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dollsorwhatever · 1 year

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Merliah dump lol

This is such a random-ass fixation but here we go lol While I was looking for older Mattel Ariel dolls for my collection on Facebook marketplace a few months back, I somehow managed to stumble across a used Mermaid Tale 2 Mini Merliah doll-one of my most random doll grails- for the very very low price of 5$ which began a renewed interest in Barbie in a Mermaid Tale dolls lol

I've always been a huge fan of the Mini Kingdom line but dissatisfied with the body they used (and the massive balloon hobbit-era head sculpt they switched to in 2008-ish), so I was pretty excited when the Mermaid Tale 2 mini dolls came out with not only a teeny tiny Belly Button body, but also a new miniaturized GG head sculpt! Sadly they were Wal-mart exclusive dolls and were sold in very limited quantities so I never had a chance to get them when they came out, and they have been nearly impossible to find secondhand since then so I have been searching for them for years to no avail lol

(photos from google, pls let me know if they belong to you) this is also my obligatory plea for anyone to let me know if they have these for sale or find them anywhere because I still desperately want the Kylie doll and an NIB set of both lol After getting the mini doll, I thought it would be a good time to repurchase the deluxe Transforming Merliah doll I had when I was a teenager- one of my favorite dolls back in the OG doll Flickr days! I've always loved her face and the general aesthetic of the line (but not necessarily the construction..we'll get to that later) so she's always been a favorite of mine.

(the time stamp is killing me lmao)

At first I decided to just get my hands on a singular used Merliah doll to reroot and a collection of all of her outfits from previous movies, but upon her arrival I was pretty shocked to open up the padded envelope and discover a completely squishy head with no glue!

(I also rooted extra hair into her head for thickness but that's beside the point lol) Turns out the earliest batches of the original Merliah doll (Including international versions) are glue-free, while later ones have gluehead. This is probably a result of Mattel not fully integrating the glue-head method for every single doll until about the middle of Monster High's original run, which is why certain batches of Mattel dolls from between 2008-2012 still have squishy heads despite glue head already being a thing. At this point I decided to start hunting for more glue-free Merliah dolls (going by vibes and prayers alone to figure out which ones had no glue) one for each outfit. Next up was an NIB Merliah that came in the international package (luckily also with no glue, especially because I paid an egregious amount of money to get her NRFB):

I also started working on a set of two Merliah mermaid dolls, using multiple parts combined together and a set of rerooted Merliah dolls with solid pink streaks (instead of the color change ones that she comes with). The original deluxe Merliah dolls are pretty infamous for having some of the worst looking tail construction, so if I wanted a set of good mermaid dolls I would have to get creative lol

(Mermaid Tale 1's tail turns into a beach coverup and MT2's tail turns into a literal surfboard...bye) They also made a set of 'budget' mermaid dolls with more traditional fabric tails, which serve as the primary base parts for my versions:

MUCH nicer tails, but their fins are really dinky and flimsy and they could both use some more details, and the dolls are ofc way too basic lol

Mermaid Tale 2 Merliah was the first to get going because I found the pieces I needed at a lower price than the ones I need for the original Merliah, but she's also still unfinished while I wait for her rerooted head to come lol First I made a mockup, using the budget tail with the deluxe doll fin just to make sure the parts would fit together :

Then my finished tail, with some added detail around the fin to look a bit more deluxe lol:

Gorg! And very headless (for now) I also switched out her legs with the standard hollow plastic beach feet legs that the budget Merliah dolls have, because I hate the legs she came with lol Original Merliah is definitely my favorite though, and the one who cost the most for me to put together (and also got the most love lol) and also got finished the soonest. My mockup for her:

Originally I planned to add a Fountain Mermaid Barbie fin to her tail in order to make it larger, but eventually decided on Secret Door Romy's fins for the bottom layer instead, because they look more cohesive to the rest of her tail/fin and look more 'official' instead of looking like...well a 1993 tail slapped on a 2009 doll lol Ofc she needed a reroot to start with (commissioned from 292millimeters on Instagram!):

And then I (very reluctantly, because it was like 80$ lol) purchased the budget mermaid Merliah doll, a used Secret Door Romy outfit for the fabric fins and a bag of fuschia hotfix gemstones and put her together!

I also switched the tiaras between the Original and MT2 doll because the pink tiara matches her better, and I think it makes more sense for the original mermaid form to be more muted and for the "upgraded" sequel form to be more colorful. The extra fin on the bottom really gives the tail that little bit of extra length it needed to look like an actual, legitimate Deluxe Merliah doll tail imo, as does the longer hair and the gem on her top! And if you don't think this is a vast improvement from the original Deluxe doll's outfit....well

It was lowkey a little painful to put my stock Merliah back into her mermaid form for this comparison but it had to be done, it's just so ugly!!! This was a really random project resulting from a very spur of the moment purchase of a 5$ doll, but I really love these dolls and this line, and it felt good to fulfill the wishes of 15-year old me-and all of the other collectors on Flickr bitd who were absolutely livid about Merliah's original tail being so incredibly bad lol I've been having a lot of fun with these "what if" projects I've been doing recently, it's only further proven to me that I am a much happier collector when I actually take my own time working on whatever interests me in that moment and put everything I have into fully realizing my vision to the smallest detail (even if it's for something as niche as this, and even if it costs more money than it should) instead of putting so much emphasis on dealing with the hell that is trying to keep up with and purchase every new doll, even at the expensive of my financial and mental health and even if it personally does absolutely nothing to enrich my collection or my creativity to be constantly worried about missing out on whatever new RH doll is out lol

#barbie #barbie in a mermaid tale #merliah #barbie in a mermaid tale 2 #mermaid

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warcrimesimulator · 2 years

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Searching on Flickr without search specifically being set to tags can sometimes be insane. I literally just searched up aardwolf i am looking for pics of aardwolves the cute little insectivore hyneas. what the fuck is all this

#tag-only search filters most unrelated shit out #meanwhile.. on deviantart.. you no longer have such a luxury which is why I no longer source wildlife photos from dA. it sucks.

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honeydewtreacle · 4 months

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Thanks for all of that! That's awesome information. I am also the kind of person who has "need to know everything" hyperfixations. It's currently week 3 or 4 I think. What kind of interviews do you watch? I've been watching all the ones I can find, but a lot of them are either from School of Rock and later. Plus a handful of them from 2020 are difficult to find. Is there a huge chunk I'm missing? How long have you been a fan of (or been hyperfixated on) Alex?

P.S. I feel so stupid! Of course I've seen BROdway lol. I just didn't pay attention to the title, but I love that vid.

This is my playlist of all his interviews and podcasts (that are on youtube, check spotify too). It includes interviews from the other (m)orons too if you're interested.

I'll also add that a good way to find things is looking through fan accounts and seeing if you can source all of their pictures, a lot of them don't even know what the pictures are of themselves and where theres one picture there's usually a few. You can also use advanced search indicators to search sites like YouTube and Twitter for posts before dates before he was ridiculously popular (2014 is a good year for that).

Flickr is a great source as well if you're looking for pictures, but it can be difficult because many people don't name their photos. I also personally don't repost photos I find on Flickr because I consider it a semi-public site, like Facebook its completely public, but most people still expect a level privacy and you can never know what people don't want reshared.

I've only been a fan for a year! Not that even, it was literally New Years last year that I first came across his work and it clicked for me immediately. Although I'm not really interested in BJTM anymore, I'm happy I found out about it because it got me where I am now.

