I write, as well as me starting this at half past midnight.

So, Eddie Diaz is a nurse. And he’s very good at his job. The patients like him because he’s straightforward with them, but he’s got that dry humour and makes some pretty good faces when occasion calls for it.

The one trouble is, the hospital where he works has a weird trend of patients without local family. No one’s really sure why, but usually, rather than visitors, most of the patients Eddie sees receive flowers.

It’s not really Eddie’s job to tend to the flowers, but sometimes a patient -- like a little wizened grandmother who’s in with her third kidney stone in the past six months and whose entire family lives back east somewhere -- will ask him to change the water or clip the dead leaves off.

But, see, Eddie may be very good at keeping human patients alive? He may as well be a walking grim reaper of plants.

Fortunately, cut flowers are a bit of a shitshow anyway so he doesn’t really have to worry about ruining someone’s bouquet. By the time the plants all shrivel and die because he looked at them wrong, the patient has usually been discharged anyway.

He figures out that the flowers typically come from the same floral shop when the deliveries change.

His patients stop receiving bouquets in vases and instead start getting live, potted plants that they’re supposed to be able to take home and plant in their own gardens like a symbol of hope and vitality or whateverthefuck and every time one of Eddie’s patients has asked him if he’d be a dear and water their tiny, wretched shrub for them, it has died.

One patient? Gets a succulent delivered from a niece in Tucson -- direct from Buck’s Garden, three blocks from the hospital -- on Monday, only hours after she’s admitted. Eddie waters it at her request on Tuesday, and when she gets discharged on Wednesday, he goes to help her pack her succulent and the second he brushes one of the lobe-leaf-whatever-things, the entire plant dissolves into green goo.

Eddie has better things to do on his day off -- sort of, it’s not like he really has a social life and Chris is at a sleepover -- but he goes to Buck’s Garden anyway. Surely, he should be able to talk whichever sales person has been recommending live plants back into sending cut flowers? He is prepared to attempt eyelash-batting if it comes to it (One of his coworkers, Maddie down in the ER, has told him repeatedly he could probably convince anyone to do anything if he batted his eyes right -- not her, though, she’s happily married to a paramedic and no, she’s not going to trade shifts with him on Saturday, she’s very pregnant and has an obstetrician appointment).

Eddie is unprepared when he steps into the humid, misty (??) garden shop for the man behind the counter. He’s taller than Eddie, he’s wearing a very battered flannel rolled up to the elbows and a backwards baseball cap, and he greets Eddie with a dimpled, thousand-watt smile and pretty blue eyes, and Eddie almost turns around and leaves.

But the are-you-kidding-me!hot guy behind the counter asks if he can help before Eddie can run for it, and Eddie finds himself spilling the whole ridiculous story. To Buck, apparently, of the shop’s name.

Buck is deeply concerned by the fate of the plants he’s been selling to long-distance customers, but especially because, as it turns out, Buck’s sister works at Eddie’s hospital and had specifically told him that the nurses in Eddie’s ward were worried about the glass vases that came with cut flowers and would prefer the plastic pots. For, y’know, safety.

It takes the boys a bit too long to put together that Maddie has been playing a longcon on them because she knows exactly how Eddie feels about plants -- he’s complained about it to her in the breakroom often enough -- and she had hedged her bets that eventually, with enough pressure, Eddie would go to the apparent source of the problem: her brother, Evan Buckley, sole proprietor of Buck’s Garden.

“Think of how many plants would still be alive today if you’d just had the common decency to set us up on a blind date like a normal person!” Buck complains, months later, over the top of a stack of boxes.

“Think of how many fewer patients I would’ve annoyed for killing their gifts,” Eddie adds, over the top of his own boxes.

“As if either of you would’ve let me set you up on a blind date,” Maddie replies, which is fair enough, Eddie decides. “Besides. It worked, didn’t it?”

And yeah, Eddie thinks while he steps around the boxes of kitchen wares and gardening implements from Buck’s old apartment that are now stacked in the middle of their living room, yeah it had.

There are Other mashups you can read!

[newtafterdark]

Welcome to me at 6pm thinking about Hellboy. This is what happens whenever I draw monster men. I am going right back into that wonderful world with my favorite hero character of all time.

