#stuff that I can't find

[alfvaen]

It sucks to not have things that you used to have, or not be able to find them when you know you do still have them. (This is mostly about books and music because that's mostly what I consume.) I often can get more and more obsessive and desperate when I'm just, like, "Why can't I have this thing that I used to have?"

Sometimes it's not like I even legitimately had it before. Some song I taped off the radio, and now I want a digital copy of it, and it doesn't exist anywhere. Like, where did it go?

The transition to digital has been the worst culprit--I might even still own something on vinyl or cassette, but I don't have a setup that allows me to rip it, and I only listen to stuff digitally these days, so it might as well be gone.

Canadian pop from the 80s is particularly bad for this. A lot of it wasn't, or was barely, released on CD, so vinyl rips may be the only form that exists. I used to go on Soulseek looking for this stuff, and a lot of it I gave up on. And nobody is apparently interested in re-releasing it digitally, as a lot of obscure 80s pop has been; some of this may be due to the "Canadian Content" culture where there was a sort of market for Canadian stuff that could satisfy the CanCon minimum quota for broadcasting requirements, but they didn't get a lot of support after an album or two. So maybe it got a lot of airplay on MuchMusic back in the day, but now, it's nowhere.

Out of print books are the other big thing. Some of these aren't ones I actually had, but I had this habit of picking up random first books in series from new authors, and then just never getting around to reading them for years. And now I've been trying to do that more often, and when I do find one I like, then I look for book two and nope, it's vanished. (Sometimes there's ebook versions, but I have issues with ebooks, particularly if they cost as much as a paperback used to, but you don't even have a physical copy, so screw you, I'm not paying that much.) (And don't quote the Internet Archive to me, I'm still mad at them for pretending to be a library when they're legally not. DNI if you want to argue about that.)

Or, I'm trying to do a reread of Dick Francis in order, and I run across Forfeit, which apparently I'd originally borrowed from someone else (someone I am no longer in contact with, for good and valid reasons) and it's no longer in print, why would it be in print? Except as an $8.99 ebook, screw you, that's too much. (Maybe I can Interlibrary Loan that one, because of course it's not in the local library either, probably because it's Too Old.)

And then recently I decided I wanted to do a reread of the Calvin & Hobbes books, because it's been a minute, and I go to the cramped bookshelf in the corner of the former TV room where most of the comic strip collections and such are, and they're all out of order because it's only the kids that have been reading them for some years now, but I go through them and take out the earlier ones (when the books weren't as wide) and put them in order, and...where's the first one? The one that's just called Calvin and Hobbes? Because it's not there. One of the kids must have it in their room. But I ask them (note: said kids are currently ages 15-24) and they say, "No, we've never even heard of this alleged collection. One that's just called Calvin and Hobbes? Are you sure it really exists?" And I am of course constitutionally incapable of just skipping over that one and rereading the other ones, so the project is on hold until I can find that first volume. Maybe I'll show them a picture of the cover and they'll recognize it. Maybe it will turn up somewhere (searching through horrible messy and scattered papers on one disused desk did turn up Scientific Progress Goes Boink!, for instance), but who has the energy for that kind of search in this messy and cluttered house? That one is at the library, and I put a hold on it; I'm currently "#36 on 4 copies" so probably I could get a copy in less than 7 months!

(I'm now going to proceed to rant in more specifics about the music that I can't find, but I'll put it under a cut. Clearly my hope here is that somehow this post will find its way onto the dashboard of somebody who actually has a copy or knows something about it, but my hope are not high.)

Big International Noise: Love Love Lies (song)

This is one of the ones that's bugging me the most right now. I remember this song from MuchMusic, a cool video of time-lapse night-time driving, and the song is...I dunno, "electrofunk" or something? But it has left absolutely zero imprint on the Internet. Nobody has ever posted anything about this song. No Youtube video, no nothing. Nothing on Bandcamp, nothing on Discogs. It was never a particular favourite or anything, but I liked it. And now I can't hear it outside of my own head. What the hell happened to it?

Mark Korven: Passengers (album)

This is one that I do have on vinyl (though all my vinyl is currently stored at my dad's house and he just moved into a trailer so it may be in boxes still). It was an indie album from Edmonton in 1984, before he got a major-label contract for a couple of albums, but I kind of like it, particularly the ballad "Time Heals Slow". It is my #1 candidate for vinyl ripping if I ever get a vinyl ripping setup (and now that I have both the Go Four 3 albums digitally). The opening track, "Clock On The Wall", is on Youtube, and at some point I may get a video-ripping setup working and get that one, but what about the rest of the album? (These days Korven is doing movie soundtracks, with weird instruments from all over the world; I wonder if even he has a digital copy of this album... Maybe I should email him.)

CANO: Visible (album)

CANO was a Canadian musical collective from the late 70's/early 80's. Their early albums seem to be fairly well available, but this one, their final, seems to have never had a digital release. I've seen it on cassette and vinyl, but see above.

Eye Eye: Just In Time To be Late (album)

Canadian late-new-wave album from like 1987, with two big tracks, "Out On A Limb" and "X-Ray Eyes". Those two songs are available because iTunes has their next album with those two tacked on as bonus tracks, but the original album? Nuh-uh.

