#that is NOT stt unfortunately

[icannotgetoverbirds]

me to myself: i can't just write the same tropes over and over again, it'll get monotonous and annoying-

my brain: okay but have you considered when the person who takes care of everyone else is forced to accept care from their loved ones?

me: THE CARETAKER IS CARED FOR BY THEIR LOVE(S) OUAGHOUAH

[therealandian]

elias would probably tell you that this is the correct decision and he's rather confused as to why you didn't decide this way in the first place XD

in all seriousness I LOVE HIM LOOK GUYS IT'S HIM MY BOY THE LITTLE EYEBALL FREAK THAT COULD IN ALL HIS SPACE PIRATEY GLORY

i love how smug and confident he looks you've really captured late-stage mechs!jon very well

yoyre going to enjoy the next chapter so much i promie~

Wake up babe, new design for The Blorbo by your favourite artist just dropped

Mechanism!Jon belongs to @therealandian from his fic Search Through The Stars, and the design has been taken from this post by @dcartcorner !

[ID in alt text]

Close ups :

[secret-third-thing]

My dearest apologies, but my elves have unfortunately lost the file they had made on you. You can imagine how awkward this is, so instead of making them feel bad, I’ll just regather the information they had, if you don’t mind.

1. Are there any tropes/themes you enjoy? Are there any that immediately cause you to stop reading?

2. Do you have intense opinions on characterizations of Eris? Do you prefer him a certain way or do you just enjoy every iteration of him you’ve come across?

Sleighing and serving,

🎅🏻

Hello Santa Baybeeee. I filled out a tier list of tropes for youuu. I think the only trope that would make me lose my mind (derogatory) is if the entire premise of a fic was based on miscommunication. A little is fine—the entire conflict? No. Everything else is on the table.

I would like to point out you do not need to write smut if you don't want to. This tier list is just very sexy-focused b/c fandom. Oh, this is also my Azris-specific trope ranking. YEAH, I KNOW ANGST IS IN THE MIDDLE. It's fine; I am just not a whump person, even though I dish it out sometimes. Do not let this stress you out. PS I left out magic au? because... there is already magic??? but you could totally invent your own magic system.

S TIER IS NOT REQUIRED BABE OKAY?

I love most forms of Eris. I do find portrayals of him being bested left and right by Cassian & Co to be very odd (looking at you SJM with that last scene in SF). There's also a tendency to make Eris saccharine with his partners, which is fine, but I'd like to think he's a bit more acerbic than that. His partner would absolutely drive him nuts in the best way.

ALSO, I will emphasize doing what you think is best for the fic. Do not try to slot in something that doesn't work because STT is feral about it. I will be feral no matter what.

[missellaneousworks]

Revamped STT/Role Reversal AU -- reintroducing 💜✨Movie Star Mimi! ✨💜

STT AU—Mimi was Jack's childhood friend who left town years ago to the big city to become an actress. After several successful years, everyone is shocked when Mimi returns to Sunny Time Town at the height of her career. The only answer she gives to Jack is, "When everyone loves you and you're at the top of your game, you realize how incredibly lonely you are, too."

Role Reversal AU - Mimi was the main hostess of Lambswork's Movie Time with Mimi, a family oriented show that showcased that followed Mimi, an aspiring actress as she thought the the magic of movies to the audience and the work put into them. The show would also include interviews with other actors and directors of popular movies amongst families. Unfortunately, the show was canceled abruptly in 1984 after the disappearance of Mimi's actress, [REDACTED], and was considered an unsolved mystery. Until that is, an exhausted Joseph finds the tape while looking for movie props at a thrift shop...

[mothmanwarble]

Idk alot about eon's worm friend could you tell me about him?

Ohohohoho, absolutely! I will never turn down an opportunity to talk about Wiggleworth. Now, I’d like to apologize in advance— this might get a bit long.

Along with the Warrior Librarians and the Eternal Archives as a whole, Chief Curator Wiggleworth made his debut in Spyro Versus the Mega Monsters, the first entry in the Mask of Power series of chapter books. He’s introduced to the reader in the most normal, uneventful, not-at-all-overdramatic way possible: arriving at Eon’s Citadel completely unannounced on a massive, flying warship. Y’know. Average librarian stuff, I’m sure. Also, the warship is so massive that it effectively blocks out the beacon emitted by The Core of Light.

Understandably, everyone at the Citadel is freaking out. Even Master Eon is deeply concerned because, well, there’s a warship full of Mech-Piloting Murder Librarians hovering over his house. Not ideal!

The Warrior Librarians (who are all armed with laser swords, because why not) all descend from their ship and confront Eon who nevertheless greets them very formally. What follows is maybe one of the most adorable moments in any Skylanders book ever, in which Wiggleworth, upon recognizing Eon, reveals his itty-bitty worm self from within his mech:

“Greetings, Master Eon,” wheezed a tiny voice. “It is good to see you again.” Eon’s face broke into a dazzling smile. “I don’t believe it!” the Portal Master exclaimed, raising his hands in delight. “Chief Curator Wiggleworth, my old friend. How wonderful to see you.”

