#this would probably work better as a gifset but i don't have the time to figure out how to make those tonight so i played a little with-

[markantonys]

i was looking at your latest gifset and realised why cauthor is such an amazing ship. mat needs someone who has his back in the way rand does. all the years of his parents and everyone else telling him he's no good, he'll never amount to anything - that kinda stuff sinks in until eventually you start to believe it yourself. and i'm not saying mat doesn't have any flaws of course, but I think some of the time his actions are dictated by what he believes about himself, that he really isn't worth it.

but rand - he's been mat's protector from day one, hasn't he? always in his corner, always defending him and letting mat know without equivocation that he is worth it, that he is a good person who deserves love and a second chance. and that was even before the whole dragon reborn thing came into play. when mat said at the start, "don't stay up-mountain too long" rand answered, "i won't". he won't stay up too long because he misses mat and knows mat needs him too. is it any wonder even ishamael shipped them?

THIS!!!!!! all of this, i'm weeping!!!! i remember in the wait between seasons i was going "oh man the cauthor reunion will be so angsty, rand will be so hurt over mat having stayed behind at the waygate!" but then we got to the actual reunion and it turned out i'd sorely underestimated rand's love for mat! rand is nothing but happy to see mat again, he gives him 100% unconditional love and understanding without bringing up the waygate incident at all, except for taking a moment to tell mat that they aren't better off without him. because he knows mat well enough to guess that the reason he stayed behind might've been that he thought the gang was better off without him, and he loves mat enough to believe this IS the reason rather than supposing something less charitable like selfishness or cowardice. and rand himself, for the first time in his life, has been struggling with feeling his loved ones are better off without him ever since the eye of the world, and this has given him new empathy for and new insight into how mat has felt for his ENTIRE life.

i know that "i'll take care of you" "it's rotten work" "not to me, not if it's you" has become a meme at this point, but it truly is the perfect descriptor of the cauthor dynamic! and on both ends too, since in s2 we see mat starting to be protective of rand and take care of him too now that rand's getting his own share of Issues. mat also assures rand that they aren't better off without him, after all! their lil amateur therapy session in cairhien is so perfect because they are both so well-positioned to understand the internal issues the other is currently dealing with, because it's similar to their own issues. and they each have their own way of showing care, and it just so happens to be perfectly suited to what the other needs; rand is very earnest and vocal in telling mat he's a good person, which is what mat needs to counteract all the fears that have been driven into him since childhood about being worthless, and meanwhile mat takes care of rand by teasing him and joking around and making him smile, which is what rand needs to lighten the burden of being TDR for a while. no wonder ishamael ships them, indeed! he is not immune to homoerotic devotion!

also, what really gets me is that mat didn't get to witness rand's passionate defenses of him in fal dara! nynaeve, you better have been recording the fight on your phone so you can show it to mat, he Needs To Know just how well rand continues to speak of him even when he isn't around. there probably won't be time for it in s3, but i would love a scene where egwene and mat talk for the first time after the great waygate abandonment, and mat's apologizing and egwene's like "well i was pretty mad at you at the time but we're cool now" and mat asks if rand was mad at him too, because he needs to know if he hurt rand but knows rand won't admit if he did because he'd want to spare mat's feelings, and egwene tells mat that rand was not mad at him and in fact defended him tooth and nail against everyone else, and mat's like 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 trying not to cry, and egwene's internally like "oh my god can you two just make out already". this scene happens between 2x08 and 3x01 in my heart!

#moghraidhs #answered #cauthor #wot

[fallinglikemagic]

Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairytale.

Well, that's why we're here! To make it better.

But...life isn't like a fairytale...

That's right! It's up to you to make things better...

Isn't it?

#this would probably work better as a gifset but i don't have the time to figure out how to make those tonight so i played a little with- #-text formatting to make it look kinda cool instead #btw when getting these screenshots I realised that in v1 Ruby turns her head a little as she says her line and in v9 Beacon Ruby does the- #-same thing but it looks different since we're looking at a different angle. if that was intentional then damn adfsgd #rwby #ruby rose #rwby volume 9 #rwby spoilers #rwby v9 spoilers

[thegreymoon]

Every time I try to imagine the original timeline I cry bc they could’ve been so happy together without all the trauma to fuck them up if only Shi Mei didn’t decide to go for the burn the world route, but I just tried to imagine how it would have gone if CWN was the one with the flower? And honestly I’m not sure? I’m pretty sure he would be terrifying but nothing else comes to mind.

So I gotta ask how do you think a CWN who got the flower would break? Is he as obsessed with MR as MR is with him (I kinda wanna say yes) but idk if he would go the same route or what he would do if I’m being honest?

