#the way i'm only posting that because i applied to a bunch of things recently...

[hesitationss]

so the double wammy of posting news and RNN messages abt palestine AND posting cropping of my lesbian slice of life comic feat a trans woman has lost me over 10 followers on ig... ☠️

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Spring Vault Debut: Super Mario Galaxy

Oh boy, a vault! A spring vault! A vault full of goodies and treasures, perhaps? Only one way to find out! Come on, Spring Vault, you have nothing to hide! Open up, and let us inside!

Uh oh, lasers? Those goodies and treasures aren't good or treasured! Nevermind, Spring Vault. You can keep your goodies to yourself. I don't want them and neither does Mario.

This is Spring Vault, from Super Mario Galaxy! I didn't know they were called that, but as it turns out, the wiki didn't until pretty recently either, so I'm not alone. Spring Vaults are a stationary enemy that attack Mario by shooting circular laser beams from a safe distance!

Which raises my first question: are "circular laser beams" even something that can exist? Does light work that way? I wouldn't know! That sounds like a physics question and I know next to nothing about physics because I'm bad at math. I got my degree in Applied Weird Mario Enemies Studies at Wet-Dry World's Wet n' Wild Wuniversity.

If you can hop over Spring Vault's possibly impossible circular laser beams, then you can jump on Spring Vault to reveal the real treasure: Spring! Jump on Spring Vault with the spring revealed, and you can get some impressive vertical, bringing Jump Man to heights never before thought to be possible...

Don't worry too much about breaking the Funny Robot though. If you leave it undisturbed for long enough, it'll fix itself by Recalibrating Its Spring Senors or some other vaguely technological-sounding mumbo jumbo. I don't know anything about computers either! I'm writing this post on a stone tablet!

If you're familiar with your Weird Mario Enemies, you may note that Spring Vault looks similar to the Topmen from the same game, especially the Spring Topman, which loses out on its laser functionality to let you enjoy Springing on the go! But just as the Topman is a whole family of enemies, Spring Vault has a bit of a family of its own, which I'll cover beneath the cut!

First up, we have the Sentry Garage, which is probably the closest relative of the Spring Vault. Sentry Garages are a similarly stationary enemy that can be jumped on to reveal the spring within, but instead of shooting out lasers, they shoot Topminis! I'd make another joke about the miracle of childbirth, but the name suggests these are just a Topmini storage unit...

Sentry Garage looks like a pretty stylish place to keep your Topminis, but if a plumber comes by and spins them into next Thursday, don't say I didn't warn you!

Sadly, Sentry Garage is about as interesting as the Spring Vault family gets, because the rest of these are more "obstacle" than enemy. Like Ring Beamer, for example! No eyes or anything. Just a bunch of spikes. But sea urchins have no eyes and a bunch of spikes, and they're awesome, so maybe we should extend the same love to Ring Beamer. Make it feel loved. Make it feel like part of a family.

It's not trying to make you feel like part of a family though! Lasers? Spikes? Everything Ring Beamer does is a pretty clear indicator to Stay Away!

Up next we have the Ball Beamers, but you can call them Banjo and Kazooie, because they have Nuts and Bolts! Like the Ring Beamer, these are more obstacle than enemy, but unlike Ring Beamer, they don't have spikes or anything. This makes them safe for Mario to stand on, but it also means you can't compare them to sea urchins as much. You win some, you lose some.

They're still not completely safe though, because you know. Circular laser beams.

The thing is, whether they're an Enemy or Obstacle, Nintendo must have really fallen in love with the Ring Beamer family, because they've kept making new variants in subsequent 3D Mario games! Meet Ring Burner, introduced in Super Mario 3D World! Rather than lasers, this one shoots fire, but otherwise it has the same basic attack patterns.

Or at least it can have the same attack patterns, because some Ring Burners shoot fire in squares instead! Haven't you heard? It's hip to be square! This feels like it goes against the name, but oh well. Like Ball Beamer, these ones are safe to stand on, and they won't fire while you stand on it. Are they scared? Does Ring Beamer have feelings? Is that skull marking its actual face?

That being said, by the time Super Mario Odyssey came out, "fire" and "being safe to stand on" were out of fashion again, because Pulse Beam brought back the lasers and spikes! Or rather, laser and spike. Pulse Beam thinks having more than one spike is excessive.

Pulse Beam also values its personal space, and as long as you don't disturb it, it won't disturb you. Pulse Beams will only start shooting lasers when hit by Cappy, so leave them be, and they'll leave you be! That being said, their lasers can clear out other small enemies, so it might be good to activate them if you're getting overwhelmed...

But be careful! Pulse Beams tend to activate other Pulse Beams, so once one goes off, you'll probably have to deal with a few. Time your jumps well, and you should be A-OK.

But hold on, what if I were to tell you that the Ring Beamer family wasn't restricted to the Mario franchise...?

Happy Tunky Tuesday, because thinking so much about circular laser beams you gotta hop over reminded me of the Wave Breaker from Splatoon 3! This special weapon uses basically the same attack pattern, releasing circular shockwaves you need to jump over to avoid getting damaged, and since this is a competitive shooter, getting hit by the Wave Breaker also puts a target on your back, letting everyone on the enemy team know your exact location! Imagine, getting doxxed by a cup and ball toy. Those Splatoons have it rough.

Clearly the Splatoon 3 developers fell in love with this mechanic, because it shows up even in other game modes, with DJ Octavio's boss fight, the Amped Octostamp, and the Big Shot from Salmon Run using the exact same shockwave mechanics. The sheer scope of Ring Burner's influence can not be understated!

It's weird that talking about a Funny Spring Laser Enemy from Super Mario Galaxy eventually led me to talking about a different franchise in a different genre, but it's apparent Nintendo has fallen in love with this sort of obstacle. Gosh, Nintendo, if you love Circular Laser Beams You Need To Jump Over so much, why don't you marry them?

...I can be Spring Vault/Ring Beamer/Ring Burner/Wave Breaker/the rest's bridesmaid if they need one! I promise!

[we-keep-odd-hours]

(repost of a tag game, original post was getting really long)

Ten questions to ask a mutual

Instructions: prev asks ten questions and you answer them, then ask ten new ones and tag ten people to keep the chain going! I’ll go first

Tagged by @rock-n-macabre

Do you think Severen survived the end of Near Dark and he's probably just chewing on roadkill somewhere until he gets his strength back? I think he's the most likely to have survived; there's so much emphasis on daylight, direct daylight being the only thing that can kill them, that his death seemed...an odd way to go out permanently. Personally, I like to lean on 'they'll all be fine eventually, it just won't be a very fun recovery, plus transfusions don't work like that and Mae and Caleb are still vampires.'

Weirdest song you get stuck in your head? A rotating mix of atrocious pop music; sometimes it's just snippets of whatever I've been listening to recently. Right now I have "Father" by the Misfits stuck in my head.

What is an item you wish would become a fad? Common sense; selfishly I do wish goth would go mainstream again like it did for two minutes in 2014ish, just to make it easier to find dark makeup.

If you had to live in an era, what would you choose? None in the past; I think it'd be fun to visit, but between health concerns and other factors I really wouldn't want to move someplace else. If i HAD to....just like. A couple decades earlier, I guess?

Fav genre of music? Most of what I listen to falls under the rock umbrella.

Fav past time? Writing, reading, I'm bad at it but also like painting. My favorite time-wasting activities outside of my house are wandering art museums and this really nice botanical garden I'm lucky to live near. I don't consider it a time-waster because it's my therapy, but I spend a LOT of time at the National Aquarium too (not exactly local, but not a horrible drive).

Gators or Crocs? like...the animals? Crocodiles are one of my favorite animals, but I love everything crocodilia. I have a bunch of tiny alligators and crocs on my desk at work, and another that lives on top of the radio in my car.

Possums or Armadillos? the latter for the novelty; we have a lot of possums around here so I'm used to seeing them.

Tacos or Burritos? tacos

(whew almost there...Im reaching for Qs) - Best Bill Paxton movie? EVIL. oh man. oh no. Don't make me do this, as I blog on a Near Dark blog, with a word doc for a fanfic open, in my red/white/black flannel shirt, whlie drinking out of my Aliens coffee mug. I'm not making choosing one. My favorite role of his is definitely Severen though.

