#still not quite sure what i thought of that book overall tho

[daughterofhecata]

Cotta hat Freunde! 😄

[eggdrawsthings]

Hi! I wanted to ask a question and I wasn’t sure if it was too personal or not so just ignore this is you’d rather not answer, but I was wondering if you went to art school or got a degree in it? I really want to start learning and maybe one day start a career in animation and wasn’t sure whether I should spend time and resources getting a degree. I know it’s going to be different for everybody and nothings a guarantee for this field but since I love your style and technical skill I was curious whether you had done that and what were your thoughts on it or if you are self-taught.

Hey anon! No worries it's all good!

Ig I should quickly go through my art journey so you can have an overall look of why I went to art school lol.

So I'm from Vietnam. I think back in 2013 I went to a small art school in Singapore (they were the only one that gave me a scholarship). My major was 3D modeling actually, but during my final year, I realized I only wanted to draw characters for animation. I could already draw decently, so I just read The Silver Way book and built a character design portfolio on my own during this time. I was lucky I got a job as a concept artist at a small animation studio there so I learned a lot from the job. I also did a lot of self-learning and took Woulter Tulp's Expressive Character class on Schoolism.

Then after 3-ish years of working, I got sick of the tiny and dying animation industry in Singapore. I wanna do sth more than just preschool shows and I was severely underpaid lmao. So I quit my job and took the MA VisDev program at AAU. It's a little more affordable cuz u can do 1 year online and the second year on-site. The reason I went to this school even tho i could just take a VisDev class online was cuz i need the visa so i can try to break into the industry in the US.

Now back to your question. Is art school a must? No. Should you still take it? Maybe, depends on your situation. If you can afford it then hell yeah by all means. Art school is great cuz you have professors and peers to help guide you along the way so you won't get lost while trying to figure out your shit. And to have a few years just experimenting and focusing on art is a great experience. Plus you can make a lot of meaningful connections in school and it will help you a long way after you grad. But if you have to go into debt to go to art school, then don't. There are places like Schoolism, CGMA, and Warrior Art Camp where you can pick what class and from whom you wanna learn. If you are not from the US and wanna break into the industry here like me however, then yeah getting a degree is a better bet cuz you can use the student visa and OPT to hopefully get a job here (it's still very very hard tho ngl im struggling rn as we speak lmao). Also, you need a BA to work overseas so there's that too. The hard truth is studios prefer to hire locally than some rando from somewhere else and have to wait for them to relocate and shit, (unless you are exceptionally good and they'd do anything to have you, but that is super rare lol).

Even though I did go to art school, I have to say most of my skills are from self-study. It requires a lot of self-discipline but I'm pretty much obsessed with drawing and I draw everyday so it's not a problem for me. But my friend is not good at that, so she found art school/classes helped her better cuz there are deadlines and instructors to help guide her to reach her goal. So it depends on your learning style tbh.

There is this chart that can help you consider your options. Im sorry it's a very long answer, cuz yes everyone's experience is different. Feel free to drop me another ask if you still have anymore questions tho ^^

Edit: I must also add, though there are online classes and ways to self-learn animation,I do think it only truly benefit you if you know exactly what you wanna do in this industry (for example I already knew i wanna become a character designer for 2d/3D animation specifically so any books/classes i took I tailored it to fit my goal). If you are unsure what you wanna do, then maybe even a cheap animation course will do better, and then you can take extra online classes on the side.

[caeli0306]

so i saw you finished the book and i wanted to know your thoughts because I particularly was actually very underwhelmed with onyx storm. so many unanswered questions. it kind of felt like a filler book and all the twists and subplots were so underdeveloped and insignificant it was hard to follow and kind of like a "so what" moment. kind of disappointment but maybe that was just me and I need to reread everything.

spoilers for onyx storm below!

I can see where you’re coming from on this. I think there was a much larger emphasis on world building in this book than there was in the previous two books — which I think was a good thing, since there hadn’t been a lot of that previously imo. Personally, I really enjoyed seeing the gods play a larger role in this book, esp bc I’m quite convinced that they’re going to play an even bigger role in the last two books. There were definitely moments where I was like “huh?” but I think that’s mostly because RY will write things out of context on purpose and then put them into context later on. I do wish she’d spent more time developing the Drake/Mira and Dain/Sloane relationships. The little bits we got have me hooked and I want more. I will say that throwing Xaden’s mom in there and then just like???? leaving???? didn’t make a lot of sense to me. I have to imagine we’ll see more of her in the next books but it seemed really sudden. That was probably my least favorite part of the book.

Personally, I really liked this book. I think it was kind of inevitable that this book was going to end up being very world building-heavy since there hadn’t been a ton of it before and the story really couldn’t progress without it, so I went into it with that expectation. As much as i would’ve loved to see Xaden cured by the end of the book, from a plot perspective that just didn’t make sense to me so I’m not really surprised that the book ended the way it did (still devastated tho bc I was holding out hope that it would end on a happier note this time around).

Could the execution have been better? Sure. The pacing was a bit wonky and she probably shouldn’t have waited toll the third book for some of this world building to make it feel less crammed. Either way, overall I think it accomplished what it needed to accomplish (somewhat questionable fan service aside). This book, to me, likely sets up the last two books and we won’t really know exactly how until the next book comes out.

[arthuluart]

Hiii - wanted to say first thing first I love your art style, it's so dynamic and fun and those color palettes? Stunning ^^

And second thing second, just some food for thought if you ever want to get angsty about Jerry and Dean, coffee by Chappell Roan sounds like it was written about their break up specifically and I can't stop thinking abt it dndnden

*Cue me losing my mind*

Hiii- they say flattery gets you everywhere and turns out with me, it gets you animatics- jkjk but I do appreciate the kind comments ^^

I’ll put up the animatic separately and take the opportunity to leave the preamble here to keep the video post neat bc until someone tells me to shut up and just post art- I’m gonna ramble… So here’s the commentary you didn’t ask for along with my favourite panels:

First off- You turned me into a big time Chappell Roan listener which is great bc I need music recs to fix my listening habits before Spotify wrapped drops. My roundup last year was shameful… Red Wine Supernova is my new dish washing song.

Even tho it’s not the song’s vibe I kept the content as silly as I could for my own sanity. I don’t love getting too deep into the serious/sad side of M+L for a few reasons but I do find it all very interesting. Point being this song was too good to pass up doing something a bit bigger for.

