#the most recent hatch was 7 fucking months ago

[ferberus-skull]

ohhh.... oh that's not fair at all :(

found a color combo I'm OBSESSED with for an undertide, but there are only 12 dragons on site, none of them are on the auction house AND since everyone's dragons were fed, I can't even tell if any of these people are active.......

[toastedbuckwheat]

Hello! May I ask how you draw? I'm currently learning how to myself and would be highly interested into a step to step process by you! Like from sketch to the done thing (no color necessary)

Hello there!

I dunno how I feel about showing how I work/giving advice to someone who’s learning (and I say it as a pro artist who went through years of traditional art education) because when I do the illustrations you see here on my tumblr I BREAK THE RULES you’d learn though life drawing routine, and give in to bad habits, and my methods are rather unplanned and chaotic which makes it difficult to pinpoint significant stages. But I used my portable potato to take some photos during working on my last piece, so I’ll throw it here with a bit of an explanation of what’s going on.

Before I begin - and because you’re about to look at a mess of a WIP - I’d like to give you some general advice that generally makes life easier when you draw (again, things that I learned in traditional arts education - another artist might advise you the complete opposite, dunno!)

Work holistically. Forget them satisfying-to-look-at clips on instagram showing someone produce a hyperrealistic portrait starting from an eye, with each and every element emerging being finished before they proceed to another part. It takes a lot of talent, yes, but these are ppl redrawing a photo in a kind of a mechanical manner. Most artists don’t work this way. Especially if you’re working without a reference, or if you’re doing a life drawing - your process will be layering and changing and finding what works best to give an impression of what you’re drawing rather than reproduce the exact image, and your artwork is likely to look messy most of the time.That said: don’t start with the details. Don’t spend too much time on a particular part while neglecting others. Your goal is to keep the whole piece at the same level of ‘finished’ (even though it’s unfinished - do I make sense?) before you’re confident that everything is where it should be and proceed to the details. So sketch out the composition first. See how things fit, what’s the dynamics. You’ll save yourself from limbs sticking out from the frame, odd proportions etc etc.

Because it’s a game of relationships between different parts of the picture/scene. I ask you not to worry about finishing a single element before laying out the rest because you’ll find that said element will look different once the other part appears! For instance - you might think that the colour you picked for a character’s hair is already very dark. But once you’re done with the night sky background, you’ll find that it’s in fact too light, and doesn’t work well with the cold palette. You’ll have to revisit different parts of the image as you go to balance these relationships and make the picture work as a whole.

Give an impression of something being there without actually drawing it ‘properly’- because details are hard, mate. You’ll see that my lineart usually has hardly any, and my colouring is large unrefined stains, but the finished thing looks convincing. Like, fuck, I can never focus on how Crowley’s eyes are really shaped. So I just turn them into large glowing yellow ellipses crossed by a line, and heard no protests so far.

Don’t panic if you messed up (you probably didn’t anyway). It might turn out to be a completely unnoticeable mistake - because, remember, things work together to balance each other, so another finished off prominent element will probably drown that badly placed line that looked so visible and out of place a second ago. 

It might not look good before it’s finished. I’m mostly immune to it after years of drawing, and my recent illustrations all follow a specific method (ykno, my sunset glow effects and all that) so I can kinda predict the next stage. But I do my linearts on a specially picked crap paper, I don’t bother erasing the smudged graphite, and it looks messy af until I make the background white in Photoshop. Conclusion: you might have a moment of doubt as you work through a piece, but try to break through it - I often suddenly start to like what I cursed a minute before! - and try to finish it even if it’s meant to be bad. This way, looking through your past pieces, you’ll see the progress. And trust me, I can’t even look at my art from literally three months ago. It’s normal.

Now, pics! The sketches are paler in real life, but I increased the contrast a little so you can see something.

1. Laying out the composition! 

I wanted to just show them kissing, but I got carried away due to some Art Nouveau inspiration. As you might have noticed, most of my illustrations are quite self-contained (ykno - they look like a sticker on a plain background). So I wanted a tight swirl bordered by Aziraphale’s wings creating a sort of rounded, yin-yang like bubble around them. Consequently I made the whole composition revolve around their heads. 

2. Adding more details to the sketch. It’s messy af. It will be messy until I’m done. It’s fine.

3. These are the fineliners I use for the linearts! They are made by Uni-ball and come in light and dark grey. I also sometimes use the guy on the left - ‘Touch’ sign pen by Pentel, when I want more brush-like, wider strokes. I work in grey because when I scan it and do my usual boring trick with sunlight highlights - which is an Overlay mode layer in Photoshop - the highlights ‘burn out’ the lines too and make them vanish a little, and the lighting effect gets more striking. I also like to use the light grey ones to make something look pencil-y without actually using pencil, because pencil fucking smudges.

4. It smudges! So because I am right handed, I start inking from the right hand side, no matter how tempted I am to do their faces first.

5. You can see the composition directions here. I made it intuitively, but ofc some ppl actually use grids etc to lay out their drawings.

6. See how pale ans thin the lineart was at first? I kept adjusting it as new inked parts were appearing. It starts to look nice and consistent now! 

7. Finished lineart? There are some mistakes which I later corrected in PS. Notice that Aziraphale’s face has hardly any details on it - I tried to make the drawing suggest his expression rather than risk overdoing it. 

8. Photoshop time!! You can totally do what I did here even if you don’t have a graphic tablet. I used Curves tool to enhance the lineart, then Quick Selection Tool to select the background around around my sticker-like piece and filled it white (on a new layer ofc). I keep this white layer on top of the layer order so it works as a mask as I colour. I decided I did not like the hatching shading underneath Aziraphale’s halo, so I erased it with a Stamp tool (because I wanna keep the textured grey fill my crap paper naturally gives me!). It’s done roughly but won’t be visible once the thing is coloured. 

9. And the reason why I keep the grey shade instead of easily getting rid of it by using Curves/Levels is because when I set this layer to Multiply mode and colour underneath, it gives me this nice desaturated look like from an old cheap paper comic page. It works as a natural filter! But of course I can’t do bright colours this way, so all my glowing highlights happen ABOVE the lineart layer - on a separate layer in Overlay mode! 

Finished thing here!

