#monthly post March 2021

[slavghoul]

Hello, I prepared some statistics to give you a short overview of Ghost's amazingly successful 2022. It is based on data I collected between 22/12/2021 and 22/12/2022.

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The big Ghost event of 2022 was of course the release of the band's fifth album, IMPERA.

Since March 11, it has sold nearly 500,000 copies, won the American Music Award for Favorite Rock Album and received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance ('Call Me Little Sunshine').

Within the first week of its release, the album reached #2 on the Billboard 200 (ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States) and ranked in the top 20 best-selling albums in 19 countries across the world:

#1 in Sweden, Austria, Germany, Finland, Spain

#2 in US, UK, Belgium, Norway, Netherlands

#3 in Australia, Canada

#5 in Switzerland, Ireland, France

#7 in Poland

#8 in Hungary

#12 in Denmark, Portugal

#20 in Italy

IMPERA is Ghost’s best charting album to date.

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On YouTube, the band amassed a staggering 260 million views. 840,000 people subscribed to the channel this year, which makes up 42% of all current subscribers.

5 most watched videos on YouTube in 2022:

Mary On A Cross (Official Audio) – 32 million views

Call Me Little Sunshine (Official Music Video) – 15 million views

Square Hammer (Official Music Video) – 11 million views

Mary On A Cross (Live in Tampa 2022) – 8.2 million views

Spillways (Official Music Video) – 6.8 million views

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On Spotify, the band amassed 1,285,625 new followers. That’s around 61% of all followers since the band appeared on the platform.

5 most streamed songs on Spotify in 2022:

Mary On A Cross -  193,709,473 streams

Call Me Little Sunshine – 41,108,589 streams

Square Hammer – 29,720,042 streams

Dance Macabre – 26,494,053 streams

Spillways – 24,910,870 streams

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It goes without saying that the viral success of Mary On A Cross on TikTok brought in a lot of new fans this year, but the magnitude of it becomes even more astonishing if you look at numbers.

On this graph, I marked a few events that resulted in a noticeable spike in the number of monthly listeners on Spotify, including the approximate time when MOAC began to gain traction on TikTok. As you can see, nothing, not even the release of a new album, gave the band as much attention as the 3-year old song suddenly raising in popularity on one single platform.

Between end of July and beginning of October, the number of monthly listeners on Spotify skyrocketed from 2.5 million to 12 million. This is a 380% increase.

Although the numbers have been in decline since then, it appears that for the past month they have stayed at a steady 9 million. As of today (Dec 22, 2022) the exact number is 9,110,996. Exactly a year ago (Dec 22, 2021) the number was 1,999,951. A hefty 355% increase in only a year.

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Some other milestones and fun facts:

On June 7, Cirice, Dance Macabre, and Square Hammer were all certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 units in the USA. Following the viral success, Mary On A Cross was also certified Gold on November 20.

The band's most liked post on Instagram this year was a video of Papa throwing the first pitch at the White Sox game (273,241 likes).

The episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live where Ghost performed Call Me Little Sunshine was watched by around 1.3 million people.

In September, Ghost reached over 12 million monthly listeners on Spotify and was the 450th most streamed artist globally - that's 450 out of over 11 million!

As of today with over 1.6 billion accumulated streams Ghost is one of the 1,000 most successful artists on the platform of all time (currently #808).

On September 11, Mary On A Cross peaked at #1 in the Viral Hits chart on Spotify in 54 countries across the world.

It was also the highest charting Swedish song on the platform in 2022, peaking globally at #31.

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At this point I think it’s safe to declare that Ghost’s global success reached unprecedent heights this year and even allowed them to officially join the ranks of mainstream artists. With all of the above, 70 completed shows this year and many more to come in 2023, and with media of the likes of The Wall Street Journal proclaiming Ghost “the next generation of arena stars,” it looks like that the band is well on the way to become one of the biggest rock acts of this century. Not bad for a side project started by one Swede in his bedroom somewhere in Linköping. 

Let us hope 2023 will be as devilishly good!

#the band ghost

[gunsatthaphan]

~ Monthly BL Breakdown: February 2024 ~ 

🌱 Happy March!!! 🌷

Disclaimer: ALL shows can be streamed here or here, as well as on Youtube and other platforms. For more info on where to watch what, check out this post! 

