#they're definitely not perfect. especially as a set. but I think they look better than the video quality anyway. LOL which I consider a win

[musicrunsthroughmysoul]

"Hey Bulldog" performed by Fanny (featuring the extra verse they wrote) live on Beat-Club in 1971 (x)

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Stuck In Her Head

short contemporary YA coming-of-age set in Hong Kong, following two teen girls who are friends

one is a musical prodigy but has lost her passion and wants to explore different possibilities for her future

the other is passionate about music but dealing with mental health & family issues

the latter develops a crush on the former, who is aroace, and they have to re-navigate their friendship, while working on a music/coding competition project together and dealing with their own issues

[httpvomitello]

Helloooo, can I request something for the 2018 turtles (ROTTMNT)? The reader arrives with the guys to show them the softshell turtle they got as a gift at a school science fair. Since they're not very sure how to take care of it, they go to the guys for help. And the turtle... it looks just like the one from The Amazing World of Gumball. I just think it would be fun to see the turtles (especially Donnie) interacting with the evil turtle haha 😭

OMG NOT THAT FREAKING TURTLE 😭😭 When I learned that Donnie is a softshell turtle, my mind immediately went to that turtle from Gumball. Like... Seriously??? That turtle is the reincarnation of evil, that's for sure. Anyways ~ i hope you like it! ♡♡♡♡

Leo is so pumped when you show up with a turtle

He’s already imagining the epic sibling turtle bonding he’ll all have, and he’s definitely scheming ways to turn your new buddy into his own personal sidekick

But as he leans in to get a better look, he catches the turtle giving him a super intense, villainous stare

"Uh, why is he looking at me like that?" Leo laughs nervously, tapping the glass of its little tank

The turtle does not break eye contact

In fact, it somehow looks like it’s plotting something

After a long, intense staring contest (which Leo loses), Leo's more hyped than ever

“Oh, we’re keeping him. This little guy’s got edge.”

He decides to call it something like "Sidekick Jr", and he tries to train it to glare on command, thinking it’ll be perfect to bring it to battle with him

Obviously you don't let that happen.

Raph’s eyebrows shoot up the second he sees the turtle

“Whoa. That turtle is… cute.”

Lying is not Raph's focus

He is all in for helping you take care of it

But as soon as he leans in, the turtle levels him with a stare so intense that Raph is slightly taken aback

“This guy looks like he could plan a heist,” he jokes, but he’s half-serious

He’s convinced the turtle has some secret agenda and will not let it out of his sight

Raph takes pride in helping you build a “fortified tank” to protect it from any “potential escape attempts.”

He even draws up “exercise drills” to help it “build character.”

He ends up calling it something like “Lil’ Warrior”

The turtle's name is Bob

And he spends a suspicious amount of time training it to recognize commands, because “A turtle like this needs discipline.”

Donnie’s reaction is extreme caution

Like... wtf? How is this turtle so ugly?

(He completely forgot that he is also a softshell turtle)

He’s thrilled you came to him about turtle care, especially because this guy is a fellow softshell

But then he notices the turtle’s… ominous glare

For the next ten minutes, Donnie just stares back, analyzing every detail

The turtle doesn’t blink

It feels like a showdown

"This isn’t just any turtle, you know," he mutters, more to himself

He immediately runs diagnostics on it, pulling out his tools to test its temperament and intelligence level, just in case

Donnie takes the turtle care seriously, sets up the perfect tank, gets the optimal UV lamp, and is constantly researching enrichment activities, but he still doesn’t entirely trust it

You catch him putting up tiny lasers around the tank "just in case."

And he insists on renaming it something like “Professor Menace” because, in his words

“Look at that face—he’s clearly up to something.”

Mikey’s reaction is pure delight. “Aw! Look at the lil’ guy!”

He immediately wants to hold it, but as soon as he picks it up, the turtle gives him a side-eye that could curdle milk

Yes, the turtle is judging Michelangelo

He tries everything

Offering lettuce, sweet-talking it, giving it little pets, but the turtle just stares, expression unreadable but somehow… sinister

“Why does he keep looking at me like that?” Mikey wonders, confused but determined to win the turtle’s affection

He’s convinced it just needs a bit of “good vibes,” so he tries playing calming music, talking to it about his day, and even painting a little flower on the tank

Despite the turtle’s apparent indifference

(And slightly ominous glare)

Mikey’s convinced they’re best friends

He starts calling it “Lil’ Grump,” swearing it’ll warm up eventually.

[cinnamontoastcrunch-15]

Red Flags

Oh my god I've been so burnt out I'm so so sorry but I WROTE SOMETHING FINALLY

“Right, so…” Lily starts, settling down in front of the others with a coffee in hand, “what are we thinking?”

“I have a feeling we’re all thinking the same thing,” Mary says, shaking their head to themself. As Lily glances around, everyone nods in agreement.

Remus Lupin has terrible taste in men.

It’s an infamous fact among the group, really. Somehow, Remus manages to find every weird, rude, and downright horrible man on the face of the earth. He's not stupid, but he is impressively good at ignoring all of the warning signs. Lily remembers, more than once or twice, picking up the pieces, shouting at the exes, even stopping Remus from taking them back. It always sucks to see him that upset, and Lily just couldn't take it anymore.

So, they've developed a system.

It involves a lot of internet stalking, going through social media after social media, looking for pieces of evidence, things they can mention directly to the guy in question. If they can figure out if they're exactly the same as the others, which they usually are, they can scare him away before it’s too late. Remus isn't exactly… aware, of their system, but it works, and they need it to keep working. It's better that Remus is a little upset that his boyfriend of two weeks has ghosted him, rather than a painful betrayal.

This newest guy, though? They can't find anything.

“You’d think someone with the name Sirius fucking Black would have something slightly shady on his socials!” Marlene says with a groan.

“I mean, the name’s red flag enough, right? Everyone knows the Black family,” Peter says, but James is intervening before anyone has a chance to agree.

“Hold on, they essentially got rid of him five years ago. I don't know that we can still hold his name against him.”

Yeah, that makes sense. Unfortunately.

“Okay, well… what does he do for a living?” Mary tries, only to get a good few shrugs.

For someone who posts ten times a day, this guy is really quite quiet about his private life.

“I think he's a doctor,” Peter says eventually. “That’s what I found when I looked him up. Pediatric Surgeon?”

“Oh, so he literally saves kids lives,” Marlene says, exasperatedly throwing her hands in the air. “I'm sorry, he can't be Mr Perfect! This isn't how Remus works!”

Lily wants to say that maybe it is, maybe he's turning a corner, but she bites her tongue. They don't actually know anything real, anything substantial, about this guy. All they know is that he grew up in a very prominent family, and can build a careful social media presence. That means nothing.

They need to dig deeper.

“You know what this means, right?” Lily says grimly. “We have to meet him.”

Remus knows exactly what his friends are up to.

They think they're so brilliant at hiding their little… background checks on anyone he even so much as mentions wanting to date. Well, he can't exactly blame them. He's dated some absolutely horrendous people, and he knows that. Showing up at Lily’s as a crying mess wasn't exactly his finest moment, so he gets why they're so concerned.

Sirius, though? God, they’re never going to have to worry again. For a good few weeks, Remus had thought he'd made Sirius up. He's never fallen for someone as quickly as he's fallen for Sirius, even though they're taking everything so slowly. Honestly, he'd move in with Sirius tomorrow, if he asked, but Sirius is too good to ask that so soon.

That doesn't stop Sirius from panicking a little, as Remus keeps setting the table for dinner with his friends.

“What if they hate me? I mean, what if I set a really bad impression and they hate me forever-?”