Okay for my ten I'm going to be entirely self-serving and try to get some meta and head-canon conversation going on in the tags again:

Thoughts on Eric Red's idea for a Near Dark sequel? (Mae and Caleb's adult, human, daughter has a run in with "kin" of the Hookers.)

Top five movies with vampires?

If YOU were going to pitch a sequel (time machine back to 1987, or else a book/comic/etc) what would you say?

Favorite scene that isn't the bar scene?

We know (canon) that Mae was turned around 1982, Jesse around the Civil War, and (kiiiiiinda canon?) Severen in Tombstone in the late 19th century. When/where do you think Diamondback and Homer were from?

Do you think if Caleb got over his selectively applied human moral code that he would have made an okay vampire, eventually?

Severen: ace/aro spec, or no?

Any scenes that were changed from script to film, or otherwise cut that you wish made it into the movie/were done differently?

What would have happened if Loy and Sarah were at literally any other motel that night?

Aside from her god-awful taste in boys, what's your opinion on Mae?

taggging @rock-n-macabre again, @hex6rcist, @mrsvansickle04, @babieswrld, @ltofoceania, @lupinedreaming, @lektricfergus @tragantia, @osmanthusoolong, and @starfolk7 who is actually normal about this movie but whom I made sit down and watch it, as I have done and continue to do every time I find out one of my friends has never seen it.

And anyone else who wants to join in.

[xiabablog]

do you have any tips for speaking to/reaching out to recruiters? i'm looking for new grad roles and ppl keep telling me to but i don't even know where to start or find any and all the articles online are so intimidating

Hiya 💗

The people are right, it's one of the best ways to put yourself out there! Oh, this is going to be a long one~!

I'll share tips from my own experience, this might help you, this might because I did it any other way but this:

I applied to a bunch of jobs: like for 5 days straight I was just apply just for the sake of it. The more jobs, the more recruiters have my CV/Resume in their database. I recommend LinkedIn the most as it's super easy to drop a message to the recruiter.

Applied to jobs that I had 50%+ chance of getting a call to: Obviously this means apply to jobs where you have the skills and the experience (work or in building projects etc). I say this because say they do call you but they ask you if you have this certain tech stack and you say no... end of call really. So, for me, I had like 2 or 3 things they were asking for in a candidate so I got through to the calling stage!

LinkedIn is actually your friend, don't be afraid: During my random job searching and whilst I was in my job, I had recruiters message me about job opportunities. Why? Because of my profile. You need to have your LinkedIn vamped up, check mine out for reference (click the LinkedIn icon). But make sure to have your skills e.g. About > Top skills, your work experience (paid or volunteer) and any certificates you have! If you're brave, not like me, start posting on there for a while.

LinkedIn again but Connections: Oh my days please follow people, even if you don't know them personally. I have 300+ connections (not to brag) but I only know like two handful of the people, the rest are of people who connect with people who I follow, I have met like 5 recruiters through this way.

Actually message the recruiters???: Okay so you followed the people, your CV/Resume is done and dusted and now you're ready to message those recruiters! In my case, I had more recruiters message me than the other way round only because I'm shy hehe so I wait for them to make the first move. They would probably send a whole message about the new job that have posted and see if you're interested and then, if you like the job, you can say "Yes please" or whatever is the appropriate reply is, and then they will send further information or arrange a phone call! If you want to message them first, I would find them more after applying for a job on LinkedIn, they usually add the recruiter in the job posting as a way for people to message them.

DO NOT FEEL AFRAID IN MESSAGING RECRUITERS: I say this because a) imagine 100 people apply for the job, only 5 would message the recruiter (I don't know if the stats are right, I just remembered that from bootcamp-) because everyone else is too afraid to do it! Missed opportunity! b) recruiters actually want people to message them. Now in terms of what to write to them? I don't know really. I would always go for the classic "don't repeat what's on your resume", they're going to read it anyways, so just talk a bit about your experience and skills A BIT like

"Hello/Hi, my name is [name]. I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to express my strong interest in the [Job Title] position at [Company Name], for which I recently submitted my application. I'm enthusiastic about the opportunity to join [Company Name] and contribute to [mention something specific you find appealing about the company or role, if possible]. I believe my skills and experience align well with the requirements of the position. Thank you for considering my application, and I look forward to the possibility of discussing my qualifications in more detail. Best regards, [name]

No hire, don't be sad: Even if they don't hire you, or go through the next stages, keep in touch by even asking questions about what's on the market/what's new, how you could do better for other jobs you want to apply to that were similar to the ones you failed at. They could point you to the right direction! One recruiter said she wanted me to have more projects I was passionate about online like on GitHub or GitLab, even if they were "silly" projects - at the time, I didn't have much projects online so it made sense! See, I took that advice and now I'm a project making machine (a bit)! Advice they give sticks forever!

Remember, reaching out to recruiters and applying for jobs is a numbers game. The more applications you submit, the better your chances of landing interviews. I really hope this helps and I didn't make too many spelling mistakes! This is all of the things I could note down from the top of my head!

I've made other posts on on my coding blog about career advices:

🌐 Tips for Landing Your First Entry-Level Developer Job

🌐 Career Services For Web Dev (could be useful to you too!)

🌐 The Talent Cloud Community: Careers Workshop

Good luck with your job search!

⤷ ♡ my shop ○ my mini website ○ pinned ○ navigation ♡

[david-talks-sw]

any new Star Wars essays in the making, or are you moving on?

I don't know, honestly.

Part of it is "life gets in the way," I'm working a lot and so whatever time I have left is spent just messing around or meeting with my loved ones.

I've got a bunch of stuff in my drafts. I don't mind sharing it here, most recent to oldest:

Sort of a joke post of me pointing out how stressful being George Lucas' producer must've been, like this guy really DIDN'T WANT to write his fucking scripts, did he? Poor Rick McCallum. Abandoned because who gives a crap.

'Ask' reply on how EU-fueled fandom perception of the Jedi was flipped by the prequels.

'Ask' reply about the themes in Ahsoka and why the show doesn't know what it's about. Problem is, I go about it starting from the basics, so nobody's gonna sit through reading a tematic breakdown of the first Pirates of the Carribean movie, The Batman and the original six Star Wars films before I even get to the show at hand.

"Part II" post about what Ahsoka, Rebels and TCW get right about lightsaber duels, which the Prequels never did.

Quote collection & analysis on just how complex the Prequels were meant to be (in the late 80s, Lucas intimated that the Sequels were the story that was supposed to have gray morality, not the Prequels)

Quote collection on how the themes and principles of Star Wars align with Lucas' own opinions and philosophies.

Quote collection on Lucas defining Anakin's flaws.

Quote collection on Lucas talking about the fact that we need to be more proactive, which aligns with what Lumi points out sometimes about the Jedi: they should've been more politically engaged because we all should be.

Why I approach Lucas as "word of god".

Personal life/joke-y post dating from the time of the WGA strike about how Jack Black's School of Rock lyrics "In his heart he knew, the artist must be true, but the legend of the rent was way past due!" applied to me. Abandoned because I didn't wanna bum everyone out.

Correcting the notion that Dark Times-era Jedi such as Kanan or Ezra or Ahsoka represent what Jedi were supposed to be.

A comprehensive end-all outlook on how Anakin's flaws all tie together. I've written this one twice and I don't know how to differentiate it from my other posts.

A secret "Part 3" to my TLJ Luke post, in which I point out that RJ's being too "indie", while being a strong point for a big chunk of the film, hampers the film's ability to make Luke feel as badass as he does on paper. I want to illustrate a storyboard for this one, but that takes time.

The evolution of Star Wars' approach to transmedia.

Debunking Star Wars myths: a (very) comprehensive outlook on children in the Jedi Order.

Problem is that only like 2/3rds of these are fully-written... and I still need to find the relevant clips, turn them into GIFs, etc etc.

There's many other interesting Asks in my inbox btw. But I'm already behind on all these, so I haven't begun to touch them.

Then there's the drawings.

I wanna draw a comic of the meeting between Yoda and Dooku in Dark Rendezvous. I wanna finish the comic fight between Maul and Ben. I wanna draw Mace, Shaak Ti, I've got a Luminara fan-art that was supposed to be ready for Jedi June 2022 and an Anakin drawing that looks weird. No time, nor am I skilled enough. (Like, I trace, that's what I do, it's not a secret I've said so before... but it takes me a long while to do so. I'm not fast at drawing, let alone coloring.) I could commission some of these, but there are obvious obstacles there.