_____

Commission infoBuy Me a Coffee - help me with my transitioning expenses!Prints and stickers and things on my Redbubble!

[todaysbiggesthits]

The Exam

Best Music Moment of 2018:

Nasty: Hearing Red Eyes live. I've already said it on TBH, but seeing your favorite band in their relative prime is such a cool thing. 

BC: Since partying all night with my favorite band fell within the short window between Bestuv '17 ending and Bestuv '18 beginning, I'd have to say:

1. Kacey Musgrave's performance of "Slow Burn" on SNL

2. Radiohead perfectly executing "There There" which transported me back to Lollapalooza in '08 3. Despite the annoyance of sitting in lots of Indy500 traffic due to a new parking situation, I quite enjoyed working through half of the Stones' catalogue with Bronco riding shotgun and Codemin listening in from the flatbed of Dillon's pickup

Codem: Spending what was New Year's Eve for the central timezone in the USA at a Fijian medical bath facility listening to music, playing cards, downing tequeel and getting ringworm with my blushing bride. -hearing peter hook play the bass line from shadowplay live and in person. -Arden, JD and JJ encouraging me to go talk to Kyle from Swearin'. -Silver Jews and Westing (By Musket and Sextant) came to Spotify. -Watching "Random Rules" video for the first time

Larse: Sitting behind this massive (I mean orca fat) guy at the CHVRCHES show, feeling really bad for him before the show started because he was all alone and kept looking around and worrying about letting people in his row and things. As soon as CHVRCHES came on though, this guy was exactly where he was supposed to be that night. Sang the words and danced to every song and just made my day with how happy he was to be there. Jotted down every song of the setlist into his smartphone and just had an all around great time. And some of you motherfuckers won't even go to a movie by yourself!

JD: May: A moody Chinatown stroll with the new Grouper album in the rain. July: Soaking up some good tunes at the housewarming party to ring in our new pad. July: Some hilariously rambunctious youths having at it when “House of Jealous Lovers” came on during a full play of Compilation 1 at the DFA summer party. One of them (who must have been ~8 in the bygone days of 02) screamed out “this is the song that started it all!” to a crowd of stationary gawkers and I felt a brief moment of hope for the youngs. August: Shaking a leg at Pete’s wedding (also featuring a delightful hojl spin). September: A rowdy spin of “Sentient Oona” on the Levee juke with an impromptu digital jukebox dance party at the Turkey’s Nest with jj’s cousin and his lovely girlfriend. October: The best music cue I’ve ever seen at the end of Beau Travail.

Bronco: Taking John to his first concert, and that first concert was Mastodon. That was pretty awesome to be able to share that experience with him. He was super into it, and so were the metalheads at the show. "Dad of the Year" was definitely shouted more than a few times, and I thought to myself, "fuckin-A right."

Chap: My kids saying "Papa" when "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals comes on.

Best Shows Seen in 2018:

C: Open Mike Eagle at Pitchfork

Bronco: Sleep

Laser: CHVRCHES at Riverside Theater; Chromeo at Summerfest

BC: The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Radiohead

Nasty: The War on Drugs. 

Code: kraus - schubas peter hook - metro no age - the bottle swearin' - bowery eleanor friedberger - lincoln hall my bloody valentine - aragon "quickly climbing the ranks of my nice" ballroom kraus - the bottle pictureplane - bottom lounge soft moon - the bottle book of love - chop shop

JD: 1. Shame at Market Hotel 2. Hamilton Leithauser at the Carlyle Hotel 3. Beach House at United Palace Theater 4. The Voidz at Elsewhere 5. Parquet Courts’ Wide Awake! mid-day album release show with my morning coffee at Rough Trade

6. Flasher at St. Vitus 7. Deafheaven at Brooklyn Steel 8. Panda Bear at Brooklyn Steel 9. No Age at Brooklyn Bazaar 10. CCFX at the DFA summer party at Elsewhere with my girlfriend in full blown rem sleep standing up with her head on my shoulder 11. Alex Cameron at Warsaw 12. Gang Gang Dance and Interpol at House of Vans Of note: Dekkar at On Cinema Live at the Bell House.

Confession of 2018:

JD: I have a real TBH confession that I held until now. I was thoroughly enjoying the Flasher album on a recent evening after a few too many drinks when a burning urge to see them washed over me. They had a show coming up at a bar just a few blocks from my apartment, so I enthusiastically snapped up tickets for me and jj. Thinking this might be a good opportunity for a TBH outing, I emailed Chap trying to peer pressure him into attending the Flasher show and gauging his interest in a Parquet Courts concert that would be happening the following evening. No response.

We later received an invitation to a holiday cocktail party at a friend’s apartment on the same night as the Flasher show, and I hatched a cockamamie scheme to go from our home in Greenpoint to the party in Soho, leave after an hour to catch the concert back in Greenpoint, head back to the party in Soho, and finally retire back to Greenpoint. JJ wisely passed on such a scheme and I left the party to trek off to the concert solo with an extra ticket in tow. 

Awash in good cheer and excitement while Flasher set up, I thought what the hell, might as well take a flier on reminding Chap of the show. Maybe the twins are asleep, he’s just sitting around, can jump into a cab, claim the extra ticket, watch the show, and cruise on back. Mid-text I paused, wondering just why he never responded to the initial email weeks ago. A quick gmail search, and there sat my drunkenly composed beseechment to join, rotting in the drafts folder unsent. 

A couple of the dudes from Parquet Courts were bouncing around the bar, and I decided it would make more sense to hit up Chap about attending their show the next day than explain the whole snafu and extend a ludicrous invitation that required dropping everything and leaving immediately for a show he didn’t even know was happening. I ate the extra ticket, had a blast watching Flasher, zipped back to the party, drank myself into oblivion, and was way too hung over to even consider the Parquet Courts show the next day. NICK SORRY NICK! (editor’s note: too long)

Larson: I saw Timberlake at Fiserv Forum

BC: My neighbor invited me to see Imagine Dragons. I lied and said I had to travel for work. "On a Saturdee?" he inquired. "Yeah. Totally sucks," I awkwardly replied. I hid inside my house all weekend.