Ooof, this is a tough one 😬 Yeah, I do think he would have been just as obsessed with Mo Ran as Mo Ran was with him because Ranwan is so reciprocal. They match in energy, in intensity, in the depth of their attachment. Both of them committed to each other so early on. The time they had before the flower was so brief, but nothing that happened later broke that love in the slightest. I don't think that Chu Wanning would have imprisoned and raped Mo Ran the way TXJ did with him because it is against his character and the flower cannot change the fundamentals of a person. Also, Mo Ran would probably still be willing to be with a dark!CWN, especially a young Mo Ran, so there would be no conflict there. I think the true tragedy would be that they would succeed in destroying the world and destroy themselves in the process. I also think that CWN's path to darkness would start with righteousness. Mo Ran was angry, so it makes sense that he was out to destroy everyone, but I think that CWN would have tried to create a perfect utopia where everyone behaves 'virtuously' and 'righteously' and punish those who step out of line. He would start killing with good intentions, to keep everyone in line, in the service of a greater good. Even building that bridge of corpses would probably stem from a sense that the BBBFs were wronged, and therefore owed their oppressors laying their lives down to build a path for them into a better world. IDK how Chu Wanning loving Shi Mei would work out, though. Chu Wanning loved him to begin with, so the curse would probably amplify that love to an unhealthy degree. But as we saw with Mo Ran, while the curse does cause an unhealthy obsession, it does not create sexual attraction, so I think that would play out in pretty much the same way on Chu Wanning's side, too.

Also, I cannot talk about dark!CWN without mentioning this series of gifsets.

These gifsets are what introduced me to this book 😭 2ha is a trap and Luo Yunxi is the bait.

#2ha #chu wanning #mo ran #ranwan #luo yunxi #chen feiyu #dark!cwn

[cyle]

you said that there is no inbalance between likes and reblogs, and that people made it up. how can you be so blind when it is so, so painfully obvious? this used to be a blogging site, but no one reblogs anymore, and most of the art/edits go unnoticed. and this is not just me, all of my content creator friends are experiencing the same thing, many of them even quit editing because no one even reblogs anymore, and the content never gets spread around. the only stuff that gets lots of reblogs nowadays are funny shitposts or tiktok/twitter screenshots. fandom gifsets only reach 2k+ if they are on the trending page. are you aware that this site is no longer the home of fandom, but the home of shitposts and leftovers from other apps? if likes AT LEAST showed up on dashboard like on twitter, it would do miracles to us. please consider making changes to the like button before you lose all your content creators.

i believe you must be referencing this and this?

first, i don't believe anyone "made it up". i know people (including other members of tumblr staff) are worried about this, and for good reason. but let's break this down a bit more.

your specific screenshot is a cumulative total over time, and reblogs repeat much more often than likes, since people can reblog many times and can only like once, so of course the further back you look, the more the ratio will be better for older posts. also, the interface back then didn't even separate the like count from the reblog count, so how would anyone in 2015 even know the ratio? probably by looking at their activity, but even then, if you're actually a popular blog, you're probably drowning in activity items and can't "see" the ratio.

i can almost guarantee you that if you were counting the ratio for the first 3 months of a post's life in 2015, and compared it to the first 3 months of a post's life now, you'd see very little divergence in the reblog-to-like ratio. i literally have access to see this ratio across the whole platform over time, it's part of my job, and i can't find strong evidence that the ratio has changed. i was really worried about this too!

the big caveat i'll concede is that for some individual blogs, the ratio may be different today than it was 7 years ago. if you're comparing tumblr in the universe of 2015 to tumblr in today's ecosystem, you're in for a hard comparison no matter what, because the world is not like it was in 2015. that's not altogether a bad thing. times change. we have to adapt with it. some blogs that were popular in 2015 simply aren't going to be as popular today; and likewise, some popular blogs today wouldn't have been popular in 2015.

also, "if likes AT LEAST showed up on dashboard like on twitter, it would do miracles to us" -- they do! it's called "Based on your likes", and you probably didn't realize you turned it off in your Dashboard Preferences, so you never see it. it's on by default for everyone, unless they turn it off. it's a really amazing discovery mechanism for many, many people on tumblr. that's part of what we've been trying to do to adapt the platform to any such changes in behavior over time.

regardless of whether or not the ratio is changing, though, i definitely agree with you that there's more for us to do to try to keep content creators around. making it clearer how content spreads around the platform is definitely one of those things. stay tuned, because there are lot of improvements in that regard that we've been working on. but they don't look the same as what we may have done in 2015 tumblr terms, they look closer to what other mainstream platforms do today.

[thatscarletflycatcher]

A starter guide on Ubuntu-Linux, from a non-techie to other non-techies

Preamble (a.k.a. the story/rant before the recipe, feel free to skip or not as you wish)

Several years ago, I got a laptop for college purposes; it ran on Windows 10 with decent reliability for a few years, but then it started getting slower and slower, the bloatware (programs and apps that companies pre-install in your devices that you cannot remove) was just tremendously bothersome, my computer would start updating all of a sudden and be at it for hours, etc, etc.

And so my dad suggested I switched to Ubuntu (he had been using it for a few years himself at that point), and... I'm not going to lie to you. I was scared. Was it going to be too different? Wouldn't it require far more computer knowledge than what I already had? Wouldn't the learning curve be too steep? Wouldn't I be unable to do a lot of the stuff I used to do?