Yup! Surprise! Turns out the leader of the Mech-Piloting Murder Librarians is a very, very old and trusted friend of Eon’s! The two of ‘em go way back. Like. Many centuries back.

Wiggleworth is a bit like Eon in the sense that he too is an unfathomably old dude who leads a team of fighters and is burdened with immense responsibility. The Warrior Librarians are described as being the “archivists of forbidden knowledge” and the “curators of the arcane.” Their library and base of operations—the Eternal Archives—is home to every single book ever published “from every corner of the universe,” no matter how mundane, magical, or malicious. As such, Wiggleworth and the others take their job very seriously, hence the weaponized mech suits and ridiculously massive warships. (…But that’s also because he’s a bit prideful and self-important, too. His mech is the only one with a cape, which serves absolutely zero practical purpose. And despite each librarian having the same weapons, Wiggleworth’s weapons happen to be larger than everyone else’s. It’s so unnecessary, I love him.)

He shows up in almost every book in the Mask of Power series, but he doesn’t get much to do after his debut appearance. He basically stops being relevant by book 6, in which his one scene has him get (justifiably) scolded by Spyro in chapter 1. Why? Well, it’s revealed that one of Wiggleworth’s most trusted librarians was actually a double-agent gathering intel for Kaos (whoops!) who also (somehow??) succeeded in kidnapping Eon without anyone noticing (double whoops!!) After this catastrophic screwup, Wiggleworth is never heard from again.

…Until Skylanders: Trap Team for the 3DS! Not only does Wiggleworth act as your guide/tutorial guy/exposition machine, but the game’s main hub is the Eternal Archives itself! Since the events of the Mask of Power series were set before the events of SSA, Wiggleworth’s presence in STT 3DS confirms that he survived up to that point in the timeline while also suggesting that the Skylanders are all on good terms with him again (…maybe). Unfortunately though, Wiggleworth doesn’t really…do much outside of explaining game mechanics. He doesn’t even get to fight at all (he gets put under a sleeping spell while in the middle of a fight with a slightly-larger-than-normal exploding Chompy…off-screen). Furthermore, Wiggleworth and Eon don’t even acknowledge each other at any point in the game either! Needless to say, I feel robbed of an old man reunion.

While it saddens me that Wiggleworth ended up underutilized in both his book and game appearances, I’m glad he was added to the series at all (thank you, Mr. Beakman!) I find the concept of the Warrior Librarians both hilarious and compelling, and I absolutely adore the fact that Wiggleworth was introduced as one of Eon’s dearest friends. And hey! Although Wiggleworth didn’t make it into the game himself, his legacy lives on in SuperChargers, in which we meet the original founder of the Eternal Archives: Pomfrey! I think it’s so awesome that an idea originating from the books literally wormed its way into the games.

Chief Curator Wiggleworth, you’ll always be famous to me o7

[konigbabe]

Do you have any tips on writing fighting scenes?

Oh boy, I might. Will share all info that I've gathered from research while writing 'steal the thunder'.

Writing a fight scene can be tricky. It shouldn't be too rushed but be careful to not make it too long with repetitive action. If you go by word count, I'd say somewhere between 1.5k to 6k is a good 1v1 fight scene.

Now to the actual tips (hid it under "Keep reading" because it's longer):

Read up other people's fight scenes from their works. I tried that, unfortunately for me, I didn't like any of what I read but it might be helpful to you. I'd suggest to look up fight scenes within the fandom you want to write for. Ask around on Reddit or Tumblr if someone has any suggestions. But I don't consider this a neccesary step.

References - find youtube videos, drawings, watch fight scenes from action films to see how the movement goes.

I watched self-defence and offense/defense techniques on Youtube. Looked up specific types of defense like "attack from behind defence". There are lots of self-defense tutorials on YouTube that can help. Also Pinterest has good fight scene references. Don't be afraid to use the fight scenes from the original source and twist them. Add your own, mix it and blend it in.

Incorporate real martial arts influences. Pick a fight style(s) that would fit your character. You have Wing Chun, Tai chi, Kung Fu...

For example when I was writing the fight scene in STT, I used this X/Twitter thread from @/lightning446 as a reference. The person explains Kashimo's fight style as "influenced by Wing Chun". To elaborate more: "He feels through his opponents with economical movements using his hands...elbows and palms...combines with rapid punches." – I made sure to implement this fight 'technique' into the fight. I also watched Wing chun tutorials on YouTube to understand the technique and use some moves.

Mix action with dialogue. It gives you more space, helps you build tension and show the relationship between the fightning opponents.

Don't focus too much on feelings or detailed descriptions. Fights in real life are chaotic, rarely go "according to rules". Everything happens fast.

But still describe feels occasionally. B punches A but suddenly feels wetness on their hip, why?? Because during the movement, A managed to slash their side. They didn't see it but they did feel it afterwards.

Use their surroundings. Even in films and in real life, people tend to use what's handy as either a weapon, a shield or as a distraction. They throw stuff at their opponent, use sticks and bricks as weapons. Try not to stick to only fists or one sword.