There's fun tidbits I've discovered here and there but nobody will care about them and I usually try to not drown my blog with bs posts.

Then there's the bigger problem.

All the things I've listed above? I'm not 100% motivated to finish. But a lot of the new stuff I wanna write about is hella negative.

I had a lot of stuff I wanted to say about Ahsoka. But it wasn't all good. It was mostly me bitching, be it about the show or the fandom's reactions to it.

I've also got more stuff to say about Filoni's take on Star Wars, but I've talked about why it's inaccurate like 8 times already, and I don't actually dislike the guy, like there's plenty of things he knows and does that I think are awesome but also people won't stop putting him and his takes on a pedestal and--

oh shit, there's Acolyte too, I forgot about that, gray morality galore, here we come. But here too, like... I've talked a couple of times about why this entire gray morality thing is actually just the gen X-ers trying to make the prequels "cool" and "complex". but I've never explored properly, with quotes and research and shit. but i've talked about it so many times that at this point it'd end up like the Filoni rants, redundant. "we get it already." as if this show didn't have haters lined round the block for absolutely sexist reasons.

Don't get me started on the mountain of lies and/or idiocy that is the YouTuber Star Wars Theory.

And yet he said one thing a few months ago which struck a chord within me and it's the fact that Andor is awesome, excels on all levels because it's treated seriously, like a proper show, not a Disney Plus one... why wasn't Obi-Wan Kenobi? Why wasn't Book of Boba Fett? And I've already established multiple times that I enjoyed Kenobi (yes, including the Reva parts) and I've established that I know what they were going for in Fett and I've established that this is mainly a "Disney Plus didn't know how to structure a fucking show pre-WGA strike" issue more than anything else... but when I think about how these could've been treated instead? When I look at the characterizations and emotional stakes of like Fargo Season 5? It's infuriating. Because it's not bad (talking about Kenobi, BOBF is awful)... but it could've been EXCELLENT and instead it was just "okay" to "good".

I just miss live action lightsaber duels, man. Like, good ones.

and i dunno. maybe I should just let it rip on all this. "go off, king!"

but I think there's so much negativity re: Star Wars that adding my thoughts on these subjects, no matter how structured and reason, will just blend into a wave of needless, un-constructive hate.

maybe I should finish the writings in the drafts and just post them with no gifs, maybe just still images?

but doing any of that feels like a step back.

So that's where I'm at right now.

[justanotherquinnfan]

On the subject of consent and/or anonymity

So, I've been noodling on this topic for a while now, both for this blog and also just in general. As a Quinnling, I see two different kinds of VAs: The ones who show their faces and the ones that don't. Some share their name (at least their first name) and others go by a stage name. Some are also screen actors and some are strictly voice actors. But regardless of gender identity, sexual proclivities, or chosen audience, these all fall into 2 general categories, the anonymous and the known.

Now, I feel that general parasocial rules apply across the board. And for those playing at home, here are they are:

Be kind

Be respectful

If you don't like something, that's cool, keep it to yourself though

Don't Make It Weird (this one feels difficult given the nature of Quinn, but there's a difference between cheeky and intense - you can be flirtatious and share your reactions, but ffs, Don't Make It Weird)

You are not entitled to their private life or anything more than is being given

I'm open to more rules being added to this, but this is how I tend to look at things. When it comes to the Anonymous VAs, I would also emphasize these rules, especially the latter two. Just because they are also hidden doesn't give you the right to be weird and gross and none of us are entitled to their identities.

Off the top of my head, there are a handful of creators that I feel get an inordinate amount of attention: Anonyfun, Naudio, The Devil of Dublin, and Bad Influence. There may be other extremely popular accounts and, if so, please feel free to share them, but these are the ones I hear the most about.

Now, from what I can gather, Anonyfun has taken a break from creating, Naudio has left social media, Bad Influence, or Milo, has left Instagram, but is trying out a weekly newsletter instead, and The Devil of Dublin is teasing a face reveal. All of this makes me deeply uncomfortable for various reasons. Of course, I have zero problems with people taking a step back or reinforcing their boundaries. It's less what they are doing and more why they are doing it. From what I can tell, they are either being harassed to the point of retreat or, in the case of Milo from what I read from his stories, nearly having their identity revealed because a bunch of fans decided to play creepy detective.

Hearing all of this was super disheartening, mostly because it shows a lack of gratitude for what we were being given. Whether it's Quinn audios or tiny pieces of what goes on behind the curtain, every interaction is a gift and to be greedy smacks of selfishness in the worst way.

As for The Devil of Dublin, I will not even try to suss out what he's thinking with the face reveal. For all I know he is super excited to reveal himself, that is more than possible! But I worry that pressure is the catalyst here and, moreso, I worry that it could backfire.

Recently, I saw a post on Reddit where someone was bemoaning the fact that they don't know what their favorite VAs look like, how they longed to put a face to the fantasies. There were some responses shutting that thought process down, but there were one or two that were concerning. Primarily, someone worrying over the possibility that if they did see their favorite actor's face, they wouldn't find them attractive. I actually did see this happen with some Twitch streamer, who finally gave into pressure and did a reveal, only to receive backlash. Over. His. LOOKS. Like FFS are you KIDDING ME? How shallow and cruel. And I know nothing of TDOD besides what he shares, but I do know there is a possibility of backlash and I would hate to see another fantastic creator retreat in the face of it. Or in the face of the opposite reaction, which is terrifyingly rabid approval.

Either way, I feel like there has been a recent shift towards throwing out the old consent playbook out the window and that needs to be examined and repaired. Not just for these wonderful people who are just trying to do a job, but because it ruins the fun for everyone. Besides the fact that it scares away such talent, it sort of kills the fantasy.

Milo mentions in one of his unplugged audios about the liminal space in which he and The Listener get to meet. Let me tell you how excited I was when he said it because I had been pondering this concept with the exact same phrasing! It's nice to be part of that hive mind, you know? And honestly, every single VA inhabits this space when you put your headphones in. But there is something about when you don't know what the other person looks like.

Because in this space, the space between your ears where The Voice of Your Choice reaches, he/she/they can be whoever you want. They can look like your greatest desire. And on top of that, you can be whoever YOU want. You can be the sexiest, brattiest, most confident version of yourself. This is fantasy, this is play, and there is so much you can do with just a whisper and your imagination.

So why ruin it with reality? No offense to the gorgeous faces we DO get to see because that is also VERY fun, but being able to create the entire interaction from scratch, up to and including everyone's appearance? How can you not feel powerful?

I guess this incredibly long post is just here to act as reminder. That this is fun, this isn't real, and anything real WE DO get should be treated like the precious gift that it is. Because it takes a special person to want to fulfill a fantasy and be vulnerable at the same time.

This is meant to be fun, let's live in the moment, in the liminal space, and let the rest of the obsession go. Natural curiosity is to be expected, goodness knows I'm guilty of it, but there is no reason to take it any further.

And all of THAT being said, I highly suggest subscribing to Milo's newsletter. I read the first one and he gives some interesting BTS info on the technical side of recording, as well as giving his own reviews and being his general cheeky self.

[noveldragon]

Narrative Causality

This is a phrase that I have loved for a long time. I'm not sure when I came across it, but it has pushed me to think hard about my stories.

What is Narrative Causality? It is simply a means to say that any event, however outrageous, happens because the story needs it to happen.

This does not mean there shouldn't be a reason for things to happen. Or that something should happen out of the blue. Random chance is still not a relevant plot motivator. Here is an example of something recent that made me think about this idea again.

Watching Law and Order: SVU in a new episode, there is a scene where the detectives were tasked with finding the murder weapon.

We're not going to talk about politics or anything real-life in this post. This is about a fictional world that is much like our own, but where the cops actually do their jobs.

Anyway, back to the show, we see the detectives out talking about their lives and searching for the weapon. We get the feeling they have been doing this for a little bit. Then, the Narrative Causality happens. The new detective, having to show she knows something, points out something about the trash cans but also notices a homeless man. They talk to him and she finds the weapon amongst his belongings in the cart. Voila, the Narrative Causality.

We didn't need to see all of what they had looked through. Where they didn't find things. All of the failures. This can be stated or implied beforehand, but then the story needs to move forward. To many, this can seem like luck or coincidence. To some extent it is, but it is also something that moves the story forward.

