#i liked this thumbnail and trying to finish it was my biggest mistake

[insinirate]

bad dads affiliate

#bark art #valued #wolfwood #implied kw #i liked this thumbnail and trying to finish it was my biggest mistake #wwsr

[meadow-roses]

Hi! I hope you're doing well! I've been meaning to reach out to you for a while but I'm always so nervous! I wanted to tell you that I'm always so impressed by your animations and I wanted to ask if you had any advice? I would like to learn but I have no idea how to begin. How do you go about it and how did you start learning this process? Thank you very much and I hope all is well!

Hello!!! First off I want to apologize for it taking so long to respond to you- we had a lot of autumnal food storing to do and I was short on time. Animation is something I'm very passionate about and I wanted to give you a thorough answer because I would absolutely LOVE to help you get started in animating!! If there's anything I don't cover, or if you have a more specific question, feel free to send another ask and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. :)

I didn't really do much to get started, I just kinda jumped in with photoshop cs5 (I DON'T recommend doing that LOL 😂) I wanted to make an animated series with my brother so I just started working on the trailer which is like 30 seconds pffft. Since then I've just been learning as I go picking up stuff from watching movies closely. I've still got a lot of basics to figure out like thumbnailing a sequence before you try to animate it, and timing charts (which is what I'm trying to work on now hehe)

My biggest piece of advice for you would be to just jump into it! I think there is no advice that can get anyone started better than to just start doing it. I know that can sound daunting, but there is no better way to get better at any form of art (drawing, writing, singing, etc.) than to just start. You'll learn the best by learning from your own mistakes, as hard as that can be. XD

You can start with some simple exercises to get the hang of moving something, like animate a ball bouncing or a hamster doing a backflip- just whatever sounds most do-able to you. (Do yourself a favor and don't start with a walk/run cycle though. They seem simple but are actually one of the hardest things to animate lol Be smarter than me. XDD) Just start small and work up from there. Go from animating a ball to animating a blink, then animate something turning it's head, saying something, waving, flapping wings. The more animating the more you'll catch the hang of it and drawing the motions will become intuitive. In general, just don't be afraid to try- and if it doesn't look right, don't give up! :D

Richard Williams book, "The Animator's Survival Kit" is a wonderful resource for getting started animating. He walks the reader through the very basics, and then the fundamentals of animation and how to apply it, like squash and stretch and takes. I was able to find a copy at my library and then later bought one off Abebooks for around $12. I haven't finished the book but I did peek ahead and see lip syncing and walk cycles and other wider motions.

I've found a lot of art programs come with an animation system built in. I don't know what program you're using, but I personally love the one for Krita. I find the entire program intuitive and easy to use (that's also my drawing program XD), and the animation window is seconded only by ToonBoom (the current industry standard software which is also EXCELLENT just pricey. You can get a one month free trial for each of the three versions if you want to test it out. Unlike Krita, ToonBoom can make 2d puppets and do "flash" animation.) If you are having trouble with digital animation you can still practice with traditional sketches, I made a tutorial thing for a friend on that here. Flipbooks are something I've heard of working? Like animating on a pad of sticky notes, but I haven't been able to get that to work well for me but you could try it!

If you have any more specific questions I'd love to help you however I am able! Here are some of the resources I've found useful:

Again, I can't recommend enough Richard Williams' book "The Animator's Survival Guide" (an animator trained by Milt Kahl) if you want to understand the basics and are still confused where to start. Also Frances Glebas' (a renowned director) storyboarding book "Directing the Story". Both of those books have been immensely helpful and I can't wait for the free time to read them more and put to action the lessons! XD

Here's a link to James Baxter's (my animator hero lol) youtube account, where you can study snippets of a master animator's work: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt2iDOfRW1WWu5SxgJJpP1g

I've also found following accounts of animators on instagram has been a help, they'll often post "breakdowns" of shots explaining why they chose what shapes and how they decided to pace motions and stuff like that. jakeleeanimation this dude posts a lot of studies of disney animations kenduncan9 director of the studio that animated Tarzan and Hercules, among others pumbaaguy animator of Kronk and Pumba! framebyframe_animation this helpful account slows animations down and really walks you through the forms and pacing johnpomeroyart worked on Pocahontas and Atlantis, likes teaching people animation! theanimationart explanatory username lol XD AND OF COURSE aaronblaiseart who has retired from animating to TEACH animation and was also trained by the original disney pioneer animators. He does have a website where you can buy a course, and while it is pricey it does often go on sale. I haven't caught the chance to watch through all the episodes yet but I was able to purchase the series for $10 last year.

Also I seriously mean it, if you have any other questions feel free to ask. XD There's so much info I'm not sure where to start or what would be most helpful for you to get you started. :,)

#thank you for the ask!!!!!! #text #ask #answered #animation

[paganinpurple]

Clowder - Ch 7

I have been on an honest to Gods year long writing block until recently. I was lucky enough to force out a couple of chapters for other fics around March and April before I got blocked again, but...yeah. Sorry.

I hope no one completely lost interest waiting for this. It's just been so hard to focus, or feel like I care and any brief bursts of interest were limited to a paragraph here or a phrase there before disappearing.

Buy Me A Coffee?

It Was You (comes before this fic)

Read on AO3 or FF.net   <<Ch 1   <Ch 6   Ch 7   Ch 8> (not yet written)

Protective Best Friends

Slowly, Gabriel turned to face his son. “Adrien,” he said, his expression undecipherable, “Is there anything you need to tell me?”

The boy in question took an audible gulp, his throat too dry and scratchy to let him do anything less obvious.

“Yeah, um, there’s…a girl at school. If I had to go to a gala, I’d rather take her.”

“I see,” Gabriel said as he intertwined his fingers above the table in front of him, leaning forward to regard his son over them, “And is this a girl you like, or are you already seeing her?”

“She’s…my girlfriend.”

“And how long have you two been dating?”

Adrien glanced awkwardly at his father’s assistant. Ideally, he’d tell his father that they’d been together for a week, just as they’d told Alya and Nino and the others at school, but Nathalie knew things and he could almost see her disappointment already if he lied in front of her. “Six months,” he said instead.

The shock on Gabriel’s face was apparent to even those usually most oblivious to facial expressions. His features quickly returned to their usual air of disappointment and indifference however and Adrien’s stomach turned. “Why have I not known about this until now?”

“I…” Looking to Nathalie for help, he took strength from the slight nod she gave him to continue, “I wasn’t sure you’d let me date her. I was frightened you’d make me stop.”

He watched as his father arched an eyebrow. “Who is she?”

“What?”

“If you’re frightened, I assume there is something about her I wouldn’t approve of. So, who is she?”

“It’s Marinette. Dupain-Cheng. You met her before, she designed the hat I wore, the one Audrey Bourgeois wanted to take to New York last year?”

“Ah,” Gabriel said, a slight smirk appearing on his face, “Yes, I’ve met her. More than once.”

“You have?”

“Yes. She showed up here after I tried to remove you from school last year for losing my book. She was overly concerned about you being punished for her mistake.”

Adrien’s brow furrowed and he blinked in confusion. How had that been Marinette’s fault? He glanced back and forth between his father and Nathalie in confusion, hoping an explanation was forthcoming.

“She seemed to think it was some kind of modelling scrapbook of your shoots,” Nathalie eventually clarified when Adrien remained silent, “She said that she hadn’t planned to hold onto it, she was just unsure how to get it back without you realising.”

“It was very brave of her to admit that to me,” Gabriel said, returning to his food with an air of disinterest that Adrien found hard to believe, “Considering that she wants to work in fashion one day and I could have made that very difficult for her. I take it that bravery extended to finally telling you about her feelings? Although, I admit I didn’t think you saw her as anything more than one of your friends.”

Adrien gave a flinch at the reminder of his earlier foolishness. “Yeah, well…I was an idiot. I turned her down, then I realised I liked her.”

“Well then, you were lucky she hadn’t moved on. Are her parents aware of your relationship?”

“They are.”

“Very well. I expect you to remain conscious of your public image throughout your time together. Be sure there’s nothing she might use against you in case of an unpleasant break-up.”

Adrien suppressed a snort of laughter, knowing his father would not approve. As if Marinette would ever be the kind of person to try and hold something over someone just because things didn’t work out. Not to mention he absolutely doubted he would ever let his Lady go now. Not if he could do anything to help it.

“You may laugh,” his father responded, having spotted his attempts to restrain himself, “but sometimes it only takes one bad situation for two people to act differently and upset their usual dynamic.”

The smile creeping it’s way across Gabriel’s face seemed out of place to Adrien who, for the life of him, couldn’t work out why that thought would make his father so happy.

***

As soon as he closed the car door behind him, Adrien could tell something was going on at school. He was no stranger to the fact that practically every kid at his school owned a phone and they all went through phases where they seemed to be glued to their screens. Today however, there didn’t seem to be a single person not looking at theirs and whispering gossip to one another in scandalised tones.

“Adrien!” a familiar voice shouted from off to the side of the courtyard and Adrien looked up with a smile at his best friend as he came running over. The close Nino got, the more Adrien could tell he was alarmed about something. He had that wide-eyed look he got whenever he realised he had worded something badly to Alya and she was now pissed at him.

The boy reached him finally, instantly grabbing him by the wrist and tugging him towards the large accessible bathroom in the far corner; the one that most students never used because if their wheelchair-bound vice principal ever caught them it just wasn’t worth the lecture they would get.

The second they were inside, Nino flipped the lock behind them before turning to his startled best friend.

“Have you seen the news today?” he asked without preamble.

“What?”

Not his most eloquent moment, Adrien realised, but honestly he was pretty confused about what was going on. Why was Nino dragging him off like there was a life or death situation? And if it was, then why was he so concerned about the news?

“The news, dude. Have you seen it? The biggest story to hit the city since the first arrival of the heroes?”

“Uh…no?”

Nino swore loud enough that Adrien flinched and glanced at the door, worried in case anyone had heard. It was school grounds after all, and being caught swearing was worth far more than the lecture they would get for being in this bathroom.

He watched as the other teen took out his phone and quickly opened and navigated a browser tab, bringing up a huge image and headline. He handed the device to Adrien who finally had a chance to clearly take in the picture and text for himself. His eyes immediately widened to engulf his face and his jaw slackened as a gasp snuck past his lips.

“Oh, shit!”

***

“What do you mean, it involves me?” Marinette asked as she rubbed the sleep from one of her eyes. Her mind was still groggy and she desperately wanted to go back to sleep, or at least grab a cup of coffee and a pastry from the kitchen before she attempted to make heads or tails of the conversation.

“M, go look at the headlines quickly for a sec, then we’ll talk,” Alya said, a worrying hint of panic in her tone.

“Oookay,” the sleep-deprived girl answered with a yawn, pulling the phone away from her face to navigate to a news app she sometimes used to check for akuma updates when there were issues with the Ladyblog.

The top headlines opened and Marinette had already read the first one and begun freaking out when the accompanying thumbnail finished loading. She tapped it quickly and began to scan the story, becoming increasingly more terrified the further she read.

