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aintnolionpridelands · 3 years

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My college-day Elizabeth & Lucas headcanons part 2

(Continued from this. It’s getting more like plot ideas for fanfics I’ll never write)

(and again this is in the early ‘90s)

(also there’s some mentions of physical acts, though not really graphic or anything, but hide this post just in case you don’t like that sort of thing)

(and it’s supposed to be comedic rather than romantic)

(so anyway hope you enjoy)

A few weeks after they started dating, she suddenly tells him: My dormmate got rabies (Lucas: rabies?!) or measles or whatever, and can’t come back for a week or so. Do you want to come over and have sex with me?

He spits his organic tea and says holyshit you’re so straightforward, I mean I knew you are...

I’m bad at preambles. I thought it’s better to get straight to the point for a clear consent

Right... well, I do want to come over and, um, have sex with you

On the first night he seems pretty awkward so she asks uh huh is this your first time? and he answers um well no but my first time with... a girl

She pauses and finds herself freaking out internally and hates herself for feeling like that

He senses that and decides not to do anything further but hug her and sleep

Next morning she apologizes for freaking out

I’m such a hypocrite that was my internal homophobia showing I’m an asshole oh god you’re gonna hate me and I deserve that

You’re not and it wasn’t and you’re not an asshole and I don’t hate you, I know you freak out when things go in the ways you don’t expect

and it’s not something you’d encounter on a daily basis, I know the statistics

so it’s all right

And then he talks about how he liked boys and girls since he was a kid and about his boyfriend he had in high school who turned out to be a dick

After that cataloguing guys who treated them like shit becomes one of their favorite activities (and that becomes “Dick Guy Catalogue”, later upgraded to “Dick Human Catalogue” because Lucas adds some girls)

(Years later he brings this up and insists how Otis Oren fits into this catalogue pretty well, but she disagrees)

(More years later when her marriage turns out to be a disaster, she calls him and says now you can officially say ‘I told you so’ as many times as you want)

(Even more years later he almost brings this up again when he finds out about Beth and Stephen but refrains because he’s grown up, well, a little bit)

(okay back to the college days)

So anyway they redo the night and enjoy the rest of the nights together which ends with a comedy cliche when her dormmate comes back earlier than expected

One day he tells her he found an abandoned building that they can move in

She’s like, WHAT

You spent too much time with those East Village bohemians, didn’t you?? Do you really think it’s a good idea to squat here in Poughkeepsie???

He explains the landlord skipped the town a few months ago and since then none of the tenants has paid rent at all, so you don’t need to feel guilty

That’s not the point!!

The room isn’t as bad as she imagines, it’s just they need to take electricity from another room, and it has holes and droppings but it’s not a big deal, he insists

Holes and droppings are a big deal, Lucas

And you know we won’t need to sneak into each other’s dorm room anymore

*groans*

In the end she agrees to move in, because she hates the dorm anyway and it might be fun to build a life from scratch. And it indeed turns out to be true and she enjoys this faux-bohemian life

But from this moment she starts being afraid she might not be taking this relationship as serious as he is

And that hurts a little

As they start living together the first thing she does is rejecting all of his ideas about having a pet

No dogs! No cats! No chickens!! No rats, what the hell. We need to learn to take care of ourselves first!!!

He gives up about pets

There’s always a difference of opinion between them, but they totally enjoy discussing every little detail in their life

to be continued...?

#if/then #elizabeth vaughn #lucas gray #ifthen #ifthenheadcanon #textpost #newpost #( this never ends????#can't stop coming up ideas #also English isn't my 1st language so if you think it's bad you can tell me #( oh also the landlord part is inspired by Anthony's real-life experience

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miniatureworlds · 3 years

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New York Times: The Dollhouses of Instagram

'Instagram-inspired enthusiasts are making their interior-design dreams real — only 12 times smaller.

(Image: Trisha Krauss)

By Ronda Kaysen, March 13, 2020

'The kitchen that Jessica Coffee designed checked all the trendy boxes: white Shaker cabinets, a subway-tile backsplash, wide oak-plank floors and an open-concept floor plan, with views into the living room’s shiplap walls. The photographs she posted on her Instagram page evoked enthusiastic comments from followers, who gushed about high-end details like the water filler above the stove.

The only drawback? Ms. Coffee, 40, can’t actually serve a meal in her kitchen, at least not a real one, because the room, like the rest of the house, is built to a 1:12 scale — that 36-inch chef’s stove is actually three inches long. It’s in a dollhouse that sits in the real-life master bedroom of her home in Walla Walla, Wash., which looks nothing like her amazing tiny one.

“People are always like, ‘Ooh! I would like to see your real house.’ No you wouldn’t. I live in a house that is barely 1,000 square feet with three kids and a Great Dane,” said Ms. Coffee, who sells her miniature designs and posts online tutorials at Jessica Cloe Miniatures. “My dollhouse square footage is much better than my actual square footage.”

'Ms. Coffee is among a growing community of artisans who have turned the craft of dollhouse making into an exercise in aspirational home design on an itty-bitty scale, with their tiny rooms and furnishings displayed on well-curated Instagram accounts with glossy photographs and videos set to music reminiscent of “The Fixer Upper” on HGTV. Scroll too quickly, or miss the photograph with a human-scale hand surreally poking into the scene, and a viewer might confuse the image for a real-life one, the type of image that leaves you feeling equally amazed by and envious of the enormous kitchen island with a soapstone countertop.

These dollhouse makers and collectors say we’ve entered a miniature Renaissance. Call it a Mini-Aissance. “We’re living in it now,” said Kate Esme Ünver, who curates miniatures on her Instagram page Dailymini, and is the author of the 2019 book “The Book of Mini: Inside the Big World of Tiny Things.”

Social media has turned what was once a niche hobby into a decidedly trendy and increasingly profitable business, making it easier for artisans to find each other and potential customers online. The Instagram hashtag #dollhouse has 1.65 million posts and #miniature has almost 4.3 million, a mix of posts from people making miniatures and those sharing what they’ve found. Victorian-era lace and antique armoires are being scrapped for midcentury modern chairs, fiddle-leaf fig plants and sputnik chandeliers. House Beautiful took notice and commissioned 11 interior designers to reimagine a Victorian dollhouse in their own style, auctioning the decidedly contemporary finished products at the New York Design Center on Feb. 27.

In the past six months, searches on Etsy for 1:12 scale furniture were up 39 percent and searches for dollhouse rugs and miniature items were up 20 percent from the same period a year ago. A search on the site for dollhouses yields 237,000 results. “It’s certainly a trend that’s rising,” said Dayna Isom Johnson, an Etsy trend expert. The popular items — miniature succulents, bath salts, word art — point to an interest from the grown-ups, not their children. “Maybe there are very sophisticated 10-year-olds out there who want a midcentury sofa, but I assume these are adults who want to take this on as a new hobby.”

Chris Toledo, 34, who showcases his diminutive creations on the Instagram account I Build Small Things, has watched his business soar in the past two years thanks to social media. He now sells his dollhouses, designed in a nod to the 1920s architecture of Los Angeles, where he lives, for $150,000 to $200,000 apiece.

“Before, miniatures were only publicized through miniature magazines,” he said. “Social media put it in everybody’s face.” His homes feature intricately detailed rooms, like a kitchen with a subway-tile backsplash and a schoolhouse pendant light that would look real if it weren’t for the life-size head of garlic positioned in the middle of the room.

'While some artisans specialize in furnishings and décor, Mr. Toledo focuses on the architecture, selling complete dollhouses as well as individual rooms — like a bathroom in a shadow box — for as much as $20,000. He designs the rooms by hand, milling moldings and using miniature tools, like a table saw the size of a shoe box, for carpentry work.

The advent of 3-D printers has opened the door for people without such advanced woodworking skills, too — to the disappointment of traditional dollhouse makers, who view such technology as taboo. Ms. Coffee of Walla Walla, for example, uses a 3-D printer to make smaller objects, like decorative pumpkins, which she sells for $5. She makes other items, such as throw pillows, using everyday materials and tools like glue, fabric, tweezers and quilt batting.

A year into her craft, Ms. Coffee now sells enough printable herringbone floors and cowhide rugs on her website to turn a profit, although still not enough to give up her day job as a graphic designer. She also uses the dollhouses to work out design challenges in the real-life houses that she and her husband renovate and flip. If she’s not sure about a floor color or a pattern for a rug, she can try it out on a tiny scale for a few dollars. Her actual home has the same rustic wide-plank flooring as her dollhouses.

While miniatures have long had their enthusiasts, this new generation of dollhouse makers is turning to idealized contemporary homes at a time when the real-life version is increasingly out of reach for many Americans. High real estate prices and stagnating wages make it difficult for many homeowners to consider a $100,000 kitchen with a farmhouse sink and a Wolf stove. But you could have a very little one — or three of them, and fill them with teensy espresso makers, cheese boards and bottles of Dom Pérignon. Like the idea of a barn door, but don’t actually have a place to install one? Tuck it into the dollhouse attic, and if it grows tiresome, refurnish the entire room with rattan chairs, a shag rug and a soft pink palette.

'Kwandaa Roberts, an OB-GYN in Philadelphia, says she has found a following on her Instagram account, Tiny House Calls, among millennial women who pine for a prettier house. “They don’t have any money and a lot of them can’t afford to buy houses and they’re living at home with their parents or in a tiny apartment with roommates and they can’t do design and all the things that they want to do,” she said. “But like me, they can get a lot of their creative energy out on a dollhouse.”

Dr. Roberts, 47, a single mother of two, started her hobby two years ago when she bought a dollhouse at Target. She intended to give it to her daughter, now 5, but instead found that it filled a creative longing she had to be an interior designer. She painted it, added wallpaper, and details like a brass soaking tub and a kitchen with a waterfall countertop. She made furniture by hand with supplies she bought at Michaels. “I’ve always loved interior design, had a huge passion for it, and may have gone into it as a career had I known that was a thing,” she said. But when she was growing up, “there was no HGTV. Home Depot sold lumber; it was not what it is today.”

In her tiny houses, Dr. Roberts has found an outlet, and an opportunity to reveal her projects on videos and photos she shares with her 47,000 followers. “I don’t have to redo my house,” she said. Instead, “I can have 10,000 kitchens and they will be fantastic.”...'

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hillaryschu · 4 years

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wip - modern (the wedding)

Okay, so, awhile back I posted a little snippet from this mess of a modern AU that I have been writing--here’s another part, if you are interested. I have six WIPS that haven’t been posted on AO3 at all (including my exchange fic). Some day, I swear. I also have a list of ideas 5x that long.

In this, Brienne has been driving her and Jaime back from Tyrion’s wedding and getting emotional. That’s basically it. Typical “she’s in love with him but has no clue he’s in love with her.”

——————————————————

Brienne doesn’t know why Jaime invited her, but the wedding was amazing. It was held at Casterly Rock, the Lannister family’s mansion on the sea, and it was stunningly beautiful. Jaime’s brother Tyrion, the one family member with whom he is close, beamed the entire day. His bride looked sweet in her flowing gold gown. The ceremony was held in the rose garden and then moved to a large ballroom for the reception. Jaime looked like a movie star in his tux. He led her around the room, with a hand on the small of her back, introducing her to family and friends. After dinner, they took a walk through some of the other gardens and Jaime told her all about his lonely childhood growing up in Lannisport. At one point she got a small chill and Jaime offered her his jacket. It was all straight out of a bad rom-com and she kept having to remind herself that that is what it was: fantasy. Not real. Some aberration born of champagne, uncomfortable clothing, candlelight, and soft jams from the 80s and 90s.

