#this isn't like. a super serious post

[cuntvonkrolock]

the fact that men can fall in love with each other is proof of a loving god

[unclassedguy]

Imagine if they grew up together like normal people 💀

[peacerisendove]

When it comes to Bart and Kon and their association with Kansas you definitely hear sunflowers coming up a bit in writing or art, but what about the Western Meadowlark??? The state bird (which is also the state bird in 5 other states)! There's gotta be something there.

See my rambling tags then look at this.

Boy look at how fitting that is for both Kon and Bart. (Also v. fitting for Kansas and its portrayal in some media. ex. Smallville, Middle of Nowhere, Kansas (Courage the Cowardly Dog))

[nero-neptune]

not to be black on main, but i don't think racism and/or right-wing 'leanings' are minor inconsequential things worth ignoring in the name of Working Class Solidarity™. like this isn't so much about luigi and whatever he (allegedly) did as it is about the response from (alleged) leftists. unlike many of you making posts like that, i live in the real world (while black). and in the real world, the politics of SO many americans start and stop with hating non-white (or specifically black) people, wherever they personally fall on the class ladder. this is why millions of poor and working class white americans will happily cut off their nose to spite their face if it means millions of nonwhite americans (of Any social class or income) are kept in 'their place'. this is a Big reason why reconstruction failed and the southern strategy succeeded. so, no, it's not something i can afford to look past for the Greater Good, actually. whole time, y'all are talking around it like it's a mild inconvenience, a teeny-tiny bump on the road towards some utopic class unity or whatever, as if racism isn't Fully Baked into politics isn't Fully Baked into classism in the U S of A. once y'all figure that out, something (like fixing this bullshit healthcare system) might actually get done lol

sorry if this complicates your easy 'this is how working class solidarity can still win' narrative, but life is complicated!

[somegurl8]

JRWItwt's doing a secret Santa event which is really cool and neat imo! But why the hell did they completely erase Apotheosis from their list of campaigns you're willing to draw/receive. Like they could add Fated on their list but not Apotheosis, literally the first ever 100% finished and complete JRWI campaign that's only 2 years old now.

[guyofthing]

Swords, guns, and wands have symbolic meaning in both Homestuck and Fragments, but they're completely different symbolic meanings. This is for several reasons: one, even though one is a fanwork of the other, they are different stories with different themes; two, all of these things are phallic, and Fragments isn't about gender nearly as much as Homestuck is about gender, despite having more canonically trans characters (it's still about gender though. A little bit. Mostly with Vereni and the Tembits' story arcs); and three, Fragments has significantly more out there weaponry at times, and much of it is a joke (much of Homestuck's Is Also A Joke). This has been Fun With Flags, I'm Sheldon Cooper.

[pencilofawesomeness]

Hi! Bookbinding anon again! Are these all the microchots that you've posted to tumblr? I want to include them as well and just wanted to make sure I have all the ones you've posted!! :)

Stay Warm

Book Nerds

Nakia

Penelope 

Donovan

A few times Acno was called a dad 

Insomnia buddies

Touch starved

Retirement

Coffee

The fish debate

+5

The only one I wasn't going to include was Wendy's Healer Training cause that was more of a textpost than a fic. And after I get the microshots in and do a bit more layout work the typeset for HTRYDS Volume I will be complete! It starts at ODAF and goes all the way up to Snowball Fight (and then Volume II is going to start at TET >:3)

I've been having so much fun with this!!

OMG you really have been going all out!!! asdklfsdlgj that's amazing (and super glad you've been having fun!)

And yes those are all the microshots so far! I was going to do the remaining two of the Bickslow's babies series sooner rather than later and then combine them because they accidentally became heavier in lore than intended but then evidently I went with the 'later' approach XD (which is fine because it's not super necessary lore until after Tenrou, but *would* help pre OS arc.... so I'll get on that soon XD)

[sendmyresignation]

Favorite Albums of 2023 ^_^

To celebrate the coming of a new year, I wanted to spend this first week looking back a bit at the things I enjoyed both old and new. So I put together a little list of albums I spent a lot of time with this year, for a bit of personal posterity, a little of getting into the groove with music writing on a very conversational but nonetheless sincere level, and also just because I enjoy, on a base level, the exchange of music. So hopefully one person will give a new album a try, or somebody will tell me their favorite thing they listened to in 2023. That's all you can ever hope for <3

Here's the albums I loved that came out in 2023 itself:

100 gecs 10,000 gecs: If I’m honest with myself- my album of the year, both in what I spent the most time with and the tracks I’d hold up the most fondly by the end of the year. the high-octane blast of creativity in these short, sweet, never dull, and always inventive bursts made listening a very joyful experience. Hollywood Baby and Dumbest Girl Alive bangers of the year though one million dollars just oooozes and chirps sounds in the most satisfying way.

