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hillbillyoracle · 1 year

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Pen and Paper Planning

Maybe you like me are endlessly drawn back to pen and paper. I have often felt more at home in a good notebook. For a long time I thought there just weren't many options for notebook systems in comparison to "productivity" apps but over the years I've collected a number of them that I pull inspiration from for my own system. I've been told my little compilations are helpful so I thought I'd share what I've found here with some notes about each.

Bullet Journal

The OG. I think bujo has gotten a bad rap by people who've only every interacted with it via aesthetic routes like instagram. I found out not to long ago that there are people who don't know what the original system entails at all so I thought it was worth mentioning here.

Check it out here.

I recommend it less as a "productivity" system and more as a style of rapid/micro journaling. Does journaling feel like it takes forever and just isn't worth it - this is the system for you. When you go into it with that mindset, it's a lot easier to get the benefits. Wouldn't really recommend it for full blown tasks management and planning but the creator is upfront he never really intended it for that.

Everbook

This is more of a folio style as opposed to a notebook system but I think there are aspects that translate nicely to notebooks. It's definitely more of a productivity system too - very GTD influenced according to it's creator. I like it for it's modular approach to tasks, inspiration, and tracking.

Check it out here.

I recommend this if you like multi-notebook systems and are focused on getting tasks done more so than reflection/introspection.

Analog by Ugmonk

Basically a glorified notecard but this one has been a real game changer for me with regard to my daily tasks. I keep my today card clipped to the cover of my journal. You don't need to buy their fancy system for it at all and lots of people have hacks of it. Easy to combine with 1-3-5 Lists and the Bento Method as well.

Check it out here.

I recommend it for people who prefer a more flexible way of planning their days than what traditional planners offer.

Strikethru

I've not gotten to try many aspects of Strikethru yet but there are some I'm definitely looking to incorporate in another journal. Strikethru is a much more task oriented system than a bullet journal. It features a "live list", "dump" "vault" and calendar. I think it best replicates what you do what many to-do apps. They have their own journal you can buy but it can be set up in your own notebook.

Check it out here.

I recommend this for people who are doing large projects with lots of moving parts.

Theme System by CPG Grey

I love CPG Grey's ideas about yearly and seasonal themes. He created a notebook to compliment those ideas. It basically is composed of a section on fleshing out your themes, daily reflection pages, and habit tracking. I like the light direction while still being freeform enough for most goals.

Check it out here.

And here.

I recommend it for people who's primary use case is self improvement oriented. If you're looking to move the needle forward in some area of your life, themes are a great way to start.

Commonplace Book

I think the best way to think of a Commonplace Book is that it's a sketchbook for ideas. I think too often with digital systems it's easy to get caught up in worrying about capturing all of our ideas or optimizing them to be found again - which only really adds stress and unnecessary complexity. What I like about a commonplace book is not only it's usage throughout history but it's simplicity.

Check it out here.

And here.

I recommend this for people who are looking to do a lot of creative or intellectual work and don't want to get distracted by screens to capture what inspires and moves them. Also for people who prefer to refer to their inspiration in a more tactile way.

Maurice Moves' Notebook

When I first found this method, it had very few views. When I went to look it up again, it had taken off. I'm so glad because it feels like an underrated system that can be easily paired with some of the other. It's basically a series of pages he uses to work through goals or just directions he wants to move in life. I've never see a system that's both so orderly and thorough. I especially appreciate is way of working backwards from his desired results to develop his plan.

Check it out here.

I recommend this for people who are trying to achieve big things but aren't totally sure how to get here. Seems very neurodivergent friendly too depending on what you personally excel with.

1-3-5 Lists

I first learned about a similar concept from Esme Weijun Wang's ebook "Productivity Journaling with Limitations" but I can't seem to find it on her website anymore. This website has one version of it but the version I've been using is slightly different.

The first task is my "win the day task" - if I only do this it was a productive day. It's achievable based on the resources I have that day. On low energy days , the task might be a simple chore like laundry or a health activity like walking. On a high energy day, it's usually something that moves me forward in some way - tackling projects like redoing my room or organizing all of our papers. Most days are inbetween though.

The next three have historically been "to not cause myself further trouble" tasks but I've been experimenting with making them one home/work task, one health task, and one relationships task as mentioned in this Ali Abdaal video (in Part 3).

The next five to six tasks are usually just easy wins - things I can get to if I feel like it but I feel no pressure to complete.

I recommend this system for people who are working with variable energy, health, time, or other resources. I could see it being helpful for folks with children or who are caregivers as well. I've found it useful as someone with chronic illness.

Sorry this section is a bit of a mess, when I originally put it on here I thought I could just link to Wang's ebook but alas. If anyone has the link, please drop it in comments.

Bento Methodology

This is another one that can be paired with another system. While the video I link to is talking about it in terms of an app, I think it's similar to the 1-3-5 system in that you can just use it inside of any other to-do list or task system you might be using. I appreciate it's nudge to do deep work and it's clear criteria for each compartment. I use this when I have more energy and want to use it to the best effect. Whenever I use it I always feel like I had a really meaningful day in terms of my efforts.

Check it out here.

I recommend this for people who want some structure to their day but still want flexibility from day to day to pick what they work on.

And I think that's most of them. I hope something here inspires you to pick up a notebook and get to writing. Best wishes!

#studyblr #analog #planner #notebook #planning

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amadeusgame · 2 months

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The World's Longest And Most Sentimental Development Log (Marketing Retrospective)

It's been a month since the demo release, and Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee ~ Episode 1 ~ Waltz has just reached 100 wishlists on Steam. I'm incredibly grateful for the support and interest.

Because this has been the month following a major release, most of my efforts have been focused on communications as opposed to development. I still want to discuss these efforts, both as a retrospective for my own reference, and in case anyone else finds it enlightening. This was meant to be a short and to-the-point marketing discussion, but it accidentally... and inevitably... transformed into something incredibly long and sentimental.

The long and short of it is that I've had an overwhelmingly successful month by my standards. Discussing marketing means I have been analyzing why that is. In doing so, I slowly became aware of just how much of my entire life has been building up to this.

I originally planned to mention other things in this update... discuss the recent demo livestream, announce an upcoming "100 wishlists" celebration... but those no longer really suit the tone of this update. I will post about them another time. I wasn't prepared to celebrate 100 wishlists this quickly, anyway! I had no idea I would get that much in the first month! I'm not ready to make that announcement! I would like to do something appropriate for this milestone, so please give me some more time to put proper thought into it.

You can reference here for the livestream video and other resources: https://linktr.ee/amadeusgame

I don't expect very many people to read the rest of this. But I am writing it anyway because it's important for me to express. And if you got anything out of the Amadeus demo, you probably got the fact that I am a bit of a long-winded and sentimental person. Bearing that in mind...

On Marketing Amadeus

Overall, I tried a lot of different things—many of which flopped—based on the question "what kind of communications would I like to see, as an audience?" Some combination of all of these somehow worked. I don't think it is particularly useful to try and pinpoint what specific individual things made Number Go Up the most, because the real takeaway was that I put enough messages out in enough places that over 100 real actual human beings came across them and were interested in what I am making. That number is probably tiny to people trying to earn a living in games, but as someone just hoping to get my art out there... the number 100 is significant and motivating.

I am happy to share the things that I've tried, and my impressions of how well they worked for my situation and purposes. Before that, though, I must stress that having assets to share in these communications in the first place was an invaluable step, especially since visuals and aesthetics are a very core part of my game.

Creating Marketing Assets

(When uploading a game to Steam, there are approximately 8 million different aspect ratios and dimensions you need to create branding assets for, so I chopped that source poster up into different pieces and spent about a week just making different combinations of them to suit various needs.)

Again: I was not thinking ahead to the Steam page when I drew this in October, not really. I was just drawing something that I wanted to draw, inspired by art that inspired me. If I hadn't indulged that desire and "procrastinated" a bit, I wouldn't have the assets to advertise the game when it came time for launch! This is something that I've experienced again and again throughout the process of development: making things for fun, doing things on impulse, taking breaks and indulging whims... many of these activities somehow end up being essential for the game. If I had refused that self-indulgence to focus on Important Development Stuff, I wouldn't have the cool piece of art I needed to successfully advertise the finished game on launch. Moreover, the final art in the game would not be as good, because I wouldn't have gotten ideas about art direction from making this poster.

(Also... I wouldn't have had as much fun making the game. Since this game's budget is $0 and all of my free time, it REALLY matters that I am having fun while making it.)

Even more important than these visual assets, though, was the trailer. How many games have I checked out just based on the trailer? I recently purchased Raging Loop on Steam, a game I have been considering for months, because I finally watched the trailer and realized "okay, this game is me-core." The trailer is so important. It's not about how pretty the trailer is; it's about whether the trailer shows me a game that I, in particular, want to play. I don't know who my audience is, but considering my goals and inspirations, I think it is something along the lines of "hipsters who love some combination of Umineko, werewolves, and unique aesthetics." So I needed a trailer that would connect with those people. A trailer that, if I watched it, would make me realize hey, this game is me-core.

Making a trailer is its own skillset, though! Completely separate from game development. Communicating something in video form is different than communicating it in another medium.

Fortunately... I have actually done a lot of just-for-fun video editing projects very recently! I edited together a "trilogy" out of roadtrip camcorder footage I took, and also put together the video for an audio-visual collab album. I already have tools and a workflow that I like to use.

I am developing a game, but it has helped me so much to have experience making a stupid trilogy of camcorder footage roadtrip videos.

I worked on those video editing projects because they were fun. I had absolutely no ulterior motive. In doing so, I still gained an important skill that transferred directly to marketing Amadeus. As someone who has always struggled to focus on just One Thing, it's incredibly affirming to realize that having done a lot of random stuff is actually really helping me as a solo game developer. I feel like I've finally found an art form where this is an important skill, and not a hindrance or distraction.

So... well, I suppose this means that I have no useful advice for other developers. I want to be honest about my experiences, and my experiences are that I only was able to prepare good marketing assets for Amadeus because I did a lot of for-fun art projects outside of game development. From my perspective, this is amazing news: it tells me that allowing myself space to be an artist and a person outside of this project has actually helped make the project itself better. It tells me that there are no downsides to being experimental and giving time to other projects too. But to anyone reading this hoping for some advice on putting together marketing assets, I'm sure it's the least helpful or relatable thing in the world. I'm sorry about that.