Ngl tho- this did have me pulling out hair at multiple points. I never colour animatics, rarely even tone them- but you mentioned colour palettes and I was determined to deliver so pardon the messy colouring but (that was the tradeoff) I did not have it in me to stay in the lines. I’m choosing to be kind to myself and opt to call it an artistic choice and not midway burnout. And nothing was gonna get me to open after effects/premiere not even the janky ass golf ball OML this only makes sense if u watch the video.

There are parts of this I’m SO happy with and others I hate. I think it’s really obvious which sections I started losing steam on but overall I lowkey like the end product. Nothing I make will ever be good/perfect- this was one hell of a practice in accepting that lmao- but I can still be ok with the work problems and all yknow? I very nearly shelved this completely bc I got so worked up about the maybe 5 panels I dislike out of 106 total. Counting them was eye opening to ask myself: you’re gonna let that small a ratio stop you from sharing this after putting in days and days of effort? The insecurity goes deep and TBH getting asks has been a nice way of working through it since I post the art I make for answers no matter what only bc I KNOW someone out there wants to see it. It might not sound it but it’s actually quite positive.

Also, although I feel I’ve done my fair share of reading, I’m no expert. So if anything is really off point- sorry my bad (I won’t fix it tho bc I cannot physically stand to look at this another second lol)

I tried to stick to real things found in articles/books/photos/interviews etc bc outside of obviously fictional AUs I’m not super into making stuff up about them (and who needs to I mean the legit stuff is already insane enough) Sure I framed the events in specific ways to suit the song and some aspects are fictionalized (mainly bc the referenced written accounts lacked detail to draw 100% faithfully from anyhow) but otherwise I got my sources cited.

ANYWAYS… sorry for hijacking this answer I need to learn to chill out. Irl I’m a pretty reserved talker so you can tell I’m in a comfy place when I let loose and blather on endlessly lmao brevity is not a skill I possess.

You were probably expecting illustrations or smth but I hope what I came up with is still somewhat alright AND please don’t let my complaining fool you, I genuinely loved making this.

One FINAL Relevant Note: the line “nowhere else is safe every place leads back to your place” is gut wrenching. You’re so right about this song perfectly describing the break up. They always came back to each other and there’s something so devastating about that kind of haunting human connection.

OkAY I’m done promise- I thought I’d implode if I didn’t get all that out

[techforevil]

January 2025 | monthnote

Is it even a new year if I don't make some doomed attempt at weeknotes?

Random notes inc work stuff

Vicky dying still does not feel real. I feel privileged I got to spend some siginifcant time with her when she came along to Conferencia Agile Spain (like most people I primarily knew her from her writing and online presence, altho we met briefly a few times when we overlapped at GDS) and was hoping to follow up on a few things we talked about at GovCamp but equally it means I can't just indulge in my full-on denial mode...

Worked through xmas-ny break like usual. It's usually a chill time unless I am in this department, where apart from the ongoing time-sensitive work lots of random emergencies happened. So glad I'm off for a couple of weeks now, I've not had a proper break since Japan in March/April and I'm shattered.

Overall so much random and weird shit was going down at the end of Dec / start of Jan (including both me and my flatmate having very strange dreams) I was beginning to suspect a gas leak... 🙃

Got extended till Feb 2026 in my current contract. 🎉 It should make getting a mortgage easier, now just fingers crossed that the property does not get down valued like the last one and my sellers find something they want to purchase soon.

Quite a lot of change at work, lots of it quite neatly coinciding with my leave. The migration from GOV.UK PaaS my team was prepping for for the last year got delayed last minute and now I'll be missing it but I'm sure it will all go fine.

Booked in with Keemee for a tatoo just after the holiday. 🌺

Govcamp happened and I was mostly helping our rather than going to sessions. :o Good times as usual, felt particularly busy this year for a 'normal edition'. I really like that we finally have a bit of a Teacamp return with TransformGov Talks and also sort of DataBites! \o/

Spanish classes are back. I've not signed up for Korean yet, there's probably a fair bit I can do to brush up close to my former level by myself if I just find the motivation. :s

Watched

Lots of Taskmaster, the perfect crocheting accompaniment (see below)

Nosferatu - the scene in castle 100% played like something from What We Do in the Shadows, I'm not even sorry for giggling throughout. 😔 Needed more Dafoe hamming it up. I was shocked the cat was not named in the credits - breaking a sacred tradition of cinema. 4 stars.

Presence - not a horror, not my kinda thing otherwise (family drama). The central gimmick could be fun in an actual horror movie tho. Another one they kind of employ ('not being bound by time') is sort of redundant because the progression is linear (I suppose otherwise the twist would be ruined). The marketing vs movie kind of fell in place for me when I realised it's the same distributor as Longlegs which was also underwhelming.

Late Feb / March seems staked with releases I want to see: The Monkey, The Last Showgirl, Mickey 17, Death of Unicorn... probably more. Those are just the trailers I saw before Presence lol.

Played

This is probably between Dec-Jan rather than strictly Jan.

Fledgling Manor - Stefan's route only, basically not sure how the other ones can top it so I lost interest but it seems all need to be played to resolve some plot points so maybe in the future...

Sorry We're Closed - I thought this would be a VN but it's a survival horror and I find the shooting stressful haha. You can say I hould have read the description before buying but I was blinded by the art. -_-

bits of Arco (love the mechanics and the story is good but I got stuck at an encounter I can't pass but I'm too stubborn to back out and return at higher level), Animal Well, Stanley Parable (at very long last - yes, it's as good as I thought it would be), I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (tbh the mechanics were more interesting to me in a more down to earth setting of Growing Up), Cryptmaster (Steamdeck does not work well for this).

Waiting for Yakuza in Hawaii, more Hades 2 patches, next Deltarune chapters, and Ghost of Tsushima sequel + Assassins Creed Japan (open world map marker slop > therapy, don't @ me).

Makes

Decima is still closed so no pottery. I've probably forgotten 100% of what little I could do. I'll probably do a course at Mudgang when I'm back to return to some working level and then get either a studio space subscription from them or Turning Earth near Haggerston, depending on how the flat buying is coming along.