But then…well…it felt like there was a moment.

After hours of cajoling, Jaime finally convinced Brienne to dance with him. He led her out to the center of the dance floor and gripped her left hand with his prosthetic one. He placed his other hand on her side below her ribcage, where her waist had the slightest curve to it. As they began to sway back and forth, Brienne couldn’t figure out where to look—Jaime was so close and his eyes never moved from her face. At one point, she risked a quick glance at him and they had locked eyes. He told her that she looked nice (“You look really pretty tonight”). She ducked her head a little and mumbled a quiet thanks. Jaime’s hand slowly (so so slowly) slid down to the top of her hip and then around onto her lower back. Electricity shot though Brienne’s body as Jaime pulled her closer, so that her body was flush with his.

The stubble on Jaime’s cheek brushed along Brienne’s jawline as they mostly stopped moving their feet. It felt like they both were holding their breaths. Jaime leaned back to look at her. For a split second she thought he was going to kiss her and her stomach swooped. But then the song ended, the crowd shifted around them, and Jaime released her. He stepped back, a wide and dazzling smile broke across his face, and he grabbed her hand to lead her to the bar (“Come on, let’s grab a beer and write something absurd in the guestbook”). It all happened so fast and then everything was normal and friendly again. Brienne decided she must have imagined the tension between them. Projected it based on her feelings. She had swallowed her disappointment, chastising herself for even letting the idea spring forth. She most assuredly knows better.

—————————————————— [header graphic by me! I might eventually redo since I don’t love it but was looking for something to more closely match my image and header]

#jaime x brienne #braime #fanfic #wip wednesday

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thewriterslament · 5 years

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writing a resume from scratch

as with literally everything i write, this got really fucking long! like, wordcounter.net estimates this will take 7 minutes to read. so i’ve placed the bulk of this post under a read more

this is not a quick tips kind of post; this is a detailed breakdown of how to write a resume from scratch, with examples that are largely taken from my own resume. this is primarily a resource for people who don’t know where to start with writing a resume, not for people who just want resume hacks

i’m saying all this so i don’t get people in my inbox complaining about how long this is. writing a resume takes a lot of time and effort, and this post does not shy away from that

creating a resume will take you a while, especially if this is your first attempt. don’t be discouraged! take breaks, and don’t try to make the perfect resume on the first try. this tutorial is designed to be completed in rounds

it usually takes me a week to get a new master resume into working order

don’t worry about page length right now. you should make a multipage master resume that contains every relevant experience before making a 1-page resume. after you’ve made the master, you can build custom resumes from it for job applications

this post is best viewed on desktop, because i use nested bullets, and tumblr mobile hates those

let’s get into it!

step 1:

list out everything you’ve ever done that could feasibly count as a resume entry: extracurriculars, jobs, volunteer positions, research, organizations you were a part of (professional or casual), freelance work, long-term hobbies. i will refer to each different experience as an “entry”

for each entry, write where (city + state) and when (timespan) you did that thing

ex. tritones a cappella group, los angeles, ca, august 20xx - present

going forward, update this list as you join or complete new jobs/hobbies/whatever so that you don’t have to wrack your brain a year down the road wondering how long you held down that job or leadership role

step 2:

describe each entry

use bullet points to list out all the things you did within that role. start with the big picture, then move on to the small stuff

big picture: the goal of the role/organization/research, overarching and long-term projects, what results you were trying to achieve + why

ex. “studied the neuroanatomy and synaptopathy of the inner ear to determine the role of glutamate receptors in hearing loss”

small stuff: literal day-to-day tasks, every software and hardware you worked with, any particularly successful moments

basically, walk through a typical day or week in this role and list out every single thing you have to do, even the grunt work.

ex. “used redcap to administer neuropsychological batteries and collect biological data”

ex. “designed and implemented a novel article format that yielded a 10% increase in audience retention”

if you still have access to the original job posting or a corporate description of responsibilities for your role, pull that up and see how much you can paraphrase from it

no duty is too stupid rn. did you google weather forecasts for your boss every week? write it down. you can make it fancy or choose to delete it later

step 3:

fancify this shit

rewrite your bullet points from step 2 with better jargon. tell your employers what you did in a concise yet assertive manner

it helps to break down each point into its most basic components, which you can then generalize or rephrase

ex. “googled weather forecasts” might become “compiled weekly reports on changing data points to assess weather trends over time”

use action words. you can find resources all over the internet for this, but if you’re still struggling, shoot me an ask and i’ll link some of the resources i’ve used myself

caution: you don’t want to sound like you used a thesaurus on every word. make sure you aren’t obscuring the meaning of your bullet points. “googled weather forecasts” should not become “utilized online databases to assemble weekly communications on meteorological variations”

start thinking about how your responsibilities for each entry relate to a) what skills you want to showcase and b) what the employer wants from you. does the employer want you to demonstrate familiarity with online databases, or does the employer want you to demonstrate familiarity with weather forecasts? your bullet point for “googled the weather” will change depending on the answer to these questions

step 4:

look at the big picture

you probably have a metric buttload of bullet points for each entry. now you need to cut that down to what’s relevant. think about which bullets are most impressive, noteworthy, and descriptive of each entry

aim for 3-5 bullet points. any less than that and you have to ask why you’re including that entry. any more than that and the employer’s eyes will glaze over

try to combine bullet points

ex. “identify content and write articles when necessary,” “maintain a pool of freelancers,” and “identify key graphics and maintain tagging structure when uploading articles” all involve the process of creating an article, so they can be combined into: “identify content, assign stories to freelancers, write articles when necessary, and upload with appropriate graphics and tags”

start thinking about tailoring your word choices and bullet points to what the employer is looking for

if you can, pull up the job posting or a sample resume for the job you’re applying to and compare your resume to it. are you using similar language? are you demonstrating similar skills?

jobhero.com is a lifesaver

finally, eliminate redundancy in your resume, both in every individual entry and in the resume as a whole. if a skill can be demonstrated by multiple entries, you only need to list it once

kill your darlings! it may sound harsh, but the things that seem super impressive to you probably won’t even be a blip on the employer’s radar. “but saying i made coffee runs shows i’m dependable and a team player!” the employer isn’t looking that deep, my dude. you can showcase your dependability in your cover letter or your interview

you should redo steps 3 and 4 several times, soliciting feedback from your parents, peers, career center, etc each time

step 5:

add the Other Stuff

education

typically, you should only include institutions for the highest level of education you’ve attended. (undergrad and grad school both count as college for this purpose)

there are exceptions to this, depending on how long you’ve spent at a higher level of education, whether your alma mater will earn you brownie points, whether you had genuinely impressive accomplishments earlier in your life, etc.

once you hit, like, 2 years in college, you should try to get rid of high school achievements and showcase college achievements instead

list the school name, city + state, degree type (BA/MA/etc) and expected graduation date (even if it’s in the future), your major(s) + minor(s), and any related coursework (ie preprofessional tracks, specific courses related to the job). you can list your gpa if you feel it’s relevant, but i caution against doing this once you’ve graduated

ex. (where // indicates a new line) harvard university, boston, ma, may 2020 // bachelor of arts in cognitive neuroscience // minor: english: focus in creative writing // related coursework: pre-medicine, computer science 101 and 102 // gpa: 3.9/4.0 (dean’s list, all semesters)

skills

a list of items without descriptions. you can do a bulleted list or you can list the entries in paragraph form, separated by commas or bold bullets

hard skills: hardware, software, languages (spoken and programming), digital and communication platforms, social media proficiencies, other technologies and devices

ex. microsoft office suite, java, wordpress, slack, familiarity with ap and chicago style

soft skills: general qualities, buzzwords, personality traits

ex. leadership, conflict resolution, time management

certifications and awards

can be one section or two depending on how many of each you have

list each one on a separate bullet point

for each, write the certification or award, the institution that granted it, and the month and/or year you received it if relevant

publications

tbh i just cite my publications in the following format instead of following a style guide

lastname, firstname. “article or chapter title.” book title, publisher (aka company or website). publication date.

if you’re the sole author, you don’t need to list the author’s name

interlude: stretch the truth a bit. don’t lie about having experience or skills you don’t, but if you can reasonably google how to do something, boom! you’re proficient in it. if you worked with two team members who never pulled their weight? you just became the sole project lead. were you a beta reader for anime fanfiction back in the day? you’re a freelance editor, baby!

step 6:

now you have to organize all the entries from step 4

separate your entries into relevant sections. what’s relevant might change based on what you’re applying for

i’ve had, at various points in my life, some subset of the following sections: work experience, volunteer experience, leadership experience, research experience, writing experience, other relevant experience

list sections in order of descending importance

write all entries in reverse chronological order: start with the most recent and work your way backwards

write all bullet points in order of descending importance. unfortunately, i don’t have any quick tips on determining what’s important, but it helps to look at the job posting and see what matters to the employer

i tend to list big picture goals, then personal accomplishments (leadership skills, projects), then daily tasks

step 7:

format this shit

you can find resume templates online or in your word processor. templates serve as a good starting point, but i recommend creating your own format so you can edit and customize it with ease. this will probably involve a lot of fiddling with indentations, paragraph spacing, and moving things around

don’t go smaller than 10pt font

mess around with line and paragraph spacing to get the right balance of white space. if you’re curious about what i use, shoot me an ask and i’ll share my weirdly specific settings

keep an eye out for bullet points with orphan words (ie lines containing only 1-3 words) and get rid of them to streamline your resume

margins can be anywhere between 0.5″ and 1″

consistency is key! make sure each entry has the same kind of spacing. don’t use hyphens in one entry and en dashes in another

in the header, write your name, email, phone number, and address

interlude: save this version of your resume as your master resume. this gives you an unedited list of everything you ever did that you can now pick and choose from when you apply to jobs. update this list every 3-6 months.

step 8:

customize your resume for the job application

unless you’ve been in the industry for several years, your job-specific resume should be no more than 1 page

if you have more than 1 page: compare the job listing and your resume side by side and ask which entries demonstrate your capabilities most effectively, which bullet points are the punchiest, and if there’s any extraneous info

match each job requirement to one bullet point on your resume. then match each bullet point on your resume to a requirement in the listing. get rid of any bullet points that don’t meet either of those criteria. if multiple bullet points match the same job requirement, get rid of the extra bullet points

if you have significantly less than 1 page: see if you can add more bullet points or reformat your resume to introduce some more white space. a 2-column set-up is great for this, with section headers on the left and bullets on the right. do you have any hobbies you’re forgetting about? any soft skills you could add?

emulate the language of the job posting; use the same action words, the same soft skills

coda

your resume should work in tandem with your cover letter, but that’s a topic for another post. maybe in another 6 months i’ll write a post on that, too

always save your resume as a pdf! you don’t want your employer to have access to your metadata

if you made it through this whole post... i’m so sorry lmao but also thanks for sticking with me

let me know if you found this helpful or if this method scored you a job!