Jamming the receiver back against her ear, she started to word vomit at her best friend. “Someone overheard Ladybug and Chat talking last night and now everyone knows they’re just kids,” she gasped, “And poly kids too. What if he reads this and thinks it’s too much hassle to deal with? What if he breaks up with me? “Oh mon Dieu, what if everyone stops trusting Ladybug and Chat Noir to protect them from Hawkmoth? What if Hawkmoth uses this against them? Oh no, this is such a disaster!”

She broke off with a squeak as the suddenness of the new information overwhelmed her. Alya was saying something in her ear but she couldn’t hear any of it; she only registered a mumble of sounds in the distance as if she were behind a sheet of thick glass.

The article managed to cover everything the two of them had spoken about last night. The teasing, the references to having more than one partner, mentioning being teenagers with school the next day – all of it. And…all of the sexual innuendo that had been thrown around, as well as the more serious side of their sleepover conversation. It would be mortifying if it wasn’t so dangerous to their identities and public image.

“Marinette! Mar! Are you still there?!” Alya’s voice suddenly broke through her haze and, no longer groggy, Marinette realised she must have gone silent for some time.

“I’m…I’m here,” she said, “Just freaking a bit. What were you saying?”

“Uh, it doesn’t really matter now. It was stupid of me to start asking you stuff when you’re so off the deep end. How you holding up?”

“Not great,” she admitted, “Wait. What kind of things were you asking?”

“Uh…” Alya was quiet for a second and the hesitation told Marinette it wasn’t going to be anything fun to answer. “Look, I know you and Chat are both dating two people. But Ladybug…she apparently mentioned a second boyfriend. Did you, uh, know about that?”

She didn’t have to own up to that if she didn’t want to, but Marinette had a feeling Alya wouldn’t buy it. She was already juggling so many lies surrounding Adrien’s identity and her own that she was going to get mixed up sooner or later, and judging by the way her heart was beating wildly out of control in her chest, it was going to be the former.

“Yes,” she said with a difficult gulp, “After Chat brought up the poly thing with her, she was apparently excited because it meant that…this other boy she was interested in wasn’t completely off the table after all.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie, it was more of a stretched truth. She knew for a fact that if things in her love life had actually gone down the way she had told Alya, then she would have been ecstatic at the opportunity to date both Chat and Adrien guilt free. Well maybe. If they really had been two different boys, she would have still had the guilt of knowing she was leading Chat to believe he was dating two different girls when he was only dating one. But if she had been single, and Chat had approached her as Ladybug after she had developed feelings for him in order to ask if she’d be okay with him dating her and a civilian girl he had fallen for? Well then, the discomfort of holding two boys in her heart at once would have dissolved away with his suggestion that she could also date other people at the same time.

A groan could be heard emanating from the other end of the phone.

“Marinette,” Alya practically whined, “why didn’t you say something earlier?”

“Why would I have?” she answered defensively. It wasn’t really any of Alya’s business who Chat’s other partner was. Technically it wouldn’t have even been Marinette’s business, beyond whatever rules her and Chat had set up within their relationships to ensure everyone was on the same page.

“Well, I could have been subtly diverting attention or putting out more feelers on the Ladyblog to see how people feel about people having multiple boyfriends or girlfriends all this time! As it is, I’ve barely started laying groundwork for that, and it’s all from the guys side of things because I thought Chat was the only superhero who was a Vee! [1]”

“A what?”

“Never mind, I’ll explain later. Look – I just mean I could have been helping make things like this seem like…not such a big deal if I’d known there was a chance of this happening. So far I’ve only been focusing on how to help Chat Noir out of any awkward situations with the public. A lot of those ideas focused on me pointing out that Ladybug was vouching for him in some way, but that doesn’t work if people are also judging her.”

“Oh.” Marinette’s face heated in shame at assuming the worst of her best friend, even after she had gone to previous extremes to prove she wasn’t going to throw their friendship under the bus for a scoop.

“Shit,” Alya said suddenly, “I’ve got to move if I still want to make it to school on time. We can catch up on this more once we’re there.”

“Uh…”

“You are going to school, right? Only, I don’t want any suspicious people trying to make any connections between girls who stay home from school on the day the news breaks and that it would  be upsetting for Chat Noir’s girlfriend to see it this morning.”

Marinette scrunched up her face into a frown. The last thing she wanted to do was face everyone when they were talking about her love life around her and judging her without even realising it. But Alya was right. There would probably be a million people watching for which kids didn’t show up to school today.

Besides, she really needed to speak to Adrien too. Had he seen this yet? It seemed unlikely as Adrien usually avoided most news sites in case they were spreading gossip about him or his father. He only used a handful of well tested akuma alert systems and the Ladyblog, and even then he didn’t look at that constantly. No, Adrien usually got most of his news from hearing about it second-hand and then looking into more himself on what topics interested him. He would most likely hear about this once he was in school, at which point he’d lose his chance to duck out of the building if he wanted to speak to her.

“I’ll be there,” she said quickly, glancing at the time with a flinch, “Though I think I’m gonna be late at this point.” Alya laughed.

“At least one thing’s still the same,” she said.

Buy Me A Coffee?

1Vee: A vee relationship is made up of three partners and gets its name from the letter “V,” in which one person acts as the "Vee," “hinge” or “pivot” partner dating two people. The other two people are not romantically or sexually involved with each other. These two people are known as “metamours” to one another (metamours are two people who are dating the same person, but are not actively dating each other). Metamours in a vee relationship may not know one another, may be vague acquaintances, or may be very good friends. In some cases, metamours may even live with one another, with or without their partner. A vee relationship can be "closed" where all three agree not to date anyone else, or "open" where they agree they can see other people outside of the vee. As such, a person can be a vee in one relationship and a metamour in another at the same time.

#PIP writes #miraculous ladybug #ML fic #Clowder #Love Square #It Was You Sequel

[antisocial-af]

Day 9: Jangus

Title: Festive Liquor

25 Days of Pairings: Day 9 Jangus

Promo:

If you are interested in Rare Pairs, think about joining Shadowhunters Rare Pair Gift Exchange. I’ve already sent in my form! Sign-ups End on December 19th so don’t miss your chance and don’t be afraid to be as specific as you want on the forms!

Rating: T

Wordcount: 3217

No Major Archive Warnings

SFW, Holiday Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Human AU, Alcohol involved.

Summary:

Magnus needs help in recording a video.

Click Here to Read on Ao3

Story:

Magnus looked around his office and at the Holiday decorations he had put out around the table he used to record his videos. He checked the camera and tripod to ensure it was ready to press play once he was done setting up. Magnus made sure to have both the Holiday Liquor Sample Boxes out and on display for his video. He moved towards the small line of Christmas lights he had wrapped around the table edges to adjust them a bit before taking a step back to inspect them again. That only left one last thing, or should he say a person to add to make his video perfect now if he could only convince his boyfriend. 

“Jace,” Magnus called out to the rest of the loft, sweetly and invitingly. “Could you come here for a moment, please?” 

With the holidays fast approaching, Jace had found himself being at home rather than at work. Jace owned his own gym called Herondale Fitness, and during the holiday season, while they did run a New Year Sign-up, they were usually closed because of the whole city being snowed in. Today was just another one of those days. 

“Well, aren’t you looking more handsome than the last time I saw you?” Magnus complimented Jace as he entered the room. Magnus moved forward and easily wrapped his arms around his boyfriends’ neck pulling him down for a kiss. 

Jace gave a soft smirk upon receiving the compliment as he wrapped his arms around his smaller man’s waist. While he was frustrated at the fact he was stuck home and couldn’t run his business, these moments with Magnus made it all seem for the better. Jace would never complain about getting to spend time with his boyfriend. 

“Oh, Magnus Bane using flattery? Do I detect someone in need of some assistance?” Jace teased while he stole another kiss from his boyfriend. 

“Me? Magnus Bane, need something? I never realized it had become a crime to complement one’s lover?” Magnus feigned as he started to push Jace away from him softly. “See if I say something nice to you again, Herondale!” 

“A severe crime,” Jace confirmed in between soft kisses to Magnus’ cheek. “Lucky for you, I am willing to let you off with a warning.” 

“I’m fortunate to have such an understanding boyfriend then,” Magnus responded as he resisted the need to roll his eyes, returning Jace’s kisses. “Maybe so understanding..” Magnus trailed off,  “that he might want to help me with a tiny project?” 

Jace laughed and smiled at Magnus, knowing his boyfriend wanted something. He just hoped it wasn’t another one of those Ask Me Anything videos. Jace never wanted to know how creative Magnus’ subscribers could be. If it were, he would still do it regardless since he wanted to support Magnus’ growing YouTube channel. 

“Depends? What exactly is it this time?” 

“Oh, nothing,” Magnus smirked and waved his hand to the table set up behind him. “I found something alcoholic for us to try for my channel.” 

“Oh, that isn't so bad,” Jace answered. He didn’t think that drinking with his boyfriend could be that hard, camera or not. 

“I even bought us some Christmas outfits since they are holiday drinks,” Magnus continued, pulling away to walk over to the table and pull two costume bags from behind one of the chairs. “I got a Santa one and reindeer one. I will be the reindeer, and you can be Santa.” 

“Shouldn’t you be wearing the Santa costume?” Jace asked as a smirk played on to his face. He stepped forward and looked at both costumes, not taking the Santa one yet. 

“Why?” 

“Well, Santa does ride the reindeer to deliver presents, doesn’t he?” 

Magnus’ brain stopped for a second to understand what Jace was saying before he blushed, remembering their morning activities. 

“Technically, Santa rides a sleight,” Magnus corrected him, trying to regain some of his composure. 

“Details,” Jace dropped a wink. “Do you want me to wear a costume or not?” 

“So I’m wearing the Santa costume, and you’re putting on the reindeer antlers and red nose?” Magnus conceded as he held up the reindeer costume for Jace instead. 

“Gladly, baby.” 

After a bit of a struggle on putting on the Santa costume’s belt since it had neither a clip nor velcro on it, Jace had to go find some safety pins so Magnus could pin it in place for the video. Once that mishap was settled, Magnus started to guide Jace behind the table and had him sit down so he could check the camera and make sure the shot was lined up. Jace was taller than him, and since Magnus didn’t always ask Jace to be in the videos, he had to adjust the camera to make sure Jace was still appropriately centered. 

“So what are these anyway?” Jace asked as he grabbed the festive box that read ‘Holiday Taste Testers or Stocking Stuffers for Adults.’“None of these are like pumpkin spice, right? I tried it once on a dare with Izzy, and trust me. I like pumpkin spice but, somethings should just be left as is.” 

“No, I think the weirdest one I read on there was a Gingerbread Spiced one,” Magnus answered as he pressed record on the video. He could edit out the beginning later. Once he was happy with the camera’s set up, he made his way back to the table to join his boyfriend. 

“That doesn’t sound any better,” Jace grimaced. “Aren’t they still the same spices as Pumpkin Spice?”

“Jace, please don’t make me cut out more than I have to. If I left this part in, I would get so much hate for dating someone who would voice that,” Magnus reprimanded with an eye roll. He opened the app on his phone that controlled some of the basic settings of his editing software he was using to record the video; Magnus had paid a pretty penny for the editing program and was determined to make the most of it. “Could you remove your shirt for like ten seconds? Flex a bit too.” 