(This is taken straight from my Twitter where I was writing this thread for over an hour)

Being 100% honest - I think about my "everyone lives - no one dies" version of Hellboy more often than you'd think.

Not to mention that I have an AU rotating in my brain with the Lords from RE8 getting resurrected and intigrated into that world.

Just all of them getting slowly used to freedom amoung people who are unusual like them... 🥺

Plus, I can totally see the Duke occasionally selling & buying goods at the Troll Market! That place is buzzing with folks appreciating his wares & aesthetic!

Moreau getting to choose if he wants to become someone more human-like again or meeting Abe and deciding "No, I think can work with this. :)" and letting himself be a fishman who becomes a trusted doctor once more.

Heisenberg 100% says "thank you but fuck you" to the royal twins & does his own thing in the streets of the Troll Market for a while... until eventually joining the blackmiths in their lava powered forge who are 100% just as rough around the edges as he is.

Donna would actually stay close to Princess Nuala, appreciating the silent chambers of the palace & doing her crafts beside Nuala doing her own studies. Possibly even have Abe as a visitor sometimes as well. Just all of them doing their own things in comfortable silence.

Meanwhile Lady D and her daughters... I think Prince Nuada would appreciate them very much. Specifically Lady D as an equal for discussing political matters that require swift action.

Bela, Cassandra & Daniela no doubt get encouraged by the entire fae court to "find themselves", learning about their past & developing their own preferences aside from what they learned at Lady D's place.

Am I possibly thinking about Miranda getting held accountable by the royal fae court for A) experimenting with the Mold & B) bringing attention to it, which lead to it getting destroyed by humans? Absolutely.

But also!! The fae court offering their power & influence to rebuild the Village & teaching the folks there how to gain control of their powers and how to help the Mold heal. Which means Ethan Winters and his family can stay there & not be bothered by Umbrella.

Consider this: Hellboy & the BPRD grabbing Chris & his squad like "Wanna try again, bootboy?" is just good. We are shaking the guy until he is no longer a goverment man.

Look me in the eye and tell me that Chris Redfield wouldn't look respectfully at Hellboy. 👀

... then again, so would Heisenberg. Welp, that's for the three of them to figure out amoungst themselves, I ain't touching that hot mess.

Back to Lady D for a moment - Just imagine her in her own version of the royal fae robes! Specifially with Nuada's black, red and gold colours~ OoooOooo!!🥺💕She gets something made that is a combination of armour & dress for sure.

... all in all, you can tell that I've been roating this comfort AU in my head for a while. It's simply nice to combine two pieces of media that you love & figure out how they'd interact with eachother. :>

[vegaslightsrpg]

mwf and mwm?

Hello nonnie!

While we're certainly open to just about any possible additions to the group, some of the female FCs we'd be interested in are Zendaya, Elizabeth Lail, Hailee Steinfeld and Elizabeth Olsen. We also have a particular interest in Sydney Park as well as Sofia Carson as they're specifically wanted as FCs for two of our open skeleton bios.

On the male side we'd love to see a Jordan Fisher, Dustin Milligan, Darren Barnet, Casey Diedrick, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Robbie Amell, Aldis Hodge, Zac Efron, Matthew Daddario or Jesse Williams.

As well we're also quite interested in canon Glee characters and FCs such as Jacob Artist, Chord Overstreet, Amber Riley, Samantha Ware, Dianna Agron, Melissa Benoist, Grant Gustin, Darren Criss, Chris Colfer, etc.

As I said, we're open to just about all suggestions, if you have a question about a particular FC feel free to message us!

[a-lovestruck-salamander]

Co-oping games like Stardew Valley will always be interesting to me because your experience will be defined by the type of people you play it with.

When I played it with my boyfriend, he spent a lot of his time grinding in the mine and fighting enemies, whilst also prioritizing making lots of money. I meandered around collecting things and petting the chickens One was named Cock and making sure to give gifts to the villagers each day. He would occasionally present me with a fish, specifically the ‘chub’ fish. We thought it was funny, however he would not accept it when I would attempt to give him my chub. Overall was fairly uneventful, other than us having a few disputes about who got to upgrade which tools first or me just being inexperienced with the game and fucking things up accidentally. We also failed the first festival, which he was dissapointed by, however I was much too busy being angry about Harvey’s existence to much care. Simply? He cared about efficiency, I liked dicking around.