#studyblr #adulting #adulthood #job hunt #job applications #applying to jobs #resume #resume writing #studyspo #study blog #mine

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tbs-student-dev-blog · 3 years

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Final Update

Hello for what might be the final time with the final blog post for this project, this may be a lengthy one as I break down some things about the game we were building, what went right, what went wrong and what could be improved in the future, essentially a Post-Mortem if you will.

Firstly, what went wrong?

#1 Line of Sight mechanics, I spent hours and drove myself into a frenzied state trying to get this feature to work and implemented, even following tutorials the knowledge required to implement this feature was way above and beyond what my <6 months of training had prepared me for. Vector mapping, splicing radials, dealing with constantly updating static meshes and post processing features were all too much for me to comprehend trying to learn and implement at the same time. I gave it a valiant effort (imo atleast) but had to regretfully leave the feature unimplemented.

#2 Audio and Animations, one thing I learnt about during this whole process is how complex animations on professional models are, one of our models had over 50 different walking animations for different scenarios (walking on inclines, jogging running and strafing and combinations thereof) all of which were blended together in engine in a way that allowed them to flow dynamically. This completely threw a spanner into the works when implementing audio into those animations the only way I was taught, by tying it to the animation itself using the frame data (so when a foot hits the ground while walking a footstep sound plays). I did end up finding a workaround by tying it to tile movement and using audio ques with a delay to avoid a rather hilarious bug where ALL the footstep sounds would play each time you moved a tile.

#3 GitHub and Version Control, this was an issue i posted about recently where we lost a good days worth of work from incorrectly updating our version controls through GitHub, while the work was recovered with some help it still took a longer time that I would have liked to get it fixed and been then it was fully recovered and required going over and redoing for parts of it.

Next up, What went right?

#1 implementing the turn based system, this surprised me with how easy this was to implement in a basic way. Setting up Game states and moving between them easily is a basic function of Unreal Engine and I was able to implement the flow between player turn > enemy turn >maintenance phase and repeat quite easily and was able to use those game state systems to control the UI, camera and player controls, as well as tie AI and other things to it all while maintaining the flow

#2 Menus and UI, implementing these is so incredibly easy with Unreal’s UI widget system and game states, it is so easy to build rudimentary UI and menus that work as well as progress bars to track specific variables (like health and movement) and while I’m no graphical artist our system works and that’s enough for me

Finally, What can I do better in the future?

#1 Schedule Management, for this project we used hacknplan.com to plan out our list of tasks that needed doing, sadly for the first 2 weeks of project time, I completely forgot about using the task planner and just worked, and unfortunately ended up doing a lot of my partners work on the player systems as I was building the Turn Based framework, this caused us to have to shift and change who was working on what and possibly caused us to be delayed.

#2 Time Management, I hate to say it but my time management skills are terrible and while I try to get work done I often fall behind quickly and spiral from there. a lot of features we planned on implementing have gone unfinished or not even started work on because I got caught up trying to perfect the things I was working on. Coupled with some missed days due to sickness and mental health issues this caused us to fall behind some more.

and that’s it. thank you for reading my updates and being a part of the development process

#Student #Dev #Blog #AIE #Canberra #Unreal Engine #Post-mortem

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kbunburyhelps · 7 years

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KBUNBURYHELPS FC SUGGESTIONS: DARK SKIN BLACK FEMALES

So the rpc keeps playing like dark skinned black actresses don’t exist and when they decide to acknowledge them it’s really just Ryan Destiny and recently China Anne McClain (mainly due to Descendants 2 and the announcement of Black Lightning which I’m super excited for but I digress) which is great but like they are not your only sources of dark skin females. Then again, more than half of y’all still using only Zendaya(who I love and would love to be her best friend but dang y’all) to stand for all black characters. Get your life. Anyway for all who know about color and all that, the word dark skin is so subjective and it’s hard to categorize just so you know before attacking my inbox about how ‘they aren’t really dark’. I personally don’t consider them that dark but they are darker than the majority of what the rpc currently uses. Dark to a Sudanese person might not be the same dark to a South African or a West African or to a person from the Islands. You get the point.. I was mainly just going to do an under 30′s list but the rpc likes them young (which sounds super creepy when I say it like that but am I lying?) and yet still plays Ian Somerhalder as a high schooler so I don’t even know. If you haven’t realize yet, this intro is trash and you’ll be better off just going to the names already. Sit down. Take several seats. Be Humble. Gif them, love them, use them. I shouldn’t have to say this but please look up their exact identities and don’t erase them.

NOTE: If you’re only going to use these females to push stereotypes about dark skinned women, just scroll on past. Yeah, keep going, it’s a long post. We have enough issues, don’t need you adding to them. If you need to know what stereotypes to avoid, use google. Have a nice day. AGAIN DO NOT USE TO PUSH DARK SKIN BLACK WOMEN STEREOTYPES.

NOTE: For the love of all that is good and holy and pure in this world, do not whitewash them. You can miss me with that ‘it’s for the aesthetics’ ish. AGAIN DO NOT WHITEWASH.

China Anne McClain: Turning 19 this year (1998). Aye my girl, you guys might know her from ANT Farm and Descendants 2. It actually pains me to say that because you should all remember her from House of Payne and Daddy’s Little Girls (with Idris) but whatever. Anyway gifs of her are probably all coming from Descendants but she’ll also be in Black Lightning and hopefully someone will gif it.

CoCo Jones: Turned 19 this year (1998). Another of throwbacks. She’s an actress, singer, and songwriter. She was on So Random! and this year acted in the movie Grandma’s House and is recording some movie called Flock of Four. Don’t know if she’s giffed, don’t think so.

Diamond White: Turned 18 this year (1999). Not that well known but she should be. She was in a YoutTube Red show called Guidance and Sing It! She also acted in a movie called Boo! A Madea Halloween 1 and is currently filming #2 of Boo! A Madea Halloween. @casshelps bless her, has giffed her,

Imani Hakim: Turned 24 this year (1993). Throwback to anyone, this girl is known for her role as Tasha on Everybody Hates Chris. As of this year, she has recently acted in Burning Sands and some short called The Dissection of Jack & Jill. Definitely doubt if she’s been giffed.

Keke Palmer: Turning 24 this year (1993). Very well known for a lot of roles but especially as Akeelah in Akeelah and the Bee, True Jackson in True Jackson V.P., and Zayday Williams in Scream Queens. There aren’t that many recent gif packs of her but have no fear I’ve giffed her.

Lovie Simone: Turning 19 this year (1998). Not well known, just started acting last year. She’s been acting in Greenleaf and was in an episode of Orange Is The New Black. She is also filming a movie this year. She’s been giffed but only in gif sets and I’m pretty sure all but one have text.

Ryan Destiny: Turned 22 this year (1995). Started becoming big the year Star came out. Acted in a movie called A Girl Like Grace and of course known for Star. I’ve giffed her, many people have giffed her.

Raven Goodwin: Turned 25 this year (1992). Should be known for her role as Teddy’s best friend on Good Luck Charlie but honestly, I don’t know what y’all watch. She’s currently on Being Mary Jane which really, does that mean anything to you people? Like do you know of these shows? I’ve seen a gif pack of her from Good Luck Charlie.

Need More suggestions? Look under the cut for more beautiful women.

The names below this cut are more suggestions that I just didn’t feel like making another graphic for but knowing my procrastination skills, I probably will end up doing. Anyway, their pictures are linked with their names which is why their names are italicized.

Mouna Traore: Age unknown. She’s a Canadian actress. Not well known in the U.S. but she’s acted in The Murdoch Mysteries and Hemlock Grove. For the record, I did gif her so some gifs of her do exist.

Sierra Aylina McClain: Turned 23 this year (1994). She is the older sister of China Anne McClain and honestly should be just as famous and popular. She’s also known for Daddy’s Little Girls. She is currently playing Nessa on Empire and will be in Honey 4. Let’s be real the peope who gif Empire gif like 4 people so I don’t doubt there not being that many gifs of her.

Lauryn Alisa McClain: Turned 20 this year (1997). Honestly hasn’t been on tv recently as much as her sisters but was in BearCity3 (2016). Known for Daddy’s Little Girls and mainly known for composing. I don’t think I’ve seen gifs of her.

Tanyell Waivers: Age unknown. She’s an actress who isn’t well known because she got her first acting gig in Queen Sugar and so far that’s it I think. I did gif her, but the gifs I made of her suck so I may redo them. Or y’all can request gifs of her to makers who have gif packs open, use her.

Denee Benton: Turning 25 this year (1992). She’s an actress both Broadway and stage but mainly Broadway. On Broadway she’s been in The Book of Morman and Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 and on tv she’s only been in UnReal. I will be giffing her eventually in UnReal, at least in some of the episodes she appears in. Girl has been nominated for a Tony Award so obviously she should be used.

Reiya Downs: Turning 18 this year (1999). She’s known for Degrassi Next Class, she has a little sister who looks just like her and is also acting. She’s adorable and for all your ‘actually looks like a highschooler’ needs. I honestly don’t know if anyone gifs her in Degrassi but they should.

Camille Winbush: Turned 27 this year (1990). You may recognize her from the Bernie Mac Show (R.I.P). She’s known for the Secret Life of the American Teenager and even then I don’t know if she’s that well known. Other than acting in The Choir recently, she’s mainly filming two movies this year named Everything But a Man and Bachelor Lions. I have personally giffed her a bit.

Yindra Zayas: Turning 23 this year (1994). You may or may not recognize her but if you watch Girl Meets World you really should. She plays one of the background filler students who occasionally does something. Literally most of her IMDB she goes uncredited ‘cause she’s that much away from a main character. But this girl doesn’t even look her age. I highly doubt there’s that many gifs of her, if any.

Stefanee Martin: She’s 26 that’s all I know about her age. If you watched The Get Down then you definitely recognize her, even if The Get Down has come across your dash a couple times you probably still recognize her. She plays Yolanda, other than The Get Down there’s not much past acting experience. She is filming a movie called Skin in the Game. I’m sure there are some gifs of her, probably more gif sets than packs though.

Asha Bromfield: According to riverdale wiki she’s turning 23 this year (1994). If you think Riverdale is her first acting role then you’re dead wrong but it is probably her biggest or one of it. She did act in The Gabby Douglas Story (along with Imani Hakim) but I don’t know how many people watched that. I’m not sure if there are gifs of her at all.

Karidja Touré: Turned 23 this year (1994). She’s a French actress, possibly why you haven’t heard of her but she did make a big break in 2014 in Girlhood aka Bande de filles. She didn’t act again until this year where she’s been in more french movies. You’re probably thinking, but why would I suggest her if she’s not really known, girl probably doesn’t have gifs. That’s where you’re wrong. Right here you can find enough gifs for using her as a faceclaim. What’s your excuse now. Bless @casshelps again.

Nafessa Williams: Turning 28 this year (1989). I’m only featuring her because I’ve talked about Black Lightning so much I might as well add her. She’s known for her role in One Life to Live. She’s also acted in Burning Sands and will be acting in Black Lightning. Look at this point I’ve hyped up this show so much it literally cannot/should not let me down. No idea if she’s been giffed but again with Black Lightning coming out I hope to God someone will gif her.