Years later my answer is: I don't miss Windows. The learning curve wasn't nearly as steep as I thought it would be. I got acclimated to the system within a couple weeks. There are parts of Ubuntu itself that aren't that up to date (mainly stuff about medium-advanced audio management, streaming through Discord, and semi-pro to pro levels of photo processing), but I have managed to work around most of it with little difficulty (the image processor I use for making gifsets is proprietary sofware --the code of it is not open for transformation by third parties-- but I can work with it mostly fine through a tool called Wine). If what you do with your computer is mainly internet surfing, document writing, listening to music and playing videos (and similar basic stuff) you are unlikely to have any problems working with Ubuntu. But the best, best, best part of it for me? No bloatware. No 8256754 attempts at getting my personal information or tracking me. My computer is fast, as fast as it was when I first got it (the couple times it broke in the last two years had nothing to do with software: it was first the hard drive, and then the fan). No computer deciding to update and leave me waiting whenever it wants. And honestly, that makes every little inconvenience I have faced in Ubuntu worth it, very much worth it.

Linux has a problem

And it is that a loud section of its userbase is made up by techies who have a very unrealistic notion about how much the average person knows about computers.

A few months ago there was a post making the rounds, where OP explained that you can put ubuntu in a pen drive and carry it with you (yes, it is possible and relatively easy to do) and there was a bunch of people in the notes explaining how much better it is to pick Linux Mint, or use a raspberri pi, as if people who don't know you can carry Ubuntu in a pen drive could understand what they are talking about.

My goal with this post is to explain some of the very basics in an accessible language. I will probably use inacurate and generalized language in it for the sake of explaining simply, and will focus on Ubuntu because it is what I know. If you are a Linux fan who loves Linux Mint or whichever other, go ahead and make your own post.

Definitions, yada, yada

So, what is Linux? in plain terms, it is an operating system (Windows and Mac are operating systems) with several variations called distributions. Think of it as Linux being like a family, and the distributions being the members of the family. Some """famous""" members of the Linux family are Ubuntu, Debian, and Red Hat. One of the main distinctive characteristics of Linux distributions at the basic level is that they are free software: it can be used, modified, and redistributed under certain conditions, by everyone.

Where do you get Ubuntu, and how to install it?

You go to www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop. There you will see two items: the first one is a "LTS" (long term support) and the other isn't. What is the difference?

Ubuntu releases a new version every six months, one in april and one in october. So, for example, the version released in april this year is Ubuntu 22.04, also named Jammy Jellyfish, and the one released in october, Ubuntu 22.10 is called Kinetic Kudu. Every two years, in april, a LTS version is released. Jammy Jellyfish is a LTS release. That means it has a 10 years stay, and is a stable, well tested and tweaked release.

What I'm saying here is, get the LTS release.

When you click download, you will see an ISO file of about 4gb. Save it to your hard drive, and get yourself a 4gb or bigger pen drive that is empty and you don't mean to use for anything else.

To install Ubuntu in that pen drive, follow the instructions here. They are short and simple, and the whole process shouldn't take more than half an hour (probably around 15-20 minutes).

Now that you are in possession of Ubuntu-on-a-stick, you can go ahead and reboot your pc, with the stick still connected. Usually the computer itself will recognize the system and open it, or ask you between the two options of system. This is not installing Ubuntu yet, but you need to be careful.

Next it will show you a menu with two options: to install Ubuntu, or to try it out. DO NOT CLICK ON INSTALL UBUNTU IF YOU STILL HAVE UNBACKED STUFF OR ARE UNSURE YOU WANT UBUNTU YET. It will format your hard drive and all of that will be lost. The try option, on the other hand, works from the stick and does not format your hard drive.

Try Ubuntu will allow you to see how the basic system would look upon installation, and it will also be what you'd use if you were carrying Ubuntu on a stick to use in other computers. You cannot really modify much there, but if you choose to install the system, it is very, very, very customizable. You can tweak it and add and change the position of menus, clock, desktop icons (At first I thought you couldn't have those because they don't appear there by default! But you can! You just need to add them yourself).

To install Ubuntu on your computer, follow the instructions here. The process, again, is described short and simple, it doesn't take long, and the thing itself guides you step by step.

It is possible to make a disk partition, and have Windows in one part of the hard drive, and Ubuntu on the other. I myself have never done this and don't know how it is done. But if you want to try that, there are many tutorials on the internet about how to do it, I just don't have a specific one to recommend.

A couple more things

Once your new system is up and running, and you are customizing it, there are a couple basic things to know that are helpful:

Between the programs that come with the system, there's one called terminal. Terminal allows you to write direct commands to your computer. For example, instead of opening a program from its icon, you can type the name of the program (for example, "VLC") in terminal, and it will open it.

Similarly, you have two ways to install programs: one, like windows, by downloading the package and opening it with double click, the other by writing in the terminal "sudo apt-get install [name of package]". Some packages will already be in the cloud in what is called repositories, and just by typing "sudo apt-get install [name of program]" terminal will download and install it for you.

Like Windows, Ubuntu will give you messages about updates being available; unlike windows, you can install those whenever you want, and they run on the background (you can use your pc while it updates).

Alternatively you can just update your computer whenever you want by opening terminal and writing "sudo apt update" and then "sudo apt upgrade". I myself do that every day.