 Paramore This is Why: very much preaching to the choir with this one. undeniable groove through everything– the whole thing brims with contained energy- like trapping a storm cloud in a bottle and displaying it like it's no big deal and then, every once in a while, electricity arcs through the room. The only issue is it ends on a bit of a weak note, with back-to-back ballads I don’t revisit often. but it's a minor quibble, they’re both distinct enough to stand on their own and neither is insufferably long. forgivable transgression.

Kesha Gag Order: This is self-explanatory, to me. Kesha was the first artist I ever truly fell in love with and everything she makes is like watching a flower bloom over and over again as I grow and change and wither and regrow right alongside. But on top of that, the record itself is so. powerful. Not in the cheap, congratulatory “you’re so brave way” but in the energy it radiates, in the way it stands its ground over and over. the way it grasps its own story by the throat and still lets you peak into all the messy pieces sliding out over the knuckles. Happy is one of those truly great album closers, but the whole album is so solid. 

Vastum Inward to Gethsemane: Absolutely crushing in just about every way, This is like, the platonic ideal of death metal for me. Dense and malevolent as fuck, but there’s still room for these nasty riffs buried deep in all the disgusting muck. That opening guitar on Priapic Chasm is the sickest 8 seconds of the year. 

The Gauntlet Dark Steel and Fire: At first glance, this seems like a textbook Bathory clone. And even if it was just that it’d still be amazing, I love that sound. But there’s space! and dynamic growth! And a growling echoing personality that every other standard in this space just never attempts. Even the hints of black ‘n’ roll and thrash are expanding a series of very narrow spaces– there are these mid-tempo stadium rippers scattered throughout the album that give the whole project gravitas which loops around and gives the faster stuff more swagger and aggression. really cool record.

McKinley Dixon Beloved! Paradise! Jazz?: I checked this out because McKinley Dixon has a great featured verse on Soul Glo’s Spiritual Level of Gang Shit. To make matters worse (or better, in terms of Shit I Am Interested In), the record’s named after Toni Morrison novels. To make it even crazier Hanif Abdurraqib opens the record (he reads this really beautiful passage of Jazz that's sampled later). An album so supremely up my alley I was almost scared the pieces wouldn’t fall together– they did! It's incredible! it's short but each second is purposeful and lush in a way that speaks to measure and care. the jazz isn’t just beautiful, it's a full embracing of the album’s central conceits (not just the Morrison, but the typography of cities, the people in them and the lives they live) and Dixon just oozes poetic ingenuity. Repetition is one of the best devices in his toolkit and nowhere is that more apparent than Tyler Forever which. man.... really really good project.  

Tresspasser Αποκάλυψισ: catchy-as-fuck. not what you’d expect from an album which is very explicitly about debt strikes and anarchy. usually RABM (red and anarchist black metal) leaves me a little cold, a lot of bands in this loose conglomerate aren’t musically inventive. rabm isn't just a stand-in for anti-fascist bands, the projects associated with the label are usually politically lyrically explicit (sometimes in ways that are overtly shocking or simply following a trend). which is nice! and necessary in black metal. but it doesn't automatically make it… good. trespasser have always stood out within that paradigm. clearly grounded in what actually works in black metal (the drumming across their albums is crazy kick ass in particular) and i find myself humming some of these tracks which is such a hard skill to pull off in melodic black metal without being dull or predictable.  

MEURTRIERES Ronde de Nuit: very surprisingly, a lot of this list ended up including black metal, which is uncharacteristic of me. but thankfully, MEURTRIERES is much more aligned with my tastes– epic old-school heavy metal with that galloping Maiden-esque bass and fiery, straining vocals that sit so expertly in the groove and then just push and push and push against it. simple, enjoyable, energetic.

Home Is Where the whaler: At its most basic level this is like. what emo can pull off when it wants to sound incredible. The swirling layers, the inclusion of shit like horns, the abrasive but catchy screams, crashes in and out of earshot, the rhythms!!! this is a very 2023 album, thematically and that's important and immediately apparent, but it's going to last much longer just with how the sound works and works and works until you find yourself continuously coming back, listening to it out of the blue.

Thantifaxath Hive Mind Narcosis: quote-unquote dissonant metal is so hit or miss for me. dissonance is oft a cover for boring, or unoriginal material that hangs its lapels on being disorienting or impenetrable. but when the tone is just right it swallows you up. Thantifaxath got the tone right; I was listening to this a lot while reading or writing during the latter half of the year because it just becomes a part of your world in such a wonderful, subsuming way. I really love these vocals too, they’re vaguely inhuman in a way that pairs so exactly with the balance of spacey and gross earthy magic, outside the world and grounded in flesh simultaneously. 