In the meantime I have finally sort of learned how to crochet. I got a kit from TOFT to make a black and white cat, resembling Bella a bit. I tried crocheting before a few times (I learned very basic knitting during lockdown and have half a pride blanket from Wool & the Gang somewhere) but it always ended up with me crying, once in public. 🥲 The kit said it's level 2 so I got another level 1 one (labrador)

TBF they are not that different, cat requires changing colours which is actually not hard if you get over the initial barrier to entry of crocheting anything at all. 😬 The cat is also bigger which makes the process much less fiddly.

TOFT instructions are quite barebones and don't have any interim 'this is what it should look like by now' pics which as a complete beginner is quite rough, but I think I managed to make decent approximations of the cover images. I made some changes to the cat on purpose.

Belly disagrees.

The biggest issue I have with TOFT kits so far is that the amount of yarn provided leaves no room for errors or even leaving longer tails. With both patterns I made mistakes (crocheting with dark yarn is particularly hard going if you don't know wtf you're doing) and the yarn started fraying real bad so I had to chop it. I actually had to buy more yarn (which doesn't exactly match...) to finish the cat at all. :(

I got yarn and patterns for two sheep (Seth and Tobias) from them to keep busy on the upcoming flights so we'll see how consistent this minimalism is. 😬

Anyway then I went crazy at John Lewis sales so I have lots of materials now, just need patterns and ideas. The first one is not going particularly well and I'm losing my patience sligtly, might swap to something else.

またね! ✌️😗

[vryfmi]

talk shop tuesday!!!! I love love LOVED your piece for the tea toast & ghosts zine – what was your experience in planning and creating it? was it a challenge to combine both art and writing, and did your art influence your writing or vice versa? I'd love to hear about your thought process in the creation of that really cool piece :D

thank you so much! it's really nice to hear especially since it's my first posted writing!

if im being honest i wanted to write an article from the very beginning, it was the overall idea that was ever changing but eventually i found it. since TTG zine's topic was your favourite thing about l&co, and i had no idea how to incorporate skullyle and it was too much work to come up with technical parts of ghost-lamps (tho i did dive deep into street lights' wiring at one point), i figured i'd stick to my favourite thing of all - worldbuilding and dark stuff!

The Idea™, at first, was to come up with a few cases and illustrate them, but the longer i rotated those the more i didn't like the prospect of making something separate and not rooted into canon. so i skimmed through the books while looking for any mentions of Fittes and Rotwell cases, since back then i already decided to use the Mud Lane Phantom's story. the other two i took are from TSS and THB and they were vague enough to be able to lengthen them to an article entry.

i outlined ideas first, what themes i wanted to convey, what i wanted to put out there for fans and how these cases would've work with each other. from the that point i started drawing the illustrations. quite a backwards process. and it all sounds good on paper but in reality irl struggles really weren't making me any favours and i wasn't meeting deadlines at all, but mods team was patient and understanding with me, they are literally the best!

for Mud Lane i went for slight mockery of pioneers because, well, yeah. there was quite a lot of made up lore that i decided to cast aside (like what if "today" at the crossroad there's a statue of Fittes and Rotwell? a museum? a tourist attraction? a gift shop?). overall im just really proud of illustration that i did, i should draw more of Marissa and Tom at some point.

fun fact and easter egg of sorts: Marissa's pose was supposed to be an homage to first poster of the series and the way Lucy stands in it! i think it got lost along the way as i changed the pose but i think it's still readable enough. i love drawing parallels between the two (:

[id: a side by side of Marissa in illustration, where she's holding her lantern with her right hand and looking beyond the viewer, and Lucy from the first Netflix' poster, where she stands in a simillar manner but points with her rapier at something out of view./end id]

picking one case set 50 years before the others ment that i'd have to contrast them, draw a parallel and make them work against each other to bring up the best and the worst. The Shoreditch one was, admittedly, more of that coming up with something that wasn't there in the first place. first book only mentioned patrols and i latched onto them. (plus i was drafting it at around the same time as l&co bigbang came out and i was massively inspired by my teammates work which incorporated those patrols but in metro tunnels. great case-fic btw). mainly i went for darker aspects of agent's work there, thinking that to fit in sewers the team would've been of smaller children, and that Kipps (yeah, he's there in illustration) would be as close to them as possible, unlike other inspectors we are used to seeing.

Holland Park Hounds was the one that i was the most excited for because wdym we as a fandom don't talk about possible animal-ghosts?? sure, it could've been Changer(s) but is it really? plus how badass of Holly to be part of it AND it was famous enough that Lucy knew of it as well!

Holly Munro pushed a stray hair or two behind her ear. ‘Well, I’ve seen some things. I was there in the Holland Park Cellar case, when our party got blockaded underground by those seven spectral dogs. It was quite a tight spot. And after that—’ ‘I heard about Holland Park, Holly, and I can tell you the thing that makes the bloody footprints is ten times worse. I’m only saying. I don’t want to frighten you. I just wouldn’t want you to get hurt.’ (THB)

innitially i wanted to do something about a horse-phantom that was mentioned somewhere but for the life of me i couldn't find it in books, so i'll leave it for my next reread. but this case has so much more ties to the main gang and especially Holly herself. i really wanted to draw a picture of her and her team after the case but no composition really worked so i kept it to park's plan (my urban planer friend said it looked good even). plus giving a plan and thorough haunting information somehow felt very Rotwell to me.

aaand i think that's it! not much to say for back cover only that my friend really disliked my choice of comic sans for one of the adverts. and that i wanted to make it gritty, as if its a wall right around the corner of the Fittes ball court.