“They definitely won't hate you. Believe me, you'll click with them. Especially James. I have a feeling he's going to love you.”

James is always the most supportive. He at least tells Remus before the others start to interrogate them.

“But what if-”

“Hey, don't panic.” Remus reaches out and takes both of Sirius’ hands in his. It sends a little thrill through him, the way Sirius’ breath catches in his throat. “Just… don't feel intimidated when they start asking too many questions, and you'll be fine.” Sirius nods once, and Remus squeezes his hands reassuringly.

There’s a knock at the door before they can kiss.

Remus groans as Sirius drops his head onto Remus' shoulder. He takes a breath and takes a step away, as Remus tries to quash the nerves. He knows how much they're going to love Sirius, but it isn't really helping. He doesn't want them freaking him out and scaring him off.

Still, it's too late to give them all the boot now, so, with a slight hesitance, he accepts his fate and opens the door.

“Hey, guys! You’re all here… at the same time,” he says, sticking a perplexed expression on his face. Mary smiles brightly as Remus steps aside to let them all in.

“What a coincidence, right?”

They’re really bad at hiding things.

James is the last one in, and Remus holds him back quickly.

“Please tell me they're not grilling him. Sirius is nervous enough.” He knows the answer already, but James shrugging apologetically only confirms it.

“They didn't find anything online. You know what that means.” Remus nods once, trying to bite back a groan. “They're doing it because they care.”

“I know. Just… please give him a chance. He's… Prongs, he’s amazing.” He watches James’ face soften, and it gives him the slightest glimmer of hope.

Maybe this'll be okay.

“So, Sirius…” Marlene starts, the moment they all settle at the table.

God, it's already starting.

“What’s your favourite thing about our Remus?”

Honestly, Remus is pretty sure that's a tricky question. He's never seen anyone answer it right. There's always something wrong with the answer. It almost feels like a cruel start.

“Oh, wow, I don't think I could pick!” Sirius says with a smile. “I mean, unless you let me pick everything,” he adds with a wink. It draws a smile out of Remus, and James is already positively beaming. The others, though, exchange a confused glance.

“What, so you can't think of anything?” Peter says disbelievingly.

“Oh, I just meant- I think everything about him is amazing.”

A blush immediately spreads it's way across Sirius’ face and, oh, Remus could look at him forever; could watch his face turn rosy until the end of time.

“What d’you think of his writing? Y’know, his breakout piece on euthanasia?” Lily asks, resting her chin in her hands.

“I thought his breakout piece was his intersectionality one?” Remus turns to him, stunned. He didn't even know Sirius had read any of his articles.

He's also right.

Christ, he must be ticking some kind of box for his friends.

“Right, this is stupid,” Mary interrupts Remus’ train of thought, and he's already dreading whatever they're about to say. “If you have any intentions of hurting him, we’ll quite literally kill you.”

“Mary!” Remus says quickly, his hand reaching out to grab Sirius’.

“No, he needs to hear this!”

“Why? Because you couldn't find anything when you looked him up?”

It's enough for the group to lapse into silence.

“Listen.” Remus forces himself to take a breath and slow down. “I know why you do all of this, and I get it. Really, I do. I appreciate how much you care. Sirius, though, he's… guys, he's wonderful. You don't have to worry this time.”

James nods, Mary also seemingly placated. The others, though, turn to Sirius.

Yeah, that makes sense.

“Honestly, I’ve never felt this way about anyone. I wouldn't dream of hurting him. I'm falling in love with him more every single day-” He cuts himself off with wide eyes, immediately turning to Remus.

Oh.

Oh, wow.

“You love me?” Remus asks. It's almost like his friends just… vanish, in that moment. All he can see is Sirius, sitting beside him, telling him that he loves him.

“Shit, I didn't mean to say it like that!” Sirius groans, his face reddening by the second.

Okay, accidentally telling him that he loves him.

“I wanted to plan something nice, think of the right thing to say, not just- God, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this-” He buries his head into his hands, muffling his panicked rambling.

“Sirius?” He tries quietly. Sirius just shakes his head minutely. It's really bloody endearing.

Remus is going to have to go about this differently.

Slowly, gently, he reaches out and pries Sirius’ hands from his face. He lets himself lace his fingers through Sirius’, as their eyes meet and Remus’ stomach flips.

“I love you, Sirius,” he says softly. “Christ, how could I not?”

Sirius’ face brightens in an instant, and Remus can't help but beam right back at him. He can practically feel the tension in the room lift.

He has a feeling his friends won't be worrying about him anymore.

[youcouldmakealife]

Masking, YCMAL edition

So, after the general info on masking, here's how it specifically looks like and impacts some of the 'verse's characters.

I think I kind of need to preface this with the fact that a lot of my characters have neurodivergent traits because, well. I do. I don't know how a neurotypical person thinks, the same way a neurotypical person doesn't know how a neurodivergent person thinks. You can read about the experience, and, despite shitty stereotypes to the contrary, you can empathize with it, but the wiring of the brain is literally different.

So when I'm listing characters here as neurodivergent, I either a) set out to write them that way or b) in hindsight can't deny that their experiences are written through a very specifically neurodivergent lens. Someone not being explicitly labelled as ND doesn't necessarily mean they aren't, I just..really don't want to go back through my entire 'verse applying diagnoses the same way I happily slap an MBTI or enneagram or kindergarten teacher/assassin label on them, because that feels wrong.

But if you're neurodivergent and see something in a particular character that makes you feel seen, I'm not going to tell you 'nah man, they're actually neurotypical'. Especially because literally every single one of them was written by someone neurodivergent.

Anyway! Canonically ND characters and their masks:

David: masks extensively. Generally does his best for 'unobtrusive, pay no attention', unsure why it doesn't seem to work (mostly because he's talented and beautiful, so it seems less 'unobtrusive' and more 'I think I'm better than you', which isn't helped by the fact that often when the mask does slip, it's to show frustration, contempt, or disdain -- think at the All-Star Game his rookie year, or several points early on with Jake. Also does not help that he often does think he's better than people.)

Bryce: Still laughing at 'straightsona' used to describe Bryce out with his teammates, because it's perfect. His 'I don't care, I'm hot as shit, bitches love me' dickhead behaviour was him picking up those behaviours from popular peers and teammates over the years, partly mistaking that for the reason they were popular (rather than being seen as boy kings making them callous or arrogant), and partly viewing them as the exemplar of someone no one would predict was gay. Jared's worst enemy.

Speaking of, honourable mention to Raf Sanchez AND Julius Halla here, Jared's going around collecting neurodivergent loved ones all through IJ(aoe).

James: 'unobtrusive, pay no attention', much more successfully than David, partly because he has a mouthpiece in the form of Finn. His crashing after road trips is partly extended overstimulation and change, but it's also having to wear the mask more extensively, because he has much less time to himself, especially when he shared a room. (He's mostly unmasked with Finn, that's why Finn is his exception to a lot of No People things, but he wasn't at the beginning).

Holden: Also kind of 'I don't care, I'm hot as shit, bitches love me', but...ironically? He doesn't mask as much as the others, and because of that, he frequently drives away people who originally seem to like him and wonders why. Has been described as 'a lot'.

Fiona: Literally will not leave the house without a full face of makeup and a pair of heels or she'll feel exposed and vulnerable, and putting her make up on is how she prepares to be Outside Fiona. She's very perky and friendly at work. The second she gets home it's an 'uggggh' moment and straight into the shower to decompress/literally unmask. She's more aware than any of the guys that she's putting on a performance, partly because she grew up with all those 'girls are expected to be...' followed by a list of things she definitively wasn't. Has also been described as 'a lot'.

Finn: And How May I Be of Service To You Today?