Bronco: I'd rather see shows by myself than with my buddy. He likes going to shows, and I keep inviting him, and we have a fine time, but he doesn't live in town anymore, so I gotta worry about him drinking too much and driving an hour home. And his wife is a psychopath and that complicates shit. Too much. And it's just so much more freeing being able to not give a fuck about anyone else during that time, to just soak it all in, it feels good and right.

Codem: -despite all of the bad things that kanye said, i still liked listening to his catalogue throughout the year. i even liked his EP that came out in 2018.   -i really liked the beach house album!   -i liked the snail mail album, skipped two opportunities to see her and then by --the end of the year, i thought the album was sort of boring.   -Arden and i went to see pictureplane open for alice glass and thought that the show sucked and pictureplane played such stupid songs. three months later, he put out my favorite album of the year and i can't stop thinking that i hated all of the same songs the first time i heard them. -i read an article on a bright fall saturday morning that exhaustively detailed the Cardi B and Nicki Minaj feud and i watched all of the instagram story clips that showed Cardi B scrolling through her phone with those outlandish nails of hers. it took me two cups of coffee to get through it all, but get through it i did. [i couldn't think of nicki minaj's name just now so i stared at the ceiling and kept running through names in my mind's eye: missy, kim, cardi, kelis, kim??, eve, trina. i couldn't remember. so i finally googled "kanye monster" and found her name. easy.]

Nasty: I'm done with new music. It’s over. I didn't listen to a single new album - I don't even know if I could name a new album. Realistically, I did like Daytona. 

Biggest Disappointment of 2018:

Nasty: MAGA Kanye

Larse: Timberlake at Fiserv Forum

Bronco: Black Tusk, Alice in Chains

BC: Getting into The Orwells literally two days before #MeToo chewed 'em up and spit 'em out

Chap: Car Seat Headrest. Can't believe he's gay! jk the album was the disappointment.

Code: -somebody hacked my spotify account and wiped all of my music and replaced it with raggaeton and halsey. i was able to get my music back, but i lost all of my meticulously cared for folder structure. -i wanted the simple minds album to be cool; it was not.   -i wanted the swearin' album to be really great; it was okay. -pictureplane and ovlov did not tour their albums.   -i had to eat two tickets to my bloody valentine after buying four. the original show sold out and i thought i was going to be able to sell my extras for a profit -- they ended up announcing a second show and there was no secondary market for the original show.   -no CCFX followup ):  

JD: Got to Hammerstein Ballroom for MBV and there was a line longer than an entire avenue. They were already on by the time we made it into the heinously oversold venue and we were stuck by the bar in the lobby surrounded by people constantly shouting in an effort to compete with the apocalyptic noise.

C: Terrible sound at Tame Impala show

Most Overrated of 2018:

Code: -probably that kacey musgraves album; i got absolutely nothing out of it. also, i liked the robyn album, but i wanted to love it after many years between releases. i think i'm just being greedy.   -i'm going to get killed for this, but the throwing the baby out with the bathwater approach to artists' criminal behavior or inflammatory tweets is pretty overrated right now. 

Bronco: Ghost - I like their schtick, with rotating members and the whole inverted church thing. It's campy but they're sticking to it, and that's fine, but their music isn't metal. It's poppy glam shit about the devil, and that's also fine, but I don't get why it's on anyone's list. Production value maybe? But the music itself isn't anything to write home about. I just don't get it.

JD: n/a. The thick layer of nonsensical, Pynchonian obfuscation the platform economy dollops over everything has made it impossible to understand how anything is rated. Almost feel bad for the click driven publications that have to just throw out a guess.

C: Mitski

Chap: Snail Mail

BC: Kanye. His new music is no longer good enough to put up with his bufoonery.

Laser: Timberlake at Fiserv Forum

Nasty: Clemson. GOARSH. 

Make It Stop 2018:

Nasty: DJT, anytime now. 

Bronco: Party politics. No more labels allowed. You can have a list of stuff you support and a list of stuff you are against, but that's fucking it. No more this side vs that side for reasons as caddy as an R vs. a D. Also religion having any influence whatsoever in the way our country is run. Believe whatever you want to believe, but don't force your bullshit on anyone else. You want to torment yourself with a lifelong christian guilt trip, that's your boat to float, but don't go poking holes in my boat just because you're a miserable fuck. Just stop. Also, Jack White.

Larse: Timberlake at Fiserv Forum

Chap: Baby Shark

BC: My shrinking attention span

JD: The cultural currency of clapbacks, shade, and tea.

Code: trap music playing from a phone's external speaker while i'm trapped on public transportation.  i'm going to go broke buying enough earbuds to distribute to these offenders.

Biggest TBH Regret of 2018:

Larse: Timberlake at Fiserv Forum

C: Not seeing Low at a church on University of Chicago's Campus

JD: -Hearing about a Grouper show at a church around the corner from my pad after it sold out. -Not necessarily a regret because I didn’t know it was happening, but oh how I wish I had seen Jon Glaser and Jon Benjamin as Dave Farina and Dave Franz, Dennis and Dennis’ sons, at a Bowery Ballroom Yo La Tengo show.

BC: -I wish I would've cooked up a way to see Shame play a midnight show in Bloomington.  I just want that kid to scream "Concrete" in my face. -I probably should've seen Smashing Pumpkins when they rolled through town too. 

Code: my flight got delayed and i missed the swearin' show at that place in brooklyn that "smelled like hot fish"

Bronco: Not a regret so much as I was super-bummed when High on Fire dropped out of the tour I saw in November. The venue we were at put my buddy and I right next to the stage. It would've been crazy awesome to see HOF there, but they've rescheduled at least, and I'll see them in January.

Bin: I haven't listened to any Kanye this year. I thought it would feel gratifying by year end - it doesn't. I'll probably still avoid this most recent album, but I'm going back to the well. I'll continue to talk shit about him though. Take that Ye!

Chap: No regrets 

Detective Murtaugh of 2018:

Larse: Getting too old to keep up with all of this new music and put a worthwhile list together at the end of the year…

Nasty:

Code: i added book of love show to my top ten concert list because Arden and i were able to take a seat on the ground in the balcony section. we had to continually move our spot on the floor to be able to peer through the railing and a mass of bodies in order to catch a glimpse of the stage.