Crotaline The Hemipenes Demo: This is my friends’ band. They are cool and talented and I love first-wave black metal. They are also people whose projects I listen to in a fundamentally different way; when they pull something off it's a little bit life-changing because you know that person, you’ve seen them do human things! And then they are capable of great art. It's weird and disorienting and one of the best parts of being alive. But I do also think their demo is good without quantifiers, it's exactly what they wanted, it's got riffs that sound gnarly on tape, and it's dedicated to salamanders. like what else could you need in life?

Dawn’s Reflection Demo MMXXIII: This short little demo is a perfect burst of raw-ass lo-fi black metal. Which I usually cannot stand. but for some reason is just incredible here. I think it's the way the riffs and vocals interact– there’s these really solid, almost crust-punky guitar lines that shine perfectly in this kind of (basically non-existent) production. And then the vocals just completely rip over them in the loudest most batshit way possible, but there are always pauses that allow the instrumental to recalibrate. The synths are just a fun touch that drone in the back until they’re pulled to the fore which makes for these great, dense peaks instead of overwhelming the balance. It works! I am always hooked! 

And here are some new-to-me albums I listened to for the first time in 2023:

Nuclear Death …For Our Dead: Nuclear Death is already a favorite of mine (I feel like I never stop talking about them) but I finally got around to their demos/EPs this year. this one takes the cake, easily. Topping out at under 10 minutes, this record achieves a kind of demented brutality other death metal bands would kill for in a fourth of the time. It's a miasmic stormcloud of a project that proves (as everything they recorded did) that nobody can out-sick Lori Bravo.

Moral Decay To Build an End: This is a couple of kids in the 1990s writing a thrash record. Not notable in and of itself. However, it becomes clear immediately that these technically proficient metalheads are obsessed with emo. Like oldschool dc emocore. And it is thrown into their mix of sonic influences plainly and obviously. It is one of a kind. It shouldn’t work. It probably doesn’t, unless, of course, you are me and obsessed with it. The vocals on this are punky as hell and they work surprisingly well over these speedy, late-stage neoclassical thrash riffs. It's wild. I love it; the gem of the year!

Little Teeth Child Bearing Man: you will either love this or find it insufferable. Mathy emo-y touches, but this is freaky folk through and through. Flits in and out these crazy choral vocal moments and harmonies that fall in and out of comfort-level– lots of borderline screaming (or just gives up the ghost and becomes screaming). Everything devolves but the sense of melody is always lurking out of frame and comes back around to quiet and confessional. Manages artful and cathartic with a lack of grace and a hell of a conviction.

Helen Love Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Musik: the best punk understands punk is pop music. This is why I love this record. Helen Love loooovvess The Ramones, she does. And since she loves them so much she wrote dance music in their honor and got Joey Ramone to feature on the record. Incredible. 

The BellRays Black Lightning: Soul-filled garage punky rock that’s just masterfully loud, catchy, and full of unlimited swagger. Lisa Kekaula’s vocals are clearly grounded in a long, long line of rockers and soul-stirrers but what stands out is her maturity and control which allows for the slow-burners to feel huge and impressive– she’s the center, the burning star of the whole enterprise. 

Chinchilla 101 Italian Hits: this album is weird and, obviously, I love weird. Situated in the already weird San Diego post-hardcore scene, Chinchilla still stand out with their epic song lengths, murky 90s alt-rock depths, and the way Sioban Dixon’s vocals shift endlessly between a distorted fry, throaty shouts, and sweet elongated falsetto. So fun to get lost in these songs. 

Heaven’s Gate Livin’ in Hysteria: German power metal is always good. Heaven’s Gate is so obviously following in Helloween’s footsteps but Helloween is one of the greatest metal bands on planet earth and they execute that Keepers era sound so well they make a little magic themselves. Add onto that an album cover with a dragon smoking a pipe… it's over, it was love at first sight. 

A Few Honorable Mentions (if you've made it this far):

-Corinne Bailey Ray Black Rainbows (mostly here because I got to it wayy late in the year and haven’t sat with it long enough. but this was incredible all the way through)

-Smoulder Violent Creed of Vengence (was initially disappointed by this one and then I finally got a tape player for Christmas and it just… clicked in the new format)

-Be Your Own Pet Mommy (i love, love, loved be your own pet as a teen and seeing them return to music after so long with the same blast of energy is so cool. I just think the album overstays its welcome; the EP they released with just a handful of tracks just puts it into sharper relief too)

-Melissa II (incredible it was just such a good year for black metal it didn’t quite squeeze up there for me)

and that's it for me; Happy New Year may we all find new music to fall in love with in 2024 <3

[bugsinthebayou]

suspecting you may have a particular mental disorder is a constant cycle of going "holy fuck, i just had a huge Moment im like almost entirely sure i have Symptoms Disorder" -> "ok its been a bit since the Moment but it couldve just been a fluke. maybe i do have it maybe i don't" -> "i dont have Symptoms Disorder every Moment ive ever had was either a fluke or me faking it" -> "holy fuck, i just had a Moment. why was i so sure i dont have Symptoms Disorder its like so clear to me that i have it" -> "its been a bit. im beginning to think i dont have it" -> "i dont have it im faking/its something else" -> "holy fuck,