“What? Why?” Jace questioned, putting the box of liquor to the side. Jace usually wouldn’t challenge Magnus asking him to take off his shirt; since it usually ended in something mutually beneficial. Now though, it was different, and Jace didn’t know if he was keen on making an appearance on porn sites. “While I’m more than happy to be shirtless for you at any time, why do you exactly need me to be now?” 

“I need a thumbnail for the video, and last time, I used one of you showing off your arms,” Magnus answered as he messed with some more of the settings through his phone. He finished and set the phone on silent and faced down under his chair before turning to Jace with the biggest pouty lip he could muster. “I got so many positive comments from it. I might’ve promised my fans I would try and get you shirtless for the next one.” 

“I don’t know how to feel about that,” Jace responded while trying to avoid the pleading look Magnus was giving him. He had fallen for that face too many times before. His mistake was looking to his boyfriend on instinct because Magnus jumped up when the alcohol taster box near him fell over. Magnus wasn’t looking at him anymore, but the startled look with the still pouty lip had taken any reservations Jace had away. “It feels a bit dishonest to the video and click-baity. Maybe I should put on the brown suspenders you have in the closet and be shirtless. So it goes with the reindeer outfit?” 

“You would do that for me?” Magnus asked, surprised at the offer. He looked up at his boyfriend with wide eyes. 

“Of course, baby.” Jace leaned down and kissed Magnus softly before discarding his shirt in one motion. “Go get me the suspenders?” 

“I do love my man tied up,” Mangus said as he quickly left to go get the items before Jace changed his mind. He promptly retrieved a set of brown suspenders and ran back to the recording room. Once Jace had finished clipping them into place, they resumed their spots behind the camera. Magnus chastised himself for not having turned off or paused the recording while they had the costume debate. 

“Ready?” Magnus asked, leaning over to fix one of the suspenders. 

“All set,” 

Magnus turned to the camera and smiled as he started. 

“Hello, my Darlings! I hope that all of you are having a wonderful holiday season no matter the tradition you celebrate, and if you don’t celebrate anything during this season, then I hope your winter has been well.” Magnus greeted and placed a hand on Jace’s shoulder before continuing, “As you can see, I am joined today once again by my boyfriend. Introduce yourself again just in case, babe.” 

“Hello, I am Jace, the better half of this relationship, and if you haven’t seen me here before, make sure to click somewhere near me. I am sure Magnus will put up a link to the Q&A I did with him,” Jace greeted. He had seen and heard his boyfriend do this often enough. Jace knew some of the things he should say. Jace grabbed his box of holiday liquors and looked at it as if he was confused. “So what exactly are we doing today, babe?” 

“We are going to be trying some Holiday themed alcohol,” Magnus responded and grabbed his own box to show off the front to the camera. “I found these while browsing at the mall for some gifts.” 

“So there are five in total,” Jace commented as he had now flipped the box to the back where he could read more information about the liquors. 

“Yes,” Magnus confirmed while he started to open his box up and pull the five small one-shot bottles out of the case. “I’m glad I bought two boxes now. I thought the bottles would be a bit bigger given the size of the box.” 

“So we are just going to take shots of them and review them?” Jace questioned as he mimicked Magnus and took his five liquors out as well. He was not looking forward to trying Captain Morgan Gingerbread Spiced or the Cinnamon Schnapps. They both seemed like they would be the closest to the taste of pumpkin spice, something he wasn’t retrying in alcoholic form. 

“In a way, do you know what the real test of any holiday-themed liquor is?” Magnus prompted. 

“How many shots does it take to make you forget your family’s cooking?”

“While that is an important statistic, I was going for something a bit different, babe,” Magnus replied with a chuckle. He reached by the table’s leg and brought up a large thermos and ten small cups. “The test every holiday-themed liquor needs to pass is; Drum roll please, Jace.” 

Jace rolled his eyes but indulged his boyfriend accordingly and drummed his fingers against the table. 

“Does it taste good with hot cocoa?”

“So I’m guessing that’s why we don’t have any milk,” Jace commented with a smirk. He had tried to get a bowl of cereal as a snack earlier only to finish pouring a bowl of cereal and find no milk in the fridge. 

“Business expense,” Magnus replied and started to pour the hot cocoa. “We will use, however, much of the liquor we want, mix it, and then take a sip.” 

“Sounds easy enough. How do we decide which one we try first?” Jace asked as he reached and grabbed his five cups of hot cocoa. 

“We can just go ABC order,” Magnus resolved as he grabbed the small bottle of Captain Morgan Gingerbread Spiced. He handed Jace a small spoon and then proceeded to pour some of his bottle into the cup of cocoa. “So that means Captain Morgan Gingerbread Spiced is the first one.” 

Jace tried to hide his grimace as he heard what Magnus was saying. He thought of how he could at least get the two he is most likely to hate out of the way first. Jace followed Magnus’ lead again and poured his desired amount in.

“Should we prep the rest ahead of time and put the bottles in front of them?” Jace asked when he noticed how long it took them to prepare one of the drinks. He knew it was less than a minute, but if they just did it now, it would mean fewer scenes Magnus would have to cut later during editing because they had ad idle chat while preparing the drinks. 

“That would be easier,” Magnus confirmed as he started to open the rest of his liquor bottles. 

They both set up their five respective cups of hot chocolate, each assigned a bottle proudly displayed in front of the cups. Jace made the mistake of smelling the cinnamon alcohol and immediately began to regret it. 

“Ready,” Jace announced as he looked over to Magnus, who had just finished lining up the small bottles. “All set?” 

“Yes, but let’s start as if we just finished the ‘what makes a good holiday-themed liquor’ scene,” Magnus adjusted himself and checked the recording’s status from his phone quickly. He saw that everything was still good, so he placed his phone back on the floor. “Follow my lead.” 

“Always do baby,” Jace leaned over and placed a small kiss on the side of Magnus’ head.

“Alright, we took a moment to set up our drinks, but as you can see, we have hot chocolate in order to put these liquors to the test,” Magnus talked towards the camera. “We are going to be starting with the Gingerbread Spiced one. I honestly believe it won’t be that bad. I’ve enjoyed a gingerbread cookie with a cup of hot chocolate before, so it can’t be that bad.”

Magnus raised his cup towards Jace in a ‘cheers’ motion. “Ready?” 

“As I’ll ever be.”

They both took a drink and had two different reactions; as expected, Jace had hated the taste as soon as it filled his mouth. Magnus, on the other hand, had been delighted by the taste, and it showed on his face. 

“I think I found a new liquor to use to spike my hot cocoa and would honestly recommend this one,” Magnus praised as he took another sip. 

“It’s a complete pass for me on this one,” Jace countered as he placed the offending cup away from him. “I can’t even taste the hot chocolate anymore.” 

“Alright, let’s move on then, Mr.Grumpy,” Magnus smiled and reached for the next cup and bottle. He giggled when Jace replied to him by sticking his tongue out at him. Magnus would have to remember to edit that into the video later. “This one is Cinnamon Schnapps. I’ve had the peach flavor before but never any of the others.”

“I don’t think it will taste that much different from the previous one.” 

They both took their cups and drank from them. This time though, they both seemed to go back for a second sip. 

“This one is surprisingly good,” Jace stated, surprised. “I thought it would be more overwhelming, but honestly just adds a warmness to the drink.” 

“Agreed,” Magnus nodded along. “I would suggest only a small amount, though. I feel like if people put too much, it could tip it there.” 

They both finished that cup of hot cocoa and pulled the third to them. 

“Does your cup look darker?” 

“I think it’s because this is the Godiva Dark Chocolate Liqueur,” Magnus replied as he read the bottle’s label. 

“This one sounds promising,” Jace picked up the cup eagerly and drank with no reserve. He was rewarded by the bittersweetness of the dark chocolate being warmed by the alcohol in it. 

“Wow, that is tasty!” Magnus exclaimed next to him and waited for Jace’s verdict. 

“We should get more of this for the house,” Jace concluded as he drained the rest of the cup’s contents. “Definitely the best so far.” 

“The next one will be interesting. I don’t know if apple cider mixes with cocoa well,” Magnus contemplated. 

“Here, I’ll be the brave test subject for you, baby,” Jace volunteered and started to drink for the next cup. It was a confusing taste of apples and chocolate trying to fight for dominance. “It isn’t bad, but I think you’re right because I still can’t tell what I am tasting.” 

Magnus took the bottle of Jack Daniel’s (Winter Jack) Apple Cider and drank from it instead of the cup of cocoa. 

“Try just the liquor. While it didn’t pass the hot chocolate test, it is still delicious, and it does remind me of the holidays,” Magnus concluded. He was glad that the box only had five liquors because he was starting to feel a bit buzzed.  Magnus watched Jace drink from the small bottle as well and nodded along. 

“I wouldn’t buy it but wouldn’t be mad if someone gave me this,” Jace offered. “There is only one left, right? What is it?” 

“Smirnoff Peppermint,” Magnus read off the label and scrunched up his nose. He wasn’t exactly a fan when companies tried to copy mint flavors in liquors. “It has a pretty label. It can’t be that bad.” 

“Candy canes are peppermint, right?” Jace asked as he took a sip and immediately regretted it. He didn’t even put a lot of liquor in the cocoa, but apparently, it had been enough to simulate a weak mouthwash. He shook his head to play up the disgust for the camera and made a groan. “That was so bad. It feels like I just mixed toothpaste into that. This is nothing like candy canes.” 

Magnus laughed at Jace’s reaction to the liquor. His boyfriend was more of a traditional alcohol man with no need for extra flavors. So Magnus knew that involving him in the video would give him some funny scenes for his video. 

“Going to do the wrap up now,” Magnus warned Jace. He quickly rearranged the mostly empty cups and bottles on both sides so that they would look nice on camera. “Ready?” 

Jace reached over and drank the rest of the dark chocolate alcohol in an attempt to rinse the rest of the offending peppermint from his mouth. 

“Now, I am.” 

“Thank you once again for joining us today, my darlings!” Magnus started as he looked at the camera. “I hope you all have a safe winter season. If you liked the video and want to see Jace in more of my videos, make sure you comment, like, and subscribe!”

“It was nice being here again. Make sure you leave my boyfriend a lot of love. He works hard on these videos,” Jace pulled Magnus closed and kissed his cheek softly before quickly adding, “and may nobody ever add mouthwash to your hot chocolate.”

Magnus laughed and waved at the camera as he let Jace pull him closer into more kisses. He knew he would have to cut some of these parts, but it was worth it. They would just go into his personal files, that he keeps of videos and photos of Jace and himself. 

#antisocialaf #mywork #hmdiscord #jangus #fanfiction #shadowhunters

[shamefullymadethis]

The Mess You Made (Shoto x Reader)

Part 2/?

Todoroki x Reader

Art College AU

Word Count: 1242

Summary: Y/n has had their life under wraps at all times. They give little room for things to mess up what they’ve built when they have the control over it. So what happens when the new student, Shoto, indirectly starts to unravel the carefully crafted life Y/n has built for themself?

Trigger Warnings: None in this chapter.