[thewholecrew]

@headstrongblake said: the guilt eats me up inside / nate & dealers choice

things had gone from 1 to 100 really quick once the cops entered the nightclub, but nate could tell that they were ready to start shit from the moment he laid his eyes on them. most of the time nate did his best to avoid the cops, to steer clear of the law in any way possible but as nick lunged at them after the first few swings, shattering glass and breaking shit, nate couldn't just stand by and watch. as one of the men tried to restrain nick, nate tackled him to the ground and well.. now they were sitting in separate cells next to one another after being booked for assault which though true was bullshit because it was obvious that's what the bastards wanted.

nate ran his hands through his hair before leaning back with a heavy sigh. he'd stayed in far less comfortable places but he also had been getting used to the guest bed at octavias. glancing through the bars over towards nick who seemed unmoving with his head in his hands, nate frowned softly. "hey.. you okay?" he asked quietly. nate himself had gotten a bloody lip and a good kick to the ribs that he was sure would leave a nasty bruise but overall he'd had worse. he hadn't seen if nick had gotten better or worse after nate tackled the first cop to the ground but he knew the man had been through quite a lot over the past couple months and he doubted this helped.

nicks noncommital reply had nate's frown furrow a little more before he leaned back against the wall, "sorry they fucked up your bar, man... that shit was uncalled for..." they did it because they could and to spit on the club and to disrespect the members there at the time. "i'm sure octavia'll get us out in no time, or get someone else, maybe kassy? she's a lawyer isn't she? or well.. maybe not yet," he murmured more to himself now as he scratched at his chin. the silence from nick had nate shift closer to the bars, "hey, nick, really, are.. you okay?" it was clear he wasn't and while nate couldn't blame him his mild concern was growing for the guy.

at first he thought nick was going to snap at him, it wouldn't be unusual or necessarily uncalled for since nate was pestering him but instead; the guilt... eats me up inside, he very quietly heard from nick and nate's jaw clenched as he swallowed. nate was quiet himself a moment as he digested what nick said and tried to figure out just what was all encompassing that statement. he doubted he was talking about the reason he ended up in jail tonight but probably more about leaving that time ago. with the knowledge that kassy hadn't wanted him to go and then the girls and alec getting into a crazy situation while he and rev were gone... nate could understand that guilt.

"yeah... guilt'll do that to you..." he agreed quietly, knowing how much he still felt towards duncans death. "but you can't let it man, we all make mistakes, we all make choices that backfire on us sometimes, and look i'm not gonna even pretend i know all you've gone through or whatever... it's not my business, but what i do know is the people here missed you, and i doubt, no matter how pissed at you they are, they would want this for you." he wasn't quite sure what the hell he was saying, not often was he the type to give very good advice, at least thats what he thought. after another moment of silence nate then added, "you did get one good hook in on that bastard with the mustache tho," he murmured with a small smile, glancing sideways at nick, "think you broke his sunglasses, and his nose."

[iwanttofuckereh69]

now reading: 2ha vol 3

i finished it yesterday yay!

1. SHI MEI HAS WATER ELEMENT. I KNEW IT. I love it how it is kinda easy to miss, because Mo Ran doesn't mention it right away. It is said only several chapters later and probably if i werent making these posts and i wouldn't pay attention, it could easily fly over my head. But like... I still don't think that person at the end of vol 2 was Shi Mei. Would he really get reborn just to get that dick xD Given that the person really was reborn. Idk idk.

2. if you thought Shi Mei was my most problematic fave, im here to tell you i also adore Rong Jiu :))) I was interested in the bitch since the beginning but i didnt know he would show up again! And i was really sad when it turned out he died. And then i was even more sad because his story is ehhh AND THEN i checked out him in the manhua and he is so Jut Lung (banana fish) coded. No wonder i love him. But also he is so awful and annoying oh god. I still hope he will show up again to stir up some drama

3. and tbh shi mei annoyed me a bit. Bestie, fishing for Mo Ran's attention while CWN quite literally died and MR is obviously not well? And then he was weird in that scene with the soul catching lanterns, he never really said he is ready to go after CWN like the others and i was convinced he's gonna drop that lantern after all. Now tell me, am i just noticing it now and he was always weird or does it only start to show up in the later chapters?

3. CHU WANNING MADE WONTONS

its pretty surprising given his absolute failure at cooking the cabbage tofu something because the result would make Xie Lian proud. Like i said in the other post tho: "now i want to know if shi mei was deliberately doing all the other things to make mo ran fall for him or was he just there chilling and the guy just fell for him out of nowhere and misinterpreted everything like he does".

ALSO OH SHIT now it makes sense Shi Mei didn't make him wontons after CWN died. When I read that i was like huh, why not wontons, that would surely cheer him up more, but i totally ignored that thinking nothing of it. And literally only writing this post i realized. Makes me wonder how many other details i missed that paint the bigger picture. Ahhh i just love when books do that.

4. speaking of not thinking: i didn't realize before that Mo Ran's mom was courtesan. I don't know why, i really don't.

5. overall there is more questions than there is answers. At least its now clear what happened in Mo Ran's previous lifetime and why CWN couldn't save Shi Mei. But why the events are so different now? AND WILL IT REALLY TAKE CWN 5 YEARS TO COME BACK

[lovinglin]

you should actually tell me this because im soso curious abt your masc presentation :D which f/o (any dynamic as well, /rom, /plat, /fam) in particular (or if it applies to all, awesome!!) sometimes throws some masc terms at you?? and what are those terms too? :3 pls tell im sooo so curious

(also btw kuya lara think about that oooo kuya lara AAOUUU WIWIWIWIWI) my familials calling u kuya lara wdyd

JUMPS AROUND LIKE A FLEA FROM THIS ASK HIHIHII 🥹🥹🥹 okay so there's only like... a few inserts of mine where my f/o's can refer to them in masc terms bc I haven't branched out much in my masc side until recently, but lemme ramble still!!!

The 3 inserts in question of mine are Lara (fnfsona), Lynelle (pokepasta) and Liam (TSP)!

🎨 Starting off with Lara !!

I haven't drawn her yet in a more masc image but considering she's just me but cooler- the old art above can still work HSJAHDJSHD

OKAY SO, first off, Pico's definitely one of the first to witness her being more openly expressive with her masc identity. I feel like she was very hesitant at the start but after being surrounded by a really supportive group of people (basically my fnf f/o's), she becomes a lot more open abt it

Lara can shapeshift☝️ she's an angel, ofc she can HSJAHDJSH so she tries playing around with physically altering her body to a more masculine one. She doesn't look too different but there are definitely still some small differences

^ Pico is quite surprised at first to witness this, but he welcomes it nonetheless ("thank fuck I'm bi"). He becomes pretty flirty with her bc of it, mostly as a way to show that he doesn't rlly mind whatever gender Lara takes form in and supports it wholeheartedly

Calls her by your typical masc terms: handsome, pretty boy, mr., sir, boyfriend, you know the drill. But when it comes to pronouns, Lara personally doesn't mind being called by he/him, but tends to default back to she/her still bc it's what she's used to. It doesn't remove or lessen her masc identity tho! (Pronouns ≠ gender type scenario)

The same goes for the others (my platonics basically)! I like thinking that Nene would start calling Lara "king" more often too, being her number one hype girl she is HSJAHDJSHD

Overall, they'll be helping her play around and try stuff out to help her branch out more with it!!