There are a few programs like get-iplayer (to get stuff from BBC Sounds) and youtube-dl (to get stuff from YT) that work in terminal only.

Terminal is very cool and if you are like me it will make you feel like a hacker in a 90s spy movie.

www.askubuntu.com is a forum that has answers for everything you might face as a problem or challenge while using Ubuntu. It is great.

If you do give Ubuntu a try and have any relatively basic questions I can answer about it, feel free to shoot an ask or message me, and I will help if I can!

#Ubuntu #Linux #how to #long post

[cha-melodius]

3, 7, 13 and/or 18 for the ask game? (also, sending you hugs <3)

First off thank you so much for the hugs, they are gratefully accepted, today was a lot and tomorrow's not going to be better. I'm also in a bit of a writing funk and feeling bad about everything, probably because I'm so emotionally drained. Thank you for sending these as distraction, I'm glad to think about something else tonight.

3. Do you anticipate writing for a new fandom this year? Which one?

Oh I sure hope not. I have a hard enough time keeping up with three. 😂 But one thing I've found is that you never know when a new ship is gonna hook you, so I guess never say never.

7. Will you change anything about the way you interact with other writers?

First, a moment to celebrate what I have changed already: I've gotten a lot better about commenting on everything I read, which I'm very happy about. Now if only I had 12 extra hours in the day to read everything I want to. I'd like to get better at reblogging things on tumblr from other authors, because I know how much reblogs of my own fic posts mean to me. I try to remember to come back and do it after I read a fic, but sometimes I just forget, sadly. I think I need to put those posts in my drafts rather than just likes, or something.

13. Aside from fanfic, are there any other fan works you’d like to try creating? Fanart, or fanvids, gifsets, or podfic? 

You know, doing my tumblr top 10 posts made me realize I'm not sure I did ANY drawing this year? What?? I started getting into it with napollya and then writing kind of took over, but I'd like to get back to it. I don't think I'll pick up anything new, though.

18. Do you typically post multi-chapters as you write, or finish it all and then start posting? Would you like to change your posting method? 

I used to post as a wrote with a month's-worth of chapter buffer, but now I finish them all first. I think it makes the story a lot tighter, I don't have to worry about changing something in the second half and having it conflict with something already published, and it removes the stress of writing to a deadline. So I'm unlikely to change that!

Thank you again my dear, I always love seeing you in my ask box. 💕 (And I desperately need to read all your whumpmas fics still!)

Fanfic asks for the new year

#ask games #about my writing

[panelshowsource]

it seem so 😔 it's amazing to hear he's recovering well enough to write a whole show and do a whole tour! i have a feeling it won't be filmed, so it would be great to hear any of your experiences if you get a chance to see the show. (maybe you can send me a summary? i'm sure he'll talk more about it all then, given the synopsis for the tour :')) off the back of sean, rhod, and janey godley, i was just thinking about how the generation of comedians i grew up with are hitting more vulnerable years, which is very sobering, but i digress...

here are the tour dates for anyone who missed the announcement!

here on panelshowsource? because i was busy and not online :)

sorry anon, you sent this a couple days after his bday and i don't think i'll do belated posts. i actually wanted to do something for it, but i was just busy with life and didn't get enough of a head start (i usually need 2–3 days prep time). next time!

yes i totally agree! i like daisy on the show because she clearly loves music (the way she's always hyping up the identity parade artists is honestly really wholesome and appreciated) and she is a riot — even if she's exaggerating, better that someone is exaggerating having fun than not. i guess that's where daisy and jamali balance each other out, some episodes lmaooo greg is a textbook ham, so daisy getting such a kick out of his RIDICULOUS jokes — which makes greg so happy — plus greg and noel already having such a comfortable (and often silly) rapport makes them such a solid 3. greg and jamali have definitely gotten more comfortable with each other, too. they're a fucking random bag of people but i think it works! that show is a hot mess of good, goofy vibes

yeah, sometimes! just depends on the interviewee. last new one i listened to was probably ed byrne? i was just listening to a john kearns one since (spoiler alert for this ask post) someone asked for a collection folder for john — it's a sweet one. to be fair, john is just a sweet man. i'm not crazy about richard herring — he's fine — so sometimes i'll quit mid-way if richard is making it too much about himself or complaining too much (you know how he is). but in general i don't think i've missed anything significant bc i got bored or skipped an ep. do you recommend one?

sure! they're honestly one of my faves ever. obsessed with them. i was just thinking about what chaos jimmy + jon + joe + roisin are, generally the episodes when joe is filling in for sean. jimmy already loves a derailing, and you can tell he gets such a kick out of both joe and roisin (same way he gets a kick out of rob beckett, honestly), and jon really lets loose with those three — they're SO stupid hahahaha like this has to be one of the most random, stupid episodes ever i love it so much

it will be my pleasure doing research for such a gifset 😈

i have added him to the collection folder!

linked to some typical panel shows + added his radio 4 series, his latest radio dramedy with tim key and his sitcom top coppers (both added to the secondary masterpost), a couple sketch things, a couple youtube things :) i also collected his podcasts + a few random episodes i don't host on drive and added the links in a doc which i added as well (i'll go back and do that for the existing collections this weekend!)

enjoy!

ps. working on nish, mike wozniak, and david & victoria folders

—

WATCH LINKS MASTERPOST / FAQ / TAGS / ASK

#a

[sparksetfire]

For the character ask thingy:

Tommy 1, 9, 12

(I wasn't sure if I should do more than one character but I will gladly send another ask with another character)

Hello! Thanks for sending these in and feel free to send as many as you like for whichever characters.