JD: -Two of my favorite music related experiences of the year were seeing Hamilton Leithauser in the cafe of the Carlyle Hotel and the extended Niles family in The Nutcracker at the NYC Ballet. -When I googled “Detective Murtaugh” just now it was mostly pictures of Damon Wayans (Jr. no less!) playing the role on the Lethal Weapon CBS series.

Bronco: Putting up with shit instead of speaking up about it. There's room on the train but I'm squished by the door because some self-absorbed dinks won't move in? "Could you please move in?" It sounds so simple, but breaking that silence barrier was a scary thing. Now I don't give a shit. I'm on train for two stops, and I'm not going to see you again, so fuck you, move in or I'm going to move myself in and it aint gonna be pleasant for you.

Chap: A hipster female barber said I was a silver fox. AYFKM?

BC: What the hell is Fortnite?

Resolution for 2018 Update:

Larse: get my list in on time! How it went: probably horseshit! (editor’s note: it was early yet!)

NACK: While I didn’t have the occasion to catch shows this year, I anticipate doing so in '18 due to some changes afoot. How it went: Joe Dons has yet to let me know of a concert going on and I have no other friends here, so I blame him for my failure

Bin: I’m just going to keep saying “get to NY for a show with JD” until I make it happen. How it went: Didn't get to NY for a show with JD.

JD: See you gents more often with or without a show attached.  How it went: Fairly decent, but is it really ever enough?

Bronco: Get in shape. I want to stick to a schedule of running all year round. I ran a 10K back in June, then needed to recover for a bit, been recovering ever since…Fat Dad needs to keep running all year round without excuse, especially given that we go skiing between Xmas and New Year’s and I’m gonna be a floppy legged mess. During those runs, I’ll try to listen to new material each time. How it went: I ran a 5-miler in May. Haven't run since. Though I have been reasonably consistent with my prison workout (situps and pushups before bed time), so now there's a hint of muscle under my fat dad layer. Just gotta combine the two now somehow.

Code: make more playlists for my wife How it went: i said that i was going to make more mixes for my wife. i made one year-end mix for her and i'm sure she's loving it :*

BC: No more resolutions How it went: 2018 Resolution was "No More Resolutions," so pretty darn good!

Resolution for 2019:

Laser: ---

BC: Listen to one new album a week; reboot the Classic Album Review Club

JD: Greater consciousness of how I’m using my attention - an ineffectual and meaningless protest of the ways the world is burning down in pursuit of it.

Bronco: Read more 'classic' books. I didn't read many of them, even in school (especially in school? Never could read a book I was told to read). But I'm leaning in the sci-fi direction of 'classics'. I just read Dune this summer, and wrapped up Fahrenheit 451 the other day. I'm feeling an unexplained need to beef up my nerd credentials and this seems the way to accomplish it.

Chap: Learn Piano; Guilt Joe Dons into finally inviting me to a concert

Nasty: I'm sticking with it - get to NY for a show with JD.

Code: catch ovlov, pictureplane, washer, chromatics, EMA and colleen green live this year.

Most Anticipated of 2019:

Bronco: Tool. Fifth year's the charm. I'm actually hopeful this time around. In fact, I half expect them to drop it on New Year's Eve or something, just so it's post Listicle season, but not quite 2019 so it can't end up on those lists either. They're such dicks like that.

BC: Still waitin' on dat Vampire Weekend yet

Chap: Vampire Weekend, Chromatics

C: Lin Manuel in Mary Poppins... I kid, My Bloody Valentine

JD: Going to put Frank Ocean out into the universe, MBV take 2, Grimes, Panda Bear, Kanye’s escape from the Black Lodge

Codem: chromatics - tommy, MBV, washer, colleen green, EMA(?), DoM

Laser: no idea what's even on the docket

Nasty: Mueller's Report

[toeychan]

The 3 Months Mid-Night Room

*-This content that you about to see

has been contained many violent and inappropriate actions-*

** To be clear, this fiction story never happens in real life

and the writer does not have any intention of encouraging any hatred

I hope you could get the message after reading the Ending” **

Mid-night of February A.D. 19XX

**Somewhere around the SouthEast China Sea**

X: “Yes, we are taking them as prisoners to this sub-”

**Gun Shots**

G1: “What happens?”

X: “Pardon me, but I have to hang up

then I will call you back later, Sir.”

 X hung up…

 He stood up then walking straight to the hatch…

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING!!!”

 X yelled with terrify angry face toward to who

 is standing outside of submarine that They have come from

 after a few moments later X’s face return to being a dead fish face

“I remember that I said do not kill them, they are just citizen…

 And I am doubting that gunshots could kill Entire people in the fishing boat”

 While X said with looking at the bodies on the ground at the same time

With emotionless eyes

“Sorry, Sir, but Those prisoners have resisted being arrested

then They engaged us, so I thought-”

 “Forget it how many people have you killed?”

X cut the conversation of that crew member

and started to ask a new question

 “I think, it’s 12 people.” the crew member said

 “probably exactly max capacity of member…

 Have you finished searching in this boat yet?”

 X said while claiming outside

 “Not yet, Sir” the crew member said

 “…”

 5 minutes later

 “We got one prisoner, Sir!” one of a crew member that carrying one middle-age girl said

 “Only one?” X said

 “Just only one, Sir.” a crew member said

“…” X can see the crew member is carrying an unconscious girl

 “What happened to her?” X asked while feels stupid

about how could this such a bad black comedy happen to him today

“I used subconscious medicine on her it is really hard

to carry her without done it.” the crew member said

“I knew it” X thought in his mind and then says

“Takes her to the prisoner room then from now

every of a crew member in this submarine has to be Respectful to her.”

…

….

Day after…

“Captain, she already woke up, sir.” A crew member who is sitting next to X said

“I will talk with her personally later”

 X said while still doing his things

“She has been shouting and hitting the wall for 2 hours

Let’s wait until she calmed down then I will talk to her”

X thought

2 and half hours later…

 “Hey, our captain wants to meet you.” The girl inside the prisoner room

 which seems like high-quality Padded Cell Room

 with chairs and table yet a private shower and bathroom

heard someone says

 While the door is slowly opening

 “ไอเลวคอมมูนิสต์” the girl speaks in some-

foreign language while sitting on the floor at the corner of the room

X enters the room then starts the conversation

“Could you speak the English language?”