🍬 Next is Lynelle !!

I'm answering your last question here and it's if anyone in your or my familials call me kuya or brother, I'm gonna die instantly, next question /lh /pos HSKAHDJAHDJS

OKAY BUT NELLYYYY... I've only created him recently but I am So Severely attached to them already. They're so gender they are SO 🩷🩷🩷

First person comes to mind is Rainbow and I'm sure she doesn't mind referring to them as her brother. Lynelle is a lot more fluid in their identity and doesn't mind whatever still anyway

Really, just call her whatever- he doesn't personally have a preference with the terms!

Will say tho, I've thought about this as a silly but it feels a little fitting and comforting so I might make it canon but... Nel is AMAB who transitioned to appear more gnc! Not too familiar still with the exact terms but I think that describes it best :)

📌 Lastly we got Liam !!

You're probably already really familiar with him but I'm gonna ramble still abt him HSKAHDJAHD Liam is (I think) one of the first few inserts of mine that borders on the masc identity fully

I mean- he strictly uses he/him! Even despite his slightly feminine appearance, he's still very much so a guy LOL, and Stanley and Narry perceive of him as such

Likes being referred to with typical masc term, I'm sure that much is obvious. And his partners very much so oblige with it. He still does like playing around with his identity still tho! But tends to stick to a more masc one

Another silly ☝️ I've only said and done this once but... ftm Liam is canon in my book, thank you for coming to my ted talk 🙏 HAJAHSJAHS

Some extras and special mentions would be Rhayne! My Eddsworld OC :) She's mostly a demigirl and presents pretty feminine, but doesn't mind being complimented or referred to with masc terms (specifically mr. or sir)

Another would be Aurora! Another Genshin Insert of mine. The same scenario as Rhayne basically with being more inclined to the feminine identity but doesn't mind being referred to in masc terms (in fact- she probably encourages it!)

Last but not least... uhm, I haven't mentioned this insert before and he's only existed in my brain but- he's another Genshin Insert (god there's so many of them) in the works that's... in a poly and mostly masc presenting AHAHAHA YEAH THAT'S IT

[deepestbluesky]

new fanbinding! several months ago (please don't ask me to check that, i refuse to acknowledge the passage of time) i made a book for @orchisailsa of her zzs/jby fic Field Research. it was very cute and small! i also forgot to take pictures before i sent it to her 🤦🏻‍♀️ and then this week i was feeling antsy and also in my zzs/jby feelings, so i decided to bind a copy for myself!

the printing this time around: so easy. incredible wow 10/10 would recommend doing a second copy of things when you already know what the fuck you're doing. same with folding and cutting (tho i probably should have trimmed more closely, some of the cuts were uneven but it's fine).

the coptic bind a second time: terrible. it's been so long i forgot how to do it and had to look it up again and then made the same fucking mistakes i've made the other times i've done it!! which like, are not structual issues, it's just that the stitches don't look nice and i still don't think i'm getting them quite right. also the tension of the stitches is weird, idk how to make that better but i'm sure i could with practice.

i thought i was going to have to use a different paper for the cover but it turns out the covers are so small that i only used one of my pieces of it last time, so i had enough to do it the same way including making sure to get a whole nice flower on the front!

overall i'm really happy with how this turned out and very happy to have a copy of this excellent fic :D

[kyogre-blue]

Wuthering Waves day 2.

I saw someone comment that Scar showing up was the highlight for them, but for me it was the opposite. His entire section with the village and the fake picture book was just so........ cliche and unimaginative. You can just tell they thought they were on to something there, but he's the worst character in the game so far.

Aside from that, they unfortunately didn't really link up the little side quests they send you on. You find out about a plague from twenty years ago and then just kinda drop that plot thread. You go toward the war front, see a vision of the general fighting there, and then... drop that plot thread, turn around and leave without even seeing the front line. You run into Scar, explore a random cult village, and then... he peaces out, we drop this plot thread, and that's it.

Since we're being purposefully sent on these little side quests, I figured they'd like... have something to do with each other?? But apparently not.

Anyway, it was at this point that I hit the level gate, but I also got dailies, so there's that.

Other points:

I finished the beginner banner. I didn't get lucky at all and had to do the full 50 pulls to get the guaranteed 5 star. I got the little girl healer. She's cute, but I'm not sure if I want to sub Baizhi out for her. I don't even know her.

I also got two dude who both use guns. I... should probably sub out Chixia for one of them. But Chixia is a fun gal, I don't want to leave her...

In terms of exploration, I don't mind the way the world looks overall, but it's kind of hard to tell which parts are interactable sometimes. It's not bad, but for some reason I don't feel quite the same mindless enjoyment as Genshin. Maybe I'll get more used to it tho. I still always forget to wall-run.

Combat requires way too much engagement for me. I don't want to parry and perfect dodge things, man. Surely there is a character who has great AOE and doesn't require brainpower to use.

I can't tell whether it's a glitch or what, but the dialogue got really weird near the front line. You can tell Yangyang that you saw the general before you actually get the vision of him, and then afterwards you have the option to tell her about him... and a woman in red, but I didn't see any woman in red...? Truly puzzling.

I am really wondering whether the government was giving some kind of subsidy for putting in a liondance character, between this guy and Gaming. I started his quest, and man. You could make a drinking game out of every time "lion dance" is mentioned.

[sinelanguage]

more art museum posting, this time from tokyo. as always this is just my personal diary/blog of art thoughts lol. im no art expert in any way ever

this time: the museum of contemporary art tokyo

splitting this into two bits, the rotating exhibit and the main exhibit. overall really enjoyed the exhibit, tho i don’t think it beats tower of babel it still had enough slightly unsettling stuff for me to enjoy it.

