arashikurobara

[arashikurobara]

basically i'm checking to see who likes pickles and who doesn't 💚🥒 (<- pretend that is a pickle thanks)

#food #give me your picklessssssssss

[arashikurobara]

Europeans, I have some questions.

Do you know what ambrosia salad is?

If so, is the version you know of a) a normal salad or b) a "dessert" salad?

Do you know what Dirt Cake is?

If so, is that common knowledge in your region?

(What country/region do you live in, other context you wish to add, etc)

I'm working on the new Shivadh novel and I underestimated the comedic potential of Simon, a classically trained French chef who has been cooking for European nobility for thirty years, trying to set a menu for a graduation party with Noah, your average American teenaged garbage disposal, and Eddie, who is literally based on Guy Fieri. Reminds me of the bit in Infinite Jes where Michaelis mentions that Eddie and Gerald had him judge a debate about Hot Pockets and then confesses he doesn't actually know what they are.

(Context for the end of the snippet -- Hugo and Gwen are Simon's brother and sister-in-law, Claude is his young nephew.)

"Huh, okay, so are we doing like a salad theme?" 

"How do you mean?" Noah asked.

"Oh, just, you've got a potato salad and a pasta salad. I'd suggest a Jello salad for dessert but..." Eddie broke off at Alanna's horrified look. "That is what you will see on everyone's face," he said to Noah, pointing at Alanna. 

"Not so, I could do an aspic," Simon protested. "Sweet or savory, very traditional -- not this nonsense from American cookbooks from sixty years ago."

"American nonsense is kinda my brand," Noah pointed out. "Uh, I don't think we realized we were building a giant salad course but I am into that, actually. I'd like to discuss the Jello Salad," he said, and Eddie crowed delightedly while Alanna blanched, so Simon had to mediate a good-natured but extensive debate about gelatin in sweet dessert salads. 

It was an education; when he showed Hugo and Gwen what Americans thought ambrosia salad was, later, their horror was gratifying. It was a fitting prelude to his next exhibit, the Dirt Cake pudding cup, which made Hugo pretend to faint but -- even better -- fascinated little Claude so much that he insisted he wanted them instead of a cake for his next birthday. 

"He'll forget by the time the birthday arrives," Simon assured Hugo, who pretended to mop a sweaty brow. "And if he doesn't, I can elevate this. A light coffee mousse with chocolate biscuits -- drizzle with a sweet wine reduction -- jellied candy flavored with dragonfruit and blackcurrant."

"Can we put bones in the dirt?" Claude asked, already exploring his terrible American dessert options on his tablet. 

"Not human," Gwen said hurriedly. "That's a bridge too far for a birthday party, my darling," she told Claude. 

"Dinosaur bones?" Claude asked hopefully. Gwen and Hugo both looked at Simon. 

"Meringue, or marzipan," Simon pronounced. "Yes, that could be done. Well, my little gravedigger, we will see," he told Claude, tousling his hair.

#food #okay but #am american so I can't speak to the questions #but that fancypants version of dirt cake described in the snippet sounds fucking divine

[arashikurobara]

The production studio at "Baby, the Stars Shine Bright" featured in an episode of Tokyo Fashion Express. Their designs typically require up to 50 sewing patterns, which is about 5 times as many as the average dress. Detailed notes on measurements and specifications are written for the sewing factory.

The sewing factory is in Ibaraki prefecture. For more than 20 years they've been sewing clothes exclusively for BTSSB. 17 people work there, most of them being veterans age 60 or over. Due to the complexity they work in teams for ironing, sewing lace and ribbons, as well as completing gathers and frills.

The manager of the factory, Sumiko Watahiki, says in an interview: "There's tons of gather, lace, and layering, which requires a lot of sewing. At first, I doubted I could do it! It was that hard. (But) I'm always impressed with the adorable designs when I see the finished products or while I work."

#fashion #lolita fashion #baby the stars shine bright

[arashikurobara]

If you didnt believe Laios was autistic before todays episode i hope it clears that up for you

we were first shown his special interest, a very autistic trait to have. We get to see him indulge in his interest, we get to see him happy.

but this episode contains the scene that makes it clear Laios cannot understand social cues, tone of voice, sarcasm, or subtlety. He actively suffers socially with other humans.