How does this apply to writing? There are lots of ways to think about it. All of those chosen ones, there are usually events that happen that move the story forward.

Some traveling merchant sees an amulet of the long dead king on this farm boy walking in a town.

Some small accident is avoided by a boy's quick reactions and another person recognizes the moves as a lost form of martial arts handed down by the Whatever Clan of Whatever Warriors.

The washing maid is singing a song that was taught to her by her grandmother. Random man traveling through town hears her and realizes this is the same song that was sung by the queen to her daughter before she was lost so many years ago.

All of these things are Narrative Causality. If none of them happened, then the farm boy keeps living on the farm and the world is destroyed by the evil king, the boy doesn't become the destined warrior to take down the demon king, and the queen never finds her long lost daughter that was destined to bring peace to the kingdom.

However, there is another form of Narrative Causality that irks me though, Plot Armor. Plot Armor is the idea that no matter what happens, the Main Character will not be killed or harmed because they are the main character. Or a Side Character will not die until they have done something for the plot. Then they can die in a spectacular fashion.

This one is harder to swallow as Narrative Causality, mainly because it is usually surrounded by poor writing. Here is a perfect example of Plot Armor and how it was blatantly too much. I was watching Rebel Moon on Netflix (Not here to discuss if it was good or bad, though I really like Jimmy the Robot), towards the end of the second part, there is a scene where the Main Characters are taking on a bunch of soldiers rushing the Village.

From the start, this doesn't seem bad. We've seen how they are preparing for this encounter and think it is all pretty well thought out. BUT, then we get to the action, and again, not going to talk about the overuse of slow-mo but I think it made it even more egregious. We then see the main characters rushing the enemy. If memory serves, at least two of them were brandishing bladed weapons only.

If this were roman times or medieval times where sword on sword was common (ignoring long bows and crossbows) then it would seem fine. But, none of the enemy soldiers has a blade out. They all have energy weapons. Our Main Cast is outnumbered big time. If it had been in a more urban environment where we see them sneaking around and hiding behind buildings and crouching to avoid getting shot, it would make a lot more sense. Instead, we get them rushing at the enemy and not getting hit once. Since we don't have light sabers to reflect the shots, and they are not jedi to deflect the blasters, how did not a single one get shot? Are we to believe these soldiers have never fired a weapon before? They have never put down a rebellion before? (which I believe it was mentioned they had)

The whole problem was the plot armor was the only reason they didn't get hurt. Again, if there were signs they tried to avoid the shots, hiding behind buildings or cover, then the plot armor is not relevant. It is still there and that is why the enemy has not hit them, but it is also believable that character is the one that has avoided getting injured.

In summary, Narrative Causality is something all stories will have. It is the reason the stories exist in the first place. The random chance encounters to start a story and the seemingly lucky or random events later in the story, without them, the story wouldn't happen. But, as an Author, you want the reader to believe these actions happened naturally.

[duckprintspress]

Hi there, i'm not sure this is in your wheel house, and I hate to waste your time, but I had a question and wonder if you might be able to offer advice (no worries if you can't or don't want to). i write a lot of fan fiction, but also have lots of idea about non-fan fiction stories. when i've tried to write them, however, I find the idea of getting a whole story out to be sufficiently intimidating that i've never been able to do it (there are probably other reasons for this of course, too). i love the A03 capability of posting one chapter (which can be super short) at a time; it's a real impetus to keep going without having to complete an entire work up front, esp if the feedback along the way is encouraging. what is your take on getting an original fiction story out in a03, but then trying to get it published elsewhere afterwards (taking it down from a03 at that point if necessary)? is that something feasible to try to do?

or perhaps you have other recs? (I don't think my original stories (unlike my fan fic) is likely to be focused on LGBTQIA+ relationships or issues, and i'm straight, so i suspect it's not what your publishing house is focusing on)

thank you so much for even reading this message.

Howdy anon! So there's a few things brought up in this message, and I'll try to answer each.

First: yes, we love offering advice and getting asks! Srsly, you and everyone, don't hesitate to drop stuff like this in our inbox, I love answering them, and if I (hi, I'm @unforth, meatspace name Claire, pen name/editing name Nina, and I own the Press and run our social media accounts) don't know the answer, I can kick 'um to the DPP server and get more folks to weigh in!

Second: yeah, motivation is a constant challenge, and what works is always going to be different for everyone. Those comments each chapter can be all that keeps me going on a long fanfic sometimes (and even they're not enough sometimes, oops, shovels a bunch of unfinished wip under the carpet behind themself)

Specifically, you ask: what is your take on getting an original fiction story out in a03, but then trying to get it published elsewhere afterwards (taking it down from a03 at that point if necessary)?

So, works are absolutely converted from AO3 stories to published stories. I can think of a half-dozen examples off the top of my head (one of the most recent being Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk, which started as a Dean Winchester/Jimmy Novak fic). However, I'd point out that original fiction gets very VERY low engagement on AO3. Most of the conversions I know of are people taking fanfiction and either scrubbing the barcodes (as in, swapping character names and removing/replacing canon references) or completely rewriting it. If the feel you're struggling with is "I want to get fanfic-like engagement but on a completely original work" I think you'd struggle to get that on AO3; virtually no one I know who has posted original works on AO3 has gotten that engagement on those works.

Publishing it as original fiction that you don't substantially change for publication will also weaken your ability to get it published. It'll guarantee that you can only apply with it to places that allow/do reprints, because you've already "used" the First Worldwide Publication Rights that most publishers will want for an original thing - because you already published it. So even if you remove it, the cat is already out of the bag on "first," and that will limit your options - another reason to do it as fanfic that you then rewrite. It's relatively hard to find places that will publish works, especially long works, that the First rights are already off the table (though we're one example of a place that will, we've published things that are up on AO3, and allowed the unedited versions to remain on AO3 when we've done so. For example, several of @tryslora's stories. We've also allowed the opposite; there's at least one original work on AO3 that started as a DPP exclusive for Patreon, and when the rights reverted back to the author, they chose to post it to AO3 with our blessing).

Of course, you can bypass these issues by self-publishing. Then what you keep and what you change, whether you keep it on AO3 or remove it, etc., is up to you, because you're the boss. Self-pubbing puts a lot more of the work on your shoulders tho - editing, cover art, marketing, typesetting, etc., all of it becomes your responsibility.

But: yes, taking works from AO3 to original fic publishing is feasible and is a thing that happens all the time. Depending on how you're publishing it and/or how extensively you rewrite it, you may not even have to take it down, but it would depend. Certainly, for most trad pub/big publishing houses, they would expect you to take it down.

Re: your last point about working with us, we require exactly zero disclosures from our contributors about their sexual or gender orientation. Our only requirement is that authors have posted fanfiction on a public, accessible fanfiction website. To the best of my knowledge, the vast majority of the people we work with are LGBTQIA+, but I also know for sure we've worked with at least one person who was cis and het. There are probably more. It's honestly none of my business. We've also published plenty with no LGBTQIA+ component. The way we work, we accept authors, and once we've got the author, we publish what they want to write, we're not particularly interested in policing that. Things without LGBTQIA+ don't tend to sell as well, because of the interests of our customers, but we'll put it out anyway *shrug*. I'd guess around a quarter of our catalogue has no explicit LGBTQIA+ rep, maybe a bit less.

Anyway! Hi, I'm wordy. TL:DR is: you can absolutely try to motivate yourself to write original fic by publishing it to AO3, but engagement is likely to be low, and doing so will make it harder to publish. If you feel you need the motivation that posting chapter-by-chapter gets you, it'd be better to write it as fanfiction with the intention of rewriting it later, as this will improve engagement without doing as much damage to your ability to publish it later.

and if you wanted to write with us, you'd be welcome; we recruit authors through our anthologies, and I expect our next open call to be sometime over the late spring or summer. We only juuuust started talking potential themes a few days ago.

Hope this helps!