New breakdowns are coming at the end of every month - feel free to add stuff! -> previous breakdowns

What came out this month? (green = seen/currently watching)

🌟 Anti Reset - February 2nd (Taiwan)

🌟 Love Syndrome: The Beginning - February 8th (Thailand)

🌟 Baka Pwede pa? - February 9th (Philippines)

🌟 War of Y: The Reunion (special episode) - February 10th (Thailand)

🌟 1000 Years Old - February 14th (Thailand)

🌟 My Strawberry Film - February 16th (Japan)

🌟 A Secret Love - February 17th (Thailand)

🌟 To Be Continued - February 19th (Thailand)

🌟 Unknown - February 24th (Taiwan)

🌟 Wedding Impossible - February 26th (South Korea)

🌟 Kiseki Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 - February TBA (Thailand)

🌟 Ambiguous - February TBA (South Korea)

Monthly likes/dislikes

❣️ I'm gonna have to list Cherry Magic and Cooking Crush again just because they filled me with so much serotonin lol. Truly beautiful productions, so carefully written, so well executed and with so much wholesomeness and so many green flags lol. I had the best time watching them and the fact that 2 OG pairs had comeback shows back to back gave me so much nostalgia lol, especially since the genre is reminiscent of their old shows. It's been a blissful and therapeutic few months and I'm extremely sad that it's over 😩🥺🫶🏻 A+ content from everyone involved. 12/10 for both.

👎🏻 It has been a year lmao a lot of things happened this month, the Pawin situation makes me sad, we don't know what actually happened but the whole thing is messed up either way. James dropping out of LUAT came as a surprise as well, I'm not a NetJames fan but if they really had a falling out like the rumors say then that's sad. Singto coming back to gmm has been a nice surprise amongst the scandals lol but other than that I hope things go uphill after this 🥺

New series & movie announcements

🎥 My Bias is Showing (manwha adaption) - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 All About Lust - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 A Balloon's Landing - Date TBA (Taiwan)

🎥 Roommates - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 Good Night to Get Drunk - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 First Note of Love - Date TBA (Taiwan)

🎥 Living With Him - Coming April 11th (Japan)

🎥 The Young Gangster - Coming 2025 (Taiwan)

Other news from the BL world

❗️ Actor Singto Prachaya has returned to GMMTV as an artist. He previously left the company in 2021 to work as a freelance actor & producer after being under contract for nearly 5 years. It is unknown whether he will be part of any projects of the 2024 lineup.

❗️ The Thai BL Playboyy is getting a second season.

❗️ The upcoming Korean series High School Return of a Gangster announced the removal of the original BL plot. The show will air as a censored version, focusing on the friendship between the male leads.

❗️ Actors Charles Tu (HIStory 4) and Michael Chang (My Tooth Your Love) were confirmed to star in the upcoming BL First Note of Love. The series tells the story of a musician who is struggling with stage fright and one of his fans. An air date has not been announced.

❗️ Actor Non Ratchanon will no longer partake in the upcoming BL Live in Love. In an official statement, the production company stated that the decision was made due to disagreements between his agency and the one representing his co-star Hearth Chindanai. A recast for his role has yet to be announced.

❗️ GMMTV actor Win Pawin was accused of physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend, who made public allegations with photo evidence of her wounds. As a result GMMTV released a statement announcing the suspension of Pawin from all further work activities until legal investigations are complete. This lead to him making a public statement saying he is withdrawing from the upcoming BL We Are. He was cast as one of the 8 protagonists and was paired with his former partner Marc Pahun. GMMTV released a followup statement today, announcing Pawin's character would be recast to newbie Poon Mitpakdee.

❗️ Actor James Supamongkon announced his withdrawal from the upcoming Domundi BL Love Upon a Time. He released a statement on Twitter, saying he wants to expand his career and focus on other projects as an artist apart from acting. The company stated that Net and the others will stay part of the cast and that a new partner for Net will be cast shortly. This caused a big uproar amongst the fans who have been waiting for the series since it was announced over a year ago. Whether James' dropping out has anything to do with a dispute between him and Net is not confirmed.

Upcoming series & movies for March

👉🏻 Love is Better the Second Time Around - March 5th (Japan)

👉🏻 Deep Night - March 7th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Two Worlds - March 21st (Thailand)

👉🏻 High Demand - March 23rd (Thailand)

👉🏻 Wuju Bakery - March TBA (Thailand)

👉🏻 The Star - Date TBA (Thailand)

👉🏻 Blossom Campus - March TBA (South Korea)

👉🏻 Jazz for Two - March TBA (South Korea)

#doreens monthly bl breakdown #thai bl #bl drama #upcoming bl #update #bl news #what a month it has been ffs #cancellations; withdrawals; comebacks; censorships... #whats next #ugh #also another kbl censoring? what is this china??? fml #im getting tired of the BL world i just want my lesbians djkgdf #23.5 came at the right time #big sigh

[narutoevents]

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[aghostrandom]

W.I.T.C.H., interview with the creators

Some time ago, I made a post about "the original Elyon being a guardian," and since everyone was confused, I thought I'd translate the interview from which I read this information.