(Also attaching this here because it completely slipped my mind, bur there's also an I Could Use a Drink Kickstarter with a fun video if you haven't seen it)

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mantacid · 9 months

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had to write the weirdest bug report today:

(ALT TEXT below cut)

I figured out that all the recurring images came from Flickr, which makes me think that they’re employing really aggressive SEO. however, anytime I look up anything containing the phrase “SEO“ i only get articles on how to implement it, and none about anyone is abusing it.

the github bug report page for a search engine. The title reads “Image results always contain stock images of Herons, regardless of the query.“ The rest of the report reads: “Version (as listed by one affected public instance): 2023.7.29+8b4ba20 NOTE: This bug has occurred across several public instances, over a period of just under a year, Thus, affected versions may vary. I have included the version of the one I am currently using. Maybe one of the search engines has a broken API? Or they're doing it to punish scraping? perhaps it's SEO gone awry. whatever it is, it has made SearX barely usable for image searches.EDIT: all the recurring images appear to be from staticflickr.How To Reproduce search for literally anything click on images scroll down Expected behavior: images are for the most part related to the search query.Observed behavior: Birds. Mostly Herons, but there's usually at least one image of some spoonbills.“

#i am cursed when it comes to computers

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antiqueanimals · 2 years

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Where do you find your images from? I love your blog, it's a great source for phone wallpapers and new artists! 😊

I'll usually just kinda randomly scour online but some sites I find myself returning to are Flickr, eBay, Etsy, Christie's, MutualArt, The Book Palace, Invaluable- lots of online auction places, personal blogging platforms, museums, etc. I'd love to give a more comprehensive list but I'm kind of insane when I'm searching for content so I'm literally all over the place all the time

#Fun fact- I've gotten SO many viruses running this blog #tysm btw!!!!!#replies

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nostalgebraist · 3 years

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what’s your (and frank’s as well i guess) profile picture?? i keep seeing it and getting curious

Good question! There are sort of two answers . . .

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Answer #1:

It’s a green horse, which I found by doing a Google image search for “green horse” in September 2014.

Why did I want to change my avatar to a green horse? A tumblr mutual had a dream involving me, but she’d never seen a picture of me, and her brain decided to make me look like a “bright green talking horse.”

I thought it’d be funny to change my avatar in response. I’ve kept the avatar ever since.

(On a completely [?] unrelated note, that tumblr mutual and I are married now.)

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Answer #2:

It’s a painting by someone who goes by doni19 on Flickr, part of a whole series of colored horse paintings.

I’m ashamed to say this, but I literally learned that twenty minutes ago. When I found the picture originally, it seemed to only exist on a bunch of webpages explaining color theory, none of which credited the artist.

If I had known I’d keep this avatar for 6+ years, maybe I would have looked harder for its source so I could give proper credit, but I thought of it as a dumb joke I would probably keep for a week at most. Then I got used to it, and stopped thinking of it as a painting unto itself, or anything except just “my avatar.”

Your ask made me go back to Google Images and dig a little harder, and now I know! I’ve added a credit to the nav bar on top of my blog.

(Hmm, I can’t remember if that nav bar is even visible on mobile . . . if not, I should maybe move it to the normal description area)

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[Answer #??: others have dreamed of the horse, and their dreams whisper of different, secret origins . . . ]

#nostalgebraist meta #jupitrr

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writerchic6 · 3 years

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Wait so do people just not use messenger bags anymore??? I just got one for the first time in almost 12 years and I was looking for inspiration of how to decorate mine and everything on Pinterest etc now is just men’s every day carry leather work bags. What happen to all of us lugging around those awful nylon and canvas fuckers??? Ones with anime logos and a shit ton of buttons or patches??? I literally had to search for Flickr images of people’s what’s in my bag photos from 2008.

Ironically this bag is my work bag and it converts into a backpack but it was just something I noticed.

I miss it

#yes it’s 3am #yes I am this is plaguing me at night #messenger bag #what’s in my bag #2012 #2008 #weeb

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maryanntorreson · 3 years

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The 12 Days Of Cookiemas: Holiday Pastries From Around The World

There’s something about the holidays that make cookies an inevitability. As the temperatures dip down, baking cookies is an excuse to turn on the oven and fill the kitchen with both warmth and the smells of vanilla and cinnamon. Cookies are a great way to feed gatherings of people, without the need for cutting or slicing. And as the evenings get darker and we start to stay inside more, they’re a welcome escape. Traditional Christmas cookies are nostalgia wrapped in sugar.

Another great thing about cookies is how varied they can be. It’s tempting to always stick with the same pastries your parents made, but that limits your possibilities. To help you diversify, we looked at some of the most popular cookies in other countries. Presenting the 12 Days of Cookiemas, with recipes for traditional Christmas cookies from around the world.

1. German Pfeffernusse

Pfeffernusse are very popular throughout Germany and the Netherlands during the holiday season. The name literally means “pepper nuts,” which sounds far less appealing than they actually are. They’re similar to gingerbread, but thicker, softer and covered with a firm sugar icing. The snowball appearance gives them an extra wintery look. You can buy them in many stores in the United States, but nothing beats the homemade kind.

2. Argentinian Alfajores

Alfajores are kind of like Oreos, but also they’re nothing like Oreos. These pastries are two soft cookies held together by dulce de leche, and the combination is delicious. The origins of this cookie apparently go back to Spain over 1,000 years ago, when a slightly more rudimentary form of the pastry was made. The recipe traveled to South America during the colonial era, and they were really perfected in Argentina.

3. Polish Kołaczki

Photo by Kurman Communications, Inc. via Flickr. License.

Perhaps the greatest feature of kołaczki is that they’re very versatile. The exterior is constant — a cream cheese dough with a nice flakiness — but the inside can be whatever you’d like. Whether filled with almond spread, strawberry or even Nutella, kołaczki are a delicious cookie. Poland, the Czech Republic and other countries all claim to have invented this pastry, but its exact origin is lost to history. You don’t need to know where they’re from to eat them, though.

4. British Stained Glass Cookies

Don’t worry, there’s no actual glass in stained glass cookies. It’s essentially a sugar cookie with holes cut into it, where you add crushed candy that’s heated to turns into a “pane.” So it’s literally a candy window. These cookies are great to eat, but they’re also used for another purpose: decoration. You can put a hole near the top and put string through them. Some people hang them on their Christmas trees or in their windows. Of course, you can also just eat them, because some people might think it’s weird to have stale cookies hanging around your house.

5. Eastern European Rugelach

Rugelach, traditionally a Jewish pastry, is not explicitly associated with any holiday. Yet it seems that as December rolls around, these cookies start to appear. They often makes an appearance at holiday parties, regardless of the host’s religious affiliation. They’re kind of like mini croissants, with dough wrapped around jam, cinnamon, chocolate and nuts. The filling is variable, but the enjoyment is not.

6. Austrian Vanillekipferl

Vanillekipferl are almond-flavored pastry crescents. Their origin is a bit muddled, but they’re popular in Austria, Hungary, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. It’s believed that the cookie’s crescent shape is based on the Turkish crescent moon that you can see on Turkey’s flag. They were made like this to celebrate the Hungarian defeat of the Turkish in one of several battles in the Ottoman-Hungarian Wars. This is clearly not the most holiday-friendly story, but hey, they’re cookies. Vanillekipferl are eaten year-round in Austria, but they’re considered a holiday treat in most other countries.