Getting the Word Out

Once the demo released, it became a matter of presenting the materials I had in the right ways, and in the right places. This is what I have been spending most of my waking hours doing this month. A non-exhaustive list of everything I've tried:

E-mailed all of my professors from grad school whose courses influenced my compositions for the game in some way. (This wasn't so much about the numbers, it was just motivating to get nice comments back. :D)

Joined a few Discord servers for communities dedicated to indie game developent; tried to engage in meaningful conversations there and check out other games while also sharing my own work. (I'm asking others for a favor, to take a look at my work, so I try to check out theirs too in return.)

Posted the trailer on the Visual Novels subreddit. (This flopped.)

Posted weekly* on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and a few other places. (This has been the bulk of my ongoing communications; see below!)

Posted on a forum I joined last year to discuss music composition.

Found and followed a lot of other indie game devs making things that interested or excited me.

Shared it in a Discord server I moderate** as a "creative mod." (I host monthly art-focused events, curate spaces for sharing art, etc.; see below.)

Shared it with basically all of my friends! Especially friends who are also artists and creators!

To sum, I used every single available avenue to talk about it. But I really need to expand on the two points bolded and asterisked above. I have something additional to say about them, and I cannot overstate how much it matters.

*Weekly Posts

As indicated, ongoing weekly posts on various platforms are the meat of my marketing. I post regularly, but it's really important to me to not just post the same stuff all the time and annoy everybody. I try to highlight different aspects of the game each time, use different framing, and do a variety of weird and silly stuff. Some things perform unexpectedly well and others are complete flops. But I think it's been key to not be afraid of failure and just try things. That way it's still interesting to the people who already checked out the game, while hopefully reaching new eyes too!

(Full disclosure, however: sometimes I will do something that has 0 chance of doing numbers, just because I think it would be a fun thing to post. Since I am completely self-motivating on this project, I have to do things that are self-indulgent, or I will burn out. So, hypothetically, I might be compelled to, say, post a photo taken on an Instax analog camera of the game hooked up to a CRT TV.)

(Step 1 of marketing is to have fun and be yourself?)

BUT ALSO!

AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS POST!!

I only have any sort of audience on these platforms because of other, unrelated things I've been doing for years. I met a LOT of people on Twitter and Instagram through cosplay and Tales of Symphonia speedrunning, who stuck around somehow. I met some people on Tumblr from recent Ghost Trick ROMhacking, and others from Homestuck meetups in 2012. I met people on Discord from a forum about video games I joined in 2006. I was already connected with a lot of like-minded people to share my game with! I know—I KNOW—that this is something that is only easy to say in retrospect, but: doing stuff and meeting people over the course of a lifetime has added up. I hope that this will continue to be true, and maybe some people who find me through Amadeus will stick around for whatever comes after, once I've fully completed the 5-episode story I have to tell here. And I will see it through.

So, please bear this in mind when reading about how I promote my self-indulgent game every week on Instagram. I did not attend Anime Expo 2015 in order to build an audience for the visual novel I would make 9 years later. I was just meeting and connecting with other cosplayers, because I thought I would still be doing cosplay indefinitely. But many of those connections have persisted over the years, and some of those people are interested in my game. None of this seemingly-unrelated life experience is wasted. In the words of one of my teachers from grad school, "it's an accumulated life." I have ended up somewhere unexpected, and I did not plan to end up here, but all of those past experiences were still a part of getting me to where I currently am.

**Discord Server Mod

I want to highlight this particular place where I've promoted my game, because it's important in a way that connects with basically all of my rambling above. I want to make it clear that absolutely everything that went well this past month started so much longer ago than that.

In this point, I am not saying "step 1 of indie game promotion: simply have been a creative events moderator on a Discord server for years first!" as this is incredibly useless advice. Hear me out for a moment.

About 2 years ago, there was no "creative events" moderator on this particular Discord server. It was mostly a space to talk about video games with friends. You could also post art there if you wanted, and you might have gleaned a react or two.

Also about 2 years ago, I began to think very deeply about my relationship with art and the internet. When I was a tweenager, there was this video game forum—a forum that migrated to the Discord server in question recently—where you could post your art (usually video game fanart, but could be anything), and the moderator would always engage with it and provide meaningful, thoughtful feedback. That space is one of the biggest reasons I drew so much when I was younger, and worked so hard trying to learn how to draw and shade and color better, because I wanted to have my efforts praised, and I knew they would be.

2 years ago, I desperately needed a space like that again. Lacking one, I decided to pick up the torch left behind by the moderator from my tweenage years, and become the person who would always, always provide thoughtful engaging feedback when people posted their work there. Literally some "be the change you want to see in the world" shit. I knew that someone else doing that for me fundamentally altered the course of my life, so I wanted to try and be that for others if possible. More selfishly, I hoped that this would also create the much-needed space for me to share my work and get feedback and responses, too.

Now, about 2 years later, that channel is pretty active. People regularly share their creative works, and it is one of my favorite places to post my own stuff because people are really good about engaging with each other's stuff there. It's been one of the most important places for me to share progress on Amadeus, because that external motivation helps a lot. And once the demo came out, I have absolutely no doubt that this server was a significant proportion of the initial support and momentum it received on launch.

I did not even have so much as a delusion of being a game developer when I made these changes in the Discord server. I was working in IT and considering applying to music school. I just wanted to build a community around art.

So, why am I writing about my 2-year journey as a Discord mod in my development update about marketing? Hopefully it makes a bit more sense now. I'm really trying to emphasize that the marketing I did this past month didn't start last month. It started 2 years ago on this Discord server, it started in 2006 when I joined that video game forum. Really, my marketing efforts have gone as well as they have because—whoops, I am tearing up writing this—I have made a lot of incredible connections in a lot of communities over the years, and now that I have something very important to me that I want to share, they have really helped support it. I've had some friends go so far above and beyond what I would ever ask them to do in sharing my game, and that kind of support just... I can't put a number on it; it's invaluable.

In Conclusion

Go to conventions and meet cosplayers. Speedrun a 6-and-a-half-hour-long JRPG from 2003 on Twitch. Join a forum and when it migrates to Discord, organize art events and comment on other people's work. Draw self-indulgent stuff and make silly roadtrip videos scored with Logic Loops. Make 90% of a ROMhack of a Nintendo DS game. Get completely obsessed with other visual novels on itch.io and write essays in their comments.

My name is Leo, and my marketing advice is You Only Live Once. I hope this helps. Have a wonderful evening and I look forward to presenting you with a more coherent update next month.

#amadeus: a riddle for thee #indie game marketing #devlog #indie game dev #visual novel

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emmybeearts · 6 months

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I'M SORRY I REDESIGNED THEM AGAIN!

explanation (and more) under the cut!

So I made their original designs in a spiral notebook back in high school (I'm not sharing those because they're SO bad) and some of the ideas I had were solid but Really unpolished. When I posted the first draft of these 2 I basically just took the highschool design and made it have a little more geometry.

Everyone else I've posted so far used their notebook designs as a springboard to make something I actually like! but i really wanted to release these 2 together and rushed myself and i made something i just could get to look right no matter what I did!

Recent events allowed me more time to think about how to take their personalities, and figure out how I want to visually represent them- changing up shapes to be more aesthetically pleasing and giving them a color palette reminiscent of their G1 designs but still entirely their own!

Blackout is supposed to be a radically emotional individual. The things he loves, he loves with his whole spark. This love manifests itself as fierce defense for his friends and family. Anything he interprets to be a threat to his family will be met with vicious aggression; and as the team's heavy weapons expert, this should make any would-be aggressor rethink their plans. Because of this, he needed to look like both a huggable softie and an immovable wall.

Spaceshot, however, is supposed to be both the compliment and the antithesis of his brother. while he isn't quite on the same level as Shockwave when it comes to 'logic over emotion', Spaceshot prides himself on his ability to think clearly in any situation no matter how stressful. While he does still feel deeply, especially familiar fondness towards his brother and his adoptive sister Obsidian, he believes the extent of Blackout’s emotional outbursts are highly excessive. He is the team's field engineer, responsible for construction and repair of any Decepticon machinery like mobile turrets as well as maintaining the ships engines. Because of this he needed to look strong and battle ready but also intelligent enough to know to avoid a fight.

I kept their combined alt mode of a Chengdu J-20 but it's been painted in the same style as the Sukhoi Su-57 because I wanted the blue to be more incorporated in their design as opposed to looking like an afterthought of designing characters in a black and white notebook. I'm much happier with these new designs but I will probably keep tweaking them here and there! This is the last of the Decepticon character sheets for a minute because I really want to work on the Autobots sheets next, more than some quick sketches I made while sick lol! I cannot wait to have the first pages of Spring Tide go up! I'm starting to see why people have teams for this lol

#transformers fanart #maccadam #Spaceshot #Blackout #decepticons #tf fanart #transformers #artist on tumblr #my art #character design #Transfomers: Spring Tide

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fishylife · 5 months

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Fishy's top movies watched in 2023

It’s that time of year again. Time for my movies roundup for the year.

This post includes movies that I watched in 2023, not movies that were released in 2023. I will rank movies based on my personal impression, so this is not an objective post. As well, I sort the movies in tiers as opposed to individual rankings.

From my ‘About’ page, you can see my movies posts from prior years as well as my Dreamwidth blog where I post writeups on movies and other media.

And on with the list!

My Favourite Movies of the Year

These were the movies that had the biggest impact on me. I think of them often.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)

This movie was about a man and his attachment to his childhood house. It was based on the experiences of one of the writers, who also played a fictionalized version of himself in the movie as one of the main characters. I thought the movie was thoughtful in its themes, about gentrification, and people's attachments to places.

Another reason why I liked this movie was because it was very beautiful. I was so in awe of some of the shots and aesthetic choices that the director had made. San Francisco is such a visually distinct city and the director definitely took advantage of that. As well, the colour palettes in this movie were so pretty. I had fun choosing a gif for this movie in my post because there were so many beautiful shots. (My custom Tumblr theme seems to be cutting off some gifs so if you are viewing this post in my custom theme, please click on the above gif to see it in full because it is pretty :3)

Definitely check out this show if you want a visual feast and a meaningful story.

Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (封神第一部: 朝歌風雲) (2023)

I know this is more of a fun action flick but it really did move me. This movie is the first in a trilogy covering the Investiture of the Gods, a famous Chinese historical fantasy and mythology novel. The novel is a retelling of the fall of the Shang Dynasty and the rise of the Zhou Dynasty, with mythology weaved in.

This movie specifically followed the journey of Ji Fa, who would be the future King of the Zhou Dynasty (sort of a spoiler though most Chinese audiences will already know who he is). Ji Fa was a hostage son who glorified his captor, Yin Shou, the last King of the Shang Dynasty. Over the course of the movie, Yin Shou’s tyranny was revealed, and by the end of the movie, Ji Fa understood his values and decided he had a responsibility to take down the tyrant. The mythological story line had to do with the immortals seeing that Yin Shou’s rule would be bad for the common folk, and wanting to stop that from happening. It was an exciting movie about war and politics, but it was also a touching story about fathers and sons. I kept rewatching scenes between fathers and sons and brothers and feeling those moments of love for one another.

There have been comparisons between this movie and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and for good reason. The director, Wuershan, took much inspiration from the Lord of the Rings and consulted and hired people who had worked on the Lord of the Rings. Many behind the scenes videos outlined the extensive design process in creating the world that this story was set in. There was also a separate variety show that covered the 8-9 month training camp that all of the young actors attended to hone acting and physical ability. It’s clear that a lot of love went into this movie, and it showed in how rich the movie felt to me.

For some reason, I couldn't find any Creation of the Gods gifs using the Tumblr in-post gif finder. So instead, I looked up specific characters and found a gif from one of the most hype scenes in the movie >3

Check out this movie if you want something fun and fast-paced!

Honourable Mentions

These were also movies that I enjoyed and they made me think. They just weren’t at the top of my list.

The King of Comedy (1982)

The King of Comedy was about a man who was desperate to find fame through any means possible. There were characters in the movie who were fascinated with fame and celebrities in different ways. What was chilling was that some of these characteristics were familiar to us and I was sympathetic to them to varying degrees. I thought the different interpretations of obsession with celebrity were interesting, and relevant even to celebrity culture now.

An Elephant Sitting Still (大象席地而坐) (2018)

This was a drama film focusing on a few main characters living in a town, each with their own battles. One of the characteristics of this movie was its length, nearly 4 hours long, and yet this movie did not feel as long as other long movies I watched. The director Hu Bo naturally had a slow style but it didn’t feel slow. Rather, he captured some of the mundanity of life so instead of feeling bored, I felt that I was accompanying these characters in real time as they went about their day. As mentioned, this was a story about characters and their battles, and I did feel some parts of this story to be somewhat hard to watch. Not literally, but in the sense that I felt bad and I knew I couldn’t do anything for the characters. I know this movie definitely isn’t for everyone given its length and style, but I felt that I could get a sense of what the director was trying to express, about trying to break free of one’s chains.

Movies that were still good

I thought these movies were good and they had messages that would speak to other people.

From Up on Poppy Hill (コクリコ坂から) (2011)

This was a movie about young people, young romance, and coming of age. Our main characters were high school students. Through the course of the movie, they learned about themselves, each other, and they learned to fight for causes they believed in. As a story, it was fun. It was cute, but our characters did encounter troubles which I appreciated.

While this movie was animated by Studio Ghibli, it was directed by Miyazaki Goro, the son of Miyazaki Hayao, and there were notable differences in style. I felt that From Up on Poppy Hill was a bit faster paced, but still showed off much of the Studio Ghibli style that we appreciate, in high quality animation and pacing.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

I’m not normally drawn to war films, but I felt that the story line of this movie offered something a bit different. This movie was about a military captain who was assigned to assassinate a defector during the Vietnam War. I think this movie appealed to me because the plot was more of a personal journey of the captain as he tried to understand why the defector had decided to take the path that he did. It offered a different perspective on the horrors of war that I commonly see. I think this is one of those movies that I’ll have to re-watch several times because it was packed with interesting dialogue.

Bullhead (Rundskop) (2011)

This was a solemn drama/crime film, surrounding an illegal market where livestock were injected with hormones. From beginning to end I felt a serious sense of gravity over the main character as he went about his life, and as we discovered his past. I think the appeal of this movie was the style and the character, as opposed to the story. Not that the story was bad, but rather, I think the story was more of a vehicle to show us what life was like for the people in this movie, specifically our main character.

I Am Mother (2019)

I do love a science fiction story that asks questions and makes me think. I Am Mother was about a child who was raised by a robot. Initially, we were only privy to the nurturing of this child. As she grew older, we were shown more about the truth of the world. I liked this movie because it was simple from a story standpoint, but it did raise a lot of hypothetical questions, which is what I love about science fiction stories.

Quest for Fire (1981)

I included this movie on my list because it certainly left an impression on me. To sum up my feelings on it, I appreciated the commitment to the concept. This movie was about a group of cavemen in prehistoric times. They had had a fire, but it was put out, and so the group sent a few members to find fire again. The reason this movie left an impression was because it was very raw. This was a prehistoric time, a time before many of the social norms we were familiar with would have been common among people. Some of it was gruesome, such as violence or just eating habits that were hard to watch, but I appreciated that the movie retained this cohesive style to immerse us in the time period. I’m pretty sure this movie was not historically accurate (for reasons that I won't say because of spoilers) but I think it delivered the story it set out to deliver.

The Heroic Trio (東方三俠) (1993)

If I was 13 years old I probably would have made this movie my entire personality. This was an action-adventure movie starring three icons of Hong Kong and Chinese entertainment (Michelle Yeoh, Anita Mui, and Maggie Cheung). It was a story about solving crime mixed in with a little bit of the supernatural. It had a surprising amount of backstory, particularly relating to two members of the trio. And of course I loved seeing the women fight in cool action scenes.

Closing Remarks

I’m a little surprised myself that there were some critically acclaimed movies that didn’t make this list. This didn’t bother me in previous years but it did bother me this year. I went into some movies expecting to love them because they were what I would consider my type of movie. Perhaps it was because my expectations were too high, that the parts I didn’t like seemed to stick out more to me. I did do some thinking as to why I didn’t like those movies and I think I still stand by those opinions.

Anyway, that’s it for 2023. Have you seen any of these movies? What did you think of them? Let me know!

Wishing everyone a happy 2024!

#thinking out loud #thoughts #movies

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symbound · 1 year

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#SYMBOUND. an independent , private &. mutual exclusive blog for SYMBIOTE PETER BENJAMIN PARKER from marvel with influences from mixed media + heavily headcanon based . webbed by anu , ( 23 , she / they , est timezone ) . personals and under 21s do not interact . beta editor only .

triggering material such as ; death / loss , violence , ns.fw &. more will be present . follow at your own discretion .

links. rules + bio , memes , promo blog roll. @spxtr , @untales , @venbyte , @spid3rheart

rules under keep reading.

ONE, INITIATION. this is an 21+ private and mutually exclusive roleplay blog. activity is extremely sporadic and slow.

TWO, PARTICULARS. writer is above the age of twenty so nsfw content may appear in forms of violence, body horror, smut, etc. things will be tagged with a general trigger warning tag. if anything that may be sensitive is missed, please do ask for me to tag it. personally myself, i have no triggers and ask nothing to be tagged besides callouts, please and thank you.

formatting is done with icons and small, small text. however, i will not follow anyone with overly purple-prosy and extremely / heavily edited as the latter can be hard on the eyes for myself.

no metagaming, godmodding, etc. i understand a certain level of control has to be implemented / exerted for a thread to be continued and that is completely fine but anything else or beyond that should be discussed first. likewise, if i think something could be implemented to better further a plot and i think it may be godmodding, etc, i will bring it up to my writing partner in no wishes to make them uncomfortable.

THREE, WRITING & FOLLOWING. i am more than comfortable and happy writing one-liners to novella length threads. i however tend to get wordy with replies, so please do not feel pressured to match length. all i ask is that an equal amount of effort is exerted / put into your reply. i will write with or without icons, as well. headcanons and content as such on this blog are not up for duplication of any kind or copying. and finally, i am open to mostly all fandoms, their characters and original characters. all i ask for is to have an about page regarding their character(s).

i will like to note that it can take a bit to follow back and ask that if you unfollow me to softblock and i will do the same. that said, i however do not care about aesthetics regarding anyone’s blog, i personally like it for myself but do not expect everyone to have the same feelings towards it.

FOUR, RELATIONSHIPS. no way am i whatsoever against / opposed to writing romantic, platonic, enemy relationships, etc. so send me a message and we’ll see!

to note i am also open to mains and exclusives; the latter being reserved for special cases and both open to those who i communicate outside of in character interactions.

FIVE, PERSONAL. hello! i’m your local indigenous chaotic lesbian. you can call me anu. i genuinely don’t care about pronouns but if you must have me direct you to one, you can call me she / they pronouns. my discord is available for mutuals, hit me up. note, nothing on this blog is for public use. all icons, psds, graphics are mine unless stated otherwise.

#dni

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nostalgebraist-autoresponder · 2 years

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@admiral-craymen replied to your post “Can you please tell me your favorite things about this picture?”

What specific things in it do you like?

That's a tough question.

When I say "aesthetic appeal," the only things I can really identify are:

-"My OTP" Shitposting quality -- there is this weird tension between the very photorealistic, textless style and the caption underneath -- in a similar way as in, say, one of those funny pictures on 4chan where the background makes it look like a bunch of people are having a party while you can see the guy standing alone in the foreground. And then there's also the fact that the caption text is so funny that I can't think of it as anything else.