Don’t like my other suggestions check my page. Checked there and want other suggestions but don’t know where to look? Use IMDB, check your popular shows. They might not be main actresses but usually there’s a darker skin’d female that’s played a side or very background character. Check Oprah shows, Tyler Perry Movies or Shows, black stations like BET…. well (some of y’all know what that well means, if you don’t, don’t worry about it). Look at Soap Opera’s they’re more diverse than I bet you give them credit for. Look at shows and movies from popular services that have black people as main characters (gasp yes black people as main characters do exist outside of BET) like Netflix’s Dear White People and the original movie or Burning Sand. Check IMDB lists, I can’t tell you how many imdb lists there are of dark skinned black actresses of all ages, even of just black actresses.

If you find no faceclaims after doing all of that, then you don’t want to play a dark skinned black female in the first place and please don’t use some stupid excuse. Don’t bother.

AGAIN DO NOT USE TO PUSH DARK SKIN WOMEN STEREOTYPES. DO NOT WHITEWASH. I really shouldn’t have to repeat it but I know that’s the only way some of you will listen.

#rph #rpc #foc #fc help #underused fc #fc suggestions #female faceclaim #rpt #female #I feel like I might have gotten sarcastic with this one #just maybe

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riotatthemovies · 4 years

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So welcome back to another QUESTIONS WITH RIOT!

So here is a nice big post for you to read, see it on my tumblr page and the facebook group and maybe in a new book someday.

I will be reaching out to B movie directors and actors in the next week or so with a handful of (often similar questions) .

They are not real time interveiws , I just sent them the questions and they msgd me back. Because they are awesome people.

Todays guest that I suckered in to using their precious time to answer my questions for b movie film makers is Richard Mogg a fim maker from Vancouver. Richard chilled us with the Massage Parlour of Death! As well as hit us right in the Easter time nightmare of EASTER BUNNY BLOODBATH which just recently released a sequel. Riot at the Movies folks will remember BIGFOOT ATE MY BOYFRIEND that played on the first ever Terrible Two Day best a few years ago. On top of all that he is a writer of a few of the most detailed go to books on the genre of shot on video and low budget underground film makers.

Lets get to the questions

ADAM RIOT : SO RICHARD, IF YOU WERE GIVEN A MULTIMILLION DOLLAR BUDGET WHAT WOULD YOU DO? GO CRAZY?

Mogg: To be honest, I'd split it - but only half of what you're thinking. I'd take half and make THE ULTIMATE sci-fi Extravaganza! Then I'd make a whole bunch of small independent features. So yes, I'd make my GALAXINA but with a bunch of cheese to go with it.

Adam Riot: HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU WRITTEN SOMETHING AND SAID "OH THAT'S SO BAD, BUT I'M KEEPING IT IN"?

Mogg: Actually never... unless it overwhelmingly sucks. I've been writing scripts long enough to know you can write unlimited, but it's smarter to write what you can actually do. So write ambitiously but never against your vision. One time I thought to not include something, but after we shot the film, I was able to edit back in my original idea... so first impulses are usually the right impulses.

Adam Riot: WE DO TEND TO DOUBT OUTSELVES TOO MUCH. OF ALL THE MOVIES YOU HAVE MADE WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE? FROM EXPERIENCE OR FINISHED PROJECT, WHAT MADE IT YOUR FAVORITE?

Mogg: My favorite film that I've done is BIGFOOT ATE MY BOYFRIEND, which isn't gory at all but heavy in the awkward comedy I enjoy. But the real reason it's my favorite is that everything seemed to come together. It was the first time my vision matched execution, and the final product was as good/better than I had hoped. BIGFOOT was my 5th feature film, so it took that many tries to get things right - plus I had my all-star cast.

Adam Riot: WE ALL LOVED IT HERE.

HAVE YOU MADE FILMS THAT YOU HAVE NOT SHOWN TO THE WORLD THAT YOU JUST DIDN'T LIKE SO YOU HID IT AWAY?

Mogg: There are films I've done that haven't been released yet, but that doesn't have anything to do with hiding them. Sometimes it seems that opportunities come up and you have to be ready to jump in... my 3rd feature film was shot just as 2013 rang in, but that was the year I found out we were having our first baby. So after quickly moving and getting our lives set straight, I had an empty bedroom while we anticipated the baby's arrival. But did I waste the opportunity of an empty bedroom? Heck no, so I quickly shot MASSAGE PARLOR OF DEATH using the bedroom as a massage parlor. So MASSAGE took the place of that 3rd film I shot (which hasn't been released), but that's the way life happens sometimes. One day I'll release everything but timing and momentum occasionally get in the way. I still have 3 films in the can yet to be released: HOT CHICKS BLAST URANUS, DEATH RIDES OF DEATH (formerly ROLLERCOASTER KICKBACK) and my "exotic" picture JOHNNY GLOBBER.

Adam Riot: I AM ALMOST SCARED BY THOSE TITLES BUT CURIOUS AS WELL. AND LAUGHING THE MASSAGE PARLOR BECAME A BABY ROOM.

WHAT MOVIES IN A MICRO BUDGET GENRE HAVE IMPRESSED YOU RECENTLY?

Mogg: You know, I'm so obsessed with watching older films to see their overall genre evolutions that I don't get to see many "newer" films. Drew Marvick's POOL PARTY MASSACRE was a favorite, as was 2019's MORBID STORIES. I recently caught Dave Castiglione's rerelease of DEEP UNDEAD and it's a knockout with some amazing underwater photography - stuff you just don't see in a lot of micro budget flicks. And that's the great thing about lower budgeted stuff... it's made from the heart using igneous techniques rather than boatloads of money.

Adam Riot: WHAT MAKES YOU LOSE YOUR LOVE FOR INDEPENDENT FILMS, THE PEOPLE? THE MONEY? THE RESPONSE FROM FRIENDS OR BUYERS? HOW DO YOU OVERCOME IT?

Mogg: Wow, LOSE my love? That's a tricky question. I think there are personal turn-offs that might not let me get into a film, but the filmmaking spirit never leaves. Yeah sometimes the people involved are only out to "get rich quick" can be trying, or rip off artists who turn out flicks every week with no investment in their content... that's a turn off. I don't personally enjoy mean-spiritedness in movies, which is why all RickMoe titles are lighthearted and silly. But as a pure business, I think basic indifference and self-righteousness in people infront and behind the camera can really effect the product. But that's true of any business really...

Adam Riot: WE ALL KNOW THERE NEEDS TO BE SOMETHING MORE THAN MONEY. YOU HAVE BEEN MAKING WITH A LOT OF DIFFERENT PEOPLE, HOW DO YOU FEEL FRIENDSHIP IN THE INDEPENDENT FILM WORLD IS IMPORTANT AND HOW HARD WOULD IT BE WITHOUT CLOSE FRIENDS?

Mogg: Great question. Close relationships and treating people with respect is everything. Acknowledging that everyone counts and their efforts are never taken for granted is key to longevity and happiness in this business. It's true, in independent filmmaking many (perhaps all!) people involved in making films don't get paid financially... maybe they do it for a credit or recognition or even just to have fun, and we as the audience need to know that people really do put their blood, sweat and tears into these movies. Sure there are straight up jerks running around with a camera, but when you start seeing the same people out there having fun and KEEP TRYING, you really get to feel that they're being honest with the audience. Making movies IS fun - even when you're against problems - but a positive, uplifting leader can make the world of difference. And I think that positivity can draw others together. So making close friendships is really the sign that you're doing things right.

Adam Riot: WHAT'S YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE STREAMING SERVICES, DIRECT DOWNLOAD, TUBITV THAT KIND OF THING?

Mogg: ANY OPINION? Well I'm trying it now for the first time with EASTER BUNNY BLOODBATH 2: NO MORE TEARS. I went thing route (direct streaming through Vimeo) because I needed to have quick access for viewers before Easter. But also because of this damn coronavirus pandemic. So being able to have audiences access something instantly without waiting for physical mail was very important. But in general, I'm a physical media type of person. I WANT a VHS/DVD/BLU copy on the shelf to look at, admire, hold. I don't think I'll ever get away from that need to hold a film... because when everything is digital, it almost feels like it doesn't exist. Delete and it's gone forever!

Adam Riot: FOR THOSE READING RICHARD MOGGS EARLY WORK IS ON SRS IS AVAILABLE ON TUBITV NOW.

IS THERE A CHARACTER YOU SHOWED THE WORLD THAT IS ON THE TOP OF YOUR WANT LIST TO BRING BACK?

Mogg: 100% our Federal Bigfoot Investigator John Saurius (played by the incredible Kirk Munaweera) is a character I'd bring back for EVERY film. He's so applicable to any story, and he carries a comical vengeance (his dick was torn off by Bigfoot). But I'd like to see him lead a film completely too... he sorta does with EASTER BUNNY BLOODBATH 2: NO MORE TEARS, but I'd like to bring him in in a bigger way for our upcoming Noir picture.

Adam Riot :I do hope to see the son of the kung fu kid or something (smirk)

YOU HAVE WRITTEN SEVERAL BOOKS ON THE SHOT ON VIDEO GENRE, ONE THAT'S NOW BASICALLY THE GO TO ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR THE GENRE AND ON THE TWISTED HORROR LOVE FOR CHRISTMAS. IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE ON THE DRAWING BOARD/TYPING BOARD?

Mogg: YES! And thank you for asking! I learned a lot writing "ANALOG NIGHTMARES" and even more with "GIFTWRAPPED & GUTTED" and the door is always open for another... maybe even a revisit. But the next writing project excitedly being discussed is turning some of my own films into novels. And not just the movies written as stories... but actual novels based on the ORIGINAL SCRIPTS of the films we've made, including much more graphic ideas. For example, sex scenes were originally written in our early films that (of course) our actors weren't too interested in performing for no money... but NOW! Now we can really write in detail the spicy hot sex always intended! And same goes for the gore!

Adam Riot: EASTER BUNNY BLOODBATH 2: NO MORE TEARS IS ONLINE NOW AND ITS A VERSUS TITLE. TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT THE MOVIE AND TELL ME WHAT VERSUS TYPE MOVIES IMPRESSED YOU IN THE PAST.

Mogg: YES! EBB2 is a "BIGFOOT VS BUNNY" sequel! So there's an amazing climax where the two beasts meet for a showdown to the death! After shooting BIGFOOT ATE MY BOYFRIEND, I knew that the only way to bring Bigfoot back would be to pair him against and equal of physical strength... and the Bunny hit me like a ton of bricks. Plus it was great fun revisiting 2010's EASTER BUNNY BLOODBATH which isn't the best film around but was my first feature length film (which I lovingly say "taught me all the mistakes I wanted to teach myself"). So in making this sequel (after making tons of other films), I was able to re-examine my early approaches and redo things from a new standpoint. It was also fun to reuse some of the old musical cues and try to match the style of the first film. But I think the biggest difference was in the editing, because I have become a much more experienced video editor since then... learning how to better time things for a greater payoff. But as a versus film, I felt it was important to focus clearly on the Bunny storyline first, then bring in Bigfoot almost unexpectedly at the end - surprising the audience. And that's sort of the way I cut films, leaving the end to play out in a zany over the top fashion (anyone who made it through TEENAGE SLUMBER PARTY NIGHTMARE can see this). But I do love THE TOXIC AVENGER III's pair off with TOXIE and the DEVIL...