X said in a gentle tone voice

“ไปตายซะ” the girl said to no one

“Keep looking at the monitor in case something might happen”

 X said to the crew member outside

“Well, so you are speaking Thai language, right?

I am so sorry about what had happened on the yesterday

it is really shameful and dishonourable not even for in my opinion

but the general also feels the same as well”

X apologizes in Thai language very frequently speaking

“…” X sees the girl turns her face away…

 “ahh…” X is sitting down then turns his back toward the girl

 And says

“I don’t have so many people to tell about my story…”

…no response

“Would you like to listen to me?

…

I love this sea…

I and my Father are love the sea

that is why I am here

We were born on somewhere around the beach…

half-memories of my childhood

are related to the sea…

back then my father always carried me around everywhere

to a lot of places…

to a lot of fun and to

a lot of people…

What is your favourite food?

my beloved food is always relating to sea…

I am like Seafood BBQ

Just simple menu but delicious sometimes I even catch

the ingredient by myself

…

….

 I have a niece

I am wondering what people on the outside of this submarine are doing…

I heard that Ship which you came from had been arriving in many places

 Before it sunk

 Are you the person who in part of those all journey?

 …

…

 I arrived in many places around Asia…

But most of them are businesses meeting

however, I still got many opportunities to go to had funned…

Well so I have to leave this room now

but I will come back to talk with you later

and I will make sure that I will bring you some goods”

X finished his self-talking

then

 leaves the room when the crew opens a door

The time passes already 1 day and a half after that night

“Well, sorry for being late mi-”

“I never wait for you.” the girl says like she said to herself

“…” X looks down a bit…

then X hand a bottle of tea to the girl.

“Do you want some?”

**awkward silence**

“…If you don’t mind, I would like to have some”

then X drinks tea from a bottle of tea by not making lip contact

“This taste really bad” X criticised the tea’s taste in his mind

“As I have said today, I also got stories to tell you”

after that X tells the girl the same topic

as he said in 2 days before but in another detail

It happens like that day to after days

sometimes not daily but 2 days per talk

Finally, one day…

“as usual that time I remember the father’s words

and I just know what I need to do

So, I jump into the sea-”

“could you tell me what happened to your father…?”

surprisingly the girl who never intends to talk

with X have spoken

 “Before you tell me about your father

 I want to tell you that I don’t like to talk to you but I am sick

to hearing you rambling around without any clear direction”

the girl told with a sound of irritating

to X a lot

X smiles to himself for a bit

“my father… is the person who makes me became captain…

he is an honourable navy force…

His ship even names after his name…

He is a pure heart person

who afraid to hurt any mosquito…

He only likes to live in the sea

and the person who tried his best to be

 The great Successor of our family

but he got an order to mobilize to the South China Sea…

but unfortunately, His ship sunk by an aircraft carrier

from NATO he should be the person got the first ticket

to get out of that ship… but he desired to sink in the sea with it…

No one really knows why he sunk with that ship…

even the survivor who came back has no idea about it…”

X is looking at his feet on the whole talking

“So, that is why you join this War?”

The girl said…

“No…, I don’t

I am just serving my country for my people and order that came from general

I want to be like my father…”

X said

“My name is Naree…”

the girl said

X close his eyes and say

“My name is Xia Ming,” X said

“Nice to meet you X.” the girl said

“Nice to meet you too Naree

Sorry I think that have to go I will come back tomorrow or next 2 days”

X said

“See you.” Naree said…

After that day Naree and X are starting to

making conversations and know each other

“Do you have any family member who waiting for you?”

Naree said in a Nostalgia way

“Ahh… It has been 3 months already after we have left the harbour

 But I could look at my family’s pictures…

and you?” X throw the question back to Naree…

“I have… mother father…and two nieces.”

Naree starting to look down on the floor when she said…

**2 minutes later in that room with awkward silence**

X stands up and say

“When the war is over you will return to see your family”

then X leave the room

7 days later after Naree hasn’t seen X…

“I might be a fool to trust him…” Naree said with disappointment

Meanwhile, X is opening the door

“What have you been doing!”

Naree said then turns her face to the door

She is seeing X’s all part of his body cover with the Blood

Naree could do nothing but terribly Shock, Scare, Horrify at this moment

“a…aaa...a-…. a~~~”

Those Blood on the X’s body is nothing to compare when the first time

She saw corpses in that fishing both

X throw a gun in his hands away and says

“You could go back to your home now as we always want”

Naree suddenly sees at the floor on X’s back there is a corpse with

Terrify face… She couldn’t hold it anymore she goes

to the bathroom and vomits

After that 5 minutes, Naree finished throw herself

but she locks herself in the bathroom

For 15 minutes before she gets out of that bathroom

She is seeing X have been sitting on the chair and waiting for her the whole times

Naree starting to throw questions to X

“What have you done?

And What do you mean that I could go back to my home right now”

Naree forced herself to talks

X turns his face to looks at Naree and says

“As you can see that I killed someone and from this blood on my body…

In fact, I killed everyone on this submarine

Except us” X said

“Why?” Naree still confusing

“I glad you ask

This Submarine is XC-01 it’s a super weapon that

we believe it is the next gen of killing machine that

got high-tech stealth technology

including an arm with Nuclear-Weapon.

Do you remember the incident?

that Meteor drops at Manila?

I would like to say it’s not Meteor

it’s a missile from this submarine.