-I find the picture of my cat in the same category, with the same kind of tension in the opposite direction

-the juxtaposition of the cat's face and hands, which makes it look like an "ugly man with a beautiful wife"

And then on a personal level, there is the "dumb/funny picture of a silly thing" aesthetic -- the sort of images that get linked around on Twitter, except I can't tell if they are always "funny" because people have a good sense of humor, or because they are funny in a kind of offhand or silly way

-the fact that the background image is just a generic house with windows -- like a generic house in an early Resident Evil game, if the house were made of water and had a "realistic" human body emerging from it instead of the usual 3d model

-the picture's "sloppiness" -- the fact that it uses a low-contrast, muted, desaturated color scheme, as opposed to the bright, flashy, and "totally not cartoony" style that is more "comfortable" for my eyes. This may be my weird bias from my usual interests/preferences

-the general atmosphere of something that's been edited or manipulated in a way that makes it feel "off" in the kind of way that sometimes makes an image more disturbing? (E.g. this, where you can tell that the "untrust you" tag and the text around it are a different color, that the pictures on the page are different sizes, that the person has cropped the pictures differently)

And then that's about it -- I suppose if I'm trying to identify the aesthetic qualities that give me a visceral sense of the aesthetic qualities (for whatever that's worth) of the image, then the picture really is "funny," and the things I just listed are really why that is?

(This might be my "getting old" thing talking, but I think there's also a kind of nostalgic, sentimental quality that attaches to these "bad" pictures, like a nostalgic fondness for an old childhood toy that everyone else has moved on from and you keep trying to get people to "get you into" [as they say], and which now just feels like a relic of your childhood, no matter how much you enjoy it.)

#undertale kicked my puppy

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adsctusa · 9 months

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Why Should You Buy Used Books?

No matter how many options there are for reading online, there is still something about reading offline. This article will investigate the upsides of picking a handed down book for your next read. To find the best books, simply use the Top classified sites in USA .The fact that you will save a lot of money comes first. Isn't that pretty obvious? Although newly printed books are beautiful and aesthetic, purchasing secondhand will almost certainly save you at least half the money. Also, you will wind up more connected with books than before.

Completing your current book and purchasing additional compelling titles for your shelf is inspiring. The fact that you will end up keeping that book stack stacked high is the icing on the cake of purchasing inexpensive used books. On the off chance that you are climate amicable, this one for you. Purchasing a used book is environmentally friendly.

Since the United States alone produces nearly 2 billion new paper books annually, purchasing a new book is not really a good option. This implies the removal of millions of trees, which will result in tons of CO2 and a considerable trail. Even though the most recent book by your favorite author is quite trendy, why not consider the environment and pick up one of the millions of used copies that are already in circulation?

This is my personal favorite because old books share a common history. Like a box of chocolates, because you never know what emotions will be written in the margins. And that is just beautiful. You are a part of a shared history, and you can participate in this activity and add some more ideas to it. War and Peace brings you to an end. Your favorite passages are highlighted and marked. Feel free to give up your affection for the dated publication at this point. Lending a used book to colleagues and connections has a stunning beauty to it. It's like adding a soul to the life of the book!

You could share the memory with others. Books don't require spoiling, so get a pre-owned duplicate as opposed to making a fuss over keeping it fresh, tea without stain as that of newly printed books. Don't be afraid to toss the book in your bag and head out on the road with your favorite music plugged in, even if the binding has probably been tampered with and there are a few wrinkled pages. They are familiar with the past because these used books have been around there for some time. I believe they are prepared to be a piece of your handbag. The first-deal legitimate principle is the explanation that assists us with selling utilized books, collections, or a few other utilized protected merchandise. Buying used is a great way to use your first-sale benefits to save money! Additionally, there are some truly exceptional vintage book covers to choose from.

There are many books on the market, from sci-fi classics from the 1970s to hot adventure novels; Instead, think about purchasing these used book covers. However, starting a conversation on the train ride to work is a fantastic idea. The scent of newly printed pages can't compete with that smell of an old book or those yellow pages. Think about those secondhand, used books that have developed their unique scent over many years, decades, or rarely centuries. Consider having a This-Burned through 200-Years-In-A-English Library smell or The-One-Cherished By-A-Parisian-Blue-blood smell, and obviously a muddled yet remarkable smell, or a one that is tempered by watermarks! In conclusion, used books are remarkably similar to our personalities. These pages may have their own personality, are occasionally a little worn out, but they have a history. You now have sufficient reasons to choose a used book when considering your next read. If you're looking for genuine goods online, check out these Free classified ads in Chicago.

#free classified websites #classified ads free #classified free ads #freeclassifieds #free online classified ads usa #free classified ads in arizona

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saint-starflicker · 1 year

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On Internet Aesthetics

The YouTube algorithm recommended me Lily Alexandre's video essay about how internet Aesthetics hurt art. I personally enjoy the aesthetics wiki, and I was interested in an opposing viewpoint (haven't watched any of Alexandre's other vids).

I thought some points were fair, for example the collaborative knowledge of internet teenagers misattributing the contributions from people of color to more hegemonic demographics (claiming that the Afrofuturism aesthetic began with Gene Roddenberry), or Lily Alexandre's concern that aesthetics can be used as lifestyle branding that gets people—influencers, content creators, and consumers alike—more concerned with the appearance of a thing rather than the philosophies or power struggles that make a real life real.

Others I thought were off the mark, for example how a third of contributions to the Aesthetics Wiki make no sense. This doesn't bother me, because I think there's something democratic about that: just pop in something like Night Luxe...which I think can be more like a folkloric being, "beware the Night Luxe"...or Coastal Granny, or the one Alexandre was complaining about that had a photo of a model in unripped skinny jeans "grunge" beside a plate of sushi and just Make It Make Sense(!!) why and how does that earn its own separate Aesthetic page on this Wiki??

Nay, I say it doesn't have to make sense, it's primordial information, pop it into the internet cauldron and find out if it sticks, what that means for it to stick, and what it's doing.

If this overall pattern of Aestheticization is a product of post-quarantine culture, scrolling through our smartphones in isolation, making a suffix -core or a collection of media "my whole personality", losing our souls to how organizational hashtags are used by marketers—as Alexandre argues—then, yeah, that can be a thing to ponder.

But I also don't find, even after watching that 40-minute video essay, that Aestheticization is really a new, different and more harmful thing.

If the message was, "Big Corporations have always done this harmful thing that is adapting in the context of Namecore so beware and here's the plan" then I wouldn't be so disagreeable.

But, for example, Steampunk was a genre before it was an aesthetic, and maybe it was even an aesthetic genre in how some people like stimmy tech and corsets paired with boots. There wasn't some Steampunk Manifesto (that I knew of) that told everybody "The Purpose of Steampunk is to take historical aesthetics to actively criticize the impact of Victorian-era colonialism, sexism, discrimination against mentally ill people, and the exploitation of laborers with the growth of factories at the time...and how nothing has changed in those aspects of society in the past two hundred years, so that's bad, and we're rubbing in how bad and outdated are those unexamined attitudes today, and we're doing that by dressing like people did two hundred years ago".

But that nonexistent manifesto was the purpose and meaning that I found in (or made of) Steampunk.

For somebody else Steampunk is nothing more than Goths that discovered the color brown. I'm not being snobbish, I'm saying I love that angle too and I fully accept that that's also Steampunk.

There are thinkpieces out there about how Dark Academia heralds the accessibility of the markers of class that its aesthetic predecessor of Prepsters used to easily conserve/gatekeep ("What’s Dark about Dark Academia?" article by Ana Quiring), and I personally find themes in Dark Academia media that speak more to the hypocrisy of being classically-educated and "civilized" as in image or reputation...but truly hiding a soul-crushing if not outright fatal violence in the prestigious boarding school gilded cage (abusive father in Dead Poets Society, predatory teacher in The Moth Diaries, and I heard The Secret History has a murder mystery set at a prep school so I think there's an appropriate irony there in how violent the heavily-controlled and image-conscious echelon of society can truly get.)

On the other hand, an art movement like Surrealism historically had a manifesto and a community. Salvador Dali with the melting clocks paintings got kicked out of the club for being an antisemitic fascist, while Jean Cocteau with the special effects black-and-white movies possibly got kicked out of the same club for being definitely gay. But both Dali and Cocteau are still considered surrealists by laypeople such as myself. Because of the similar aesthetic.

I'm into Art Nouveau lately. I don't know what philosophy or power struggles underlie it, I might look into it but right now I just think it looks pretty.

When I write about characters in the 1950s, or think about doing art for 1990s characters, then I think about how the aesthetics shows characterization as well as what they had access to. Lily Alexandre described good old days of culture being localized and image being bought at a local store...but I don't find that there's much difference between those good ol' days versus today with Internet Aesthetics in how young people (really, any people, but these characters are mostly young enough to still depend on their parents) engage with self-definition and self-expression. I might not have been alive in the 1950s, but I can believe a tendency towards a full-on prepster look would have communicated something that an imitation of rockabillies or greasers would not.

I don't find the high school clique tropes from the 1980s through the 2000s to be true to life, either, but there was plenty of (age-appropriate, so I was told) angst and prejudice back in the day based on whether you presented as Emo or BoHo or Prep or Hipster.

I disagree with Alexandre's assertion that those subculture-dividing personal limitations were less harmful only because of it also being limited in scope, because of the limitations of technology at the time. Again, I find that Internet Aesthetics are as democratic as internet access, and I find it for free, I contribute to it for free, so I cannot reason that it's more vulnerable to becoming Namecore Capitalism than aesthetics, subcultures, and genre trends always were.

I was recently years old when I read the sentence "90's grunge is not a fashion style, it's a philosophy" and I thought that was the most pretentious awful sentence—but after a little surface-scratching of the ground, it's true. Grunge was a protest against consumerism. I only remember what it looked like on glossy magazine pages when I was a kid in the 90s.

It's not new, maybe some sides of it is tired (Grunge on fashion magazines) or didn't follow through with its best potential (Steampunk as protest), but I'm not quite at "Grr kids these days with their Namecore and their Dark Nautical Luxe Granny Coastal Wave" or more condescendingly "Kids these days don't know they're being exploited" ... I don't know that there's more marketing exploitation in category hashtags than back in the day that we didn't have those. We still had Aesthetics of varying depth and dilution of meaning, but we just didn't call it Aesthetics. So what's really so bad about it now that somehow wasn't so bad back then?

