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anim-ttrpgs · 2 months

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The Kickstarter for Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is Live!!

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is our team’s debut TTRPG, over three years in the making! The campaign will run from April 10th to May 10th!

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How far would you go to learn the truth?

Play amateur detectives caught up in things they barely understand, and explore how the lives of your characters unravel as they push themselves to dig deeper into the unknown!

Tense investigations!

Delve into an investigation-focused mystery and horror system that lets players take initiative and use their characters’ unique strengths to find clues and deduce conclusions themselves. A few bad rolls won’t get the party hopelessly stuck, but at the same time Eureka respects their intellect and lets them take charge of solving the mystery!

Character-driven gameplay!

Stats and abilities are based on who your character is as a person. Freeform character creation allows you to build a totally unique little guy, and have a totally unique gameplay experience with him! This is supported by the backbone of the Composure mechanic. Stress, fear, fatigue, and hunger will wear your investigators down as they trudge deeper into the unknown. Food, sleep, and connections with their fellow investigators are the only way to keep them going!

Secrets inside and out!

Any investigator could be a monster, helping their friends while trying not to reveal their true natures. The party will learn to trust and rely on each other, or explode into a tangled net of drama!

Intense, tactical combat!

Hits are devastating, and misses are unpredictable–firing a gun will always change the situation somehow, for better or for worse!

Now in Technicolor!

Evocative artwork from talented femme-fatales @chaospyromancy and @qsycomplainsalot and the mysterious @theblackwarden paint a gorgeously-realized portrait of a world with shadows lurking in every corner.

Elegantly designed and thoroughly playtested, Eureka represents the culmination of three years of near-daily work from our team, as well as a lot of our own money. We are almost at the end, we just need some financial support to put the finishing touches on it and make the final push to get it ready for official release!

With every stretch goal we meet, the game gets better and better. Tons of beautiful new artwork, new options for gameplay, and even two entirely new playable Monsters could be added to the book, so visit the Kickstarter and secure your copy today!

If you want to try before you buy, you can download a free demo of the prerelease version from our website or our itch.io page!

If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!

You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!

Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

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folkookie97 · 7 months

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❝ hating you's the only way ❞ — JJK

— SUMMARY: ❝Loving you hurts so bad. Jungkook finds a better way to try lessing the pain. ❞

— PAIRING: boyfriend!Jungkook x girlfriend!reader

— TYPE: angst | non-idol AU

— WORD COUNT: 547

— WARNINGS: Inspired by Hate You (Jungkook), Ambiguous/Open Ending, Jungkook is bad at feelings, Mean!Jungkook, Mentioned Kim Taehyung, Curses, Argument.

— NOTES¹: that's my Jungkook's fav song <3

— NOTES²: it's crossposted on my ao3 account in Jungkook's version, but also in a JJ Maybank (OBX) version.

— RELEASE DATE: November 09, 2023

— CROSSPOSTING: ao3

"What did I do wrong?"

The words left your mouth after an absurd amount of time in complete silence. Such a long absence of speech while you remained sitting on the couch, your eyes looking at your boyfriend and searching for any answer.

His indifference remained implacable and causing pain in your heart. "Jesus! You don't even care about our relationship."

It wasn't a question. But the confident statement at least caused a reaction from Jungkook. "Oh, so now we're talking about who really cares about this bullshit? 'Cause you don't even seem caring about us when you're looking at Taehyung with your fucking puppy eyes." He chuckled, even though his sentence wasn't actually sarcastic. "Fuck, (Y/N)! He's my best friend. You really think I wouldn't realize what you were trying to do?"

Your eyes widened, getting up from the couch so quickly that you made a loud noise. Jungkook still had his body fixed on the armchair in front of you, but you saw him shiver slightly.

"You crazy? I never thought anything like that about Taehyung!" Your throat burned at the volume of your voice. "Or anyone else!"

Jungkook rolled his eyes, starting to anger at your frustration. "Stop yelling. The world doesn't need to know that my ex-girlfriend is a whore."

Your eyes filled with tears at the venom present in his words.

If anyone else said that, you would get angry and trying slap them for such audacity. However, he was not just anyone. He was Jungkook. Your Jungkook. Your perfect boyfriend. Your boyfriend who hugged you during night storms. Your boyfriend who liked teaching Korean cooking recipes, no matter how bad you were cooking some of them. Your boyfriend who liked spoiling you with cute gifts every month.

Your boyfriend who called you "my little one" and "my princess". That Jungkook would never call you a "whore." He would never accuse you of something like that.

"Why are you acting like this? Why are you being so mean and accusing me of things I never thought of?" You let out a sob. A sob so sad that it soon turned into an avalanche of tears.

Lowering his head and swallowing hard when you starting your crying fit, you heard the last words Jungkook spoke to you before the official end of your relationship. "Stop crying, you're just making me hate you even more."

And when he walked quickly out of your house to get on his motorcycle, Jungkook knew he was just a coward guy. A guy who was afraid of love.

He chose painting you as the villain in your relationship. He chose to believe that you were telling lies from the beginning. He even chose to believe that you were thinking about kissing his best friend someday.

Jungkook was too afraid of love. Because it hurts. Loving you hurts him so bad.

Even though you two weren't perfect, you came very close. He couldn't afford to unexpectedly lose that. The thought of the possibility of you one day deciding to end everything literally killed him inside everyday.

If he were the one to destroy the relationship, maybe the consequences would affect him less. He would at least be ready, right?

Maybe hating you's the only way it doesn't hurt.

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sepublic · 2 years

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We got ANOTHER promo y’all!!! It’s technically a trailer but it’s thankfully very brief, given the runtime it’s hyping up is only two episodes, compared to usual TOH trailers that are advertising at least nine episodes! This is an official release and NOT a leak!

First off, Luz’s laptop!!! She’s doing this 11:09 pm at just 20%, she’s got references to Stardew Valley and Hollow Knight on her desktop, and I think that one Hades game? The one with Zagreus? Anyhow the Hollow Knight references are REAL, coupled with the S1 intro, makes you wonder if it influenced stuff like Hollow Mind…!

Luz also has a Good Witch Azura fanfic file! And she’s recently made art since her return to the human world; You can’t see all of it, but it appears to the Owl House’s roof, in a parallel to how the intro usually ends with Luz, Eda, and King on the roof when she ignites a light spell and pushes it into the sky! Augghhhh she’s coping…! And her username is @FriendofOwlsandTitans… Oh my GAWD! She accepts King as a TITAN she’s a friend to TITANS!!! Original art do not steal, just like her GF!

“All I ever wanted was to be good at something”… Good lord, if that doesn’t summize SO much about Luz. Her feelings of inadequacy. Her initial dreams of being a chosen one. Her desire to help others and be of service to them. Her need to JUSTIFY her own existence, to quote her girlfriend… That hit hard. Like I know but OW.

She’s making video diaries again as we guessed, but this time to HERSELF; Girl needs a place to vent, good for her! She probably stayed up and snuck to the kitchen to let herself indulge in her dark feelings and thoughts alone. Did Luz make a video for Eda and King and eventually give up, being forced to confront herself inward without any distractions? She says she knows what she has to do now, is… Is Luz about to do something rash? Something involving Belos? Babey don’t hurt yourself, or maybe she just means the general principle of making thing right!