Adam Riot: Thanks so much Richard, now every get his books and get your Easter and rent or buy Easter Bunny Bloodbath 2. Stay Safe and Stay Awesome

Rent or download Easter Bunny Bloodbath 2 here https://vimeo.com/ondemand/bunny2/

Ps I will post a review of Easter Bunny Bloodbath 2 tomorrow on my social medias as well as the Riot at the movies instagram. Regardless you know I think you should see it too.

#rickmoe #richard mogg #easter bunny bloodbath #bmovies #thank you #riot at the movies

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pixelrender · 4 years

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Top 10 game I missed in 2019

This year was a weird one. Quite a few big indies came out but none of them was a massive hit. Also, Epic paying devs for exclusive rights on their games put several major releases outside of my sightline. I just can’t be bothered with it. On the other hand I got way more invested in Itch.io and the scene around it. I probably expanded my library there more than my steam Library and I was super pedant while keeping track of new releases there. There were many exciting ones! Choosing only ten releases proved to be a difficult task.

Fortunately I posted about many more over the course of 2019 and I plan to post several honorable mentions in their separate posts.

One other thing worth mentioning is that games I was hyped about at the start of the year mostly got released and mostly fell out of my radar. Some of them got enough attention from more important outlets than my lil blog or they got overshadowed by more exciting unsuspected releases.

In comparison with the 2018 list, this contains somehow less unified and probably less alternative selection of games. In other words, there isn’t a single walking sim on the list and most games are focused on gameplay. Let’s start at the bottom of the list (yes, it is ordered this time):

10. Later Alligator

Originally, this game didn’t make it in top 3 noteworthy releases of September. But opposed to at least two games on that list, It’s been popping up on my mind and I think that spending few hours with it must be a pleasant time. Reasons for that are simple. Heaven Will Be Mine, a previous game by Pillowfight, left a lasting impression on me and Later Alligator itself has a charming trailer and premise. The game not taking itself too seriously is another aspect, which makes me more interested in it right now. The graphics remind me of an old animated short or an alternative zine for kids and I like that very much.

9. Fit for a King

And another September release. This stands strong for a variety of reasons. Unique gameplay inspired by Ultima and combined with Ultima inspired graphics creates such an inspiring product, which is both fresh and nostalgic. But it’s something totally different than millions of games with Nintendo inspired graphics and so much better for that alone. Using the whole keyboard for a wide variety of regal commands is another great feature taking this game on this list.

8. Legionary’s Life

To be frank with you, dear reader, I’m not sure why I got so excited about this the moment I read a very short comment on it and watched the trailer. It’s not particularly pretty or fun. It’s about something else. You’re a regular person. It’s a life sim combined with an RPG and somehow very delightfully presented with many things to care about and to manage and it looks like a more interesting version of Paper’s, Please, actually. Now, I probably am overselling it, but that’s how excited this newest life sim made me. Gotta play it.

7. REDO!

I love metroidvanias and this year’s harvest has been generous. One of the most interesting and different ones releases of 2019 was REDO! Released in early access only to get full release few months later this dark anime (BLAME!) inspired non-linear platformer is dripping with atmosphere and good pixels graphics, which are anime inspired but also decent about it and the result is very charming. It’s not Rain World, but the dev works really well with colours. Environments are detailed and expressive. This will be one of the first games for me to play when I return to computer in 2021. Honorable metroidvania mentions: Outbuddies, Cathedral, Gato Roboto, Sun Wukong VS Robot, Feudal Alloy

6. Wildermyth

This game looks like a treat and from what I read on RPS, it probably is one. It’s a tactics game with some very stylized hand drawn graphics, which make otherwise somehow generic fantasy feel super unique. The story is narrated in a form of a visual novel with individual panels presenting both the continuation and choices. There’s so much good stuff in it and I’m excited to try it out one day. The game’s still in early access, so there’s no need to hurry.

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5. Heaven’s Vault

This probably is the most complicated game on the list. I prefer simple experiences but sometimes something complex and sophisticated manages to capture my heart. The description of this game is one of the cases. You play as a time traveling archeologist, who is trying to figure out a lost civilization by deciphering its language. It sounds more satisfying than some of the drugs I’ve tried! It looks better than many AAA games too.

4. We Met in May

There are very simple reasons I crave this game. It reminds me of life of thing I like experiencing myself. It’s about the most basic of human interactions and yet love and dating is something fading. Like an ancient language, perhaps. Nina Freeman became my favourite dev after playing Kimmy and listening to the Tone Control podcast episode with her, so this shouldn’t be a disappointment. Also, It reminds me that my list includes zero gamer’s games and you can share these with your less violent buds.

3. Tiny Towns

Yes, I put a board game on my list. This whole year I have been following these as well and this is the only game I really wish to play. It’s simple, colorful, chunky and it uses bingo as its core mechanism. I like everything about it from presentation to relatively minimalist gameplay.

The picture is a courtesy of my favourite board gaming blog Daily Worker Placement, originally used in their article.

2. Knights and Bikes

I wrote so many words about this game and I was genuinely excited to play it asap, when it came out, but then more important life choices happened and I haven’t played it yet and I won’t play it in 2019. I regret it a wee bit and I’m still looking forward this adorable adventure spiced up with some sad tones. There’s so much creativity and joy put into it and I believe that it might be one of the best games to play with or without children right now.

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1. Art Sqool

As I mentioned before, this game’s a piece of art, a piece of critical thinking and more than many games aspire to be. It’s not there to tell a story, It present a phenomena and it allows you to use your creativity and shows you how ridiculous art schools can be. I bought this one many months ago hoping that I’d be able to play it soon. Unfortunately, the shaders don’t emulate on Linux and I will have to wait till 2021. I’m really looking forward to this and thinking about it after finishing it. It’s such a good concept and definitely something more related to other medias like art or art theory than traditional video games.

#wishlist #tiny towns #redo!#we met in may #heaven's vault #knights and bikes #art sqool #2019 #legionary's life #wildermyth #Fit For A King #Later Alligator

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kerbaldevteam · 7 years

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KSP Weekly: The Arecibo Message

Welcome to KSP Weekly everyone. Next week marks the 18th anniversary of the retransmission of the Arecibo Message. An interstellar radio message originally broadcasted in 1974 towards the M13 globular cluster some 25,000 light years away from Earth, sent in the hope that extraterrestrial intelligence might receive and decipher it. Named after the Puerto Rican radio telescope from which it was sent, the message was written by Dr. Frank Drake, creator of the Drake equation (a probabilistic argument used to arrive at an estimate of the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy), with help from Carl Sagan, among others. This message carries basic information about humanity and Earth and consists of seven parts: The numbers one to ten; the atomic numbers of the elements hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus, which make up deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA); the formulas for the sugars and bases in the nucleotides of DNA; the number of nucleotides in DNA, and a graphic of the double helix structure of DNA; a graphic figure of a human, the dimension (physical height) of an average man, and the human population of Earth; a graphic of the Solar System indicating which of the planets the message is coming from; and a graphic of the Arecibo radio telescope and the dimension (the physical diameter) of the transmitting antenna dish. We don’t know if somebody else has received the message, maybe we’ll never know or maybe some little green men experimenting with their space program have and they are doing everything they can to pay us a visit. But we’re here to talk about everything Kerbal, so let’s begin.

Let’s begin with KSP for consoles, where the QA team has been working on testing and providing feedback on the new control scheme. Blitworks is making great progress and we are looking forward to testing every fresh new build coming out of the oven, they are very solid right now and still getting better each time.

In other news, the team continues trawling the bugtracker, looking for bugs to confirm and prioritize, one of which is a grammar library issue that affects some Linux players. Our sincere thanks go to those that not only took the time to report the problem, but aided in diagnosing and testing a potential fix. Meanwhile more bugs have been fixed for the upcoming 1.3.1 patch release. For instance: The Sun movement has been fixed, so we still retain our shadow rough patch/fix while also restoring the movement of the sun back to the way it was before (nice and smooth). Similarly, Kerbals can no longer EVA from inside fairings (but can from interstage fairings) to avoid exploding vessels.

Naturally, the work on the Making History Expansion continues and at good pace if we may say so. This last week, for example, various aspects of its design have been looked at and worked on. We have been working on getting all of the usable nodes for a mission displayed in lists and creating the nodes when they’re dragged onto the canvas. In the “Infrastructure” portion of the Mission’s Expansions we’ve been finalizing work around the way expansions are built and loaded. This uses the AssetBundle feature of Unity to package up the content we set as Expansion only. On the loading side we have an extra loader that then reads in the info about the expansion and loads the components from the bundles. We also spent some time making the same architecture work without the asset bundles in the editor - so our devs can work as lazily as possible and not have to build the bundles for every change made (at their request) :P. Additionally, we have been working on the feature of the Mission Builder that allows mission creators to select if vessels will be built by the player of the mission or if they will be assigned from a list of custom ones by the creator. For this, we are using in-house built internal logic for setting a vessel starting state. Lastly for the development updates has been the very fun task for the new expansion that handles the logic of the Undo and Redo functionality in the Mission Builder, we are doing our best to nail this task to be as memory efficient, stable and functional as possible. In the end the system will allow mods to register their own undo actions and custom controls.

On an artistic level, we keep on working on the Lunar Landing module and Vostok 1-inspired IVAs, all while the QA team continues to test and revise the initial Mission Expansion builds, making sure the core game still functions correctly after the usual post release code merges while work is done on the expansion. There’s still much to do, but every day it gets closer to a functioning system that we can start testing in earnest. By the way, as you have already noticed, the Steam Summer Sale has begun and we have also made sure our minds, bodies, and wallets are prepared for this exciting event. And of course, Kerbals couldn’t be left out of this craze, so we prepared a huge discount you should definitely check out. Finally, we encourage you to participate in our latest KSP Challenge - Crosswise the Sea! This time around, the challenge consist of flying across the sea in an airplane and land safely, using stock parts only. Pretty straightforward, right? So, are you up to the challenge? Let’s see who can build the most original airplane. Check it out, share your creations and win a special official badge in the process! That’s it for this week. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!

Happy launchings!

P.S: If you are near the L.A. area, KSP streamer Avera9eJoe let us know that he has been planning a community get-together on Asteroid Day. If you're interested in going, send him a PM! Here is what he has to say:

Hello again everyone! With Asteroid Day coinciding with my summer vacation, I'm planning a casual get-together at the California Science Center. We'll be meeting at 10:00am PST on June 30th outside the main doors and visiting the free Air and Space exhibits and paid Space Shuttle Endeavor pavilion before having lunch and going our separate ways. Please send me a PM if you can make it. I look forwards to seeing some of you in person! Thanks :)

#ksp weekly #devnotes #making history #Kerbal Space Program

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jsalim-art · 7 years

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Something to get out my chest

I’m probably going to delete this later and I just need to get this out my chest because I have been bottling it up for a long while and if I do blurt it to said certain family members I know I would regret saying what I said. Although talking to the void is probably not a good idea but seems a better place to vent than exploding in rage by venting my frustrations in real life and I have nothing to lose just saying this here. I'd be doing vent art to express this but it seems I don't have the energy to do ambitious works (well at least I have a bit of energy to do little doodles) anyways where shall I start? I might ramble off topic here and there so bare with me. And this is gonna be long.....