7. German Zimtsterne

Yes, we chose two cookies from Germany, but these are worth it. After all, Germany is famous for traditional Christmases, so it only makes sense they would have the plentiful traditional Christmas cookies. Often called cinnamon stars, these cookies are made from almonds and cinnamon. In the old days of Germany, cinnamon was a rare spice, and so these cookies were considered a specialty item. They became associated with Christmas because it was the time of year when people splurged on the finer things. They’re always shaped like six-pointed stars, so let them light up your dark night.

8. Italian Anginetti

Italy has no shortage of small cookies for the holiday season, but anginetti are a particular favorite. They’re pretty typical drop cookies with a slight lemony taste, but there’s something irresistible about the glaze with the sprinkles. The sprinkles also give them a very festive look that make them a colorful part of any cookie plate. They’re also a lot less heavy than your average cookie, so you can eat more without feeling guilty.

9. Finnish Joulutorttu

This is a treat of many names. Joulutorttu literally translates to “Christmas tart,” but they’re more commonly known in English as prune tarts. Don’t let that name scare you away. Prunes are not always bad, and these cookies prove it. They cookies are also called pinwheels, thanks to their whimsical appearance that is formed by folding the dough in a certain way. They’re particularly enjoyable when paired with a cup of coffee.

10. Scottish Shortbread

Shortbread seems are a pretty lackluster cookie when judged on looks alone, but it’s hard to beat the buttery, crumbly flavor. These cookies are great whether you make them yourself or buy them in a tartan tin. Shortbread also has history: they’ve been around since medieval times in Scotland. Their popularity is sometimes credited to Mary, Queen of Scots, who apparently enjoyed them during her reign in the 16th century. This story, while fun, is probably false. These traditional Christmas cookies predate Queen Mary’s reign.

11. Mexican Biscochitos

Are those wedding bells I hear? Why no, it’s just biscochitos. These are usually called “Mexican wedding cookies” outside Mexico, and they are indeed heavily associated with matrimony. That doesn’t mean you can’t have them whenever, though, and they are a nice treat in cold weather. These tend to be very simple to make. Biscochitos are flour, nuts and a few other ingredients are baked together and then rolled in powdered sugar.

12. French Madeleines

The French consider madeleines to be a small cake, but we’ll call them Christmas cookies for simplicity’s sake. These spongy pastries are not for the novice cook, as the recipe is a little complex. Fortunately, you can also buy them at any French bakery. Madeleines can be made in a few different flavors, like chocolate and lavender, but lemon ones are the most common. Madeleines are some of the prettiest cookies in existence, so they’ll work very well for your Instagram. They’re best paired with a cup of tea and a novel (maybe even French novelist Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, where madeleines play a central role).

The post The 12 Days Of Cookiemas: Holiday Pastries From Around The World appeared first on Babbel.

The 12 Days Of Cookiemas: Holiday Pastries From Around The World published first on https://premiumedusite.tumblr.com/rss

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currantlee · 3 years

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German Postillon articles about the US Election translated

@theeeveetamer sent me this post in which someone translated German Postillon headlines about the US Election. Der Postillon is a German satire website disguised as a newspaper, kind of the German equivalent to The Onion.

So, I translated one of the articles for her and it was really, really fun. So I thought I might do more and share it on my blog so hopefully more people can have a laugh!

But first of all...

Gotta keep the American Spirit on this blog everyone!

Before I continue though: Please keep in mind that the Postillon is a satire website! None of the news in this post are actually true, it’s just meant to have a good laugh. I am repeating this again: none of these are actually real! I also want to make clear that none of those were written by me, I merely translated them! Credit to all the original texts and pictures goes to the Postillon. Except for the American flag. Credit to flickr for that one.

Anyways, let’s go and hopefully have some laughs.

Experts are certain that Donald Trump is going to win the Election because 2020 has been a shitty year so far anyways

Washington D.C. – Joe Biden hopes to put an end to Trump’s presidency after four years: he is clearly ahead in the polls on this Election Day. Despite that, most experts are sure that Trump will win – because so far, 2020 has been a shitty year anyways!

“If you look at the average of the national polls, Joe Biden is currently more than 8% ahead of Trump,” politic scientist Marianne Waters from the renowned Princeton University explains. “This means that his lead is way greater than Hillary Clinton’s in 2016. Under normal circumstances, you’d say that he’s already won the Election.”

She pauses for a second. “But now, please think about what a fucked up mess of a year 2020 has been so far! And then, think again about whether or not the American people are that fucked up in their brains to elect this human catastrophic failure for four more years! We’re talking about a year in which a global pandemic is going rampant across the planet anyways, we’re seeing islamistic and nazi terror attacks at the daily and entire havens are exploding ‘completely by accident’! Is there anybody who seriously believes in a sensible result of this election?!”

At least, scientists aren’t fully ruling out the possibility of Biden winning the Election. However, because this is 2020, the chance of an asteroid hitting the earth five minutes after this has happened is nothing but small.

– Der Postillon, 3rd of November 2020 (Original title: Experten sicher, dass Trump gewinnen wird, weil 2020 eh schon ein Scheißjahr ist). Translated by Seaberry Siren

“Oh Shit!” – Putin completely forgot to manipulate the US Election

Moskow – How can one be so scatterbrained! Wladimir Putin just realized to his very own horror that he completely forgot to manipulate the US Election. Now, his candidate Donald Trump is in trouble.

“Bljad! {T/N: Russian for “crap”} I knew I forgot something really important!”, Putin says. “But due to all the inner politics, the corona virus and all the other countries our hackers need to manipulate elections in, I totally forgot about the United States! This is just great!”

He turns to his assistant. “Dima! USA! Can we turn something around there? ... No? ... Really?! And if we deliver arms to the... How are those guys called again... Proud Boys? WHAT?! They already have enough of those?!? Oh well.”

However, in the end, Putin puts up with the situation after all: “Ah, we’ll see. Maybe everything will turn out fine one way or another.” He turns to his assistant again: “Dima, make an appointment with Donald Trump jr. as soon as possible! I heard he is is just as dumb as his father and has political ambitions as well. We’ll survive Biden until 2024.”

– Der Postillon, 4th of November 2020 (Original title: “Ach Kacke!” – Putin hat völlig vergessen, US-Wahlen zu manipulieren). Translated by Seaberry Siren with help from Theeeveetamer

Employees of the Oval Office try to stop Trump from tweeting “CIVIL WAR!!!! Kill all Democrats!”

Washington D.C. – While votes are still being counted all over the USA, dramatic scenes start to unfold in the White House. Currently multiple employees are trying to prevent President Donald Trump from grabbing his smartphone in order to tweet the words “CIVIL WAR!!!! Kill all Democrats!”.

“No Mr. President!”, an assistant shouts as she holds Trump’s arm. “Don’t do this! I have a family! I don’t want a civil war! Jack, restrain him, damnit! Anna, don’t stand there and stare so stupidly, help us! Ian, put his smartphone as far away as you can!”

In the meantime, countless citizens of the USA are wondering why Trump didn’t tweet anything for more than seven hours.

“Leave me alone!”, Trump cries as he desperately tries to reach his smartphone. “They want to steal my election by letting every vote count! Even those of the Democrats! I WANT TO SEE BLOOD!!!”

Meanwhile, outside of the White House, more and more people are speculating that Trump could accept a possible loss due to his silence on Twitter.