Then skipping past stuff we DO know, we see Luz and Hunter dressed up for Halloween! Hunter has a HOOTY mask, likely meant to invoke his Golden Guard persona, and Luz is honoring King OH MY GAWD WAAAIIIIII!!!!! She’s MOURNING her Titan brother, just like she mourned Eda! They’re in a dilapidated house, the shack where the Portal opens? They’re armed… Probably investigating paranormal activity, AKA Belos. This fits with another shot of them entering a basement with the same coloring as the house, atop the stairs!

We get a proper look at Amity and Gus’ new designs in the show’s own art style! They look AMAZING… They painted Hooty’s face on the door, pffft, but also ouch. The longing. Treating this place as an earthly version of the Owl House because it kind of is with its role and even coloration! If they miss Hooty you KNOW it’s been a while. Willow must’ve grown flowery vines outside to spruce up the place, it seems to have been converted into a fulltime hideout! If this was the old Wittebane home, I’m sure Caleb would appreciate it… Philip on the other hand.

The door seems to have just… Opened on its own as Amity looks back. Or did somebody, probably Luz and/or Hunter (seeing a glimpse of Gooplos?) quietly leave, and Amity only notices when she hears the door swinging behind them?

We have a hand, either Amity, Willow, or Hunter’s, reaching out to some glow-in-the-dark night decorations; Including a symbol of the moon and sun. This is likely one of the characters mourning and being reminded of the Collector, rather than in-universe connection.

We see our cast, sans Luz, looking at some sort of box with styling reminiscent of the Portal! Not only does it suggest it was actually Caleb and his wife who made it (and Philip plagiarized), but also! Caleb must’ve left it behind in the human world. When Flapjack was pecking at the floorboards, was it to find this? It must be a clue, perhaps on how to make a portal, a Titan’s blood rift, etc.! Is this distraction what got Luz to sneak out earlier?

There’s some sort of book page we see next, presumably the contents of the box the kids found given their hands! I’m not sure the significance of the symbols, but the bottom one reminds me of the curse… Or is it just a reference to Clawthornes loving birds, AKA his wife? Is that some sort of teardrop? Maybe it’s Titan’s Blood and that’s meant to be a FURRY arm of a Titan! And what even IS that thing to the right?!

Hunter says “Did you know that HE was here?!” In a distressed voice. Is this him potentially confronting one of our protagonists for keeping information about Gooplos’ potential survival, regardless if they actually knew and were hiding? Or him talking about Philip and Caleb to perhaps Luz, with the realization that either was a town founder, and inquring as to how Luz didn’t notice!

Then we get Gus and Hunter THE BROS dressed up for Halloween, Hunter doesn’t want to hear spoilers because Gus is likely talking about a recent human hyperfixation of theirs! Brothers.

And then, finally… Luz and Hunter aren’t here, it’s just the other kids, maybe those two are at some other part of the zoo more personal like the aviary…

WE GET THE LONG-AWAITED ANSWER TO THE GIRAFFES!!! AFTER TWO YEARS, ARGUABLY THREE IF YOU CONSIDER WHEN THE FIRST TEASER THAT MENTIONED GIRAFFES WAS RELEASED!!! Since the very beginning, we have been haunted by this question and whether they’d answer it, but now… NOW…! It all comes to light.

The kids are obviously scared and locking arms in preparation, that’s so cute, venturing into ancient territory that hasn’t been traversed for generations. WILLOW HAS HER HAIRCLIP FROM WING IT LIKE WITCHES!!! Was it a gift from Amity, I MISSED IT SO MUCH! She takes a picture and a Giraffe, recognizing natives from its home realm, FREAKS…

We get one idea of why Giraffes were banned and it makes sense. God the kids’ reactions are so funny. Of course Willow the Bravest is bold enough to step ahead and take pictures for the rest! This is such adorable levity and I appreciate the closure, this is their one chance so of course they’d take it after two months of debating if they should risk it! Mayhaps they regret that risk now.

#the owl house #the owl house season 3 #analysis #luz noceda #the owl house hunter #willow park #amity blight #gus porter #augustus porter #vee noceda

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enkhanthor · 10 months

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Genesis Enkhanthor - The Version of my witch in the Genesis Age - Legacy History Challenge

Skin | Pele:

Eyes | Olhos:

Hair | Cabelo:

Hair Acessory | Acessório de Cabelo:

Eyebrows | Sombrancelhas:

Eyelashes | Cílios:

Eyeslash Remover | Removedor de Cílios:

Outfit | Traje:

Bracelets | Pulseira:

Download

#the sims 4 #thesims4 #sims 4 #sims4 #sims 4 character #legacy history challenge #desafio do legado histórico #desafio do legado

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ffc1cb · 2 years

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hello! I love your art and im wondering what app you use and what pens do you use on that app? :dD

hi! first of all, thank you :) i'm glad you enjoy my art. sorry it took me so long to answer, but here it is, as detailed as i could make it

what program:

i've been using autodesk sketchbook (for drawing) & paint tool sai 2 (for filters, cropping, etc) for several years. i'm very very fond of sketchbook and i believe it to be the best entry program for beginners (and especially people who are moving from traditional to digital art, since the majority of the brushes available for AS are imitations of traditional tools. it even has a library of copic colors!) due to its simple and intuitive interface. this is both its biggest advantage and flaw: while the brush catalog is quite big and you can play with the settings a lot, there aren't that many features you can use as opposed to something like clip studio paint or even sai; it’s a very bare bones type of art program.

some things i personally find irritating (but have learned to work around) are the lack of image flipping function (instead i have to mirror the entire layer or canvas, which becomes troublesome on canvases with a lot of layers (although i assume it’s mostly due to my laptop being pretty old)), inability to have multiple canvases open at once, lack of clipping mask, somewhat clunky process of creating custom shaped brushes (nigh impossible to make an unbreaking string of a shape, e.g embroidery or lingerie), lack of water fringe function, clunky text & color adjustment editors, etc etc.

if you’ve previously used a more complex art program you might find sketchbook lacking in a lot of ways, but personally after years of usage i can safely say that it’s my favorite program i’ve ever worked with. i really love the overall simplicity of the interface (i’ve tried to switch to csp several times throughout the years but ended up being overwhelmed by the number of features), and i’m a big fan of AS’s selection tool. if you’ve never heard of sketchbook before, i urge you to give it a try! they provide a helpful manual on their site.

now, AS used to be free for all platforms (both pc and mobile), but iirc a couple years ago the program changed owners and the new company decided to remake the pc version as “autodesk pro” & charge $20 for it (although mobile is still free). which is fine i suppose since i hear that it’s being updated again (previous owners made it free in the first place because they essentially abandoned its development & stopped releasing updates). but i’m also a huge fan of piracy so here’s a .zip file of the version i downloaded when it was still available (it might be outdated, but at least its free! and if you decide that you like the program, you can always one-time-purchise it later from their official website). the archive contains the setup.exe as well as a folder containing all of the brushes i use in my art process (i’ll talk about them further below). if you ever find the link not working anymore feel free to send an ask or message me for a new one.