Previous Part // Next Part (lmk if you want more parts! I’m based off your interest in it :) )

Your newest assignment is to do a large scale close-up portrait in oil painting. During class you work on thumbnails and sketches to get approved by Professor Aizawa. The only other guideline is it couldn’t be a self portrait. Which while proving to be a difficult task for your classmates, it wasn’t difficult for you. You flip through the sketchbook that you’ve taken to the cafe countless times as if it was a catalogue. Turning through the pages you find yourself coming back to the newest page you finished that morning several times. The line quality was rough enough, that at a quick glance you wouldn’t be able to see the resemblance of your new classmate. But you still worry about actually following through with the project, as you thought it could be misconstrued as strange. You couldn’t help but think that Shoto does look like a painting brought to life though. Even the scar on his face resembled a paint blotch, he was a perfect muse. Feeling torn you decide to approach Aizawa with some of the sketches and talk about the issue you’re having.

“Ah, Y/n, have you decided what sketches you wanted to show me?” He asks looking up from his own sketchbook.

“Sorta? I’m having a bit of trouble,” you say as you take a seat at the stool across from his table, “I’ve been flipping through my sketchbook and none of them really pique my interest, but I keep coming back to one. But also I’m very worried that I would make the person uncomfortable if I painted him.”

Aizawa holds a hand out motioning for you to hand your sketchbook over. You hesitantly place it in his hand and he immediately goes to flip through the book. As he flips you see him reach the newest page and pause to examine it. He squints for a moment, looks up to Shoto, then back down at the sketch. You feel your palms start to sweat, and you reach to take the sketchbook back from him. He hands it over and crosses his arms.

“I’m not sure I understand the issue,” he states.

“Wouldn’t it be weird? To paint him? I don’t even know him,” you say in a rushed way.

“Do you know anyone in that sketchbook?” Aizawa inquires glancing down at the book.

You paused for a moment, “No I guess I don’t.”

Professor Aizawa leans forward to place his elbows on the table, “You find muses in the most unlikely places. Half the people in the class are painting their other classmates. It’d be a hell of a welcoming gift.”

You feel heat rush to you cheeks, “I guess…”

He smiles and leans back on the stool, “I’d say go for it, even if it wasn’t him I’d tell you to do that sketch. It’s the one that seems the most interesting and thought out. Think about it like this,” he leans in to whisper, “if he wasn’t your classmate would it bother you?”

You shake your head shyly.

“If you’re really bothered by it, you can always ask him if you can,” he states flatly.

The idea of telling someone you met a few moments ago that you wanted to paint him was more mortifying than doing it and feeling embarrassed later. You shake your head furiously and Aizawa gestures for you to head back to your seat with a wave of your hand. As you get up from the stool you see Shoto approach the table with his sketchbook. You exchange quick glances and he gives you a small smile. You try to smile back, but find yourself being a bit too enthusiastic about it. You quickly head back to your seat as he takes the spot you were just sitting in. Back at your desk Mina leans over to you and asks, “So did you get your sketch approved?”

“Yeah I did, kinda nervous about it,” you say quietly.

Mina gives you a slap on the shoulder and clasps on and says, “You’re an amazing artist, whatever you do it’ll look wonderful anyways.”

As you give Mina a smile you hear Aizawa laugh out loud at the front of the class room, but he quickly sniffles it.

Aizawa and Shoto exchange a few words that are out of earshot. Aizawa hands Shoto his sketchbook back and gives a thumbs up before waving him off. You quickly look away from the scene before either can notice that you have been staring all this time. Instead you invest yourself in a conversation with Mina about her sketch ideas, and giggle at the silly doodles strewn about her pages. What you didn’t notice was Shoto’s gaze watching you as you laughed with Mina and smiled.

Another hour passes before Aizawa calls for a lunch break.

“Alright everyone, I’ve gone through all your sketches. If you have your sketch approved then make sure to head to the supply store before coming back from lunch to grab stretchers and canvas,” he announces, “If your sketch isn’t approved yet you’ll come back and continue working on them. As soon as it’s approved I’ll send you out to get supplies. Is that clear everyone?”

You hear scattered sounds of understanding from your classmates as you get up and stretch your arms and legs. Your friends Mina, Izuku, Kirishima, and Bakugo all approach your table. You exchange a few words about the project before you see Izuku look behind you and wave his hand at someone.

“Hey Shoto!” He exclaims trying to get his attention.

You feel your eyes go wide and your body go stiff refusing to turn around.

“Wanna join us for lunch? Since you’re new we can show you where everything is!” Izuku says with a wide, innocent smile.

You hear footsteps approach behind you, and finally get the courage to turn and face him. As you turn you see him stop right beside where you are.

“Sure, sounds good to me,” Shoto says with a smile.

“Alright let’s gooooo!” Mina says with a cheer before hooking her arm into yours and dragging you to march forward with the group.

Your mind starts racing, and as you notice your face starts to get warm you catch yourself. You feel yourself internally take a deep breath. He’s just another classmate, what was there to be nervous about? Sure, he looked like a literal masterpiece, but you don’t know him. He is your muse right now, nothing more nothing less. You find yourself cycling through reassurances and your shoulders relax a bit.

You had a tendency to not only expect the worst of a situation, but to also prepare for any situation. You rely on that instinctual and prepared part of yourself to feel a bit more assured about the feeling you felt stirring in your stomach that you quickly snuffed out. Or so you thought you snuffed it out. For now the only thing that was on your mind was making a painting for your class, and doing it well. There was no time in your tidy life for mixed up feelings. You hadn’t made room for them, so you sure as hell weren’t about to let them happen now. Well… at least you were trying your best to not let them in. Your biggest mistake that day was overestimating your ability to have control over things out of your hands.

[comicteaparty]

January 4th-January 10th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from January 4th, 2020 to January 10th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What goals do you have going forward with this new year for your story?

carcarchu

well i basically have the same goal every year which is to cover more ground, i made the mistake of making my first comic be a super long 3 part epic so it feels like it's going to take me years to make it even part way through when i try to make my chapters longer however it generally leads me to feeling burned out so i still have a way to go when it comes to finding the right length per chapter that i can put out consistently

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

In Phantomarine (http://www.phantomarine.com/), this year I finally reach the chapter where all my main characters meet and start interacting - it's where the story truly kicks off. I've spent almost 2 years in setup/exposition mode, and I finally get to exit it properly. I'm so. SO. Excited. And I really want to take my time and do it properly. It's about to get very fun for me, and I hope it will show in the work!

Cronaj

My goals mainly consist of reaching page 100. I'm over 1/4th of the way there, and I believe I can get there before 2021. I also want to reach the introduction of one of the main characters, but I don't think that'll happen this year. This character doesn't appear until the end of Ch. 5, which is somewhere around page 170-180. Am I waiting too long to introduce this character? Absolutely.

eli [a winged tale]

I am almost halfway through Arc 1 and almost at 10% of the story Looking forward to chugging away at it and hope to reach the First Plot Point by the end of the year

kayotics

I guess one of my goals is to reformat chapter 1 for printing (I drew it at the wrong size), and then update chapters 1 & 2 for colors. I’d like to compile the first four chapters into a book, but I’d like all the chapters to be visually similar in color at least.

Tuyetnhi

Gonna try to finish two chapters this year and clean up ch.1 and 2 for printing its gonna be a lot of work but I know it can be managed~

snuffysam

In terms of where the main story will go - Book 3 just started, and Chapter 1 should be finished mid-March. Chapter 2 will be finished early-mid July, maybe even late June? Chapter 3 will be finished sometime in September. And then it's Chapter 4... which won't be finished until like June 2021 lol. But anyway, by the end of the year we'll be introduced to all the important characters of this arc (though we won't have had much time with some of them). Including a character who's so important, I'd almost call them the deuteragonist of the entire comic if not for the fact that they're only showing up 700 pages in, lol.(edited)

Past the actual story aspects - the comic will be celebrating its fourth birthday at the end of February! And, given that the first page of the comic was started on a leap day, it's technically the first birthday the comic has actually had. The upcoming short stories for the year are some of my favorites so far, so that's exciting. I'm also interested to see how the shipping contest & fan-art contest turn out. We'll also be reaching page 750 at some point this year, which is a pretty big milestone.

Deo101

I have a goal for my second comic to get it off of hiatus, and for my main one I would really like to make improvements in the areas I've received critiques! Mostly, I just want to keep making them for another year <3 I don't really have any goals other than to keep on going with it

(also, a preemptive congrats on four years!)(edited)

AntiBunny

Well, having fully reuploaded my archives, I'm letting them update gradually to hopefully attract a new audience over on comic fury. When it catches back up I intend to finish up Chapter 10, and with it book 2. Then I'll finally launch book 3, Coast to Coast, which will allow me to tell more different stories by changing locations.

Kelsey (Kurio)

Hey Vinnie! How goes it?

AntiBunny

Still chugging along.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

The big goal for Wayfinders off course is first of all to launch! In start February (we will find a date today iiih!!) Then at the end of 2020, if everything goes accordingly we should have produced 7 chapters enough for a book Ah! This is all so exciting

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Pretty much my goal is to just keep swimming. I hope to complete more chapters this year. I should be able to finish chapter one of my comic, Eryl, unless I have to take a long hiatus (which, honestly, is looking very likely). Ashes is less time intensive than Eryl and the chapters half as long (only 16 pages each; Eryl chapters are usually 30-35 pages), so I’m going to try and finish at least two, if not three chapters before 2021. But honesty, just getting what I can done and continuing to push forward is my biggest goal.

Mei

I only started My Husband is a Cultist last year in April (https://tapas.io/series/MyHusbandisaCultist) and my goal is to reach that first year anniversary and to keep the train rolling for this comic! I initially wanted to have the rest of this arc completed in 2020, but I've decided to be realistic as I will be making a grad film at the same time (yay), so I just plan to do as much as I can, and to at least have Chapter 4 completed before March, and maybe Chapter 5 after that! I have a lot of story I want to tell and it's hard to stay focussed on it, but I'm doing my best, doing a little at a time!

Phin (Heirs of the Veil)

My goals are mainly to become a little quicker and finish the second book in time for the Heirs of the Veils (http://heirsoftheveil.fervorcraft.de/) fourth anniversary next October. Story-wise we want to have all the bits and pieces in place to slowly approach the actual meaty parts of the comic and prepare well enough to finish it in the coming 3 years.

FeatherNotes

Our goal is to have our book fully edited, with help from editors and friends, so we can be more confident in it's true rendition. Im not one to stick to making pages perfect, but there are definitely parts that could use some attention! Other than that, book 4 is on it's way and it's always a main goal to get to print for upcoming cons!

varethane

My goal this year is to get to the end of the first arc of Wychwood! After a year of working on it, I'm roughly halfway there. I'd also like to lern 2 colour better.

Capitania do Azar

This year I hope to get a new book out!! That would be great and also you know, just keep going. If all goes well I can get a chapter out until the end of the year and that'd be cool (but also perhaps a bit too hopeful, since my chapters have started to...get bigger with time..)

SAWHAND

This year my goal is to start posting the comic! And, if it works out, I'd love to get the whole thing thumbnailed out by the end of the year. Fingers crossed!!