Don't overpower one opponent. Make them have ups and downs. Make them gain the upper hand only for the opponent to do something that causes the character to lose that upper hand.

Do a circle: Character A starts the fight, is visibly stronger and have more advantages. Looks like an easy win. Character B picks the pace, finds a weapon, startles A and gains the upper hand for some time. A gets beaten. A gets up, swipes B off their feet, causes them to lose balance for example and gains the upper hand back. B gets beaten. And so on...

Give everyone strengths and weaknesses. No one's interested in reading a fight scene with an OP who obviously wins the fight every time.

Plan the fight, the "poses". Make sure the positions and counterattacks make sense and are consistent.

Don't make A get into a chokehold but suddenly they punch and kick B. Make A for example grab B's wrists/forearms. Hurt B, twist their arms etc...might step on their feet and throw B over A's shoulder. But punching someone that has you in a chokehold is nonsense.

Remember events that might influence the fight later on. B got stabbed in their right bicep?! Then their punches and strikes using their right arm will be weaker (or they won't use that arm at all to avoid pain).

Fights aren't fair. Connecting this to the previous point/tip. Make A strike and aim for the wound. Make them dig their fingers into the wound, make it hurt all big and pretty.

Another example: Character A gets their left ear bit/sliced off which makes them go deaf on their left side. Make character B attack from that side. A won't hear them...

Last thing - Give your fight a twist. It's not neccesary but it does keep the reader engaged and interested. Make it seem as character A is about to win but suddenly their plan fails...

Example from my STT: With a flick of your wrist, you send it slicing through the air. A blade of nothing. A thin line etches across his chest, traversing from ribcage to his already wounded shoulder. Nowhere to dodge now that he's standing between two metal beams. Or so you thought. He charges. The white of his robe tainted with scarlet. The cut isn't deep. A flicker of irritation crosses your features. Stamina waning; this could've been your last-ditch effort. The final move. And it failed. It makes him smile. A sinister twist of lips that morphs into a grin. Moving fast, his expression resembles one of a predator closing in on its prey. The ruby stain on his robe seems to accentuate his aura of danger, a stark contrast to the pristine white it once was.

I'm sure there are many tips on the internet that might be helpful more; but these are the ones I figured out myself when writing a fight scene. ♡

My biggest tips would probably be the "mix action with dialogue" and "incorporate real martial styles". These were the ones I enjoyed the most during the writing and editing.

Sorry for any grammatical mistakes, wrote this in one go without beta reading it.

[panie-wanie-dean-bean]

Ok, so, since I am a pansexual mess and want women to step on me and give me little forehead kisses here are the names for all the genderbent guys. You can ask for any of these lovely ladies in any of my aus, though I prefer working with a whole set so no "what if everything's the same but X is a girl" I just don't find that fun

Jack: Jill! Funshine Jill to be more exact. Because of her canon outfit I like to think of her as a dance teacher and possibly failed dancer if we're going with STT au logic

Rory: Rose! I'm keeping her as Rose Rainberry just because I don't think it gets better than that

Jean: I'm going with Janette, no real reason why it just sounds like her

Joseph: Josephine, she prefers being called Jo or Josey because she thinks her name is too pretty and a bit too fem for her liking

Bo: Bow!!! Because, like, it's said the same but it's like bows you'd put in your hair?!? Clap damn you

Nick: Nikki, she's just so sweet. Unfortunately she gets a lot of shit for "being too pure to be a sex worker" because she's a cute woman who clearly doesn't know what she's getting into (Never mind the fact she's been doing this for five years)

Shaun: Shauna, fucking goth queen over here. She loves fake blood so much, too much, she got sent to the hospital one time because a lot of it got in her eyes

Ian: Irene, she's still pathetic and doesn't know what to do with herself most of the time but she's trying

Berry: Bonnie, it feels old school and unassuming, and it's tied to a killer robot! She likes white bread :)

[katikis]

Headcanons. Albinism.

Satoru suffers from albinism, a rare genetic disorder where people is not born with the normal amount of melanin pigment. This causes them to have very pale skin and white hair, and be very prone to sunburn and vision problems.

They started to see themselves in need of prescription glasses in their middle teens, something they put off as much as they could out of pride and their frequent need for shades, however they would eventually settle on transition lenses as to hide their condition and combine both their needs.

Those would work well for the next years, unfortunately, Satoru's vision would keep worsening with the pass of time. Initially they struggled some with small fonts and far away things, but that worsened to the point where currently as an adult they struggle with every day tasks such as applying their make up, finding things, reading, writing, and even distinguishing shapes. Normally, they will find many excuses to never have to read something in front of other people, saying they're lazy and will read it later or having someone else read outloud for them. They mostly depend on TTS and STT to text and work, unwilling to recognize the need for any kind of aid, and hiding their situation from onlookers. They would only admit to it in case of it being imperative for some external cause, and to close people.