I often give more attention to the other characters because of how proportionally underrated they are in comparison to Tommy so I'm sorry that these answers aren't too in depth.

Why do you like or dislike this character?

I do love him because he's one of the most well done 'morally grey' characters if not the best one. Of course I'd say I dislike him for his treatment of women, but pretty much all his other actions have some sort of reasoning or intention that you can understand. I particularly like him for what s2 shows of him - buying houses for Polly and Ada to look after them, his insistence on bringing the family together by finding Michael, and most importantly his sass. I'm going to have to make a gifset on all of his quips etc because I just love him for that, I love seeing him be a little sillier. Another thing I love is how truly accepting and supportive he is. We see the respect he shows to James - the moment he learns he's gay, instead of ignoring him like he would any stranger he meets as usual, he makes a point to shake his hand and show him that he acknowledges him because in that time he would've been greatly denied that and shunned. He does make a conscious effort for people. And in the way he is with Curly. I think Curly does represent as an autistic person sent to do more physical work since being deemed not suited for anythign else. and especially with the way he is better with animals than people, a common stereotype which can have truth in it. But Tommy doesn't see him as less or treat him like he's 'simple'. He respects him for his skill and treats him like any other person where often we see other characters either give him weird looks or tell him to shut up. It makes me happy.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Surprisingly I think being Tommy's roommate would be kind of chill. It'd be awkward at first since I'm quiet and probably would hold his opinion of me way too highly lmao, but other than that we'd probably keep ourselves to ourselves. I'd probably try to make jokes with him and he'd just stare at me in disappointment, which would be awkward. And then, it's also likely I'd just never see him because he's always busy, and he doesn't sleep. But he'd definitely be the type who if you're getting shit for something, he'll sort them out for you. So if I had the choice I'd probably go with no, but if I was forced to be his roommate I might not mind terribly.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I don't have many otherwise so I do have to use the lgbtq headcanons as my scapegoat here. It's particularly cool to see the headcanon of Tommy being transmasc getting quite popular lately, because I've always headcanoned him as such and it fits him super well.

And I don't know how far the notion of tommy x alfie strays into "things that are barely a headcanon anymore because they're so universally agreed upon" but yeah he and alfie are soulmates idk.

I do have a massive notes app document where I throw all my headcanons and fic ideas and there is this one concept that stems from the theory that Alfie does die in s4 and Tommy is talking to his ghost. Except this is the idea that Alfie is alive, but Tommy doesn't know. I think it could work as a fun reading of those scenes - Tommy talking to him like he's a ghost and Alfie thinking well, the man's gone bloody mad in't he. And Tommy thinks about it in contrast with the way Grace appears to him and how she often comes to torment him but Alfie's spririt (which is literally just Alfie) just wants to talk with him normally. And furthermore, Tommy considering that he loves Alfie the same way he loved Grace. I hope this counts as a headcanon, it might just be a fic idea but I don't think it's one I would plan on fleshing out any more.

#peaky blinders #tommy shelby #ask game

[violsva]

I was tagged by @havingbeenbreathedout to post recent, current, and future reading. Unfortunately it is the middle of January, when winter seems eternal and focus nonexistent. However, it occurred to me as I said that that the middle of January is certainly better than the beginning of January, so there's that!

Recent: The last thing I finished at work was a collection of E. F. Benson's ghost stories. I've been reading a lot of Edwardian ghost stories recently and it's just so nice watching terrible things happen to near respectable academics while I wait for the printer to go off. Benson has some interesting interactions with modern technology (his modern) but an annoying tendency to try to explain the metaphysics. I prefer M. R. James.

I also read the most recent installment of the further adventures of Madame C—, which was excellent as usual. In audio there was Dead Man's Ransom by Ellis Peters--I find her work very one-note, but it's a note I really want to hear sometimes.

I have also been reading a bunch of RWRB fanfic. (I skimmed the novel this summer because the gifsets were hot but it really isn't my preferred tropes.) From the outside, it appears to be good in direct proportion to its smuttiness.

Current: At work I am now going through Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, which I am enjoying as much as one can enjoy anything in January. It is kind of amusing how many of the "rules" of modern fiction writing it flat out has never heard of and doesn't care about. I do find it somewhat stunning that Warner wrote this particular novel when she was only just over 30.

I have just started Time Was by Ian McDonald, which I hoped would be a gay version of This Is How You Lose the Time War, and it looks like it may even live up to that.

I am halfway through the audiobook of The Intrigue by Marion Chesney (aka M. C. Beaton), which is nice enough, but I don't think I'll feel the need to continue the series. Especially as the narrator is just okay.