DanitheCarutor

My goal is to finish chapter 5 in less than a year. Up until now it's taken a year to finish a chapter thanks to work, chores and the occasional procrastination spell. But in December I quit my depressing job that was a two hour drive away, so I'm hoping to be more productive, even if I get part time work somewhere in town.

twothirty

along with finishing chapter 6 and 7, im also hoping to have all of book 2's script written and edited~

renieplayerone

My goal is id love to get the first chapter or two of kate blast printed

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #creator interview #comic creator interview #creator babble

[blogs-of-our-lives]

I, Frankenstein is a Trash Movie

           I’ve been putting off writing this for some time now. I watched Episode 98 immediately after watching 97, and you can tell it was getting a little hazy by the end. I can vaguely remember the beginning of the episode, and that’s when my memory was at its clearest. So I may take some creative liberties and make my own plot as I go.

           Welcome to Carter’s nightmare carnival funhouse version of Days of our Lives.

           This show makes me sad. I write way way way slower than they produce episodes. As I write this review for Episode 98, they’ve already released episode 205. Granted, I have no intentions of following it every day (episode 200 has a thumbnail of Ciara passed out on the floor as an obviously fake fire consumes her house, so I’m abso-fucking-lutely reviewing that one next), but the blistering pace that this show takes is disheartening. It just goes to show that life moves fast. You blink, and kids your age are getting married. In the previous NFL draft, the Buffalo Bills selected linebacker Tremaine Edmunds in the first round, at the age of 19. He’s younger than I am. That’s ridiculous. I’m getting old, fast.

           The episode opens with John at the hospital. He looks flustered, glancing around desperately. For those who haven’t read about the previous episode, the last we saw John, he had just entered the Dimera mausoleum with Will. As the door shuts, we hear a gunshot. Shortly behind him is Paul (wearing a black leather jacket, everybody in this show is wearing a black leather jacket, it’s like the soap opera version of Sons of Anarchy).

“What have you done?” Paul asks, staring in horror at the floor.

John steps in behind him, holding a comically small gun. “The same thing I’m going to do to you,” he says. It cuts to the outside of the mausoleum, where we hear another gunshot.

I didn’t mention this last episode, but imagine if that was the last thing you heard. It was clearly not a sincere question. Paul knew what happened. Ugh. I hate that line so much. Imagine your first memories. Imagine kindergarten, first grade, all the way up to middle school and high school. Every moment of your life, every love and every regret, every moment of anger or sadness, has been leading up to an old guy in a black leather jacket with a tiny gun saying “The same thing I’m going to do to you” and then shooting you.

Anyway, we’re caught up. John is distressed, and at this point it’s kind of unclear what he’s trying to do. I can’t remember if John is trying to finish off Steve (John is a spy tasked with killing Steve, the eyepatch guy), trying to tell his wife (Will’s grandma, and just so you guys all know, there’s no coming back from murdering someone’s grandson. No amount of foot rubs and boxes of chocolate shaped like hearts can help you come back from murdering your wife’s grandson) that he’s a spy, or maybe he just had a moment of clarity and realized that Days of our Lives can only rent like three sets at one time and he truly had nowhere else to go.

I’ll just tell you all the truth. Will and Paul are alive. They both make an appearance on the thumbnail of episode 191, and unless it’s from a flashback (more on that later), they survived. Just as a good rule of thumb, if this show wants you to think somebody is dead, they’re probably alive.

Fun fact, when someone on the show says “They’re in a better place” when talking about a dead character, they’re telling the truth.

Oh god, I just realized that it doesn’t even matter. They’ve blurred the lines between life and death so much (Will returning from the dead with amnesia, the Salem Stalker victims returning to life, John dying in a car accident and somehow appearing in this episode) that there truly is no reason to believe anyone is dead. It doesn’t matter if an actual licensed doctor comes on screen and pronounces the character dead. You could probably bring back your favorite character just by emailing the producer. The email is [REDACTED BY EDITOR – You absolutely may not use my personal email address], by the way. Email that at least twice a day every day, and soon you’ll get your character back.

The scene cuts to a man and a woman standing next to each other in front of the Dimera mausoleum. The mausoleum has “DIMERA” etched into the marble, just in case the viewer has forgotten that scene from less than 24 hours earlier. It could have easily been confused with any of the thousands of mausoleums that appear in our day to day television. These two people (the woman is a former lover of Andre Dimera, the most recent Dimera to pass away – which apparently is common enough that it merits the need for a mausoleum – and the man is of absolutely no consequence and isn’t worth the number of words I’ve invested in him already) take up most of the episode, pondering Andre’s life in front of his tomb, before they will presumably enter and discover Paul and Will’s “bodies” (I have no idea what they will find there), but are also painfully boring. I’ve said before that a single Days of Our Lives episode contains very little content. Usually it has about a conversation’s worth of information. For example, the description of episode 189 is “Kate makes a huge confession to Chad.” Presumably they also talk about the confession, right? Usually not. Usually the episode breaks down in the following way: Kate sees Chad and says hello, cut to other characters, cut to commercials, Kate says she has a confession, cut to other characters, cut to commercials, Kate says the confession, cut straight to commercials, Chad looks upset, the episode ends.

This is a very long-winded way of me telling you that it takes the full 60 minutes of Days of our Lives for the two people to enter the goddamn tomb.

It’s about time I talk about the flashbacks. I don’t remember what each individual flashback contained, but there were two or three in this episode. And holy crap, they were genius. Not the content of the flashbacks, but the idea of them. Because they literally reused old Days of our Lives footage. Imagine if I could copy and paste bits of previous Blogs of our Lives episodes, label them as a flashback, and call it a day. Oh man, I am jealous of the writers. Until I remember they’re stuck in the Fields of Asphodel that is being a writer for Days of Our Lives.

Naturally, the flashbacks have slightly lower quality than the episode itself. We live in an age of progress, and in a few years, even the most recent movies will look dated. But this is just absurd. It looks like someone went frame by frame and printed out the entirety of the flashback, photocopied them, photocopied them again, and put them back in. Also the audio sucks. I don’t have anything poetic to say about it. It just sounds like the voice actors did their recordings via walkie-talkies.

Remember Gabi, the chic murderer? Well now she’s talking with a police officer in the station. He’s trying to get help her out, clearly a friend of hers. “You’re going to be home to see your daughter soon,” he said.

“That’s not likely,” a woman says, strutting into the room. She’s got a satisfied, smug smirk. “I’m pressing charges.” Ah, she must be the DA. I think? Is that how law works? The DA can just press charges? Does that mean that she just as easily could have chosen not to? For murder? I’ll give DOOL a pass because I don’t understand it myself.

And now my notes start making even less sense. The handwriting is larger and sloppier and mostly illegible.

The former lover of Andre Dimera and the man accompanying her continue on their Hamlet-style soliloquy, talking and talking and talking and just standing outside the damn mausoleum. Finally, she opens the door and gasps, before the camera fades to black, ending the episode. Which is the biggest cop out I’ve ever seen, but nothing in this show surprises me anymore. I’m not mad, just disappointed. I’m telling you guys, an hour of Days of our Lives contains about five minutes of something actually happening.

Of course, this isn’t the end of my notes. I will transcribe them below exactly as it is written:

·       GUY IS MURDRER

·       WOMAN SEES THINGS

·       PUNTS SRYNGE IN SLEVE

·       FIGHTS OF ANGELS AND ALL THAT

All of these wonderful pieces of insight culminate in a full page entry, in all caps, on the next page. SHE FINDS HIM THERE.

I don’t know. I was going to put more to that sentence, but I realized it answered every question one could possibly have about that list. Why did I forget how to spell? I don’t know. Presumably I was in a rush to get all my ideas down. Where does the syringe (or rather srynge) come in? Who is the woman that sees things? Why are the angels fighting? I don’t know.

My best guess is that John Black stole a syringe to inject Steve with poison, seeing as both were in the hospital. Which opens up the possibility that I meant to write “punts srynge in STEVE.” Somehow I doubt that, however. I assume I meant “flights of angels,” a Shakespeare reference. Who even knows. You guys can probably decipher my notes better than I can.

The other day, I was at Walmart (while procrastinating writing this, and I suppose in a way I’m still procrastinating by writing this side segment), when the $3 movie bin caught my eye. I’m drawn to it every time. I love DVDs (there’s something to be said about physical media rather than digital), I’m a cheap bastard who loves cheap-ass shit, and I love love love love love bad movies. More on that later.

I found a three movie collection of Prom Nights 1-4, starring Jaime Lee Curtis. It seemed to be some kind of an off-brand Carrie. Also, for those of you with keen eyes, it was not a mistake that the 3 movie collection contained 1-4. For whatever reason, the set contained Prom Night, Prom Night 2, and Prom Night 4. Why not Prom Night 3? Won’t I be lost without knowing what happened between Prom Night 2 and Prom Night 4?

I truly, sincerely believe I have good taste in movies. I watch a lot of good movies and can understand what makes them good and why. However, on one fateful day about three years ago, I discovered that it was far easier to enjoy a bad movie with your friends than a good one. I get upset if people talk during a good movie, and don’t care if people talk during a bad movie. We can make fun of bad movies, but not good movies. Most of all, a good movie often invokes a specific mood. It’s hard to match that mood with a group of people. A bad movie also invokes a specific mood, always laughter, which is very easy to match with a group of people.

Which is why I’ve seen Fridays the 13th Parts 1-8, Jason Goes to Hell, Jason X, Freddy vs. Jason, Nightmares on Elm Street 1-3, FACE/OFF, The Room, a lot of Scooby-Doo direct to DVD movies, Scared Shrekless (in my defense that was a gift), The Wickerman (the one with Nicholas Cage, obviously), The Gingerdead Man (starring Gary Busey), Starship Troopers (starring Gary Busey’s son), Antz, Darkman (treat yourself, it’s pretty great), Flushed Away (I enjoyed this one a little too genuinely), Birdemic: Shock and Terror, S. Darko, Jurassic Park III, Vampires Suck (not as much as that movie did), Hellraiser, Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, Meet the Robinsons, Hannibal Rising (swapping Jodie Foster for Julianne Moore was a poor decision), Alvin and the Chipmunks, Eragon (sweet Jesus Christ, I forgot about Eragon), Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, The Conjuring (people will try to tell you the Conjuring is a good movie… don’t let them), Ouija, The Boy, and The Visit. Honorable mention goes out to Rubber, which isn’t actually a bad movie, and one other.

I, Frankenstein.

A movie so bad its title needed to be separated so it couldn’t taint any other sentences. The worst movie I’ve ever seen. But I can save that for another post.

You’ll notice that a lot of these movies are horror. I looove horror movies, so I say this with all the love in my heart. It’s a trash genre. I’ve never seen anything like it. For every one good horror movie, there are at least fifty horrible ones. Not fifty bad ones. Fifty horrible ones. I’ll talk about horror as a genre next time, but I’ll leave you with an anecdote. My friends and I wanted to watch a horror movie, so we found a list of the Top 100 Horror Movies of All Time. We didn’t recognize a single movie until #50, and they had the movie Oculus as the 25th best horror movie of all time. That’s ridiculous. The nicest thing I have to say about Oculus was there were a lot of parts of the movie where I didn’t want to get up and leave. There were a lot of mediocre scenes, and I mean that as a compliment. I thought about this for a moment, that Oculus was ranked 25th of all time, and realized that’s about right. There are so so so few good horror movies, and just an absurd amount are terrible. I think it’s due to the fact that all horror movies are vaguely formulaic, relying on tropes for the genre. It makes them really easy to write and produce.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I’ll have the next Blogs of our Lives out much sooner than I got this one out.