[beardedmrbean]

Independence Day marches held in Helsinki concluded peacefully and did not cause any major disruptions, according to Helsingin Sanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun).

Marchers included nationalist or extreme right-wing groups including Suomi herää (or 'Finland Awakes') and the 612 torch procession as well as anti-fascist groups who organised the counter-protest "Helsinki without Nazis."

Police did not make any arrests, with authorities only observing some shouting between demonstrators at most, according to the paper.

The area outside the Presidential Palace was also calm and the demonstrations did not affect the arrival of guests.

"Everything actually went very much according to plan," Helsinki Police chief inspector Patrik Karlsson said.

Authorities estimate that some 2,000 people took part in the demonstrations, according to Ilta-Sanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun), who also reported on the story.

Police confiscated flags of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), saying afterwards that they tried to reduce the potential for conflict by removing flags that might provoke other demonstrators.

Kaikkonen in Turkey

Finnish Minister of Defence Antti Kaikkonen will be flying to the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday, after being invited by his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar, tabloid Ilta-Sanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun) reports.

The visit will involve talks regarding Finland's Nato membership process as well as security and defence cooperation matters between the two countries.

"We are closely monitoring the situation in Sweden and Finland. Unfortunately, we still see some provocative actions and images in these countries," Akar said on Tuesday, according to the paper.

Turkey and Hungary are the last remaining Nato members yet to ratify Finland and Sweden's membership to the military alliance.

Several outlets including Etelä-Saimaa (siirryt toiseen palveluun) carried STT reporting on the issue, writing that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu is calling for Finland to lift its restrictions on arms exports.

"We expect Finland to announce that it will lift its arms embargo against Turkey," Cavusoglu said to the Turkish daily Hürriyet Daily News.

Finland made the decision to introduce an arms embargo in 2019, following Turkey's invasion of northern Syria.

Let it snow!

Both tabloids Iltalehti (siirryt toiseen palveluun) (IL) and Ilta-Sanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun) (IS) report on the intensely snowy forecast of the next few weeks.

December will see Europe split in two, with northern Europe colder than usual and southern Europe warmer than the December average, Iltalehti writes.

Weather forecaster Foreca said that during the next few weeks, Finland should see more snowfall than typically witnessed in the past few years during the same period.

"The forecast brings hope of a snowy white Christmas for the whole country. If the snow cover does not disappear before Christmas, it is possible that, especially in the south, Christmas could be even much snowier than usual," Foreca's website reads, according to IL.

Ilta-Sanomat adds that heavy snowfall is in store for the southern coast of Finland over the next two days, with snow cover possibly surpassing 30 centimetres along the coast.

Covid deaths

The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is changing the way it records Covid deaths, Helsingin Sanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun) reports. The health agency will no longer automatically record fatalities as Covid-related if they occurred soon after a Covid diagnosis.

HS writes that since the pandemic, deaths occurring within 30 days of confirmed coronavirus infection were being recorded as Covid-related. The causal link between infection and death has however become less significant.

"It is important to focus attention on deaths specifically caused by Covid. In cases where coronavirus infection is recorded as a contributing factor to death, the actual cause of death is something else," THL physician Tuija Leino said in a press release.

The recording of hospitalisations will also change so that patients hospitalised for other reasons but test positive for coronavirus are distinct from those hospitalised because of infection, according to the paper.

"Using diagnostic data, the definitions of 'with coronavirus' and 'because of coronavirus' are geographically consistent, automated, continuous and always based on the conclusions of the treating physician," Leino added.

[simsthroughtime]

Simblreen Treat 4- Cleroux Portraits

Hello all,

This isn't the treat that I wanted to give you with this part of the story but unfortunately it is all I had time for! You can see how rushed I was by the off centre rug and chandelier in the preview (sorryyyyy!!)

Two different files, Get Together required for each. You can find them, as well as my other treats, by searching STT. Let me know of any issues!

Download

[icannotgetoverbirds]

listen-

WHY is this one of the single best reference images i could find for drawing Demetrius

[mollmom]

Hi there !!! Just read your reblog of ITKS ask.. i wanted to know what is OVAs... I am currently reading the speak the truth pdf.. and it mentions that a lot of times, but not exactly sure what it is..

Also, i know, ITKs mean In The Know.. But does it mean like the people you are in the close vicinity of both the Js?

I am loving STT and currently is my first go to read🥰. I think further all yours and many more such j2 blogs will serve as a history for all of us .. if we need to recap all their awesome stuff..

Keep doing the rocking work!!❤️

Aww! Thanks so much! 🥰 So glad you’re enjoying my blog and STT! It’s really eye opening, right?

Ova was an ITK once upon a time on SPN gossip, but unfortunately the site is not running anymore. Ova confirmed bits and pieces of gossip and was thought to be very close to the j’s and given permission to be on SPN gossip.

So many hat blogs aren’t updated or deactivated and it’s a shame because they were treasures.

It would be great if more real ITKs would step forward, but they don’t seem to be around much anymore.