– Der Postillon, 4th of November 2020 (Original title: Mitarbeiter versuchen Trump davon abzuhalten, "CIVIL WAR!!!! Kill all Democrats!" zu twittern). Translated by Seaberry Siren

Not that as well! Half-Blind 100-year-old man who counts all the votes by his own dies of old age

Harrisburg – Oh no! Everything is going to take even longer now! James Reed, the 100-year-old man tasked with counting all the votes of the US Election surprisingly just died.

“Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to task one man of his age with the counting of millions of votes,” the chief of the Electoral Office stated. “Unfortunately, he was the only one with a license for this important job.”

After the closing of the polling stations, Reed, who was responsible for counting the votes since the 1970s, traveled from state to state in order to count all the votes.

“He took his job very seriously. He’d often take 20 minutes in order to count a single vote,” an election assistant recalls as tears of gried run over her cheeks. “But just after he counted 92% of the votes at Michigan, he suddenly fell from his chair.”

The doctor who was called immediately could only confirm the death of the 100-year-old man.

The worst part is that Reed didn’t get to name a successor before his passing. This is why the authorities are desperately searching for a new person able to lift sheets of paper, read printed letters, ánd count one by one at the same time. Due to the American education system, this is going to be a challenge {T/N: Germans throwing a bit of shade here when their own education system isn’t something to be proud on either}.

– Der Postillon, 4th of November 2020 (Original title: Auch das noch! Halbblinder 100-Jähriger, der allein alle US-Stimmen auszählt, an Altersschwäche gestorben). Translated by Seaberry Siren

US Election: Trump lies way out in front

Washington D.C. – A good chunk of the votes of the US Election have been counted by now and there seems to be a trend: Donald Trump clearly lies way out in front! As expected, the President of the United States is taking the lead in the traditionally Republican states. But even in the Swing States, he already sees himself as the winner, even if it’s only with very little sanity.

“Trump clearly lies way out in front,” the politics expert Dean Jefferson affirms. “As in: he stands in front of an audience and lies their heads off!”

Many didn’t expect that Trump could lie way out in front this comfortably at this point of the cote count. Other less optimistic individuals had predicted a neck-and-airhead race {T/N: in German that’s Kopf-an-Hohlkopf-Rennen, literally head-on-airhead race} from the beginning.

– Der Postillon, 5th of November 2020 (Original title: US-Wahl: Trump lügt vorne). Translated by Seaberry Siren

Damned mess of a US Election STILL isn’t over!

Washington D.C. – FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE!!! At some point, enough is enough, isn’t it? The damned mess of a US Election STILL isn’t over after three days of counting the votes because the people in some Federal States apparently can’t manage to count the ballots!

Seriously: can they even count at all? Didn’t they know that the voters like to turn their ballots in with a vote on them and that you have to count these votes in order to determine a winner?!?

An average election of the Federal Congress {T/N: they mean the German Federal Congress, also known as the Bundestag} is finished, predicted and decided one second after closing the polling stations {T/N: Yes, German elections are that boring}. An official end result is provided in the next morning at the latest! How in the world can the Americans be trundle as fuck like this?!?

Suggestion: we ignore the entire shitshow over there for the next few weeks until those idiots have punched their faces in and once the victor is clear, there is one short headline: “Winner of the US Election: [insert winner’s name here]”. Then this whole crap would... WHAT?? Biden takes the lead at Georgia by 900 votes? Wowowowow! Just a moment please, I’ll have a look at the livetracker. Did CNN already comment on this? Nate Silver already tweeted as well... This has to be it for Biden! Now it can’t take much longer!

OH MY GOD, HOW EXITING!!!

– Der Postillon, 6th of November 2020 (Original title: Verdammte Drecks-US-Wahl immer noch nicht zu Ende!). Translated by Seaberry Siren

“If I can’t have it, then nobody will!” – Trump sets the White House on fire

Washington D.C. – A victory of Joe Biden in the US election is becoming more and more likely. But the answer to the question whether the Democrat is really going to move into the White House could be decided by a completely different factor than the votes – because apparently, Donald Trump is trying to burn the White House down now.

“If I can't have it, then nobody will!”, the US President says as he spreads gasoline at strategic points while he starts laughing manically: “AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Shortly after, the Oval Office is up in flames. “Let’s see how Sleepy Joe will rule from a burned-down ruin!”, Trump exclaims with a shrill voice as he adds more fuel to the fire. “AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Burn, my little fire, burn!”

Directly before publishing this article, Trump realized that this wasn’t the best idea as he cut off his own escape route with the last bits of the fuel. “Oh! So this wasn’t very clever... IVANKAAAAAAA!! The Democrats set me on fire! Rescue the best president of all time!!!”

– Der Postillon, 6th of November 2020 (Original title: “Wenn ich es nicht haben kann, soll es keiner haben! – Trump setzt Weißes Haus in Brand). Translated by Seaberry Siren

"Enough!” – The Queen reclaims the United States for the British Empire

London – She’s got enough of this nonsense! Queen Elizabeth II. announced the return of the United States to the British Empire. A new, freshly assigned gouverneur will arrive in Washington shortly and take over the government business.

“We have been watching this unworthy ham without doing anything for far too long,” the Queen declared in a fiery speech. “It is time to return the colony where it belongs: into the lap of the United Kingdom. The experiment is hereby ended.”

Shortly after, the British Navy occupied important havens at the East Coast. On friday afternoon, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and Miami had already been seized.

Apparently months of the global pandemic, national economic instability and a tiring election campaign did the trick: a wide range of the US population greeted the British soldiers euphorically and vowed to be loyal to the British Crown. “Long live the Queen!”-chants echoed through the streets.

Washington D.C. is still in the hands of the rebels lead by Donald Trump. However, observers believe that the British troops will seize the capital next week. According to the Queen’s orders, Trump will be put into chains and brought to Great Britain by ship in order to spend the rest of his days in the Tower of London by water and bread.

– Der Postillon, 6th of November 2020 (Original title: “Jetzt reicht’s!” – Queen unterstellt USA wieder der Britischen Krone). Translated by Seaberry Siren

#Politics #Satire #Translation #US Election 2020 #USA #Donald Trump #Joe Biden #Wladimir Putin #Queen Elizabeth II.#German #German Humor #Humor #SeaSi translates

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dollsorwhatever · 4 years

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Tarina Tarantino Barbie OOAK 2008

I can’t believe how surreal this is for me LOL story and photos below the cut!! In 2008, jewelry designer Tarina Tarantino collaborated with Mattel to create a collection of Barbie jewelry pieces... and a Barbie Collector doll:

Let me tell you, this doll was EVERYTHING to me. I was thirteen, about to be fourteen, and this doll was the only thing I wanted for my birthday, period. I spent hours just looking at her online; the fluffy, curly pink hair, the incredibly detailed jewelry, all of those amazing clothing pieces and the stunning box, her gorgeous face.. I would have died for this doll lol. To this day, she’s my favorite Barbie Collector doll ever released, and one of my favorite Barbie dolls to ever exist, I was so giddy when I got her! The good parts are below the cut:

When the doll was launched at Tarina Tarantino’s studio in 2008, there were six OOAK custom dolls on display at the party as well, to be auctioned off for charity. They’re the same base doll as the general release Tarina, but the hair and jewelry are unique and they each came with a fully bedazzled car (or a Moped in one example), and a piece of jewelry from the collection. The six dolls were: Candy Cameo Barbie

Sparkling Star Barbie

Peace, Love and Sparkle Barbie

Hippie Princess Barbie

Glam Rock Barbie

And finally, the subject of this post, Popstar Barbie

I can’t even describe how much I LOVED these dolls, particularly Popstar and Sparkling Star. I had their pictures saved on my computer and I would just look at them all the time, google pictures of them from the launch party and think about how lucky I would be to own one of them. Sadly I wasn’t very careful with my dolls when I was 14, and eventually my Tarina became a little busted and I got rid of her. I did get a second one at Big Lots when I was 15, but I kinda destroyed her too lol. What’s funny is that Tarina is actually the #1 reason why I became a member of the online doll community; I tried washing her (curly, kanekalon) hair, ruined it, and in searching for ways to fix it I found and joined the Flickr doll community, without which I never would have learned about doll photography, hair restyling or any of the amazing dolls I discovered through this community. She quite literally changed my life when I was 14 lol. Anyways, I’ve always wanted to get a new Tarina to leave NIB but it was never the right time, until last week when I decided to go looking at pictures of her...and then, at the top of Google Images, was a listing for Popstar Barbie, with her Swarovski encrusted Corvette, on a secondhand designer clothing website for about 340$.