what brushes:

here are all of the brushes i use as seen on my toolbar. the majority of them are brushes that i made myself, which is why a lot of them have weird names; the ones that have numbers in the title are just me writing down previous value settings (usually for roundness, rotation & edge) so that i dont forget them after i inevitably tweak the settings again. don’t pay them much attention.

left column is basically decorative brushes. here they are from top to bottom:

right column is brushes that i actually draw with:

i specified what each one is used for just so you get the basic idea but in reality i pretty much use them interchangeably for literally anything i feel like at the time. i also tweak the settings a lot so the overall look fluctates pretty often.

the folder in the zip file i provided has the .skbrushes (sketchbook’s custom brush format) file for the entire set. here is a guide on how to upload custom brushes.

i think that’s all! if you have any more questions, feel free to ask. i promise i will reply faster this time, lol

#salt talks

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thisaintascenereviews · 1 year

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Tyler Hubbard - Self-titled Florida Georgia Line is most often to be considered the worst thing to happen to country music within the last decade, and you could make an argument as to why -- they started the “bro-country” trend, where these artists talk about trucks, girls, beer, and the same types of things, all the while incorporating pop and hip-hop tropes into country. A lot of people hate it, and for good reason. It’s really bad, misogynistic, boring, and uninspired. FGL was always at the forefront of it, especially with their 2012 hit “Cruise,” which admittedly is very catchy. They broke up in 2021, but they didn’t officially call it quits until last year. It was very quiet, but the inevitable finally came. It also makes sense because both members, Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, were putting out solo projects. Hubbard is the latest one to do so with his debut solo album. He released an EP last year, all of which appears on this new self-titled album, but I thought I’d check it out for a couple of reasons -- out of pure curiosity, just to see if this album might be good, and because I’ve got a somewhat soft spot for these guys. FGL’s music is either really, really bad or it’s generic but still rather catchy. I enjoy some songs on all of their albums, at least to some degree, and I like Hubbard’s voice a lot. He’s nothing special, but he’s got a good sound to it, and I can enjoy it. Maybe his new self-titled debut album might be good, so I thought it would be good to check it out, especially when I liked the songs from the EP. As far as EPs go, it’s fine, but how is the whole album now that it’s been out for the last week? Let me ask you, the reader, this first: do you want the short version or the long version? The short version is that this album is fine, nothing more or less. There’s a lot more I can say, but if I had to sum it up, this album’s okay. It’s nothing special, and if you have an idea of what to expect with FGL, you’re going to get the same thing here. This album feels like an extension of FGL, and it’s almost like they never broke up, but this album is less obnoxious. The long version, however, is that there are some bright moments on this album, but it’s frustrating, because it’s so generic in a lot of places, too. It’s catchy, and a lot of the songs on this album have good hooks, but this record places radio-friendly hooks over songwriting and lyricism. Hubbard’s performance is fine, and the instrumentation is well and good, but the lyrics are very bland a lot of the time, usually being very surface-level, and the songwriting is blase, too. It’s just a lot of the same, especially within the album itself. Every song on this hour-long album sounds the same, and it’s bad, folks. Not the songs are bad, but the album is way too long. This didn’t need to be an hour. I would have wanted this to be maybe around 36 to 40 minutes. It doesn’t need to be an hour. You could have cut a lot from this album and it wouldn’t have made a difference, especially when a lot of the songs have very similar lyrics. A lot of this record is about how this girl that Hubbard is with loves him for who he is, such as on “Me For Me,” which is a decent song and a good sentiment, but it’s weird when he’s painting himself out to be this unique guy when he’s just describing country tropes, such as big trucks, wearing boots, and drinking beer. There are a few songs that try to break out of the generic formula, such as “Miss My Daddy,” where he talks about his late father, but it’s few and far between. Some songs are pretty fun, such as “Everybody Needs A Bar,” which is just about how everyone needs a bar to drink, decompress, and socialize at. He even says that everyone needs somewhere to just shoot the shit, and it’s a pretty fun moment on this album that I really liked. Overall, though, this LP just feels like a bunch of outtakes and leftover ideas from FGL records. That’s fine in itself, because a lot of their fans are going to enjoy this, since it’s not much different, but there’s a lot that’s left to be desired. I wasn’t disappointed by this, because I went into it knowing what to expect, and it’s exactly what I thought I’d get. From the EP, it’s the same thing, but there are some good moments. “5 Foot 9″ is a catchy song and one of the lead singles, “Everybody Needs A Bar” is a ton of fun, and “Miss My Daddy” is an introspective song that looks more inward and has something more personal to say than the generic country tropes that this album continues with and that Hubbard and his songwriting team thinks people still want to hear. It’s funny when you consider Hardy’s second album, The Mockingbird & The Crow, came out a couple of weeks before this, and it actively deconstructs and pokes fun at these exact tropes (especially when Hardy himself had a hand in writing some of FGL’s biggest hits). If you’re looking for some solid country with a pop edge, you’ll like this, or you miss FGL, you’ll get something out of it, but people who don’t like country already will not like this. I like some of it, especially some hooks and vocal melodies, but as a whole, it’s really lacking.

#tyler hubbard #florida georgia line #5 foot 9 #country #pop country #bro country #country music #pop #pop music

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propheteka · 1 year

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Sketchbook and You

If you’ve been following me for a bit (or you take a read through the descriptions over on my Art Blog), you’ve probably noticed the name of a few non-standard art programs. This is about one of them!

Things I want to get out of the way before the break:

No, I’m not here to sell you on the program. I’ll simply tell you what I like/dislike from my years of using it.

Yes, I’ll help you with some stuff that might come in handy if you decide to take the plunge.

And now… Here's a long-time user’s perspective on Sketchbook.

So! Sketchbook… it's been around for a while. I bought my 1st copy way back in the day for my (at the time) brand new 2nd Gen iPod Touch! It was great for doing quick sketches on the go. The thing I liked about it over the other popular paint program – Colors! - was the Pencil brush. Not surprising that a guy who primarily draws on paper would go for the brush most like the main tool he uses but hey? I’m basic like that.

For me, a solid feeling pencil was the difference between me drawing on my iPod or sticking to my physical notepad.

Back then, it was still owned by AutoDesk and went by SketchBook Express, SketchBook Mobile Express and SketchBook Pro. Each had their own quirks with the Express series being their “Free" versions. Over on the desktop side, they had things like the Copic Edition – a free program that allowed you to try use the official Copic marker colors in your pics. That would get walked over to SketchBook Pro later on and remain 'till the Sketchbook crew split off from AutoDesk in June of 2021.

Alrighty… With all of that history out of the way, To the Point!

Yes, I enjoy using Sketchbook. It’s the way I draw on my devices when I'm not using a mouse in Illustrator or doing basic stuff in Fireworks. It's super simple and good for what I need. No triple deep menus of things it can do that you need proper classes to learn to take full advantage of. Since it’s always had a mobile version (maybe that was it’s original platform), the menus are simple and easy to hide. You can import, export and build your own brushes from scratch. In the version that released closest to this writing (the October 2022 release), they even added something close to what was lost during their split from AutoDesk – a really neat color feature. Although it (currently) lacks the Copics from before, it makes up for that in both the ability to select colors and import, export and build whole color books.