Shuro is pissed Laios didnt pick up on the fact that he hated Laios, because he was being passive aggressive (at best, Shuro bottled up a lot of feelings), and said verbally he was Laios' friend. Laios takes things at face value, if someone says "im your friend" that's what he believes is true.

He hates that Laios "gets to be genuine". I hate the way he says that "gets" as if its a privilege for Laios. It's a privilege for Shuro who is nobility and has his behavior and emotions stifled. Laios doesnt understand that others are NOT genuine. he's not from that world.

that's why Laios asks "why didnt you TELL me?" and Shuro says it should have been obvious.

it was NOT obvious to Laios, not at all.

And also, that was who Laios thought was his FIRST friend on the island. he thought he made a friend, something actively difficult for him to do.

it devastated him to learn that he was wrong the entire time.

#dungeon meshi #laios #shuro

[arashikurobara]

Not that it matter but don't these people realize that kids who are half white can come out looking completely like their white parents. Like my grandpa is an Afro- Latino and my mom looks completely like her mother whose mostly white. I don't understand why race mixing matters anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️people love who they love.

Because they’re stupid

#science #yeah this rules actually!

[arashikurobara]

Writing Advice: How to Create Conflict when Your Characters are Competent.

Featuring Leverage, the ultimate in Competency Porn.

Make them so good it gets them in trouble. So you've got a hacker and he's the best, definitively. Okay, well, one of his fake IDs just got called for jury duty. You pretended to be a psychic so well, someone kidnapped you to talk to a dead crime lord.

Make them targets. You're so good, enemies you didn't even know about are trying to kill you just so they won't have to take you on in your element. You're being blackmailed into doing a thing because you're the only one that can.

Limit the scope of competency. Sure, you're competent as a fighter, but your hacker is in jail and now you have to do his job and you are not competent in that. Yeah, you can climb a building, but do you know what you need to do to not end up in a crevasse while climbing a mountain?

Raise the stakes. Can you handle extracting a orphan being used by a washed up actress to fund her extravagant lifestyle? Yes. But can you handle extracting 30 orphans being used by the Slovenian mob to fund gunrunning? Maybe all you wanted was to get enough money to buy back a house, but instead you have to ruin the company so that all houses they illegally obtained are returned to their rightful owners.

Make others competent, too. Your characters are the best, but are they the best of the best? If you take you enemy down, do you go, too? If you win, does it make them win? Does it get out of hand and make other people start noticing when you're trying to keep your head down? Do they know every trick in the book and know the next move before you make it?

Make others painfully incompetent. Your characters are the best, but are they woefully unprepared for people who are not even good? Can your hologram hacker roll with it when the vital information is on a casset tape? Is the old mentor up to date on the recent technology, or is he going to screw you because he assumes the cops are just as corrupt/incompetent as when he was young?

Have some standards. Specifically, morals that make it impossible for your characters to back out or gets them in trouble for doing things "off-script." You can't leave on the train someone just stole for you because you've got to go back and stop the bad guys from bombing the IRS (even if we don't like them). You wish you could just say no to that assassin contract and leave, but someone's getting assassinated and you have to stop it because you're a good guy.

Bring up the past. Do you think that bad guy you brutally scarred a decade ago is going to carry a grudge? Do you have to save your ex-wife from the bad guy, who may also be her boyfriend, and if you suggest that she'll shut you out and you won't be able to save her or get paid? It's Draaamaaaa, babee.