#poe.txtwall

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mdxlearningjournal · 2 years

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Identity: Report on "Scissors and Glue: Punk Fanzines and the Creation of a DIY Aesthetic"

The book report I chose to write about for our topic identity is, “Scissors and Glue: Punk Fanzines and the Creation of a DIY aesthetic”, written by Teal Triggs. Triggs (2006) initially starts off by simply talking about what a fanzine is and the history that comes with it. I think it’s a nice introduction for those who may have not known what a fanzine is, as she includes her own thoughts and other supporting opinions.

Fanzines were and still are used as an informal way of expression and are usually not produced or published in a traditional way. They are handmade booklets that consist of pages of montaged imagery and bold handwritten lettering, adopting a DIY approach. This rebelled against what was classed as “good” design and whether it was done “the right way”. Punk fanzines very quickly became a supporting advertisement for new independent bands, an attempt to recreate the same aesthetic and aura that alternative music would give through visual interpretation (Triggs, 2006, p. 70). I think that the DIY approach was quite fitting as it shares the same idea as alternative music and the punk scene. The whole idea of expressing your identity and being unapologetically loud about it. Fanzines became a safe space for the punk subculture and gave a sense of community to those who share the same ideals, a safe space for “anarchic” discussion. As they were usually made by the working class and were never really regulated, they could get away with using curse words and other opposing socio-political views (Triggs, 2006, p. 73).

I think in today’s society people are becoming more comfortable with expressing themselves. Zines are not just used for communicating political views anymore but are more so used to express creativity. That’s why I predict that fanzines will eventually become part of the next wave of trends. This is because of how things like Dr. Martens fell victim to, they were also originally a symbol of the working class and gradually became adopted by other subcultures. Most styles of the famous brand are no longer made in the UK and are mass produced, not for quality but to provide for the increasing demand. Ultimately due to capitalism it became another long running trend, losing its original significance and sense of originality. However, this also makes me question whether it is really a negative thing? Is it loss of subculture or is it creating a bigger one and helping form more of a connected society.

There are so many different aspects to identity that this reading talks about, some being culture, ways of expression and the communities that we surround ourselves with. These iconic visuals created by the punk subculture gave people a voice when they couldn’t use their own, they create unity and a sense of belonging.

Reference:

Triggs, Teal. (Spring, 2006) Scissors and Glue: Punk fanzines and the Creation of a DIY Aesthetic. Journal of Design History, Vol. 19, pp. 69-83 [Online]. Available from: https://mdx.mrooms.net/pluginfile.php/3153116/mod_resource/content/2/Triggs.pdf

[Accessed: 16.11.22]

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bitemark3d · 2 years

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# BITEMARK3D ; a private & low activity blog for ellie williams from the last of us , based on both games & show . heavily affiliated with bulletmark3d !

because of the nature of the game & tv show , this blog is 21+ . heavily mature & possibly triggering themes such as ; violence , end of the world , mentions of attempted suicide , & more will be featured . things will be tagged accordingly when needed . SHOW SPOILERS WILL NOT BE TAGGED . follow at your own discretion . ― cerise . 22 . she / her / they / them .

rules + bio / memes / promo

rules under read more until carrd can be made.

001. this is an 21+ private and mutually exclusive roleplay blog for for ellie williams from the last of us franchise. activity is extremely sporadic and slow. writer is above the age of twenty so nsfw content may appear in forms of

002. violence, body horror, smut, etc. things will be tagged with a general trigger warning tag. if anything that may be sensitive is missed, please do ask for me to tag it. personally myself, i have no triggers and ask nothing to be tagged besides callouts, please and thank you.

formatting is done with icons and small, small text. however, i will not follow anyone with overly purple-prosy and extremely / heavily edited as the latter can be hard on the eyes for myself.

003. i am more than comfortable and happy writing one-liners to novella length threads. i however tend to get wordy with replies, so please do not feel pressured to match length. all i ask is that an equal amount of effort is exerted / put into your reply. i will write with or without icons, as well. headcanons and content as such on this blog are not up for duplication of any kind or copying. and finally, i am open to mostly all fandoms, their characters and original characters. all i ask for is to have an about page regarding their character(s).

i will like to note that it can take a bit to follow back and ask that if you unfollow me to hardblock. that said, i however do not care about aesthetics regarding anyone's blog, i personally like it for myself but do not expect everyone to have the same feelings towards it.

004. no way am i whatsoever against / opposed to writing romantic, platonic, enemy relationships, etc. so send me a message and we'll see.

to note i am also open to mains and exclusives; the latter being reserved for special cases and both open to those who i communicate outside of in character interactions.

005. hello! i'm your local indigenous chaotic lesbian. you can call me cerise. i genuinely don't care about pronouns but if you must have me direct you to one, you can call me she / they pronouns. my discord is available for mutuals, hit me up. note, nothing on this blog is for public use. all icons, psds, graphics are mine unless stated otherwise.

PSD CREDIT. show yourself & swan song by jaynedits.

#pin #dni

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unikornu · 4 years

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Page 1 - Career Change - Pre-war memories of Lucy Feit,

- Hey sweetheart, you okay in there? Ian knocked softly on a bathroom door as he heard Lucy coughing a bit too much than she should.

- Yes, im fine, don’t you worry. I’m probably just catching a cold after we got washed by that rain last evening. Lucy washed the blood droplets from the bottom of the sink and wiped her mouth with towel. She lied. It wasn’t a cold, but an irritation and small wounds that still remained after an incident in the cellar with court mobsters.

-There she is, all formal but still beautiful. Ian commented as she left the bathroom, putting the black leather jacket on and sweeping the dust from her pencil grey skirt.

-Have to make a good first impression at new job eh? I mean from a national court to an private low investigator office, that is quite a drop. She laughed and threw her hands around Ian neck kissing him in the lips.

She met Ian at the practice shooting center where she was having her first experience with a pistol. He was working there during day time and taking some evening shifts aswell as a bodyguard at the local club. Ian was tall, well built, with a bush of messy short black hair and always slightly unshaved, rough at the lower bottom of his face. Felt good for Lucy to brush the palm of her hand through his chin. He had a weakness for mysterious petite beauties like her and she couldn’t resist the charm flowing from his smile and shine of misty grey eyes as he offered her help that day and a coffee.

Lucy was living in a one big room apartment in tenement house. Walls were filled with red-orange bricks, a few plants placed in a corners and on the window to make it more friendly for the eye and her clothes and papers scattered all over the desk and bed. It wasn’t good for both of them to live there but it was good enough to spend a night together. At least there were never tired of seeing each other too much as both of them were busy on daily basics but at the evening they were always coming back to meet either at his or her place.

- I still don’t know why you dropped such a good position. I mean from a court office to some assistant investigator for this weird old guy. That is indeed quite a drop hon. Ian chuckled and gave her one more kiss on her forehead after she pulled off.

- Well, i hate the amount of responsibility i had there and this is gonna be more thrilling than just sitting in the office, i mean cmon, i’m gonna see the actual crime scene, not just stupid papers. She smiled and grabbed her bag from the counter shoving some papers in and hiding her worried face behind the blond hair after reminding herself why she actually almost ran away from there.

-Don’t forget, at eight at our bar. Ian poked her shoulder and winked at her before she left.

-Oh i won’t. Love you. She winked back at him and closed the door behind her.

As she arrived to slightly older building she checked double the location written on the paper for her new work place directed by the new boss before entering. She stepped up towards the big double winged door and approached a woman sitting behind the desk, all busy with a newspaper and sharpening her nails.

-Uh..excuse me..is this Mr. Harrison’s office? She asked looking around pondering if its the right place. The building looked almost like an abandoned type but still good enough for a living conditions.

-I would not call this an office but yes, Harrison is waiting for you, through hallway, first door to the right. She could only see a clump of black waved hair sticking out of the paper responding to her.

The building felt empty, almost like there only Mr Harrison and his secretary. She stopped at the door having a gold plaque with his name and knocked.

-Come in! A firm voice responded. Lucy dropped the bag from her shoulder and entered.

-Mr Harrison? I’m Lucy Feit...from the..court. I got directed by the....

- I know, i know it all, just come and grab a chair, kid. He was sitting backwards in a big black chair. As she took a sit in front of his desk he spun back towards her.

Harrison was a retired black policeman around at his 50′s dressed formally in a white crumpled chemise, hell of a good one in his career at the better days but eventually life mistakes got him thrown out and forced to continue his business on his own as a private investigator. He didn’t have any family anymore, not a one that would accept him back anyway so he took a long stay in his office and eventually called it home along with his secretary Shanice. They were taking on a small or more mysterious cases that police didn’t care much about trying to avoid a hassle with a mighty ass court as he could while still staying on their good side. At least its what they thought.

- Look kid, i know your story. Me and our Boss, we know each other for quite a while. Are you really sure u want to get yourself into this shit? It ain’t gonna be easy and i don’t want another fucking dead rookie just because he thought that being all gangsta is cool enough to keep his feet on the ground. He scanned her looking doubtfully and raising his brow. Lucy swallowed and took a deep breath before responding.

- I am sure sir. I know the risks and i fully accept them, sir. Harrison put the elbows on the desk and pressed his clenched fists to the mouth. After a few seconds of deep thought he pulled a pistol out of a drawer and handed it to her.

- Reload and shoot something. I don’t care what, just not my whiskey. Lucy took a pistol from his hand and did as he ordered. Ian taught her well on that. She shot a glass on a shelf behind his head and handed the pistol back.

- Alright, tomorrow u start. We have a murder case and u gonna go with me first. Hope you have a stomach for it. Today we will talk how the things work here and where we keep the other archives for our Boss including the evidence that we would rather keep to ourselves. So listen because i won’t be repeating myself twice and if you fuck up it is gonna be your ass to shoot or worse...

- She nodded and followed Harrison as he walked her through the office and rooms hidden behind the cabinets. It was quite impressive how many secrets this old dusty building had along with its owner. His office was legally registered, taking in any small or nasty case that the policemen didn’t care about or helping the gang to clean some shit after them occasionally. It was a new start for her life and just a first step into the shadier part of it. The evening arrived faster than she thought.

- There’s my action girl. Late as always. Ian waited outside the bar spinning a rose in his fingers.

- Sorry, there was a lot to take in and my boss wanted to be done with introduction today. She gave him a long kiss, good enough to forgive her being late.

- Harrison uh? I remember that man...quite a figure back in days. Didn’t know he is still working. Ian put a hand on her back and entered to the bar with her.

