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captain-mj · 9 months

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I JUST READ THE BOY FIC AND OMG YOU SHOULD TOTALLY MAKE LIKE A HORROR CAMP RELATED ONE. like a rlly sweet one like they could be camp counselors yk?? <333 or just like camp counselors?

Hell yeah! I'd love to! So there's this webcomic where Jason Voorhees becomes a camp counselor made by Janie Lee and I took a little inspiration with the general vibe. 10/10 recommend that series because it's amazing. Mentions of trauma for several characters but it's not taking seriously

So it's hopefully clear but I know I can be a little subtle with subtext, so each of the characters are loosely based on a horror villain. It'll be fun to see if you guys can figure it out!

Ghost pulled the third kid out of the lake that day, silently patting their back to help them get all of the water.

"You alright?"

They nodded and coughed up a little more water before settling down. "Thank you so much, Ghost sir!"

Ghost patted their head and watched them run off to their friends. He looked around and saw Alejandro and Rudy talking. They were talking to each and clearly not watching the damn kids.

He waved and they waved back and he flipped them off.

Alejandro grinned. His perfect hair and perfect teeth.

He got on Ghost's nerves.

Especially because Alejandro was the person to wake them up every morning.

They shared a cabin with Alex and by all accounts, they were all early risers, but Alejandro was different.

This morning, and every morning, he woke them up at 4:30 in the morning as he took a shower, iced (what even is that? Is it like an ice bath? Icing a cake?) his face, and then used tons of product in his hair to define each curl.

Ghost and Alex made a deal to kill him every morning after being dragged out of their private rooms.

Alejandro had laughed and pulled them out of bed to fucking exercise. They'd do fucking pushups and planks and Alex would always use his missing leg as an excuse to get out of squats. Ghost would glare at him and grumpily continue to do whatever he had been challenged to do. He almost always beat Alejandro which surprisingly never made the man angry. Alejandro would just smile and say he’d beat him next time.

Once he made breakfast, Alex and Ghost would change their mind about killing him. Alex was the only one that drank coffee, Ghost preferred tea, but the smell was nice and inviting enough. It reminded him of being home, but in a good way.

Then they’d get everyone up at 8 am sharp and they’d handle the kiddos.

Ghost liked kids just fine. Honestly they were a bit annoying but he didn’t want anyone to get hurt and other people didn’t really seem interested in watching them so he did it. He put on his mask every morning and acted like a human being for a few hours until the kiddos went to bed and the other counselors would buddy up and talk to each other like friends.

Being friends with your coworkers? That was loser behavior.

Ghost ignored that his only friend was his little brother.

Gaz talked about the podcast he was listening to with Ghost. Well. More talked at Ghost as he didn’t really contribute.

“Doesn’t it feel… manipulative? Listening to these people talk about these murders.”

Gaz shrugged. “Maybe. But it’s… interesting.”

“In a ‘you want to do something similar’ or ‘gets you off’ way?”

Gaz laughed. “No. Just… how they are you know? How they get caught. The small mistakes. The way they could so cruelly kill those people. It’s just… Don’t know. It’s horrific but addicting.”

Ghost didn’t understand but nodded all the same.

Sometimes, he thought it would be nice to sit with them. The fire looked nice at least.

Alex knew exactly how to toast marshmallows. He had this secret technique to get them just right to be smushed but not enough for it to taste burnt. It was how he lured Ghost to them, using s’mores as a form of bait.

Ghost ate one, perched on a log, prepared to sprint.

“Riley, we’re going to be working together all summer, man. You can relax around us.” Gaz said with a smile. “You might even like us!”

Ghost grimaced and pulled his mask back down. “Doubtful. I don’t do friends. And I prefer Ghost.”

Soap smiled and lightly tapped his foot against the log Ghost was perched on. “I see. Well, Ghost. What’s with the mask?”

Ghost shrugged. “I just… like wearing it.”

“That’s an understatement. You came out of your room wearing it. Is it like Roach? Got scars under there?” Alejandro asked, arm around Rodolfo who looked less than amused by the whole situation.

Roach hit Alejandro and checked that his mask was on properly. According to what Ghost had heard, he had some rather severe burns. Poor guy. He had some gorgeous brown eyes and tons of fluffy blond hair that could be seen over the mask. Alejandro clearly didn’t strike a nerve, which was good, but he didn’t look very happy.

Ghost slowly waved before signing. “What’s another name for a sleeping bag?”

Roach tilted his head questioningly. No one else seemed to know what Ghost was signing, though they watched his hands.

“A nap sack.”

Roach laughed. And so did Soap.

Ghost glanced at him, watching him cover his mouth. Soap looked away.

He then stretched and took another s’more from Alex. He had undone part of his shirt that exposed his chest a little. It made Ghost’s stomach feel funny.

Gaz smiled. “Let’s play truth or dare. No gross stuff though. Keep it PG-13.”

Ghost reluctantly relaxed. “Okay. Sure.” He’d pick all dares. Easy.

They started up.

He learned quickly that picking dares was not a good idea when Alejandro had Alex slip his shirt off. They all looked at him. There was some scarring along his stomach from a fire that had raged.

Weird how many slashers had brushes with fire.

But he was fit and rather hot. Ghost glanced away and realized there was no universe where he could so easily strip himself of his clothing. His body had scars, but it was nothing like Alex who had lost his brother to one or Roach whose school had burned down with almost everyone in it.

No. No one died in the events that scarred Ghost. And he knew if they looked at him, they’d immediately realize they were purposefully inflicted by both Ghost and others. It wasn’t something he wanted anybody to know about. So he had to make a decision.

“Ghost.” Soap smiled. “Truth or Dare?”

“Truth.”

“What’s the farthest you’ve ever gone with someone?”

Ghost froze, staring. “That’s not PG-13.”

“Oh, so you’ve had sex?” Gaz pointed out, the pretense of being clean gone.

Ghost hesitated just long enough for them to pounce.

“You’re a virgin??” Alejandro asked, almost scandalized at the thought. “You’re 6’4, built and mysterious as hell. How are you fucking that up?”

“Uh…”

Alex defended him. “Maybe he’s just shy!”

Soap translated for Roach. “Or saving himself for marriage. Gary, personally I don’t think that’s it.”

Ghost stood up. “I’ll be leaving now.”

Rodolfo hummed. “Is it religious? Or just never found the opportunity?”

“I’ve already answered my question.”

Soap tsked. “Actually, you haven’t. You just said it’s not PG-13. So… until you answer the question, we can ask whatever we want.”

Gaz nodded. “Those are the rules.”

Ghost squirmed. “We counting nonconsensually?”

That ruined the vibe really fast.

“Oh!” Soap covered his mouth, looking horrified. “I’m so sorry.”

Ghost shrugged. “If it’s just consensual, I held hands. Once.”

Roach planted his head in his hands, shaking his head.

Somehow, Alejandro and Gaz got the game going again. Ghost picked dares after that and they all had the politeness to not make him or Roach do anything salacious. Sometimes, they’d ask Roach or dare him to do something dirty and he’d grab his cross and freeze. He always did it, letting Soap translate for him so everyone could understand him.

As the night started to wind down, Roach ended up next to Ghost, both of them on the same log. Soap was doing something with the other guys and they both noticed the other person glancing at him. They quickly looked away again.

Ghost had never felt uncomfortable with his sexuality. He liked men. Simple as that. But attraction was not something he liked acknowledging. Some people were attractive and it made Ghost nervous and sometimes he did find himself wishing for easy camaraderie and beautiful blues eyes to be…

Oh yikes.

He was imagining Soap.

Ghost was glad it was one of the single guys so he didn’t feel like an ass but it had to be that one??

Roach glanced at him and looked flustered. “I don’t really get the big deal either.”

Ghost nodded and tried to look stoic. He felt flustered and anxious though. His mask luckily kept him looking fine. “I just think there’s better things we can be doing. Like our jobs.”

Roach smiled. Ghost could tell by the way his eyes crinkled. “Yeah. Exactly.”

They started to talk and Ghost found he was easy conversation. Before long, it reached midnight and as much as everyone would’ve loved staying up, they did have work in the morning.

Alejandro and Alex walked on either side of Ghost.

“By non-consensual…”

“Alex, I’ll rip your head from your fucking body.”

“Nevermind.”

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roo-bastmoon · 1 year

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"so in that kumbaya post u just openly admit ur a fat ugly single abused people pleasing jkker? not suprised. u all r. id kms if i were u."

Hmm.

Okay.

Quite a bit to unpack, there.

To answer your question: Yes, I'm a bit overweight right now--it's part the hormone blockers for the cancer and part my own emotional eating the last few months because, ya know, it's a bit stressful battling cancer. I plan to get back into working out after Yoongi's concert, though! And I'm not hideous, but I'm definitely not gorgeous. You're right, I'm single, have been for years, by choice. I do tend to people please a LOT (working on boundaries with a really sassy wonderful cognitive behavioral therapist--10/10, highly recommend CBT!). And I absolutely love and adore Jikook, for sure, as well as all of BTS.

So... guilty as charged.

But no, my "flaws" aren't a reason to DIE. I still have value, dear throw-away-account-in-my-inbox.

Despite my many shortcomings, I still have purpose. I still get pleasure. I can still do amazing things in the world and create some meaning in this life. All people are works in progress. Me, too. Who told you you had to always be exceptional to ever be worthy?

I'm not perfect. But I can try to be good.

In case you need a reminder, here's what "good" looks like:

I hope you heal from whatever wounds others gave you to make you calloused and aggressive toward total strangers.

I hope when you read this that you unclench your jaw and relax your shoulders, because you are safe and sheltered and you know there's no immediate threat.

I hope you can afford a nourishing meal and a long hot shower with amazing-smelling soap to restore some of your energy, which must be flagging, since you're spending it on Asks like this.

I hope you get a great night's sleep in a comfy bed, and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to face whatever challenges are a part of your days. Because I'm certain you have challenges just like everyone else.

I hope you have someone you trust, who you can talk to, who will listen to every word intently, and try to empathize and understand you and give you good counsel.

I hope at the end of your day, when all the work and chores are done, you get to read a really engrossing story, or listen to a thought-provoking podcast, or check out some amazing music that makes you feel alive and excited to be so.

I hope you remember yourself--your true self--the kind of person who can be kind.

Because the universe returns your energy back to you. I promise you, eventually, it does.

So here's some kindness from a random overweight absolutely flawed single Jikook fan on Tumblr, who genuinely wants you to be healthy and whole as soon as possible. We all will be better off when you start to heal.

Now, to get us both back into a place of calm and gratitude, you inspired me to make a donation to NAMI. If you ever need mental health help (and who doesn't?) they have some great free resources that you can check out HERE. Please never seriously consider killing yourself, or even joking about it, for any reason. Every day, every moment, is a new chance to start from scratch and make your life into something you prefer.

And if you're not open to talking to a therapist right now, there's a free app called Insight Timer with tons of great meditations, calming exercises, insightful podcasts, and mood-resetting music.

So, this is as much of my time and energy as I can give to you. I wouldn't have even answered you, except the K-pop community just suffered a loss from suicide this week and I felt it important to address what you said. But now I've got some streaming and voting to do in between my real-life responsibilities. So this is the last we will interact under your sock puppet account. But I hope you see this post, and I hope you know I really mean it. I really mean that you deserve to heal from this toxic anger you're taking out on others. I know you can be better.

"Who says a dream must be something grand?

Just become anybody.

We deserve a life.

Whatever, big or small, you are you after all."

--Paradise, Love Yourself: Tear, BTS

For everyone else, if I keep getting Asks from sock puppets like this, I'll turn off the option to message me unless we follow each other. I already turned off anons ages ago because of these types of messages. I will limit access to me, not as a punishment, but just because it's important to protect my (and my friends') energy against negativity. I am here for BTS, not drama.

This fandom needs to work harder to reflect BTS' values, or else what are we all doing here?? You don't have to agree with anyone about anything, but you do have to at least be civil.

If you're looking for a fight, you won't get it from me. My tongue is ruled by the law of kindness.

With sincerest respect,

Roo

P.S. Jimin and Yoongi are close to record-breaking milestones. Please don't waste any time or energy on this sort of thing--keep streaming!