Thanks for the ask! 💕

[vishnukumarsworld]

slot Quick Update

Its Friday morning and I played a little online yesterday and a £300 omaha slot with 65 runners live in Tallinn yesterday. In other news I am totally out of sync with the guys sleeping patterns as my 2am bedtime is about 4 hours too early for them. They go for "1 more drink" at midnight and i head back to relax/play poker, the next day we have a sightseeing planned and every time it gets cancelled as 1 more drink turns to 7am!! - and everyone that knows me thinks that I am really lazy!

Thursday

Woke up - fannied about a bit then went for lunch in the old town (by myself as I know by now its not worth waking the beast that is the Irish Poker sleepers).

Have nice lunch at merchants and then have a coffee, take some Tallinn old town photos and come back.

Online breif session

Call the guys (its 4.30pm) they have just woken so we arrange for them to come down in 30mins to go to casino (6pm start). I play a little bit of omaha to get me in the mood, i lose my $500 buy in slot online  1058007 with top 2 v a wrap. KP and Rob arrives and I ask them to look at the hand. I get a thumbs up. Played it ok. I am still learning omaha and its nice to double check hands as you cant win them all.

Casino

The boys grab some food and I meet up with a gang of guys from Scotland Dave, David, Jim and two others. I know them from back home and we are all going to play the omaha tournament so I know 7 guys playing the 65 man tourney. We draw seats. seat 2 -4 my Scottish friends. me seat 5 and KP seat 6. excellent, just the draw i didn't want.

Tourney

We play a few hands and I am up to 6500 from a starting stack of 5k. mid level 2 blinds 50/100. i limp in 1st position with AA23 double suited. 2 callers then the cut off bets 300 ! Scottish guy calls and I reraise 1100 to 1400. Initial raiser thinks and calls. Flop looks good at K84 rainbow. I bet the 3.5k pot. he goes all in .. doh. I call the 1500 more and he shows KK23. a 5 on the turn helps but an 8 seals it for him and my tournament.

+EV games

I play super tiles fruit machine to calm me down, its cheaper than roulette! The 1 thing that i didn't plan to do was overvalue AA and I am usually good at that (i played the omaha really well in Ireland) but the combination of the table draw and the starting blinds/stack ratio got to me and made me think I had to make a move. Won a cool 500 on supertiles unfortunately it was EEK's and only equates to £25. The remaining tourney players get a break so I join them. Everyone seems to think my villain played it badly but i think we both did.

I play 5 stt's on the laptop in the hotel with my Friend and early bust out Dave Mcgeedie watching. I lose all 5! This is not looking like a good day. The cash game is a min 10,000 EEK sit down (£500) omaha. It looks nice but I only have 3000 so I play roulette to either spin it up to 10k or go to the bank and change some euros/pounds. A sweet run of tier numbers and I am freeroling the cash game.

Cash game

I play 3 hands in 2 hours. My starting hand requirements are pretty loose in this game but i keep seeing junk like K822 A1074 2249etc etc. I then play a crap hand from the sb 346J flop 245 i check and all 5 check behind. not good but not bad as I have no redraw anyway. turn a nice 10 but it makes a flush draw. I bet 600 2 callers 1 good player and 1 loose fish. River a K and I bet 2300 and pick up 2 callers!! lol I show the nuts and get tales of trips and low straight.

Tilt!

I lose my profit the next hand so am still at 12,000 when this hand occurs. I use my tight image to bet a 3 hearts board on the turn that was checked round the 1st time. I am SB. I bet 1500 at it and get 2 callers (hopefully both trips or 2 pair) a dead card comes on the turn and I bet 5000 at the pot (£250) I have nothing. 1st player muck immediately and the 2nd guy thinks for about 10 secs and calls. I muck and don't even see what shit he calls with. I immediately go on tilt, how can I bluff into the guy i just did (he was the one who called my nuts earlier with the baby straight. I post a straddle with 5000 left. I hit the nuts with my junk and get no action. The next hand I raise the pot and then through my last 3k at a flop of Q64 2 diamonds me 35 no diamonds. 2 blanks and the guy wins with a pair of 3's! WP me.

In hindsight I should not have played the cash as was probably still simmering from my online losses (not alot but still annoying) and my tourney exit. lesson for the future

Get back home after winning on some roulette and fruit machines (i am a luckbox who just loses my profits at poker) and get a text from KP. The guy who knocked me out in level2 won the whole thing. Kp was playing the cash game when I left. Hopefully he got my money from my aquatic friends.

