jaebird88

[jaebird88]

Things I’m learning about All For the Game fans: a lot of y’all didn’t grow up with a cheese drawer in your fridge and it shows

#I have a dedicated shelf for cheese along with ham

[jaebird88]

Will somebody please draw me with the Ghoul? Pretty please?

#fallout #lynda carter

[jaebird88]

So this chicken parm pasta recipe I plan to use this weekend neglects to specify what form the cheeses have to be in. I’m sure I could research the methods for melting blocks of cheese, but I am wondering if I can use shredded cheese since that can be easier to quantify in measuring cups. Plus, less dishes used for cleanup.

[jaebird88]

Submitted by @sky-the-snail-fanatic

#not a chance lol

[jaebird88]

Y'all, the world is sleeping on what NASA just pulled off with Voyager 1

The probe has been sending gibberish science data back to Earth, and scientists feared it was just the probe finally dying. You know, after working for 50 GODDAMN YEARS and LEAVING THE GODDAMN SOLAR SYSTEM and STILL CHURNING OUT GODDAMN DATA.

So they analyzed the gibberish and realized that in it was a total readout of EVERYTHING ON THE PROBE. Data, the programming, hardware specs and status, everything. They realized that one of the chips was malfunctioning.

So what do you do when your probe is 22 Billion km away and needs a fix? Why, you just REPROGRAM THAT ENTIRE GODDAMN THING. Told it to avoid the bad chip, store the data elsewhere.

Sent the new code on April 18th. Got a response on April 20th - yeah, it's so far away that it took that long just to transmit.

And the probe is working again.

From a programmer's perspective, that may be the most fucking impressive thing I have ever heard.

#science

[jaebird88]

#april 25th #miss congeniality

[jaebird88]

Ketheric Thorm

#bg3 #ketheric thorm #minthara #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 fanart #that pose looks so familiar but I can’t place it #like I know he sat similarly in the game #but it’s the overall composition that looks familiar

[jaebird88]

Just checking.... We all pronounce Miette like My-TAY in our heads, right?

#I can hear my Louisiana French speaking grandparents say it as ‘mee-ett’ #that’s just me and my upbringing despite not speaking a work of French

[jaebird88]

My brain: You have so many tight deadlines. So many things on your weekly schedule. So many important jobs. You have to get important work done!!!

My hands:

[jaebird88]

Non-binary characters? In your anime?! It's more likely than you think.

It is worth mentioning that when Kaoru is seen (because they were mostly heard from a video call previously), Sudo--our white-haired MC--was giving them a breast examination when the nurse walked in and was taken aback to put it mildly.

At no point whatsoever does this show even approach the line of being ecchi within the first two episodes as Sudo's professionalism as a physician is an example of how mature and thoughtful it aims to be.

I still think it can benefit from a proper set-up exposition for why Humanoids are living among humans. But I accept that should not be the focus as we look into individual lives inhabiting this world.

#the gene of ai #anime

[jaebird88]

[video by soupygarbagejuice. original caption: stuie]

[jaebird88]

Watched the first episode of The Gene of AI, and, like Opus Colors, it makes a great deal of assumptions on the advancement of technology by presenting a world that’s already accepting of androids—which are referred to as Humanoids—having personalities and behaviors indiscernible to humans. The only physical feature that denotes a Humanoid being their goat-like horizontal pupils, which invokes an uncanny pitfall rather than a valley.

By doing so, it avoids the “are robots people?” trope in favor of the illegal usage of creating backups of Humanoids in which they can be repurposed for unsavory means. In a way it reminds me of the game, Soma, in how time and sense of self cannot be perceived between saved states for lack of a better description. As with the first episode in which a woman’s personality was backed up via black market tools. This cause her body to contract a virus that eventually shuts her down. The backup was installed, and she really only lost a week’s worth of time. But those around her treated the version that “died” like a real loss while she has no conception of it ever happening.

It’s too early to pass judgement based on the first episode, so I’ll just have to see where it goes as there is a thread in which the MC’s Humanoid mother was incarcerated for having a backup made. As an adult, he’s doing what he can to find the backup while also running a clinic for humans and Humanoids.