#Spotify

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golbrocklovely · 9 months

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okay since a bunch of you asked, here is my review of kris' podcast with snc ! :)

first off, i highly recommend you go watch it. i'll link it right here. it was seriously so fun to watch and very silly. but it had some really good points in it too.

i'll give some overall thoughts and then i'll point out random things that i liked.

so i think the flow of their conversation thru out the podcast was really fun, even if they were hung over from the night before. kris is really good at interviewing ppl, or at least snc. so i'm interested to see her do other podcasts in the future.

the beer pong element was a fun way to break up the podcast without getting it too far off topic.

this podcast also really made me love kris. i've watched her from time to time, never been a huge fan or anything. just someone that i could occasionally throw on in the background or whatever. but her banter with snc… top notch. i want to be friends with her just so we could sass snc together.

they were all so giggly together and it was just so cute to see. 10/10 watch this podcast again.

also…. was it just me or was she flirting with colby??? i KNOW they are just friends. i'm not actually shipping them…. but if they ever got together i wouldn't be mad. just saying.

okay, here are some random things that i liked that happened during the podcast:

kris saying colby should do voice acting: YES. she is just like me forreal. especially with the mics she was using, my god his voice is hot.

the reoccurring joke that colby is conceited was kinda fun, until i started thinking of ppl taking it too seriously. that man already gets enough shit, yall better STOP before it gets bad lol

kris' hair looks so nice. i love that color on her. it really warms up her face.

when kris made the joke of "are you guys gonna quit now since you hit 10 mil", and colby said "he (sam) gets to decide that, not me." and then followed it up by explaining their dynamic as "he's the leader and i'm lazy as hell, i don't do anything." this man was feeling SPICY that day lol i love sassy colby it's kinda my favorite

"i'm the girlfriend." - colby brock

sam being the stern one and colby being the go with the flow one makes perfect fucking sense. have i not said this before a 1000 times lol

sam not respecting astrology ppl but then admitting that it's kinda true…. something is not clicking there, cheif

i said this in an ask but them not being able to see but refusing to get glasses; yall are too rich to be BLIND

what is with snc getting houses or staying in places with no ac??? that could NEVER be me omg

so snc ended up mentioning the conjuring house and that what happened there is gonna change lives and might get on national news……. i'll try to say this in a positive way: i LOVE that snc love to shoot for the stars when it comes to their content. and them believing in their own content, being passionate about it, is really nice to see. but like… bffr.

kris having a snapchat group with snc, that's adorable.

i highly recommend watching the part from 20:46 - 21:23. i want this shit to be permanently on repeat in my mind forever. everything about it was a masterpiece. - kris whooping snc's ass - colby complaining the table being too long - kris saying "i'm throwing the same shots as you boi, i'm throwing the same shots as you baby." - the look colby gives her when she says boi (😀), and then the look when she says baby (😏) - kris then saying to sam when he misses a shot "is your mom proud of you?" and then colby's face???? I LOVED EVERY MOMENT

colby saying he can't read comments bc they just make him feel bad breaks my heart. that sometimes he has to refuse to read them just bc they get to him too much. i need everyone to rewatch that clip back next time they want to say something about his appearance that isn't extremely nice. yall fucking suck.

snc strategizing pics on insta is so true. just watch jc's livestream when they hit 10 mil. it took them 20 minutes to post about it lol

re-rack, reconfigure, no no. the real word you're looking for is rearrange. that's what we used to call it.

i love snc with my entire heart, but sometimes it becomes very apparent that they only got a high school education. what do you mean you don't know what the word gaudy means???? ostentatious??? and then colby not knowing what the bible belt is???? cmon now lmao

colby talking about dating/his love life just a bit… kris really is trying to get on my good side sksksks

colby's raya profile saying he's a wwe wrestler, and then his caption being "6'0 on a good day with the right shoes"…. how does he get laid as often as he does???? i can't with him anymore

him also admitting to ghosting and getting bored talking to ppl. imagine being ghosted by colby. i would be embarrassed lol

it was interesting to hear their opinions on 25x25 now. i personally loved that content so to hear them say it wasn't as authentic as the haunted stuff is a bit confusing. i don't know if i would agree with it, but i like hearing what they have to say about it.

sam saying back to kris "if you make this shot, i think ppl will love you… finally." and then saying "make your mom proud"………… why do i find this hot something is wrong with me lol

if you're wondering if i could ever take snc in a fight, the answer is YES. i would absolutely murder them sksksks

snc listening to country music???? what has this world come to?? i mean i'm happy to hear they like country but it's just so surprising

colby saying his favorite movie is 'life of pi' but not understanding it and kris saying "you're so cute." i love that moment.

colby needs to make more music STAT

kris saying she's sleeping with socks on and colby not liking that: sir, you enthusiastically told xplrclub that you watch cist popping videos i don't CARE what you have to say.

colby also not wanting to saying anything to get canceled is very accurate

the little handshake they all did at the end of beer pong was adorable.

colby being good at moving his tongue fast………. i'm not even gonna say anything lmao

also his inability to do the cowabunga with his left hand. i fucking cried laughing at that.

#sam and colby #sam golbach #colby brock #kallmekris #personal #text

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thottybrucewayne · 1 year

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A LIST OF PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO HELL: 2023 EDITION, LETS GOOOOOOOO!!!!

Anybody that's still dick gobblin JK Rowling. At this point yall can't be saved. Perish. Yall be going two hand twist Teanna Trump full throttle on her shit 24/7 365 and for what? A children's book series that really should have stopped being relevant the second yall heard the bitch was bumping coochies with terfs on Twitter dot com? Be serious

Anybody that defended Tory Lanez. But especially the niggas that were 10 toes down and nipple deep in conspiracy theories because they were too pussy to admit they just wanted to participate in the harassment of a Black woman. You going to the hottest part of hell if you really believe that "roc nation got him!" Or any other bullshit

White leftists who hold zero community with Black people either online or irl but wanna act like world renowned Doctors of Niggalogy the second they hear about anything a Black leftist is doing. I'm fitting yall for some gasoline draws as we speak

White tiktokkers. Yall showed yall ass so bad last year that you all gotta go at this point. Yall getting packed like sardines and will be down there within 2 to 3 business minutes

Like 99.999999999999999% of anime/manga fans. You niggas are so deeply unserious about everything to the point where a prominent figure in the anime news community was exposed for being a literal "ex" neo nazi and yall tried to sneak forgive him 2 months later because "everyone makes mistakes" you're spineless and weak and I'm spitting in your eye before I pull the lever to the flaming depths below

Speaking of anime, anyone who was involved with anime abridged series but especially in the 2010s. Yall are going to the front of the line. I ain't forget what yall was doing with Canary from hxh

Anybody who is ridiculously overly critical of the "state of female rap" but refuse to speak on these mid tier male rappers that be stinking up the girls records with they features

Paula Abdul and Jlo. They both know why.

Anyone who makes Ike and Tina/Whitney and Bobby jokes

Anyone who thinks up north and Cali aren't racist. 9 times outta 10 you are the embodiment of northerner/cali racists we be talkin about

Anyone who argues that slur reclamation makes a word not a slur anymore. A. That's not how that works B. Now I know why yall wanna say nigga so bad

Anybody who still listens to them nsfw anime boyfriend audios on the public library computers. You and the dude on xvideos a seat over from you are 2 sides of the same coin

Batman "fans" who say shit like "why doesn't he just kill the joker?" Yall add nothing new to the conversation like ever and its literally painful to talk to you

Anyone who takes hoteps, Dr. Umar, or DJ akademiks seriously. You was born a fool and you'll die a fool

Niggas with podcasts. Enough

Whoever keeps coming up with them twitter hypotheticals that rule every conversation within the Black community for a solid week. I'm convinced you are a psyop tasked with sowing chaos within the Black community. You must be terminated.

Anybody who recommends me corny ass cornball corn on the cob ass media then expect me to like it. Cause like....what you trying to say?

VAUSH

Yall nbs who keep jumping up to defend raceplay/slaveplay in any kink based controversy on here even though nobody was fuckin talkin about raceplay/slaveplay

Reylos. Self explanatory.

Booktokkers and Booktok authors

Niggas who eat chitlins but are picky about other food. Slurp them doodoo noodles in hell, babes.

People who think "blackwashing" is real. Self explanatory.

Men who look like they smell like cold spit and earring backs who talk cash shit about fat women. Yall gonna be roasted on a spit and I'll be turning it.

Pickmes. You've finally been picked! To burn in the lake of fire for all eternity.

And finally, anybody and I mean ANYONE who is still doing stupid shit like licking subway poles for attention. I hope all 8 million diseases of the naked city on that damn pole attack your immune system and breaks you down on a molecular level till theres nothing left.

#thotty speaks #thotty rants #going to hell list 2023 #feel free to add some in the reblogs

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perregrinstudiessometimes · 1 year

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Spoiler Free Book review of

“All Good People Here” by Ashley Flowers

Good reads synopsis/summary: “In the propulsive debut novel from the host of the #1 true crime podcast "Crime Junkie," a journalist uncovers her hometown’s dark secrets when she becomes obsessed with the unsolved murder of her childhood neighbor—and the disappearance of another girl twenty years later.

Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the case of January Jacobs, who was found dead in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist, but she’s always been haunted by the fear that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.

When Margot returns home to help care for her sick uncle, it feels like walking into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembered: genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under eerily similar circumstances. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and solve January’s murder once and for all.

But the police, the family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could the killer still be out there? Could it be the same person who kidnapped Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night?”

Format: audio book read by Brittney Presley (an amazing reader 10/10 for performance) with character actor Karissa Vacker and Epilogue by the author, Ashley Flowers

Source: Libby (app that my local library partners with)

Book started on: Jan 3rd

Book finished on: Jan 4th

Book Grade (out of 100): 87

Book emojis: 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦⛪️🩰😭😲❄️👮‍♂️🥸🌹✉️🔓

Book sins spotted:

“Let out a breath [character] hadn’t realized they were holding” count: 1

Spoiler free thoughts: The book, for the record, is one of fiction but it feels so real. Ashley knows the inner workings of real criminals and clearly has a knack for writing fake ones with her knowledge. This is the type of story where you think you know 100% where it is going only for everything you thought u knew to turn in its head (over and over again.) I personally found this book to be more mystery crime fiction than thriller but I definitely enjoyed it non the less.

The ending was fast passed and full of constant twists and turns that left me guessing constantly, so naturally I loved it. There were many points where I, finally, thought I had figured out the entire sequence of events only to have half of my assumptions turn out to be totally wrong. This is the type of mystery I recommend to all of my friends and this one will be no exception.

Warnings: There are a few warnings people may need to know going into this book (besides the obvious, ie. Murder) mainly child murder, child abuse, and sexual assault against a minor stand out the most. Although, just as in her podcasts, Ashley does a great job of asserting the seriousness of these topics while not lingering on the details that make us uncomfortable. The wording of these assaults and crimes are no more vivid then the wording would be in True crime podcasts.

I would also like to add in another warning; Dementia is discussed heavily through this book as one of the main characters suffer with it. Dementia runs in my family so this topic hit me especially hard. My own grandmother is suffering with the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s disease at the moment and is about the same age as the main character. While the character suffers far more than my grandmother does at the moment it is still a heartbreaking aspect of this book which I feel many reviews have not stressed the extent in which this aspect is mentioned.

Do I recommend this book? Despite knowing a few of the main twists ahead of time I still deeply enjoyed the smaller twists as a few audible gasps left my mouth while listening. I highly recommend this book to people who love true crime (or fictional crime stories.)

If you enjoyed this book and are looking for other recommendations: I, of course, have to recommend Crime junkie, Ashley flowers most popular podcast. I will also recommend another true crime show; The Casual Criminalist, which is both a podcast and a YouTube channel (I recommend the YouTube Channel over the podcast as the editor, Jen, likes to thrown in a few sight gags from now and then which helps lighten the mood.)