I don't know if someone else has already done it, but since I didn't find anything online, I decided to do it myself. I will translate the entire interview with the help of an online translator and a friend of mine.

Just remember that this interview was published in April 2021, marking 20 years since the release of the first volume.

Enjoy!

Here the original link in italian: https://heroica.it/w-i-t-c-h-20-anni-barbucci-canepa-intervista/

It is April 3, 2001 when Italian newsstands are hit by a small earthquake, which will soon transform into a hurricane...

The first issue of W.I.T.C.H. is released, a comic magazine that will shatter every sales record in a matter of months, embarking on a quest to conquer the world.

It all begins in Milan, at the headquarters of Walt Disney Company Italy, with an intuition of the then-director of the company's women's periodicals, Elisabetta Gnone, and the talent of two young artists, Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa, whom I have interviewed for you.

Interview with Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa

Let's start from the origins: How was W.I.T.C.H. born?

Alessandro Barbucci: It was 1997, Sailor Moon was still fresh in everyone's memory [the last series had been broadcast in Italy between March and May of that year, editor's note]. And then there were the Spice Girls...

"Sailor Moon was ironic, arrived at the right moment; the Spice Girls were five purely pop characters, worthy of a cartoon - during that period, we were big fans, we even went to see the movie in the cinema!" Alessandro revealed to me.

Elisabetta Gnone, who was then in charge of the women's periodicals at Walt Disney Company Italy, had a great intuition: she realized that there was a missing product for teenage girls, an audience segment that had never been considered by the major company before. When thinking about teenagers, one couldn't ignore what was happening in pop culture at that moment...

Barbara Canepa: During that period, a passionate fanbase for manga was beginning to take shape. it was clear how this new language was able to respond to the tastes and needs of teenagers - not just boys, but girls as well!

In fact, up until that moment, it was believed that girls didn't read comics. It was precisely with shoujo manga (like Sailor Moon, but not only) that this belief began to falter.

Canepa: Exactly. I had already been an avid manga reader since the days of Candy Candy: we're talking about 1986 when Mondadori released the first monthly editions at newsstands. I started reading my first manga at the age of 12, and at 16, I saw Akira (1988) for the first time in theaters. In fact, I was the one who got Alessandro passionate about this style, even though he already had some knowledge of it. We felt that the language of manga was the best way to visually "tell" this story.

Barbucci: Initially, I proposed girls in a steampunk, military style. I was a big fan of Tank Girl by Hewlett and Martin.

In my mind, Hay Lin had already existed for a long time: I had been drawing her since high school, but she was a punk with military boots," Alessandro revealed to me.

Elisabetta Gnone told me that the concept was considered too "masculine," so she proposed the idea of the five witches, which directly connected us to manga. Some people at Disney Italy were afraid that, given the theme, it would veer into Satanism, but their greatest fear was the manga-style big eyes!

Canepa: For them, it was inconceivable to publish a comic even vaguely inspired by manga, which at that time were their direct competitors in the market.

Barbucci: At one point, they considered investing in the relaunch of Daisy Duck by introducing our five characters as anthropomorphic animals. It was an attempt to somehow connect with the Disney universe.

Canepa: Yes, exactly. The project was called Daisy D. and it was intended for the monthly magazine Minnie Mag. The story featured Daisy Duck as a private investigator, accompanied by our W.I.T.C.H. characters, who in this version would have had snouts and gloves, just like Minnie and Mickey! I still have the first page done in watercolors, as we wanted to make it like the pages of Paperinik's Trip...

The scriptwriter, Ilaria Isaia, revealed to me that the inspiration for Daisy D. came from the success of "Minnie and the Magnificent Five," a story published in Minnie & Company in 1993. It featured Minnie in the role of an investigator, solving a mystery connected to five girls. Daisy D. wouldn't have been very different: "It revolved around Daisy Duck as an investigator, called by her friend to investigate mysterious events happening in a college attended by five students with magical powers," explains Ilaria.

Barbucci: Fortunately, nothing came of it.