Does this mean I’m recommending it? Not really.

I dig it, sure… but those used to neat things like the ability to save out timelapse videos from your desktop files or native 3D models or even just being able to add text will find it lacking. The formats it uses – TIFFs and PSDs - are fine for some. I personally like to work in PNG so I have to be careful to save out my layers individually or the whole thing will be flattened. Same goes with saving things in general. Like with any program, you need to be sure you’re saving things in the right file. I’ve noticed my copies of SB tend to remember the last file name used, auto filling the field. If I’m going too fast, I face a real risk saving over an older project.

The only thing I can recommend is to try before you buy.

How does one do that when the program is a one-time-fee dealie? Well… before the split, AutoDesk made the last version of SBPro free for everyone. I don’t normally do this ‘cause it’s a bit of a dick move and links will change as time goes one but I’ll drop a link to it and the archived page for the Much older Copic Edition in the next bit. Just understand that, for as good as Sketchbook is and for as long as it has been around, it’s kind of starting from scratch again with their newfound independence.

That’s about all I have to say about the subject. All in all, I enjoy using Sketchbook and have found it worth the price over the years. If You want to give the program the best shot it can, here’s some links that might help you along the way:

Sketchbook – The main site. Gets you the latest versions and a little more.

Extras Page – Like the name suggests, this has extras. Stuff like downloadable brush sets and some color books.

SketchBook Pro Free Brush Mega Set – Thanks to the hard work of a redditor, this is the best way to get damn near every free brush set that was offered by AutoDesk over the years.

AutoDesk SketchBook ver 8.7.1 – A link to the last edition they released before the split. It is free and comes with access to all the stuff the old Pro version did (Copics, perspective grids, other non-standard stuff I can’t remember). You can still import/export/build brushes with this.

SketchBook Copic Edition – What it says on the tin. This old version allows you the (at the time) new feature of the official Copic color book… and not much else if I remember right. It predates a lot of improvements. I don’t even remember if you could import brushes. It’s the least sketchy way to try out the basics of Sketchbook before you decide on jumping in completely.

If this helped you make a decision, I’m both shocked and amazed. Personally, I’d give one of the older copies a shot if they’ll run on your gear (That Copic one is OLD). Between the simple interface that knows when to get out of the way to the newer features they Just introduced, I think it’s worth it if only to try it.

#Sketchbook #program #rant

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385bookreviews · 2 years

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2.139 Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

SPOILERS

Pages: 398

Read Time: 5 hours and 26 minutes

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ Storyline: ★★★★★ Dialogue: ★★★★★ Characters: ★★★★★

Genre: YA Dystopian Horror

TWs for the book: Blood/gore/body horror, transphobia, transmedicalism, homophobia, religious bigotry/persecution, cussing, genocide, disease, drinking, Biblical content/verses, vomiting, deadnaming, death, dysphoria, homophobia, injury, gun violence/violence, emotional and physical abuse, mentions of s*x, toxic relationship/domestic abuse, fire, self harm, medical trauma, panic attacks, torture, ableism, confinement, racism, classiscm, climate change

POV: First person from Benji; Third person from Nick and Theo

Time Period/Location: Future (late 2030-40s) Acheson, Pennsylvania

First Line: Here’s the thing about being raised an Angel: You don’t process grief.

Interspersed with pieces of lore and Bible verses, Hell Followed With Us paints a perfect scene of horror and the true realities of the queer, formerly religious struggle. Sixteen year old trans boy Benji is on the run with his dad from the cult called the Angelic Movement he was raised in. The Angels had released a virus two years prior on the world called the Flood, a horrible disease that causes your organs to melt in your body and your bones to break apart through your skin. Sometimes the bodies will melt together and retain base sentience and become creatures called Graces that the Angels control. Benji and his dad are being chased by members of the death squad, and Benji’s dad is immediately killed. Benji is captured by the soldiers and it is revealed to readers that he has been injected with Seraph, a mutated version of the Flood that will turn him into a 6 winged creature, powerful enough to control the Graces and the Flood. The Angels attempt to return him to New Nazareth to be their final deadly weapon against the nonbelievers, but are ambushed by a group of teenagers and killed. Nick, the leader of the group, witnesses Benji stop one of the Graces, and takes him with him back to the ALC, the Acheson LGBTQ Center, where queer teenagers and young adults have managed to survive this entire time. Only Erin and Nick, the leaders of the group, know his secret, and they have plans to give him over to the Vanguard, a large group of survivors with a ton of resources, if things get desperate. Benji joins the Watch, the group that rescued him, in taking down Angels. During one of these attempts, he reunites with Theo, his betrothed, and hides him at an old church where Angels perform rituals, visiting him in the night in secret. Theo is actually still a member of the Angelic Movement, and betrays the location of the ALC to the death squads, and they burn it to the ground. Thanks to Benji and a Grace he commands, they save all but 8 of the ALC members, and take refuge in a nearby bank. Benji realizes Theo’s betrayal and tries to go and kill him, but encounters a death squad on the way there, and, with some help from Nick, he kills them all, and starts to turn further into Seraph. Nick brings him back, and Benji reveals to him and Erin the mistake he made with Theo, but Nick comes up with a plan to use Theo and Benji to bring down the Angels. Benji returns to Theo, acting like he was rejected by the ALC for being Seraph, and they take him back to New Nazareth. On the day that he is supposed to tear the place apart with Graces, he begins to transform into Seraph officially, and is trapped there for a few more weeks. His body grows massive and becomes grotesque, with six mangled wings and claws and fangs. The woman who created the Flood and the Graces and Seraph, however, turns out to be a heretic and gets the word out to the ALC to come and ambush the place. Theo, angry at Benji turns himself into a creature called Dominion and they fight while the ALC slaughters the Angels. Benji wins, but Nick, a former death squadron soldier, is wounded from the remnants of Flood in his body that awakes from dormancy when Benji starts killing Angels. They return to ALC, and Nick and Benji share a moment of confronting their feelings for each other, and the book ends.

Benjamin (Benji) Woodside: Benji is the most realistic and excellent portrayal of a teenage trans guy I have read so far. I related to him very strongly and his internal battle with his faith and his identity is immensely compelling. He doesn’t fall into typical trans stereotypes either, struggling more with social dysphoria than physical.

Nick: While unlikable at times, I really loved Nick. He is explicitly stated to be autistic, and his character shows a very realistic portrayal of it without making it his only or defining trait. The things he is forced to go through in the book and the way he holds himself together despite being constantly overstimulated shows how strong he is as a character.

Theo: Theo is a direct character foil to Benji. While Benji rejected every part of who the Angels wanted him to be, Theo did nothing more than try and fit their mold, even when he so obviously didn’t. He’s a compelling antagonist, and, while you hate him, you also really feel for him.