I can’t even describe how FRANTIC I became lmfao. I had to wait about 4 days to buy her, until I got paid, and then I bought her as quickly as I could. She just got here today and frankly, I can die happy now. Sorry for these rough pics lol I have a migraine and didn’t want to set up to take good photos today. She came in a plain white cardboard box with a Tarina Tarantino sticker on the top, wrapped in pink tissue paper:

She is in EXCELLENT condition, even her hair looks completely untouched. Here’s a photo of her that was taken around the time of the launch:

She’s in the same condition as she was, all those years ago when this photo was taken! As previously mentioned, her base is identical to the general release; the only differences are that her hair is rooted with a side part and (expertly) cut and styled into a Farrah wave, her jewelry is entirely different and custom made, and her purse is covered with little rhinestones to match. Also her stand is signed by Tarina!! She’s incredibly beautiful, ughh

I think her jewelry might actually be Swarovski, since Tarina really likes to work with their stones. She’s absolutely pristine, actually I’m quite certain she was put in the box immediately after the auction and never touched again. Much to my delight and surprise, she also came with the original auction card, the pedestal it stood on, and her COA, all wrapped in official Tarina Tarantino tissue paper (as well as the necklace, still in the little drawstring baggy):

This was SO exciting for me to see as I never expected the card to be included, but I’m so pleased to have it! And last but not least, the car!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was fully wrapped in plastic in the shipping box, and I re-wrapped it after taking this quick/messy photo. It’s the 2008 TRU exclusive Corvette, but absolutely SOAKED in crystals. The rims and tires, the headlights, even the seatbelts and windshield edges are just absolutely covered in different, individually placed stones (mostly Swarovski AB crystals I believe) Also! That black thing on the front is a resin SKULL with gemstone eyes!!!! Absolutely incredible. I find it absolutely, completely 100% unbelievable that I own this doll, this doll that I’ve coveted since I was 14 and NEVER thought I would own in a million years, this one of a kind doll that was physically displayed at Tarina Tarantino’s studio and signed by Tarina herself...and she’s mine. It frankly feels like destiny considering how much I love the original doll, and how big a part she’s played in my life as a doll collector. I also purchased a general release Tarina Barbie shortly after getting her, to keep NIB and display with the OOAK (and also because I really, really, really missed owning her lol)

The current plan is to keep this doll NIB, and then purchase another NIB Tarina- that way I’ll have one to debox and restyle, and I can repackage the OOAK in her box for permanent safekeeping and display. Actually I plan on purchasing two more Tarinas haha; one NIB to steal her box and leave stock, and a loose one to restyle and rebody lol. As for the car, I plan on packaging it to remain pristine and safe, perhaps in a clear acrylic case, and putting it in my closet for safekeeping when it’s not on display in my room. I plan on setting up my lightbox (the one I’ve owned for years and literally never use) and taking a shit ton of detailed, HQ photos of both Barbie and her Corvette for documentation purposes; I feel absolutely honored to own this doll and I really want to capture every detail for people to see. Anyway long post, thanks for reading sksksks

#barbie #tarina tarantino #tarina tarantino barbie #barbie collector gold label #gold label #barbie signature #2008 #ooak doll

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kellylouise-blog · 4 years

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Learning How To Idea

A few weeks ago, an ad on Facebook caught my attention. It was an ad for a writing course specifically about how to conjure ideas! Clearly Facebook knows all because that’s (shockingly) something I’ve always struggled with. My ideas for writing tend to just show up when I’m not looking so this was a new challenge to actively seek them out!

The course was called “Seven Ideas in Seven Days” and was offered by Writers HQ. It was short and sweet but I honestly learnt so much from it; about how ideas are literally everywhere, in everything you hear, see and think about. The structure of the course meant I got a new idea every day! I unfortunately caught the flu half way through which threw off my writing storm a bit but I made it through and honestly think I have some good ideas on my hands!

I wanted to post what I’ve written here (below the cut), with a brief look at the tips in the course! If you choose to glance through the ideas I came up with, let me know if anything looks promising to you or if you have any other ideas or feedback, anything is appreciated!

DAY ONE (take a mundane event or everyday task and look at it from different perspectives):

Channel 0: [omniscient] A large family is only ever together at funerals (and weddings, stuff like that.) The youngest sibling has recently died after a tragic accident. There are six siblings in total, their parents long gone.

Channel 1: Viewpoint of the second youngest sibling, Matthew, who was closest to the deceased and considered his brother to be his best friend. The duo were inseparable and he is heartbroken to be without him. He hasn’t seen any of his other siblings in over two years, since the death of their mother (the father having died years before that). And he doesn’t want to see them, either.

Channel 2: Viewpoint of the deceased brother - a kind of ghostly perspective. He looks over the scene of his funeral, introducing his siblings to the reader, critiquing them and silently joining their awkward conversations.

Channel 3: Viewpoint from the eldest sibling, who is dying from terminal cancer. She too, notices how seldom she sees her family and notes that she likely never will again.

Channel 4: Game-of-Thrones style perspective switch between each of the characters throughout the day of the funeral.

DAY TWO (use a random literary quote generator online and take the last couple of words as a title! Then visit Flickr and take the third featured image as your book cover. Now, what’s the story?)

R1 (developing the story, random ideas):

A detective story or murder mystery. A body is discovered in a marshy, boggy, forest area by passerbys (hikers? joggers?)

Maybe someone who’s been missing a while - search party discovery

Maybe something more supernatural - a group or couple out hiking and then, suddenly, one of them disappears. Found later, butchered.

More horror film-esque - a night camping in the woods

A serial killers territory or dumping ground

Or the moor is alive - it swallows you whole

R2 (favouring supernatural idea): Who - A group of friends (18-25yrs) out camping. The forest/moor is rumoured to be haunted and dangerous. Amy is the most scared and skeptical of the group. But boyfriend Tom promises to protect her. (see where this is going?)

Two groups of couples (one hetero, one homo) and two single, “platonic” friends.

One of the “platonic” friends (Sophie) is first to disappear - later found by the other singleton James.

Throughout the night, the group starts to disappear, one by one, murdered by unknown forces. Eventually, it’s just Amy and Tom. But in the end, the moor gets him too as it swallows him whole, faster than quicksand.

Finally, Amy makes it out of the living moor, but just barely. The lone survivor.

Pitch:

The Moor is a suburban legend, a myth, a mystery and naturally … a tourist attraction. A group of fearless young people decide to investigate the legend of the “living moor”, treating it as nothing more than a regular camping trip. Amy tried to warn them.