When I played with my best pal Maddie, it was very smooth and slow going. She spent her days mostly fishing, but I had by this time developed a desire to mine and collect all the resources. We also planned for our in game wedding, even though we knew it was an event sequence that we’d be fully unable to control. We didn’t care. We just wanted to have a happy little farm and be married in the game. We shared a bed in the main house.

When all my friends and I played together on one farm with a total of five people? We knew it could get chaotic, so we had a game plan. We all had unique jobs- Ryan and I would mine, Maddie would fish, Chris would chop trees and Jacob would cultivate the farm. Together, we could surly acomplish feats like none had ever seen.

However, as soon as we began playing, all hell broke loose.

Maddie and I made our characters look much like we do in real life. Jacob made his character look like a ghost, and Ryan’s was hard to look at with the strange color combinations. Already there was a stark contrast on how we would approach this game.

The first thing we did is, we all stood in the exact same spot and tried to make the game glitch out. It worked, and it was really funny.

Maddie, Jacob and I began making one large plot for our crops to be planted, only to walk by Ryan and see that he had planted crops haphazardly in front of his house. We explained that this would make it harder to ensure all the crops would be watered, but we let it go.

It was then Ryan presented me with a Chub. I vehemently rejected it, demanding that I would obtain my own chub to then present to Maddie. However, I’m bad at fishing in the game, so I eventually obtained Ryan’s chub and regifted it to an unknowing Maddie. Maddie, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry for giving you Ryan’s hand me down Chub.

A few days pass, and we produced our first fruitful harvest, happily selling the wares and adding the funds to the joint bank we shared. As Jacob headed off to the market, someone asked a very good question.

“Hey. Where did all the money go?”

Silence permeated as we all probed each other for the culprit. Who had spent the money? And on what? We would soon have the guilty party, as we saw Ryan walk up wearing a new hat that he had purchased from the shady hat dealer. We all proceeded to scold him for spending our money so frivolously- we needed that for crops! It was much too early to be purchasing HATS of all things.

And then the rearranging happened.

We had all mutually decided to just share the main house that is given to the main player, because seeing 5 people sleep in one bed was funny. Our personal houses would be used for storage only, which was fine for a while. That was, until I entered my house and saw half of my furniture removed, unwanted furniture added in, and a bright pink chest in the middle of the room. It annoyed me on principle- I did not enjoy having my things moved without my permission. This was a declaration of war if I had ever seen it.

Knowing the culprit was certainly Jacob- he’s a little shit who just does things like that- I decided to take all the wall decorations from ever house and plaster them all over his. Then, Ryan stole the lamp from my house. I stole it back. It was tug of war for ownership of these precious items. No one was mining anymore. Chris had gone to bed, Maddie was too busy fishing, and the trio of chaotic fuckers were too damn busy fighting over who got to keep the weird scarecrow in their house. It was madness.

All of that happened in the course of a few hours of playing. We only ever tried to play twice, realizing quickly that we would never actually progress in the game due to our inability to actually work together as a team. However, the time we spent is remembered fondly by all present. Except Chris. He had to go to bed early so he missed a lot of it. Sorry bud.

[phroyd]

Looks like Trump is setting the stage for promoting a false narrative of election cyber-interference in support of Joe Biden. Once Krebs is out, he can install a croney to manipulate information to make it look like a valid claim. - Phroyd

Krebs, who heads the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), did not return messages seeking comment. CISA and the White House declined comment.

Separately, Bryan Ware, assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, confirmed to Reuters that he had handed in his resignation on Thursday. Ware did not provide details, but a U.S. official familiar with his matter said the White House asked for Ware’s resignation earlier this week.

The departure is part of the churn in the administration since Republican President Donald Trump was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden in last week’s election, raising concerns about the transition to the president-elect who would take office on Jan. 20. Trump, who has yet to concede and has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud, fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper and has installed loyalists in top positions at the Pentagon.