Fuck I, Frankenstein.

#Days of Our Lives #blog #soap opera #movies #funny #hopefully #I'm the internet equivalent of a guy talking to himself on the bus #bad

[gnomegirlgabby-blog]

Gnome Thy Enemy!

Here is one of the articles from gnome-zone!

https://gnome-zone.com/gnome-facts/

Battle gnomes defending the garden one zucchini at a time...

Petaluma, Calif.-based artist and master prop builder Shawn Thorsson is best known for his jaw-dropping costumes, like the 8-foot-tall Warhammer 40K Space Marines that have graced the cover of MAKE Volume 32 and have been spreading awe the last couple of years at Maker Faire Bay Area. He’s currently in the midst of doing a blog/video series for us detailing his build of the life size replica of Robocop’s ED-209 he’s bringing to this year’s Faire. Badass costumes aside, Thorsson is also known for his Combat Garden Gnomes. Yup, gnomes with weapons because as he puts it, “In the world of garden warfare, anything can happen.”

1. What motivated you to make garden gnomes? Back when I came up with the idea, I was still making my living as a navigator on cargo ships, and the costume and prop-making thing was just a hobby — an expensive hobby. So I’d been trying to think up a way to use the tools and materials that were going into the hobby to offset the costs of the tools and materials that were going into the hobby.

I’m not sure exactly how I’d hit upon the notion of making gnomes in particular, but after doing a bit of research I was surprised by how much people were willing to spend on unique, well-made garden gnomes.

2. How did the gnomes end up going into combat mode? The biggest challenge with garden gnomes was coming up with something that hadn’t been done already. I brainstormed a couple dozen variations on the garden gnome theme and started doodling up some thumbnail sketches to work from.

At the time I was out at sea with no internet connection, so I had to wait until I got home before I could do any real research. That’s when I found out that most of my other seemingly original ideas had actually already been invented. A cursory search found garden gnomes with suits of armor and dressed up as ninjas and making lewd gestures.

Out of all of my concepts, the only one I couldn’t find somewhere on the internet was a mashup between garden gnomes and the little green plastic army man figures. I was surprised since those poses are pretty ubiquitous, and the toys dated back to the Vietnam War era. But since nobody had beaten me to it, I was happy to fill that very little niche in the garden gnome world.

3. How many styles have you created so far? A couple of months back I sat down on a whim and sculpted the first female combat garden gnome. She’s the thirteenth variation I’ve made and she’s posed in the same standing shooting position as the very first gnome rifleman I sculpted.

Aside from those two, there’s a kneeling rifleman (which I’ve recently re-sculpted to alter a few details and improve his facial expression), a prone rifleman, a grenade-throwing gnome, a rocket-launcher-toting gnome, an officer with a pistol, the flamethrower gnome, minesweeper gnome with metal detector, the heavy-machine gunner gnome, the bayonet attack gnome, radio gnome, and the mortar launcher gnome.

4. What are the challenges that come with crafting each new style? The biggest challenge is making sure that each one has some unique personality. Since the poses are already established, most of the sculpt involves making sure that they have all of the integral characteristics of garden gnomes (pointed hats, funny beards, pot bellies, etc.).

I try to save the face and hair for last because that’s the part that really brings the sculpt to life. If I make the mistake of giving them an expressive face before the rest of the sculpt is done, they get a deceptively finished feel and it’ll take weeks to get around to adding the folds in their pants or the soles of their boots.

5. What are the gnomes’ weapons made out of? The weapons are made out of the same urethane resin that the rest of the gnomes are cast in. The only real difference in the process is that instead of sculpting the prototypes in clay, I usually have Jarvis (my 3D printer has a name) print them out for me. He’s pretty good at mechanical shapes, so it’s really just a question of getting the scale right or maybe making the proportions a little cartoonish.

6. What types of reactions have your received and what are a couple of your favorites? I get all sorts of reactions ranging from mild amusement to abject horror. Usually I’ll get emails from customers who write something like “my Uncle Jim is a gun nut who hates Aunt Jenny’s garden gnomes and Aunt Jenny is an avid gnome collector who hates Uncle Jim’s guns. I’m so glad someone’s finally made the perfect gift for both of them.”

The really odd reaction, which I never anticipated, was the way in which a lot of people have incorporated them into various political agendas. I get occasional angry emails from folks on both sides of the gun control debate who are upset by whatever statements they think I’m trying to make.

Before I sculpted the first female one, I’d get emails accusing me of all sorts of misogynistic things. It’s funny to me because there really was never any kind of social or political commentary intended. They’re garden gnomes. If you’re doing anything other than laughing at them, you’re doing it wrong.

7. Any new developments in the works? I had a customer a while back suggest that I should start making Kama Sutra garden gnomes, but I don’t think I’ll be going down that path. Instead, I’ve got a sketchbook full of doodles just waiting to be sculpted. There’s at least another dozen or so poses before I run out of little green plastic army men, and I still need to make a few more females as well.

Somewhere along the way I’m going to have to make some gophers in foxholes with machine guns and sandbags just so the gnomes will have enemies of some sort. Maybe throw in some squirrel shock troops and a raccoon recon force just to mix things up a bit. In the world of garden warfare, anything can happen.

https://makezine.com/2014/05/03/gnome-thy-enemy/

Shawn Thorsson thank you so much for your epic Garden gnome work making combat gnomes for everyone to enjoy!

1. Awesome way to use those materials and he is entirely right it is crazy what people... well me... will spend on Garden gnomes!

2. I want to see all of his doodles and earlier gnome concepts!

3. Ok so 13 back in 2014 so i wonder what he is up to now... post about the newer additions to come!

4. I want a step by step explanation... I an so curious about the Urethane resin... what does that feel like? How heavy is he?

5. Does he then cast over them? It looks like the same material to me not a printed material...

6. Aunt Jenny is my kind of person! Gnomes wouldn’t be political that is simply to much work! I mean loving them is fine too... I am glad he made a female gnome though!

7. Kama sutra gnomes would be really neat! I can’t wait to see the rest of that sketch book!

#gnomes #gardengnomes #gnomelove #gnomegirlgabby #ShawnThorssonGnomes #ArmyGnomes #UniqueGnomes #GreenArmyMenGnomes #WarfareGnomes #Gnome-Zone.Com #GnomeThyEnemy #GnomePuns #GnomeArticle #Makezine.comGnomes

[rebeccahpedersen]

Terrible Quality Renovations!

TorontoRealtyBlog

Let’s watch some videos today, shall we?

I’ve seen a few really bad renovations of late, and when one of my clients asked me the other day, “Why would somebody do this?” all I could muster in reply was, “This is what happens when you combine boredom, money, and a false sense of confidence.”

Everybody and their grandmother think they can flip houses in Toronto, but contrary to popular belief, not everything sells…

Where to start…

Oh, where to start…..well, I suppose I’ll lead with the one that made me laugh the hardest.  Just try and picture how I discovered this renovation mistake.

What does $1,4000,000 buy in Toronto these days?

What kind of quality and workmanship would one expect?

And how much does a ruler cost these days?  Maybe $2.00?  Maybe the person who installed the door and sink in this video could have ponied up for one?

–

The MLS listing for this home reads:

“Completely Renovated Throughout With Only The Highest Quality Finishes.”

–

I’m not a fireman.

But I’m pretty sure that this is not in any way, safe…

–

This is called “Doing 90% of the job.”

Install these really cool reproduction French doors, and then ruin it by not finishing the installation properly.

–

The YouTube thumbnail spoiled this one already, so you know where this is going.

But why in the world would the seller think it’s okay to have this in plain sight during viewings?

–

Some photos, now, perhaps?

–

Look, I know enough about Chinese to ignorantly say “that’s Chinese writing below,” when I’m pretty sure “Chinese” isn’t a language.

So if I’m this ignorant, then what hope does a home-owner have when they take possession of their new house and all the wiring and plumbing is labelled as follows:

–

Another listing that says “Fully Renovated” in the description.

Here is the entrance way to two bedrooms, from the hallway.

That makes three rooms for those of you counting along at home, and I count three different types of flooring:

–

Soooo………

…….buddy in the middle doesn’t get a driveway?

Or we just assume that giant tree is going to suddenly fall ill, and need to be torn down?

–

I’m not a structural engineer, but I don’t think a single brick, under a cinder-block, with wood shims on top, placed in a dirt base, is any way to prop up a beam…

–

And last, but oh-most-certainly not least, let me tell you how much I hate ambiguity.

I need everything in my life to be clear as day.

So when I see a property like this one below, and I’m not quite sure if it’s sold, it really bothers me…

The post Terrible Quality Renovations! appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

Originated from http://ift.tt/2zz5gp7

[justmegawatt]

Journal Day 171 – 172 WPM, 176 WPM and First Place Twice

Wednesday, April 12th 2017

Pretty awesome start to a good day so far. I got first place on typeracer this morning after a few attempts. It’s been forever since I last went on this website. However, I wanted to troll a bit, and get more views on my YouTube channel, so I went ahead and recorded a video of me becoming first place at something I knew I was good at. I also put “Vegan” next to my name to represent veganism. The fastest person on the website right now as I type this, is me, and I am a vegan.

I wasn’t even trying when I got 172 words per minute. My fingers felt slow, I felt slow. And yet, I got first place beating the hundreds if not thousands of other people online on that same website at that same moment. People that were trying their best to beat me, but couldn’t.

Alright so I am really good at typing. Can I earn money from this? I’m not sure, but it’s probably a lot better to be the ‘best’ at something, rather than be a normal person at something. And everyone types. I just happen to be one of the fastest typists in the entire world. I mean yeah, I can play Tetris, I can play a video game like Warcraft 3 and become a pro, but in terms of worldwide attention, typing is something everyone does and it is something everyone can relate to. Not many can relate to a Tetris pro or a Warcraft 3 pro.

I would like to thank DurianRider for inspiring me to make a YouTube video about this and to troll in the video a bit. DurianRider is one of the best cyclists on the planet, he got first place on a lot of different tournaments and competitions many times, and he himself is a vegan. So that inspired me. I am one of the fastest typists on the planet, why don’t I make a YouTube video series about this very topic?

I haven’t uploaded the video yet so I have no idea if it will pick up steam or not. But the recording is done, I just have to do some editing work and then upload. I’m getting excited.

--

I don’t have unlimited time to just dedicate everything to typing and YouTubing. Unfortunately I have a full-time job. Unfortunately I am studying at a university. Unfortunately I am paying $300 a month for online computer lessons (separate from the university). Unfortunately I have a life, and I can only dedicate so much time to typing.

I try to exercise every day (except I rarely do), I try to update my journal every day, I try to get straight A’s in my courses, I try to do my best at work which can get stressful sometimes, I try. I’m also writing a book with Obs. I just texted her actually to wish her well this morning, because I’m grateful for having met her. I hope she doesn’t see that as weird or anything. I wrote a pretty weird entry last night because I was extremely sleepy, and I made a pretty weird video to go along with it, she has every reason to dislike me now.