Storyline: The world-building is so on point for this entire book. Scientifically does it make sense? Absolutely not, but the story is so compelling and well-written that that fact is completely irrelevant. It’s difficult to read in parts because how graphic it is, but it never uses gore as a plot device and never lacks in details and accuracy. I also really like how this book, while set in a dystopian future, points out very real flaws in modern day Christianity, such as ableism, racism, fascism, classism, and the recent anti-masker issue.

Representation: This book is jam packed with so much POC and queer representation like I haven’t seen it before. Nick is gay and asexual (whether or not he’s ace is never explicitly stated, but he tells Benji he doesn’t like kissing and he hates people touching him at all so it’s left to be implied), Erin is black and MtF trans, Salvador is Latinx and uses xe/xem pronouns which is the first time I’ve seen neopronouns used correctly (or at all) in a book. Benji and Calvin are FtM trans and gay. Cormac is gay, Aisha is gay and black, Sadaf is Muslim, hijabi, and gay, Alex is nonbinary, Faith is aromantic, Luce uses e/em pronouns. There are several other queer and POC characters mentioned but the details of such are never specified. Theo makes several comments about still being in love with Benji despite the fact that he sees him as a man, and Benji later speculates if Theo is just him if he hadn’t broken away from the cult, a very suppressed queer boy.

Summary: All in all, this is one of the best books I have read as far as plot, characters, world-building, and representation go. It truly met my expectations and exceeded them and really spoke to me personally as a trans person with religious trauma.

Quotes: “There’s some kind of awful, enduring myth: that after the end of the world, people will turn on one another. That people will become hateful and selfish. That’s just not true. It’s never been true.” “Suffering is the price of flesh. Be grateful for the gift of it.”-Sister Mackenzie “Do you believe in God -- I do, please stop, there’s so much blood.” (pg. 295) “God is an absent parent who demands loyalty despite never being around.”-Benji

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alln64games · 1 month

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Mission: Impossible

JP release: 14th July 1998

NA release: 27th October 1998

PAL release: 6th November 1998

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

N64 Magazine Score: 91%

Being a movie tie-in to an action spy film gives Mission Impossible a lot to live up to, as it was always going to be compared to GoldenEye. Like GoldenEye, Mission Impossible had origins on the SNES before being made for the Nintendo 64 instead, as well as offering objective-based gameplay, this time from a third person perspective.

The first mission impossible takes a lot of goes to get used to how the game works, form movement and the camera (in the first level, it’s a very high camera, but you can change it to behind Ethan Hunt, who is not based on Tom Cruise). You have to find a certain guard, knock him out and use the face maker to use his image as a disguise – it feels a lot like an early Hitman game.

After the “cold open” levels, you the need to rescue some fellow agents and recover a list form an embassy. The stating level is great, although very much trial and error, as you are undercover and have to lure people to the correct places. It’s a very strong start to the game. There is only one correct way to do things, but it creates the Hitman film really well for its age.

Then the game suddenly becomes a strange corridor-based shooter as you blow up crates and jump over pits of acid. It feels completely at odds with the previous levels and just comes across as padding.

Thankfully the following level is much more like the Embassy level, and I was even able to mess things up and fix them without failing the mission, which is a nice touch. If there were more levels like this in the game, it would be great, but unfortunately, this is the last proper mission in this style. There’s a few small touches of stuff like this throughout, but unfortunately no levels that fill like living areas.

Instead, the rest of the game is some linear corridors, a lot of shooting (with really terrible aiming) and some platforming sections with floating platforms. The friendly AI that follows you is also terrible and makes Natalya look like AI by comparison. On one level, Candice claimed she was fine, before walking right to a guard looking at her, saying “he snuck up on me” and getting shot.

While the rest of the levels aren’t great, there is a surprising amount of variety as missions feel quite different. There’s one where you use spray pain to block cameras, one in and then on top of a train (which look quite impressive for the N64), a sniper mission, the famous laser scene from the film and navigating a tunnel by jumping on trucks.

There are a lot of frustrating aspects. Sometimes you’ll try punching a guard, but they’ll automatically arrest you – but that only happens on some levels and even then it doesn’t happen all the time. The game is also very picky about what you do, so you’ll often try something only to fail the mission.

After a very strong start, Mission Impossible loses its footing, although even then it’s still mostly a decent game from that point onwards.

The actual ideas behind the game are fantastic. Spraying blue paint across CCTV cameras, dodging searchlights, knocking people out in the bogs and disguising yourself as them, picking up clues from conversations, working out which gadgets go with which situations, Mission, at heart, does actually feel like a spy sim. It’s just that the executions is so lacklustre, it’s hard to see the positives.

- Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #19

Remake or remaster?

With some refined gameplay mechanics, a remastered version could be a lot of fun.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Mission Impossible

#n64 #n64 games #nintendo 64 #mission impossible #retro games

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vintagercfreak · 7 months

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Mercedes-Benz C11 1990: #TAM47484

A few weeks ago I saw a YT video about this kit and instantly got rememmbered about the older days. This was back then one of my favorit kits in the Tamiya catalog.

Since I was a child back then I couldn't afford it and my parents refused to buy it. In addition there wasn't an "on road" track nearby to drive it properly. So it remained a dream.

But now it's time to make this dream become reality :-)

Racecar history:

Whenever Group C sportscars are shown nowadays the're well known for their pure insanity and a lot of people well remember cars like the C11, hte 787B from Mazda and the XJR-11 from Jaguar.

The car had its race debut in 1990 at Monza and scorred a pos 1 / 2 with well known drivers like Karl Wendlinger, Jean-Louis Schlesser, Jochen Mass and Maro Baldi. During the 1990 season of the World Sports-Prototype Championship the car managed to win a total of 7 races. However the C11 didn't take part of the famous 24hrs of LeMans. Sauber decied to not defend their victory in 1989 since the 1990 24hrs of LeMans didn't count for the Sports-Prototype Championship.

Most of the other Sports-Prototype drivers, including Martin Brundle in his XJR-11, sayd, that it would have been nearly impossible to follow the car since it was way easier to drive, had more power and more efficient aerodynamics than other group c racecars back then.

In 1991 the successor was the Sauber C-291 but due to some techincal issues in the early season Sauber decided to run the C11 along the successor.

More details can be found in this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_C11

RC kit history:

In 1990 Tamiya first released the Sauber C11 as kit with item-Nr 58088. 14 Years after its initial release there was a second kit with Item-Nr 58351. While tha chassis itself stayed more or less the same the newer kit included an allready painted and finished body.

The box cover changed in 2009 when they released a second batch / version from the Tamiya specific white box art to a black box art.

In 2022...18 Years after the last release...Tamiya decided to bring it back to customers not with the item-nr 47484 and again with a black art box cover.

While the chassis remained almost the same the newest releases all contain a clear polycarbonate body (1mm) and a sports tuned motor as well as high grip foam sponge tyres.