#Rosie’s book reviews 2023 #true crime #thriller #ashley flowers #book review #podcast #booklr #bookblr #book recommendations #bookish #book reviews #bookworm #read #reader #reading #review #new bookblr #all good people here #crime junkie

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slowpoke272 · 1 year

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“the ocean at the end of the lane” by neil gaiman

finished: may 9, 2023

(spoilers ahead.)

it had been a while since i had read a neil gaiman novel, though i got halfway through the sandman omnibus vol. 2 last year. i had heard great things about this novel, that it was deep (pun intended) and i have to say it did not disappoint.

this novel, per mr. gaiman, is about memory and our attachment to it. there is also a theme of how children perceive the world versus adults, and the trade off we do with fantasy and reality as we grow older. there are some fantastical elements in this book, for instance, that make it seem really playful and of a young mind, but ultimately this story is for adults.

i love that we never learn the narrator’s name and we never find out whose funeral he’s attending, but those things don’t matter to the story. the story starts off rather solemn, really gets going after a tragic incident, and then goes off on an unexpected magical journey for a bit but then quickly jerks back to seriousness. i never knew what would happen next and there were some parts of this story that felt like they were happening to me. the story felt very quite paced but also the depth is undeniable. i love the water element throughout the story.

i had the pleasure of listening to the story narrated by neil gaiman himself, which i think is definitely the best way to hear the story. there was also a short podcast interview after the audiobook in which neil dives into the symbolism of water and other elements of the story, including how personal the story is for him. i deeply admire the concept he adopted for this novel, the main character is essentially him but he’s removed his family completely from the narrative. i feel like we could have guessed those exact parameters.

short, wonderful, thought-provoking. will be digesting this story mentally for some time. i just love neil gaiman’s writing style and ability to weave reality in with magical realism.

rating: 9/10 loved it so much and will re-visit again when the time is right; would recommend most everyone read it at least once

#neil gaiman #the ocean at the end of the lane

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mostlymovieswithmax · 3 years

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Movies I watched in July

Once again I’m doing my monthly round-up of movies I’ve watched. This was a good month for the cinema getting back on track and seeing new releases including the new M. Night movie, Old and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. Pretty sure Marvel put out a new movie also. I’m hoping that this list can help in guiding a decision about what to watch (or what to avoid) and introduce people to movies they may otherwise not have heard of or bothered to see. These short reviews are my own subjective opinions on each individual movie and maybe a more informal approach to movie criticism can help include others who are just passing through. Here is every film I watched from the 1st to the 31st of July.

Bridesmaids (2011) - 4/10

Off to a good start. I won’t say Bridesmaids is a terrible movie but I don’t think I’m exactly the target audience. As far as I know, this is a beloved comedy but I just can’t get on board with all the boring, juvenile humour; with Maya Rudolph shitting in the street, with Rose Byrne and Kristen Wiig trying to one-up each other at a toast that went on forever, with Melissa McCarthy shitting in a sink… the conflict is so done to death and makes the movie feel unspecial. I do understand the appeal of the film, especially for women in that before this movie the likelihood of seeing something like this, where women play up the more crass and gross side of comedy, was probably few and far between. But the story is very tired and while I did appreciate some moments, namely a couple of decent jokes and some of the more intimate scenes, for the most part it felt like they wanted to corner a more quiet type of line delivery in a way that was supposed to be understated but very funny so as to not rely on over the top body language or musical cues, and it ended up being super dull.

Spectre (2015) - 7/10

As far as I can tell, a lot of people don’t like this instalment of the James Bond franchise… but I really enjoyed it! I’ve really taken a shine to these Daniel Craig-era Bond movies and while I can’t say any of them are the most amazing thing, I have a lot of fun with them. The biggest problem I have with Spectre is the villain being utterly pointless and uninteresting in basically every way. The idea of every villain Bond has fought before being tied to this one organisation controlled by this one guy is ridiculous, and what makes it worse is that the villain is barely in it! There’s so much that doesn’t come together in this but as it goes, I still had a really good time. Daniel Craig holds the whole thing together; he is excellent as 007 and the main reason I’m up for each of these movies is because of him. Sam Mendes directs again after the previous instalment and for what it’s worth I do think he does a good job with some of the action set pieces and the locations. I’m so ready for No Time To Die.

Shazam (2019) - 7/10

Shazam is a genuinely fun superhero movie that doesn’t take itself seriously at all. I was having a great time throughout and while it could conform to some of the same tropes we’re used to with these kinds of movies, it still remained playful and used the character of Shazam to his fullest potential in a way that showed an understanding of just how silly the idea of a kid who can turn into an adult and shoot lightning out of his hands is.

High School Musical (2006) - 6/10

So as you may or may not know, I co-host a podcast: The Sunday Movie Marathon. It’s a film podcast and every week I get together with my other co-hosts and watch movies. For episode 38, we watched the High School Musical trilogy. This first movie blew me away. I was really surprised with just how much fun I had, and if you want to hear more of my thoughts on the film, please listen to episode 38 of the podcast.

High School Musical 2 (2007) - 4/10

We then jumped into the second and while it’s certainly not as good as its predecessor, there are still some brilliant songs that manage to top the last movie. Again, more of what I have to say can be heard on episode 38 of the podcast.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) - 3/10

Senior Year was pretty hard to get through. I don’t remember it being as bad as it was, but then I didn’t really remember it anyway. It did however have one redeeming quality, which you can discover on episode 38 of the podcast.

The Piano Teacher (2001) - 9/10

What the fuuuckkkk. The Piano Teacher is horrendously affecting and I was so upset when it ended, maybe not because it’s not what I wanted but because it’s just so fucking dour and unrelenting. This is the second Haneke movie I’ve seen (after the original Funny Games) and I’m so impressed with how well executed it is. Following a woman who teaches piano, we get a glimpse into the life she lives, how sheltered she is from living with her mother at an age where you’d reasonably expect a person to be living alone or with a partner or friends (even going so far as to be sleeping in the same bed as her), and how repressed she is sexually. It’s clear she’s never experienced any kind of sexual interaction or romantic love with another person, so she goes out of her way to take control and make that happen. The upsetting nature of it comes from just what she does in pursuit of it or as a result of her repression, and what is done to her. It is by no means a movie to recommend to your parents but The Piano Teacher offers so much in terms of the ideas it presents (and I’ll admit there seems to be a lot more going on than I think I picked up on a first go round) about women in modern society, and about the portrayal of sex and expectations of people when it comes to how that is represented in a person’s character depending on their gender. I really enjoyed this movie but it is not for the faint of heart.

Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011) - 1/10

My podcast co-hosts decided it’d be a right laugh to add Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure to this episode and that might have been a fun idea for them because they got to watch it together, but I was just watching it alone. Just a 24-year-old man watching Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure alone and having a miserable time, I might add. But for a short and sweet ramble on what we all thought, please listen to episode 38 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast.

Dr. No (1962) - 6/10

A lot of very iffy parts of this movie. A lot of discomfort arising from how black people are portrayed that really didn’t sit right with me. As far as a Bond movie goes, this first instalment in the series is one I’ve seen before and it’s not wholly engaging but it plants the seeds for the rest, with Sean Connery breathing life into the role and making an otherwise lacklustre plot bearable.

Black Widow (2021) - 6/10

I think probably the best part about Black Widow is the experience I had while watching it. It was great being back in the cinema with a couple of friends in a packed theatre. The energy was high and I’m sure for a lot of people, this is the first time they’d been to the cinema since Endgame. For what it’s worth, I did have a lot of fun with Black Widow and I’ve explained more of what I thought about the movie in episode 39 of the podcast.

The Climb (2020) - 10/10

The Climb was added to Now TV recently and I already knew I loved it, having seen it in an empty cinema theatre last year, which I had an absolute blast with. The Climb details the years of a rocky friendship told over scenes filmed as one-shots. Not only is the presentation something to gawk at, but the performances by the two leads playing these friends with a terrifically dysfunctional dynamic is truly captivating. They’re both trying to figure out their own lives and where one can come across as being rather selfish, the opposite is true in his counterpart, whom everyone loves. This is a truly funny and heartwarming movie with a lot to say about how we choose to live our lives and who we choose to be with. It’s a shame the distributors of The Climb didn’t do a very good job because if not for it being available on Now TV, it would be near impossible to watch without forking out more money than is necessary to purchase a film.

From Russia With Love (1963) - 5/10

The second Bond movie. I thought perhaps I’d change my mind on it with another watch, having seen it for the first time maybe a year ago. But no, it’s still largely boring and it treats women like absolute garbage. From Russia With Love is one of those movies I forget as I watch it, and I was trying very hard (in the middle of the day!) not to fall asleep.

The Good, The Bart, and The Loki (2021) - 1/10

I don't usually talk about the short films I watch but for this I'll make an exception. As we all should know, Disney owns The Simpsons now, through their acquisition of Fox, so, coupled with another of their properties, that being Marvel, they decided to make a six-minute animated film wherein Marvel’s Loki is stranded in Springfield. This felt as though it was a minute long due to the horrendously jarring pacing; it is a movie that feels adamant that it needs to exist, while trying as hard as it can to be over as soon as possible. It serves only to stare the audience directly in the face and say “look, characters from The Simpsons are dressed as Avengers”, shit out three credit scenes, then end before you’ve even processed the atrocity you just bore witness to.

Russian Ark (2002) - 8/10

For this next episode of the podcast, we watched a few Russian movies, starting with Russian Ark, a film shot completely in one take as the camera moves about a luxurious museum in a first-person perspective as this main character watches what is happening around him, seeing people moving about the place but unable to interact with them, guided only by another man who seems to be just slightly out of his own perception of reality. This is a tremendous feat in filmmaking and more can be heard about what I have to say in episode 39 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast.

Ivan’s Childhood (1962) - 7/10

For my own pick of Russian movies to discuss on the podcast, I chose the debut feature from one of my favourite directors, Andrei Tarkovsky. It’s amazing that while this is not his best film by far, Ivan’s Childhood is still such a stellar debut, jumping around in its timeline as it details a child’s experience in the second world war. Again, I do go into more depth in episode 39 of the podcast, so be sure to check that out.

Outlaw (2019) - 1/10

The third movie chosen for this marathon is apparently the fourth Russian LGBTQ+ movie ever made. I’m unsure of the ultimate goal of this movie but what seems to be clear is that it hates the LGBTQ+ community. This is perhaps the worst film we’ve discussed on the podcast to date, so listen to episode 39 to understand exactly why it’s such trash.

Almost Famous (2000) - 7/10

I too love heavy music and also studied journalism so it stands to reason that a movie about a teenager who makes his way onto a band tour, following them through America and interviewing them as they hang out and play shows is going to be a premise that resonates with me. This certainly did. I enjoyed Almost Famous a lot; this kid is living the dream and I was so along for the ride, seeing a lot of myself in what was being portrayed. That said, the story itself is at times a bit by the numbers and I really would’ve been more on board if the visual component was more interesting. For what it is, technically it’s fine enough but nothing in that department ever jumped out at me.

Minari (2021) - 8/10

It’s crazy that this didn’t get a theatrical run where I live in the UK. It feels as though I complain about film distribution all the time but I really don’t understand the process by which a movie gets no cinematic release and yet, months later will pop up on the front shelf of hmv, taking pride of place. But of course I got the blu-ray straight away. Minari has a lot to say about the immigrant experience, specifically in America as a family comes over from Korea and tries to start a business and make something of themselves. You get to see a lot of what you might not think twice about when you think about immigration: the hardship of coming from a place where you know everyone to somewhere rural and sparsely populated, having to make friends with locals and integrate within the community; the strain it can put on a family and on a marriage where this idea is presented about the importance of making it on your own in order to live and not just survive, while also taking into account why you’re doing it in the first place and the value you place on being part of a family that you decided to make because that was more important than money, than economy, than proving you were good enough to make it in a place that gave you very little advantage from the offset. This concept of the promised land, of the American dream is a construct. There are times when it’s not pretty, when you have no running water, or you’re in debt, or a family member is dying and it just feels like you’ve been dealt as bad a hand as you can get. But it is better to know you’re not facing all that alone.

Roma (2018) - 10/10

This was my recommendation for the podcast episode on Alfonso Cuarón movies. Roma is as beautiful as it is heart-wrenching and I would recommend listening to episode 40 of the podcast to find out more about my thoughts.

An American Werewolf In London (1981) - 8/10

In all fairness, London is enough to make anyone a little crazy at the best of times. An American Werewolf in London showcases some fantastically grotesque effects, akin to something like Carpenter’s The Thing, in showing the dead brought back to life and a horrifically gory transformation scene. Although the film is from the perspective of an American protagonist, directed also by an American, the depiction of British culture and climate is something I’ve not seen many films pull off quite so well, and I was pleasantly surprised at the more comedic tone the film has overall, which is something that works more in its favour than straight horror would.