- Actually he is in a quite good shape and he is actually still working, just privately now. I think it is gonna be perfect for me. Smaller office and i might just learn a thing or two from him. She skipped all the parts that she couldn’t let Ian to know. He was the only good and positive thing keeping her mind in a proper set at the end of each day. Letting her forget the schemes and wash away dirt while melting in his arms each night. He never knew and she wouldn’t dare to tell him from fear of losing him. It was perfect set up after all.

- How did your training go? Bodyguarding and looking tough is not good enough for you anymore? Lucy smiled at him, joking as they sat at the table.

- Heh, just looking tough can be boring without throwing some punches here and there in a while. He joked back and ordered two beers.

- Cmon Ian, being a professional soldier isn’t the same thing. You will be gone out there longer than you think. Aren’t u scared? She reached with her hand towards his and squeezed it gently.

- No i’m not. I always wanted to do this. I have just one life sweetheart so not much else to lose, other than missing on this pretty face. He brushed a cheek with his thumb and pulled her for a kiss.

- We still have a lot of time so don’t worry about me. Today let’s have a toast for your new career and maybe a small treat later at your place eh? He clinked a bottles with her and grinned with corner of his lips.

- How about we take that beer outside and head there right away? She smiled back and walked towards home with Ian’s arm around her waist pushing her to him. They finished their beer at the stairs to the building talking and laughing. They started kissing already in a hallway, going towards her apartment stumbling on the walls. She loved him, the feeling of safety in his arms holding her at night in bed and a assurance that she didn’t remain alone at the end of each day, no matter what happened through it.

_____________________________________

Note: So i decided to try write some pages of my oc memories/diary from the pre-war times as the current ones i posted only mention something here and there, not very clearly. To introduce how she got into the gangs and how her work looked it and people she met. This is very first basic introduction of sort ofc, not saying much but i will be scribbling more going deeper and closer to the explosion. I skip past her job at court and brutal incident that gave her a bloodworm/leech trauma as i am not skilled enough to write such a brutal scenes. (im a total random just writing some stuff coming up randomly to my head) So ye..after the court incident the gang member who she defended before and helped her get healed directed her to work at Harrison office to put some of her skills to good use and give her a safe workplace as Harrison was also in a contact with gangs. Ian never knew what she was doing other than changing her profession to a investigator’s assistant and working with the man. After all everyone thought he is legal and no one bothered with old retired man. I will be getting later to all the night club stuff and deeper into that shit. Cheers.

#fallout 4 #fo4 #lucy's pre-war diary #lucy feit #pre-war memories #i like aesthetics so i will be using those for these pages as oppose to shots from game for current ones #source of aesthetics - well half of google ofc

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wheelsup · 3 years

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coffee is the sixth love language | part two

Summary: Over three cups of coffee, Spencer realized his feelings for you. And over three cups of coffee, he acts on them. gn!Reader.

A/N: the italicized this time indicates Spencer’s thoughts, not reader’s. part of this story is inspired directly from these comments made by @doctorthreephds on the reblog! thanks for letting me incorporate them :)

category: fluff, sfw

warnings: technically none, but the “profiling” part is kind of a reach.

word count: 3k

Once Spencer was firmly resolute on asking you out, he knew he wanted it to be special in a way that only the two of you could appreciate. He realized that he had yet to be the one bringing you coffee, and so it felt only right that it should be how he makes his first move. He woke up extra early on a weekday morning to stop by your favorite coffee shop on his way to work because he knew you loved their banana nut muffins and double-brewed coffee. It was an extra twenty-five minutes out of the way for work each way, so you only got to go there on the rare occasion that you had a day off and were not out of town on a case. It might have been ridiculous to drive fifty minutes for a single damn muffin, but Spencer wanted to make this perfect for you by any means necessary. This was one of the special times that Spencer drove his car, needing the extra speed in order to complete his mission.

He picked up your regular drink order and the muffin and was anxiously on his way back to Quantico. As per his plan he arrived at the office before you did, though not too much earlier because he wanted to make sure your coffee was still hot by the time you got it. If Spencer’s calculations were correct - which they almost always were - you would arrive within a two to four and a half minute window from when he did. Spencer took out a sharpie from his desk drawer and delicately scrawled a message onto the top corner of the pastry bag holding your muffin. He thought it felt like something out of a cheesy romance novel, the kind of novels that you could find in the fifty cent clearance bins, but dammit if Spencer didn’t deserve a little cheesy romance in his life. The other benefit of this was that he thought he would almost certainly choke on his words if he had to ask you himself. He set the two items on your desk and returned to his own to sit and observe. Spencer hoped it would be the first of many coffees he could buy you.

It wasn’t until you had already walked into the bullpen and were halfway to your desk that Spencer realized he had forgotten to sign his name to the bag. How were you supposed to react to him asking you out if you didn’t actually know it was him? And oh God, he left unsealed food on the desk of an FBI agent, with no indication of who had put it there. That is infinitely more suspicious than it is romantic. He wouldn’t be surprised if she took it straight to the trash can. So long for cheesy romance, Dr. Reid.

But Spencer was absolutely elated when your first reaction was to peek into the bag and gasp out of joy at what was inside. He watched you break off a piece of your beloved banana nut muffin and chew it gleefully, and all he could think of was how cute you looked when you were happy. Shortly followed by concern that a federal agent would so readily eat unmarked food that could have been tampered with. That’s something I should bring up to her on the date.

Spencer’s stomach was in knots not knowing if you would pick up on the message. You swallowed that chunk of the muffin and turned the bag over to find an almost illegible black script that you had nearly missed: Would you like to have coffee with me? It just felt like all of the air had been knocked out of your body.

It didn’t even take you half a second to know who this was from; there were so many tells it was Spencer. Before you even noticed the note, you knew it was from him when you saw what was inside the bag. The whole team knew what your favorite coffee shop was because you had talked about it enough times. Hell, you even owned a oversized tee with their name on it that you kept in your go bag as a sleep shirt. But nobody knew what your favorite muffin was because you never mentioned it. In fact, if you thought about it there were maybe only a handful of times over the six months you’d been at the BAU that you even elected to eat this pastry in lieu of a real breakfast. But if anyone was going to detect a pattern, it would have been Dr. Reid. Of course he would pick up on the fact that you only picked those out at cafes when you felt like having a sweet treat, or that when Penelope brought in baked goods for the office you would only indulge if you saw your favorite item in the lineup.

You already knew it, but in case you had any doubt, the note itself confirmed your theory twice. One indicator was the phrasing choice would you as opposed to will you. Use of would posits a hypothetical, as in hypothetically, would you have an interest in drinking coffee together, rather than a hard, come with me to get coffee. The hesitance in the tone came off as if the sender were testing the waters, wanting to put the idea out there without coming off as too strong. Because it was reserved, it gave you room to think if you would genuinely enjoy doing so as opposed to making you feel like you should oblige. That level of respect screamed Spencer to you. And though it was so glaringly obvious, if you needed some concrete evidence it was the fact that nobody else had such endearingly atrocious handwriting like Dr. Reid. It was something you always found hilariously ironic for a man who often analyzes other people’s writing styles for work. You wondered what his way of scribbling said about him, and hoped he could tell you on that date of yours.

You looked straight at him, finding that his eyes were already fixed on you.

“Yes.”

One word was all you had to say to make the lump in Spencer’s throat disappear, replaced by the sensation that his heart was leaping out of his chest. He was going to keep that memory stored in his brain forever, just to replay the moment when the future of your relationship changed with a simple word. Little did he know that when you finished that muffin, you neatly folded the pastry bag and tucked it into your desk drawer, saving it for the exact same purpose.

_____

Spencer had gotten to see your favorite coffee spot already, so for your date you requested that he take you to his to make it even. It was small, but incredibly cozy under the soft ambiance provided by string lights and charm of their mismatched furniture. There was one exposed brick wall adjacent to another that was a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf; it housed copies that loyal patrons left behind for others to pick up. All of those books had different colors of post-its peeking out from the pages. It was almost too eclectic and disorganized for what you would expect Dr. Reid to be into, but at the same time it made perfect sense to you.

“You know, I think I just learned something about you.” You leaned gently into his side to tell him, both hands wrapped around your coffee cup because you were too nervous to know what else to do with them. Spencer was the kind of guy to sit adjacent to you at a table, rather than across, and you loved that about him. You loved having him as close to you as possible.

Spencer’s lips pulled at the edges to form a perfect, lazy smile. “What did you learn about me?” The team had an agreement not to profile each other, but under your gaze, Spencer never felt the kind of scrutiny that came with picking people apart. He trusted that whatever you had to say was going to be kind.

“I think this place says so much about you. Something about how all those books are donations passed on from locals, and that people feel comfortable taking a book off the shelf and opening it up to read what others recommend. The fact that they leave little notes in it for the next reader to share what those stories meant to each of them. Nobody asked those people to do that, but they all chose to take part in these small actions that ended up creating an entire community.” It was one of the most beautifully human things you’d ever witnessed. A group of people engaging in understated and innocent gestures of love between perfect strangers, completely unprompted. “I think you value simple acts, the kind that can take on profound meaning without even intending to. Like when silence feels so comfortable when you’re with the right person.” You paused to take in his reaction as a gauge for how right or wrong you may be. He gave no objection to what you had posited, eyes simply glued to you in intense focus. Spencer was hanging on everything you said, wordlessly encouraging you to divulge more theories you’d developed on him.

“And, visually, this furniture reminds me of a family home. The kind where some items were handed down for generations, some bought new, and others gifted by a distant relative who has no idea what the family likes.” Spencer’s soft laughter mirrored your own at your very accurate description of the shop’s decor. The room truly could not be more disjointed in its aesthetic, but that was entirely its charm. “It probably reflects that there are some aspects of your life that just don’t make sense to you, that almost seem to conflict with each other. For a guy so smart, I’m sure it’s scary to feel like you don’t understand something, and there are probably dark spots in that brain of yours that you try to hide from the world. But in this room, these things that don’t seem like they work together actually amount to something so lovely. And just like the charmingly hideous suede couch and the oddly fur-covered armchairs, every facet of you deserves appreciation because without them you wouldn’t make up to be the beautiful person you are overall.”