More details about the dimmensions and a detailled parts list are available here https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/110-f-1gtindy-cars/rc-1990-mercedes-benz-c11/ and here https://tamiyabase.com/tamiya-models/47484-47484#original

The build:

I found the kit at a nearby hobby shop in Switzerland for about 150$ https://www.scamora.ch/pi/RC-MODELLE/Auto-Modelle/Elektro-On-Road/Bausatz-Modelle/rc-kit-tamiya-sauber-mercedes-benz-c11-1990-110.html

Compared to other vinatge kits and re-releases this is a rather easy one to find.

The kit is easy to build and it's quite fast since the manual only consits of 20 build steps with additional 6 for the painting and livery.

Since I first saw a build clip on YT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4oZGuvd84o I got hooked to the few hop up options and decided to add them as well.

Hop-up parts:

Unfortunately the YT clip isn't listing a detailled hop-up parts list. So it was a bit of fiddeling around with "pause" and "zoom" into the clip to get all the parts together. I doubt they do have much of an impact but if you can go with blue alloy tuning parts there's no doubt you should do :-) Here's a list of the used tuning / hop-up parts:

TAM42375 - 1280 Sealed Ball Bearings (2)

TAM54158 - Full alloy diff (F104)

TAM54240 - F104 Clamp Type Wheel Hub

TAM53008 - Kugellager 11x5x4mm (4)

TAM53901 - TRF Damper F013/F103GT/F104

Since there are no official hop-up parts for these vintage kits they need a bit of adjustments and I had to design and print some parts on my 3D printer to made them fit perfectly. But it's no big deal and you might find "fitting" parts in other kits out of the box.

If I find some time I'll publish the printable *.stl files on Thingiverse later on.

And like every other tuned rc car with hop-up parts from Tamiya this one looks great even if you don't see them with the body on.

#Tamiya #Sauber C11 #TAM47484 #VintageRC

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rye-in-a-coat · 8 months

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16 YEARS AGO OCTOBER 2ND, 2007

KIDS - MGMT

Released as a the fifth track of American indie-rock band MGMT's album "Oracular Spectacular".

I know this song from The Axis of Awesome's "4 Chords" on where they sing many popular songs that feature the same four chords. MGMT's Kids "vi - IV - I - V" progression can also be found in songs like Toto's "Africa", The Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", Avril Lavigne's "Complicated", The Offspring's "You're Gonna Go Far Kid", Bon Jovi's "It's My Life", Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" and Aqua's "Barbie Girl".

In this very exact video btw, they sing the apparently common misheard lyric "Enjoy yourself", the actual lyric goes "Control yourself."

Now that we're talking about lyrics, this song is about nostalgia ofc, more simpler times as a child, the glorious day; and then about how when one grows up, they lose their innocense, fun gets deprioritized and they have to blend into the ways of adult society; the struggle is an inpending threat. Yet, still, one must try to mantain that love for live that they had as a kid.

An earlier version of the track can be found in their 2005 EP "Time to Pretend".

The official video for the song was produced and released on 2009, yet before that, on January 2008 some University of South California student uploaded to YouTube a video made for an assigmentment in which his fellow friends Abby and Rafel appeared face-painted and lip-syncing to the song with some clips of people dancing thrown in it. It became widely popular as it has over 52 million views today. And we can see in the comments how many people thought for a while this was the official video and those two friends were the members of MGMT. Abby and Rafael btw were actually contacted, invited and appeared in the official music video for MGMT's "Electric Feel".

Now in the actual official music video, there's an intro scene with fire behind where we see a Mark Twain quote... that he actually never said and it's Nietzsche's actually; there's a beautiful orchestral rendition of the song playing and we can hear some radio communication from the Apollo 11 mission.

If you have seen the music video already, you probably were worried about its protagonist: a baby who through the video is scared and frightened into crying and sobbing in absolute fear by clawy and nightmarish monsters that surround his crib; and later outside by humans who for the baby, they look like bloody mutilated monsters.

At the end, the music video switches from live-action to an amazing surreal animation sequence animated by Christy Karacas (Fast flashing colours warning for this part).

So of course many people got upset by the apparent trauma-inducing experience that this baby actor (named Zachary) got, but the band claims that no one was harmed and there's a behind-the-scenes video where we see the baby happily playing with the monsters. I watched the video and my concern switched from the baby to that band member who's making out with the a dog, what the fuck. So yeah, apparently the baby was crying cuz he was hungry, and his mom (his actual mom, not the uncaring one we see in the music video) made sure he befriended all the monsters first.

Zachary was 18 months old at the time of recording, so he's like 15 or 16 right now. Crazy to think about and I do wonder what he thinks of the video, he probably has watched it himself already by this point.

The song is included in the FIFA 09 soundtrack. There was some legal battle with the president of France for using the song and offering the band a single euro. It also appears in the documentary Tapped. Soulwax remixed the song and through Soulwax remixes I discovered Arcade Fire.

I once played the song's chorus on a keyboard.

YouTube link.

2005 version of the song (YouTube link).

2005 version of the song (Spotify link).

Fan-made music video (YouTube link).

Official music video (YouTube link) [Flashing colours warning for the animated sequence at the end].

Behind the scenes (YouTube link).

Soulwax remix (YouTube link) [Flashing colours warning].

#handful of grains #mis-lis-tas #the great archiver's daily song #Spotify

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deadcactuswalking · 9 months

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 26/08/2023 (Nothing)

We get a #1 switch-up once again this week as Dua Lipa takes the crown with “Dance the Night”, becoming her fourth #1 on the UK charts as a credited artist, dethroning the fellow Barbie soundtrack single “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish. That’s pretty much all that happened, so skip this episode if you want. If you didn’t, welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, we start this week - where nothing out of the ordinary occurred, I promise - with the notable dropouts, songs exiting the UK top 75 - which is what I cover - after spending five weeks there or peaking in the top 40, of which there were very few. We say farewell to “Barbie Girl” by Aqua, “What it Is” by Doechii, or the “Block Boy” version with Kodak Black, “DIal Drunk” by Noah Kahan, of course assited by its remix with Post Malone, and “Wish You the Best” by Lewis Capaldi.

We then welcome back “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears at #74, “Super Shy” by NewJeans at #72, “Riptide” by Vance Joy at #71, “Escapism.” by RAYE featuring 070 Shake at #65 and “Boy’s a liar” by PinkPantheress at #64, and as for our notable gains, we see boosts for “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran at #70, “Baby Don’t Hurt Me” by David Guetta, Anne-Marie and Coi Leray at #68, “I’m Good (Blue)” by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha at #67, “Kill Bill” by SZA at #63, “Die for You” by The Weeknd at #62, “UNAVAILABLE” by Davido featuring Musa Keys at #54, “Highs & Lows” by Prinz featuring Gabriela Bee at #47, “Feel It” by Jazzy getting a big surge at #45, “Popular” by The Weeknd, Playboi Carti and Madonna at #43, “Daylight” by David Kushner at #42, “Fast Car” by Luke Combs at #34, “Bittersweet Goodbye” by Issey Cross at #31, “The Weekend” by Stormzy and RAYE at #29, “Rush” by Troye Sivan at #28, “Dog Days are Over” by Florence + the Machine at #27, “Rich Men North of Richmond” by Oliver Anthony Music at #23 - I’m probably the only person happy about this - “Asking” by Sonny Fodera and MK featuring Clementine Douglas at #21, “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe at #20 and finally, “Baddadan” by Chase & Status, Bou and everyone else at #14. Sheesh, a lot of gains this week, some I’m excited about, some I’m not particularly, and given Drake probably isn’t coming next week, I can’t confirm that this stuff won’t stick around for at least a little while.