-unforth

[fuzzyfoe]

you're the second person I follow who also plays cs!! can I ask who your favorite cs pet is? :3

hmmm that's a tricky one, i'm just gonna list a few of the pets i own and why i really like them

little kitty dragon!!!!! there was someone who announced that they were quitting cs and only going to play flight rising, and they were offering a bunch of their cs pets in exchange for stuff in flight rising, so i gave them a bunch of my treasure in flight rising and that's how i got this one

this was my first OMGSR pet. got it from the december 18th present box

this was one of the very first pets i adopted when i first started playing cs. i started playing when i was nine years old. i think this guy's pattern is really neat. i really like the vibes of the designs that the older pets (2008-2011) have, the newer pets don't really tend to have that same vibe, even if they're deliberately trying to go for a 2000's nostalgia kinda thing like the pets from the 2022 summer event

this is also one of the first pets i ever adopted

this is probably the oldest pet i have that i adopted myself instead of getting via trading, the pound, or the december 18th box

putting these three all next to each other because they're all part of the same litter and they're a great example of the kind of vibes that the 2010 pets had that i miss. they all have kinda this glossy sheen to them and they're all just bangers

i just really love the nick dogs okay

look at the glossy sheen on these fruit dogs!!!! i love the strawberry one's eyes aaaaaaaa

these are also from 2010

also i wanted to include what the fruit dog litter looked like in their puppy stage because this is just peak aesthetic. i wish we got a pps version of this

moon dog from the same month as the fruit dogs, also from 2010

from the same month as the fruit dogs and the moon dog. i decided to include these as well as the moon dog because they also have that vibe that the 2010 pets kinda had that the newer pets don't that i can't really put my finger on. with the fruit dogs i mentioned them appearing to have a kind of glossy sheen and i think the artists feeling less restricted in how they can shade the pets and what kind of texture they can give the pets is part of it, but that doesn't really apply to these ones in particular. hmmm.

i own two of the astrology dogs from january 2010

this rainbow tiger dog from january 2009 that i got on december 18th of 2010

the 2013 summer event is still my favorite summer event i think, it just had so many bangers like these

the coveted malk =D face

halloween dog from 2010

cute goth girl dog from halloween 2011

pps candy corn fox with tailmouth from halloween 2014

pps candy cane dog from december 2009

okay i can't add any more images to this post so i'm gonna have to stop here. i decided to include only the pets i actually own, but there are so many pets that i don't own that i love the design of as well.

i made this post way longer than it had to be but it was kinda fun looking back on all of these. the internet has changed so so much, but chicken smoothie is still here and my chicken smoothie account is still here.

if anyone is genuinely interested in what my opinions on other kinds of cs pets are feel free to ask me to list my favorite pets from more recent years, favorite pets from [insert year here], favorite pets that are [insert species here], favorite halloween pets, favorite xmas pets, etc.

[tadpoles-and-daydreams]

I hope this is alright to ask, but how do you like- do- tarot? I’m interested in it but I don’t know where to start or even what to do-

(I just want to communicate with my deities but it’s so overwhelming cause there’s so many cards TwT)

This is absolutely alright to ask! Fair warning this is a bit of a ramble, I'm seriously wondering if I somehow missed my ADHD med today I won't lie, but I didn't feel like any of it really needed to be edited.

My first advice based off your ask is just... completely disregard the idea that you have to memorize the cards. I'm doing paid readings, literally doing it as a service that people are paying me for, and I don't have the cards memorized. Some people get weirdly pretentious about it, I've seen that on reddit- but the thing is, I personally have memory issues so it was never going to happen anyway. I also use my deck's guidebook as a tool. Certain sentences will feel irrelevant, while others will pop out. I'm a better tarot reader exactly BECAUSE I don't have the cards memorized. The associations I have with the queen of pentacles, for example, are self love and encouragement for that. That's because it's what it typically stands for in my own readings. For one of my readings I did recently, I was inclined to basically ignore that because what stood out to me in that moment was the motherly aspect of it. If I was going only off my memory, that wouldn't have happened and I'd be telling them they need to work on self-care!

Tarot doesn't have to be overwhelming. If you have a guidebook with your deck, use it- or use the internet, there's a bunch of sites with meanings! Pick whichever you feel drawn to, like the format of, or however you want to choose. No need to memorize the cards, ESPECIALLY for personal readings. Literally just google it :D (Also just a little tip here bc I think it's fun; sometimes the art on the cards feels relevant for me! This may or may not resonate, and I only personally take it into account when it feels pointed, I just think it's a fun little thing.)

I personally was stressed out by choosing the card intuitively over a spread out deck. I struggled with the idea of choosing a card and trusting my intuition, so instead I shuffle it* and just read whatever falls out. Since I don't know details about what's overwhelming I can't give a ton of advice, but I'd say identify what feels stressful about it to you and find ways around it! These are just two examples of that, but I'm sure it could be done with whatever you don't like. That's my favorite part- you can find your own style based off what you don't like and what you do like. My favorite example is my friend, who quite literally tosses their whole deck in the air and reads what flips over. It's the weirdest way I've seen anyone read tarot and absolutely fits their whole vibe.

If you have any more questions, since this is a really general post, feel free to send another ask/reblog/shoot me a DM and I can try and help more if you want it. Tarot is one of my favorite things in my craft so I'm happy to answer people's questions about it. Although, I admit I don't always have an answer since sometimes my answer about how I do something is just "... idk man I just do it??? What do you mean I'm supposed to have a process?"

(*If you can't find a video I'll show you the two ways I do it, just shoot me a DM because I'm not super comfortable posting a video of myself! This also applies to anyone reading the post in the future if they want it. It's nothing fancy but just in case someone can't find any videos.)

[mrswhozeewhatsis]

PSA from a fandom con photographer

As some of you know, I'm a con photographer. A while back, a bunch of us joined a group chat together, and we talk about all things cons and photography in there. Recently, the subject of photo theft has come up again, but this time a new comment was made and that's why I'm here.

In the past, I've heard photographers express frustration about people reposting our photos with watermarks cropped out or otherwise removed. Sometimes, these photos are edited further and someone else's watermark slapped on top of it. This is disrespectful, at best, and really offends the original photographer. Usually, this is done in an effort to gain clout online, and not for any artistic reasons. This is not what I'm here to talk about.

I know that a lot of folks on Tumblr use con photos for fic headers and aesthetics and such, especially for RPF fics. (Because we can totally tell whether a photo is Jensen or Dean, even with the background edited out, he's just that good.) It's come to my attention that some photographers would be REALLY uncomfortable with their art being used this way. They don't read fic, they don't understand it, or they just don't want their art used in a way that misinterprets the moment captured in the photo, even if it's fiction.

We need to respect this.

How do we feel when someone reblogs our fics and uses it to prop up an argument about our characters that we disagree with? We feel kinda shitty. That's how photographers feel when their photos are used in ways they weren't consulted about.

How do we fix this?

When you search Google and find an image from a con, do a reverse lookup on that image and AT LEAST TRY to find the original photographer. If the photo has been taken in the last year or so, you can come to me and see if I know who took it, too.

Ask that photographer if they are okay with you using their image in the way you intend. I know this is a pain, but remember how you'd feel if someone used your art without asking permission!

Many times, if you ask, the answer will be yes. Sometimes, it may be no. Please respect the answer you receive.

If you honestly try and can't find the photographer, then at least put a comment captioning this on the post where you use the photo. If you make a good faith effort and express this in your caption, that at least lets us know that you tried.

If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask me!

Personal note from me: If you like any of my photos, you are welcome to use them. I know I don't make the best photos in the fandom, so this isn't much, but it's there.

Also, "credit to Google" or "I found this on Google" is not credit. Google does not create images. Google only indexes them.

Just remember that there is a person behind every image and piece of art you find on Google.

Also, if you don't contact the artist/photographer, how does that person know that you liked their work? They don't. This is the same as if someone reads your fic but doesn't hit the heart or reblog it. Personally, I LOVE getting asked about my photos the same way I love hearing feedback on my fics. Let your photographer know you love their work!

I've been asked about screen grabs and gifs. I'm referencing just those photos taken by people at cons. Screengrabs and gifs also take talent to create, so if you can find out who made them and give them credit, that's awesome. Photos taken from the star's Twitter or IG....that's a good question. Credit would go to them, but they are impossible to ask if they mind. An argument could also be made that they know what might happen to any photo they put out there. (Maybe put a link to the original as credit?)

It was only recently that I saw someone comment about their photo being used to apply a narrative to Jensen based on his facial expression in the photo, and a brief mention of fic happened right after that, and I just got the feeling that certain photographers would not be pleased to know how we use their photos, sometimes.