The Moor is a living thing. And you just walked right into its mouth.

DAY THREE (Image Prompt):

Where are they/it? Suburban. London.

When is it?- 1940’s

Why is it/they there? A young woman packs her belongings into her suitcase. She contemplates one last time about her decision to leave home.

Who are they? This young woman has had enough of her rough home life. She wants to see more, she wants to experience the world. But still, she is afraid. She has never done much of anything on her own, having gone straight from school into a less-than-loving marriage.

What happens next? She finally makes the decision to leave home, packing what clothes and other things she can into her suitcase. And she’s not about to leave the dog behind with that man, either, no siree. She and her dog make their way to the train station, their destination unknown.

Abigail Winston has not had the easiest life. But then again, she can’t complain, it could’ve been much worse. Mother always said that once she had a roof over her head, she had nothing to be sad about. And yet there she was, crying her heart out into her pillow, a pillow which has soaked up far too many of her tears over the years under this blessed roof. She could hear the music blaring from the gramophone downstairs. It was the same as always, the same tune, the same routine. She made her way home from her day job as a seamstress to be met by the backside of his hand for whatever reason he could pluck out of thin air. The dinner wasn’t done. The dishes were dirty. The dog was barking. The neighbours were noisy. The floor was a mess.

“Why do you make me do this?” He asks, seeming to be genuinely perplexed at her nature. His hand is red raw from slapping her thricefold across the face. “You know I don’t want to hurt you.” He says, as he pulls her in towards him and kisses her right where he had just slapped her. His lips sting.

But finally, as if some kind of cosmic epiphany had just hit her, she decided that she had had enough. It wasn’t her fault, it never had been. There was nothing wrong with her, it was all him. It was all down to the voices in his head that told him it was his right to treat her this way, she was his wife after all, his property.

But no more.

She scribbled a note upon her vanity table, almost deciding to throw it into the bin altogether. Maybe it would be better to leave without saying anything. What would be the point in trying to explain her reasons for leaving? He would never believe them. He wouldn’t care. But she wrote it anyway, trying to keep her words as devoid of emotion as possible.

She didn’t love him, perhaps she never did. Marraige is just something everyone has to do, right? What a world.

She pulled out the suitcase from the closet and threw in her most prized possessions, but mostly clothes. She hurried down the stairs, knowing he’d be back from the public house any time soon now. Pausing at the door, she turned around to find him standing there; Toby … the dog.

“He’s never been kind to you, either, has he?” She found herself asking. The dog yapped and ran towards her and the decision was made. She wouldn’t be alone after all.

She made her way down the suburban street with little Toby running along beside her. She caught the questioning glances of many neighbours as she passed them. Of course, she could not hope to leave unnoticed. Jonathan would be well informed of her departure, suitcase and all. But still, she carried on and tried to ignore the ball of anxiety building in her stomach.

A half hour later, she had finally reached the gates to the train station. “Where am I even going?” She thought to herself. She hadn’t thought this far ahead. It had been a spur of the moment decision in the end. Maybe she should turn back. Yes, back to what she knew, that would be best.

Toby yipped up at her, snapping her to attention. No, this was the right thing to do. She had to leave. She needed to get on the soonest train, that would take her farthest away, somewhere he would never guess to look for her.

Cornwall. She had never been there. She barely knew where it was, only that it was pretty far out of London. She didn’t allow herself to hesitate and bought herself (and Toby) a ticket. A one-way ticket. There, she had done it. There was no going back now.

Her heart hammering in her chest, she turned towards the gate leading to the train at a steady pace. Perhaps she wasn’t paying enough attention to her surroundings as suddenly, someone bumped into her, causing her to drop the suitcase and for it to burst open, spilling out some of her hastily packed things.

The stranger stopped and bent down to help her. “So sorry, miss! I should’ve been looking where I was goin’! You alrigh’?” That voice. It couldn’t be.

She looked up at the strangers face and realised he was no stranger at all. “Well, I’ll be … Abigail. It’s been an age.”

DAY FOUR (choose an emotion that you want to invoke in the reader and work backwards)

Emotion: Inspired

Need to experience: Success in the face of adversity. A hopeless situation turned hopeful. Perseverance. Never giving up, despite the odds being stacked against you. Succeeding. Leaving behind a good legend. Paving the way for others.

Who: A homeless person with a wacky invention idea. A single mother on the cusp of poverty who’s just trying to do right by her kids. A severely bullied kid who intervenes in someone else’s bullying. A political activist who keeps going despite being arrested, even beaten, a number of times. A dystopian world where the smallest voice can be the loudest.

I can often feel inspired to suddenly change my life, to stop just accepting how things are and do something about it. I am in control. But they want to take that control away from me.

Young girl in a world that wants to suffocate all that she is. A very strict world with lots of rules and regulations. Akin to a dictatorship.

A single mother, Margaret, circa 1960’s Ireland who had to have her child in secret as she was unmarried. She leaves home, determined to protect her child. The father doesn’t know. How far can she go before the child is discovered and they are ultimately pulled from each other? She finds friendship in an older woman who was once sent to the “mother and baby” home after her own unmarried pregnancy in her youth. “It’s like a prison,” she says, “A torture chamber … under the guise of God’s work.”

She fears every day for the life of her child. But it won’t stop crying. She tries to keep it happy but its screams echo right through the walls. She can’t stay in one place too long, lest somewhere see her and report her. Her family have reported her missing, her face is plastered across every town that she can get to. She alters her appearance as drastically as possible, new haircut, new hair colour, different clothes. She has barely any money to her name, and she can’t get a job since she needs to mind the child constantly. She turns to prostitution, a quick job with high pay. Anything for the child.

The older woman tells her all about her time in the home, of the daily routine and the daily “retribution”, the punishment for having betrayed her promise to God.

As she listens to the stories, Margaret becomes determined not only to save herself from the grip of the Church but to save other mothers too from their righteous judgement. She tries to find others who have survived the homes and learns more and more horror stories from them. The babes were stricken from their breasts, never to be seen again. Those that died in infancy were tossed aside in a mass grave, little more than garbage in the eyes of the nuns.

Margaret starts to draw up flyers, leaflets and posters to alert people to the real goings-on in the homes. The homes designed to “reform” and “rehabilitate” wayward women. The propaganda must be subtle at first, a whisper in the collective unconscious until more and more women wake up to the problem in their society. The propaganda must be spread without its source being known. Margaret’s connection to it can never be discovered because of course, the child would be too.

She develops a steady group of friends, women who have all been subjected to the Church’s law. One such woman, Josephine, only 15 years old, was impregnated by her local priest. Together, they round up more and more women and stage a protest outside of the home. They infiltrate and extract the imprisoned mothers and snatch up the innocent children. The mass grave is discovered and the Church’s secret is revealed.

In the end, Margaret and her group of friends set up a real home for unmarried mothers where both woman and child are cared for until they are able to care for themselves.

DAY FIVE (take a paragraph from a book you’re reading and pose what-if questions)

A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow

Pg 75

The queen-to-be invites a traitors daughter to supper.

What if the daughter bears the queen ill will?

What if the queen bears the daughter ill will?

What if the queen is worried that the daughter (a servant) will cause the king to stray?

What if the queen fears that the daughter, too, will prove to be a traitor?

What if she is a traitor?

What if the daughter uses the invite as an opportunity to enact a plan against the queen or some other vendetta?