The Extras: Extrapolis (album)

More Canadian pop. Their great animated video for "Can't Stand Still" is out there, but the rest of the album has also vanished. (I may have found one other random track on Soulseek but that's it. And you try searching for "Extras" and see what you find. Also sometimes it seems to be "Extropolis" instead of "Extrapolis".)

Christopher Ward: Time Stands Still (album) or Spark of Desire (album)

Christopher Ward was a musician, then a VJ on MuchMusic, then he wrote "Black Velvet" for Alannah Myles and quit to become a songwriter full-time. He did come out with a new album recently ("Same River Twice"), and those other two albums are no great shakes for random AOR pop, but dammit, I used to have them, why don't I still have them?

Shari Ulrich: Long Nights (album) and One Step Ahead (album)

Her song "Every Road" was great, and that album was out there, but these ones I only ever saw on vinyl. Again, random AOR pop, but why don't I have them???

Neo A-4: The Warmer Side of You (album)

More Edmontonians, more late new wave, where did they go?

Mrs. Torrance: I'm The Bird (album)

I taped this from the library about the same time as "So Tough" by Saint Etienne and I get them confused in my mind. They've also vanished, so they're probably also Canadian, even though I know they had a CD release at some point...

Everender: Punching Bag (song) and Pepper (song)

An Ottawa band, apparently, who may never have had an actual album release, though I don't know for sure; I got those two songs off of compilations (or maybe the same compilation?), and I loved their sound, where did they go?

Skymonters: Kings (song) and The Danang (song)

An old vinyl album that my dad had, I taped a couple of songs that I liked; I saw it once on the Internet Archive but you couldn't actually download it, so what's the point???

Eva Everything: The Right Thing (song)

This one had a great video with stop-motion effects (inspired by the techniques used to make Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"), and I taped it off MuchMusic, but did it ever get an actual release? Is it even on Youtube these days? Why can't I have it?

Mike Whitaker & Rhodri James: Monty Who? (song)

From a compilation tape made up for people from alt.callahans on Usenet back in 1991; there were a few Mike Whitaker tracks on there, but with poor recording quality (very quiet among the tape hiss) which were okay, but I'm willing to give up on. But this one had much better quality, and is a hilarious song about overpowered D&D characters from each class, to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of The Republic", and I always wanted me kids to be able to hear it. Apparently it was one one filk cassette compilation once or something, and that was it. Why????

And so on. You get the idea. I'm running out of steam here. But yeah, this crap low-key bugs the hell out of me.

The irony is, of course, that if I do finally find one of these things, I'll be like, "Cool, well done" and then it'll disappear back into my gigantic music collection and I'll listen to it once every ten years, but I'll feel better for knowing it's there.

[ash-rigby]

"Monsterfucking is for--"

Everyone. It's for everyone. Does it tend to appeal more to certain groups than others and therefore you're more likely to see them making up most of the community? Yes. But monsterfucking is for everyone.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 5: Flip Slip.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 4.5)

[just-aro]

*sigh*

I'm seeing variations of this meme around again, so to today's (un)lucky 10000:

the "inside you there are two wolves" meme is racist. full stop. it was invented by a Christian pastor in the late 70s and attributed to the Cherokee nation, despite being completely made up. every native american / indigenous page I've ever followed denounces it as made up and racist, using their imagery to sound mystical and wise while ignoring the people themselves.

please consider using another format. try to use your guilt productively: I'm not calling you out, this is aimed at educating. You can't erase not knowing in the past, but you can elect to 1) not reblog these in the future, 2) delete any that are easy to delete, 3) help to spread education by following native people's accounts and news so that you hear this from them, not me.

[lazylittledragon]

hi i'm unw el l

[theminecraftbee]

genuinely if you are scared: DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. if you are angry: DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. if you are sad: DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

this isn't just a mantra of "nothing will change if we do not persist and act", although that's true. nothing will change if we do not act. this is just also a mantra of "frequently the best way to counter despair is to simply take an action, any action at all". it is hard to feel despair when you are moving. it is hard to feel hopeless when you are moving. but you've gotta start moving first. you've gotta.

[drenched-in-sunlight]

saying this as respectfully as possible but. Do not put fandom content creators on a pedestal. We are also just fans contributing to a community just as you are. We have boundary on our own work and that’s it. What I say is not and should not be considered sth the whole fandom should listen to. I’m just a normal ass person ranting about things on my blog. If it does not have a fandom tag for others to engage in, do not make it out to be me trying to start fights or addressing the whole community. Because it’s not.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, my art, my lore talk, is biased. I’ve never tried to hide that I view Marika a certain way and will always develop my theory following that base assumption.

Aside from translation stuffs and pointing out in-game items, everything else I say you can look at it, agree or disagree, and move on to form your own opinions. Just because I draw stuffs doesn’t mean you get to saddle me with responsibilities about managing fandom expectations. What the hell? I’m a fan artist, I’m the last person who you should look at for “leaderism” (?) WHAT?