So anyway, my point is that I don’t just have unlimited time in this world to dedicate to typing. I’m a normal person going through normal things, and I just happen to be one of the best in the world at something. That doesn’t mean that I’m good at anything else. I’m not as great in art, I’m not as great in video editing, or audio production. I’m just ‘good’ at this one thing.

--

I’m pumped and excited. I’ve just spent the past hour or so listening to DurianRider YouTube advice and tips. Man. He makes it sound so easy. I think I can do it. Right now I have 7 subscribers in the channel that I’m going to upload my videos to, and a total of 214 views. Right now I have 13 videos that are publicly displayed. 4 of those videos have less than 5 views, like 2 or 3 views, I mean, wtf. I’m planning on privatizing those videos since no one watches them anyway and they’re not all that great.

Okay so here’s my YouTube to-do list for tonight: - Update YouTube wallpaper background - Create new ‘outro’ video that I will use in all my videos - Edit and create YouTube video from typing footage this morning - Create thumbnail for the above video - Get 1st place again on TypeRacer (gonna be freaking hard at night time) - Upload first video again trolling everyone on TypeRacer

Hell yeah. I can’t wait. Freaking DurianRider is the man. He gave me the tips, I will use those tips. My videos will be focused around computers, mainly typing, programming, and so on. I can’t wait to troll and wreck it online. I’m still at work at the moment, pretty much done with everything that needs to be done.

--

I have a ton of things that I need to work on outside of work though. I have a few homework assignments due tonight, some more due tomorrow. I am nearly 100 journal entries behind on my Tumblr, my Medium, my blog website, and my livejournal. Fuck. How am I going to catch up? Do I need to ask someone a favor if they can manually upload 100 of my entries to each one of those websites…? Sigh.

Someone new at work apparently found out that I had a website today, she said that was cool. There are actually quite a few people at work that know I have a website, I think pretty much everyone does, I think. I’m not too sure. But on this website, I also keep my journal entries on there. But so far I have only uploaded until journal entry day 70. Shit. So I am actually over 100 entries behind, as of today. Today is day 171.

I always thought that LG2MT would finish the task for me and catch me up to date, but I haven’t worked on LG2MT in a while. Instead, I have spent a lot of my time and hours trolling around on YouTube, Reddit, Imgur, and other websites. Who really cares about those things? I don’t need to reply to every comment poster or person that replies to me on YouTube when I have a life to live. I made a mistake of taking chunks out of my life to reply to people and that was one of the biggest mistakes of all.

--

Alright I’m home now. It’s 5:34 PM. Let’s get cranking on that YouTube to do list. First up, the YouTube wallpaper background. Mine is blank right now, so let me go ahead and make one.

Done. The time right now is 5:45 PM. I also used the bathroom for a bit, so yeah. Not bad, and it didn’t take much time at all.

Next up is to create the ‘outro’ for my videos. Okay. Okay. This one is a bit more complicated.

54 minutes later…

Alright the time right now is 6:39 PM. It was 6:39 PM when I finished and started rendering the video, and then after a while I also started to upload the video. The time right now is 6:53 PM after I finished all of that. The video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhhyPzwdScs

Freaking awesome!

Time right now is 7:02 PM and the next step is to edit and upload the footage of me getting rank #1 to YouTube. Alright.

22 minutes later…

Alright, I just finished the video! It’s rendering now which will take a while. This video is super awesome. I freaking love it. Next task is to create a thumbnail for it… Oh man, that is going to be tough.

6 minutes later…

Wow it took me 6 minutes? Geez. I thought it took like 2 seconds, but apparently it took 6 minutes. Anyway, the thumbnail is done, and it wasn’t that hard at all. The video is still not done rendering, and the time right now is 7:28 PM. The video is at 42% rendering, so nowhere close. The next step is… Oh shit, get first place on TypeRacer… Fuck me.

If there is some guy with like 180 WPM or above, then I stand little chance. Okay. First place is 217 WPM, the second place person is 192 WPM. Kathy Florentine is destroying it with freaking 217 WPM. Shit. Cameron is next with 192 WPM. Third place is by some random guy that has a Star as a symbol with 163 WPM, and 4th place is 155 WPM.

I can probably get to 3rd place with difficulty, but to get 2nd or 1st, that is a near impossibility. I’ll go for 3rd as my most, and then give up afterwards. I don’t want to even try to get more than that.

Time right now is 7:41 PM, I have been trying, but the fastest speed I have gotten so far is 140 WPM.

2 minutes later…

153 WPM. Not even close. Kathy is now at 222 WPM, and Cameron is at 210 WPM. I have never breached 200, so this is already an impossibility for me to get 1st or 2nd. I can get third, yes, but not first or second. Not at this level. Fuck. My fingers are getting confused.

This is why I’m fine with watching high performers perform, but doing it myself? That’s really difficult. I can’t reliably rely on myself to not screw up. Typing is one of those skills where you have to have full control of every single finger movement, and at really fast speeds, it’s hard to grab control of them, so typos are abound. I think it’s because it’s late in the day right now, which is why my fingers are having a much harder time than this morning. I don’t know exactly what it is, it’s just that I am having more typos right now for some reason.

I uploaded the video, keep in mind I curse a few times since I’m roleplaying a controversial character: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfCyJse8NO0

--

However many minutes later…

The time right now is 8:22 PM and a low level league of people just appeared. The 1st place person right now is 135 WPM, the second place is 111 WPM, and the fourth place is 108 WPM, the 4th place downward have not even gotten anywhere. Holy shit. This is going to be really easy. I still want to get a really high score though, nothing below 160 WPM.

Finally. Some dude just got 160 WPM. I thought that low level of skill was going to be around for a while.

A long time later!

The time right now is 8:43 PM and I finally got first place again.

--

I recorded another video doing commentary while I got 176 WPM. So before I set my record for the night, some other guy got 175 WPM. I bet he was disappointed I beat his score after just 4 minutes. Well 4 minutes after I beat his score, another person beat me. Then 4 minutes after that person, another person beat that person. And then 3 minutes later, the person I beat originally, he came out of nowhere and became first place again.

So my final position right now is 4th place. Oh well. I actually went online to one of the people’s livestreams, and it turns out they were only doing 1 line typeraces. Wow. Just one liners. The one I did 172 with was 3 lines, and the 176 one was also 3 lines. That’s probably why I have never gotten over 200 WPM, because I have never consistently stayed at 1 line for that long. This guy just kept on doing it and doing it. I don’t think you get better at typing that way. You set records, but you don’t improve.

I think that is the first time I have completed all the tasks in my to-do list that I write here. That is the first time. Impressive.

 Selfie for the day

#typing #typeracer #vegan #number one #first place

[heisarzola]

Just a little disclaimer, this FAQ was started before Steam announced they would be dropping the Greenlight program, but decided to finish it while it was still relevant.

Also note that given just how much I’ll be writing, the whole FAQ will NOT be completed right away, but instead given out in healthy chunks for other to read.

Over the past few months I have received several of e-mails of people interested in my projects, looking to do business with me, or as a grand majority, looking for a bit of advice for their own titles.

So much so, that I have actually answered MANY of questions on the several faces of game development (where on a side note, if you go to ME for advice, it means you ran out of options). Questions regarding the process of making, launching, selling, promoting, distributing and topics of the sort.

I am far from an expert on the topic, but hey, if it can help someone along the line, might as well talk about it. And also, I wish to expand this F.A.Q. to the point where I can be able to send these posts to whoever e-mails me some questions next.

And yes, I’m aware I have far from the largest audience and that hardly anyone will read this. But I say it is worth it if it helps at least one person.

Before we start I want to say one last thing. I mean it when I say there is A LOT to talk about, and so I decided to split this into several posts divided in topics, so if you are looking for answers on a specific area and you don’t find it, it will probably be in another post or I have yet to make a F.A.Q. about that topic, so please be patient. (Also, I will update each F.A.Q. as it is required.)

  I will first begin with the topic I got the most questions about a little after I got my own title on Steam, Greenlight.

  F.A.Q. About Steam Greenlight

Table of Contents

You can easily look the answer to the question of your interest by using CTRL+F and typing the code between the [BRACKETS].

What did you do to get Greenlit? – [GL1]

What are the requirements to upload at Greenlight? – [GL2]

Are there any things to consider about Greenlight? – [GL3]

How hard is to get Greenlit? – [GL4]

How many upvotes do we need to get Greenlit? – [GL5]

Is there a time limit to get past Greenlight? – [GL6]

What do you recommend to do BEFORE entering Greenlight? – [GL7]

When should a title be exposed on Greenlight? – [GL8]

We are already on Greenlight and things aren’t so hot. What now? – [GL9]

If you don’t find the answer to a question yet, just be a little patient. Updates will be done and announced with dedicated posts. It is just that questions were planned ahead.

  What did you do to get Greenlit? – [GL1]

Let’s get the biggest question out of the way first, this is by far the go-to question people ask when they send an e-mail.

My case is of those you can call lucky (yes, it is a common trend in this industry). In fact, I did A LOT of things wrong when it came to launching my game on Greenlight, so many that in retrospective should’ve straight up killed the project. However as I also did some things correctly, I like to think it evened out and it came down to that luck.

WHAT I DID RIGHT:

PICKING MY LAUNCH DAY / TIME MINDFULLY. Imagine you decide to put your game, and a couple of hours later you are already on the second page because there were just too many new projects posted. This wasn’t my case, as I waited until there was a “slow” submission period with not so good games to top it off. It is all about timing and paying close attention to the current front-paged submissions.

MAKING A GIF MY THUMBNAIL IMAGE. If there is something you can never get enough of while on Greenlight that would be attention. If you have the time to do so, you should really go for a GIF as a thumbnail, I did it and it really standed out from the titles my game was surrounded with. Needless to say, you should go for a pretty thumbnail over a horrible GIF if you can’t make one.

BEING POLITE TO THE COMMENTS. “But, that is a given.” Some of you might be saying. You would be surprised by how much good feedback you can get by making the right questions. Instead of defending your project from “harmful” comments, you should really be asking them what they, the potential customers, believe that needs to be corrected. You might actually add some vital functions that were missing from your game. I know at least that was my case with the “auto-select last piece” from KNIGHTS. And of course, don’t try to make everyone happy, you will never finish your game on that pacing, but cherry pick what you consider it is the best for the project.

KNOWING WHO THE GAME WAS FOR. “People like me” is a very good answer, but you should really think on the implications of that phrase. It is really hard to sell a game if it is just expected for people to “come and get it” once it is finished. What attracts people to the genre? Why should people play it? What does it make it stand out from similar titles? And most important of all, Do I really consider my game to be good? It is easy to be blinded by development time when it comes to judging what you just made. But if you aren’t completely sure if you even like your game, others won’t care for it either. Ask someone to test it, get feedback, really ask people you trust to help out and make your work better to know why it is relevant. In my case, I made a game that was similar to those puzzle games I enjoyed, and had over 50 in my phone and PC of. Taking out what I considered bad from the genre, and prioritizing on making someone feel smart. If you don’t have a target audience, it won’t appeal anyone, and those YES votes might as well be considered luck.HAVING A PRICE TAG FROM DAY 1. The Greenlight page ISN’T the official store page, so make use of it to tell the information that might be missing. And if you can, drop in the price tag right away. Just be mindful of the price you are putting it, in fact, you should under-price your product for its own benefit. Let’s say you want to upload a $10 game. If you REALLY think your project is worth the $10, make yourself the questions. Is it really as good as other $10 games? Would I pay that much for a similar amount and quality of content? Because those are the questions you will be getting you want it or not. In my case, after studying and comparing what I offered in KNIGHTS, I came to the conclusion that it was worth around $3 dollars. So I thought that under-pricing it would actually benefit the game’s reviews and sales, as it no longer was directly compared to other fantastic $3 puzzle games, but instead it standed out as an extraordinary $1 title. This is really up to you though.