Krebs has drawn praise from both Democrats and Republicans for his handling of the U.S. election, which generally ran smoothly despite persistent fears that foreign hackers might try to undermine the vote.

But he drew the ire of the Trump White House over a website run by CISA dubbed “Rumor Control” which debunks misinformation about the election, according to the three people familiar with the matter.

White House officials have asked for content to be edited or removed which pushed back against numerous false claims about the election, including that Democrats are behind a mass election fraud scheme. CISA officials have chosen not to delete accurate information.

In particular, one person said, the White House was angry about a CISA post rejecting a conspiracy theory that falsely claims an intelligence agency supercomputer and program, purportedly named Hammer and Scorecard, could have flipped votes nationally. No such system exists, according to Krebs, election security experts and former U.S. officials.

On Twitter, U.S. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, wrote: “Chris Krebs has done a great job protecting our elections. He is one of the few people in this Administration respected by everyone on both sides of the aisle. There is no possible justification to remove him from office. None.”

Krebs has steadily shot down rumors of fraud in recent days, including retweeting leading election security expert Matt Blaze, who for years has warned of specific vulnerabilities in election gear, when the professor wrote that “no serious evidence has yet been found or presented that suggests that the 2020 election outcome in any state has been altered through technical exploitation.”

Reporting by Christopher Bing. Additional reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie and Grant McCool

Phroyd

[claritalunaluna76]

The UK parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee is working on its report (and recommendations) from its inquiry into the economics of music streaming. One of the big talking points during the inquiry’s evidence sessions was equitable remuneration (ER): specifically extending it from radio and TV to some streams.

The Broken Record campaign has made ER one of its key requests of the committee; labels have argued firmly against it; and (in our view, at least) the committee seems to be leaning more towards the former camp. But the committee isn’t the British government, so if ER is to be extended, ministers will need to be convinced too.

That campaign is already starting. A letter sent to Prime Minister Boris Johnson – and shown to Music Ally this morning – sees a who’s who of British musicians backing such an extension. Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Chris Martin, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Kate Bush, Roger Daltrey, Damon Albarn, Noel Gallagher, Laura Marling, Sir Tim Rice… and many more.

“Only two words need to change in the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. This will modernise the law so that today’s performers receive a share of revenues, just like they enjoy in radio,” argues the letter. But it also calls for a competition inquiry (or at least a government referral to watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority); for songwriters to get a bigger share of streaming royalties; and the establishment of a dedicated regulator “to ensure the lawful and fair treatment of music makers”.

Later today, we’ll publish our quarterly Music Ally report, including our analysis of the key talking points of the inquiry, and what might happen next. One of our suggestions was that while the DCMS committee seemed sympathetic to the Broken Record campaign’s arguments, the government ministers seemed to be leaning more towards labels’ view of the world.

The letter shows that the former group are going to work hard to change that, and in wheeling out the musical big guns, the intensity of the lobbying has stepped up several notches – even before the DCMS committee’s report has come out. Labels and their representative body the BPI must now decide how best to respond.

Here is the full text of the letter, and its signatories:

———-

Dear Prime Minister,

We write to you on behalf of today’s generation of artists, musicians and songwriters here in the UK.

For too long, streaming platforms, record labels and other internet giants have exploited performers and creators without rewarding them fairly. We must put the value of music back where it belongs – in the hands of music makers.

Streaming is quickly replacing radio as our main means of music communication. However, the law has not kept up with the pace of technological change and, as a result, performers and songwriters do not enjoy the same protections as they do in radio.

Today’s musicians receive very little income from their performances – most featured artists receive tiny fractions of a US cent per stream and session musicians receive nothing at all.

To remedy this, only two words need to change in the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. This will modernise the law so that today’s performers receive a share of revenues, just like they enjoy in radio. It won’t cost the taxpayer a penny but will put more money in the pockets of UK taxpayers and raise revenues for public services like the NHS.

There is evidence of multinational corporations wielding extraordinary power and songwriters struggling as a result. An immediate government referral to the Competition and Markets Authority is the first step to address this. Songwriters earn 50% of radio revenues, but only 15% in streaming. We believe that in a truly free market the song will achieve greater value.