[dykeyaoi]

I get why people see tone indicators as annoying or unnecessary especially if they're used in a way that seems redundant but at the same time I often end up having to explain like eighty percent of my sarcasm & jokes even in person when I'm at my most expressive. if I know this about myself and can just clarify from the beginning that a sentence is in jest or not a jab or silly and flirty or whatever then it's really helpful both for me to know I'm not being misunderstood and for the recipient to just. read it easily

[thermesiini]

so like the thing with hannibal is that hannibal lecter is supposed to be such a competent and charming presence that despite his really obvious hiding in plain sight thing everyone's confidence is so unwavering that they outright ignore his direct involvement in these murder cases. its. supposedto be a scary thing? and i dont know if its just mads mikklesens like silly demeanor or the framing but it just comes off as ridiculous its a big reason why hannibal is funny and it is supposed to be funny you know but i cant tell if this specific type of funny is intentional or not

[llycaons]

I apparently need to be watching three shows at any time so im on the sopranos now

[yourdragonsareglowing]

anyone else having a rut of actually posting art because you wanna share these cool things you do but then it's like. so much effort to wrap all my thoughts about this into something bite sized and consumable ahahahahaha!!

[trans-yllz]

I've never had to be the person who Has Conversations With Parents when shit happens w kids but I had to TWICE today and both times they were very receptive and understanding but it's sooo hard to work out what you're going to say and how you're going to say it so that you don't upset the parents or have your concerns come off wrong while also making sure they fully understand the situation While there's a million children and like 12 other parents are lining up to sign their kids out 😭

[sunnywalnut]

If you told 16yo me that they were in fact a trans gay guy they would be so fucking offended and kiss AT LEAST 2 girls to prove you wrong

But since I'm living the truth now it's kinda hard to deny

[fuck-customers]

(half rant half story)

I'm a physicist. I work for a company that helps develop car parts. Essentially, car companies come to us with ideas on what they want from a part or material, and we make/test the idea or help them make/test it. Usually this means talking to other scientists and engineers and experts and it's all fine. Sometimes this means talking to businesspeople and board execs and I hate them

A bit ago when AI was really taking off in the zeitgeist I went to a meeting to talk about some tweaks Car Company A wanted to make to their hydraulics- specifically the master cylinder, but it doesn't super matter. I thought I'd be talking to their engineers - it ends up being just me, their head supervisor (who was not a scientist/engineer) and one of their executives from a different area (also not a scientist/engineer). I'm the only one in the room who actually knows how a car works, and also the lowest-level employee, and also aware that these people will give feedback to my boss based on how I 'represent the company ' whilst I'm here.

I start to explain my way through how I can make some of the changes they want - trying to do so in a way they'll understand - when Head Supervisor cuts me off and starts talking about AI. I'm like "oh well AI is often integrated into the software for a car but we're talking hardware right now, so that's not something we really ca-"

"Can you add artificial intelligence to the hydraulics?"

"..sorry, what was that?"

"Can you add AI to the hydraulics system?"

can i fucking what mate "Sir, I'm sorry, I'm a little confused - what do you mean by adding AI to the hydraulics?"

"I just thought this stuff could run smoother if you added AI to it. Most things do"

The part of the car that moves when you push the acceleration pedal is metal and liquid my dude what are you talking about "You want me to .add AI...to the pistons? To the master cylinder?"

"Yeah exactly, if you add AI to the bit that makes the pistons work, it should work better, right?"

IT'S METAL PIPES it's metal pipes it's metal pipes "Sir, there isn't any software in that part of the car"

"I know, but it's artificial intelligence, I'm sure there's a way to add it"

im exploding you with my mind you cannot seriously be asking me to add AI to a section of car that has as much fucking code attached to it as a SOCK what do you MEAN. The most complicated part of this thing is a SPRING you can't be serious

He was seriously asking. I've met my fair share of idiots but I was sure he wasn't genuinely seriously asking that I add AI directly to a piston system, but he was. And not even in the like "oh if we implement a way for AI to control that part" kind of way, he just vaguely thought that AI would "make it better" WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEANNNNN I HAD TO SPEND 20 MINUTES OF MY HARD EARNED LIFE EXPLAINING THAT NEITHER I NOR ANYONE ELSE CAN ADD AI TO A GOD DAMNED FUCKING PISTON. "CAN YOU ADD AI TO THE HYDRAULICS" NO BUT EVEN WITHOUT IT THAT METAL PIPE IS MORE INTELLIGENT THAN YOU

Posted by admin Rodney.