Future: My hold on Paladin's Faith by T. Kingfisher will hopefully come in by the end of the month. Other than that, I should probably see if I can focus better on nonfiction right now.

But I also have a skip-the-line copy of Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher for a week. I don't know if I'm in the best place to appreciate it but maybe it'll be a nice counterweight.

Tagging: The last five mutuals to interact with my posts were @tiltedsyllogism, @edenfalling, @unrealthings, @consultingpiskies (hi sweetheart!), and @oulfis.

#to be clear #tihylttw is of course itself the lesbian version #and if you haven't read it yet you should #books #reading #reading log #memes

[winter-seance]

why do you refuse to reblog & support other gifmakers and artists? it's kinda upsetting to witness. like they are not worth your attention.

I can see why you would think that, but that's not really the case. I don't refuse. It's more down to a lack of time. I'm a full-time grad student, so most of my time lately has been going to that.

I spend probably 30 minutes scrolling through my Tumblr dash per day, if that. I reblog other gifsets if I come across them on my dash during that time, but if they don't, it's not that I didn't want to reblog them, it's just that I didn't see them. Before I went back to school, I used to spend more time going through the edit tags to find things to reblog. Currently, between research, paper-writing and job searching I don't have the time to do that - it's fairly time-consuming. My own gifsets are posted automatically via a queue, so I'm not even online when they're posted. I'm hoping I'll have more time to peruse my dash and be able to be better about checking the edit tags once this semester is over and I have a bit more time again.

However, having said that, if you're a gifmaker yourself, you can tag me, I'm tracking the tag "winterseance" - or if you find a gifset you like and think I should see and/or reblog, please feel free to either send the post to me via DM. I'll be sure to see posts that way.

I've been making gifs for Tumblr since 2012-13ish, I know there are many, many other talented gifmakers here. It's because of their amazing work that kept inspiring me to improve my own over the years. I would love to support other gifmakers, but I just haven't had the time to search them out. Again, please feel free to send me posts to reblog.

#replies #anonymous

[filmdesque]

@irrcdeemable said: I don't know that you reblogged the thing but I just feel that it needs to be said that Billy is actually impressed {not that he will admit it} by the kind of person that Jonathan is. They both had shitty dads so the fact that Jonathan took the opposite path that Billy did, choosing to be kind, impresses and baffles Billy. Jonathan took the higher road and even has a great bond with Will. Which is something Billy is still working on with Max. Don't tell Billy I told you, shhh. BYEEEEEE

( !!!! yes this has literally been on my mind for the longest goddamn time!!! actually i think there was a gifset i saw a little while ago that said that billy perpetuated the cycle of abuse while jonathan broke it, and i think that beautifully sums up the relationships these characters have with their younger siblings. given the fact that your billy is based off a 'what could have been' idea (btw i'm so relieved you loved this description of mine about your billy skdfhsdf), there's definitely potential for a scenario where billy learns or at least attempts to learn something from jonathan about how to make things better with max. it would also probably bring up a provocative conversation between the two characters, showing more about aspects of their psychology, background, and family dynamics, and how that could contribute to these vast differences between the two. jon and i both love psychology & social sciences let me have this moment to describe it like that ksdjhfsd )

#irrcdeemable #⠀ ⠀ ☪︎ ⠀ ⠀ 𝒏𝒐𝒂𝒉 𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔 ⠀ ⠀ ╱ ⠀ ⠀ out of character.

[cosettepontmercys]

Hi Cossette! I've been spending the last few days gathering some 2024 media releases that I hope to check out this year and I'm looking forward to (to name a few!):

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

and ooh! I'm also very intrigued about Allison Saft's upcoming adult debut!! I hope it will be good 🙏

I also prefer standalones! While there are times where I'd love to revisit my favourite worlduilding + characters, I tend to find the storytelling & character development more properly fleshed out within a standalone (comparing to books within a long series).

That's totally valid! It certainly took me some time to get into Alix E Harrow's writing - not that's it's poorly written (it's very artfully written), but it's pretty dense and the story pacing is on the slow side. Also as much as I enjoy taking notes / annotating beautifully written prose, I feel you effort required to analyse the writing 😅

Speaking of The Starless Sea, the aesthetic / vibes of the book reminds me of Taylor Swift's Midnights - very atmospheric and with a strong focus on storytelling. I've been meaning to make something showcasing parallels between songs from Midnights & sections of The Starless Sea since late 2022 (this was pushed back for various reasons), so I was very happy to post the edit today :D

If you could assign your favourite books as music albums (based on thematic / aesthetic similarities), how would you pair them up?