Now this is where it gets kind of interesting because like -- people often have facades. That's not a neurodivergent only thing. People can be fake, or posture, or pretend to be something they're not. Mike, for example, will lean into the big macho asshole when he's put on the defensive, Willy is Always Performing, Thomas is sunshine even when he doesn't really feel like being that, Robbie will play the buffoon to make people laugh if he thinks they need it, half of Joey's rants are playing to the cheap seats.

Like, there's a difference between pretending you're somebody else sometimes, or behaving inauthentically, and full on 'yeah, they're masking'.

But Georgie is masking. Georgie is, at all times, evaluating his surroundings, monitoring people's emotions and reactions (especially to him), and behaving in the manner he thinks is most likely to lead to his being liked. And he was already doing that when Robbie met him, but it's intensified significantly since.

I think that's where the biggest difference lies between some of the above ND characters and Georgie? David, for example, doesn't care if he's liked (like, yes he does, but also...no). The mask is for safety/to minimize vulnerability. David's in particular was tweaked to get praise and avoid criticism from his parents (didn't work), teachers, and coaches (worked much better), not so much for his peers.

But Georgie's isn't for safety. Georgie doesn't manage his behaviour to avoid harm, Georgie wants people to like him. And he's discovered that people don't seem to like him when he does certain things, or acts certain ways, or needs things from them, so he just...doesn't do those things.

Finn's interesting because he has both forms. Please like him it'll break his heart if you don't.

[poppy-metal]

hi hello yes can I hear about what tashi's training sessions for art look like. I think if I don't hear more about this I shall explode

hehe - the thing is, arts kind of a natural at it. he just had the wrong view on bdsm as a whole - as most people who dont partake in it do - thinking it was all whips and chains and the more severe side of things and, and, art cant see himself wanting to hit you with things like a whip - or wanting to chain you up. but tashi is more than happy to teach him its much more than that.

"bdsm is mostly about mutual trust and consent." she states more or less plainly. and art kinda blinks because he hadn't thought about it that way. he likes the idea of trust and consent. its kinda his whole thing. "the sub has the power." that makes his eyebrows draw together.

"but. they're getting dominanted - isn't. doesn't that mean giving up power... to the dom?"

tashi shakes her head. he's so naivě. "its about the submissive giving that control over willingly. and having the power to retract that submission back at any point they desire. its a gift. they're trusting their dom to give them what they need. bdsm should always be about the subs pleasure. sometimes that pleasure looks different for different couples. a sub could find pleasure in being hit, sure, but they could also find pleasure in servicing their dom. in following rules. in simply being told to sit and look pretty. the doms pleasure should come from fulfilling that. a good dom, anyway."

when she puts it like that - its easier for art to hop on board. he hadn't thought of it that way, but he thinks about it now. about you trusting him, trusting him with what turns you on, gifting him your submission and trusting him to give you what you need. he likes that alot.

"you can practice on patrick and me." tashi tells him and he chokes.

its news to him to learn both patrick and tashi are switches. well, both of them lean more dominant, but sometimes they like the feeling of giving that power up. though she explains they both have more of a tendency to be a brat.

"i have a feeling you'll like brat taming. especially when it comes to your wife - she doesn't know it yet, i think. but she's definitely in need of discipline. its why she wants to be spanked."

and though art was initially against the idea of laying his hand on you, on anyone - tashi again explains it to him in a way that makes perfect sense somehow. like all the pieces of a puzzle sliding into place, fitting perfectly.

"brats usually just want one thing - attention. being brought to heel after acting out is your way of showing them you hear them. you care about them enough to correct their behavior and set them on the right path."

she also adds, "it's also a really high endorphin rush - challenging someone and having that challenge met. that's what i like about it. with giving and receiving. i like being challenged and coming out on top, and i like doing the challenging and meeting my match."

and suddenly he thinks he understands you better than he ever has before. he'd thought you cruel. spiteful and he'd wondered if you even loved him anymore countless times. through this lense though - a new narrative comes to light. one where you just want his attention. where you just want him to show you he cares. he thinks he's neglected you terribly in that aspect. he's always one to back down and concede. he didn't want to overstep your boundaries, but maybe you'd simply been issuing a challenge this whole time and he'd refused to strike back. he feels stupid for not realizing it sooner.

tashi sees him realize it, and puts her hand over his. "would you like to try? i know i said the submissive is the one with the power - but a doms feelings are just as important. you should both want it."

he does want to try.

its a different dynamic than he's used to with tashi. when together, she usually takes the lead. there hasn't been any..... bdsm elements to their sex, but he definitely follows her direction. in a way - its not that different. he's listening to what she tells him. and she's not shy about what she likes.

she doesn't like to be smacked hard - quick swats on her ass are what she likes best. alternating between cheeks so the burn isn't delegated to just one area.

she spreads herself over his lap in her little black panties and wiggles her butt. she smirks at him over her shoulder - "its okay to get into it." she tells him. "a brat wants to piss you off. they want a reaction. its no fun if you're being a pussy about it -"

art swings his hand down then - because a little spark of irritation does go through him - he hates being called names. tashi gasps and rocks back into it. art feels himself harden. bites his lips as he palms her ass.

"green?" because he'd learned the color system just about an hour ago.

tashi arches back against him - "green." she reassures him and he spanks her again. the moan she lets out is encouragement enough to keep going.

he's suprised by how much he likes it. he likes smoothing his palm over her ass after a smack, soothing her into a false sense of security before he's at her again. he feels the heat from her skin from each smack. feels the damp of her cunt against his thigh and he imagines you like this. spread out over his lap, but you're squirming, squirming away from the pain but you're still saying green everytime he asks.

you're not tashi though - so he reigns in the urge he has to suddenly hit harder. focuses in on tashi again.

but she smiles at him like she knows where his mind went anyway.

"i bet she'd like it harder." tashi goads. she's rubbing her pussy against his thigh. "knowing her - yeah, she'd want you to beat her black and blue. until she was crying. then she'd want you to kiss it better. coddle her like the baby she is."

his cock throbs in his sweats. he palms her ass. "tashi." he warns.

"c'mon you've had to imagine it. I know i have." she huffs and continues to rock back and forth against him. getting herself off. "god, she'd look so hot with her little ass turned red. you could probably slide right inside her after - she'd be so fucking wet - ah!"

art spanks her again. than again. again and again until tashi is panting and he's sliding a hand under her body to slip his fingers inside her cunt where shes hot and wanting

"yes, that's it." she gasps. "god you're so good at this -"

he takes the praise in stride, pumps his fingers aggressively into her until shes creaming around him. shuddering in his lap.

he runs a palm down her slick back. gentle. thinks about you again, and how soft and limp you'd be after he was done with you. how he'd get to just hold you after and pour his love into you and you'd be too fucked out to do anything but accept it.

tashi sits up. she palms his hard cock and art groans.

"now i want you to think of her." she tells him as she slides her hand into his sweats and grips him in her fist. "fuck my hand like its her mouth. show me how you'd make her take it -"

art thinks this'll be the end of him. he loses himself in the thought. its like tashi isn't even there. there's just the heat of her palm around his dick and he's punching his hips up into the tight circle of it - thinking of the wet tight heat of your throat. he thinks of all the harsh words you'd spewn his way recently - thinks of punishing you for them - for being a lying little brat - why couldn't you just tell him this is what you wanted - he would have learned sooner - he would have done anything you wanted - but you're so fucking stubborn. such a stubborn girl. more so than he is, because at least now hes trying. hes changing for you.

he'll come get you. and then he'll have a few things to show you - things will be different. you'll see.

[iamnmbr3]

The more I read HP, the more I can see the unintentional drarry moments J.K. Rowling has set up in the narrative.