I can and will be a hater in my own space, like I know sometimes other artists will just post their stuffs and not engage too heavily with fandom, and for a while I did try to do that here (because I’m already a dramatic ass on twitter), that’s just not me though.

You will get art and you will get my opinions as well.

[vibinginthebg]

✨Some doodles of the siblings to try to see how to draw them ✨

(I am super late to the party hello)

[tavernbrawls]

50 Fun things to do with OCs and/or characters you love!

Making a cohesive list so I don't forget, and so that others can use the same resource. Enjoy :)!

Make them a Pinterest board

Make Picrews of them

Answer OC templates and questionnaires

Paste and/or draw them over memes

Draw the squad

Create an Amazon/Etsy wishlist for them of things they'd like

Make a list of video games/shows they'd like

Crossover with other OCs/universes

Modern AU

Swap AU

Masc/femify them

Create them in character creations in video games

Pick out funny clothing for them

Make them a Spotify playlist

Create a fake text conversation between them and another OC

Make their zodiac sun, moon, and rising or chart their natal chart

Turn your OCs into animals

Save TikTok/Instagram/Youtube audios that reflect them

Depict their reactions to looking at themselves in the mirror

Fantasy AU

Spiderverse AU

Draw them in cosplay

Classpect them

Make them a phone/desktop background and/or theme

Create a kinlist for your OC

Draw them interacting with you or your friends

Act them out

Cosplay them

Fuse them with another OC

List out what traits them and others have in common

Make random quotes from them

Pick out Pokemon they'd like

Turn them into a magical girl

Create a tierlist based on what they like/dislike

Have your OCs play truth or dare together

Have your OCs play Dungeons and Dragons together

Have your OCs spin the bottle

Create or look through Halloween costumes for your OCs

Design what your OC would wear throughout the decades

Age your OC through a timeline

Height chart

Put your OCs in a grocery store

Let others draw them in Whiteboard Fox (when you google it you'll see a list of servers below! Just click one! (and remember to ss your progress in case someone clears the board!))

Create sprites of your OCs

Objection.lol case them

If they have a comic or animation, create blooper takes

Avatar: The Last Airbender AU

Describe their reactions to smoking and/or drinking for the first time

Expose their internet search history

Draw them into taken photos with IRL you

If you have any more suggestions add them into the comments or reblogs below, and I'll make another 50+!

[ratgirlexe]

It feels almost weird to me that I really struggle to compute HDG as a horror-adjacent setting like so many others do. I know that there is an inherent power imbalance in the vast majority of relationships within the setting, and that can easily lend itself to a feeling of dawning horror when the protagonist realizes that they are inherently powerless against whatever is about to happen to them, but ultimately the setting just... isn't very scary to me in the way that it seems to be for so many others.

Maybe it's because I haven't read as many of the more extreme horror-adjacent entries, or maybe its because the other settings in which I write are so much more bleak, but its just not why I come to HDG to write. Ultimately when I'm writing in HDG, there's an inherent positive slant to what I'm writing, because there's this idea that ultimately by the end of the story the characters will be in a better place than where they started. It might take forced drugging or brainwashing or any number of potentially horrific things to get them there, but at least in my estimation its ultimately going to be for their own benefit?

And again, maybe I just need to read some of the darker things folks have written, I know there's a handful of works by certain writers that are apparently much more extreme in how the dynamics between characters work, but ultimately HDG as a setting is one of wish fulfillment, both for submissives, dominants, and those in between. I can't see it as anything but hopeful, even if sometimes the big plants are quite scary.

[obsessive-jan]

Average small guy Fernando on his tippy toes

[notbecauseofvictories]

I will say, while there are many parts of my job that I would happily toss into the sea, it's very neat to stumble onto people who have been doing their job with truly off-the-charts levels of competence, but---and this is key---without the Higher Ups knowing even a little bit about it. I've met at least three of them in the last week, who definitely have been keeping one of our branches afloat, just by dint of their extraordinary levels of knowing.

Or, alternatively---i have been working at my company for 7 months. I discovered today that the entire company has been keeping a repository of policies and documents, with version control and everything. I thought we had 3-5 policies stuck together with bubblegum and hope, but no, there is a whole database!!!

"I'm surprised your manager didn't...uh. Tell you?" said the very nice man who showed me how to find the database.

"Mhm," I murmured noncommittally, because the alternative was frankly, I'd be shocked if she knew it existed.

[lullabycures]

a bit peeved when the term "trad goth" is used to refer to that perfectly sharp black makeup and idk killstar clothes or something. then you look at actual early goths and it's so much more chaotic and versatile and fun.

[frozen-seagrass]

The WALL-E au no one asked for

[welcometogrouchland]

(ID in alt) I literally said I was gonna post this month's ago and then never had the wherewithal to describe it and so I didn't Lmao (said with pain). But since I'm thinking of opening my commissions I figured I should remind ppl that I. Yknow. Can draw.

Lots of Steph here (I had major art block making all of these and my brain worms for her kept me going) + some sprinkles of stephcass for Cass nation to enjoy!

[territorial-utopia]

Just a fella in the morning in his luxurious and warm dressing gown