Yasuko Toyoshima

overall: enjoyed this exhibit, i think the pieces i liked most were the ones that were slightly off in an uncanny valley way. a lot of her pieces were clean in presentation, sometimes almost cute about it, but with just enough going wrong with it to ring some alarm bell in my brain

for an example here, she had a full set of pencil cases where the pencils were sharpened from the inside out— so at first blush it was like looking two pencils in the case, but actually looking at it longer you realized that’s not quite it. a lot of the pieces were like that— simple and ordinary until you noticed what was wrong

i think my favorite was a collection of carved wood pieces, carving out one strand of wood at a time until several boards were covered in these tiny, curled shavings. there’s both like, precision to actually getting the shavings to curl but not fall off, and just. the type of emotion you’d put into doing a meaningless, repeated action over and over and over again. destroying something by carving into it again and again. “emotions clawing at something” vibes.

Main Exhibit

The Kanto Earthquake exhibit had a really strong presentation— the rough sketches of devastation, the very detailed extremely large sketches of post war life, ending on a quaint sketch of a cat under an umbrella. i don’t think I’ve seen an art exhibit with such an emphasis on sketches like this, and i really enjoyed the like. absolute focus of representation of real, human life here— i get burnt out by seeing a lot of detailed paintings that don’t really focus on the humanity of a city/location, but the sketch collection really used every line toward that.

Fukuda Naoyo’s embroidered books were incredible to see. maybe im just an embroidery fan, but the contrast of these beige/tan books being cut into with straight clean lines, contrasted with the natural mossy greens of the embroidery. liked it a lot

Mitsushima Takayuki had a piece called tactile adventure that said you could touch it but it felt like a thought experiment that tormented me. i made eye contact with the security guard and just walked away. forbidden fruit

The Tadanori Yokoo exhibit made me feel like i was getting punked. The exhibit signage in English just went over how he used water imagery in his pieces, while the pieces themselves were an almost anxiety-inducing collage of colors, dark humor, and like tits. it was incredibly funny to me, as sad as i was not having an information packet. “yes this man uses water imagery” it’s a collage of post war anxieties in the brightest colors possible. there’s a wave in there. Sure.

A Dark Night’s Flashing: From The Red Darkness was my favorite piece though. it was a singular, seemingly normal scene (BY COMPARISON) almost a lot of surreal collages, but the contrast and split in the colors was really good at drilling in this. unsettling atmosphere.

the museum placed this immediately next to Miyajima Tatsuo’s red digital counter piece which was a fun way to like. keep that energy going lol. anyway really good to see in person and mesmerizing.

and that’s it! overall really solid museum

[newar]

netflix 3 body problem: episode 3 thoughts (book spoilers)

• jin cheng talking about saving the little girl in the game… i think cixin liu is quite misogynist in his portrayal of cheng xin but i’m glad they kept that detail of her caring about children still

• i’m really loving how they adapted the VR game, and the way the characters are interacting with it. cheng trying to save the little girl over and over and da shi saying that THAT is the only part that feels like a real game, not the equations and the observations etc… the only part that matters is the human element

• cheng’s dimension talk over dinner hwshsjbssb i love her omg and also the foreshadowingggg

• raj’s dad talking about throwing a grenade at pakistani soldiers???? um what are they trying to say here exactly…

• speaking of raj i’m not sure who his book counterpart is. i saw someone say he might be zhang beihai which makes sense considering raj is a naval officer

• also will downing is kind of annoying like his beef w raj just comes across as him being jealous and a bit racist…

• isaac newton x alan turing homosexuality references… well yes!

• and i liked the way the giant human computer looked! i wish they’d spent more time explaining the principles of it because i think people would find it interesting! i feel like they’ve skirted around the science a lot in this series

• seeing the trisolarans take off was chilling, i think the reveal could have been built up slower tho. i feel like this, along with wenjie sending the message, should have been one of the last things we see before we move on to the events of the 2nd book

• i can’t believe they killed off jack like realistically he’s the least relevant member but still. i was barely invested in him in the first place to really care so. there wasn’t really any point

• OVERALL: not bad, the episode was engaging but i think having read the books, the horror element that i was expecting isn’t really there. the tone of the series seems too light-hearted. the feeling of dread isn’t really there except for the really intense scenes like auggie seeing the countdown and the fleet flying to earth. the whole tone of the series needs to feel more doom-like i think

[impprtante]

Eira's Children (the squad :0)

Okay, new day new me, I'm actually in my right mind and not impulsively writing things down after being awake for more than 24 hours lmao. So here's what's up.

So, right now the first gen children have moved out of Eira's house into their own households. They've kinda solidified baseline personalities and interactions (and family dynamics from parenthood) so i let them loose in the world. (To live as if they're Stanley Humphry.) Eira isn't the richest mom tho, so I staggered it out so I could give them like, 5k-10k to start off. So they all started by living in tiny barely furnished shacks. I normally get money in the sims by grinding, and in the actual legacy challenge they're super rich, but I wanted to try building up their wealth through odd jobs and work. Get them different incomes and all that. I also want to build them unique housing / decorate their areas according to them so that's also on the books. (because i didn't bother with them before :p)

And to give me a more thought out clothing design. To get into the mindset of teens i had all the kiddos wearing school uniforms (from snowy escape lol) and since I haven't really been them too much, i haven't gotten around to doing all their fashion since. BUT THE POINT IS technically i haven't played as most of these. Just a little bit, I've mostly committed to Lamia (by accident;;)

Okayyyyyy, so this is how it's going:

GUYS I LITERALLY CANNOT CHANGE HIS HAIRSTYLE. I was like, this is a very distinct sims hairstyle. BUT I CYCLED THROUGH EVERYTHING AND I CAN'T, IT FRAMES HIS FACE BETTER AND SEEING HIS HAIRLINE NOW SCARES ME.

What started has his emo, dye-ing my hair now mom, has gone too fair ;; __ ;;

But yeah, Phoenix is the same physically. I've just dressed him up as a more of a starving artist since he's out here painting in a tiny shack. I'm pretty sure that's going to change soon tho, since painting does actually give good money (probably unrealistic but :p). He's gotten the gloomy, dog lover, and family oriented. In the last save he had his house "open to dogs", so thats a nod to that. family oriented is kinda more because of his older sibling status, and he has a good relationship with his whole most of his family (and he loves them all very much, even the brats). Im still figuring out where he lands on the love things, because i've had him be a player in some saves but also he's more a reserved person so i can't image him being that out there in this version. I'm figuring it out <3

He's living in a tiny home (because i say so) and has a nice backyard pool area. He's under the recycle challenge, mostly as a nod to his upbringing out in the middle of nowhere, conservation is important.