P.S. Yes!! I love the album & vinyl artwork for Kali Uchis' new album and I hope you have the chance to listen to Orquideas later this year! (and I hope you all the best with the 365 albums challenge 💖)

hi jennifer!!! i have an arc of a tempest of tea, but i don't know if i'll get around to it before publication date 😭 i'm really intrigued by the premise, but struggled a bit with the fantasy in we hunt the flame (i struggle a lot with fantasy/have to be in a very specific mood for it)! i haven't read any of katherine arden's stuff, but have seen a lot of it on the internet over the years; maybe i'll check it out!

i feel like a common question i see on bookstagram is "what's your favorite series" and i always struggle to answer this because i am just not a series girlie! i think the few favorite series that i love (that aren't duologies) are probably either the raven cycle, or series of romance books that are set in the same universe but follow different characters so they essentially operate as standalones! i wish i was a series girlie, but i just ... am not one. i actually just put alix harrow's ten thousand doors of january on hold on libby — it might work better for me as an audiobook! sometimes i do better with fantasy via audiobook than physically reading it, for some reason.

i saw your starless sea/midnights gifset and am obsessed. i know i've told you this before but i loveeeee your gifsets so much, especially the ones where you find parallels between things!

oh this is so hard! i feel like it's easier to assign specific songs for me, rather than entire albums to books, but here goes:

beach read: honorable mention to emails i can't send by sabrina carpenter (title track) for january's relationship with her father, but unsure of what album would fit january/gus best!

normal people: i think either sam fender's seventeen going under, or noah kahan's stick season? i think both albums have a similar theme of being homesick and also home sick, which i feel like plays a big role in the plot of normal people!

honey girl: i feel like paint my bedroom black by holly humberstone? like the themes of growing up / moving away / being lonely / figuring out your life?

the starless sea: maybeeeee evermore but this does not feel like a good fit to me still!

les miserables: ... going to cheat here and say the les mis cast recording

i'm still stuck on portrait of a thief, and book lovers though! what about you? what book/album pairings do you have in mind?

#post: answered #mutual: jennifer

[aceofwhump]

Hello, I was hoping I could get some advise from the queen of gifs? I'm newish to making them and something that's always confused me is the speed im supposed to use? I realize this will probably sound dumb but I've never understood how the time delay works? I see somewhere between 0 . 05 and 0 . 07 is recommended a lot. Which gif would come out faster out of a 0. 05 and 0.07 gif? Also would the size and length affect which speed should be used? I have no clue 😭. Thank you so much!

Hi there! First of all thank you for such a lovely compliment!!! And welcome to the gifmaking world!

Okay so the speed of your gifs. An important step in making gifs indeed. Quick note that I use Photoshop CC 2014 to make my gifs. 0.05 is the speed I, and most gifmakers, tend to go with because it's the closest to real time speed. The higher the number the slower the speed. So 0.05 would be faster than 0.07. I used 0.10 for a while but I changed some of the ways i made gifs and now i use 0.05. It's much better.

Here's an example (and a sneak peek at a future whumptober gifset)

This gif is set to 0.00 speed:

And the same gif at 0.05:

And the same gif set to 0.15:

See the difference? The one set to .05 is the closest to natural speed which is why it's used most often in gifmaking.

Each one of these gifs are the same amount of frames, the size width and length, the same coloring and adjustment layers. The only thing I did differently was the set of the speed.

Size and length don't have much bearing in the speed of the gif. Whether you have 20 frames or 100, the speed should be the same. Sometimes I'll slow down gifs with only a few frames because it looks better but that's rare. I nearly always use the same speed no matter what.

Hope that helps!

#mod replies #gifmaking #ask #my gifs #mod post #tutorial #help #gifmaking help #gif tutorial

[zahlibeth]

frost, amber, pumpkin <- an easy one (If you think you've seen me here before no you didn't.)

never seen you before in my life no sir 💖

frost - if you could give some advice to your younger self, what would you say?

oh i have so much advice for my younger self! I would tell her to breathe and relax and I would promise her it's going to be okay.

then I would gently explain the concept of neurodivergence and scribble down as many brain hacks as I could possibly think of to make her life easier: bingos instead of lists, pomodoro timers, physical planners, unobserved time, constructive hobbies

amber - share an unpopular opinion that you may have.

dry cereal is better than wet cereal. WHY anyone puts milk on their breakfast cereal is beyond me, you've made it cold and soggy???

I would also like the americans to know that peanut butter does not belong in chocolate, keep that away from me.

if you wanted something scandalous i'm drawing a blank. i'm still on my athena/bobby/michael triad bandwagon so there's that, but i haven't heard many dissenters to be fair, it's more an uncommon opinion than an unpopular one.

Oh! I suppose fandom-wise I'm on the side of "they're not genuinely intending to make buddie canon" and also finding it very cute when the boys date girls, I like to see them happy and giggly and then carefully arrange the gifsets later so they're dating each other. I don't want, need or expect my ships to go canon and actually rather prefer if they don't. I like to be able to make up all the things rather than having to work around particular canon moments in a relationship. So that's probably unpopular! I enjoy the canon-truthing but I don't take it seriously

pumpkin - do you think that humans are inherently good or bad?

oh yeah absolutely I believe that people are fundamentally good. we're all just full of love searching for connection.

there is no debate on this one as far as I'm concerned, I will happily la-la-la i can't hear you about it because I also think it's important to believe that people are good.

send me autumn asks? 🍂🍁💖

#zahli answers #mattoidmeerkat #z

[gatalentan]

Hi Scottie, same anon here. Actually, a recent follower. Your gifs are marvelous, i'm ever so jealous. Thanks for letting me know. I live in Canada, so I have a few options, but one day, maybe i'll buy them. I'm sure my hype for LAW won't stop, but money is tight.