And while I get she's not notoriously good at writing romance, but I just don't understand how there's no reason at all for us to think he'd end up with Ginny.

Unlike romione one day he's crushing on Cho and the next he's kissing Ginny and there's that. We barely even know how he really feels about her, hell, we learn way more about Draco unwillingly than we do about her and I'm just ???

What exactly do we know about Ginny that wasn't information someone offered Harry that he didn't pick up on by himself? We barely know the color of her eyes, but wr get a 15 page essay on how Draco looks?

At this point I just feel bad for her because girly deserved better

There is definitely some setup for hinny (unlike lupin/tonks that really comes out of literally nowhere at all) but yeah it's not much and pretty easy to miss so it feels like it comes out of nowhere in book 6 - especially because Ginny's characterization and narrative framing change in book 6.

If she'd continued to be written the way she was in book 5 and her relationship with Harry continued to be written the way it was in that book it might've felt more natural. Instead in book 6 Harry is actually less close to her than in book 5 - no longer confessing his problems or feelings to her; he doesn't even ever tell her about the prophecy nor does he feel any desire to share what he's learning about Voldemort with her, even given her experiences with Tom Riddle in book 2. So she's actually much more tertiary to his life rather than increasingly involved.

If they were going to get together I think book 6 should've been the slow burn buildup book with them getting increasingly close and some will they or won't they energy going on and then they finally get together in book 7. I guess JKR kinda did try to do the slow burn thing it just didn't really work for me.

I actually have mixed feelings on whether this is a flaw. I say it didn't work for me but I mean that only in the sense that I don't buy them being soulmates who ultimately end up together. Harry and Ginny's relationship as depicted in the books does actually feel realistic to me and is interesting as is - just not as something endgame. She idolizes him. Harry thinks he might be dead soon and wishfully mistakes lust for love - partly because he'd feel bad just having a casual relationship with his best friend's sister. But after the war they realize they don't really know each other and aren't that well matched. Each needs someone else and they go their separate ways.

I think that's compelling and realistic. So if we ignore the epilogue I actually totally buy what happened in canon. I stg the whole book series is a perfect setup for 8th year or postwar drarry. It's why I prefer drarry fic that is post canon rather than canon divergent and only ignores the epilogue.

And yeah. Harry doesn't really respect Ginny and consistently sidelines her. I mean neither of them even ever gets each other a Christmas or birthday present. Even in 6th year when they're dating. They're not that close. Can you imagine Harry shopping for a present for Ginny? He's great at buying things for Ron or Hermione because he knows them well, but Ginny? Does he even know her well enough to know what to get her? No.

[thebramblewood]

Apologies if you've answered this before, but I was looking through your asks and couldn't find anything.

Do you have any advice on how you take such good screenshots of your game? You have such a knack for lighting, having variety of shots, and making them immersive.

This is so sweet. Thank you! 🥰

If I'm being honest, it's 90% vibes and gut feelings for me. I don’t have any formal background in filmmaking or photography, and everything I know is by sheer osmosis. There’s a lot of fancy terminology to describe why certain image compositions look better than others. I admire and respect anyone who purposefully keeps that in mind. But I am definitely not that person. I think I’ve watched enough film and TV, though, to subconsciously be doing the "right thing" - or at least what looks right to me.

That being said, I think the best way to improve is practice. If you spend enough time doing something you'll obviously get better at it, even if you don't realize it at first. So the most important thing is to give yourself the patience to grow and the freedom to experiment! At any rate, here are some things I've learned that will maybe be helpful to others.

Camera Tricks: We all know the camera in TS4 can be a little wonky at times. I use Buckley's camera mod. It hasn't been updated in eons but still works as far as I can tell. It gives you more freedom with movement, and I've found it especially helpful for getting shots that are lower to the ground.

Now that I've realized how sneakily useful first person camera can be, I also take advantage of that all the time. There's the trick of making your Sim look in a specific direction. (This works with poses and gameplay actions, by the way! For example, I used it to turn Caleb's head toward Lilith while he was trimming the bonsai tree.) There's the Dutch angle trick explained in this video. This is great for moments of disorientation and unease. I also just straight-up used first person camera to convey Helena's confusion upon waking after being turned.

Also, saved camera positions are your best friends. You can save up to five positions using CTRL+5-9. Then you just click the corresponding number to return to that position. I've used these for so many reasons. By taking two shots in the same position and Photoshopping them together, I've been able to edit Sims in (like Vlad below), fix accessory clashes (the book was in the hat category, so Lilith couldn't actually wear it at the same time as the towel on her head), and to pose Sims in open doorways (Helena had to walk through the door to open it for the Vatores, so I shot both halves separately).

Zoom: I love smashing that zoom button, whether it's zooming way in or way out. Zoomed out shots are perfect for establishing setting or as interstitial shots during a long conversation when you don't want to always focus on Sims' faces. They're also great for the draaama. Extreme close-ups are great for emphasizing emotion or a tiny but significant detail. Playing around with the extremes of zoom is one of the best ways to achieve shot variety!

Focus: I don't think Reshade is a necessity for good visual storytelling, but it does make certain things easier. I rely a lot on depth of field shaders to pull focus in shots. I like using cinematic depth of field especially in conversations to blur some characters while emphasizing others. I feel like this helps ground conversations because it reminds us there are multiple participants instead of always zeroing in on the speaker alone. Another way to play with focus is to allow the angle to mirror the emotions of the conversation. It's an older shot, but I always liked how Caleb seems to cower beneath Lilith's bat form here even though she's technically smaller. And in the recent conversation between Lilith and Helena, I kept the camera to Lilith's back to emphasize her vulnerability and discomfort and put the focus on Helena's reaction to it.

Framing/Angles: I do this by pure instinct, honestly, and have gotten better at getting it right on the first shot over time. I used to take half a dozen shots of the same pose from different angles and choose the best one. Nowadays, I'm quicker to commit and often take only one shot. I've learned that if something immediately tickles my brain, it's usually the way to go. I usually angle shots so that the characters aren't looking directly at camera, as it seems more natural that way. On the other hand, sometimes the direct to camera look can actually work in more confrontational or unsettling moments.

Environment: If I can help it, I don't do my own builds. In some ways, this is a disadvantage because I have to set up the scene within a space that wasn't specifically catered to it. On the other hand, it makes for fun little surprises, like the ability to peek in through a skylight or frame two characters within perfectly placed archways. I like using objects and structures to create interest when I can. I often don't discover things like this until I'm pulling the camera around and randomly happen upon them. I definitely recommend navigating all around to see what you've got to work with before committing to any specific angle. You might find one you didn't even think of!

Lighting: I do what I can with the game's lighting. I avoid placing ceiling lamps or at least turn the brightness down much lower, and I don't usually turn all the lights on in a room at once. I tend to change the color to one of the warmer golden hues to avoid a stark white that washes everything out. I always like when I can get some sources of light into frame because it adds a lot to the ambience. But I've also been using Relight on all of my posts lately. It's an addiction, and it truly makes all the difference. I'll use it to give light sources a stronger glow so they stand out more and also to create shadows on Sims' faces. It's also very good for flashlights and computer screen glow!