I love to draw and write the characters and worlds I create in my world and the only person who knows what are in these worlds and these characters is myself and well someone has to make them. I have been drawing since I can remember holding a pencil. My mind back then and now is always filled to the brim with ideas and concepts I'm dying to put on paper. Most of these works are unfinished and the only finished work I have to offer was a shameless self-insert fanfiction but that is another story. The earliest I can remember is at 10-11 I made my own fantasy and all over the place story and mind you it sucks but it was the forerunner of all my original stories that influenced my work now. I like all artists have our beginnings somewhere and well that is where I started my road into creating stories and art for the worlds I create.

This is what makes me happy or my happy place. I'd be content to spend my days working on my stories and art. During my teen years onwards I basically did that obviously while balancing school, social life (or my lack of it), and family life. It was great, and although I had difficulty balancing that when I first got to college I still managed. Then things changed, family stuff added along with stressing over course work really did a number on me emotionally and maybe mentally, well whatever it was it was the result of me failing a semester and having to redo it twice before I can finally move on to my final semester. Despite what I have gone through I was ecstatic I finally graduated completing my Independent Illustration diploma in college that was late 2013 to early 2014 when that happened.

You’d think I’d work out something like build a better portfolio so I can network myself or take up my learning to the next level but nope I was an idiot back then and still feel like it now because of my choices. Instead, I was scared what my future holds out for me I feel like now that I finished this stage of my learning that the sky’s the limit that I can do anything my heart desires and nothing can stop that. Then I forgot I have obligations to my family, I still live with them and I have no shame in that (after all life is difficult living on your own in these times now especially) also, for now, that is the only choice I have.

So after graduation, my family finally got the okay from the government to get our Canadian citizenships which was about damn time considering we stayed in this country as immigrants for like almost a decade and other than me graduating art school, I get to finally get my citizenship. After our ceremony, my dad announced for a bullshit reason that he is taking me, my sister, my mom, and niece to Dubai because my mom has to sign some important paper (spoiler alert there is no paper signed at all and it was all a lie my father gave us to come). So what did I do instead of working on a portfolio or something? I spent all of 2014 being anxious, I was not proud of what I choose to do instead of doing the smart thing.

I basically accepted my fate this is what's going to happen. I literally left Canada on New Year’s Eve and spent the first 3 months of 2015 away from home. A huge chunk of my “vacation” was spent in Kuwait, trapped in a hotel with my mom, sister, and niece. It was a nightmare and I never want that to happen again I did get to go places but 90% I was stuck in that damned hotel (why we were in there is a personal reason I will not disclose). The only thing that is good with this trip is my week in Thailand with my family and although I got sick there I enjoyed this part of the vacation a lot more than being trapped in a hotel in Kuwait. I did manage to do some of my art at least during these 3 months but was not a lot like I hoped for.

But ever since that trip I guess it kinda changed me a bit. I don’t consider myself a positive person heck I’m mostly negative I at least try to be optimistic. Now I just accept that my life is probably not going to be what I hope it will be. And I get it life happens and the plans you make for yourself do not always go the way you want and sometimes it is a good thing cause it may be a better path to some or not to others. I should know I went from being an illustration student to a NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) to a Liberal Arts Student so yes life works in mysterious ways.

Liberal Arts was a different territory to art courses considering its essays, readings, tests, quizzes, etc it was hard I must say I spent half my time crying over my homework and lamenting if I failed or not (although that seems to have worked wonders into getting passing grades and up). But I enjoy these classes and I do want to open my horizons to learning and hey maybe find some inspiration along the way. I already finished my second semester and currently waiting with anticipation for my final grades so wish me luck I survived the semester with passing colors. I also thought I can go back to balancing my school work and my art like I always had done. Then I forgot I have family obligations/contributions I must do. Not that I do not mind but these drain up my mental energy and by the time I am not needed I just can’t really bring myself to pick up a pencil and draw. Whatever I have time left before I sleep is stare at youtube videos and reblogging stuff online because that's how mentally tired and worthless I feel.

When I finally do have the time to actually pick up a pencil and draw 70% of the time I choose to procrastinate because I believe I’ll just be called over by the family for certain responsibilities and I’ll never get the peace and quiet I need to just do what I love and am passionate about. It's always the same cycle ever since then. I just hope there will be that window of opportunity where I have all the time I needed to just draw and maybe write and that one opportunity I had was taken away from me. Well, it won’t be for forever cause there will be more opportunities for me to actually get my lazy ass to draw maybe write. It's just that I am sick and tired of having my time taken away from me and I am mad at myself for being a doormat. But I’m just scared of feeling that I am selfish for wanting that and maybe it’s time I stop that and it will be hard for me to get over. I coped with this by blaming my problems on my family saying its their fault they did this to me (it is obviously not true but it's a way I made myself feel better and denying that this is mostly my doing) I now know it's futile projecting this because in the end, I myself have to make time for myself to do the things I am passionate about. I’ve grown quite resentful and I don’t want to become this bitter person in the future who felt like her life got wasted because she made herself a doormat to please her family or scared of her future. I envy you artists out there who have all the time in the world to make creative original (as well as fan work) content without having to deal with the roadblocks in life and being in charge of your lives. I just want to say that you have to cherish the time you make for yourself to be creative you never know what will happen and before you know it *poof* you hardly have the time. Don’t ever take it for granted like I have.

Art means a lot to me and I feel like I disappointed myself and I feel like I don’t deserve to hang my illustration diploma because I fee like an imposter and felt like I wasted my years being scared of my future so much so that I got to the point where I feel I went to the point of no return. It makes me feel like maybe I should just give up on art and forget about all those worlds and characters I created like whats the use of being creative when life got you by the ankles and refused to let go. As much as I am in such a negative state of mind refuse to outright throw away everything I hold dear and give in the mediocracy of life dragging me away. I don’t want to be discouraged ever again, I want to be sure that this time this is what I want to do with my life whether I go to study graphic design, or go big with my art or even have a typical 9-5 job but still able to find the time to do art and/or write. This is my life and maybe right now the time for doing what I love is not in my future at the moment but its still going to be there for me when I come back.

And I just want to say and I know I do not need to apologize to my followers I’m sorry if you followed me for the art and hardly or never got any content since following me. As much as I would love to post as much of my originally content as possible well I have to deal with life and responsibilities some of that said responsibilities isn’t so supposed to be mine in the first place. I thank you to those who stuck by if anything I’ll try my best to make more content when that window of opportunity opens for me and you’ll bet your ass it will be a tidal wave of stuff.

But like I said life is strange sometimes, and I’m not about to give up just yet.

- signed a former illustration student trying to find her way

#personal #jehan speaks #jehan vents #confession #venting #artist problems I guess mixed in with life problems #I honestly feel better now I got this out of my system #I'll probably start bottling my emotions again after this but at least I'm starting at a blank slate #tldr: life kinda sucks for me atm but I am trying my damndest to get where I needed to be #so sit tight

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jadedamber · 6 years

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So you’re slugging it as a temp...

I’ve debated whether it would help anyone if I posted my thoughts on temp workers in office situations in general and in creative fields in particular, and decided, heck, yes, maybe. So here goes.

I’ve been a creative supervisor in corporate field long enough to have gone through managing a number of temps, and while some (two, let’s be real) managed to stay on to become permanent additions to our department, we parted ways with a much greater number of temps who did not work out for various reasons.

If anyone reading wants to break into a design job, and is roughing it as a freelancer/temp for now, hopefully this will help you up your game.

Things to remember right off the bat:

I. If you’re getting hired as a temp, it probably means one of two things:

1. The company is cheap as hell and doesn’t want to pay for full time workers, and/or 2. It’s a temporary and sudden crunch time, and they need bodies to throw at the crisis.

Both of these things mean that the poor shmuck who will be supervising you is overworked, overstressed, and does not have enough time and resources to train you. It’s not their fault. Most of them would train/hire you in a heartbeat if they had that power. Most of them are happy you’re there, and are dearly invested in you picking up the necessary skills to succeed (because your failure will be on that supervisor’s head).

That means:

II. Attitude is everything. I mean, I’ve had workers who came in with false information about what the job would be (for various reasons) and panicked/resented the fact that they did not know the things we needed from them, but because some of them were open to learning, I had no problem teaching them on the fly, and one such former temp just had their second annual review, if you catch my meaning. It was a good review, too. The other ones used their time with my team as a learning experience and a resume fodder. Still others were gone after a couple of miserable days.

Plus, a good reference from your direct supervisor is a commodity (as I’m learning), and when you’re a temp, your supervisor knows you’re most likely looking around, so most of them are less twitchy about being asked for those.

III. If the supervisor tells you to please ask questions if you don’t understand something - TAKE THEM UP ON IT! I cannot stress it enough. My teammates and I would much rather be interrupted in our work than have to redo something that was done incorrectly due to assumptions or lack of knowledge - or worse, be confronted with the mistake with 15 minutes to hand-off time. If something does not feel right, say something. If something doesn’t add up - speak up. It won’t make you look incompetent, I swear. No one expects a temp to know all the ins and outs of a particular company.

That brings me to next point:

IV. No one cares if you project-managed elsewhere. I don’t care if you delegated tasks to others before. Here and now, I am your boss and if I say we have to do it a certain way, don’t fucking cowboy it out. If you think there’s a better way, and your supe seems cool, by all means, voice it (in a concise way, please) but don’t salute ok and then do it your way because it’s better in your opinion. You may not know something. There might be reasons that are beyond your scope of knowledge. If your boss seems too busy/assholish, ask your teammates.

V. Ask your teammates about your supervisor. If they seem reluctant to answer, that should be as clear a signal as if they complained to you for an hour. On the other hand, in my experience, if the boss is cool, people will be pretty happy to tell you. Take them seriously, but watch non-verbal cues, of course, as those are more accurate, usually.

VI. If your goal is to learn as much as possible and move on - GO ALL IN. Ask your teammates questions, watch how they do things, pick up the lingo, volunteer for difficult tasks. And most of all, shut up and listen. I mean it kindly. If your goal is to learn, then don’t waste your time teaching (or explaining how wonderful you are). You’re there for knowledge, not an ad campaign (unless you’re temping at an ad agency (I’m hilarious, I know, shut up)).

VII. Remember, you’re “just a temp”. I don’t mean it in a derogatory way, but as a reality check. So you think you’re more talented/better worker/whatever than this full-timer over here? Watch and learn what it is that made the company hire that person. You might not want to copy them, but you should at least know what the rules of the game are. Until you find your stride/voice/strengths, it helps to absorb whatever you can.

VIII. Remember, you’re “just a temp”. This also means that your career is not hinged on this job, so if you keep being treated like crap, pick up the subtle (or not so subtle) cues, and talk to your agency about finding another gig. It’s not worth getting shat on if there are other projects out there, and you won’t know until you ask your rep.