Ultimately though, we need a regulator to ensure the lawful and fair treatment of music makers. The UK has a proud history of protecting its producers, entrepreneurs and inventors. We believe British creators deserve the same protections as other industries whose work is devalued when exploited as a loss-leader.

By addressing these problems, we will make the UK the best place in the world to be a musician or a songwriter, allow recording studios and the UK session scene to thrive once again, strengthen our world leading cultural sector, allow the market for recorded music to flourish for listeners and creators, and unearth a new generation of talent.

We urge you to take these forward and ensure the music industry is part of your levelling-up agenda as we kickstart the post-Covid economic recovery.

Yours sincerely,

Full list of signatories:

Damon Albarn OBE

Lily Allen

Wolf Alice

Marc Almond OBE

Joan Armatrading CBE

David Arnold

Massive Attack

Jazzie B OBE

Adam Bainbridge (Kindness)

Emily Barker

Gary Barlow OBE

Geoff Barrow

Django Bates

Brian Bennett OBE

Fiona Bevan

Alfie Boe OBE

Billy Bragg

The Chemical Brothers

Kate Bush CBE

Melanie C

Eliza Carthy MBE

Martin Carthy MBE

Celeste

Guy Chambers

Mike Batt LVO

Don Black OBE

Badly Drawn Boy

Chrissy Boy

Tim Burgess

Mairéad Carlin

Laura-Mary Carter

Nicky Chinn

Dame Sarah Connolly DBE

Phil Coulter

Roger Daltrey CBE

Catherine Anne Davies (The Anchoress)

Ian Devaney

Chris Difford

Al Doyle

Anne Dudley

Brian Eno

Self Esteem

James Fagan

Paloma Faith

Marianne Faithfull

George Fenton

Rebecca Ferguson

Robert Fripp

Shy FX

Gabrielle

Peter Gabriel

Noel Gallagher

Guy Garvey

Bob Geldof KBE

Boy George

David Gilmour CBE

Nigel Godrich

Howard Goodall CBE

Jimi Goodwin

Graham Gouldman

Tom Gray

Roger Greenaway OBE

Will Gregory

Ed Harcourt

Tony Hatch OBE

Richard Hawley

Justin Hayward

Fran Healy

Orlando Higginbottom

Jools Holland OBE, DL

Mick Hucknall

Crispin Hunt

Shabaka Hutchings

Eric Idle

John Paul Jones

Julian Joseph OBE

Kano

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Gary Kemp

Nancy Kerr

Richard Kerr

Soweto Kinch

Beverley Knight MBE

Mark Knopfler OBE

Annie Lennox OBE

Shaznay Lewis

Gary Lightbody OBE

Tasmin Little OBE

Calum MacColl

Roots Manuva

Laura Marling

Johnny Marr

Chris Martin

Claire Martin OBE

Cerys Matthews MBE

Sir Paul McCartney CH MBE

Horse McDonald

Thurston Moore

Gary “Mani” Mounfield

Mitch Murray CBE

Field Music

Frank Musker

Laura Mvula

Kate Nash

Stevie Nicks

Orbital

Roland Orzabal

Gary Osborne

Jimmy Page OBE

Hannah Peel

Daniel Pemberton

Yannis Philippakis

Anna Phoebe

Phil Pickett

Robert Plant CBE

Karine Polwart

Emily Portman

Chris Rea

Eddi Reader MBE

Sir Tim Rice

Orphy Robinson MBE

Matthew Rose

Nitin Sawhney CBE

Anil Sebastian

Peggy Seeger

Nadine Shah

Feargal Sharkey OBE

Shura

Labi Siffre

Martin Simpson

Skin

Mike Skinner

Curt Smith

Fraser T Smith

Robert Smith

Sharleen Spiteri

Lisa Stansfield

Sting CBE

Suggs

Tony Swain

Heidi Talbot

John Taylor

Phil Thornalley

KT Tunstall

Ruby Turner MBE

Becky Unthank

Norma Waterson MBE

Cleveland Watkiss MBE

Jessie Ware

Bruce Welch OBE

Kitty Whately

Ricky Wilde

Olivia Williams

Daniel “Woody” Woodgate

Midge Ure OBE

Nikki Yeoh