Lamia is the most overall different from them all. I didn't really have anything going on with her character at all, besides what i later realized was a comedy aspiration, not a party one (oops). Her character is really shaped by the manners her mom instilled into her now, so she's in more conservative dressings because of that. I kept her hat as a nod to her previous version.

The vision is that she goes through her era of struggling artist (playing gigs and teaching lessons) and works as a normal salary worker (manners: she's trying to live up to the "has a normal job and will do fine for herself mom i promise i can pay bills"). Her piano-ing is more of a side gig but she really loves it so she doesn't want to stop doing it. Most of her parties at this point is so that she can break up the monotony of life. She ends up catches eyes of someone famous and is catapulted into doing more high end jobs. It makes her parties have a more exclusive guest list (not super famous but still really well known) and her high pay grade allows her to quit her job. She's pretty famous now (by the general public as a socialite, by more music-centric crowd as a pianist) and lives pretty comfortably.

Basilisk is the point where i start saying i got nothing. He's got the slob and kinda jock personality, but truly im looking for something else to flesh him out with. But he's the buff one of the bunch. Traits of slob, bro, and foodie, i haven't gotten around to updating his wardrobe. He's closest with Lamia, though the eldest three make a bit of a trio since they grew up the closest in age. He was team captain of the sims football team tho since the sports in the sims is so limited im debating changing the sports (but football would be fitting because he's a tank). He has piss-poor manners, but he's really in touch with emotions, having strong empathy for people. He's also the reason most of his siblings are fitness freaks; he convinced his mom to makeshift a basketball hoop that they used a lot in childhood. The biggest offenders were Sphinx, Phoenix, and Lamia. He challenged Phoenix in football and Lamia in basketball, but Sphinx just liked sneaking into his fitness gear the scrawny bastard.

Griffin and Sphinx still out here twinning hard. Eira must've had a blonde gene from her parents because three blond children can't be a coincidence wow. Freckles were also unexpected. I don't have anything to say about clothing preferences here either. Griffin was on the chess team? and Sphinx as a lazy person was not in any afterschool things, preferring to tinker. Both of them work on the handiness side of things, but i like to think Griffin is into woodworking and Sphinx is into metalworking (his type of jewelry he makes for his family is lacking in the gem department). I have Griffin working as a civil planner ingame, and Sphinx is unemployed selling jewelry at home (its.... its going. I only played like 3 days though to start off).

Griffin is more applied in general (was valedictorian), being clumsy, overachiever, and a bro. Sphinx is lazy, perfectionist, dance machine. Sphinx was one more for sneaking out (mostly out into the forest), once and a while teaming up with Lamia to go to some party (school mate get together) after curfew. They're both little shits, still living up to the mischievousness, but Griffin hated Lamia with a burning passion, and Sphinx really got annoyed with Phoenix's dramatics (neither dared anger basilisk too hard). And, yes, they teased their little sisters as well but they didn't despise them as much as their elder siblings got on their nerves for daring trying to have superiority over them. Eira had a time with them. Got stuck doing many chores as punishment. Griffin is pretty insensitive, but he's gotten really good at *dealing* with his own emotions. He's chill like that. Sphinx meanwhile gets into way more trouble being irresponsible, but he's great at resolving his conflicts.

Nephele has changed as much as phoenix. Aka, she's just had a skin changed, mostly because i didn't want to mess with her too much considering her genes are he one's carried onto the next gen. Gen 03's heir does happen to take over her father more though, but she has her mom's blond hair, so we kept that. She looks like she has such a baby face, but you can see she has Eira's eyes (WHICH IS A TREND, THEY ALL HAVE HER EYES).

I've been trying to make her seem more polished, mostly because I had her be a secret agent in the past (i don't even know how to integrate that into anything ;; __ ;;), and i haven't changed her wardrobe yet either. She also is well mannered so that's a part of it. Personality wise, she's neat, foodie, and socially awkward. She's used to picking up after her family as mostly trying to help out her mom with the hecticness of an 8 person household, and when she was old enough she did the cooking as well. But, her mom being an excellent cook, made her standards for food really high (it's why basilisk is a foodie too). Retreating into working like this was also kinda coping for being terrible conversationalist. (With the neat trait she autonomously cleans things too which is really funny. It's like she can't help but clean even things that other people think are already clean.) She tag-teamed with Griffin on fixing anything throughout the house though. She has a strong personality however, being the type of person who has people she likes, people she doesn't, and they don't change. She doesn't like to apologize (it's like pulling teeth) and likes to be seen as correct.

Arachne I've played a little more of too. Mostly because she was left alone in the household with Eira once all her siblings moved out. But she became an accomplished writer at a young age (so, a really well receiving book that will forever be remembered and a lot of other pretty big hits). I had her go through a redemption, mellowing in her original version, but I really liked the punk thing she had going on before that i decided to keep the kind of rebellious aesthetic.

She was supposed to be a spoiled brat but in a big household its too much to be doing that kind of thing me thinks. She gets more irrationally angry, but she's a perfectionist in her craft, and grows up to be a wee self absorbed. She grows up to fame because of her books (it was pretty out of nowhere fame) so i gave her slightly more daring clothes than her siblings. She's super argumentative though, she feels all her emotions super strongly. She has the healthy outlet of writing however so she is able to regulate, even if it takes a bit.

oke im falling asleep again so i will randomly blog whenever i feel like it again peace

[gaythemayaway]

ask game! 1, 12, 17, 18, 23!

1. when did you first watch/discover good omens, and how did you find out about it?

I first (!!! I watched it so many times) watched Good Omens some time last year, in September I think, when I met with a friend that had just recently moved quite far away to study creative writing (so proud of them btw). And well, all we really planned was to meet, not what to do. So we were kinda just sitting there, wondering what we should do (I think?) until they said "Ayy can I show u a thing I really like bc I think you'll like it too?" And I said "Lezzgo!" And then we started watching and when the Intro started I went "OMG IT'S NEIL GAIMAN??? WHY ARE U ONLY SHOWING ME THIS NOW??" And then we binged the first season and started the second one and I LOVED IT so I forced them to do an Amazon watch party with me during the week (bc they had left again by then) bc I COULDN'T WAIT but I also didn't wanna watch it alone. Aaaand yeah,,, I think they found my reaction to the final 15 (or all of the show, probably) quite entertaining xD

12. has your interaction with the good omens fandom been overall good or bad?