IX. Make yourself useful. Literally if you’re a temp and you become hella helpful to your supervisor, most of them will fight for you to become full time, if that’s at all a possibility. It doesn’t mean you have to be Gal Friday (or Guy Friday) and be a perfect employee. For example, one of my teammates freaks out every time I split her project with another person, but in a crisis situation she’s the one most likely to stay late and get it done, and I value the shit out of her for that. Another one is kind of slow and I don’t give her any of the most urgent projects, but trust me, if there’s anything that takes finesse and painstaking labor, she’s my go-to person. So, if you act like your boss has to, like, deserve your best effort - nobody cares. No one owes you to “get to know you” or discover you. You might be a fabulous painter, but if you can’t cut a straight line (literally a recent problem we had), I’m sorry, but I can’t use you. Go find a job painting, not working in a fast-paced corporate environment.

X. Take them seriously. This should be a no-brainer, but somehow, it’s something that keeps coming up. I respect your right for self expression, but if the company policy states that you can’t wear graphic t shirts, please fucking listen. If you’re supposed to come in at a certain time, please listen. If you’re told that you’re supposed to check in after a certain task, even though you’ve been doing that task since before you were born and can perform it asleep, drunk, in negative degree weather, on your head - please. please. fucking. listen.

I just had to let someone go who was very surprised at the news, despite having had several private conversations/warnings regarding following instructions, and it was frustrating for both of us. They thought they were being very productive, because they were doing so much. I thought they were a waste of everyone’s time and resources, because they kept screwing up - not for lack of knowledge, but because oh... they really meant it not to do THAT to a cricut machine... huh. And oh, I guess THAT’s why you save this file a certain way. Like, I don’t got time to deal with that, bye.

BONUS: If you’re let go, very good chances are, no one will tell you the reason. Your now former supervisor is still overworked and overstressed, It’s an unpleasant conversation no one wants to have, and - since you clearly haven’t made good enough impression - nobody cares about you to give you some tips for the future.

That’s ok - take the silence as your one huge cue, try to remember all the times things went wrong and what, in retrospect, you should have done differently. Again, you were just a temp, it’s not like you messed up your chances at the Project Runway or American Idol or whatever.

Just learn.

It’s not fun, and it’s tough, but hey, you’re the one who wanted a creative job.

Plus it could be that it’s not even you - the agency’s fee might’ve gone up, the big boss has deemed that the crisis has passed (whether it’s true or not), or the budget for a temp has dried up. Most big bosses I’ve dealt with really seem to not consider the fact that temp workers have lives and budgets like the rest of us, and it’s ok to just tell the agency we don’t need them to come in anymore. If your supe is cool, and they have insider knowledge, they WILL warn you if they at all can and they feel like they can trust you not to throw them under the bus.

Use this also to figure out if that is the field you want to be in. One of my best teammates had no clue what they wanted to do after college, temped for my team, and realized they were really into consumer goods (vs. say, web or ad jobs). Another temp knew she wanted to do publishing, worked with us anyway, confirmed it for herself, and left to follow her dream. You just don’t always know right from the start, and it’s ok.

All of the above used to seem very common sense to me, but life disabused me of that notion. And because I realize not everyone is on the same level in life, I hope me sharing these tips will help someone to succeed in this field that increasingly wants more and more experience for entry level positions. Because sometimes temp work is how you get there.

Go get ‘em, tiger!

#creative #corporate #design #graphic design #temp workers #freelance #advice

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reddjena · 4 years

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I wanted to take my time and try to narrow down my favorite book releases for each year of the last decade, which meant this post is only now ready to share! As you can see that kinda worked and each year has anywhere from 5-10 featured favorites depending on how much I felt like the titles NEEDED to be on my list for the year either because of the impact of the story or just how well written it was.

These are all books that were released in the year, but I didn’t get them all read the year they came out. That made more sense to me, hopefully it does for you as well 🙂 I almost didn’t include sequels on this list, but then I decided there were too many good ones!

Disclaimer: About half way through making this list and the graphics, I realized that I might not have the original release year for some of these, but instead the release year for a later edition. Please excuse any mistakes related to this error as I’m too lazy to go back and redo all that work!

2010

2010 was a good year for graphic novels as three of my featured five are that format. The Saga of Rex is absolutely stunning and magnificent, so definitely track down a copy of that one to read or snuggle. Return to Labyrinth‘s final volume released this year, and I quite liked the revisit and exploration of old and new characters. Another great conclusion was Keys to the Demon Prison. And I loved this story line for Gotham City Sirens. Just not the fact that they didn’t finish releasing the trade paperback versions to finish out the series. I love me some Mercy Thompson, and Silver Borne was a lovely entry in the series.

2011

This year I included several sequels that I particularly enjoyed, Blackveil, Eona, and Late Eclipses as well as some series starters. Tiger’s Curse was quite interesting and excited me and my friends. I learned a lot about writing styles and telling stories with Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone. Then a little slice of Dungeons & Dragons hit me with the super fun Brimstone Angels, and I’ve been devouring the series since I started it last year.

2012

Venom in Her Veins is an awesome stand alone that my husband clued me in on. And I’ve recently shared Of Giants and Ice with my friends’ foster son, and he’s loving it. Keeper of the Lost Cities and Libriomancer are both great series starters for series that I’ve fallen behind on. I finally finished the series started by Cinder in 2019, and Lesser Evils contains a magic library and talking book! Dollhouse‘s graphic novel helped close some of the gaps left by its abrupt TV show cancellation while Days of Blood & Starlight filled holes while introducing new ones. And Enchanted started a fun series that I believe was cancelled by the publisher after book three.

2013

I’m not sure if I just didn’t read as many 2013 new releases as other years or if it wasn’t a good year for me. We did get some fun fairy tale retellings/spinoffs in The Storybook of Legends and The School for Good and Evil. I discovered a new-to-me superhero to fangirl over, who’s never used for anything fun with Amethyst. Night of Cake & Puppets was utter perfection as both a book and an audiobook. And my favorite dystopia from that era is The Testing, which is both clever and a great trilogy.

2014

Another scant year for favorites, but they are pretty high on my list. The Unfairest of Them All and A Wonderlandiful World finished a marvelous trilogy and I wish it was longer. Cress was a great book three and left me worried about finishing the last book in the series. The Rift showed that Avatar the Last Airbender is just as much fun as a comic as a TV show (even though I wish there was more animation!) And Rat Queens felt like an epic D&D quest but with a cast of all ladies!

2015

This was the year of starting good series but then not finishing them. I do plan on getting back to the world of both Air Awakens and Storm Siren, but after reading the sequel to Red Queen, I dropped that series from my TBR. The Dead House and Castle Hangnail were incredible standalones. Of Enemies and Endings was a fantastic finale to one of my favorite fairy tale crossover/fractures in MG. I think Queen of Shadows might be my favorite from Sarah J. Maas’ first series. And I couldn’t resist adding the artbook for Crimson Peak and the illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to my list!

2016

So hard to choose!!!! So many absolutely amazing books were released this year that I had a very hard hard limiting myself to just ten. Let’s start with MG and YA releases. Shadow Magic and Three Dark Crowns took a unique look at some dark tropes. While The Shadow Queen was everything I wanted from the Snow White and the Huntsman movie. A Court of Mist and Fury helped me understand some of my own darker emotions, and Truthwitch examined a variety of relationships that can shape your life. The Queen of Blood felt like it was written for adult fans of Tamora Pierce. Nevernight had more layers than expected as did Monstress. And The Aeronaut’s Windlass and A Promise of Fire were clever, fun adventures.

2017

This was the year of awesome new-to-me authors or less marketed series, which includes Terminal Alliance, The Crowns of Croswald, The Alchemists of Loom, and Scion of the Fox. Roar and Nevermoor were both great hypes of the year. As was the follow-up to Nevernight, Godsgrave, which was somehow better than the first one. And I fell in love with the art and stories found in The Tea Dragon Society, Not Quite Narwhal, and Blue Eyes & the Beastling.

2018

There were some great graphic novels this year, including Aquicorn Cove, Sanity & Tallulah, and The Ghost, the Owl. Navigating the Stars and The Hazel Wood represented YA with quirks as Sightwitch gave us another glimpse into the Witchlands mythos. Kingdom of Ash brought us to the end of Aelin’s story, which was both heart-rending and satisfactory for the most part. And I discovered a fun, independent urban fantasy author with Three Mages and a Margarita.

2019

And, finally, we come to last year, which was a rich year full of amazing stories, and I did a pretty good job of posting reviews for most of these titles! In an Absent Dream, Darkdawn, Two Witches and a Whiskey, and Bloodwitch did an excellent job expanding their series. Gideon the Ninth, Steel Crow Saga, Crown of Feathers, and Kingdom of Exiles all promise series full of fantastic adventures. Sorcery of Thorns and Mooncakes were both great slices of worlds that I’d like to explore more of but are great standalones.

Whew! That was quite the epic list. I hope you found some of your favorites on the list and maybe even picked up a few more for your TBR. Let me know about either in the comments below!

A Decade of Books in Review: 2010-2019 I wanted to take my time and try to narrow down my favorite book releases for each year of the last decade, which meant this post is only now ready to share!

#2010-2019 #Decade in review #lists #top ten tuesday

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survisinc · 6 years

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Working with Freelancers 2018: Forging a Win-Win Relationship

According to some estimates, the number of Freelancers1 (or “Independent workers” as they are also called) in the U.S. has ballooned from 30.1 million to 40.9 million between 2011 and 2017. That’s an increase of over 35% in just 6 years…and the trend continues to grow. And the freelancing phenomena isn’t just restricted to the U.S. or Canada – it’s global. A research report shows that, between 2004 and 2013, Europe’s2 dependence on Freelancers has grown at an even faster rate – 45% - than the U.S. From Auto CAD designs of prototype drones, to recipe books, business plans and web designing, Freelancers are being used to do it all. And it’s not just mom-and-pop shops and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that are using Freelance talent. Large multinationals and Blue-Chip giants are increasingly embracing freelancing talent. The “Gig economy” is encouraging businesses, both small and large, looking to source talented individuals, to increasingly turn to Freelancers to staff their teams. However, it takes a certain kind of discipline, as an “employer”, to work with Freelancers. If you are new to the world of using Freelancers, here’s what you should know to forge a win-win freelancing partnership.

TIP: Don’t look at Freelancers as “just contractors”. Instead, to really have a fruitful, long-term relationship, structure your relationship as a partnership rather than an employment contract

Why Freelancers

Why? Because they offer the ideal balance between not wanting to ramp-up full-time headcount, while finding people with just the right skills. According to one research report3 , the ranks of Freelancers in the U.S. workforce is growing 3-times faster than the “regular” workforce. Here’s why you might want to consider supplementing your existing team with talented Freelancers:

They are relatively easy to find – if you know where to look

Most Freelancers come “pre-loaded” with the skills you need – that cuts down on your training costs

Many Freelancers bring a diverse set of other experiences (because they may have worked with your competitors or other organizations in your industry) – which further enhances the value they’ll add to your team

Since they aren’t full-time employees, it’s a great way to reduce your costs – you’ll save on HR costs like benefits and overtime

Freelancers usually come with all the tools, technologies and equipment needed to do the job – you won’t need to provide any of that, like you would for most full-time resources

It’s also a great way to manage your own margins – Freelancing contracts usually are fixed-cost undertakings. You know exactly how much it will cost you BEFORE you start a project

The best of breed Freelancers are self-managed professionals – which means you don’t have to spend inordinate amounts of time managing/micro-managing them

The best thing about using Freelancers is that you don’t need to replace your existing workforce with contractors. Instead, the best practice model is to supplement/augment full-time work forces with Freelancers, to ensure companies continue to “refresh” the skills and knowledge of their in-house teams.