[theinsanecrayonbox]

The Catman, Adam West

Adam West was born to a family of wealthy philanthropists who advocated for nature conservation and animal protection above all else. He lost his parents at a young age, and grew up under the care of his estranged uncle while his family’s fortune and charities were put in a trust and overseen by his father’s business partner. Once he came of age, he returned to take control of his family’s inheritance, but the trustee tried to fight him upon his claims, ultimately loosing that legal battle. Meanwhile, as he grew up with his uncle, he was trained in all sorts of skills that would eventually aid him in being the vigilante Catman. (What exactly those skills were though vary depending upon writers)

While he was establishing his civilian identity, Adam took the mantle of Catman, to track down an exotic animal smuggler that had actually brought him back to his hometown of Maudison. His infamy as “the Cat” soon spread amongst the criminal underground, and thus he became the protector of the city as new criminals started to crop up, seemingly following his lead. Villains like Dogman, Mouse Man, The Don, and Kanary are just to name a few. He didn’t just stop criminals, he also tried to help people. He met Marisol Wright, a young mutant who called herself Copy Cat, and talked her out of being a thief to instead work with him to stop criminals; he even tried on several occasions to reform the bird themed villainess Kanary (leaving her ultimate allegiances questionable and morally gray). Copy Cat eventually was hurt in one of the duo’s fights against Dogman, and woke up with partial amnesia, so Adam decided to not tell her about their crime fighting and instead let her go of to live a normal life.

He then met a teenage foster girl named Mara Ventura, who took it upon herself to create her own Catgirl persona to try to fight against the drug dealers in her neighborhood because she felt like “the Cat don’t care about the streets anymore”. Fearing she’d wind up just getting herself nearly killed like Marisol, Adam first tried to dissuade Mara from getting into this line of crime fighting, but in the end she convinced him to train her to be a better crime fighter. The two of them worked as a good team until Mara, faced with the truth of her own past after nearly dying when the duo fought against a resurrected Doberman of Doom who had become the avatar of Anubis, decided to go off and find herself with the collective of Cat Warriors, leaving Adam alone once again.

Unfortunately that left Adam alone when the Power Pals fell. He was an active member of the team at that time, and was caught in the end that caused the deaths of several of the team’s members. The event left Adam crippled for a few years physically, but mentally for longer. He became far less effective as a crime fighter, the people of Maudison nearly going as far as to telling him to stop.

That was when a new slew of sidekicks started showing up on his doorstep. First, a young lad calling himself Matter Muncher Lad came calling; he wanted nothing more than to use his powers for good, but the only way to get onto a super team was to be referred. So Catman sent him to join the newly formed Super Teen Team. Then after the Crimson Chin picked up a second orphan to be his new sidekick, Adam decided that was a great idea and found one of his own, in the form of Catlad. Thankfully by this time, Catman wasn’t doing that much crime fighting anymore and Catlad had to do less punching and more Catman watching.

Marisol’s daughter also surfaced and came calling on Catman, demanding to know what connection he had with her missing mother, which is when he revealed the truth about Copy Cat. Despite his offer though, she refused to stay on as his sidekick or babysitter; she also refused the STT’s first few offers to join them as well, not wanting to rally get involved in crime fighting due to the stigma mutants still held in the super hero community.

Catman pretty much avoided most of the super hero drama brought on by the Nega-War, as well as the Age of O.M.A.R. event (despite West Industries being one of the backers of S.T.A.G.E.). He did attend the wedding of the Crimson Chin and Goldenlocks, before the start of the Divided by Civil War event. Catman played a very small part during that event; for the most part he didn’t go into costume and tried to help fund lobbyists to halt the passing of the Registration Act, but after the breakout of Sanquinchin Prison, he did suit up in an attempt to try to recapture some of the escaped convicts. It wasn’t revealed until the after math of the event that Catman wound up in intensive care, only to pass away sometime later.

Each of his previous sidekicks were then summoned to the West Estates by an adult Mary West, to the reading of the Will to pronounce who would inherit the West fortune, West Industries, and ultimate the role of Catman.

Alternate Takes

Catman: 9 Lives

In this setting Adam West became Catman in much the similar way as his main universe counterpart, the main difference though being that his uncle was a member of the Order of Mihos, a secret order of warriors who were charged with protecting the secrets of Leontoplis, the mythic temple home to the 9 Egyptian Cat Warrior Goddesses. The Order were tasked with the job to protect the world from the return of a great evil that the Warriors had trapped a millennia ago, and if they failed to do so, to go and awake the 9 Warriors to save them all. When he found his uncle killed by an agent of Anubis, Adam discovered his hidden map to Leontoplis, and made the trek to the hidden temple in the desert to complete the mission. The storyline ended with Adam become an avatar to the 9, housing the souls of the Warriors in his own body to fight the resurrected Anubis. This miniseries wasn’t intended to be a one-off AU, but due to fan reactions wound up being ignored as the intended reboot it was supposed to be. So the series ended ambiguously with the world being saved, but never confirmed if Adam survived the final confrontation or not.

Catman: The Midnight Hour

This was loosely adapted from the silver age storyline “The Midnight Run”, while taking elements from the 80s era of the Catman books. The story opens up with a more aggressive Catlady beating down criminals, and having the incident being told from the newspaper to a civilian styled Adam West. He’d been taking it easy as Catman lately, and couldn’t let some copy cat walk the streets. The two have a confrontation on the docks, that winds up disrupting the drug deal that Catlady was originally there to stop to begin with. The two get derailed as their romantic subplot takes over, but Catman eventually does indeed take down the leader of the gag doing the drug smuggling, while Catlady (who had apparently been doing her job before his assistance) was reduced to fighting the leader’s female ninja bodyguard.