Anyways, thank you for gracing us for your hardwork, dedication and love towards LAW, Abbott and so forth. I'd love to see more Life's Work gifsets if you plan on making more. How would you describe Lisa Hunter? There is an episode I felt so bad for her for (cause I only found three on the Internet Archive), about a third baby. Her humor always makes me feel better, even in another sitcom with an audience for it.

As a new gif/gifset maker myself, though someone with slow stamina to work on projects, I fiddle in photoshop all the time. For the RPC, I've been considering making some more to use of LAW, it's just the resources I need to get aside from AElem. and PTrap. You should try your hand at it, maybe? it's gifs, a certain size all in one post. I just asked what your secret was cause I love how even tho the show was in 96/97, we know it's not HQ like now. Anyways, enough about me. I'm happy they turned out so well for you. Lastly, through trial and error-- do you know if there have a way to sharpen every layer at the same time? Thanks again - CW.

Hi again! Yeah, I fully get that. I really wish there was a more accessible option. Maybe with such awards interest in Abbott more of the stuff from her back catalog will get brought to streaming services? It was on the same network as Abbott after all! We can only hope.

Thanks so much for your kind words! I absolutely do intend on doing the whole series, at least one set per episode (that I have access to) along with some of the funnier lines.

If I was gonna surface level describe Lisa Hunter to an alien? I think you can tell she's is probably more LAW than probably anything she's ever done and very in-line with her stand-up persona. She's streetwise and dry-humoured and crass and a total hard-ass and is quick to anger and stand up for herself, but she isn't one-dimensionally a big tough-guy, she has huge depths of softness for her family, is emotionally available and open about her feelings, is demonstrative to her family in a way that doesn't feel like just going through the motions, they hug and kiss, they have stupid in-jokes, and she makes out with her damn husband! And it doesn't just feel like it's for the viewer! They feel like a real couple who are actually crazy about each other, not just people who put up with each other. She talks openly about her interest in sex in a way that centres herself in it instead of trying to please her guy which is something that a lot of sitcoms of the era lacked (and still do really, in the bad ones) but also what it's like trying to have a sexual relationship while you have a busy life. She's candid about the realities of motherhood - not just in terms of how it effects her relationships and her work-life balance but how it literally changed her relationship with her body, which is also something you don't hear a lot of in comedy, at least in a way that isn't at a woman's expense but rather a commiseration instead. More than anything she feels like a real young adult (I can't believe she's nearly the same age as me!! terrifying!!) dealing with a young family, and a stressful job and financial difficulties, rather than a cartoon character. I really love her a lot. This show had so much potential that was cut WAY short. I could go on about it a lot more than this but this got way too long already! Re: sharpening gifs - what you wanna learn how to use is Smart Objects! They make an absolute world of difference, because you can edit the whole gif all at once, including sharpness, contrast, colours etc. I found a good beginners tutorial for you here - I hope it helps! (Link Here)

#sorry this became a life's work stan account please subscribe to my newsletter

[geeky-politics-46]

Hello :)

So, It's 4 in the morning for me and I can't sleep. Why? Because while I was looking for Stephen Strange x Reader stories to read carlier so I can sleep with good fantasies I came across a gifset of What If...? Stephen and Christine and now I can't sleep cause my mind is filled with images of Stephen holding dead Christine's face and crying or holding his hand out to her to help her out his car and every other scene between them as I lay in bed heartbroken and jealous and almost crying cause I once again realise that Stephen will never love me like that as he does Christine.

I am really sorry, I know I keep ranting about this on my blog and it comes off as annoying (even my bestfriend is annoyed with me I think) but I really wanted to rant about this to someone, especially someone who understands what it feels like and because I for like I am the only one who feels this way. You can ignore this if you want, and don't worry I don't mind if you answer this publically (I think it's better that way). Hope you have a nice day! 💖

Rants are always welcome here. I'm very happy to be a sounding board if you just need to get something of your chest.

I totally get where you are coming from & right about now I would give an arm an a leg to have Strange in my life. I dreamt about one of my ex's and then ended up getting several pieces of male for him that next day. Not that I want to be back with him, it just got me feeling really lonely. Also trying to get back out in the dating world and sorely disappointed with what's out there.

I did make a discovery that I have never been physically attracted to anyone I've dated first. It's always been a 'meh he isn't a troll' & the personality makes it work. This time I've decided I want to be physically attracted to a perspective date first. Like I want someone who I look at like I look at Strange. Like he's just so pretty. I want to have the hots for a date. Until then I got y'all. I know I can't actually date Strange, but I'm refusing to let myself just get whatever bites my line first.

That probably doesn't help you much, but again I totally get where you are coming from. It's hard being single. I could use cuddles right now too :/

#single girl problems #why do my boyfriends have to be fictional #dont judge my fictional boyfriends #real men broke me #this is why i dream of Sinister Strange