The Party’s Just Beginning (2018) - 6/10

Karen Gillan’s directorial debut is… pretty good! There are a lot of ideas I like in this movie: a woman living life and through convenient circumstances, is confronted with death in many ways. Gillan obviously knows her homeland as well as she can, imbuing the whole thing with an intensely Scottish vibe (though maybe not in the same vein as something like Trainspotting) that makes it a bit more unique than a more run of the mill movie of this ilk, backed up in no small part by her own main performance. The plot itself is no great diversion from the kind of story I’m used to with these smaller movies and for something that’s trying to include messaging about transgender issues and suicide, it probably could have been handled better or done in a different way.

Solaris (1972) - 9/10

Another Tarkovsky joint, one I thought I’d revisit to see if there was indeed more to get out of it a second time. Well, it’s no surprise that yes, there was certainly more to get out of it. Solaris is a crazy trip of a movie and I would liken it to Kubrick’s 2001 in terms of how grand the scale of it feels. Yet this is a film that comes across as deeply personal, choosing to focus on a specific character as he goes to a space station to help those on board who are experiencing some kind of emotional crises, only to feel the effects of the planet, Solaris invading his own mind as it has the crew. To many, I can see this lengthy Russian sci-fi being a tad slow but my personal experience is one of deep engagement. Solaris pulls its viewer in a lot of different directions and it is always doing something unexpected in terms of where its narrative goes. There’s a lot to think about with the movie and thankfully it’s no chore to watch again.

Y Tu Mamá También (2001) - 9/10

Another recommendation for the podcast episode on Alfonso Cuarón movies. This is a very relaxed experience, following three young people as they go on a road trip, visit different places and have sex. Listen to episode 40 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast for more of my thoughts.

Children of Men (2006) - 10/10

My favourite Cuarón movie, one that never stops being tense as its characters are constantly moving towards the end goal. Set in a future where humans are infertile, the oldest living person is 18, and London is the last city in the world that’s still keeping it together, somewhat. This is masterclass filmmaking. Listen to episode 40 of the podcast for more insights.

Minority Report (2002) - 5/10

I’m really not the biggest fan of Spielberg… Minority Report is an interesting movie in terms of its concept of stopping crimes before they happen by way of prediction, but I just didn’t connect with the heart of it. The colouring is way too overexposed in a way that’s supposed to be eliciting a futuristic vibe but instead feels so early-2000’s in the worst way. My biggest problem with Minority Report is just how long it is, clocking in at two hours and twenty-five minutes which allows for a lot of meandering, all while never quite developing characters enough for you to care about.

Caché (2005) - 9/10

Oh god! Another Michael Haneke movie! Here we see a couple periodically sent video tapes featuring hours of footage of the outside of their house. The anxiety ratchets up and the mystery gets deeper with every minute. There’s always at least one moment in any of his films that have so far made me realise just how out of my depth I am. Caché is no exception, and I won’t spoil anything here because I think it’s better just to watch the movie and see for yourself. He is a director that wants the audience to know something and that something is never what is explicitly shown at face value; it is pressed into the fabric of the film - plainly evident, yet hidden. Caché is so stupidly clever in displaying its themes and messaging - making reference to the Siene Massacre of 1961 as well as a deeper study of colonialism - and there’s no way to change a single detail of it without risking the Jenga tower crumbling to the ground. It all works in tandem. It is passion and fury and haunting.

Coco (2017) - 7/10

Pixar had a string of around seven forgettable movies before this point so thankfully Coco emerged to show the company still had something good in them. Coco deals a lot with themes of death and legacy, remembering those who are gone in order to preserve them and while its plotting is quite basic and there are certainly moments that either drag or cannot escape the same Pixar formula, most of what the movie has to offer is a lot of fun, with creative, colourful animation and emotional beats that resonate the way they’re supposed to.

Incredibles 2 (2018) - 5/10

Oh, they almost had it! There's a lot here that could have been explored in far more interesting ways. Setting Incredibles 2 directly after the events of the first movie was not a good idea. If it had taken place five or ten years after, the characters could have been in different places in life and it would feel as though they'd actually changed and developed. But instead of trying to be a film that actually cares about its characters and the journeys they go on, a lot of the film is wrestling with the idea that Bob isn't supportive of his wife and Jack-Jack has to fight a raccoon… They have to shoehorn in a villain that in no way compares to the genius of the original. The ending of the original introduces another antagonist that gets wrapped up within this film's first ten minutes, except they don't catch him and he's never mentioned again. It's a real shame because the animation is fantastic and the acting is superb and there are great ideas sprinkled throughout. It just doesn't come together.

Toy Story 4 (2019) - 6/10

I was rather reluctant to watch Toy Story 4 because from the get-go I’m not really here for sequels being made just for the sake of it. Everyone loves Toy Story and making another one is a sure fire way to make money. This is the first time I’ve seen Toy Story 4 and for what it’s worth, I did enjoy it. The animation is immaculate and that alone feels like a huge flex from Pixar who tend to step up the game when it comes to animation in film, despite not having the best track record for films generally at this point. While it was nice to see these characters again, I found a lot of them to be side-lined (namely Buzz) in favour of a story that focuses mainly or entirely on Woody, who I just don’t like as much as in the previous movies. Generally the movie is good and decent enough but there’s no real antagonist and the plot is quite loose… it doesn’t feel as though it needed to be made from a story point of view.

Onward (2020) - 6/10

And with that I have seen every Pixar movie. And Onward is a fine one to go out on. While I don’t think it compares to the likes of earlier Pixar it’s still pretty fun. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for a medieval setting filled with bright colours and magic! Speaking of which, the animation was super and the medieval quest element is something that hooked me with the film. Again, plot-wise it does feel very familiar and I don’t know, maybe I’m past the point now of expecting Pixar to mix it up where their formula for story-telling is concerned but the movie is quite predictable. Nonetheless, while I’m not rushing back to see Onward I would hardly turn it off or refuse if someone wanted to watch it.

Old (2021) - 3/10

Oh boy! New M. Night movie dropped and my word, was it fun! For more of my thoughts on this… masterpiece (?) of a movie, please direct your attention to episode 41 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast.

T2 Trainspotting (2017) - 5/10

Trainspotting is perhaps one of my favourite movies and I had never bothered with the sequel, 20 years on, because the ending of that first movie is so conclusive. T2 felt more an excuse for these guys to get together again and in that, I probably would have preferred a couple of pictures on Twitter of the main cast and director, Danny Boyle having dinner or something. This is a fine movie - very arty in its presentation but meandering and dull in its story that doesn’t offer much in the way of proof that it had to exist.

Taste of Cherry (1997) - 9/10

What makes life worth living? This is a central question and theme of Taste of Cherry, and one that leaves such interpretation not only up to its central character but to the viewer as well. This film got me thinking about times in my life when I truly have had no answer to hard questions. Because it’s hard to convince people of things they are so adamantly against and harder still to rationalise what you believe if you’re not even entirely sure why you believe it in the first place. We are all of us alive and in recognising that, does that make it precious? And if indeed living is not a happy thing, why then should we fight so hard to preserve it? I felt upset as I watched this movie because I’ve been asked these kinds of questions before and it makes me feel stupid when I’m unable to answer. But the only real answer I can give is, everything. And if you can’t see the point then you’re not looking hard enough. Taste of Cherry is beautiful in its exploration of these topics and in its overall presentation, offering some of the best visuals in any movie I’ve seen - fitting for a feature with so much to say about the beauty of life - and an ending that as much pulls the rug out from under you as it does pull you out of the dark and make you realise just how lonely you’ve felt.

Bones (2001) - 2/10

Snoop Dogg is Jimmy Bones! This film is super funny but I’m not sure it’s trying to be and I really didn’t love it overall. But I do talk more in depth about it in episode 41 of the podcast.

The Duchess (2008) - 5/10

Another recommendation for the podcast. The Duchess was pretty much exactly what I thought it was going to be and there’s a lot to like about it but generally it’s a bit sparse. For more chat on the movie, listen to episode 41 of the podcast.

The Man With One Red Shoe (1985) - 1/10

This was another one for the podcast and man, was it awful. We had to watch it at 1.5x speed towards the end because it just wasn’t getting finished otherwise. To find out more, make sure to listen to episode 41 of the podcast.

The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) - 7/10

Pull the lever, Kronk! Haha! Slays me. I do quite miss this era of Disney, where the animation was hand-drawn and the stories were actually compelling and funny. The Emperor’s New Groove is vibrant, it’s got great characters and memorable moments that will forever be ingrained in the memory of culture. All in all, it’s just a solid flick that doesn’t waste time, developing the standard fall from glory type of arc but smoothly and in an entertaining way.

The Suicide Squad (2021) - 8/10

Oh, bloody hell! They actually made a good one! The Suicide Squad is not only better than the ‘Suicide Squad’ of 2016 in every way, it’s a genuinely great film! This time, James Gunn (director of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies) is at the helm and it seems clear that Warner Bros. basically let him do what he wanted with the movie, as it doesn’t seem to bog itself down with the restrictions of a more family-friendly rating. The result of this is a far cleaner, colourful film with a clearer vision that takes from early Vietnam movies and uses that style to craft a superhero/villain movie that differentiates itself among the copious amount of existing films of the genre. The Suicide Squad wastes very little time, introducing fun, crazy characters we’ve not seen on the big screen before and isn’t worried about killing a whole bunch of them, with standouts being Elba’s Bloodsport, Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2, Stallone’s King Shark (expertly rendered with fantastic visual effects), and Robbie’s returning interpretation of Harley Quinn. A lot of Gunn’s trademark sense of humour is laced throughout and more often than not, it hits. The audience at the cinema were truly loving this movie and I’ll admit, I was right there with them. This mix of the gritty, gory and absurd is not something that should work as well as it does but the basic premise of the film is already so silly (and boy, do they know it) that it just works! Certainly one of the best DC movies since The Dark Knight and one I’d be more than happy to watch again. This is what the modern comic book movie should be: just balls to the wall fun!

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the--social--anarchist · 5 years

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Study Tips for Chronically Ill Students

Most bloggers aren’t writing for the chronically ill audience. Typical tips, tricks and hacks on productivity, motivation and studying just don’t work for us. As a chronically ill student who’s in her last year of undergrad (yay!) I decided to share what I have learned over the (many) years.

1. Get comfortable. Seriously. Don’t force yourself to sit at your desk, or go out to a coffee shop to study. Most people will tell you not to lay in bed while you read your books but if you are anything like me, getting ready and driving to the library or Starbucks just takes too much energy. I recommend making yourself a nice set up with everything you need. If you can tolerate sitting at a desk don’t skimp out. Buy yourself a decent, ergonomic office or gaming chair. Make sure you have a drink, a snack, your medication, charges, books, and anything else you need within arms reach. The less you have to get up the more energy you are saving.

2. Take frequent breaks. Okay, this may sound contradictory to tip #1 but hear me out. Everyone person is different, every body is different, and every day is different. Some days your symptoms are just so bad you need to get comfortable and try not to move. But other days you might be fighting brain fog and mental exhaustion. So get up, or even just stop and sit for a minute to rest your mind. Some days I will stop every few sections and get up to do something small like apply a face mask, go back to studying, and then get up in 15 minutes to wash it off etc. Just find what works for you.

3. Write shit down. Write everything down. And write it in multiple places. Again, brain fog is such a bitch, but writing things down multiple times in multiple places will help you remember. I have a paper calendar that I write all my assignment due dates, doctors appointments, and other important things onto, but I also have an assignment check list with all of my upcoming assignments in my notebook. Also, I keep a huge running list titled Never Ending List of Shit To Do with boring chores and tasks that need to be done like doctors to call, bills to pay, letters to mail etc; and I use that list to pick and choose what I’m going to do each day and fill that out on a sticky note or another small insert that serves as my daily to do list.

4. Establish a routine. But don’t be discouraged if you can’t follow it to a T and don’t be afraid to change it up. My routine changes a lot because my symptoms and body are constantly changing too. Also, it’s important to note that a routine is not the same as a schedule. This is important for those of us with chronic illness because its just not feasible to assume we will be able to get up at the same time every day, eat lunch at the same time every day, and study for the same amount of time every day.