It's been mostly good, actually! I've been in quite bad ones before. But this fandom actually got me back on tumblr and rediscovering this hellsite with all its silly little tumblr weirdos made me feel so at home again in a way? If that makes sense? I mean idk what happens on other ppl's timelines but mine is just all fun artsy stuff, queer ppl and well,,, general tumblr tomfoolery. And A LOT of love and support. So I feel quite nice here :D It's been my main source of comfort ever since I watched Good Omens.

17. what is your favorite husband-y moment between aziracrow?

Ooooof that's a tricky one. I'm not good at picking favorites. But uh,,, probably the Crowley-off-his-head-on-laudanum (1827) where he's just running around like some uncoordinated cat and Aziraphale catches him and grabs his waist to steady him and tells him how kind it was of him to save Elspeth. I like that one c:

18. what is your favorite moment through history, and why?

ALSO 1827 because first of all, I think it was a very important plot point, especially for Aziraphale to understand that the world isn't just black and white and sometimes things that seem bad at first glace have very good intentions behind them and are. just. needed. And right. And good. And then ofc also bc of what I just said to question 17. AND the fact that I LIVE for Crowley singing Flower of Scotland <33 The entire last scene just always has me giggling. It makes me so happy.

(Plus, the "Trying to kill yourself. That's, I mean, It's NOT ON!!" is a thingy me and my friends (those I forced to watch Good Omens with me :P) now do every time one of us is in a difficult phase. It's a silly way of reminding each other to just keep ourselves alive, and that's so dear to me <3

23. what's a good omens headcanon that you considered canon?

Idk if it counts bc I'M STILL NOT SURE IT'S NOT SOMEHOW CANON??? But I always thought Crowley was just the wildest Queen fan ever. Bc his Bentley always plays Queen. And that was the first thing (right at the beginning) that made me love Crowley in the show, bc I LOVE QUEEN, I LITERALLY CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW ANYBODY COULD EVER NOT LIKE QUEEN (I was very offended when, last year, some old guy told me he didn't like Queen bc they were too "camp" for him. (Actually, he said "tuntig" which is an offensive term in German, bc we had that conversation in German.) I never spoke to the guy again.) ANYGAY, then I read the book and found out that it's not actually Crowley who likes to listen to Queen all the time, but the Bentley. That was quite a disappointment at first. For like a minute. Then I decided the Bentley is now my favourite GO character. I draw a heart around it every time it's mentioned in the book. :D (I still headcanon Crowley loving Queen tho)

[misireads]

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

[physical book, read in english]

an anthology of short related stories about the human colonisation of mars around the year 2000. starts from a couple of first expeditions that failed, then (briefly) moves on to successful colonial life in space.

➕ the most beautifully written book i've read in a long while, very nice poetic prose

➕ people in this book behave exactly how white people would if they were suddenly let on a new planet, namely absolutely infuriatingly. it was a frustrating read but a great one because yeah, that's what white people would do. expect to be celebrated as heroes when they arrive, then proceed to wipe the ingenious folks' towns and expect them to be christians.

➕ since the chapters were short stories, this was a very fast read.

➕ this is apparently a fix-up novel, meaning the stories were originally separate and were later brought together to create a more or less coherent novel. there's still a few weird aspects that don't quite work if you don't realise it's a fix-up, but overall it's fascinating.

➕ i'm not really much of a sci-fi person and especially not fond of stuff situated in space, but i didn't find this one off-putting for the theme.

➖ so… this is an old book, originally from 1950s. i'm not sure if i just missed some cue or if that's part of the social criticism, but… why are all the people in mars americans ??? i feel like there was some implication in the early chapters that "because of course americans would be the first to do something like travel to mars, therefore they came from america" but, for the rest of the book we only see american characters throughout. not a single person from some other country came in? really? as a european reading this it really kind of broke the immersion for me throughout, but if that's the entire point, that americans are just so full of themselves that they hoarded space travel and colonialism and made the new planet just another america with cities named new new york and whatever, then i accept it. plus basically all the characters are either weird, crazy, or unlikable in some other way so i'm fine with them all being american, actually. but from the point of view of how space colonialism like this would "realistically" work, i just don't think it would be average american-only families moving there to make their white picket fences in mars, i think it would be the super rich from all around the world. ah well i guess this wasn't the agenda of these novels (which, again, were originally separate). it's still a minus from me tho because i dislike america-centrism and it felt lazy and like no thought was put into what world would actually be like in 2000. the use of n word as if the society would be the exact same in this year felt like no thought was put into whether things would actually change in this time, yeeaah. i feel like, don't set a story in 2000 if you're going to write it like it's the 50s still. some things just don't sit right with me

➖ i also haven't read much sci-fi and especially not older sci-fi for the aforementioned reason… but the martians in this book were way too human-like and. like. they had human genders, heteronormative lifestyles (and were very american to begin with.. the not-human shaped aliens talked about sins to the priest with the implication 'oh we're way ahead of you and have been good christians before you were even born' ???? ok. i'm not sure if i just misunderstood that?????) even if a book is from the 50s, i feel like authors surely had enough imagination to come up with something other than this? or maybe this was part of the colonial aspect and maybe the martians were very human-like because they're like native americans who get wiped out from their own planet when white americans come and take their lands, i don't know. i guess, as someone who doesn't usually read sci-fi, i was confused by whether this is more of a satire about how much white americans suck, or a story about outer space and what martians and their world and way of life in mars could be like. it was my over-arching problem with this book and persisted to the very end where [spoiler] apparently it's again just some average middle class american family that's the only, literally ONLY people who move to mars to escape nuclear war? really??? it's just not feasible. it was kind of really fucking stupid, to be frank.

➖ the story about the guy who lives in the mountains and one week finds everyone's gone down in the city and answers a phone to find a woman calling it, and he goes all horny for her voice and decides to find her and has all these fantasies, and when they finally meet she's described as having a fat face and she's eating chocolate and spends all her time in beauty salons and he's immediately disgusted by her and proceeds to run away so he doesn't need to associate with her despite them being the only two humans left in mars. this was the most blatantly misogynistic garbage i've read in ages? why is it in the book, why does it even exist??? what's the point

⭐ score: 3 -- the writing itself would have been a 5 buuuuuut i had way too many problems with the book as a whole to score it any higher than this.