After having self-indulgently written all this, I'm not sure how much is usable advice versus rambling musings. I find it hard to give storytelling "tips" because so much of it feels innate and personal and hard to put into generalized terms. I also don't want to imply that every one of my shots is perfect or that there aren't a million other ways to go about achieving good results. But thank you to anyone who's made it this far, and I hope you found it worthwhile. 💕

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading roundup: May 2024

you guyssssss you guys you guys you guys I've been reading so much this month :)

sometimes my brain gets the itch to just DEVOUR books and it's really been on me, probably thanks to the burst of energy + free time that comes with the semester ending and summer getting started! the days are longer, the last of my season depression has been kicked to the curb, and I can spend hours reading on the porch every evening. the ideal!

right now, as the month ends, I'm feeling a particular hankering towards nonfiction and juicy new summer novels; I reblogged a Lit Hub roundup of new books the other day that got my brain buzzinggggg with excitement for the coming months. we'll see if that ends up manifesting in the June roundup, but for now, here's what kept me busy in May:

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble (Alexis Hall, 2022) - this month I read two romance novels picked by my beautiful patreonites; I did a compare/contrast between the two over on Patreon and I'll leave the majority of my thoughts there, but suffice to say that I am not a fan of Paris. definitely the weakest of the three Alexis Hall novels, and a real disappointment since I found the other two delightful. the story is straightforward enough and has some potential for sure, but Paris as a protagonist is a sodden mess who I found just insufferable. thumbs down from me, gang.

Chef's Kiss (TJ Alexander, 2022) - hi, it's the other romance novel. this one is a lot goofier than Paris Daillencourt, which is fitting since it's BA Test Kitchen rpf starring a bisexual Claire Saffitz and a nonbinary Brad Leone. it's frustrating because the story is definitely stronger than the one in Paris but the romance is piteously undercooked, although I was at least fine with the protag and her love interest getting together - they were boring but unobjectionable, unlike Paris and his love interest who I really thought would have been better off as friends. now that I'm thinking about it, you might get a perfect queer cooking show romance novel if you somehow mashed the two of them together. they're both, like, so close to working, but ultimately fall flat.

Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 4-6 (Ryoko Kui, 2018) - I don't even know what to say except that I'm still loving everything about Dungeon Meshi. the craft and thought that Kui puts into every facet of the world, from the big picture politics between fantasy races to the individual thoughts and feelings of each character, shows so much love for the world without ever being overbearing; it never feels like exposition is being hammered down my throat so much as little details are being tastefully arranged to be enjoyed at whatever speed and to whatever extent the reader likes. the world is getting bigger with each chapter and I'm looking forward to exploring more, especially now that Falin's hottie monster form and that good good catgirl have entered the chat.

Earthdivers Vol. 2: Ice Age (Stephen Graham Jones, Riccardo Burchielli, Patricio Depeche, Emily Schnall, Joana Lafuente, 2024) - once again I've done the worst thing that you can do as a comics fan, which is get invested in a series that's just starting out and is still releasing individual issues. the third trade paperback won't be out until December, so I guess I'm either going to have to go on hiatus with Earthdivers or start chasing down new releases on comic pirating sites, which feels shitty - that's how I read Batman comics that are the same age as me, not new stuff from authors I actually want to support! but Earthdivers might just be worth it. the second installment takes us to a wildly different setting than the first, Columbus-killing collection, dropping fearsome mother Tawny in a prehistoric North America. but while the setting changes, the series is still grappling with the question of what its protagonists are willing to sacrifice and who they're willing to become to change the past and save the world. we're starting to see bigger hints about how much history can be altered and catching some clues about the series' antagonist (???); I gotta know what happens next.

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Caroline Fraser, 2017) - here it is, the book that got nonfic so powerfully on the brain! this is a riveting history whether you grew up on Little House on the Prairie or not (I didn't), tracking Laura Ingalls Wilder from an impoverished girl constantly imperiled by life on the prairie to a beloved icon of American propaganda. for me, personally, this hefty book really picks up when it gets to the endlessly complicated and frequently nasty relationship that Wilder had with her daughter when said daughter was grown; Rose Wilder Lane is a FASCINATING figure in her own right and I'm kind of obsessed with what a shithead grifter girlboss she was. fascinating stuff all around.

The Brides of High Hill (Nghi Vo, 2024) - Vo's series of Singing Hills novellas has always woven from one genre to another, exploring new types of stories just as our protagonist, the cleric Chih, explores new lands. this installation takes us straight into a gothic horror that pulls out all the stops: an isolated manor, an enigmatic madman roaming the grounds, the strangling snares of social conventions, and a blushing bride who isn't exactly what she seems. I read it in one sitting, it's delicious.

Superfreaks: Kink, Pleasure, and the Pursuit of Happiness (Arielle Greenberg, 2023) - a poppin' primer for anybody who wants to learn more about the world of kink and what the fuck is going on out there. at one point I did catch myself thinking that I was a little underwhelmed and that Greenberg wasn't really putting forth anything that radical, but then I realized that speaking extremely candidly about and validating interest in basically any kink or fetish imaginable, and yes I do mean straight up any of them, is actually A Lot for many people to handle. so, yeah, good book, check it out for a friendly and enthusiastic intro to the wide world of kink.

Sex Criminals Vol. 2: Two Worlds, One Cop (Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky, 2015) - the first volume of Sex Criminals left me feeling a little meh, but I decided to keep going because Matt Fraction's Hawkeye run was lifechanging and I know this series is pretty widely acclaimed, so I want to see where we're going with this. (plus it's free via the library, so what do I have to lose?) this volume really sold me on the series and particularly on Jon, who I was pretty lukewarm on initially. he really stole the spotlight in this one, and I like the way that the story is ratcheting up the stakes.

The Stone Sky (N.K. Jemisin, 2017) - GOOOOOOOOOD what a book! what a trilogy! in a series shaped by empires and natural disasters, the story ultimately ends with a quit confrontation of clashing ideologies, a young daughter determined to end the world and a mother equally determined that one of her children should live. and that shit hurts! I read the series a couple of times when I was younger but I was never before able to fully appreciate the work Jemisin does in crafting Essun and Nassun, showing us the way cruelty and fear have shaped both of them into the people they ultimately are and the choices they make. absolutely masterful, a legend.

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World in Search of the Good Death (Caitlin Doughty, 2017) - this was another reread, and while N.K. Jemisin was blowing my mind, Caitlin Doughty was giving me a warm hug. I don't know what to tell you, reading about the ways that people all over the world care for their dead and take comfort in their memories makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. death can be really beautiful and comforting, if you're not a coward.

The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag (Sasha Velour, 2023) - listen, I'm not really a Drag Race girlie. I first heard about this book when Velour was a guest on Nicole Byers' podcast, and while I was very charmed by her I was not expecting to be blown away by her book. it's just a little cash-in for a Ru girl, right? all she needs to do is slap together some cool pictures of her in drag and a few platitudes about being yourself and boom bang, that's a book. but readers, I owe Sasha Velour an apology: this book was so much cooler and smarter than it needed to be! Velour brings an impressive eye to forces of colonialism and capitalism that shape art and conceptions of queerness, and keeps this framework firmly in place while keeping the tone of the book bubbly and lighthearted. she also goes out of her way to spotlight a huge variety of drag performers and gender nonconforming figures throughout history, celebrating all the different means of expression that make up the tapestry of contemporary queerness. a great read, and one that I've already shelled out for. a friend and I are working on a documentary exploring the nuances of queer style, and I know I'm gonna want to pull heavily from Velour's thoughts and the history she's curated.

[waitineedaname]

Um. do you think about how mr & mrs kageyama are undoubtedly on the Good-er side of the Parents scale but also are probably viewed differently by ritsu and shigeo. like i think about how ritsu probably had to be the easy one (the one that doesn't need you to care about them and comfort them) since shigeo has probably come home beaten up and bloodied enough times for the both of them?? also i feel like they might've said something like "well shigeo you don't HAVE to do [thing that will make any parent happy/proud] right ritsu :)" at some point. like idkkk i feel like that is definitely part of why ritsu feels so pressured to be twice as good at whatever he does (to make up for whatever mob lacks) but also if anyone said that to me i'd kill myself on the spot because it puts Zero trust in mob's abilities? like i feel it doesn't give him a chance to try because well ritsu will do it anyways why do i need to :/ (but then body improvement club happened. W)

anyways i just thing his parents (unintentionally) put sooo much pressure on ritsu. like the bar for being Good is drastically different for ritsu and shigeo*. and pre-claw ritsu thought that half of this pressure would probably disappear if mob did what he was ""supposed"" to do as the Older Sibling which might be one of the many many reasons ritsu thought he hated him?