5. Stay (way) ahead of schedule. You never know what life is going to throw at you, especially when you are chronically ill. Unfortunately, we can’t plan our flares, but we can prepare for them. If you know you suffer from migraines that will knock you out of commission for 3 days then make sure you are always 3 days ahead of schedule. Something I highly recommend is doing a little bit every day, even if its only 20 minutes of reading. Of course, sometimes we need a break and that’s okay too! Self care is important!

6. Online classes are the best. So many people say online classes are hard because you have to be super disciplined, and that it’s easier to have the accountability to show up to class, but I highly disagree. Online classes give you the freedom to read when you want, listen to lectures when you want, sleep when you need to, and stay comfortable in bed when it would be impossible to get to class. I work solely online and if it weren’t for the option of online classes I would not be in college right now or anytime in the near future.

7. Audio is your friend. Honestly, this is a tip for everyone in high school or college out there. Sometimes we are too tired or in too much pain to stare at a book or screen, or sometimes we need to utilize our energy wisely and multitask by listening while we clean the house. And this isn’t limited to audio text books. There are so many YouTube videos, podcasts, documentaries and more that you can easily just pop on while you are resting or doing chores! I listen to my lectures while I do my nails every week.

8. Don’t rewrite your notes. Don’t write them at all if you can avoid it. Almost all of my professors supply chapter outlines or summaries that I can just print off and fill in extra notes on. If you do need to write your notes I suggest typing them, or only writing them out once, and only what is most important. Whatever you do, don’t rewrite them, and for the love of god do not waste your time trying to make them look like an Instagram photo. Ain’t nobody got spoons for that.

9. Try to balance your course load appropriately. If you are taking a full course load try to even out the number of upper division classes you take with some easy classes, as well as some boring and some interesting. Alternatively, don’t be afraid to drop classes and go down to part time, even if just for one semester. I have tried to stay full time all year round since I re-enrolled in school fall semester of 2017, but spring of 2019 my health took a drastic decline and I did drop down from 5 classes to 3. I also took summer of 2019 off to focus on my health and came back this semester (fall 2019) ready to rock and roll. Seriously, do not be afraid to drop classes. It felt like the end of the world when I did it, but it was absolutely the right choice for me. It saved my GPA and my sanity.

10. Talk to your professor. And your university, and your classmates, and your adviser, and anyone else around you who can offer resources and support. Every university and college has a Disability Services Coordinator Student Center available to request accommodations. The information to contact the center should be listed on your syllabus and the school website. They can help with everything and anything disability related. And if you feel comfortable you should really talk to your professor. Just give them a heads up and inform them of what’s going on. As for your classmates, its always good to connect and find a study buddy or someone you can borrow notes from whether you have a disability or not!

I really hope this list can help some fellow chronically ill students out there. This is what I have learned in my 5+ years of attending college with various chronic and mental illnesses. I truly live by everything I talked about in this post and I have been fairly successful in my academic career. Please re-blog this post to help a fellow student who may have a chronic illness or disability! Happy studying!

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0ffgun · 4 years

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Alright so!! I got some requests from people for me to make a post with tips on how I self-study my languages, so here we are! It’s not perfect and everyone studies differently, but I hope some of these tips can help you out.

Personally I study Korean & Thai so this list is aimed at those but a lot of the study tips are pretty general and can be applied to whatever language you’re learning.

I’m an energetic puppy in human form - I simply CANNOT sit still and study for longer than 20 minutes before getting insanely restless and distracted, so I tend to only actually sit down and actively study once a week. If you’re expecting something clever and insightful this is absolutely the opposite of that... I basically trick myself into learning! So here is my silly little guide, let’s go!

General Tips:

★ Get ridiculous with sticky notes. Seriously, do it. If you’re just starting out and don’t know the words for all of those household objects then go ahead and scribble them down on those post its and stick them EVERYWHERE. It might drive your family members/roommates crazy but hey... you’re doing it for a good cause, right?

★ Don’t rely on romanization too much - if your language has its own writing system, focus on that using as much as you can. Romanization seems helpful but in the long run you’ll rely on it too much. It’s better to get familiar with the native writing system asap!

★ Pick out a word/phrase of the day and write it somewhere you’ll see it often. I have a whiteboard in my room that I’ll scribble a few phrases onto and then every time I walk past it, I’ll say them. Or if I’m not gonna be home all day then I write something on my wrist and glance at it throughout the day! This one is the most fun because when people see it they’re like “ooh that looks pretty!” or “ooh does it mean something deep and profound?” when in reality you have the phrase I like cheese written on your arm and it never stops being entertaining. Bonus points if someone native to that language reads it and looks at you like you’re crazy.

★ Say the words in silly voices. It sounds weird but if you’re sitting there repeating words (like the word banana, for example) from an app in a monotone voice you’re definitely less likely to remember it than if you’re yelling out “BANANA!!” in an opera voice or squeaking out “b an a n a” dramatically as you let go of Jack’s hand and let him sink into the ocean.

★ Don’t isolate vocabulary. Learning new words is great, but it’s useless and you’re more likely to forget it if you don’t learn to use it in a sentence.

★ Keep a diary! One of the absolute best ways to practice your writing and improve your skills is to just jot down a few things every now and then. It’ll be rusty and you won’t have much to say at first and will definitely keep needing that dictionary every 2 seconds, but after a few weeks you’ll really notice the difference. Buy pretty pens and stickers to motivate yourself to write in it! It’s also fun to do this around people who can’t speak it as they’ll look at it in awe and you can show off when in actual fact your writing is usually a clumsy scribbled “today I snacks eat and go sleep” but hey what they don’t know can’t hurt and it’s always fun to look like a genius.

★ Talk to your pets in that language. They’re not going to judge you, they actually don’t even care what you say as long as you say it in that entertaining pet voice. I don’t have any friends that speak Korean or Thai so the majority of my speaking practice is hurled at my dog. If you don’t have a pet, then plants or stuffed animals work perfectly too!

★ Listen to language podcasts while you do household chores, heck if you’ve gotta do something boring, might as well yell foreign words while you do it!

★ Change your phone settings to your target language. That way you’re literally forcing yourself to use it, and it becomes second nature and you pick up key words so quickly. Only do it if you know how to get back into your settings and change it back if you have to... or else you’re stuck and lost.

★ Listen to music and sing a lot. Just scream those lyrics! A little off-key screeching never hurt anybody!

★ Get comfortable with numbers. They’re something that is dominant in ALL languages and you’re going to use them on a daily basis. Start with learning how to count to ten and get comfortable with it, and then go higher. Once you’re used to numbers individually, make it harder. I used to get my mum to write out 10 random numbers between 1 to 10,000 in the morning and I would translate them, and then I would do the same for myself in the evening. After a while you get quicker at them and before you know it you don’t have to awkwardly translate them in your head anymore, the numbers are just there ready in your brain.

★ Don’t only watch dramas! Watch more natural stuff too - variety shows, vlogs, instagram lives... anything where people are just chatting like they normally would do. That way you’re subconsciously learning more casual speech patterns and casual language too!

★ Don’t just study at home! Always make sure you have a dictionary handy (like on your phone, for example!) and keep your brain busy while you’re out and about. Buying some groceries? Try to name everything in the fruit and vegetable aisles and if you don’t know the name of something, look it up! You’re more likely to remember vocab this way as your brain has a situation to associate it to.

★ Be mean and make yourself work for things you normally do - check your horoscope on a regular basis? Read it in your new language instead! Want to check out the weather forecast? Do it the hard way.

★ Don’t feel like studying? Not in the mood? Then don’t do it! Instead put on your favourite show in your study language of choice. Not every study session has to be a hard one. Just relax and watch a foreign movie! You have no idea how much your brain picks up without you even noticing, chilling out and watching a drama absolutely counts as studying. Don’t force yourself to study if you’re not feeling it, you’re more likely to learn if you’re having a good time.

Advanced Tips:

★ Get keyboard stickers - if your new language has a different alphabet and you use your laptop to study it a lot then you’re definitely gonna need these! You can buy them SUPER cheap on ebay!

★ Change the language on your Netflix account and get ready to binge watch your faves! If you change your profile language to the one that you’re studying, you’ll notice that a lot of the shows available will now show subtitles in that language too. If you’re pretty advanced then now is probably the time to drop your native subs and start watching with the original subtitles in the original language.. good luck!

★ Play Pokemon. When the latest Pokemon games started coming out with Korean language options I JUMPED at the chance - what better way to study than to just laze around playing video games? This is great for any other kinds of games you can snatch up in your target language too.

★ Read a favourite book in your new language. A common one is Harry Potter! It’s pretty much available in every language at this point and it’s a story you probably already know, which means you never get too lost because you know the plot already.

Resources:

Here are a bunch of apps and things that I use for studying that I find super helpful (and all of these are free!)

Drops (for Thai and Korean - available in both the apple store and the google play store) - I use this app every single day without fail. It’s brilliant for expanding your vocabulary (there are TONS of languages available on there too!) HOWEVER: It only lets you study for 5 minutes and then you have to wait around 9-ish hours before you gain another 5 minutes to work with unless you want to pay for more. But honestly? That’s a good thing. You only need 5 minutes of vocab study before your brain wants to dissolve into mush anyway. I get up, do my morning stuff (usually just involves rolling around and blinking in confusion before grabbing a coffee) and then sit and do 5 minutes of drops, and then by the evening my 5 minutes have replenished and I do it again. Rinse and repeat, and you’ll be learning more words in a week than you even realise!

Duolingo (I use this for Korean, there is currently no Thai option) - This app is fantastic. I don’t recommend it for beginners as it should be used as more of an aid alongside your natural studies, rather than as a study resource itself. This app expects you to already know the basics so I’d dig into this one once you’re starting to get a little comfortable with your language!

Naver Dictionary (for Korean) - I use this every single day! Not only does it help me when I need to find a certain word, it also gives me lists of example sentences which is PERFECT and super helpful when I’m trying to memorize words! And for Thai I use Thai-English Dictionary (I can only find it in the Apple store sadly) and that’s incredibly handy too, I wouldn’t be able to cope without it! I also use this website as a Thai dictionary when I’m not on my iPad!

Talk To Me In Korean (for Korean) - This has been a core element to my Korean studies. They have tons of lessons available on their website, they do regular YouTube videos (usually only 5-10 mins long, perfect for just a mini casual study session!) and they also sell textbooks and do podcasts too. If you learn best from textbooks then these are by far my favourite ones I’ve found, give them a try! They’re not too pricey.

Lingodeer (for Korean) - It’s cute, it’s friendly and it’s helpful!! I learned a bunch of new phrases using this one and it’s perfect for casual study!

Memrise (for Korean) - Fantastic if you’re a beginner! There are tons of languages available on here too. Although, there are only 3 levels in Korean so I got through this one pretty fast.

Eggbun (for Korean) - An app that encourages you to learn using a texting format! I haven’t really used it much but I have friends that have said it’s really useful!

Ling (for Thai and Korean) - This one was pretty good, once again though I wouldn’t use it if you’re a beginner, it’s probably a lot more helpful if you know the basics before you attempt this one! I’ve only used it for Thai but there’s a Korean option you could try checking it out!

Mondly (for Thai and Korean) - This app is cheeky and it wants your money. You get a bunch of free lessons to start with which are GREAT but that’s it. Then it reduces you to one free lesson a day but honestly? Still useful so go ahead and use it. They also have speaking practice available too!

Thai2English (for Thai) - This website is an absolute LIFESAVER!! If I’m ever browsing and come across a sentence that just throws me, I simply copy and paste and this legend of a website just breaks it down for me word for word.

Extra Korean links:

Children’s books in Korean

Learning Korean through fairytales - a textbook used in Korea for children who are learning to read, it’s helpful as a Korean language learner too! You get a little story and then it’ll ask you questions about what you just read.

TOPIK previous exams - these are so good for practice and if you want to get a general idea of what academic level your Korean skills are at.

Learning to type in Hangul - this one was fun and I now type Korean pretty comfortably on my laptop so if you know you’re gonna be typing a lot, I recommend this program!

#the way I learn languages is so weird I am so SORRY #I kinda just implement my language into my daily life and it works perfectly for me... I hope this is helpful to at least ONE person djgsjk #thai resources are sadly not that common but I'll add more if I find them!#language studies

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chaotic-bean-of-smolness · 4 years

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YouTuber Recommendation Because I'm Bored:

1. Jacksfilms

- Does a few video series called Your Grammar Sucks (YGS), Yesterday I Asked You (YIAY), Jackask and other sketches.