Furthermore, I know This submarine is here to be the trump card

for making sure No matters what happened outside still my country will

wins the war. Recently on 2 days ago, I got a direct order

to set nuclear ballistic missile

On 3 places

I believe

if I set target from the order, I predict that at least 5 million

of people have to die in their city

This submarine got 5 nuclear ballistic missiles

And if NATO does not surrender, I think this submarine

will head to the around Europe Sea

So, I feel that if I have to choose between 5 million people and the end

Of Mao Era, it is no brainer for me”

X said with incredible mono-tone on this really serious topic

“I am about to sink this weapon to bottom of the sea

I have two choices for you… Return to your family

In your country or sink with this submarine”

X said

“what about you?” Naree said

“I couldn’t live after I commit all of these things

Whether where I go… I sunk 8 NATO ships and 2 citizen boat…

Or go back to my country as a mass murderer traitor…”

“I better to sunk together with all of my crew that killed by me”

“This is your opportunity chance even you don’t regret to lose your life

But I bet your family does…”

“I know about your cultured a lot… I have been learning your culture

Right there for 3 years…Please.” X gives small gentle while he is saying it

Naree shocked again with what said by X but this time

It is how much she appreciates the chance and kindness of his action…

“I will”

“I will go back to my family” Naree is trying to hold back her tears while talking

“I am glad you said it”

“but I want to say right now about most of the picture

that you will see in this submarine

could be a really terrifying picture for you…

I suggest that I will use this cloth to blind your eyes

until you get into small life submarine in this submarine”

X looks at Naree when he

said

“Okay.” Naree said then closes her eyes

**A moment later**

X untied the piece of cloth then he says

“We are here open your eyes”

“I will set auto-pilot to your destination it will drive by itself.

I already contact NATO about I am surrendering

and arriving to meet them

They will wait for you no matter what, Please good luck”

X said with his first smiles for Naree

“Thanks.” She said while smiling back to him

X close life submarine’s hatch then a few moments later

he launches Small life submarine’s

“Okay…It is only one thing left to do…” X said while diving down…

The sun is Rising… It is starting the morning

the new day for Naree

She felt like it just happened over within one night…

And Finally, She is going back to her home…

[duaneodavila]

White House Aide (And Former Sidley Attorney) Rob Porter Resigns Amid Domestic Abuse Allegations

Rob Porter, a White House aide described by Politico as “mostly unknown but deeply influential,” has resigned after allegations of physical abuse from two ex-wives. As White House staff secretary he, along with Chief of Staff John Kelly, acted as a gatekeeper, limiting access to the President.

Apparently Porter’s importance in the Trump White House was not hindered by the allegations of abuse his ex-wives made against him. To be clear, both ex-wives told the FBI during the background check process, and he was still hired by the White House. But as Politico reports, he was denied a full security clearance, so I guess that’s something…

As first reported by the Daily Mail, in April of last year, Porter’s most recent ex-wife, Jennie Willoughby, wrote a blog post entitled, “Why I Stayed.” Though she doesn’t use Porter’s name in the piece, she blogs under her own. The allegations she details are chilling:

The first time he called me a “fucking bitch” was on our honeymoon. (I found out years later he had kicked his first wife on theirs.) A month later he physically prevented me from leaving the house. Less than two months after that, I filed a protective order with the police because he punched in the glass on our front door while I was locked inside. We bought a house to make up for it. Just after our one year anniversary, he pulled me, naked and dripping, from the shower to yell at me.

If that isn’t enough, his first ex-wife, Colbie Holderness, says there was a pattern of violence in her marriage to Porter as well. She also provided to The Intercept pictures of an injury she alleges he inflicted upon her during a vacation:

Senior White House aide Rob Porter physically assaulted two ex-wives, they tell @theintercept. Full story to come in the morning.

His first wife, Colbie Holderness, provided these photos from a vacation they took together in Florence, Italy: pic.twitter.com/tl3TbyGA8Y

— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) February 7, 2018

Holderness says she regrets not going to the police with the allegations against Porter:

Holderness, who now works for the Government Accountability Office in Washington, explained that she ended up not going to the police out of fear. “I was too bewildered by the whole thing,” she told The Intercept. “Plus, I was too afraid to call the police during the entirety of our marriage, thinking they would consider the whole thing ridiculous and wouldn’t take me seriously.” She added, “Believe me, not calling the police is something I regret.”

Porter has quite the prestigious legal résumé. He was a Rhodes Scholar and received both his bachelor’s degree and J.D. from Harvard. He clerked for Judge Thomas Griffith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and worked at Biglaw firm Sidley Austin before turning to a life in politics. He worked for Senators Mike Lee, Rob Portman, and Orrin Hatch before winding up in the White House.

Some of his political contacts continue to think the world of him. John Kelly — despite the controversy his defense of Porter is causing in the West Wing — said:

Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor and I can’t say enough good things about him. He is a friend, a confidante and a trusted professional.

On Tuesday, Orrin Hatch called the allegations against Porter a “vile attack,” though in his most recent statement he walked back that sentiment. Now the senator says he didn’t know the details of Porter’s personal life and saying, “Domestic violence in any form is abhorrent and unacceptable.” But it is worth noting, even in a #metoo environment, the gut reaction of many men in power is to disbelieve women who come forward.

Though Porter stepped down earlier today, he is still denying the allegations against him, calling them part of a smear campaign:

These outrageous allegations are simply false. I took the photos given to the media nearly 15 years ago and the reality behind them is nowhere close to what is being described. I have been transparent and truthful about these vile claims, but I will not further engage publicly with a coordinated smear campaign.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says Porter was not pressured by the President to resign. Of course not.

Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

White House Aide (And Former Sidley Attorney) Rob Porter Resigns Amid Domestic Abuse Allegations republished via Above the Law

[therebelwrites]

Shifting (Social) Poles

In the tags of a previous post, I told y’all the Earth’s magnetic field is shifting.

According to science, at one point (multiple points, actually), the Earth’s magnetic poles were on opposite sides of the globe. (What we now know as “north” was “south”-- and vice versa.)

In the history of the Earth, this has happened routinely, creating chaos in the process.

Of course the due date for the next shift is coming, except this time it’ll happen while humans are inhabiting the Earth AND using complex technology.

What does this mean?

Well, because the Earth’s magnetic fields protects the planet from solar radiation and cosmic rays, satellites will begin to malfunction (this is already happening in the South Atlantic), GPS will be a thing of the past, electric grids will be impacted (how you gon make hourly IG posts with no electricity??), can’t flush the toilet with reversed magnetic poles, electronic devices (cell phones!) will be fried by the increased radiation AAAAANNNDD of course humans will be exposed to all these rays, too (and you THINK cancer rates are high already?)

But what does this have to do with the SOCIAL aspect of human life-- right NOW??

Because I told you that I’ve been having a hunch for a long time that white women (who appear to be boring of their perpetual “damsels in the distress” label) secretly admire Black masculinity--the antithesis of what we have been conditioned to view as “white femininity”--so much that they are beginning to DESIRE a taste of it.