As far as I know, no photographer has found their photo in a fic header and complained. But based on what was said, if they did, they might not be happy. And not just because most photos used in a fic header end up being further edited to make it work with the header, beyond cropping. For instance, an asexual photographer might feel icky about their photo being used as a header for a smut fic.

TL;DR - Credit your photographers in your headers, edits, and mood boards when at all possible. Make the effort to contact them and ask for permission. Some may give you blanket permission as I have. Some may not. Either way, this is their art that you're manipulating, so please respect it.

steps off soap box Thank you for listening!

[jacobb99]

I saw something strange at my local Astro-Mart

I need to share this story with someone. I’ve tried sharing it in other places but my posts either get removed or I get labled as some kind of amature horror writer. Even if I’m taken seriously I just get told I imagined the whole thing. I don't know what to believe anymore. All I know is that I need some kind of answer, some kind of explanation.

I'm a recent college graduate with a bachelor's degree in accounting, and I'm currently unemployed. I've been applying for jobs at local firms and other places, but so far, I haven't had any luck. During the day, I spend my time checking job listings online and in the local newspaper. At night, I take walks around my neighborhood. It's still a bit chilly, but the weather is pleasant for walking at night this time of year. I usually stop at a convenience store called "Astro-Mart" to buy chips and soda before heading home to play games. The guy who runs the night-shift is named Antonio, a chubby Eastern European-looking man. I never knew if he was on drugs or something, but he was always paranoid and twitchy.

Last week, I was walking with my headphones on, listening to the new Guilty Gear Strive song "Circle" (the best one on the soundtrack in my opinion) when I saw Antonio waving at me from inside the store. I didn't know him well, but I went inside anyway. Antonio looked pale, more freaked out than usual, and whispered, "Doode, there's a weird dog wandering around. I called animal control, and they said to stay indoors because it probably has the rabies."

As I tried to process what he said, he suddenly lunged forward and slammed the glass door shut, with such force I am surprised it didn’t shatter. I jumped back and looked around, trying to find the reason for his sudden reaction. I noticed that Antonio was twitching more than ever, and he was holding a shotgun. I panicked; I was trapped in a tiny store with a man who looked nuttier than a squirrel with a hording problem and right now he was holding a 12 gage. I thought to myself “this is it, he’s gonna blow my brains out to kill the lizard people or some other crap that’s probably rattling around in his drug-addled brain. I would have continued thinking that way if I hadn't followed Antonio's gaze.

On the sidewalk outside, there was a creature. It wasn't a dog, that was for sure. It had a dog-like head, but that was where the similarity ended. The creature had no fur, and it had multiple heads, not like a Cerberus or a two-headed snake, but more like someone had sewn together a bunch of animal heads to make one body. Like some kind of weird rolled up animal head quilt. It had a long, thin tail like a rat and legs that looked like those of a shoebill but shorter.

I am not afraid to admit I wet myself.

The thing started slamming itself into the door, causing it to crack. Antonio waved the gun at the creature and told it to "fuck off!" but just as he did that it ran off, I had a moment of relief only to see it running back, it slammed headfirst into the glass door, causing the glass to shatter into thousands of little bits. Antonio took a shot at the thing and I’m pretty sure I went deaf for a few seconds. After that I did the only sensible thing and ran to find somewhere to hide, but it was probably the worst decision I could have made that night.

I mean the thing had already seen me and there wasn’t exactly that many places to hide, maybe the bathroom or between the isles but that was about it. However that didn’t matter, my caveman brain was in control and it said go hide. However at me taking flight the damn thing started chasing me. Antonio took two more shots at it. One hit the creature spraying the far wall with greenish black blood, and the other caused the coffee machine next to me to rupture, spilling hot coffee everywhere. I turned the corner to get on the other side of the island thing that had the hot dog rollers, and I saw the Smorgasbeast (what I’m going to call the thing just for my own sake of writing all this down) slip on the spilled coffee. If I weren't panicking so badly, it would have been funny, it had that look on its face that dogs get when they loose all traction on a tile floor and start freaking out, except it was on all its faces.

As I was talking, I suddenly noticed the Smorgasbeast slipping on the spilled coffee and colliding with one of the refrigerators that hold the milk and other perishables. It's always a mystery how half of them are already expired yet they think they can get away with calling it “fresh food”. Anyway, apologies for getting sidetracked. So, when I turned back to the Smorgasbeast, I saw it floundering on the coffee-covered floor, struggling to gain any footing with its silly bird feet. Just then, Antonio walked up and smacked it on the head with the butt of his shotgun. The Smorgasbeast fell to the ground, twitching slightly, and Antonio went to finish it off with a shot to the head.

However, Antonio missed the main head that resembled a dog if you squinted, and instead hit the one that looked more like a pig. The Smorgasbeast bit his leg, and he screamed in pain, using his shotgun as a club to defend himself. Suddenly, the store was filled with flashing red and blue lights. Before I could think "thank God, we are saved," a sharp pain hit the back of my neck, and everything went black.

When I came to, I was lying in the back of an ambulance with two paramedics standing over me, securing an oxygen mask to my face. Before I could ask any questions, one of them instructed me to remain still and take slow, deep breaths. The paramedic explained that I was a victim of a carbon monoxide leak, and I needed to relax. Despite my attempts to inquire about Antonio or the Smorgasbeast, the paramedic kept insisting that I take deep breaths.

After spending two days in the hospital, encased in a strange tube thing that was supposed to get the monoxide out of me somehow, I was discharged with a hefty bill. I never received any answers regarding what occurred, apart from being informed of the carbon monoxide leak. This explanation didn't make sense, and I was left feeling unsure. I returned to the Astro-Mart the following night to investigate, but it was closed with a sign on the now-repaired door that read, "Due to short staff, we will be closing at 5 pm. We apologize for the inconvenience."

I'm unsure if any of it was real. I would prefer to believe the carbon monoxide explanation, but it still doesn't feel right. I'm baffled and searching for answers. If anyone can help me understand what happened, please let me know.

[snaggletoothedbastard]

I'm posting about autism again.

Because I've seen a couple of posts making the rounds that I've had some Feelings about but I only just managed to put them into words.

The posts are something along the lines of "neurodivergent people are making jokes about neurotypical people and Clearly this means neurodivergent people think neurotypicals aren't real". Or, to shorten it slightly: "neurodivergent people are oppressing neurotypicals by making jokes about them".

I have made a post already in which I semi-comedically argue against this idea, but I thought I might as well write an essay about it too just to make sure I'm being completely clear.

For a little bit of context, here are the kinds of jokes neurodivergent people make about neurotypicals (taken from pins in my autism board on Pinterest) (just to clarify, neurodivergence is not limited to autism and covers a whole bunch of different disabilities; the reason these jokes are mostly about autism is because I got them from my autism board. I'm sure people with other disabilities have made similar jokes.)

Obviously there are other examples but these are my favourites. Especially the last one, it's hilarious.

Why do we make these jokes?

Because they're funny

To parody the kind of mocking we get from neurotypicals by turning it back on them and showing how silly it is

To let off steam after a frustrating social interaction

Probably more reasons because I don't speak for everyone

Very rarely do I see a neurodivergent person make a joke that is specifically meant to hurt, harass or alienate a neurotypical person. However, those are all common reasons that neurotypicals make jokes about us.

You can apply the same logic to basically any marginalised group. For example, we see a lot of queer people make jokes about straight people, right? Always silly sarcastic things like "straight people have no fashion sense". Why is this a common joke? Because it's a very common stereotype that queer people, especially gay men, are fashionable and wear pretty clothes. Also, we get a fair bit of confusion from straight people about popular gay fashion. So making this joke is both a response to the confusion, and often judgement or piss-taking, and a reclamation of a stereotype that has been used in a derogatory way.

It's a very similar concept with neurodivergence. Many symptoms of disabilities, for example, autistic special interests, have been commonly seen as something bad that needs to be changed, and have only recently been reclaimed by the neurodivergent community as a good thing that brings joy. Special interests are still made fun of by people who don't understand them. We get called obsessive, annoying and childish. So if we make a joke like "I guess neurotypicals don't have interests" in response to this, it is not to make all neurotypicals feel bad, or to separate them from us, but to point out and laugh at the ridiculousness of telling us off for something that 1. we have very little control over, and 2. is not even a bad thing.