- He's seriously hilarious, I watch his videos everyday.

- His wife is the best.

- Has 3 adorable doggos.

2 and 3. Jenna Marbles and Julien Solomita

- One of the cutest couples on YouTube

- Have 4 doggos.

- Have a podcast called the Jenna and Julien Podcast

- She just does whatever she wants and I love it.

4. Dead Meat (I couldn't find a better gif sorry)

- Have a series called The Kill Count, where they count the kills in your favorite horror movies. If you're scared of horror films then this series makes it easy to watch.

- Also have a Podcast called The Dead Meat Podcast.

- Run by James A. Janisse and his wonderful fiance Chelsea Rebecca.

- They do a lot of film reviews and horror related games. Also, thay go to a lot of conventions and interview some of your favorite horror actors.

5 and 6. Sarah Schauer and Brittany Broski

- Both are on Tik Tok

- Sarah started out on Vine

- Are roommates and have been making a lot of fire videos together.

- They bounce off each other so well it's unbelievable.

7. Lunch Club

- Made up of CallMeCarson(Carson), Slimecicle (Charlie), Ted Nivison, traves (Travis), Hugbox (Noah), jschlatt (Schlatt), and cscoop (Cooper).

- Pretty sure all of them stream on Twitch. Carson, Charlie, Schlatt, and Travis definitely do but I don't really watch Cooper, Ted or Noah much.

- Have a podcast called the Lunch Club Podcast

- Everything they do is just chaos.

8. Anthony Padilla (this was like the only gif I could find that didn't include Dan Howell lol)

- Formally of Smosh

- Is dating Mykie from Glam and Gore (as of June 2020)

- Does a lot of very important interviews that I reccomend everyone to watch. His videos are very informational.

- Is often compared to Daniel Howell because they look very similar.

9. Boyinaband

- Most famous for his rap song "Don't Stay in School"

- Does videos that could be considered boring but he makes them entertaining.

- Has done songs with iDubbbzTV, TheOdd1sOut, Jaiden Animtions, and Pewdiepie.

- Is very into heavy metal music.

10. Thomas Sanders

- Started out on Vine.

- Famous for his Sanders Sides videos where he talks through difficult situations with the different aspects of his personality (kinda like Inside Out). He makes them with the help of his friends Joan and Talyn. They are all on Tumblr too but I'm too shy to @ them uwu

- Massive theater kid.

- Has another channel called Thomas Sanders and Friends.

- Is the gayyyy~ 🌈

- Is such a sweetheart

- Sorry I'm rambling now

#Thomas Sanders #Sanders Sides #Boyinaband #Anthony Padilla #Lunch Club #Sarah Schauer #Brittany Broski #Dead Meat #Jenna Marbles #Julien Solomita #Jacksfilms #YouTube #YouTubers

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carriagelamp · 4 years

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September Book Roundup, back-to-school edition aka The Season Of Red apparently?

Here is a selection of the books I’ve read this month. Summer is over, so the little bit of brain power I had managed to scrape together is quickly disintegrating, so enjoying the hodge podge of stories.

Binti

This was probably my favourite book that I read this month. It’s a novella I first heard about hear on tumblr and went to find a copy in my library. I have since bought the collected trilogy so I can read book two and three at my leisure because it was honestly just that friggin cool. This is exactly my flavour of scifi and I tend to be very very picky about the scifi I consume. It’s about a girl named Binti, a member of the Himba people (a real group of indigenous people from Namibia). They are a people well known for their mathematical and technical prowess, but due to their strong connection to their homeland and the earth they choose not to travel through space like so many other humans do. However, when Binti secures a position at Oomza University, the greatest university in the galaxy, she chooses to go against her family’s wishes and traditions in order to set out into space to attend. Everything is ruined though when her spaceship is attacked by a hostile alien race and everyone is killed but Binti, who must rely on all her intellect and abilities if she wants any chance at survival.

A seriously cool book with great world building – it really successfully introduces readers not only to the fictional scifi world and races of the novel but also to the culture and traditions of the Himba people. It’s a quick read, and feels like a cross between Dead Space and Tamora Pierce. Would totally recommend a read.

Fake Blood

A Canadian graphic novel. It was a goofy cute read. It’s about an awkward group of friends in middle school, and one boy with a crush on one of the girls in his class. Knowing her love for vampire stories, AJ decides, like any self-respecting middle schooler, to try to pretend he’s a vampire. Naturally nothing goes right and some things go wrong in unexpected ways. It’s funny and cute. Nothing amazing but it was a cozy evening read.

The Last Book On The Left

I’ve been listening to this podcast a lot since my friend recommended it to me and finally decided to read their book. For those that don’t know, The Last Podcast On The Left is a immaculately researched comedy podcast that’s hosted by Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks, and Henry Zebrowski, and explores the darker realms of human nature. Ghosts, paranormal, aliens, cults, and of course serial killers. In this book they collected several of their biggest name serial killer series, did some renewed research, and put together a book that is both informative, irreverent, gross, and very funny, complete with some really amazing illustrations by Tom Neely. A very cool read (and listen, if you decide to check out the podcast instead), I really love how they tell these stories without idolizing or romanticizing the people they talk about. Their humour always makes sure you know exactly how much of a pathetic loser these people are. Fantastic true crime, from someone who has never really felt the need to read about true crime before.

Midnight Sun

I won’t harp on this one, everyone is already going to firmly have their opinions here. I grew up on Twilight, I was reading them as they came out, and I still love them. Were they dumb? Oh my god yes. Did they have problems? Sure, they came out in 2005 it was part and parcel. Were they also a really fun for a thirteen year old to read? Absolutely, I don’t regret it. Sometimes teenage girls should just to get like things without being mocked.

Anyway, I am off my soapbox now (can you tell this is still a raw spot for me?) I unironically loved this book! Getting to see Edward’s perspective was really cool, and since he can read minds it essentially let you get the perspective of everyone else around him too. The Cullens family is a great set of characters so it was really cool to see more of them, and I was very impressed by how Stephenie Meyers took a YA romance she wrote in 2005 and was able to make it feel updated and more appropriate for a 2020 audience even though she couldn’t actually change any of the events themselves. So fans of Twilight, don’t be ashamed, go read Midnight Sun and have the shameless fun you deserve. Is there anymore appropriate book for the bizarre ass year that was 2020 than a return to this goofy nonsense?

The Paperbag Princess

(and Up, Up, Down, and Robert Munsch in general)

I’m back in schools so I’m back to reading children’s book! And honestly, and of you that don’t occasionally sit down and read a kids book out loud don’t know what you’re missing. Anyway, Robert Munsch is a Canadian author, and one of my all-time favourite children’s authors. It surprised me to learn he isn’t as well known in the States apparently? I don’t know if that’s changed or not, but he is a Canadian staple for a good reason, his books have ridiculous premises, are specifically written to be fun to read out loud, and have beautiful, involved, and hilarious illustrations. The Paperbag Princess is one of my absolute favourites, and as a kid it was one of the first stories I had ever read where a princess is the one saving the prince… and then telling the prince to piss off when it turns out he’s a jerk. Up, Up, Down is another favourite I reread this month, because it’s just hilarious funny and makes a fantastic read aloud with kids. Some other Robert Munsch I reread this month include: Mmm, Cookies, More Pies, Ribbon Rescue, Just One Goal, and Andrew’s Loose Tooth. You just cannot go wrong, for kids or adults.

Pit Pony

Another Canadian staple while I was growing up. If you’re a young adult know who went through the Canadian elementary school system, you probably had your entire heart ripped out and stepped on by this chapter book. It’s a historical fiction that looks at the economic hardship, debt slavery, child labour, and animal abuse that was tied to coal mining in the Maritimes. Finding a copy was harder than I would have expected give how pervasive it was a decade or so back, but reading it again was a pure shot of nostalgia.

Seeking Refuge

A graphic novel written by a German-born Canadian about a Jewish girl who flees Nazi-occupied Austria by way of Kindertransport to become a child refuge in England. It follows her as she is moved from host family to host family as the war continues to pick up and gradually makes it’s way to the United Kingdom as well. It’s very poignant and the pencil-sketch illustrations are an interesting change to a lot of the graphic novels that are out right now. This story is still aimed at a younger audience, so it never gets too brutal but it still is a hard hitting story, especially with everything else going on right now.

Silver Spoon #9/10

I know I’ve talked about these books before, but my library got some more since I last read them, so I’m continuing my way through the series. It’s about a teenaged boy who, after having a breakdown from the pressure he was feeling to study and succeeded, decided not to attend an academic, urban high school, but rather to apply for an agricultural high school so he could live in the dorms, far away from his parents. The series just gets more and more heartwarming as it continues. It’s all about failure and overcoming and how worth can be measured in different ways, and about family and understanding each other and coming together… but also about the realities of farming which aren’t always very nice, especially when it comes to finances and survival. It’s written by the mangaka behind Fullmetal Alchemist but I’ll be honest… I think I like this series more. It is honestly one of my all time favourite manga series, it just has so much heart.

Ruby Finds A Worry

aka Ruby’s Worry apparently? I can’t figure out why this has more than one title. I actually read it in French not English, so for me it was Le Souci de Calie. Regardless, this was a nice little picture book for talking about worries and anxieties with children… especially with the amount of Covid stress a lot of kids are dealing with. It explains in a really nice way how talking about anxieties are often the best way to make them more manageable, and how pretending nothing is wrong can just let it grow bigger and bigger. A good explanation for kids and possible a good reminder for adults.

War of the Realms: Journey Into Mystery

I read this because the Mcelroy family wrote it so I figured Hey! Why not give it a go! And I’m glad I did. Their brand of humour was all over it, and it made the story a delight to read. I don’t follow all of Marvel’s weirdness, so I didn’t actually know most of the characters (Miles and Kate were actually the only two I was familiar with) but they do a great job of introducing the characters and making them all feel distinct and interesting. I absolutely adore the Dog of Gods (God of Dogs) who is a very very good boy. And Miles is absolutely always a delight so you can’t really lose. It’s a single book that I think is a part of a larger plotline that I have zero interest in. This book is a fine one to read though if you don’t mind jumping into the middle of the action and just getting swept along for the ride. Also Mcelroys!

Witcher Omnibus

Bleh. Absolutely not worth it. All the misogyny and Dumb Bullshit that I hate in the original books and from video games in general. Honestly, Witcher III did way better by its characters than most of these short stories. The only one worth reading in it is Curse Of Crows – that one was actually really enjoyable, probably because it was about Ciri and had an actual fucking woman on the writing team. (Seriously guys what were you thinking with Fox Children that’s literally just a story from Season of Storms but done worse. Fuck off.) If you like The Witcher, go read Curse of Crows and skip every other story in this book.

Billy Stuart: Les Zintrépides #1

Another French (Quebecois) book I read, though I believe you can get it in English as well (Billy Stuart and the Zintrepids). It’s a chapter book / graphic novel hybrid, and was honestly a fairly fun little read. It’s in a similar vein to Geronimo Stilton but done much better in my opinion. The humour was funnier, the characters felt less like caricatures, and while it still used stylized fonts it was also less intrusive and eye-strainy than the Stilton books. Also when the story suddenly pivots into the main adventure and mystery of the series? Fantastic. Was not expecting a hell-beast to appear part way through the story. Very interested in reading more.

Over all, it was cute and funny, and I can see it being a good next step when children have read their fill of the Stilton series and want something similar but possibly a bit more involved and coherent.

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fallcolorspringrapid · 3 years

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Tagged by: @emisobsessed, thank you! perfect rainy day distraction ❤️

Last song listened to: Alanis Morissette – Forgiven

Last movie watched: shit when did i last watch a movie? does Hamilton count? before that it was probably some Ghibli movie, likely Spirited Away

Last tv show watched: …..what do you think? hint: it starts with an S and kinda rhymes with mackerel

Last limited-series watched (bc it deserves its own category): what’s a limited-series? have to google this one…oh a series with a pre-determined amount of episodes. shit i have no idea, it’s been so long since i’ve watched anything that isn’t S-mackerel, and i’m not a series-watching type in any case, i tend to get bored and drop them in the middle, no matter how limited. hmm maybe it was His Dark Materials? does that count?