This aint a far-fetched statement at all. Katy Perry, the epitome of white femininity, decided that it was a good idea to wear a grill smdh, and there is a book about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg entitled, “The Notorious RBG”, which is a direct appropriation of the essence of one of the biggest, blackest, HOOD-est,, most irreverent, “snitches get stitches”, “fuck the police”-est Black men ever to exist in the public eye!  HE STARTED OUT AS A DAMN DRUG DEALER in the projects!!! Yet some white person has aligned an elderly, white, female judge with this irrefutable symbol of an individual who everybody in Ruth’s elite circle would undoubtedly label as “dangerous,” “criminal” and “misogynistic.” Also consider the fact that white women have watched for literally hundreds of years as their natural protectors--white MEN-- have waged war against the dangerous, indomitable, pervasive and POWERFUL Black MAN under the guise of “protecting” them (white women). From a psychological standpoint (again, where the psychologists at talking about this??), this imprints at least two things into the white female psyche:

(1) White women are extremely valuable.

(2) Black MEN are as dangerous as they are POWERFUL.

No species would--collectively!-- allocate so much of its time, money, resources, mental, emotional and psychological faculties--EXISTENCE-- into fighting something that they did not view as possessing power, or the ability to hold its own weight as a formidable foe in the ring of life.

White women, watching from their ivory towers the war being waged against the Black man (and by proxy, the Black community), have a bird’s eye view of ALL of this.

Sitting above the battle affords white women the privilege of being able to SEE the entire BATTLEGROUND! Stop actin like white women aren’t aware of shit! The “dumb blond” archetype don’t fool nobody but BLACK folks!

(I’m sure sitting around sulking in privilege all centuries gets boring at some point. One can only SPECTATE for so long before desiring a hand, personal stake in the battle. Think about it.)

A series of events have happened to plant the seeds of this theory inside my soul, but the most recent and most memorable occurrence happened a couple months ago, and--unlike the other situations, which involved white women-- involved a little white girl.

Sitting above her and her family while attending a major league sporting event, I had a eagle’s eye view of the situation.

While gazing past the white family and the Black couple they were sitting next to (the Black male and white male were co-workers) to watch the game (translation: I was in my own damn world!), I kept getting distracted by the actions of the youngest member of the white nuclear (yes, that’s a reference to the dangerous energy produced by the pole shifting, for the geniuses reading this!) family: the daughter.

In a family of extremely blond hair and extremely blue eyes, mommy, daddy, brother and sister, the little girl (who  was probably about 4 or 5 years old), seemed to be completely entranced by her father’s Black co-worker. She mimicked all of his taunts to the players on the field, his exaggerated and loud laughter, his “manly” gestures--literally everything that made him a BLACK MAN.

The interesting thing about this situation is that her energy was from a place of complete admiration--there were not sexual undertones by any means--and it was in direct opposition to not only societal expectations for how a little white girl is supposed to behave, but it was also counter to the expectations of the entire group and even OTHER spectators, such as myself! (Although funny at first, after a while the Black man’s sounds became distracting. I sent him a silent “Maaaan, shut the hell up, wouldja?!”, but stopped short of verbalizing it because he was a nice guy who was just having fun. We were literally at the place for this antics, technically...) Neither of her parents displayed anything close to the behavior of the Black man, nor did they seem to mind. Her brother (who must’ve been about 7), paid the Black man no special attention at all. He was neither annoyed or enamored. But that little girl seemed to be fascinated by the man’s every move. After a while she stopped watching the game and started watching the Black man, waiting to mimic his next move.

Just when I thought that I had been the only person to take notice of this bizarre behavior (the father had chuckled a few times, but I sensed that his pure white daughter being so enthralled by the antics of a Black man--while basically ignoring not just her own father, but the person in whose image she was supposed to have been created in, her mother!-- as he watched a sport was NOT how he had envisioned his family night taking place) the mother abruptly departed with the daughter.

“Bed time,” she said.

And after a brief while, white father and white son also departed, leaving just the Black couple, who made made small talk with me and my guest based on something that they had heard me say earlier which had nothing to do with neither the game taking place, nor what I was observing at the time.

Uh-huh. If yall was able to pay attention to MY conversation while all that was happening, then yall DEFINITELY peeped what was happening with that little white girl. I’m sure everybody saw it, even the spectators sitting above ME (i.e. the other white people)...

This is not to portend the end, complete colonization of Black masculinity. Because LIFE is a GAME, the Creator always provides cheat codes and escape hatches:

Sometimes when the Earth’s magnetic poles attempt to switch positions, they reverse course and abruptly snap back into place. This is called an excursion.

Mind if I drive?

[scitydreamer]

I’ve mainly played visual novels for the past few weeks and I do love them, even though it makes me “a weeb, a gamer and a fucking nerd all at once.” But sometimes, I like to sit down with something more arcade-y, so I decided to hit up something I saw in my feed a while back.

The 7-in-1 Morning Toast Mega Pack is by Morning Toast, a developer that mainly dabbles in Pico-8. The mega pack is a collection of arcade games that they have previously released in one package, plus a game that they haven’t released before.

BuzzKill

  I actually wrote about BuzzKill before and it was the game that got me to follow this developer. I gave it another go in the collection and honestly, my thoughts still stands.

Yes, I am indeed shamelessly using the pictures I took before.

Invader Overload

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Invader Overload is partially inspired by Space Invaders Extreme, an updated, flashier version of Space Invaders that was originally released on DS and PSP that has also recently been updated for Steam a few months ago.

Those doofy invaders do what they always do, shuffling back and forth while shooting down wiggly lasers. What’s different is that they now drop different colored squares, and getting all three of the same color gives you a temporary power-up like a laser beam or an explosive weapon. Occasionally, a little UFO flies at the top of the screen that drops a gold power-up that activates a fever mode where enemies start dropping golden squares. Pick up enough of them and you’re thrown into a hectic boss fight against a huge invader that throws down huge beams and its tinier fellows. It’s all very fun and a nice take on Space Invaders.