*marathon arc is the first instance that comes to mind cuz...idk..before it happens they're like Hm. we should go wait in the middway of the path for shigeo (who waited for ritsu at the finish line?🤨). and after it they're like hehe ritsu got 9th place and shigeo did his best :) (this just sounds. damn. the bar's that low/high?). and both of these are normal! considering how shigeo and ritsu are! but i also feel like they're only normal because that's what you'd expect from shigeo and ritsu respectively which kind of. fucked up my worldview.

okayyy this got long. Sowwy. 😆

the kageyama parents make me NUTS when I think about them too hard bc they're probably the best parents in the series and definitely the most normal, but with being normal comes very normal flaws and parenting fuck ups, like comparing their sons. like comparing kids against each other is a very normal and common thing for parents to do, but it fucking sucks, and it's only made worse with the specific baggage the brother have

they absolutely put so much pressure on ritsu, which is one of the components of him snapping in the cleanup arc. he's like,, the ideal that they compare shigeo too, like they're always like "shigeo, why don't you get better grades, like ritsu. shigeo, why don't you stop doing weird things, like ritsu." I feel like the best example of this is these two pages from the cleanup arc (chapter 23, if you're curious)

literally every day I think about "ritsu is way smarter than I am. he doesn't do anything weird" [panel of ritsu looking so fucking haunted]

I'm going to put the rest of this under a read more because I had a Lot To Say

anyway, this sets up the expectations for the two of them. shigeo is the one who struggles at school, who messes up, whose psychic powers do weird things. ritsu is the star student, the perfect son, the Normal One. neither of these expectations are fair to them at all, especially since shigeo works really fucking hard when he sets his mind to something, and ritsu has to wear the mask of normalcy and perfection even if it doesn't feel right. it puts too much pressure on ritsu and sets mob up with the expectations of failure! goddammit!!

I don't necessarily blame the kageyama parents, I mean like I said, this is a very normal thing for parents to do, especially with kids so close in age. I've been compared to my stepsister, I've seen this happen to friends who are close in age to their siblings. it sucks ass, but it's a very normal flaw for a family to have. but also, even though the series really emphasizes that psychic powers are just a normal thing, I don't think the kageyama parents were equipped to deal with the specific issues their kids have bc of psychic powers. I can't help but wonder how much they know about that part of their sons' lives... the more I think about it, the more I think that ritsu definitely didn't tell them the truth about the first ???% incident, he definitely lied to protect his brother because I feel like they would treat shigeo differently if they knew he almost killed his brother and several teenagers at age ten. and it's unclear how much, if anything, they know about the major arcs of the show. do they know ritsu was kidnapped? do they know shigeo was trapped in a mental hellscape for six months? I'm pretty sure ritsu actively hid the events of the world domination arc from them. we see their mom watching the news report in the confession arc -- did she see her son on the screen?

idk, I just get the impression that the brothers don't really let their parents into that part of their lives, which means they still get treated normally but also means their parents don't really understand them. I think that's part of why reigen was so important to mob's development as a kid, because he gave him a person he could go to about things he couldn't talk about with his parents. it also means ritsu was especially isolated because he didn't have that kind of person, at least not until he and shou became friends

also what you said about ritsu being the "easy one", that fits directly into the way I think about both of the kageyama brothers being autistic. I think mob was much more visibly autistic, probably needed more support, and because ritsu didn't need the same support, everyone assumed ritsu must be allistic. I think he knew he was the "easy one" between the two of them and I think that got wrapped up in him masking a LOT to make things easier on his parents so they could focus on shigeo. this kid is so damn undiagnosed that I don't think he even realizes he might also be autistic until his teenage years at least

something something psychic powers as a metaphor for autism something something ritsu desperately trying to seem normal because he doesn't have powers, but also desperately wanting to get powers and stop having to act normal. this kid is so fucking sick of masking.

[smallnico]

i'm in love with your durge

weird question, but do you believe that esper is technically immortal because of being crafted from bhaal's own flesh? i've seen the theory being thrown around before

WWWWWWWWWAAAUGGHHHhhh???

what the hell thank u so much i'm so happy,, i'm so happy you like my little guy.....

and oh my god not a weird question at all, i also think about this all the time. i have seen some of those theories and a lot of different fun takes on the concept of durge's mortality/divinity, and i do have my own esper mortality lore, so thank you so much for asking so i can talk about it!!

i don't think esper is immortal, but they are chronically unkillable. even before they were orin'd and tadpoled and had their guts all over the place in a necromancer den and eventually walked off that experience, bhaal's been keeping them alive and restarting their vital functions whenever they die somehow. it happened a Lot, especially when they were young, that esper would be burned alive or sacrificed to lolth or thrown off a cliff or otherwise keep going in spite of massive blood loss, and bhaal's divinity or interference would either prevent them from dying or bring them back from the dead. all this is flavoured on my part to comply with things like the last gasp of bhaal given to deathstalkers, or the boon of the unstoppable from bg3.

this is my headcanon for The Esper Timeline: the bhaalspawn of the crisis were created the old fashioned way, and because they were still mortal at the end of the day, they had some trouble holding the essence of the divine without dying -- enough to bring bhaal back and channel him, but not enough for him to stay there long. so durge (esper, in this case) was created to be a more perfect vessel, more divine, more robust. the way i've set up the circumstances of esper's birth is that they are bhaal's flesh, but they still needed to incubate for a little while in a mortal body in order to be born on the material plane. this is also the reason they're half-drow and have biological family in the underdark.

esper's physiology is, in my mind, similar in some ways to dame aylin's. that said, because bhaal is only a quasi-deity, he can't really Do an aasimar on his own. so esper isn't totally divine, but they are closer to the concept of a demigod or an aasimar than other bhaalspawn, and their innate divinity, like with aylin, prevents them from dying until they fulfil their purpose (kill the whole world, last one alive, sacrifice themself on the altar, yada yada). they have no idea if they have a normal half-elf lifespan, or if they physically could die of old age if they did, but they're only 38 years old (half-elf equivalent of ~28?) so they have a while before they get to find out. they heal relatively quickly compared to a normal person, and they have access to some healing magic, but they are still partly mortal, so in spite of being more or less not allowed to die -- brought back at 1hp just like if you lose the orin fight -- they still have to do a lot of the actual healing on their own. and like... they didn't really care to take care of themself in recovery, as long as their body was still physically functional. and all this is why they look Like That, lmao.

so yeah -- maybe not immortal, but not not immortal. they're doing better, though. they don't really remember all of the different ways their bhaalist existence was fundamentally exhausting and agonizing. they have friends and a support network now.

thank u for liking my fucked up little guy... have a bonus doodle. esper is also happy to hear people like them and they definitely will not exploit that fact for personal gain.

they need money for the museum gift shop i mean for therapy. please will you give them 1000 gold pieces

[natelawtism]

YUMESHIP Q&A THING BY @/WORLDOFYUME ON TWT!!

What's the name of your yumeship?

I just call them Rownate! Trying to think of more creative names... something with their last names (Lawson and Inlumino) or one of those fun wordplay names

Who's the first to confess?

Rowan. Without a doubt.