Currently reading: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. i’ve kind of been into non-fiction lately. this i found through this fic: The Last Outpost of All That Is by gekizetsu

Looking forward to: the pandemic easing up holy shit i’m so tired of being alone and frightened and stuck inside

Last podcast: Conjoined, which i love despite not having seen a single episode of Hannibal and not being a podcast-linstening person at all

Current project: so many fic wips, most of them wincest or wincest-adjacent. i’m still wrestling with the queerplatonic gunsucking thing, i feel like whatshisface with that angel: “stop hitting yourself,” said the angel, but alas he could not because the angel was hitting him with his own hand

Curent mood: rainy and cold, buzzing with nervous energy that has no place to go

Current wish: that my third go(o)dchild will be born with as little pain for everyone involved as possible and that they’ll get to grow up in a world that is a little less fucked up than it currently is. a big wish, i know, but i wasn’t told to keep it reasonable, so there

Currently learning: about the state of the publishing industry, particularly self-publishing. my job is publishing-adjacent, so i’ve been trying to learn more about it

Last fic read: the blood in your mouth by hathfrozen. cannibalistic fluffy wincest, seriously fucked up and seriously awesome. 10/10 would recommend

Currently craving: chocolate chip cookies or something similarly tasty and crunchy

Tagging: @decadent-prince, @venhedish, @ravingliberal, @hathfrozen, @alienfuckeronmain, you were the first five names to pop into my head, everyone else feel free as well, just grab this thing and go, no-one can stop you if you run fast enough!

#tag games

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soysaucednd · 4 years

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So, you want to start a D&D Podcast

Awesome! Share your art! This is going to be my little guide of recommendations as someone who used to work in radio and has been involved with a couple of radio plays and online play readings.

Step one: You are good enough.

The first step is to not get discouraged. You may not be the next Critical Role or The Adventure Zone, but you will have a podcast project. The first priority should be a philosophy of sharing rather than ambition of success. Even if you don’t amass a following, you will be sharing a piece of yourself, and that is always something to be admired.

Step two: Set clear expectations with your players.

Making a podcast of a d&d campaign is harder than running a home game. There are a lot of things that you have to take into account during a recording session that aren’t that important in your everyday game.

This is a performance. Players need to be focused on you and the game.

Eating makes sounds that can be picked up by the microphones.

Your levels may be overwhelmed by the dice, consider using dice pads.

You and your players have to be understood, and it has to be clear when they are in character and out of character.

No matter how much you think you won’t, you will have to edit some sections.

If players are talking over each other or having outside of game conversations, it will be picked up by the microphone and it will disturb the flow of the game.

Step three: The equipment and software.

As I said in the previous section, you and your players have to be heard and understood. To that end, you will need to have the right equipment to make that happen. Here is what you will need:

A microphone. Do some research on what microphone to get. It will have to be better than one that is connected on a set of headphones, but you don’t necessarily have to break the bank for a good one.

Audacity open source audio editing software.

This is the program I used to edit all of my pre-recorded radio segments and I still use it when I have to edit any kind of audio. It has a bit of a learning curve, but once you get used to it it has almost unlimited potential.

(it is also super useful for untraceably pirating music)

A room with minimal background noise.

Ideally, you will want a soundproofed room with no windows, but that is not possible for most people. Record some sample audio in different rooms in your house and see what works best. You’ll be able to tell the difference.

A padded dice box or a dice mat.

You do not want to be rolling your dice straight on a table next to a microphone, it will be loud and will be jarring to people listening to the recording.

Step four: Get used to your voice on recording.

We all hate our voices on recording. I had a recurring segment on a local radio station for four years and I deeply hated the way I sounded. It is just something you need to get used to. If you are going to use a character voice, rehearse it. Troubleshoot it in the recording software. See if you can get it to sound the way you want it to. If you are dming, you have your work cut out for you. I would recommend pre-writing introductions and very important pieces of description because once you are on recording, you will forget everything you wanted to say WAY more often.

Step five: Editing

You’ve gotten your first session out of the way! Yay! You might be tempted to just upload it and be done, but that is not going to be the best decision. Here are a few things to do to make the quality just a little bit better.

Get a background noise profile.

Open the audio file in audacity and open the effects tab.

It will ask you to get a noise profile, select a section of the audio where no one is speaking. (Ideally a period of around 10 seconds where everyone is quiet.)

The program will isolate the sounds present in that 10 seconds and do its best to remove those sounds from the whole sound profile.

Normalize.

If a few of your players are slightly quieter than your louder players, there is a tool in the effects window called “Normalize.”

This will take all of the audio in the file and standardize it at a volume you choose (measured in decibels). It will boost quieter voices and bring down the volume of louder voices while keeping things like shouting distinct. Be careful, but it is fairly easy to understand.

Compress.

This effect will reduce clipping (I will explain later). It brings any very loud sounds into a safer range for the ear and brings very quiet sounds up to be audible.

Beware of clipping.

If the spikes on the audio file’s waveform go above a certain point, we call this clipping. It will distort the audio in the final product and be uncomfortable to listen to. You can sometimes fix it by using the amplify tool or the normalization and compression tools, but it is better to set a lower input level on your microphone to avoid it and amplify your volume in the editing process. It is easier to add more volume than to take away too much.

Background music.

If you are using background music, make sure it is licensed for you to use. Royalty free or self-produced music is usually best. If you drag new audio files into audacity, you can create new layers and adjust positioning by adding in silence or by manipulating the start time and end time of your background music. There is also a fade in/fade out function that you can access by selecting a piece of audio in one layer and then going into the effects tab.

Step six: Recaps and Rules

For a produced show, you should start every session with a recap both for anyone tuning in to your podcast and to remind the players of their given circumstances. Take notes during the session if you can, or listen back to the previous episode to study before your next one. This is a good way to get used to your voice, remind yourself of the voices you have given NPCs, and remember where in your story you are.

When you are running a game on stream, you will not have time to stop the game and look up a rule, so get used to problem solving as a dm. Make reminder cards, spell cards, have statblocks ready, and if you do not have a rule in front of you, make a ruling. If you are uploading a prerecorded game, you have a bit more leeway, but it depends on how much time you want to spend editing. My advice would be to get used to making rulings on the fly and confirming them later.

Step seven: General Performance tips

Players:

Stay engaged.

Not paying attention and missing the fact that it is your turn, or not understanding how your sheet works is similar to an actor forgetting their lines and stopping on stage.

Don’t fudge your dice rolls.

I know. It is tempting. No one can see them and if you got a nat 20 here it would be SO POETIC. But seriously, don’t.

Listen to your DM and try to limit off topic conversations.

Make your voice for your character distinct from your own.

DMs:

Be prepared.

Have your statblocks ready, bring any visual aids you need, have your notes opened, have a compendium of spells available, have an initiative tracker, have enough dice, know what the shape of the session will be.

Don’t bring your sourcebooks.

This seems weird, but it is a recommendation I can’t stress enough. If you have it with you, I guarantee you will flip through it to check rules and such. Don’t.

Practice your timing on certain levels of narration.

Try to figure out some fun ways to add tension through how you narrate.

Watch a LOT of liveplay d&d and study what you like about the dms.

I would recommend Dimension 20, Naddpod, Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, or any other piece of media you can find.

Now go out there and get started! Message me and I will try to tune in to whatever you produce!

#d&d #d&d podcast #dm tips #podcaster tips #dungeon master #d&d player #player character #dimension20 #critical role #the adventure zone #naddpod #cr #d20 #taz #soysaucednd #dm advice #player advice #podcasting

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the-official-account · 4 years

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Small, hopefully uncommon pieces of writing advice from someone who knows how to not know what they're doing:

1. First of all, please read writing manuals. Read manuals outside of your genre. Read as many as you can get your paws on. READ ABOUT HOW TO WRITE.

(I recommend On Writing Well by William Zinsser—yes even though it's non-fiction I think everyone should read it. The things it says about practice, character, setting, and inspiration are invaluable. I've also liked Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell, Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Mass—yes, even if writing best selling thrillers isn't your goal, it's a good read!—and On Writing by Stephen King-- not technically a manual, but it’s useful nonetheless-- I'm currently reading the Norton Introduction to Literature 11th ed. by Kelly J. Mays, which is about reading, analysis, and critique but I am learning a lot)

more stuff under the cut!

2. READ THE FORWARDS OF BOOKS. It is incredibly inspiring and helpful to know how an author you look up to (and those who you don't) lived their actual lives. That inspires writing so much. (Read the bit at the end too. Internalize how many people helped to make that. Think about how many people you've got helping you out. Your struggle is so valid, babe.)

3. Please stop internalizing lessons taught to you by writing posts a million times over. The "said" vs alternative debate, for instance, doesn't really matter when you sit down and write. We all have a style. (Though some things are inexcusable, you should decide which things these are for yourself.)

4. You should decide those things by critiquing other people's work, preferably amateur stuff if you can get your hands on it. (I did some work for this and when I say it changed my life—seriously you can only scream about hating This One Thing so much before you build you whole style on it. For me it's ONLY TELL ME STUFF IS IT IS INTERESTING GAHHHHHHH)

Rattle poetry does a live stream for criticism Fridays at 4 pm cst

I've also started the writership podcast which has 99 fiction sample critiques (in-line comments in the show notes) and then episodes on technique.

The story grid writer's room (originally Story Grid Round Table—they shift focus at episode 100 on YouTube and episode 130 on my pod-catcher) is a podcast that looks deeply into famous scenes and breakdown why they work. (6/10 honestly. Helpful but they are trying to tell you their classes sooooo bad.)

5. Ignore so much advice. PLEASE scoff at least one point on this post (as long as it isn't this one) because everyone will tell you something different. Please especially be wary of "this one trick will fix your writing!" Cause first of all, your writing doesn't need to be "fixed" it isn't broken! It just need to be honed or improved, sharpened. Second it just won't work. There isn't any single trick, BUUUT if something is hailed as a holy grail please do listen. They often have something helpful to say even if the results aren’t heaven-sent.

(though I am 100% unarguably correct —/s—when I say write freely as long as you acknowledge the appeal and set your expectations accordingly:)

6. write to your audience. Sometimes you write things just for yourself, and that is OKAY! It's so good for like, mental health stuff to diary or write pure indulgence, but if your goal is to write so a lot of people like your story, you should keep those people and their interests in mind. If, for instance, you like writing fiction stories that also have long informative bits of nonfiction, you are so valid! But acknowledge that that is kinda niche and don't think your writing is bad just because it doesn't fit a broader taste. But if your writing was built to fit a broader taste and doesn't, you either have work on your skill or your perspective.

7. Know your niche. Get to know people that read and like your writing. Show them your writing! It is depressing as fuck to write into a void, i would know! Writers need enablers (those people at the end of the book)

Don't know any of these magical enabler-folk I speak of? No worries! You will. (That is a promise and a threat.)

Get feedback from them and others! And I don't just mean kudos, comments, and compliments. What's most helpful for me is how my readers interpret the things they read and where they are confused, it might take a few tries until you know where you'd like your feedback to be focused, and this may well change as your skill in your poorer areas improve!

8. Reread and revamp your old work a LOT—not constantly. Slow down babe, the world is not running away from you— but try to make it a habit. I like to say it's like learning an instrument, if you don't slow down to evaluate all the technical bits first, you'll build bad habits that could seriously hurt you later (in music it's wrist injury, in writing it could be not checking your biases, etc.)

(Also comparing drafts is fun.)

9. It's okay to struggle with writing. It's okay to just know you are a writer even if you're not currently and never have been in a place to actually prove it, but be aware of how internet writing culture (which I was STEEPED in for a while) may hurt and may help you.

Do you know how much I dreaded writing before I started sitting down to do it almost everyday? So much. So. SO much. Cause I was told that was normal! But people aren't lying when they say enjoy the process. For me it's enjoying the sensory input of typing. And watching my word count climb, and yes, even the frustrating bits, like figuring out a puzzle. I'm NOT going to tell anyone who should call themselves a writer, (shut up shut uuuuup! You! You are a writer!) but firstly, please be careful of parroting information your don't have experience with and secondly, go easy on yourself! You're doing amazing! You will find what you need to tell the story you need to tell. If you want it, telling stories is an inevitable thing.