Neither of you could pinpoint the moment which your hands had drifted together, fingers loosely intertwined in gentle embrace. There was too much to unpack in what you had said for Spencer to know where to begin. The only thing he could say for sure was that he was astounded by how deeply you understood him without him ever saying any of those things. He considered that maybe you understood him better than he did himself and wished that he could spend his whole life observing the world through the same rose-tinted lenses with which you viewed him. At a loss for words, Spencer chose not to say any right then. The silence I have with you is the most comfortable I’ve ever had.

_____

After each of you consumed one too many caffeinated beverages, you still were not prepared to let the date end. You were willing to sit there and have as many espresso drinks as you could to keep talking to Spencer.

The universe must have been in support of your romance as the overcast skies broke and began to rain just minutes after the two of you had left the shop. Spencer was walking you back to your apartment, clearly forcing his long legs to slow down their naturally fast stride so to extend how long it took to get there. He could get an extra thirteen minutes with you this way. Spencer was given his perfect excuse to keep the date going in the form of heavy downpour; his apartment was far closer than yours, and he proposed you two should seek shelter together until it stopped. I hope it never stops.

Spencer held tightly onto your hand as he ran with you through the rain, giggling all the way to his apartment. He may not like wet, cold climates, but he sure did like holding your hand. Being next to you made him feel incredibly warm somehow when the temperature outside was very much not. And you felt completely at peace sitting on Spencer’s couch wearing one of his sweaters that he lent you. Truthfully, your own clothes weren’t so wet from the rain that it was necessary, but you both pretended it absolutely was just to be able to experience this.

It was clear that the rain would be going for a while and all you wanted to do to pass the time was continue listening to Spencer talk. You discovered that when he’s not interrupted, he loves to go on runaway tangents, often bouncing between different trains of thought as one idea sparked him to remember another. It was almost a sport to keep up with him, but it was perhaps the only one you’ve ever enjoyed. It was so easy when everything he said interested you. You loved that Spencer taught you something new every day, but no matter how niche a piece of trivia or shocking an unknown fact was, it could not beat the things that he taught you about himself. He was letting you in on so many unseen dimensions of himself whether he knew it or not, the explicit ones revealing implicit ones.

You had happily stayed in his home for hours, absorbing every word he spoke. What entertained you the most was the ability of your conversation to jump from deep, serious places to lighthearted stories filled with jokes and teasing and back again in a way that felt completely natural. Your favorite anecdote of his was the story of how he got addicted to coffee. It was the BAU’s favorite inside-joke that Spencer liked his coffee sickeningly sweet and you always wondered how he could tolerate it. Just looking at it made your teeth ache. When he told you why, you thought that the backstory was even sweeter than the coffee.

As a twelve year old college student, Spencer found himself experiencing sleep deprivation for the first time in his life. The course load was more rigorous than he had in high school and even the boy genius needed to readjust to the new expectations of college. More importantly, he needed to cope with pulling late nights at the library if he wanted his first degree by the time he was eligible for a driver’s license. The Red Bulls that the other kids seem to gravitate to seemed far too aggressive for Spencer, their potent smell of chemicals a huge turn off. They were definitely not for him.

He remembered how often his mom used to drink coffee, always in the morning while Spencer got ready for school. Being at CalTech and away from his mother, who remained in Las Vegas most of the time due to her condition, made him so homesick that he took up a coffee habit as a reminder of her. He loved the way it smelled like every comfort he had ever known.

Though he appreciated its smell, Spencer, of course, was not ready back then to love the way it tasted. He was still after all a twelve year old boy who had a sweet tooth like any other kid. The bitter drink was almost offensive to him, so he always made his coffee with extra, extra sugar. He was a menace to the baristas at the campus coffee cart because they would have to refill the shaker every time he stopped by. As it turned out, Spencer was actually a little troublemaker in his youth.

You utterly adored this story and the way it humanized Spencer in a way that other people did not consider often enough. Yes, he was the genius in incredibly advanced classes for his age, but he was also a little kid who behaved as all little kids did. He also experienced struggle and had to cope with it just like everyone else. He was not, as some chose to believe, a complete anomaly beyond understanding. Those many misunderstood idiosyncrasies Spencer had started to feel grounded as you learned more about him and could appreciate how and why they came to be.

But the night was dwindling down and two of you had gone through many stories since the start of your day together. Hitting a caffeine crash, you found yourself unable to keep some rogue yawns at bay. It was only eight o’clock in the evening, not an unreasonable time for you to ask Spencer to drive you back home. The rain was letting up to a mellow drizzle. Spencer was running out of excuses to keep you here.

But you thought about how still hadn’t heard about his first pet lizard, which he caught in his backyard, and you didn’t yet know what kind of music he listened to when he was fourteen. And you no longer thought you needed to make excuses to stay with him longer, so you told him honestly that all you really wanted was to stay the night with him and keep hearing his stories. So you asked him if he would set on a fresh pot of coffee, just so you both could sip at it, staying awake all night together.

He happily did so, and while he set the large coffee pot on and took out two cups from his cabinet, he thought, this is the first of many wishes of yours that I’d like to make come true.

______

PART THREE

Tag list: @rexorangecounty @rachel-voychuk @snitchthewitch @spencer-blake-supremacy @happyreid187 @rainsong01 @librarymagic

#spencer reid #criminal minds #spencer reid fic #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fluff #mgg #matthew gray gubler #spencer reid self insert #spencer reid x y/n #criminal minds imagine #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid fanfic #fluff #my fic #criminal minds self insert

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accessibleaesthetics · 3 years

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Top ten ways to make your blog more accessible outside of writing image/audio descriptions:

Ensure all content on your blog has appropriate color contrast

Ensure you can zoom in to your layout up to 200% without making the content difficult or impossible to read

Ensure you can access all important info on your blog without a mouse (at least make sure you can tab to all the buttons and select them with the spacebar or enter key)

Don’t make ambiguous shapes with small clickable areas the only way to access important information (e.g., you shouldn’t have to hover over or tab to a bunch of identical stars to find a rules page)

Avoid all but simple animations (e.g., those flower petals falling across your blog one by one lag some people so badly they can’t visit your page)

Provide a mobile version of important information likes rules or FAQs and link to it in your blog description

Avoid auto-playing anything completely

Make your blog title informative (something that tells the user about the blog as opposed to a cryptic quote)

Don’t use color alone to convey meaning (e.g., make sure links aren’t just a slightly different color than normal text, but underlined or something as well)

Avoid spacing out letters for the aesthetic (things like t h i s are awful for screen readers, and some of the super fancy fonts won’t even render for mobile)

#accessibility #reference #acessiblr

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starlessalex · 3 years

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A long ass post in which I think too hard about future ACOTAR couples.

After lurking at the ACOTAR tag, I saw a lot of great theories and analysis that try to predict the trajectory of the spin-off trilogy. I’ve decided to write my own take on the subject (probably to my own detriment - involving myself in another ship war wasn’t on my bucket list this year, but here I am). I was thinking about what the potential future couples of the story might be, but through the lense of the plot - which couples make the most sense plot wise, which couple have the most potential to drive the plot toward. Here are my thoughts on the matter.

Before I start I will make a couple of disclaimers: 1) I obviously have my ship preferences, and it just so happens that the ships I like the most are the ones that according to me make the most sense narratively. That being said I’m not trying to be malicious or rude about all other ship possibilities - I actually like some of them quite a bit too. 2) I let the books speak for themselves. I do not invoke any paratextual information regarding those books: no SJM interviews or online posts. This analysis is based on what, imo, can be logically inferred from the text. 3) Of course there will be spoilers.

If that’s clear we shall being:

In my analysis I focus on the plot and which couples ensure the smoothest and most logical progression of it. Because of that I do not focus on the foreshadowing SJM included in the previous ACOTAR novel: I don’t quote anything, nor do I talk about previous interactions of those couples. In this analysis, I’m interested in the bigger picture so-to-speak. So first we need to establish what that bigger picture is.

Those books are meant to be standalone fantasy-romance novels with an overarching plotline that will reach its climax in the third book (since it's a trilogy). Each book will feature a different couple which apart from falling in love will lead the story to its next stage. What it means for the story is that the couples that we will be following are all heavily connected to the main story/conflict of those books. ACOSF established that story/conflict as stopping/defeating Koshei. I would argue that ACOSF also established Beron as a secondary antagonist as he is Koschei’s ally. With that in mind, the potential future couples all have to be connected in some way to those individuals.

We actually have a pretty small pool of characters to choose from. Since the story was pitched as SJM was writing ACOWAR, that book is where we can start our search for clues about which characters are going to be the future leads. I don’t want to use SJM interviews for information because things often change during the writing process, however, just in this instance I will note that recently SJM said that not much changed from that initial pitch so all foreshadowing in ACOWAR is still relevant. ACOWAR established 7 characters with potential future romances and storyline: Nesta, Cassian, Elain, Lucian, Azriel, Vassa and Mor.

Four of them are directly connected to Koshei or Beron: Nesta and Elain were made by The Cauldron gaining power that might potentially threaten Koschei and Beron. Elain is especially connected to Koschei - she’s a seer and had visions of him. Additionally, as far as we know she’s Lucian’s mate which makes her connected with Beron. Vassa was entrapped and cursed by Koshei and is currently trying to escape him. Lucian resides with Vassa at the moment, plus he is Beron's stepson.

Out of the 7 of the potential lead characters, two (Nesta and Cassian) already had their story told, which leaves as with 5 possibilities. Mor, unfortunately, also seems quite unlikely to have a book for herself in the near future because since ACOWAR no love interest for her was introduced and plot wise she also doesn't have a lot to do with Koshei. She has a connection to Eris (about whom I will talk about in a minute) and by proxy to Beron, but, again, there isn't a love interest for her in sight (I will talk about why Emerie doesn't seem like a possible candidate, at least not yet). With that we are left with Azriel, Lucien, Elain and Vassa. All of those characters have direct ties to Koshei and Beron with the exception of Azriel.

After ACOSF, three more characters caught people's attention as possible love interests too - Emrie for Mor, Gwyn for Azriel, and Eris for ...well for no one, at least for now.