The top five of the UK Singles Chart consists of “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift at #5, a big surge for Doja Cat at #4 with “Paint the Town Red” - not complaining about that, though I honestly didn’t expect it to be a little come back for her - then “vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo at #3, and of course, “What Was I Made For?” at #2 and “Dance the Night” at the very top. Now, uh, for whatever is happening below, which isn’t much of interest… oh, wait. There are no new songs to review. I cover the UK Top 75, and have done since October 2020 when I expanded from the top 40, and this is kind of unprecedented. We’ve had a week or two where there are only one or two songs, and maybe there has been a similar week to this during the holiday season, so I knew it was coming eventually but this is still a first. I’ve had several plans for this over the years - do I take suggestions? Do I just review the new entries to the top 100? I can’t really do that since they might end up gaining into the top 75, and there’s only two new entries in the full region anyway. Hell, same thing could happen if I take suggestions, but I have done it before to fill in the gaps for Christmas episodes. Maybe I should review Donald Trump’s mugshot, that’s topical, right? I could bring back Off the Charts but I’m not really listening to new album releases as religiously anymore. Hmm… okay, I think I got something.

Genre Charts

So, one thing I don’t often talk about on this show is the wealth of charts based on genre that the Official Charts Company… provides, I can’t really call them a gift given the lack of a functioning website and some… questionable genre categorisation, as well as rules that aren’t consistent with the main chart, which means older songs stick around. For example, let me give you the idea for this episode: I’m going to pick the highest-charting song from four - or three, you’ll see - of the genre-specific singles charts that has not made the top 75 as of yet. Let’s start with the genre I’m probably most fond of out of the selection OCC gives us: rock. What’s the highest-charting song currently on the rock charts that has never made the main chart’s top 75, so even if I started this series in 1947, I would have never reviewed it?

Rock & Metal - “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit

Currently at #27, peaked at #17

Yes, I’m serious. The rock & metal chart is - kind of unexpectedly - full of old songs, and also, I’m serious that “Break Stuff” never made its way onto the UK Singles Chart, which surprised me. The newest song on there is the new entry of “Perhaps” by Guns n’ Roses, their first new song in a while that debuted at #36. Anyway, whilst I’m surprised by this never making the top 75, I’m kind of happy because it means I can talk about it here and for all the crap that Florida nu metal outfit Limp Bizkit have gotten over the years, a lot of it deserved, “Break Stuff” was an early shining moment for them. From their 1999 album Significant Other - which peaked at #10 over here - “Break Stuff” strips a lot of the overly ambitious, whiny, not-as-funny-as-he-thinks-he-is melodrama and self-indulgence that taints Fred Durst’s worst work away, as the song is raw and instinctual. Wes Borland’s gruelling riff is about as simple as it can get, yet it’s looming with menace, and the drums from John Otto find that great pocket between crushing and slightly distant, especially in the verses, wherein the staggered fills have always stood out to me. Of course, we do have to get to Fred Durst, who has always tried too hard to sound hard, and many will point to this song as an example. Personally, I think if you can’t give up your issues with Durst and sing along, or yell along, to the ever-relatable need to just let out that boiled-up anger. I always think that this song will lose its lustre when I’m not angry, or when I’m a bit older, but it just never happens. It will continue to go hard as all Hell, and a lot of that is due to that kind of hypnotic bridge, where Durst reassures you that he does indeed pack a chainsaw, before it crashes down into one of the hardest breakdowns in popular music possibly ever. Say what you will about the Limp Bizkit catalogue, and trust me, I’ll agree with most of it; this is a 10/10 song. It peaked at #23 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 in the US, similarly not quite making it to the top 100, and charted highest in Portugal at #9. I guess the Portuguese were just really pissed off… or they liked seeing Jonathan Davis of Korn and Eminem mouth the lyrics in that now-iconic video, I don’t know. Now for the chart that the readers of this series probably care for the most, and the one that makes up much of the current chart…

Dance - uh…

OCC hates me this week, I swear to God. There is currently no song on the Dance Singles Chart top 40 that hasn’t been in the UK Top 75. Surely, the R&B and hip-hop charts will deliver.

Hip Hop and R&B - “Pink + White” by Frank Ocean

Currently at #23, peaked at #18

Okay, we’re getting pretty good luck with the songs we ARE getting. From his critically-acclaimed Blonde, which hit #1 in the UK back in 2016 and is now appreciated as a modern classic, we have “Pink + White”. I’ve never been as big a fan of Frank as many music nerds, and that includes this album… but man, I can’t deny this one. Frank reminisces on a sunset drive with his old friend, detailing a close friend of his - possibly someone who he was intimate with - who has most likely passed away. This seems to be somewhat contentious - I think the “glory from above” line makes it pretty clear - but either way, the relationship ends, yet he still latches onto the lessons he was taught, doing things “the same way [they] showed [him]”. Sonically, I mean, it’s Pharrell in his slick soul bag, with laid-back drums and an honestly kind of tense piano line that keeps the song from feeling too lethargic, alongside that acoustic guitar breakdown that is both very Pharrell and gorgeous. By the end of the song, Frank’s singing in a bed of gorgeous Beyoncé vocal riffs, produced with enough reverb to make them genuinely sound like they’re coming down from Heaven. The angelic choir by-product of their harmonies and backing vocal takes is one of the highlights off of the album and once again, with these genre charts, I have to say it’s a 10/10 song. “Pink + White” charted highest in the US, where it reached #84 on the Hot 100.

Afrobeats - “Lonely at the Top” by Asake

Currently at #6, peaked at #5

The Afrobeats singles chart seems to use a different charting and/or tracking week, but it doesn’t really matter. This is the first song - and artist - I’m covering in this episode that I don’t think I’ve come across before, on this show or otherwise. Asake is a Nigerian singer from Lagos, with this Blaise Beats-produced song coming from his second and latest album, Work of Art, which peaked at #20 on the albums chart over here earlier this year… and God damn it, this one’s excellent too. Sure, it’s a bit short, but that muffled rhythm is uniquely intimate and beeping for Afrobeats, and that flute just washes you away with the bittersweet vibes of the song, as a choir backs Asake up on his lyrics about the rise to the top and its ups and downs. Whilst a lot of sheer joy and surprise effortlessly emits from Asake and his choir, especially in his higher Auto-Tuned register, the song is grounded by those quieter strings pulling down on the carefree liveliness in the rest of the chorus. He gets closer to rapping in the second verse, as there are a lot of cute details from each backing vocal riff, a recurring percussion glitch and an awesome little horn blast that acts as a real pop-champagne moment. This may not be a 10/10 song - at least not yet - and it really is competing with classics in this episode, but it’s damn near close, and I was partly convinced it was when I heard that outro where the strings combat with the livelier tropical guitar for full attention for the first time, that was brilliant.