I don't know if neurotypicals are under the impression that neurodivergent people can't be sarcastic, but if that's the case it would explain rather a lot, because they seem to always take everything we say really seriously. Whereas if they say something about us that is actually hurtful and damaging, and we call them out on it, we have to listen to them call us overdramatic snowflakes and tell them that yes, we can in fact take a joke. The difference is that what they're saying is rarely actually a joke. Because they believe it. For hundreds of years, they've learned and been taught to believe that we're some kind of alien species, that we don't even count as human beings, that we either have no feelings at all or we express our feelings too much, that we need to change everything about ourselves to live up to their standards, and that we should never have existed at all. And when we retaliate, they tell us we're hurting their feelings. They say, "you know neurotypicals are still people, right?" and it's exactly the same thing that straight people do to queer people, that cis people do to trans* people, that white people do to POC, that men do to women, that any privileged group does to any marginalised group as soon as they show the slightest bit of resistance. All of a sudden you're the victims and we have to be reminded that you're People and you have Feelings and you can't take even a little bit of criticism because if you do you'll spontaneously combust. You're the ones who have been dehumanising us for as long as you've known about our existence, but sure. We could stand to be taken down a peg or two, right?

I'm reminded of James Acaster's stand-up routine in which he took the piss out of other comedians like Ricky Gervais for making transphobic jokes.

"I'm An EdGy CoMeDiAn, It'S mY jOb To ChAlLeNgE pEoPlE! Yeah because you know who's long overdue a challenge? The trans community."

I'm just going to leave that here. Feels like its fits.

[wetslug]

As a fellow neurodivergent scientist looking for a job that my brain doesn't hate, could you share a bit abt like. The demands of ur job? If that makes sense lol. I typed/deleted a bunch of word vomit like 5x for this ask jdkfldkf so basically how would you describe the pacing? Do you ever feel rushed? Should I even bother applying for a "grossing technician trainee" position if I struggle with very fine work due to slight hand trembling? I've recently got a bachelor's in zoology so I have a bit of experience with like dissection and microbiology but never actually worked a job that utilized anything I learned in college :')

yea no problem!!! ill post this publicly if this could benefit any other people but if u have any more questions or need help u can always message me privately (this goes for everyone) :^)

(ofc all this is valid for Edmonton, I can't rlly comment on other labs)

so, in my day to day job, i will gross specimens that range from the Simple Elegant appendix to a multi-organ specimen, and i typically spend between 5 mins - 3 hours per specimen depending on complexity. I'd say that the pacing in the grossing room is pretty relaxed, so I wouldn't worry! If you decide to go for that position, you will likely be encouraged to start fairly slowly on very easy specimens, and they shouldn't be expecting you to 'up the pace' until the specimens become routine. and tbh at my workplace, they value 'slower' more methodical workers because theyre much less likely to miss an incidental pathology. If they are actually encouraging you to speed through specimens, they're a shit lab anyway lol and they should focus on hiring more people

in terms of hand tremor, sometimes im shaky (due to caffeine oop) when doing gross motor functions but, when holding a scalpel or making purposeful movements, the shakiness dissipates. I'd ask if your hand tremor impacts things like writing, cutting things for cooking, etc? If it doesn't really, I think you're good! But I can't sugarcoat it, if you have a significant tremor then grossing may not be an option. However, I'd ask WHAT you'd be expected to do as a grossing tech there; in edmonton, we have techs that will only do 'pick and transfers' (i.e. moving biopsies from the container to the cassette), appendixes, and gallbladders, and this doesn't require a ton of fine motor control (if you can cut a baby carrot you could do all this stuff).

grossing actually hits a sweet spot for my ASD brain because its more of less an independent task. when i was training it was a lot of talking thru and asking questions (which tired me tf out) but now that im almost done, i mostly work by myself (though i ask questions to my coworkers all the time cuz they have more experience) which i love! the times when being ND does impact me are when i have to communicate with higher-ups, or teach a trainee tech, because I'm not too good at communicating in ways that make sense. However, that's a very small amount of my job and most is quiet grossing work where I can listen to music or a podcast at the same time to satisfy my need for multiple sources of stimuli.

so yeah id say go for it!!!! the worst that can happen is, you get the job, go for the onboarding, decide it's not for you, and say you're no longer interested. companies are totally used to that and it won't reflect badly on you <3

[ashadowofburnedoutstardust]

Given the cost of living in the USA continues to rise, it may be wise for those who possess dual citizenship with other countries to simply sell up and move

Because at least they have the option of getting out while they still can

If they own businesses they can always move those to a different country as well

I'm sure it'll save a lot of money on those fucking import tariffs lol

/

I have dual citizenship, I bought an apartment and have most of my hard worked money in other country. I have said multiple times and definitely no one is gonna change what I think of it. If a person is from any third world country or where the US currency is more valuable in the market, work and invest is some where else. Buying anything in the USA is a wasted of money because at the end you own NOTHING. no even the freaking money you save up, there are going to take it. I can say this because I worked in the USA for about a year and I can go back to the country I came from and live comfortably for five years. And I OWN MY LAND AND MY MONEY.

Hello anon

There's only one thing I'm going to correct you on

The United States of America is the "third world country" that they like to think everyone else is

Also for anyone reading this post I would like you to look up the origin of the terms first world, second world, and third world countries

It doesn't mean what you think it means

It's technically a ranking list that was created by the United States in regards to the order which people signed up to be their allies

It is these days used as a slur to describe a standard of living

If we are going by that definition, it applies very easily to the United States

What you have mentioned in your anon is pretty much what New Zealanders do

I've mentioned before that we go on what we call an OE, which everyone else might recognize as a gap year

We live and work overseas because the life is better and the pay is better, but it's also the exchange rate coming home that does well for us which is why we're always comfortable living overseas

Thanks to the way that the world economy is set up our dollar is always less so when you go to buy something overseas it's almost always cheaper to just buy something in the store

But it also means that when we come home due to the exchange rate we end up a lot better off then we would have been if we were earning New Zealand dollars

For reference, an American dollar is equal to about 60 cents NZD

So while we end up being a cheaper option for supply in terms of exports, even marginally raising our prices we still end up in a very good position because of the quality of our product

The other thing is that because we have such a good relationship with so many other countries we have many many more options than just having to deal with the American market

Given the recent invention of the BRICS currency and the members insistence that they pay them in their own currency I imagine that the US dollar is probably going to drop which will only end up making their US products less valuable for export

I imagine that's going to have to drop the prices at some point, because and I'm just going to use the example I've seen in my own country with the rise of locally supplied brands, there is always someone willing to take up the space that America leaves open in terms of trade

Because of what United States policy has done to everyone else's economy the US is now facing a tremendous uphill battle trying to get any relationships going with anyone, and I imagine having a bunch of white guys throwing around a sieg heil at the inauguration is probably not going to help with their foreign policy and trade agreements

[greatwyrmgold]

Can superhero film series work?

This is not clickbait. At least, mostly not.

Overly Sarcastic Productions recently-ish released two videos about Superman. (The first is from July and is ~99 minutes long; the second is from Friday and is ~61 minutes long.) The second video is more relevant to this post; its thesis is, essentially, that superheroes need to rescue people instead of just fighting villains, a thesis I agree to with some caveats (not all of which were explicitly stated in the video, sadly).

A comment on that video got me to thinking about pacing and structure, and made me wonder whether superhero film series can work.

Now for the bit where I question whether my one-clause title was, in fact, clickbait.

Caveat #1: What's a superhero?

Not all "superheroes" need to fit in the model Red describes. Heroes in superhero media ranging from Dreadnought to Megamind to Hancock to One Punch Man to Worm are rarely seen rescuing people, and that works with how those sorts of stories conceptualize superheroes. But most superheroes aren't trying to be Worm, which is a good thing.

So for the purpose of this post, when I say "superhero" I mean "classic superheroes," who I categorize by that famed biologist's method. You'll see classic superheroes in the general memespace occupied by most big Marvel/DC heroes, The Incredibles, My Hero Academia('s main cast), Invincible*, Ben 10, Sentinels of the Multiverse, Spinnerette, that one terrible Disney movie most notable for a video essay about it, etc.

*Say what you will about Omni-Man, his son's trying to be Superman.

Caveat #2: What's a film series?