Canepa: We were well aware that a story starring Daisy Duck wouldn't resonate with teenagers. We needed five normal girls that the readers could identify with...

Barbucci: So, the W.I.T.C.H. characters returned to being human.

For Will's design, Alessandro Barbucci Alessandro Barbucci was also inspired by "Alita" (1990) by Yukito Kishiro.

The graphic style of W.I.T.C.H., while drawing inspiration from manga, remains a hybrid of the West and the East. It doesn't stray too far from certain Disney characters, starting with Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" (1989).

Barbucci: I can tell a funny anecdote about this! As we mentioned, Disney Italy opposed W.I.T.C.H. in every way possible: they particularly disliked those manga-style big eyes. Together with Elisabetta Gnone, we came up with a game, a kind of bet with the top executives of Disney Italy. I drew a series of eyes, including manga characters, Disney characters, and our W.I.T.C.H. characters. Only the eyes were visible, nothing else. "Since you have so much to say about these manga eyes, guess which ones belong to the W.I.T.C.H. characters!" That was the bet: they could no longer complain. Well, they were wrong: they chose the eyes of Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" (1989), the protagonist of the Italian magazine of the same name, directed by Elisabetta herself, and successfully published by them for years. They didn't take it well...

Indeed, Ariel broke the Disney graphic conventions with the proportions of her face.

Barbucci: It was a "graphic shock," something that had never been seen in Disney until that moment. It was certainly a step towards manga aesthetics, with these very large eyes that we later found in the design of many subsequent characters, from Belle and Jasmine to Anna and Elsa.

We remember that you and Barbara worked on the magazine "The Little Mermaid" in the 1990s, just before W.I.T.C.H. started. In the covers drawn and colored by Barbara, I can already perceive some hints of manga style. Was it intentional?

Canepa: Absolutely yes! At that time, I bought Japanese magazines like Newtype and Animage to get inspiration. In one of the illustrations I made, there's Ariel with a straw hat: I think I took inspiration from an image of Nadia from "The Secret of Blue Water" (1990-91), or maybe from some other cover. The close-up of the face, as well as the fluttering leaves [like flowers in shoujo manga, editor's note], the pose of a model on the cover of a fashion magazine... it was all too innovative and "manga" for Disney Italy at that time, which often had something to say about my work! Even before W.I.T.C.H...

The scan on the left is taken from the website www.onlyshojo.com.

Walt Disney Company Italy didn't want anything to do with W.I.T.C.H., as we mentioned. What made them change their minds?

Barbucci: We worked on it secretly for at least a year, even at night. Then, finally, a ray of light... At the time, the main headquarters of Disney would send representatives around to other offices to find out what was being done in the rest of the world. Elisabetta was lucky to come across an American manager who was a big fan of Wicca. [Secretly from the top management, editor's note], she presented W.I.T.C.H. to him: he fell in love with it and financed the project, ordering Walt Disney Company Italy to proceed with its production.

Concept art created by Barbucci and Canepa between 1998 and 1999. Notice the homage to Minnie in the first illustration!

Images provided by W.I.T.C.H. Italia.

The project then gets underway. How did you divide the work?

Canepa: It's hard to say. Officially, Elisabetta wrote the plot, Alessandro created the character design, and I took care of the color and atmosphere. In reality, the three of us worked together on the concept, characters, and the world they would inhabit. We drew inspiration from our personal lives when creating these five girls. The city of the W.I.T.C.H., Heatherfield, is a mix between our hometown of Genoa and San Francisco, which we had visited together. Will shares my birthdate, while Elyon shares Alessandro's. At the time, I was a big fan of frogs, just like Will! Cornelia's cat is named Napoleon, just like mine - I also gave the same name to Elisabeth's cat, the protagonist of the first volume of END, the comic I created with Anna Merli. For Hay Lin's restaurant, we were inspired by a small Chinese "hole in the wall" where we often ate near our apartment in Milan... In short, W.I.T.C.H. was built and conceived based on our personal experiences: friends, memories from adolescence, and more.

Based on these characterizations, I created the character profiles that you can find in the first five issues of the magazine, as well as some internal editorials.

The character of Irma is inspired by Barbara Canepa in terms of design and personality, while Will is inspired by Elisabetta Gnone: with her, she shares an introverted personality and the detail of touching his hair when she is embarrassed.