#the gene of ai #anime

[jaebird88]

I want to play the Mirrorwatch thing, but I fucking hate the alternate kits for the small pool of characters available.

#overwatch

[jaebird88]

As fun as it was to touch in on the Crown Keepers again, I'm going to be honest and say that this latest session is my least favorite thus far. Which is not to say it was in any way a bad episode. It came off, to me, as doing more than what the allotted time allowed for. I lost track of what was happening a few times, but that is largely a me problem; Aabria is doing some creative DMing with the dual combat and retrospectives/manipulations from Lolth, there's nothing wrong with that.

I do look forward to seeing what happens next, but less so the possibility of any one of Opal's friends dying because of some asshole god ಥ_ಥ

#critical role #cr spoilers

[jaebird88]

(SOUND IS CRUCIAL) this video is has murdered me dead the music the editing the way information is slowly revealed about the two of them the plot twist the breaking bad images. WILLIAM WILLIAM WILLIAM. all over minecraft parkour someone help im seizing

[jaebird88]

“That One Hairstyle? RETIRE IT!” Black Hair is an Art (pt.1)

(This is part one of two lessons, with this one focusing on how our hair itself! The next lesson will encompass how to incorporate its existence into your writing. It'd be a massively long post otherwise.)

So! Black hair. Black hair is a CENTRAL, ESSENTIAL part of our culture and identity. Writing and drawing it means understanding the vulnerability and trust that comes with access to it, and yes, it is racist to suggest that ‘it’s just hair’ when our hair serves such an important role in our history and art. I already wrote a mini-lesson and ask on the topic, but being aware of what our hair looks like, and what means to us, will help you to understand why we care that you put in the effort to get it right.

Hair Textures

We are not a genetic monolith! However, for the sake of this series, we are focusing on 3C-4C, because 1) it's most likely to be seen in life and 2) least likely to be seen in popular art! When you are creating your characters, consider the style and care for THESE textures. I will get more into this next lesson.

Let's get into SOME of the hairstyles!

Afros (36 Afro Hairstyles)

“So, what’s the phenomenon behind the Afro? Well, it’s our hair in its most natural form, but that’s only part of the phenomenon. It’s a way to fight the status quo without saying a word.”

-Ebony Magazine, The History of the Afro

When nonBlack society hears ‘afro’, they think completely picked out, Black power imagery, political statement. And it was, and is! But in actuality, afros are just the natural hair growing out of a Black person's head. The same way your hair grows out of your head. Our texture. Even my hair is not allowed to be ‘hair’, it has to ‘assign’ my Blackness; my distance from whiteness. Imagine, the hair growing out of your head being automatically associated with how you should be perceived. Just by existing, it is making a statement in a Eurocentric society.

Braids (31 Braid Styles)

There are SO MANY TYPES of braids and ways to wear them. If you can imagine a design, I bet there's a Black braider that can do it!

CORNROWS ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY BRAIDS! Internalize this! They may be used in the same style, but they are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE TERMS!

Braids are considered a protective style; that is, a hairstyle designed to let our hair 'rest' and grow without having to manipulate it. If you have a Black character that's constantly on the go and/or doesn't have time to focus on their hair, and you want an accurate, more true-to-life experience for them, braids can be a crucial part of character design.

Locs

(Yes, while that link has plenty of examples, it was also self-indulgent. Locs are gorgeous, Black men with locs are gorgeous!)

"Locs vs Dreads": As someone in the loc community, there’s been a push to refer to the style as ‘locs’, rather than ‘dreadlocks’. Some people with the style will not care, but others take it very seriously, so it’s something to keep in mind. There’s a societal stigma behind having locs, that they’re ‘dirty’ or ‘unkempt’ or ‘lazy’ and that is NOT true. Locs are beautiful, and they take far more effort than people seem to want to believe lmao.

Locs, though there is currently a positive revival, are still highly discriminated against. Kids have been expelled from school and even have had their hair forcibly cut off to be allowed to participate in sports. Many places won't hire you if they think your hair is 'unprofessional' or 'dirty', especially if you're a Black woman. To consider yet another example of the hair that grows out of my head 'dirty' is extremely racist.