Who's the big spoon and who's the little spoon?

It alternates a lot!! They both enjoy being held and they both enjoy holding the other. Ro is normally little spoon because Nate finds it easier and less vulnerable to be big spoon (along with the fact it's harder for Ro to look at him)

Who said I love you first?

Rowan again.. too much love in his heart

Who cooks for the other?

Nate!! Ro kind of only has a patchwork of knowledge on cooking. Nate is 100% the better cook and his food is GOOD

What's their favorite pastime together?

They have a lot, but the one on my mind rn is probably going to the beach. Nate enjoys body boarding and swimming, and Rowan is OBSESSED with marine biology. So while they hang out Ro shares a bunch of fish facts

Who's the early bird and who's the night owl?

Rowan is the night owl and Nate is an early bird. Ro THRIVES at night. Nate isn't exactly a morning person, but he does a lot of morning prep that he has NO problem doing. The discipline this man has is insane...

Who stops walking in the middle of the street to pet a stray cat?

Rowan!!! He loves cats so much

Who's more protective of the other?

Nateee he can't help it

Who's the impulsive spender?

Rowan makes stupid impulse buys if the transactions are under $10 or if he can rationalize it enough

Describe their dynamic in less than 5 words!

Rules boy x performer boy

Who fell first, who fell harder?

Rowan fell and scraped his knee, Nate tripped and broke his nose

How did they meet?

Rowan transferred into the school Nate's been going to since kindergarten and they were forced into an after school group together hehe

Who's more affectionate?

Rowan without a DOUBT

How do they feel about pda?

Nate doesn't enjoy PDA since he already has a rough relationship with affection. But Rowan likes PDA! So they don't do more PDA than like hand holding or a hug.

Who is the date planner?

Rowan! He's the one who usually asks and sets stuff up, Nate counts on him to ask most of the time.

What's your favorite alternative au?

current one stuck on my brain is mermaid au!! Cannot decide whether I like mer Rowan or mer Nate more tho because they're both so perfect (especially like... a little mermaid au with mer!Rowan and prince!Nate)

Who is more sensitive?

That one really depends...they both are pretty sensitive but Nate is a lot more cagey with his emotions. So I'd say Rowan is more sensitive because he's more of an open book.

Are there any things that you associate with your f/o / yumeship?

I associate the color magenta with Nate, honestly. I don't have specific things that I associate with the yumeship YET besides music, but I also associate necklaces with Nate!! Since he has a collection.

Who writes love letters for the other when they miss them?

Rowan. My affectionate silly boy he will not stop with his professions of love.

Who buys flowers for the other? What kinds do they buy?

Hmmm that's a hard one... Rowan is more of the acts of love guy at the beginning, so he'd definitely buy flowers for Nate for prom or an anniversary or Valentine's day. Buttt I think Nate being super blushy and flushed and giving Ro flowers at graduation or something is really sweet too!! They'd get each other flowers when they're older. Not sure which flowers exactly...

Who's a picky eater?

Both of them! Mainly because of autism, but also because Nate is conscious about his diet and food intake and Rowan just has sensory issues. (They both do tho)

How would they treat you as a marketable plushie?

Rowan would be a neglected plushie.... he'd be put in a drawer or on a desk and Nate would look at him and smile but he would not get outfits or accessories. Or like even photos. He is neglected.

[atamascolily]

As someone who makes fanvids and AMVs, I spend a lot of time looking at media in unconventional ways--cycling the same clips over and over again, jumping around in a non-linear fashion rather than watching straight through in chronological order, etc, etc. Usually, this is in service of getting shots to line up with the music or finding that one snippet that perfectly illustrates a lyric, but it also means I spend a lot of time engaged with the source material at a level of repetition and detail that most viewers do not indulge in.

I thought nothing would be able to top that level of granularity, but then I started making text post memes by juxtaposing media screenshots with clever and witty posts made by strangers on the Internet. Instead of watching the same clips over and over again, I was now watching specific individual scenes shot by shot, searching for the perfect frame to pause and screenshot. Suddenly, I was engaged with the source material on a whole new level, staring at stills I have never really looked at before, despite having watched them in motion a billion times already.

This was especially true of Madoka Magica and even more true for Rebellion, where the animators had lovingly incorporated whole new levels of detail I had never encountered before--some of them so complex and intricate, they could only be fully appreciated as stills, either because they were only on screen for an instant or because there was so much action/other stuff going on in the foreground that drew my eye when I was watching casually or for plot. (As much as I love subtitles, they did not help with this, since their presence meant my eyes were also naturally drawn to the bottom of the screen as well instead of focusing on the background.)

I started documenting my PMMM observations here on Tumblr, partially because it was low-stress and informal fun, and partially because this site has such excellent and convenient image hosting (for now, anyway) that it's really easy to discuss and compare multiple images at a time, which I think is more effective than reams of text at proving my points.

When I look at a screenshot, I have two major questions in mind:

1) What am I looking at? 2) What does it mean?

The first question is one of observation and identification. This part is usually straightforward, but can be more complicated if the animators are drawing on an element of Japanese culture that I'm not already familiar with. The answers to this question vary considerably depending on context, but they're usually not a source of tremendous controversy among the fandom; they are fairly objective, with a definitive right or wrong answer.

The second question, however, is more complicated and subjective. This is where analysis and interpretation come in--of the shot itself, the scene in which it occurs, and how it fits into the installment/series/franchise as a whole. It's entirely possible for different people to have wildly different takes on this, and multiple readings can and do exist simultaneously.

In my meta writings, I usually attempt to answer both questions: first, by pointing out details that I think are interesting, and then by offering my interpretation of them. Rebellion in particular is so visually dense that it's possible to randomly pause at any scene and find something new; no matter how much I watch it, there is always more to analyze.

To be clear, I don't think that watching Rebellion frame by frame is inherently better than watching the whole thing straight through, just that different perspectives and insights are possible. In this sense, both Madoka Magica TV series and Rebellion are inherently fractal in nature, with meaning multiple levels and layers regardless of scale. Unlike real-life fractals like the Mandelbrot set, however, there is a clearly defined limit to this--I doubt once you zoom into the pixel level there is anything to find, but hey, you never know with SHAFT.

I generally prefer to work with material that has already been released rather than stuff that hasn't, but I try to ground my predictions in my observations as much as possible--by which I mean, consistent with the show's themes and motifs on both a macro and micro level. That in itself doesn't guarantee that they're right, but I like to think they are plausible, which is all you can really hope for with that sort of thing. And of course, all my analyses and predictions tell you as much about me--how I see the world and what I value--as they do the work itself.

I used to joke that I was working on an honorary master's in media studies and Rebellion in particular, but after looking back at my output over the last six months, I'm not so sure that's a joke anymore...