The Nega-verse

His father was a two bit crime boss, and when an opposing cartel went to eliminate the West family, Adam escaped into the sewers where he stayed hidden for 2 weeks while a gang war ensued above. During that time he was bitten by what one would assume was a radioactive rat, though he didn’t give it any attention at the time. When he went back to the city surface, the neighborhood was in ruins, and he quickly learned that his father was dead while his mother had been taken by the rival gang. He fell into working with the leftovers of his father’s old gang; they were taken in by the new rival gang, not realizing that the little ring leader of this “junior gang” was the son of the old one’s boss. That’s when Adam started to realize that he had strange new powers, like the ability to smell things no one else could, and see in the dark, as well as enhanced flexibility, and well other rat-like qualities. He started pulling little acts of super villainy, mostly sabotaging the boss’ hits and what not. Until finally he confronted the man who killed his father, learning that he was now married to his mother and that she was the one that had betrayed them all. He ended up killing them both and took control of the gangs, and basically runs the city.

Justice Youth United

West Industries was famous in the medical fields for their advancements in genetic disease repairal due to gene splicing tactics. Adam was 17 when there was a lab accident that cost him his father, his uncle who happened to be the lead researcher in their facility, and hospitalized his mother for over a year. Adam was left in charge of the labs, but his father’s business partner (who it would later be discovered that caused the accident) was secretly buying up the company’s stock through shell companies to force the Wests out. When Adam discovered what was happening, he had a breakdown and broke into the laboratory to take whatever he could. The night guard caught him, and in the struggle Adam injected himself with a feline dna solution, which caused him to take on a feral werecat-like form. He wound up mauling the night guard and fled the facility, only to wake up 3 days later in the woods. Realizing what had happened, he made the choice to go confront his father’s business partner; when the man could not be reasoned with, Adam changed into his new man-cat form and killed the man. He easily required West Industries, with no one realizing he was the man-cat. Since then, he has been trying to find a way to either repair his dna and purge the feline form, or a way to better control his feral half while transformed, all while not revealing to anyone what had happened to him, or that he had killed two men.

[iammaster1449]

“Long Walks where Ancients Talk” (In our experience surveying logging coupes on Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s 3 Year Plan, STT appears to have drawn a radius around aerial scanning laser “LiDar” hits 85m+. However, while ground-truthing for high conservation values at three of these logging coupes, the citizen science group Forestry Watch has found 8 trees with diameters of over 5m. It appears that Sustainable Timber Tasmania and their Forest Practices Officers are not conducting any surveys for large volumetric giant trees before logging. We would suggest any keen big tree hunter pay as much attention to the volumetric measurements of trees as they do height. Below is an example of the Hopetoun Hulk, a relatively short tree possessing great volume While qualifying for protection, this tree obviously didn’t register on the LiDar dataset because it was shorter than 85m. Unfortunately, this tree was killed in the 2019 bushfire. TT476 | Eucalyptus regnans | Height 47m | Volume 306 cubic meters | Hopetoun Link Hulk) https://www.thetreeprojects.com/tas-giant-trees (at Liffey Falls) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRKmi1cBTMg/?utm_medium=tumblr

[autodidact-adventures]

Music History (Part 5): Greek Music Theory

Unfortunately, there are no surviving writings by either Pythagoras or his followers (although some of his followers are quoted by later authors).  The earliest surviving Greek works on music theory are by Aristoxenus (360 – 300 BC), a pupil of Aristotle.  They are Harmonic Elements and Rhythmic Elements, both written around 330 BC.  Cleonides (c. 100's/200's BC), Claudius Ptolemy (100 – 170 AD) and Aristides Quintilianus (35 – 100 AD) were also important later writers.

These Greek musical theorists defined concepts that we still use today, and concepts that only the Greeks used.  The Greeks valued abstract thought, logic, and systemic definition & classification – this approach has influenced all later Western writings on music. Their writings also showed the Greeks' love of variety, as they describe many different notes, intervals and scales.

Only part of Aristoxenus' Rhythmic Elements survives.  What is left shows that the Greeks considered musical rhythm to be closely aligned with poetic rhythm.  Aristoxenus defines note durations as multiples of a basic unit of time – this is like Greek poetry, which uses patterns of long & short syllables, rather than the stressed & unstressed syllables in English poetry.

In Harmonic Elements, Aristoxenus describes two different types of movement of the voice.  1) Continuous movement (stepwise) going up & down as in speech; 2) Diastematic (intervallic), moving between sustained pitches that are separated by distinct intervals.

A melody consists of a series of notes, each of which are on a single pitch.  An interval is formed between two differently-pitched notes; a scale is a series of 3+ different pitches, going up or down.

These definitions are simple to us, but they formed the basis of Greek musical theory, and all later music theory.  And this system was a great step forward – for example, the Babylonians (a millennium earlier) only had interval names for those formed by certain pairs of open strings on the lyre or harp.