Conclusion

Maybe OCC should do this more often, I got to talk about three songs I love from a diverse array of genres and eras, revisiting passions of old and getting introduced to a new artist I need to check out more from. How’s that for a week where nothing happened, huh? Screw the UK Top 75, I’m just gonna review the Afrobeats songs from now on. See you next week!

#uk singles chart

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mjofficehours · 1 year

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2023-02-15

This week's take-aways from the Office Hours Discord session. I'm sure I forgot/missed some. Please help fill in the details if you can. TY.

During the pre-hours sirkut (naysmith) mentioned that they made this prompting guide about working with color palettes and I think it's rad so here's a link https://docs.google.com/.../1G9w5trNqG2uasybrzR1MxLO.../edit

Disclaimer: I am not associated with Midjourney, Discord, or this FB group in any official capacity. I do this because many people can't attend the weekly Office Hours via Discord on Wednesdays at noon Pacific. You can attend the Office Hours on the MJ Discord server in the voice channel called "Main Stage". They are not recorded for later listening.

You're welcome.

1. Working on v5. Lots of issues in v4 that can’t fix so pushing fwd to v5. Sharper, higher resolution, hands better (but not perfect), more realistic.

Tiling looks great in v5.

Might start with no upscaler and all images at 1024X1024 and possibly add upscale rlater..

2. In-painting isn’t working great out-painting is working good. Not sure when it will be out.

3. Real time drawing - they have proof of concept but don’t know when it will ship.

4. New rating system test soon for v4, hopefully will test it this week.

5. Working on linking daily theme contests with new rankings system. Prizes!

6. Still working on free tier.

7. He reiterated their new approach of making specific versions for specific features/advances. Rather than trying to mash all these things into a single update. This is why they are breaking v5 up into v5, v6, and v7.

Currently releasing a new version every 4 months but would like to get v6 and v7 released quicker.

8. Hard to tell what aesthetics will be like for v5. They will do that at the end.

9. They are pushing hard on the website.

People with 10k plus image accounts have access to BETA of new website's UI. (I'm not sure I understood this correctly. I have well over 10k images and didn't get an invite).

10. New MJ website search feature starting to take shape. Hope to get it working in the next month. Hope to have feature for searching all images available next week. This feature will add moderating challenges though, so they are being mindful of that.

11. The Discord server is getting too big. Scary. May have to break it up. Will probably make a trial server just for trial users.

12. Image to text is promising but a ways off.

13. 3D will happen before motion. Motion solutions that look good are very expensive so MJ is going to avoid for a while.

14. In the future image grids will be larger - meaning that instead of getting 4 images per prompt you will get many more.

15. Next year this time UI will be unrecognizable compared to now.

16. Someday there will probably be specific hardware (probably a chip) made specifically for these kinds of system..

17. AI text models have already run out of text to train on on the internet

18. Someone asked David what some of his favorite prompts are and he mentioned some that he was currently playing with. The image for today's Take-away is based on one of those prompts that he listed.

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linuxgamenews · 2 years

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Tint 'n Ink high-speed paint shooting coming to Linux

Tint 'n Ink F2P paintball sim game to get a port for Linux with Windows PC. Thanks to the relentless discipline of developer Golden Dog Interactive, Inc. Currently available via Steam Early Access. Indie game developer and publisher Golden Dog Interactive, Inc. released Tint 'n Ink. A fast-paced time survival, top-down auto shooter, and it's free. While in development, acording to the email, the creator has plans for Linux too.

I think Tint 'n Ink Linux version will be here really soon. But first I really want to solved all issues reported for players.

Tint 'n Ink is a Unity 3D that does work on Proton already. While remaining in Early Access until the end of 2023. Of course, the developer is also keen on resolving issues reported by players, first. Even though the creation of the game is a one-man show, from Uruguay. Plus it's also encouraging to see Linux coming "soon", despite all that work.

Tint 'n Ink | Release Date Reveal Trailer

youtube

Tint 'n Ink is an official e-sport for speedball, x-ball, and recball. From team strategy in 5v5 elimination matches to bomb scenarios. While you discover the hectic world of high-speed paint shooting. Along with the games exclusive content. The gameplay is actually inviting. Due to have you take on the best matches of this sport. Right from teamwork through to recreations of real military sequences, even to famous bomb scenarios. In Tint 'n Ink, the greatest strategies and methods are available in both minor competitions and fast matches with randoms. Purchase the best markers you like and enhance them with all the available attachments.

Features:

Diverse events - enjoy the best matches of this sport as an e-sport.

Hunting down your rivals - discover the world of high-speed paint shooting.

Worldwide ranking - Learn and use the best tactics and techniques in the world.

Upgrading -Learn and use the best tactics and techniques in the world.

Tint 'n Ink F2P paintball sim game is available in via Steam Early Access. Due to remain like that at least until the end of 2023. The game currently contains 5 game-modes and it can be played in 5 different fields. Along with support for Windows PC, but it's coming to Linux. Unless you decide to grab some friends for some 5v5 gameplay via Proton.

#tint 'n ink #free to play #paintball #linux #gaming news #golden dog interactive #ubuntu #windows #pc #unity

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kerlonbbs · 2 years

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Shining blade sakuya

#Shining blade sakuya Ps4#

#Shining blade sakuya Pc#

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#Shining blade sakuya Pc#

The latest game of the series released in Japan is Blade Arcus Rebellion from Shining, which launched back in March and unfortunately hasn’t been localized just yet.īlade Arcus from Shining EX actually did get localized, but only for PC as Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena. Visit us and buy this Shining Blade Sakuya Mode Cerulean 1/8 Pvc Figure Kotobukiya here at the best price This is the best Shining Blade Sakuya Mode. You can see what she looks like in the gallery below, including Tony Taka’s lovely original illustration. So, let’s skip this part and let’s dive right into it. I kind of preordered her on a whim because she appealed to me visually, but I don’t know her or the Shining series at all. You can enjoy displaying it in many ways using the included 2 facial expression parts (wink, and both eyes open) and removable glasses.” This time I’ll be taking a look at ITEM 549589 Sakuya from Blade Arcus From Shining EX in her Onna Kyoushi version brought to us by Flare. “From the art collection “Tony’s Art Works from Shining World 2″ which Tony drew for the illustration poll comes a figure of the female teacher version of Sakuya. Release Month: 06/2021 Specifications: Made. Standing at 220 mm tall, she comes with a few accessories. Series: Shining Blade Manufacturer: Vertex Category: 1/7 Scale Figure U.S. She is sculpted by Ryo Hashimoto and painted by Emi Hoshina. She costs 12,700 yen, which translates approximately into $117.

#Shining blade sakuya Ps4#

It portrays Sakuya from Shining Blade in a Teacher outfit from a lovely illustration that character designer Tony Taka created for Blade Arcus from Shining EX for PS4 and PS3. Today Tokyo-based manufacturer Flare released a brand new figure, making it available at several retailers including AmiAmi. If you love the modern incarnations of the Shining JRPG series, you probably know of the Blade Arcus from Shining spin-off fighting game series.

#Shining blade sakuya

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