LOCS ARE NOT BRAIDS!!!!

Locs are also a protective style, albeit a much more permanent one, and one that comes with a long history and culture behind it. Many Black people consider the biblical story of Samson to be a man with locs, and that our locs hold power within them. That not just anyone should be allowed to touch your locs. So, if you're interested in mythology and powers, that might be an intriguing way to go, that would be possible if you had a Black character with locs!

In Professional Media

The lack of awareness and concern about our hair isn't just a fan or amateur creator experience. It is ubiquitous in the professional media world. Black actors, actresses, and models have discussed having to do their own hair when working, because no one would properly care for it on set if it wasn't familiarly white. It’s admittedly grown better- however! After decades of not having options other than ‘stereotypical afro’, ‘box cut’, and ‘white people hair’, it is LONG PAST TIME to stop settling for the bare minimum in Black character design. We can tell when "one of us" (with some sense, at least) wasn't in the room to make decisions in popular media.

If you were curious about the lesson title, here's a current example of what I'm talking about in video games. Tell me if you see a pattern:

This style? The Killmonger? We seent it!!!! It has become the “hairstyle to show I understand the exaggerated swagger of a young Black teen” option, the "I know the Black people!" go-to, and frankly, we are all tired of it. Okay it was cute on Ekko. The Black Delegation DEMANDS the professional video game industry pick something else! We have SO MANY DIFFERENT HAIRSTYLES!

I'll give you an example on the other end (not trying at all; refer to Lesson 1) from one of my favorite games, Hades:

This is my blorbo. My favoritest guy. I’ll fight for Patroclus being Black til the day I die. While I begrudgingly settled in my excitement, I can tell you no one Black with any voting power was in the room at Supergiant when they approved this design. Why? His texture! Locs were such an easy option if they wanted long hair! Locs existed BEFORE Ancient Greece! The man did not have a flat iron while fighting in a war! A good Black designer would have considered that!

To give him a more accurate design, some artists (myself included) lean into giving him locs (one of my favorites is @karshmallow 's Pat; a phenomenal example in caring about your Black characters). It’s something Black fans find themselves doing- redesigning Black characters. That's not something we should have to do at all, especially in media we pay for!

But if you REALLY want your Black character to have straight hair, that leads into the last style of this lesson:

Straight Hair

We do have straight hair. But it’s not straight because it grew out that way! It will still look and be thicker! It might be a wig or a sew-in (human or synthetic), it might be flat-ironed (while relaxed? While natural?) It takes effort to get and maintain straight hair.

'I think it looks better good this way!'

If you catch yourself thinking this, this is a racist statement. Whether you’re aware of it our not, there is a bias towards Eurocentric/white features in our society, and that includes in our media. When you think “I only drew [this Eurocentric hair texture and style] because I think it looks good on them!” I want you to PAUSE and think about the WHY. WHY do you think that this Black person’s natural features are unattractive in comparison to the white hair texture you gave them? And how hurt might a Black peer of yours would feel hearing that you find their natural features not worth drawing because they’re “not attractive”. It requires approaching your own internal biases, recognizing them, and then working to unlearn them. And that means practice! Using references to draw our hair and styles, and growing used to using OUR features on US!

Doing it in Art

Me personally, I think if you think drawing thinner hair textures is easy, thicker hair textures should be a BREEZE. I was curious, so I challenged myself and-

(it took me about thirteen minutes total to do ol boy's hair and it's still not right. I'm sick fr y'all don't even know 🤢)

@ackee has a really good art lesson on the how-tos of drawing Black hairstyles. I highly recommend checking it out, as well as following and supporting a fellow Black artist (who is far better than I!)

Hair Brushes

Finally, an option you can use for painting is downloading Black hair brushes! Vegalia has an amazing array of brushes with different types of curls, locs, and braids at her Etsy store! You can also follow her on social media to see how she applies them, and support yet another amazing Black creative!

I know this was a long one, but you made it! Just keep going. Remember, it's the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

#black art #black characters #character design #black hair #black history #black culture

[jaebird88]

Dorian explaining the concept of the Darkness spell to Dariax is everything.

#critical role #cr spoilers