#writing #leverage #I like how I can still point to the exact episodes for the vast majority of these lol

[arashikurobara]

THE 10th KINGDOM (2000)

#the 10th kingdom #virginia lewis #wolf

[arashikurobara]

he's fighting a beautiful buff lady. her shirt gets ripped and she's left in her slutty little tank top. "come on," you think. "why is the woman always wearing sexier things than her male counterparts." but fear not. now HE takes off his shirt and he's left in HIS slutty little tank top. equality. and then they kiss

#leverage #eliot spencer

[arashikurobara]

just curious as they're always things i've never questioned just doing but people in my life are often surprised that i don't mind doing them alone

🔁 pls reblog for sample size

#poll time #fine doing literally all of them alone #and have done all of them alone #though I don't really do the movies much because it kinda feels like a waste of money and effort when I can just wait for it elsewhere

[arashikurobara]

Four Murasame

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

Oh my god I can’t believe I actually did this! I’ve wanted to cosplay Four for a decade, and it took me absolute literal years to track down the perfect fabric and wig, and then getting to shoot her in such a good location? I’m still screaming inside. My tragic girl of all time.

Photo: @fabrickind

Costume, wig styling, model, photo edit: @silencedrowns

Location: USS Hornet Museum

#cosplay #gundam #zera gundam #four murasame

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#science #animals

[arashikurobara]

#technology

[arashikurobara]

But there was a period of friction, when “hello” was spreading beyond its summoning origins to become a general-purpose greeting, and not everyone was a fan. I was reminded of this when watching a scene in the BBC television series Call the Midwife, set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, where a younger midwife greets an older one with a cheerful “Hello!” “When I was in training,” sniffs the older character, “we were always taught to say ‘good morning,’ ‘good afternoon,’ or ‘good evening.’ ‘Hello’ would not have been permitted.” To the younger character, “hello” has firmly crossed the line into a phatic greeting. But to the older character, or perhaps more accurately to her instructors as a young nurse, “hello” still retains an impertinent whiff of summoning. Etiquette books as late as the 1940s were still advising against “hello,” but in the mouth of a character from the 1960s, being anti-hello is intended to make her look like a fussbudget, especially playing for an audience of the future who’s forgotten that anyone ever objected to “hello.”

Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch

#english #history

[arashikurobara]

Reblog to let your followers know that despite your current obsession your previous obsessions still exist and are simply lying dormant until they awaken and strike again

#it me

[arashikurobara]

You can't cut soft cheese in thin slices or wedges because it just gets squished, but you can with hard cheese, cause the protein holds it together. Casein point:

#aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh #puns

[arashikurobara]

“Lolita isn’t a perverse young girl. She’s a poor child who has been debauched and whose senses never stir under the caresses of the foul Humbert Humbert, whom she asks once, ‘how long did [he] think we were going to live in stuffy cabins, doing filthy things together…?’ But to reply to your question: no, its success doesn’t annoy me, I am not like Conan Doyle, who out of snobbery or simple stupidity preferred to be known as the author of “The Great Boer War,” which he thought superior to his Sherlock Holmes. It is equally interesting to dwell, as journalists say, on the problem of the inept degradation that the character of the nymphet Lolita, whom I invented in 1955, has undergone in the mind of the broad public. Not only has the perversity of this poor child been grotesquely exaggerated, but her physical appearance, her age, everything has been transformed by the illustrations in foreign publications. Girls of eighteen or more, sidewalk kittens, cheap models, or simple long-legged criminals, are baptized “nymphets” or “Lolitas” in news stories in magazines in Italy, France, Germany, etc; and the covers of translations, Turkish or Arab, reach the height of ineptitude when they feature a young woman with opulent contours and a blonde mane imagined by boobies who have never read my book. In reality Lolita is a little girl of twelve, whereas Humbert Humbert is a mature man, and it’s the abyss between his age and that of the little girl that produces the vacuum, the vertigo, the seduction of mortal danger. Secondly, it’s the imagination of the sad satyr that makes a magic creature of this little American schoolgirl, as banal and normal in her way as the poet manqué Humbert is in his. Outside the maniacal gaze of Humbert there is no nymphet. Lolita the nymphet exists only through the obsession that destroys Humbert. Herein an essential aspect of a unique book that has been betrayed by a factitious popularity.”

— Vladimir Nabokov (tr. Brian Boyd), Apostrophes (1975)

#vladimir nabokov #lolita

[arashikurobara]

really recommend getting a partner with a different religion than you and very little knowledge of your religion because the opportunities for explaining things to each other are just exquisite

#religion