What if the supper goes horribly wrong and the queen is murdered and the daughter is accused?

DAY SIX (Analysing the ideas):

Idea One: The Family Funeral

Idea Two: The Moor at Night

Idea Three: Abigail

Idea Four: Mother and Baby

Idea Five: The Queen and the Traitors Daughter

IDEA #1:

What interests me about it?

I’ve thought about this idea for a while, sparked by an observation on my own family. I come from a pretty big family and the prospect of only ever seeing them at certain events such as weddings and funerals is disheartening. But I think it’s something most families can relate to, especially as the children get older and separate into their own lives. We all get too busy to meet up until ultimately, we lose our last chance to see each other at all. Writing this story would be interesting to explore family dynamics and how they can be affected by tragic grief.

Will I be interested in it long term?

I intend for this to just be a short story so it shouldn’t take more than a few weeks/months of my time once I get down to it.

Is there an obvious journey?

I see this as a scene in the funeral home with the family reuniting. I would like it to show the frayed family coming together again in the face of their united grief, choosing to set aside their differences and grudges because life is short.

Has it been done before?

I guess that episode in “Haunting of Hill House” (episode 3?) is rather similar with the family, once torn apart, coming together for their sisters funeral. Tensions are high, and they argue quite a bit but ultimately, it’s a lovely reunion. I guess it’s likely it inspired me subconsciously to think about this story and my own experiences. But I wouldn’t quite go down the spooky route with my story!

What about the research?

I guess it would be worthwhile to seek out other people’s stories of how their families reunited and came back together after a tragedy - or perhaps the very opposite. I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to quiz my own family about how they feel!

Why do I need to write it?

Because yes, life is busy and we all have our own things going on but family is important. You never know when someone may be taken from you, tomorrow is never guaranteed. I want people to pause and think about their relationships and whether they’re holding onto unnecessary anger. If that person was gone tomorrow, could you live on knowing you’ll never make amends?

Who’s going to care about it?

I think this is something a lot of people - particularly those from larger families - can relate to.

Is it a goer?

I think this is a great opportunity to explore characterisation and storytelling so yes, I intend to work on it!

#2: The Moor at Night

What interests me about it?

I’ve always wanted to write a spooky horror story. I love watching horror stuff - especially supernatural stories - although I haven’t read many.

Will I be interested in it long term?

This is a fairly fresh idea and I think it’s a little too “cliche” yet and needs something else to really interest me.

Is there an obvious journey?

Uh, everyone dies?? Except the girl who was warning everyone that the Moor is serious business. So, not really, other than the survival. Or maybe Amy starts out extra scared but has to become brave to escape, yadda yadda, who knows.

Has it been done before?

In the sense of a devouring swamp, I don’t think so. It makes me think of the Blair Witch stories that I loved to read growing up. But it needs something to pull it out of being a “basic horror” monster eating story.

What about the research?

I think I need to sink my teeth into more horror stories if I ever hope to write one. I watch plenty of movies but finding a book that is actually scary is rare, I think. And well, movies are all about the cliche so maybe more novels can open me to new ways of thinking about horror and how to scare! That, and research into pananormal/supernatural stuff could breed new ideas!

Why do I need to write it?

This one would just be fun to write, I think.

Who’s going to care about it?

People who like horror stories, I suppose??

Is it a goer?

Not sure yet. Think it needs a lot more development or rethinking more creatively.

#3: Abigail

What interests me about it?

I like writing stories that show characters coming out of a bad place and into a better life. I think this story could show people that they are in control of their lives. Too many people settle and just “make do” with their life situation even though they’re desperately unhappy.

Will I be interested in it long term?

Hmmm, again there’s not much here in terms of a “story” just yes. A traumatised, abused woman finally leaves her unhappy home behind and … what?? She meets an old friend at the train station, perhaps a past sweetheart. What happened there?

Is there an obvious journey?

This would be quite a character driven story. Abigail’s goal is to get out and make a new life for herself. Does this make her into a sort of outlaw? Does she have to fashion herself a new identity? Likely, her past will eventually find her again. What lengths will she go to to escape it? Hmmm, maybe there is something here….

Has it been done before?

Given how bare-bones this idea is, most probably. The story of an abused woman running from home has likely been done to death (although I can’t think of any in particular). So I’d have to find something to let this stand out.

What about the research?

I think I should start by reading similar stories, particularly non-fiction books of women who have escaped abuse for extra inspiration.

Why do I need to write it?

Again, I think people need to realise that they are in control of their own destiny. You don’t have to just “put up with it.” This would be a story about empowerment and learning to put yourself first.

Who’s going to care about it?

I guess this could cater to the feminist cause and female empowerment.

Is it a goer?

Again, not quite sure until I’ve developed the idea a little more but I think there might be something there, alright.

#4: Mother and Baby

What interests me about it?

This is a topic that’s quite prominent in the Irish consciousness. The whole scandal around the mother and baby homes won’t be forgotten anytime soon. This idea was born out of a “what if” really concerning that topic. What if we had known sooner? Could we have stopped these terrible things from happening?

Will I be interested in it long term?

Not too sure, this one isn’t drawing me as much as the other ideas I’ve had. Yes, it’s an interesting topic and one we should never forget but I’m not sure about this story.

Is there an obvious journey?

This story is quite about empowerment as well, standing up for what you believe in and refusing to back down. It’s about change and fighting for the greater good. Many of the characters involved will go on their own journeys of growth.

Has it been done before?

Of course, the Magdalene Sisters covered this topic pretty well (although I haven’t actually seen it) but that story takes place entirely within the home itself. So, it’s similar but doesn’t mean this story is invalid. This idea also makes me think of Fantine in Les Miserables who went to such depths for the sake of securing her daughters livelihood.

What about the research?

Being related to an actual event, I would have to do a good bit of research for accuracy. But that actually sounds exciting! Love me some research. Most importantly, I would seek out stories from women who actually experienced these atrocities and go from there.

Why do I need to write it?

Because we can’t forget what we, as a nation, did to so many women and innocent children all in the name of “God”.

Who’s going to care about it?

I should hope mostly anyone.

Is it a goer?

Maybe??

#5: Queen and Traitor

What interests me about it?

This was mostly a bunch of what-ifs but I think the scenario of the Queen being murdered at their dinner together could be interesting. The daughter is already of ill-repute thanks to her family and is naturally accused. This is, of course, a period story and that could be quite interesting to look into medieval stuff and how the royals live and lived. Of course, the daughter did not kill the queen, so it would also be a story about judging a book by its cover.

Will I be interested in it long term?

This idea sounds like a classic whodunnit, something I’ve always wanted to write. And in a period, medieval, royal setting? That could be interesting. But again, this seed is so little I can’t say if it will bear fruit just yet.

Is there an obvious journey?

The daughter will have to prove her innocence and discover the true perpetrator in the process.

Has it been done before?

I don’t think so? Whodunnit’s are a genre unto themselves and I’ll have to investigate the likes of Agatha Christie to see what’s been done (and hasn’t!)

What about the research?

Loads of research here into royalty and medieval life. But again, I love research so that just makes this idea even more appealing!

Why do I need to write it?

A good old murder mystery would just be fun to write!

Who’s going to care about it?

Wannabe Sherlocks?

Is it a goer?

I kind of want to develop this a bit more and see where it takes me!

DAY SEVEN (Idea Development):

I chose to focus on the murder-mystery actually as it excites me the most!