What keeps me from fully enjoying the game, however, are the backgrounds. Now don’t get me wrong, the backgrounds are actually cool to watch, but from a practical standpoint they can be too distracting. It’s especially bad with the boss battles for me, because the screen is very busy with falling green lines of code that get mixed up with all the actual shots you have to dodge. Honestly, if it went a bit easier with the backgrounds, this would have been my favorite game in the collection. With that, Invader Overload is fun yet flawed.

Alien Harvest

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Alien Harvest looks like if Alien had a tie-in game for the ZX Spectrum and feels like a tie-in game that would have been pretty okay for its time. The grandson of Burke plans to finish his work and you, as a faceless entity, are tasked with collecting alien eggs to prevent the legacy from coming to fruition.

Your main goal is to collect 12 eggs (or 20 on Terror Mode) to unlock the final level. You don’t necessarily have to collect every egg on a level, because if you leave an egg lying around long enough, it’ll hatch and evolve into a proper alien. You have a scanner that shows all the biological stuff scattered throughout the maze environments, showing you the locations of eggs, dead bodies that can give you power-ups and fully grown aliens. To stop you from just letting you walk to your doom, you also have an audio scanner that starts beeping the closer you are to a threat. As there’s no music playing in the main game, the scanner makes for a tense atmosphere.

Personally, I didn’t get into the game because it’s not what I look for in an arcade-y game. However, that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Sure, I sometimes got stuck on walls while moving around, but the it’s otherwise a solid survival game. In fact, I’d say that it’s the most unique game out of the bunch.

Bustin’

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Bustin‘ continues the movie based Pico-8 action with a game based off of the new Ghostbusters. The Ghost Lord is out and about trying to unleash slimy ghosts into the world and it’s up to one of the gals to stop him.

Gameplay has you moving between four rows, blasting your photon pack at ghosts and the portraits they’re coming out of. You move on to the next stage after destroying all the portraits, with portraits getting repositioned to give you less breathing room while the latter stages have the portraits move on their own with the Ghost Lord himself stepping in to hassle you. I wasn’t into the game initially, especially since the first few levels are at their hardest in the beginning, but it settles into a frantic pace in the later levels that I really got into.

The photon pack can overheat, so you have to be careful about its usage. Or you could just move into a different row, which resets the overheating bar in what is certainly a glitch, but I’m not complaining. You can also deploy this thing that sucks up ghosts in a row for a few seconds, so you don’t have to worry about dealing with it for a bit. Touch a ghost and you can’t do anything for a few seconds, which can make a major difference. I kinda feel that you’re stunned for too long, though the game is still manageable.

The music can get a bit repetitive and the beginning is slow, but Bustin‘ made me feel good.

Mass 360

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Stepping away from the games based on other properties, Mass 360 is based off the real life story of the developer’s dad’s fight with cancer. Mass 360 has you control… something to fight off your dad’s growing cancer. I guess it’s metaphorical like Edmund McMillen’s stuff except tasteful and not gross.

You rotate around an arena while shooting inward, which is an interesting way of playing this. You progress by shooting apart cores, which are protected by cancerous masses that branch out when left alone and some virus things that shoot at you. It initially starts out slow, but it soon evolves to bullet hell levels, colorful sprays bursting out of the center.

Your dad starts out with a mere two minutes to live, but you can get more time every time you destroy a core. You don’t lose lives if you get hit, but you do lose your precious time. Ideally, you should focus on building up a time bank so you can spend the latter parts of the game focusing on destroying the turrets, because you’ll probably waste more time trying to dodge their nonsense.

Honestly, this may be my favorite game out of the pack. My biggest issue was that I kept getting disoriented playing this, but that’s a personal flaw more than anything.

Bullet Cave

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Bullet Cave is another shooter game with an interesting gimmick. Bullets fly toward you, but they’re completely harmless. Unless you let one of them fly past. A wall of spikes appears behind you, threatening to get closer with every bullet you let slip by. You think, “okay, I’ll just shoot them down.” You do that and suddenly the cave is getting more cramped in a different way, the cave walls below and above extending with every bullet you shoot down.

The game is an interesting take on shooters in that the difficulty comes not from dodging intricate patterns, but managing the environment around you to live as long as possible. You may be tempted to let bullets pass by you to avoid the cave walls from growing too far out or you may risk getting crushed by the walls to prevent the spikes from getting closer. You can collect an item that fills up a gauge that lets you freeze time and flip what the bullets do. Bullets will now hit the spikes back and destroying bullets also destroys parts of the wall, but now, you’ll be asking yourself which is more important to destroy.

You can also collect power-ups, which manage to be a blessing and a curse. Sure, you can shoot down bullets more easily, but also, that may not necessarily be what you want. Spread shots are important because they could shoot bullets that are blocked by walls, but that just risks bringing that wall closer. Then there’s the power-up that just shoots one slow big bullet, which actually kinda sucks no matter how you cut it. They can’t all be winners.

I wish that you could turn off your time freezing ability mid-use in case you want to conserve it, but otherwise, it’s a solid game with a neat concept.

Bunyan’s Rage

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This last game is the only fresh one out of the bunch, exclusive to this collection. The title screen is evocative of a fighting game, but in reality, it’s another shooter.

Bunyan’s Rage puts you in control of a jetpacking lumberjack shooting at hostile squirrels, ending in a fight with a bull piloting a UFO. It’s definitely the wackiest game thematically. However, from a gameplay standpoint, I actually consider it the most boring game out of the collection. It is a straightforward shooter, which comes off as disappointing after playing the more ambitious Mass 360 and Bullet Cave. You go through a gauntlet of enemies, you pick up power-ups to increase the power of your shots, the only thing different from a standard shooter is that you have unlimited lives and you’re held to a time limit that gives a score bonus for beating the boss at the end.

It’s still kinda okay, though the game lacks music and I think it’s hard to get a read on the character’s hitbox. It’s not terrible, but it’s not terribly exciting either.

Overall though, the 7-in-1 Morning Toast Mega Pack is a good collection, providing a series of arcade games with different ideas. The collection is pay-what-you-want, though I suppose nothing’s stopping you from checking out the games’ individual pages.

Checking out a collection of Pico-8 games by @morningtoast! I've mainly played visual novels for the past few weeks and I do love them, even though it makes me "