Tetrachords & Genera

The word “tetrachord” literally means “four strings”.  It was four notes spanning a perfect 4th, and there were three genera (sing. genus) – diatonic, chromatic and enharmonic.  The outer two notes were considered to be stationary, while the inner two notes varied to change the genus.  Usually, the smallest intervals were at the bottom, and the largest intervals at the top.

Diatonic genus – Two tones and a semitone (moving downwards).

Chromatic genus – Top interval is a tone and a half (minor 3rd), leaving two semitones below it.

Enharmonic genus – Top interval is two tones (major 3rd), leaving two approximate quarter-tones below it.

The intervals within a genus could vary slightly, giving “shades” within each genus.

Aristoxenus stated that the diatonic genus was the oldest & most natural; the chromatic genus was more recent; and the enharmonic genus was the most refined & difficult to hear.  The Babylonian system used the diatonic system.

The Greater Perfect System

Tetrachords were combined to create a larger range.  The Greater Perfect System was made up of four tetrachords, and the proslambanomenos at the bottom (an “added” note to complete the two octaves).

Two tetrachords were conjunct if they shared a note, but disjunct if they did not.  Tetrachords 1-2 and 3-4 were conjunct, whereas tetrachords 2-3 were disjunct.

The middle note was the mese (middle).  The 3rd tetrachord (below the mese) was the meson, and the 4th tetrachord was the hypaton (first).  The 2nd tetrachord (above the mese) was the diezeugmenon (disjunct), and the 1st tetrachord was the synemmenon (conjunct).

There were no set pitches – what mattered were the intervals between the notes & tetrachords.

Cleonides' Species of Consonances

Κλεονείδης (Cleonides) wrote a treatise on music theory Εἰσαγωγὴ ἁρμονική (Introduction to Harmonics), probably in the 00's AD.

The three main consonances are the 4th, 5th and octave.  Cleonides wrote that within the diatonic genus, these consonances were subdivided into tones and semitones (T & S), but there were a limited number of ways to do this (i.e. a limited number of T/S patterns within them).  He called these patterns species. They are useful in understanding Greek melodies, medieval plainchant, Renaissance polyphony, and even contemporary music.

The diatonic genus usually has the biggest interval (T) at the top, followed by T & S.  But the middle two notes could vary, causing different intervals within the tetrachord.  The defining aspect of the diatonic genus seems to be that the largest interval is a tone, rather than that it is the top interval.

So within the diatonic genus, there are three species of perfect 4th – 1) ascending STT, 2) ascending TTS, 3) ascending TST.

Now for the species of perfect 5th – there are four possible species within the diatonic genus.  They are also ascending – 1) STTT, 2) TTTS, 3) TTST, 4) TSTT.  So there can only be one semitone, and the species depends on where it falls – if there was another semitone, then one of the tones would have to become a minor 3rd, thus changing the genus.

There are seven species of octave.  Each octave is made up of a 4th followed by a 5th (sharing a note where they overlap, so conjunct).  The first three are a 4th + 5th; the last four are a 5th + 4th.

Mixolydian – STT STTT

Lydian – TTS TTTS

Phrygian – TST TTST

Dorian – STTT STT

Hypolydian – TTTS TTS (basically, switching the two sections of the Lydian)

Hypophrygian – TTST TST (switching the Phrygian)

Hypodorian – TSTT STT (This sort of switches the Dorian. But instead of just changing the 4th & 5th around, the new 5th starts on the second note of the old 5th.)

Cleonides gave these octave species the names that “the ancients” apparently used.  Also, the octave species parallel the seven diatonic tunings used by the Babylonians – so that practice was quite likely continued, and there was possibly a continuation of music theory as well.

Later on in the Middle Ages, some music theorists used the same names for the modes, but the note-patterns within them did not match up with the octave species.  Also, an important defining aspect of the modes is that the melody is expected to end on the principal note – this was not the case with the Greek octave species.

Tonoi

The names of the octave species were used for other things, too. Lydian, Phrygian and Dorian were ethnic names that were originally associated with styles of music practised in certain regions of the Greek world.

Plato & Aristotles used these names for ἁρμονίαι (referring to scale types or melodic styles).  Prefixes such as hypo- meant there were more such names in use.

Later, writers such as Aristoxenus, Cleonides and Aristides Quintilianus used these names for up to 15 different τόνοι (tonoi).  A τόνος (tonos) was a scale or set of pitches within a certain region/range of the voice.  Basically, the system of tones was transposed up or down a certain number of semitones.

Cleonides said that the word τόνος was used for four different things: “note, interval, region of the voice, and pitch.  We use it for the region of the voice whenever we speak of Dorian, or Phrygian, or Lydian, or any of the other tones.”

Different τόνοι were associated with different characters & moods, like ἁρμονίαι.  The higher τόνοι were energetic, and the lower τόνοι were sedate.

Over the nearly 1000yrs of Ancient Greek musical writing, writers took old terms and applied them to new concepts, which can be confusing.  For example, Dorian (ethnic) music did not necessarily use the Dorian ἁρμονία, octave species or τόνος.  Those things may not have even been closely related.