[ruegarding]

Hi! How are you doing? Honestly, I had a bit of an obsession with Will after The Blood of Olympus mostly because he was a blank slate which meant that he could be anyone and anything especially since Apollo is the god of so many things, so I'd look for Will Centric content. And they were so infuriating because Will would constantly hate Percy for "being better than everyone else," "Killing Michael Yew," "Not trusting Nico." Like Percy did trust Nico, and he trusted him with his plan to defeat Kronos (which worked!) Sure there was some miscommunication but Nico came through for Percy. And Michael's death was not Percy's fault. Percy had to destroy the bridge to stop the monsters. Like to me, it feels like Will centric fics use the justification of Will to hate on Percy without anything being resolved, particularly towards Michael's death without addressing the fact that it was war and no matter how tragic it was, Percy couldn't save everyone. Anyways, HOO is fascinating. I've read somewhere on Tumblr that due to the fact that RR overpowered the five new heroes, that he had to leave the smarts to Annabeth. Which is very true and has detriments to literally every other character but especially Jason and Percy, who were essentially military leaders at 15 and 16! And like would it killed for Piper, Leo and Frank to not have superpowers? And did Hazel really need the Mist? I think it would have been fascinating if Annabeth was the one to learn it, because maybe it would have balanced out the whole power spectrum at the very least because RR insisted on giving everyone superpowers. And it's sad how neither Percy nor Annabeth have a perspective in the final book because they had just returned from Tartarus and because they're the characters we've known for years. RR just shunted them after Tartarus and Percy during the Final Battle. He is the son of the Stormbringer, he can literally summon hurricanes, plus if he really puts his mind to it, he can cause earthquakes. Like the Final Battle is where he couls have shined and yet, he did not. HOO was interesting but so much of it was a disappointment.

hi! yeah, i agree. w the way hoo (hoh and boo especially) are written there's a lot of percy bashing for things he didn't even do or things that are completely removed of nuance (thank u rick for that). like i've said before, percy has plenty of flaws, but instead of using any of them well rick made him completely ooc, and there is a definite bandwagon of hate from ppl for it. unfortunately it makes will's character a bit unapproachable in fandom.

annabeth w mist powers is interesting. i don't think i've seen that before. it could extend past being just another power and be a window into how annabeth imagines her perfect world. but yeah, there's a definite power-scaling issue w hoo, not just w the demigods, but w the antagonists, as well.

i think one of the biggest failures of hoo is that it sets up that there needs to be seven main characters—the seven of prophecy, even—and then fails to deliver these seven consistent main characters. like, the whole reason nico, reyna, and hedge end up delivering the statue is bc the seven (as in, all seven of them) have to finish the quest, but then we don't have perspectives from these characters rick just established as necessary, and rick keeps writing them out of the narrative, and characters who weren't even part of the seven come across as more important. it's a mess.

honestly, it would've been better if the seven did split up to bring the statue to chb, bc then, at least, they would all feel narratively important. instead, it's difficult to tell if we have seven main characters, nine main characters, or three main characters w some side povs. this makes it near impossible to have consistent, well-done arcs and leaves us w. whatever boo is.

[mabith]

I also love Sister Boniface Mysteries, series 3 was fantastic and I'm rewatching the entire show all over again and MFMM is one of my top shows as well! I actually haven't watched Father Brown, but I was considering it because I'm looking for more shows like Sister Boniface - what other detective/mystery shows would you recommend? :D

Father Brown was never amazing, but I think after Sister Boniface it just feels even worse, so I kind of wouldn't recommend it unless you have it on as background maybe (there are some fun side characters and Mark Williams is perfect in the role). In particular the moralizing is meh (Father Brown is all about letting the murderer go to the police themselves and repent and YAWN). The earlier seasons were better, I think, but now my mind is so taken up with Sister Boniface it's hard to remember.

The first seven or eight seasons of Murdoch Mysteries were quite fun (starts out in 1895). It features a lot of actual historical figures in random episodes, and the side characters are just so great. Good bit of humor, Murdoch is always inventing modern things decades ahead of schedule. There is also an annoying recurring pseudo villain and it seems to be a prerequisite that Murdoch is accused of murder most seasons.

There's a not-quite spin off related to it, Frankie Drake Mysteries, more in the vein of Miss Fisher and also set in Toronto but in the 1920s. Definitely nowhere near the same quality as Miss Fisher but some fun stuff especially in the first couple seasons.

Miss Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries was fairly fun as well. The mysteries were incredibly easy to solve, but it was a neat set up and I enjoyed the main character a lot.

The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries was a short-lived late-1990s show set in the 1920s, which I really liked. Only five episodes, but quality. Plus it's Diana Rigg.

Poirot is the classic, of course, and always a comfort watch for me. I mention out of acknowledgement that I am older than a lot of Tumblr. Of the newer Marple series, the first three seasons with Geraldine McEwan were good but if you're very familiar with Christie's works the cannibalizing of other stories and turning them into Marple stories can be annoying. The actress who succeeded McEwan just wasn't right for Marple at all and I stopped watching it (Miss Marple is a curious and vaguely menacing heron, the second actress was a field hockey coach).

If you're up for something in Chinese (with English subtitles) and not picky about historical accuracy in clothing, vehicles, etc..., Detective L is stupid fun (it's on free on WeTV and also Youtube but I think the Youtube one will have areas where the sound is cut). 1930s Shanghai, eccentric brilliant detective (and devastatingly handsome if you're into that), slightly dopier sidekicks, lots of humor. I honestly can't remember how the actual mysteries hold up, but every three episodes is one mystery arc and after ignoring the opening, previously on, etc... they're quite short episodes. You want to only watch up to episode 21 because they were banking on a second season which they did not get so the last three episodes are a cliffhanger and related to a wider mystery and who needs that. I'm a little biased because the lead actor is one of my favorite Guys, but I loved it.

The 2001 Nero Wolfe series was fun (another 1920s-30s), but I've also read all the original books so I'm not sure how much that makes a difference. No idea how it would feel to someone going in without knowledge of the books.

Bletchley Circle was an interesting one, far more harrowing than any of these others, and as you may gather I'm mostly into Fun Times.

For modern-set mysteries I'm quite devoted to Jonathan Creek.

[cartoonrival]

do you think sakura could be arospec?

this is something ive been thinking about especially because i hc the rest of team 7 as aro/aspec for their own independent reasons so it just like. seems like shes left out if shes not. to be fully honest i think her sexuality is pretty much free reign in terms of headcanons because even though her crush on sasuke is supposedly at the center of her story theres a million angles you can take on it regarding how genuine that crush actually is. the same argument people use to hc her as a lesbian could be used to say shes aro or that she's literally just not in love with him but still caved the general pressure to pick someone to be in love with.

her crush on sasuke being some form of comphet definitely does carry water, considering how she presents her crush on him to ino and her friends like it's an accomplishment that will make them like her more, and obviously her crush is exaggerated to the point that it wouldn't be a stretch to say she's just acting how she's seen people on tv act when they're in love.

on the other hand, i think observing that sakura has slightly mildly obsessive tendencies from the start is kind of important to understanding how her time with team 7 turns her into the person she is at the end of the story; someone who will go through hell and high water for the people she loves, for the idea of a perfect team that she only got to see flashes of to begin with. she is, after all, the only person who naruto (an insane person) feels understood by in his love for sasuke. that's the reason he feels drawn to her, and he's admitted this multiple times. with this in mind, i also don't think its inaccurate to say that her crush on sasuke could easily be genuine. she's 12, after all, a first crush at that age does make you act stupid.

the point of all this is to set the scene that i truly think people can take whatever angle they want with her sexuality. im honestly not married to any particular headcanon. i think she tends to have an attitude that she understands romance better than naruto does (who is almost definitely accidentally aroacecoded and im tired of acting like thats just my personal headcanon and not well supported by the actual text), which usually makes me lean towards the idea that she has a better idea of these supposedly intrinsic feelings and therefore is allo. her initial struggle to understand naruto's obsession with sasuke (describing it to sai as brotherly) plays into this but im not sure how. it could potentially be ascribed to the idea that she doesn't think it looks like romance because she has a rigid idea of what romance looks like. this is just weird. i feel like she would've suggested to naruto that she thought he was gay if she thought he was gay, but she doesn't do this (saying this in terms of her as a character separated from the person who wrote her. i know why kishi didn't have her suggest that). but maybe naruto being gay just didn't even cross her mind because homophobia runs so deep. but she's a fujoshi so that doesn't seem right either

ok so i guess my answer is no i dont think she is. but i think its well possible for someone to headcanon her arospec and for it to be awesome