There’s a hero! Something happens and her life totally changes. She’s now got a problem to solve. Shit!

So, the hero is the daughter, perhaps a princess or just someone who lives at the palace. She comes from a family of ill repute. Her father previously betrayed the trust of the Queen and was extradited. But the Queen is loving and forgiving and takes his daughter under her wing. But no one else in the palace trusts her nearly as much. The Queen invites the daughter to supper with her. This is a rare occurrence as the daughter would usually sup alone since the rest of the palace people disliked her so. The supper is going well and everyone is having a good time until suddenly - tragedy strikes and the Queen begins to sputter and choke. She falls facedown onto the table, dead. The stain on her lips and wineglass make it clear that she had been poisoned. All eyes fall on the daughter as she is instantly accused of the crime. Guards are called and she is instantly pulled away into the dungeons before she even has a chance to defend herself.

She tries to solve the problem.

Not only has she been accused of murder, but she’s also locked in the dungeon! She has to find a way out and prove her innocence. She befriends someone in the cell beside her. A young boy, around her age. He’s been here a while, locked up for snatching a piece of bread that he swears he never touched.

Somehow or other, they get out of the dungeon. Maybe they trick a guard or find a hollow point in the wall. But they remain in secret while the girl tries to find clues to clear her name. She listens in on conversations around the castle, discovering all sorts of goings-on.

She fails miserably at solving the problem, or she solves it with unexpected consequences, and the story pivots and there is a new, bigger problem to solve.

She eventually discovers the true culprit! It’s not someone anyone would’ve expected. But, boneheadedly, she decides to confront him alone but he gets the better of her and knocks her unconscious. She wakes to find herself tied up and helpless once again. This man is someone of power, high up in the hierarchy of the palace and has everyone wrapped around his little finger. It will be difficult to prove him guilty.

The problem is fixed or remains unfixed. The hero is happy or unhappy. She is CHANGED in some way.

She eventually gets to expose the true culprit to the other people in the palace and clears her name in the murder. Of course, she is disgruntled that everyone immediately turned on her without giving her a chance to defend herself. She opts to leave her life in the palace behind and with her captive friend, they seek out a simpler, happier life together.

#whq #writershq #writeblr #irish writers #writers #ideas #story ideas #writing #originalblog

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willidleaway · 4 years

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it’s been a while, hent it

So I haven’t been posting due to a confluence in the past half-year or so [*] of

dealing with health problems in the family

travelling for my current job

searching for a new job

and not having Doctor Who on the air [**]

but I doubt anyone actually noticed because, in case you’re unaware, this whole website is sinking, and I am just a deckchair being rearranged by people who really want to be sure the website doesn’t show too much of its underside on its way to the bottom of the godforsaken Sea of Opinions.

So yes, I’m going to use my first post in a while to rant about the site yet again. (And then I’ll probably vanish for a few weeks more yet because I’ll be busy travelling abroad.)

But, I hear nobody cry out impulsively, the site is out of Verizon’s hands! WordPress’s parent company owns it now and actually maybe won’t screw the whole thing up! Maybe not, and to be clear I think that—for better or worse—WordPress and WordPress.com have been an enormous force in web publishing for the common netizen [***]. I have no doubt that Automattic’s heart is in the right place, and in the same way that Flickr seems to now be improving overall after Verizon sold it to SmugMug—at least in the short term—I can only hope that this acquisition by a weblog business results in Tumblr being more focussed on, you know, weblogging. [****]

The disastrous fiasco that is the adult content ban, though, remains in place, which is highly disappointing for all the same reasons I viscerally reacted against it when it was first implemented. And while personally I’ve found the false negatives from my own tumblelog quite amusing—and yes, posts on this tumblelog are being flagged as adult content [*****]—

—I shudder to think what the impact has been on other communities built around entirely healthy aspects of human sexuality that now have to go elsewhere, and have to stay elsewhere despite the change in ownership because apparently the Automattic CEO thinks that Tumblr is ‘just fun’.

I was frankly quite puzzled by the WSJ article’s suggestion that the Automattic CEO saw maintaining the content policy as justified by the complementarity of WordPress.com and Tumblr. Again, take the case of SmugMug and Flickr, two services now under the same roof. SmugMug is about building a polished photography showcase; Flickr is about communities of photographers. Similarly, from my perspective: WordPress.com is similarly about nice, polished weblogs and websites; Tumblr is about communities of microbloggers. And that means it’s actually maybe a little weird that WordPress.com has no adult content ban (check their TOS—they don’t review the content they host) and Tumblr does. I happen to think they’ve got this the wrong way round.

Incidentally, I looked at Flickr’s policy around content moderation, and I see some things that wouldn’t be so bad for Tumblr to imitate. The thing that sticks out most is the graduated safety level—content isn’t just safe or unsafe, and there is a middle ground.

A good rule of thumb is, bare breasts and bottoms are "moderate." Full frontal nudity is "restricted."

And yes, pornographic videos are entirely prohibited, but note that the ‘restricted’ safety level isn’t just for nudity that belongs in a museum (which happens to be only a light paraphrase of the most that SmugMug seem willing to tolerate, based on their terms of service). The broad description explicitly states:

Restricted - full-frontal nudity and sexual acts; photos only–videos cannot contain restricted content and are deleted if reported

—and this seems far more reasonable than a blanket restriction on both photos and videos. Plus, unlike Tumblr, they’re not sending robots after you to close down your entire account:

An account safety level is changed only by Flickr staff when any images reviewed are incorrectly categorized

so there’s that, at least.

Could Automattic change its mind somewhere down the line? Maybe, and this acquisition is an interesting change for the site's future in general—I really thought Tumblr was just going to die a slow, agonising death under Verizon’s auspices, any semblance of personality utterly sucked out and crushed over time by Oath’s profit-centred advertising machine. But if the new boss sees Tumblr as ‘just fun’, I don’t hold out much hope that he’s going to be materially much different from the old boss.

So I just wanted to get all that off my chest for a bit. It's one of the many situations I'm in right now where I dearly hope I'm wrong, but at the same time it'd simply be unwise to be mentally prepared for the worst.

Again, I am travelling, and I generally just don't have access to my workstation, but I'll probably have another rant to spew before the year's out. It probably won't about this website, at least not directly ...

Footnotes:

[*: In fact, my ill-advised Star Wars AU list only went up back in May because it was queued up and in the mentioned confluence of things, I just forgot that I’d left it in the queue and in an unfinished state. So I haven’t actually written anything for this tumblelog in almost a year, since Series 11 ended.]

[**: I know, I never posted anything about the New Year’s special, and that’s partly because the main antagonist frankly freaked me out so much that I was a bit traumatised, but I also just didn’t know what to think about it. From what I remember of it, it felt decent enough (especially compared to various Christmas specials of the past), but seemed to be trying a bit too hard in parts, and given that it is literally the one episode of Doctor Who we are getting for the entirety of the calendar year 2019, it deserved to be a bit less clunky and a bit more brilliant. Oh well.]

[***: I am never ever giving up on that term.]

[****: Also a term I’m never giving up on. Also, I'm trying to resist judging either Tumblr or Automattic based solely on the fact that the one new feature added to this website in the subsequent months is apparently ... group chats.]

[*****: OK, credit where it’s due: if Tumblr really are having humans review content appeals, the humans are making very quick work of it more often than not, because I’ve had posts restored mere moments after I’ve submitted an appeal. But this is a moot point for people who conceivably are meant to be excluded by the new guidelines.]

#tumblr #meta post

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