I'm focusing here on three related types of media—standalone movies, film series, and TV-style serials—because I think this problem only exists with one of them. (Which is, sadly, the dominant way superhero stories are being distributed these days.) For the purpose of this post:

Movies are single-installment narratives, generally 90-120 minutes in length, created without intending to follow them up with anything. The Incredibles are probably the clearest example, though plenty of pre-MCU superhero film trilogies started out this way. If I say "movie," I'm referring to standalone movies.

A film series is a bunch of movies meant to tie together, each with their own internal narrative, but also building into a larger narrative. Individual film series are released sporadically, months or years apart. By far the most obvious and successful example would be the MCU. For brevity, I'll use "film" to refer to this kind of film series.

A TV-style serial releases batches of much shorter episodes (usually 20-30 minutes each, sometimes 50-60 or some other length), sometimes all at once but more often weekly for a few months at a time. These batches are called "seasons," and usually last 10-15 or 20-30 episodes. Each episode has its own more or less self-contained plot, seasons usually have some kind of character and/or plot arc tying them together, and a series as a whole probably has something linking different seasons together beyond character names. This format was designed for TV, but these days lots of serials are produced for streaming platforms, and might not get any broadcast release. For brevity, I'm calling these "serials," even though that technically applies to film series and a bunch of other serial media.

TL;DR: The Incredibles is a movie, the MCU is films, Invincible is a serial.

I realize there's a lot of gray areas. The MCU includes a lot of serials in addition to the films, the DC universe has a bunch of loosely-linked animated movies, and I've mentioned more superhero stories with installments/versions in non-audiovisual mediums than ones which have only seen movies, films, and serials (as defined above).

But I'm not talking about all superhero stories, every way they can be structured, in every format. I'm talking about film series, and I'm using movies and serials as points of contrast.

Caveat #3: Let's not question OSP

To summarize OSP's thesis: Superheroes (as defined in caveat 1) need scenes where they save people from mundane peril to feel heroic. Superheroes are supposed to exist to save people, not just to fight villains.

If you disagree with these premises, if you think it's dumb for superpowered people to waste their time saving people from fires or industrial accidents or whatever, I'm not gonna argue. That's an argument about the philosophical nature of superheroism, which boils down to an argument over how "superhero" should be defined. I don't want to get involved in that kind of debate.

Instead: Starting with these caveats, let me get onto...

The Point

Story Structure

I'll be brief.

Stories have structure, and often recognizable structures. There are two big forces which drive stories to have the structures we recognize, or at least two I'll be discussing: The need for stories to tell a complete story, and time constraints.

Stories need to tell a complete story. The reason a lot of MCU knockoffs flopped as hard as they did is the amount of time they wasted on setups for future movies. MCU movies were reasonably restrained; each movie (or at least the movies I saw) did a pretty good job of telling a self-contained story, even as it built up to future movies. MCU knockoffs wanted to play catch-up, wanted to release their Avengers with as few introductory movies as possible.

But stories only have so much time to tell a story, and that time is very restricted in the mediums being analyzed here. Distributors don't really like movies and films more than 120-150 minutes long, because they either can't play as many times, require the theater to stay open longer, or both. And of course, serials have their episode lengths limited by broadcast schedules. In theory, streaming should give more runtime flexibility, but not many people have taken advantage of those possibilities so far.

In movies, the need to tell a complete story and the fairly strict runtime limitations have lead to a fairly strict structure known as the three-act formula; it's so ubiquitous that most films which try to avoid it end up reconstructing a form of the three-act structure, just to tell their whole story in one go.

Of course, films and serials operate on two different structural levels. Each film or episode needs to feel like a satisfying self-contained story, or at least a satisfying story fragment which went somewhere. An installment where it feels like nothing happened is often derisively called "padding" or "filler," because it is perceived to have added little to the series except runtime. You do not want your series to have filler if you can avoid it.

TL;DR: Every story, and every portion of a story released individually, needs to be structured in such a way that it tells its own story.

Where do we put the flood?

Consider the above point, and Caveat #3. Stories need to have structure, superheroes need to save people, and superhero stories only have so much time.

There's a well-established formula for movies. You put the disasters, petty crimes, and so forth late in act 1 or early in act 2, or maybe early in act 1 if your protagonist is an established superhero. This lets your hero earn their "superhero cred," and in the likely event that your protagonist isn't an established superhero, gives them a chance to establish themselves.

Movies don't need much. If you have around 100 minutes of movie, one 12-minute sequence where your hero discovers a burning building, finds people inside, and saves them is roughly an eighth of the movie. That's significant!

But that sequence won't cut it for a longer narrative. For a 12-episode serial with 22-minute episodes, the above sequence is less than 5% of the serial's runtime. Luckily, however, the serial structure makes it easy to work in multiple places where the superhero saves people, largely unrelated to the overarching seasonal plot.

You can have entire episodes focused on individual character conflicts, like the Hero and the Lancer having a pissing contest, or the Big Guy having a crisis of faith, or romantic bullshit, or whatever. At least some of these character-driven episodes should advance the overarching plot, but you can also have a couple which focus on more day-to-day heroism without losing too much—you just need the character conflict to go somewhere, and that can be the complete story you so desperately need.

Film series can't really do either.

The Problem with Superhero Film Series

Films are isolated in a way serial episodes aren't. It's easy to convince an audience to watch the first half of a two-part story if the second part is coming next week! It's hard to convince them to do the same if the parts are separated by a year. It worked for Infinity War/Endgame, but A. the end of Avengers: Infinity War was pretty definitive for a "part 1" and B. it's the culmination of a decade of genre-defining films.

And the year-long turnaround time is fairly short for film series. The MCU has been producing about three films per year, but I doubt anyone would argue that Avengers: Age of Ultron is the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy just because they're next to each other in Wikipedia's list of MCU films. The sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy is Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, which released ~2.5 years later. 2-3 years seems like the typical game between releases within MCU sub-series, and the DCEU seems to have a similar rhythm.

Anyways, whether one year or three, each film has immense pressure to tell the best self-contained story it can. (Assuming the studio heads are applying sensible pressures and not trying to do an Any% Cinematic Universe Speedrun.) That means it's easy to replace "filler" scenes where your hero stops a bank robbery or rescues people from a...volcano or something (I'm running out of natural disasters) with something relevant to the plot of this story.

From the perspective of the individual film, this is a good thing! Spending a full sequence on, essentially, just reminding the audience that Superman is a superhero is a waste of your limited time. At the very least, you should tie that rescue into the plot somehow; maybe the bank robbers have information on the Big Bad, or the volcano is part of their evil scheme. It would probably be less contrived if you just throw out the rescue angle entirely, though.

From the perspective of the film series, this is a disaster! The net effect is that superheroes in these film series only rescue people from non-supervillain-related situations when they still need to earn "superhero cred," generally when they're fresh and inexperienced. This is exactly what Red meant when she said heroes "graduate" from saving people to fighting villains. Saving people stops being the point of superheroism, and instead becomes its final exam.

Maybe I'm being pessimistic, but I don't see a solution within the "film series" model. As long as film series are big individual segments, with each segment being released months or years after the last, those segments need to stand on their own. As long as films are being optimized for their standalone quality, there'll be incentives to cut the ordinary rescues from most films. As long as such incentives are there, superheroes will focus on the spectacular supervillain brawls at the expense of heroism.

In Summary

Stories are shaped by their structure, structures are shaped by medium and release format. Superhero stories these days are often lacking in "mundane" heroics like stopping muggers, rescuing trapped miners, and destroying meteors before they hit the Earth. In film series like the All-Consuming MCU, the release format discourages writers from including those scenes.

I'm obviously not saying superheroes can't work, or even that superhero movies can't work. Heck, even "superhero" film series can work, if they're not trying to be classical superheroes. But the MCU (and most other big-budget superhero films) are trying to be classical superheroes, and because they're film series, they're discouraged from letting their superheroes be heroes.

Now, this problem isn't unique to superhero films. The Teen Titans (2003) were more likely to frame their character-development episodes around petty one-shot supervillains (or fighting, say, Plasmus again) than rescuing people from a natural disaster. But on a fundamental level, nothing about Teen Titans (2003) would need to change if they fought fire instead of Fang.

I'm not sure there's any such solution for film series, without structuring them more like standalone movies or TV serials.

Postscript

Thank you, [NAME REDACTED], for inspiring me to write this.