KNOWING THE “GAME EXTRAS” FROM DAY 1. If you are going to launch a game on PlayStation, you should really make use of trophies, the same for Xbox, free themes and thumbnails if you have time. And in the case of Steam, make sure to make time to have artwork for trading cards and badges, to count with steam cloud, controller support and achievements. Of course, it isn’t mandatory, but if it isn’t a stretch to implement them, you should really go for it. You would be surprised how many people consider a deal breaker not having the ability to continue playing on different computers, or to craft a badge out of the game if they like it. It will only empower your product, so you should really take advantage of it.

WHAT I DID WRONG:

NOT COMPLETELY FINISHING MY GAME PAGE. Honestly this should’ve been my downfall, glad it wasn’t though. Consider your game page as your store page and think about who will see it. Is what you have really good to be considered marketable? Would you like to see more store pages like yours? My answer to both questions was no, and it was reflected by a lot of negative votes (that declined as I fixed it).

NOT HAVING A GOOD TRAILER. After the Greenlight thumbnail, the video will be the first and maybe last reaction of a potential voter, follower and customer so make those first seconds count. Really think about that potential “Pre-alpha-beta developer build incomplete gameplay footage” you may have planned out for the video section, if it wouldn’t attract you to see that on the games of your preference, it will definitely won’t attract anyone you might be aiming to appeal. In my case, I just had a little silent gameplay session… don’t do that… Really make your Greenlight page as commercial-like as you possible can, it will only help you.

USING PROMO ART WHILE IGNORING USING SCREENSHOTS. Screenshots are to show what your game looks like in-game, if you wish to have cinematic stills on your store page then that is up to you. But if you want people to vote on your Greenlight title, you should really give them an idea on what they are looking at, else there will be people skeptical about what exactly the game is and should do. If you don’t let others know right away what you are trying to sell or give away on Steam from the pictures, you should re-think those pictures.

NOT HAVING A WEBSITE / E-MAIL. Not mandatory, but it really denotes professionalism and a good overall image of you as a (uni-personal or otherwise) company. This is on the what I did wrong section given I did plan on having a website, but didn’t care and released my Greenlight submission anyway. Again, finish all of the content you need BEFORE submitting anything, don’t fall into my mistakes.

NOT HAVING A DEMO FROM DAY 1 (WHEN I PLANNED HAVING ONE). Self explanatory, if someone really was interested in your game and wanted to play at least a demo of it that you planned on releasing, it would be disappointing to find out there isn’t one. Their interest was in that moment, not the week later you finished the demo build.

Summed up, my case is FAR from a formula to Greenlight success, but knowing the good and bad is vital when you attempt to launch your next title.

  What are the requirements to upload to Greenlight? – [GL2]

It is really just having the enough material to make up a PROFESSIONAL store page.

That is:

A general description of the game.

Trailer and gameplay videos uploaded to YouTube (preferably).

A collection of at least 5 screenshots of your title.

A thumnail image for greenlight search (512×512 pixels).

And other usual things, social media etc.

But if you want more concrete information, I took some screenshots of the requirements :D

#gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Basic Store Info

Screenshots and Videos (and Models if you Have Them)

Store Social Media

My suggestion, be sure to fill EVERYTHING, mandatory or not. It is really obvious who put some effort into their submission and who didn’t, and that does translate to upvotes believe it or not.

  Well that was quite the long post, and this was the first installment of the FAQ.

Make sure you check out the FAQ category in the blog for more interesting topics.

  For now, that is all I have to say.

And as always, thank you very much for reading my blog :3

Want to use #Steam #Greenlight before it goes away? #Indie #gamedev s, here is a little FAQ. Just a little disclaimer, this FAQ was started before Steam announced they would be dropping the Greenlight program, but decided to finish it while it was still relevant.

#Arzola&039;s #Development Experiences #Development Progress #Development Tips #FAQ #Tech Talks

[viralhottopics]

12 Of The Silliest Reasons Folks Had To Be Rushed To The ER

We all make silly mistakes now and again. Sometimes they are harmless, and weget tolaugh themoff once werealize how ridiculous weare being.

Other times, though, the little mistakes wemake end up with usin the hospital, trying to explain to doctors and nurses how we gotinto such a sticky situation.

Even if thestory is embarrassing, though, weshould never feel like it’s too humiliating to get ourselveschecked out! Trust me, emergency-room nurses and doctors have seen it all. It’s their job to make sure we’re all OKeven when we aren’t being the smartest people on the planet.

Have you ever had to go to the doctor for something silly? At least you know that your nurses will be able to laugh it off with you when all is said and done!

These 12 stories might make you feel better about your own little mishaps, because they’re all pretty darn ridiculous, too.

Please SHARE these funny stories with your family and friends on Facebook and see if they have any of their own stories to tell!

[H/T: Reddit]

Thumbnail source: Flickr

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1.

Flickr / Daniel R. Blume

“I popped a vitamin into my mouth and inhaled it by accident. It got lodged in my windpipe. Went to the ER coughing and continued to cough for nearly 10 hours. They gave me Advair. I whistled every time I exhaled for 2 weeks. It was like a bad sitcom.” cheerio_knickers

2.

Flickr / Maya83

“Had an eraser in my nose. It was one of those found on the end of a mechanical pencil (cylindrical). On one end I wrote ‘Hi!’ with a pen, also happens to be the end that was facing outwards. So when my doctor shined a light to see, it was pretty amusing to him.” SangSec

3.

Flickr / Shane Becker

“When I was ten I poked someone at school so hard I broke my finger.” Crow_eggs

4.

Flickr / Sarnil Prasad

“Got 2 magnets stuck in my nose, they connected up in my nose and when I tried to get them out they got stuck even higher up my nose. Doctor said he has never seen anything like that before” oblivious_upvote

5.

Flickr / Ted Sakshaug

“Twister. I made a daring move and [hurt my pinky toe]. Multiple compound fractures and a dislocation was the technical description. I had to get it wired back on. Then I got an infection. Spent almost a month in hospital all up. Haven’t played Twister since.” NipponNiGajin

6.

Wikimedia Commons

“Went to the ER with terrible stomach pain. It was really bad. They did some tests gave me some liquid to numb my stomach. And then gave me gas medicine. Some time later I started farting like crazy and felt a lot better. I went to the ER because I had gas. I felt pretty pathetic.” cadomski

7.

Wikimedia Commons

“I climbed up a radio mast and got stuck. It was in the countryside so it took ages for someone to find me.

“I was up there for a few hours in the sun and had to go to hospital with dehydration and burns when I finally got taken down.” zenova360

8.

Flickr / Aidan Jones

“I have an uncle who BROKE A RIB with a sneeze.” PastorPuff

9.

Wikimedia Commons

“Had just finished my final exam of my first year of university. Got home. VERY EXCITED. Kicked my shoes off and did a little dance. I had inadvertently curled the toes on my left foot and landed on them pretty hard toes first.

“My housemate came home saw the bag of peas on my foot and asked what happened. I showed him: ‘We need to get you to a hospital NOW’

“Had to have surgery and didn’t take a single step for two and a half months.” LizardPosse

10.

Wikimedia Commons

“I got a roll of toilet paper stuck on my finger. I worked in a fast food restaurant when I was a teenager and one night before cleaning the restrooms I grabbed a couple of very large rolls of TP. My hands were full of cleaning products, and since the toilet paper rolls had plastic rings in the middle I stuck one roll on a finger to carry it easier.

“Well, my finger swelled and I couldn’t slip the roll off. We tried grease, soap, even butter to get it slippery enough to slide off. By this time my finger had turned dark from the lack of blood flow, so my boss took me to the emergency room to get it cut off.

“It was my walk of shame through the ER with that giant roll of toilet paper stuck on my finger.” 5stickyfingers

11.

Flickr / klndonnelly

“Was going around a party doing trust falls to be funny. Went up to the biggest guy at the party, yelled ‘TRUST FALL,’ I fall backwards andhe moves out of the way.

“Needed 9 staples in my head.” Murphenstien

12.

flickr / jurek d.

“Had to get a concussion checked out that I’d given to myself because I got distracted by a painting while walking and strode headlong into a pole.” COTAnerd

Have you ever had to go to the ER for a silly reason like this? Please SHARE with family and friends on Facebook!

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Terrible Quality Renovations!

TorontoRealtyBlog

Let’s watch some videos today, shall we?

I’ve seen a few really bad renovations of late, and when one of my clients asked me the other day, “Why would somebody do this?” all I could muster in reply was, “This is what happens when you combine boredom, money, and a false sense of confidence.”

Everybody and their grandmother think they can flip houses in Toronto, but contrary to popular belief, not everything sells…

Where to start…

Oh, where to start…..well, I suppose I’ll lead with the one that made me laugh the hardest.  Just try and picture how I discovered this renovation mistake.

What does $1,4000,000 buy in Toronto these days?

What kind of quality and workmanship would one expect?

And how much does a ruler cost these days?  Maybe $2.00?  Maybe the person who installed the door and sink in this video could have ponied up for one?

–

The MLS listing for this home reads:

“Completely Renovated Throughout With Only The Highest Quality Finishes.”

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I’m not a fireman.

But I’m pretty sure that this is not in any way, safe…

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This is called “Doing 90% of the job.”

Install these really cool reproduction French doors, and then ruin it by not finishing the installation properly.

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The YouTube thumbnail spoiled this one already, so you know where this is going.

But why in the world would the seller think it’s okay to have this in plain sight during viewings?

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Some photos, now, perhaps?

–

Look, I know enough about Chinese to ignorantly say “that’s Chinese writing below,” when I’m pretty sure “Chinese” isn’t a language.

So if I’m this ignorant, then what hope does a home-owner have when they take possession of their new house and all the wiring and plumbing is labelled as follows:

–

Another listing that says “Fully Renovated” in the description.

Here is the entrance way to two bedrooms, from the hallway.

That makes three rooms for those of you counting along at home, and I count three different types of flooring:

–

Soooo………

…….buddy in the middle doesn’t get a driveway?

Or we just assume that giant tree is going to suddenly fall ill, and need to be torn down?

–

I’m not a structural engineer, but I don’t think a single brick, under a cinder-block, with wood shims on top, placed in a dirt base, is any way to prop up a beam…

–

And last, but oh-most-certainly not least, let me tell you how much I hate ambiguity.

I need everything in my life to be clear as day.

So when I see a property like this one below, and I’m not quite sure if it’s sold, it really bothers me…

The post Terrible Quality Renovations! appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

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