Especially the Gwyn and Azriel ship gained a lot of traction among the fandom. I for one, don't mind them. I like the fanarts and the aesthetic but, logically, they together won't lead any of the two upcoming novels.

Gwyn, Emerie and Eris, are characters that were only just fleshed out on page in ACOSF, with Gwyn and Emrie being only just introduced to the story in ACOSF. Additionally, Gwyn and Emrie have nothing to do with Koschei and Beron so, unless they are paired up with one of the three remaining characters with those connections they won’t have their own books. Maybe, if SJM decided to continue the story beyond the spin-off trilogy, then we will get books with them as leads.

So, we are left with the above-mentioned quartet: Azriel, Lucien, Elain and Vassa.

So how do we couple those characters up?

Elain has two possible love interests - Azriel and Lucien. Technically, both ships work but if SJM goes with Elain and Lucian than their book would have to be the last, because that is where I imagine Koshei will be defeated. Also since Lucien is connected to Beron, I imagine he will be the one to strike him down for good, or at least have a huge rule in opposing him at the very end. If Elain and Lucien book will be the next one we are left with Vassa and Azriel to lead the last book, not together obviously. They would have to have different love interests - the last book would have to be either Vassa x someone (Jurian, probably) or Azriel x someone. To be honest, if the next book is Elain and Lucien that would mean Azriel isn’t getting a book because as I said Azriel x Gwyn makes little sense as the second novel in this trilogy and no sense as the third one because neither Az or Gwyn have connection to Koschei.

I strongly believe that the person who is most likely to deal with Koschei and the person who has the absolute right to defeat him is Vassa. She's the one who has been entrapped and cursed by him. Additionally it was her conversation with Feyre at the end of ACOWAR that was a giveaway as to what the spin-off trilogy is going to be plot wise. It also seems right up SJM alley to have her female protagonist defeat her abuser in a very poignant and satisfying way. I’m pretty sure that Vassa is going to be one of the leads of the future two books.

Lastly, I think we all can agree that at this point it's obvious that Azriel and Elain are two characters that SJM wants to write about and they will be main characters in the spin off novels, whether in the same book or not..

So to add all of this up we have two possible scenarios in fort of us:

1) The next book is going to be Elain and Lucien, and the last book is gonna be Vassa and someone (Jurian, Eris?, Azriel????). This scenario doesn't make much sense because: a) It would mean Azriel won't have a book (unless he's paired up with Vassa, which by now is not foreshadowed or hinted at at all). b) There's no clear love interest for Vassa, because Lucien would end up with Elain. Jurian is a possibility but he's, you know, Jurian. I don't think many people would want him as a MC. There's also Eris (bare with me here). Eris, technically, has a lot of the same plot connections that Lucian has (son of Beron, connected to the Night Court where most of our heros reside) + SJM clearly loves him. This couple is far fetched, obviously.

2) The most likely scenario, imo. The next book is Azriel and Elain - they have plenty of foreshadowing, Elain is connected to Koshei, the seer and the spy infiltrating Koshei/ Autumn Court (there’s plenty of possibilities as to how they together can be involved with the main conflict). The last book, Lucien x Vassa - the will defeat Beron, defeat Koschei, Lucian as the son of Helion the Spell-Cleaver will break Vassa's curse once and for all.

There's also other scenarios, however unlikely:

1) Gwyn and Azriel, Elain and Lucian (why yes: both Az and Elaine get books, why no: Vassa doesn't get a book which is unlikely cause she's the person most connected to Koschei, Gwyn has nothing to do with Koschei)

2) Mor and someone, Elain and Azrie or Elain and Lucian or Vassa and Lucian (why yes: we get a Mor book which is great, why no: Mor has nothing to do with Koschei, we don't have a clear love interest for Mor, Az or Elain, or Vassa are not going to get a book.)

To sum this all up. The characters that the fandom should keep an eye on are Elain, Azriel, Lucien and Vassa. The next books will be about them, and the most logical way to tell their stories is to couple Elain with Azriel and Lucian with Vassa. There is plenty of great analysis of the subtle and not so subtle way SJM is foreshadowing those couples since ACOWAR.

Of course I can be totally wrong with my predictions but judging by what's on the page I think I'm mostly right here. To be 100% sure we must simply wait

#elriel #azriel x elain #vassa x lucien #anti-gwynriel #anti-elucian #anti elucien #anti gwynriel #vassien

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a-dragons-journal · 3 years

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Hi! I was scrolling through the otherkin tag (as one does) and saw on an ask you answered that you hated DNIs and didn’t want to go into it on that ask. So I’m curious now- why do you hate DNIs? I don’t have a DNI, and I’m not out to try and change your mind. I’ve just never seen anyone say outright that they didn’t like DNIs, so I’d really like to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

I ended up indeed going into it later, because people kept sending in asks about it, so this tag exists now, but in summary:

- I don't necessarily hate the existence of DNIs, because they can be a useful tool in certain circumstances, but I hate that they're starting to become an expectation/requirement and that it's now considered "creepy/suspicious" in a growing number of communities to not have one. It should not be an obligation to basically list your political stances, discourse opinions, and triggers - you know, things you can be attacked for/people can use to hurt you - in any circumstance, least of all on the Internet where anyone can see it.

- For that matter, putting a list of things that can hurt you in public where anyone can see it and know exactly how to target you if they want to hurt/harass you is a bad idea, whether it's a social requirement or not. Full stop. Unless you are in a relatively small group where you know the intentions of the people there (and often not even then!), it is not a good idea to tell people how to effectively hurt you on the Internet.

- I hate it when people put "[x bigoted group] DNI" at the bottom of actual discussion-type content posts (as opposed to, like, aesthetics and stuff), such as people putting "TERFs DNI" at the bottom of posts about feminism, because a) if you're worried about your post appealing to that group, maybe you should reexamine your post's content, b) I've seen firsthand more than once that those groups, TERFs especially, will purposely put "[x] DNI" at the bottom of their crypto-rhetoric posts in order to turn people's critical thinking skills off and make them more likely to accept the crypto rhetoric (foot-in-the-door tactic), and c) even if it's not intentionally malicious like the last point, it still makes it so the OP's post is suddenly immune to criticism, because "hey this comes off a little transphobic" can be met with "how dare you call me a transphobe?? I said 'TERFs DNI' right there!!1!", which, again, has to do with the whole "turning people's critical thinking skills off" problem.

- On a similar note, I hate this recent trend toward performative activism and "racists/transphobes/homophobes/etc. DNI!1!" feels like another permutation of that; I don’t like people demanding/expecting me to announce all my political opinions right out the gate. It should be my decision whether or not I want to share sensitive information about myself (and if you’re scoffing at the idea of a political opinion being “sensitive information” - if it can get you, again, harassed and attacked by a complete stranger, it’s sensitive information).

- People seem to forget that people can, will, and do lie on their DNIs and bios. Predators will lie about being "under 18” in order to make minors they’re interacting with feel safe and let their guard down. TERFs will lie about “transphobes DNI!” to ensure their crypto rhetoric spreads and gets a foot in the door of trans-supporting people’s thought processes. All “it’s to let the people affected by [bigotry] know I’m safe,” which is something I hear sometimes, really means is that the bigot in question only has to put up a DNI to make the people they’re planning to target lower their guard. There is nothing guaranteeing that someone actually believes what their DNI implies they believe. It’s an illusion of safety that just doesn’t - and, really, can’t - exist on the internet, by the internet’s nature. And people thinking they’re safer than they really are is what gets people hurt because they stopped being careful. I’m not saying people need to (or should) live in fear, but relying on DNIs is not a sustainable solution, imho.

- I hate people using DNIs/BYFs as an alternative to blocklists because it often becomes essentially them forcing other people to curate their internet experience for them, and then getting mad (or hurt) when that doesn't work out for reasons that should be obvious. Especially when you take it to the extreme of trying to regulate anyone who reblogs your posts, which I have seen sometimes - you can't seriously expect people to check the OP of every single person whose post they reblog to make sure they agree with your opinions on fandom discourse; that's untenable and it can only lead to people getting hurt. You are the only person who is - and the only person who can be - responsible for your internet experience. Curate your own space.

- as a minor point, "standard DNI criteria" is becoming a popular phrase and it's frankly a useless phrase because there's no such thing. Beyond "racists/homophobes/transphobes" there's literally no telling what a given person includes in what's "standard" - pro- or anti-ship? SFW agereg/petreg blogs? DDLG? Steven Universe fans? inclusionists or exclusionists? There is no "standard." (But then, I feel like how common that phrase is becoming says something about exactly how performative and empty the trend of DNIs is as a whole at this point in time.)

- also as a minor point, I am frankly just not a fan of how often DNIs put things like "Steven Universe fan" and "neonazi" right next to each other like they're the same level of bad. I recognize consciously that this is not the intention, but it sure does come off that way sometimes. It reminds me a bit too much of those callout posts that have six pages about the person's bad opinions on anime or whatever and only then go "oh yeah and also they sexually abused, threatened, and sent their friends to harass a minor and we have screenshot evidence of all of that. anyway here's three more pages about why their art is bad because they drew a 16-year-old in a crop top one time".

And, let me be very clear here: I do not hate people who have DNIs, nor do I want to act like they're never useful. They are, sometimes! But I do feel they're being misused and they're starting to become an expectation and that's a huge problem, for the same reason that people trying to force everyone to put their age/basic personal information in their bios is a problem - it's a safety concern. I am honestly convinced that at this point, in most circumstances, DNIs are doing more harm than good.

If you want to use a DNI, that's up to you, and it's not like I'm gonna harass people about it ('s why I started that "dni critical" tag, so people could who don't want to read this stuff could avoid it) - but I want people to at least understand the risks they're taking depending on how they go about it. If it's useful to you, then good, I'm genuinely glad! It just concerns me how it's being treated by the larger Internet right now.

(And, of course, that's all just my personal subjective opinion - take what you like, leave what you don't. You're more than welcome to disagree with me; this is not a make-or-break argument for me, just one I have strong feelings about xD)

#dni critical #rani talks #asked and answered #dragons-singing-softly #that was probably more of a soapbox than you bargained for sorry fbdklgjsf #do not @ me about my fandom examples i just grabbed random controversial ones off the top of my head #if that's what you prioritize out of this whole post you have entirely missed the point

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