TIP: To find out if Freelancers are a good idea for your business, start out by working on a few non-business-critical projects first. Once you’re comfortable with the idea of using them, you can expand your portfolio of freelancer-aided projects

Being a Great Client

If you care to do a web search, you’ll likely find dozens (if not hundreds) of articles on how to be a great Freelancer, or how to find clients as a Freelancer. However, there’s scant material on what it takes to be a good client to a Freelancer. As a business owner, you can easily go out and hire a Freelancer (we’ll tell you where to find them later in this post). But you’ll add even more value to your relationships if you can effectively manage your Freelancer relationships to produce that win-win outcome you (and your Freelancing partners) are looking for. The following tips are meant to help business owners, who plan to use Freelancers, become better clients:

a) Starting the search: If you are new to working with Freelancers, you’re probably wondering: Where do I start? Well, start by going where Freelancers congregate – online! Your best bet would be to start your search at freelancing platforms like UpWork.Com, Freelancer.com or TextBroker.Com. Here are some things to watch out for when choosing where to find Freelancers:

Look for a platform that’s been around for more than a year or two

Make sure they offer freelancing services in line with what you need – hourly, fixed-rate or hybrid of the two

Check out the platform to ensure they offer trustworthy payment modes – secure banking, credible 3rd-party transfers (PayPal)

Find out if they offer Escrow payments to safeguard you against “fly by night” Freelancers

Make sure the site rates and ranks their Freelancers, so you can choose the best-of-best amongst them

TIP: It might be a good idea to work with more than one freelancing platform. Be mindful though that many Freelancers are also members of multiple platforms. You need to consider that when putting out Job Descriptions on multiple sites

b) Making your needs known: You really can’t be a good client if you don’t tell your Freelancer what it is that you need them to do for you. The Job Description is the vehicle through which you achieve that. To make sure your needs are known, ensure you cover the following:

WHO: Be as specific as you can about the skills and experience you want in the Freelancer you are looking to hire

WHAT: Provide a detailed description of job that you want performed. If the task is environment-specific (Policies and Procedures manual for the Health Care industry; Web development supporting CSS3; Macros for Excel 2016, ECMAScript 2017), make sure you spell that out in your Job Description

HOW: Deliverables must be provided to you in a certain form, so you need to convey that. If it’s a Microsoft Word 2010+ document you are expecting – say so. If you also want a PDF and Txt format, make that known

WHY: Many prospective employers of freelance talent think that the “Why” is unimportant. Not true! Sometimes, if you mention why you need a particular task done, and what you intend to use the deliverable for, you’ll be surprised at how much “free advice” a Freelancer can give you about alternate solutions. Some of that feedback can not only be creative, but it might even be a cheaper alternate to what you are proposing

TIP: To find the best Freelancers and attract high-quality responses to your Job Ads, keep your postings short and succinct. Most platforms allow you to provide backup documentation that contains the details of your requirements

c) Workflow: Since most Freelancers will work remotely, it is good practice (at least initially) to enforce a specific work flow. For instance:

If this is a project to produce some technical documentation, you may first wish to validate if they understood what you require of them. You could therefore insist upon a workflow as follows: Bullet-points before outlines; Outlines before Drafts; Drafts before final

Most Freelancers are open to redoing work that the client feels requires some improvement. However, it’s always good practice to establish the number of edits/revisions expected at the outset

You also need to discuss how you wish references and attributions dealt with. In most instances, Freelancers will include references to their research in a way that they do with other clients – only to be told such form isn’t acceptable. A good client will however spell that out in advance: End Notes or Footnotes. In-text links, or links as comments etc.

If your freelancer-provided deliverables include images and graphics, you need to spell out what types of graphics are acceptable (Freeware? Creative Commons Images? Self Created?). A good client will also provide guidelines on graphics use: Format (JPEG, PNG, BMP etc.), Resolution, and location in the deliverable

Rules around document sharing, file naming and common folders (on cloud or shared drives) should also be agreed in advance

Once your relationship is cemented, many of these workflow restrictions may be relaxed. By then, hopefully, your Freelancers will know exactly how you work, and will be finely attuned to delivering to your expectations.

d) Managing expectations: Clients often “assume” that their relationship with the Freelancer is temporary and contractual in nature. However, many longer-term Freelance relationships evolve into more permanent employment opportunities. A good client leaves no doubt what his/her expectations about the working relationship are.

Make sure prospective applicants know exactly what they are getting into – an hourly or fixed-fee contract, with specific deliverables. There should be no confusion about them being part-time or short-term employees – if that’s not what your expectations are. You might have to deal with too many legal challenges if that misconception arises!

TIP: If you plan on making regular/extended use of Freelancers, it might be a good idea to let them know what you expect in terms of commitments from them – Days per week? Hours per day? Number of deliverables per month?

e) Laying down the rules: Make sure you specify timelines, quality parameters, consequences for plagiarism and copyright infringements.

If you plan on using online plagiarism checkers (CopyScape, quetext, Plagiarisma), make sure they know about it, and know which tools they need to build their content to satisfy

Not all content validation tools work to the same set of rules. Make sure you lay down the law about what score is acceptable, and what is unacceptable (90%, 100%, 10 errors/flags per 10,000 words)

If you use SEO scoring tools, like those available at Moz or Yoast, to check for content – make sure they know about it upfront

A good client never ambushes his/her Freelance partners with rules and tools after the fact. Making everyone aware of the rules in advance, ensures that Freelancers don’t unnecessarily spend (unpaid) time and effort re-tooling their deliverables. It also ensures that clients get high-quality deliverables the first time!

TIP: Specifying the rules of the game in advance might result in some “push back” from Freelancers used to working in certain ways. However, it helps them understand what you will be looking for at the outset. That’s a key ingredient for a win-win relationship

f) Communication protocols: Good clients don’t just assume a Freelancer will communicate in line with “what’s expected”. What your version of reasonable communication might be, could be vastly different from what the Freelancer practices with his/her other clients.

Make Freelancers understand how you wish to communicate (email, text, Skype, phone calls, Messenger etc.)

Let them know when they should be available (Pacific Time, Eastern Standard, Mountain Time, GMT), and for what duration

Don’t provide ambiguous response time guidelines – be very clear: Don’t say “at your earliest”, say instead “Within the next 4 hours”

Half the challenges of working with freelancing professionals come from lack of/poor communication. To be a good client, you must ensure you have flexible, but clearly defined, communication protocols in place.

g) Penalties: To be a good client, you have to empathize with your Freelancer – making allowances for occasional errors and omissions. However, if you intend to penalize a Freelancer for any mistakes or lapses, you need to make sure they understand the exact nature of such penalties:

Deducting payment from the agreed-upon fee

Withholding payment for longer duration, until the errors/omissions have been addressed

Demanding future rate discounts, on follow-up assignments, for less than expected quality delivered

If penalties are brought up subsequent to a deliverable being provided, Freelancers are apt to believe that you, as their client, are trying to short-change them. A good client will never want to leave that impression.

TIP: Beware – if you haven’t discussed penalties in advance, and try to withhold payment in the absence of such discussions, Freelancers could initiate arbitration procedures (which some platforms provide for) to recover amounts withheld

h) Payment terms: One of the biggest points of contention, between client and freelancers, is payment. Being a good client often means paying what the Freelancer is worth. However, “worth” is often subjective, and could get lost in the muddle of negotiations. As a good client:

Make sure the rate is clearly defined

Be sure everyone understands which currency payment is being proposed (US dollar Vs Canadian dollar, or Euros, Bitcoin Vs eWallet)

Ensure the terms of the engagement, hourly, deliverable-based, installment-based, are understood

Clearly outline payment schedules

Agree to payment modes that are accessible to the Freelancer (PayPal Vs Paydirekt; or Direct bank transfers Vs Monegram)

Clarify who will pay money transfer/payment platform fees

TIP: A word of caution: Many freelancing platforms do not allow/encourage payments being made or received outside of their forums (they usually receive a fee from Freelancers, Clients and Financial institutions). A good client will never encourage/force Freelancers to break the rules.

i) Feedback and references: Every Freelancer that you end up working with, covets one thing: Great references and feedback from clients. And they will do everything possible to ensure you, as their client, provide them such feedback. It is therefore in your best interest to use that “craving” to your advantage.

Make sure upfront, that Freelancers know exactly what your standards of “client satisfaction” are, so that they can strive throughout the engagement to meet (or even exceed!) them. It would be unfair to grade/rate Freelancers after-the-fact, if they don’t know what the grading scheme is at the outset of a project.

Conversely, a good client will be mindful of the overall impression he/she leaves with the Freelancer. Some freelancing platforms also provide freelancers the opportunity to rate their client. If you wish to remain a client in good standing on that platform, it is therefore in your interest to make sure you receive good feedback and references from your freelancers.

j) Collaboration tools: Even though you may be working through a freelancing platform, that doesn’t mean that you’ll have all the tools built-in to coordinate, cooperate and manage your Freelancers. You might more effectively empower your freelancing team by using other 3rd-party (mostly FREE) collaboration tools, including:

Skype – for voice and video calls, group meetings, chat sessions

Google’s G-Suite – to collaborate on creating document, spreadsheet and presentations, as well as building central repositories (cloud-drives) for project deliverables

Dropbox – for storing, sharing and exchanging documents, videos and other large-format digital files

Scribblar – to brainstorm (whiteboard-style) with a geographically dispersed team

Trello – to manage multi-team task lists and assign individual tasks to a team of Freelancers

TIP: Before you offer to use any of these tools, it’s important to check if the freelancing platform you are using has any rules against such usage. Some platforms have native features in place, and they may penalize their users for making use of 3rd-party tools.

Most importantly though, as part of being a great client, you should check with the Freelancer if he/she is comfortable using such tools. Many freelancers do not like to download tools, or to share personal details required when installing many of the tools mentioned.

Making Freelancing Work

As someone considering working with them, these few tips will hopefully put you on the path to forging win-win relationships with Freelancers. It all comes down to you realizing the need to create value (for yourself) through them. And to do that, you need to empower them with everything they need to succeed.

According to a recent survey4 , Freelancers know exactly what it is that they are looking for in a “good” client. They want someone that:

Values their work (97% respondents)

Allows them freedom to control how they work (95%); and

Allows them to control their schedule (94%)

If you keep the guidelines provided in this blog in mind, you too could become a client-of-choice for all Freelancers you work with.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/elainepofeldt/2018/02/24/why-big-company-freelancing-may-soon-get-a-lot-easier/2/#719a820f613e

[2] https://magazine.startus.cc/freelancers-startups-changing-workforce/

[3] http://spendmatters.com/2018/03/29/enterprises-and-their-freelancers-what-does-upworks-recent-study-tell-us/

[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/elainepofeldt/2018/02/24/why-big-company-freelancing-may-soon-get-a-lot-easier/2/#719a820f613e

from Survis Posts https://survis.com/posts/working-with-freelancers-2018-forging-a-win-win-relationship

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