10. Productivity culture is a sham and also you will have bad days. Not just bad days, either, bad months and maybe years. If you want it, storytelling WILL come back to you. You’ve probably heard authors say that in order to make a career out of writing you have to treat it like a job. Go to work when you’re sad, etc. Remember you can and should (if that is feasible for you, cause capitalism exists) call in sick from your work if you’re depressed or in pain or sick. also writing doesn’t have to be a career!

11. If you're going to judge your mistakes, learn to have fun while doing it. I would link my early-teens amino account and open my ask box to be mocked but HAHAHAHA, no. (Nobody can beat "you beat the spn writers to writing gay homophobia" remark I got anyways...it was bad)

12. I think there are 3 kinds of writers. Those who REALLY need to write more fanfiction, those who REALLY need to write anything BUT fanfiction. And those who REALLY need to read more. (I am squarely in camp 3. Do that thing you need to do!!!!)

13. Write fanfiction though. There was a post of screenshots of a Twitter thread explaining it importance and I don't have the link rn. TDLR: crucial practice has never been so fun

14. I don't know who needs to hear this like I needed to hear it, but you don't have to publish your first novel. Or your first piece of writing. You might hear stuff about making your mark in the market first time or having very slim chances of success but what if you just don't put your work on the market for a while? Ao3 exists and has basically the same benefit without the money. You can take that weight off your shoulders! You are free to fail! YOU ARE FREE TO FAIL! You are free to accidentally offend people with stuff you didn't realize was offensive (check that shit tho) you are free to write the same sentence 3 times in a paragraph cause you zoned out. you are free to write an interaction that leaves you in physical pain later down the road! I release you! Go feel joy about writing!

15. Still, though. Writing can be for the self and the self alone. It doesn't have to be objectively good if that is not your goal!!!

16. Don't let academic pretension invade your idea of art. You don't need to read a lot of classics. You don't need to have a huge vocabulary (you can do a lot with simple words, if anything, I recommend it and I got that view from the Stephen King book) you don't need DA or a shit-ton of coffee or to fight other writers for your place on the pecking order.

Just vibe.

Happy writers come before good writing.

17. If your goal is to write "well" in the traditional sense but the right words just aren't coming out of you, that's okay! Editing is an art in and of itself and I've mentioned it throughout this post, but remember that iffy stories are written, good stories are edited.

Sorry if this post mentioned things other posts have said before. I either have not seen them or have seen them so long ago that they got tossed into the writhing mass of advice I took with a bucket of salt and called research. I hope this was helpful! I’m no expert on writing but I’ve quite well versed on learning to write. Any and all feedback is SO SO SO much appreciated, and if you have anything to add (or argue, respectfully) I’d be happy to hear it!

#writing #reference #Edil lectures #I guess that will be my new tag?#for educational stuff #(Fun fact! This isn't the first thing like this i've written!#I have a draft on writing poetry up somewhere #and also a quick rundown on good flash fiction i wrote for the site I was critiquing for #I think teaching creative writing would be fun!)#but yes! read read read research research research rest rest rest!#reblogs as always are appreciated!

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sosation · 4 years

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On the Passing of Michael Brooks

I only relatively recently became aware of Michael, less than a year ago. In that time he has impacted my life more than any other media personality, more than anyone I’ve never met.

Even though the first time I voted was for Obama in 2008, my political consciousness really began during my 2nd stint of college at UTA circa 2014/15. My history undergrad was waking me up to the power dynamics and hegemonic systems that exist in our society. I was beginning to understand geopolitics under the tutelage of Dr. Joyce Goldberg and getting really wrapped up in 20th century diplomacy. The Snowden leaks had happened and the Michael Brown demonstrations in Ferguson were drawing attention to the militarization of our police forces and their tactics on US citizens. I began to see capitalism as consisting of, and causing and contributing too, countless problems. Then, the 2016 election cycle stoked my already burning interests.

During this time, there was little “left-tube” to be found. Since 2012, streaming on our X Box has been my wife and I’s primary means of entertainment. Slowly more and more of our time was being spent on YouTube. The Young Turks was really the only progressive voice on Youtube, to my knowledge, at that time. (I wasn’t yet aware of Pakman, Kulinski, Seder and Brooks.) And even though they were my primary source of news, I wasn’t crazy about the hyperbolic presentation, Cenk’s ego, or some of the attitudes expressed by various hosts at various times. That being said, I learned a lot. I was exposed to many many great journalists and they certainly helped me solidify and articulate many of the arguments I had been thinking and feeling during this time. I even became a Texas Wolf-Pac Volunteer right after Trump’s election.

I ended my bachelor’s and master’s programs under the Trump presidency. (May ‘17, Dec ‘18 respectively.) During this time I read and wrote more than I ever have in my life. Under Dr. Christopher Morris, Dr. Patryk Babiracki, and Dr. Pawel Goral, I read Marxist historical theory and studied the history of the Cold War from the perspectives of the US, USSR and Europe. I also began watching less and less TYT and more Secular Talk, David Pakman, and David Doel. While these shows are great, there was little to no international perspectives or geopolitical discussions happening. (Doel being Canadian accounts for something but, IMO, anyone who lives in the 5 Eyes is hardly a non-western perspective and therefore significantly less valuable in regards to gaining the insight of the peripheries of the globe. As the hegemonic “leader” of the world, Canadians, New Zealanders, Aussies and Brits, can point and laugh at the US all they want but they are taking our lead-systematically and economically.That’s not to say that their perspective is unimportant, just not the same as those outside the western sphere) Furthermore, there is still even less of a historical perspective being represented in regards to current events anywhere on YouTube. No one seems to have a long dureé, an understanding of how history plays out- again and again, and how capitalism is responsible for much of our recent history. Marx did. Michael did.

I began my teaching career in earnest last summer, 2019, as a Geography teacher. First time I’ve ever had a salary and the first time that I didn’t have to wear a hat (or hairnet) to work. My lunch was 2nd lunch, 12:35-1:15. Here in Texas, The Majority Report was live and it began showing up consistently on my youtube feed so I began watching them while I ate my sandwich and apple, before students from guitar club would show up for a quick lesson before 6th period. I had watched TMR before, particularly live streams on twitch during the first few primary debates this cycle. They reminded me a little too much of an east coast morning talk show for me to take them too seriously at first but I eventually began to see that while Sam is--well-- Sam, the others on the show had quite a lot to say and clear, logical and articulate reasons for their positions...especially this guy Michael. Once I heard that he had his own show it quickly became the most listened to podcast in my feed. (This in itself is no small feet. I’ve been listening to podcasts for hours a day (sometimes 8) since 2012. It, too, no doubt contributed to my education and understanding of our world during this same time period but that is another blog all itself.)

Michael was everything that I was looking for. He was unabashedly a Marxist. He was intelligent and enjoyed rigorous thinking and leftist theory. He was hilarious and did fantastic impressions. He also was compassionate, kind and empathetic. He was a humanist, in the truest sense of the word and he understood, and articulated to me, that Socialism is a humanist movement. After I became a patron, I once asked him on Discord what his credentials were and he said that his Bachelor’s was in International Relations, which explained so much. Again, he was the only media personality that I was aware of that was knowledgeable and curious about the same things I was. He understood history. He valued history and its importance, so much so that he dedicated a separate Sunday show just to “Illicit Histories” where he would invite Historians from all over the world to discuss leftist movements in their own countries and how we could apply those lessons here and vice versa. This was it. This is what was missing from our national discourse--an international perspective and voice, and a historical perspective and voice. Michael was both and he was damn good at it.

The Michael Brooks Show was an inspiration. Michael, Matt Lech and David Griscom were smart, eloquent, young men who articulated the systemic failures of our time, who critically discussed and analyzed our current political discourse and who pondered possible solutions based in history. The guests of TMBS, the network Michael created, really were the shining feature. Ben Burgis, Artesia Balthrop, Molly Webster, Glenn Greenwald, Adolf Reed, President Lula De Silva, Slavoj Žižek , Noam Chomsky, Dr. Cornel West, Dr. Richard Wolff...the list goes on and on and on. These people brought so much insight to the state of our world. Professors, Journalists, people who have spent their lives working on the cause, a cause for a better future, one based in humanity and empathy. Michael was able to bring his own empathy for humanity into his interviews, asking thoughtful direct questions that got to the heart of the issue-- while simultaneously bringing levity to a serious topic by making jokes in the voice of Gandhi, Mandela, Obama, or Bernie, to name a few. He, fucking, got it man. He understood how the world was connected. He understood that we are ALL humans, and that we all deserve to be treated with dignity, and he understood that Marx was right about a ton of shit and he wasn’t scared to remind you of that.

Michael, for me, was an exemplar. He was a role model. I looked up to him. I had no idea he was only 13 months older than me, I thought he was probably in his early 40’s just based on the amount of shit that he knew. My personal 10 year goal was to be on his show. I wanted to either become a writer or go back into academia. I even wrote into a show a couple of months back and asked him which was a better choice. He was honored to be asked such a heavy question but didn’t feel comfortable giving that kind of life advice and I don’t blame him. He recommended that I continue teaching high school if that’s what I enjoy doing, and I do, and I likely will. He has shown me how to speak up for ideals that are right, regardless of what people think. Like, I understood that in the abstract, but watching someone do it multiple times a week really put it in my head that I need to advocate for my position publicly. I tell people that I’m a marxist- which in Texas is unheard of, even among leftists. Mostly due to people not understanding labels and what that even means. So I tell them. Thanks to David’s weekly recommended readings I haven’t stopped reading leftist theory even though I finished grad school over a year and a half ago. If TMBS never existed I never would have had the opportunity to read any of that.

My heart bleeds for Matt and David. I can’t imagine what they’re going though. I want them to continue, to keep the community alive in his name. But I completely understand if that is just too painful.

I was thinking earlier, trying to find an appropriate historical comparison to his passing. There are many but as a North Texan, the one that I ended up landing on was the passing of Dimebag Darrell Abbot. He did a lot. He accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. He inspired many to do things like him. It was entirely unexpected and not one person, not one, has a bad thing to say about the guy. Dimebag was adored. He listened to people, strangers, fans. He was kind and open-hearted and treated everyone with respect. Which made it extra hard when he passed. The same can be said for Michael. For Michael, since Socialism is more than just music, he inspired us to educate ourselves, to ask questions, to remember the periphery-Latin America, Africa, and Asia,-- to remember history and value it, to be compassionate, to educate others and to be active in our own communities.

He will be sorely missed. The one thing I keep telling myself is that his death has the potential to bring even more attention to his message-- to help further catapult this movement into something undeniable. To bring more awareness to how power works and to finally activate us to become, as Michael said at Harvard on Feb 1, 2020: machiavellian.

“...we still have to put work into reminding everybody that (Dr. MLK Jr.) was on the left. He wasn’t a guy who came out once a year and said ‘everybody should treat each other nicely. ...The other thing I loved about this speech was he talked about the fallacy- that certain Christians misunderstand love as a seeding of power. And then Nietzsche came along and rejected christian morality because he thought it was denying someone’s vitality- the will to power in a healthy sense, and he said ‘Love without power is sentimental and anemic. And power without love is abusive and corrosive’ I’m paraphrasing. And that was when I saw, I thought, ‘well here, ok, we know the left-wing Dr. King. Well here is the machiavellian Dr King, and I love it.’ I want the left to have Machiavelli, so we can have the strategy, the ruthlessness, the clarity, to actually win these battles. And be ruthless with institutions. And then I want us to learn how to be really kind to each other, welcoming of a broad set, and actually have a movement that has the capacity to do that.”

Let’s do the best we can to make that happen. Educate yourself about power. Educate yourself about ideologies. Read Marx and Engels. Read Slavoj Žižek and Adolf Reed. Read Michaels book Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right. Don’t get caught up in identity politics. Never lose sight of class dynamics. Use this knowledge to educate others and make informed decisions. Register to vote. Run for office. Effectuate real change. Do the intellectual rigor that was happening on TMBS every week, multiple times a week. Thank you for all that you brought to us Michael, you will be sorely missed and I hope to see you at the clearing at the end of the path.

Anthony Sosa

7-21-20

#Michael Brooks #TMBS #History #Geopolitics #International relations #humanity #compassion #humanist #Socialsim #marx #economics

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