Scans by poochieandotherfriends.it

Elisabetta chose the ethnicities and names of the girls, coming up with the acronym W.I.T.C.H., while Alessandro created the symbols of the Guardians. To draw the Heart of Kandrakar, Alessandro was inspired by a pendant, a unique piece that I was very attached to and still possess to this day!

Scans by poochieandotherfriends.it

Lastly, I'll reveal something you may not know: I was the one who designed the Witch's transformed costumes! I remember when Elisabetta jokingly scolded Alessandro, telling him to draw them less provocatively... (laughs). As for their everyday costumes, Alessandro created them, often drawing inspiration from his and our friends.

Scans by poochieandotherfriends.it

Another significant responsibility of ours was to form a team of artists who would work on W.I.T.C.H. alongside us. In fact, Alessandro and I couldn't have done it all by ourselves: W.I.T.C.H. was becoming a massive and important project, especially since it would be released on a monthly basis! Therefore, we conducted courses at the Disney Academy: Alessandro taught how to draw the Witch, while I taught manga techniques, coloring, and graphic design.

Scans by poochieandotherfriends.it

Did you encounter any other issues with Disney Italy during the production?

Canepa: There were some controversies, but at that point, the project was already underway. There were several delays, actually: the first issue was supposed to be released on Halloween in 2000. I remember that they criticized the covers: they didn't like the white background, and in the first cover, they didn't like the difference in proportions between Will and the others, which is another typical graphic characteristic of manga.

Barbucci and Canepa created the first five covers of W.I.T.C.H. and the corresponding chapter opening pin-ups.

You create the comic of the first issue: On the third page, there's a very intense panel with Will partially nude (without nipples); she appears like that later during the Sailor Moon-style transformation as well. These are not erotic images, but they certainly deviate from the Disney style. Did you face any issues regarding this?

Barbucci: Strangely, no. Maybe they had already given up at that point...

Scans by poochieandotherfriends.it

You left the project after the sixth issue. What happened?

Barbucci: The back and forth with Disney to bring W.I.T.C.H. to newsstands was incredibly exhausting. By the year 2000, we were drained from the continuous meetings, discussions, and delays... Moreover, both Elisabetta and we had realized our potential as authors. She was the first to leave: she left the world of magazines to fulfill her dream of becoming a novelist. And she succeeded greatly, as a few years later, she created the Fairy Oak series of novels, which sold millions of copies worldwide! Barbara and I were already in contact with various French and American publishers. In France, they allowed us to express ourselves artistically in a completely free way. It felt like a dream! There were so many things we wanted to talk about, things that weren't even proposable in Disney: sex, religion, politics... Sky Doll was born during this period. Furthermore, there were legal disagreements with Disney regarding the moral rights of the Witch characters. In short, after a few years with the multinational company, it was time for us to move on to other things. We needed a change of scenery!

The story you had in mind for W.I.T.C.H. was different from what we later read in the issues after your departure?

Canepa: Yes, it was darker, introspective, and more complex. It was a glimpse into teenage life presented through five very different girls. The plot had different layers of interpretation, including ecological aspects. It was certainly closer to manga in terms of themes: there was more focus on the girls' personal lives, their adolescent struggles. There wasn't a clear division between good and evil: the girls would be drawn to the Metaworld and tempted to join, crossing over to the other side of the barricade. Elyon would be the first to succumb, but they would all do so to some extent, even fighting against themselves.

Moreover, the Metaworld was a fascinating place, a natural paradise that was quite different from the medieval setting that Disney eventually created. At the heart of it all was the concept of growth and transformation, which is so dear to adolescence: the girls would have had the ability to transform into fantastic animals! Like teenagers who find themselves caught between childhood and adulthood, the W.i.t.c.h. would have been caught between two worlds, remaining trapped in one or the other, by choice or against their will. It wasn't always clear...

The W.I.T.C.H. transform into adult versions of themselves, adhering to the main theme of many majokko ("magical girl") anime.

Even Elyon, who in the version you have read is the princess of Meridian, was a very different character in our story. She was the Guardian of the Metaworld and had powers related to time, wild nature, and death. She would have tried to bring the other girls to the dark side and then redeem herself: in the last issue, she would have sacrificed herself to save the lives of her friends.

In W.I.T.C.H. #2, you can perceive some traces of the original Elyon, who at a certain point addresses the girls repeating, "Come to me, come to me..." as if trying to lead them to the dark side.

I transferred her main power, the ability to "bestow" death, to the protagonist of END, Elizabeth: with this character, I have done and will do everything that I couldn't do with Elyon, who was initially supposed to have white hair like her.

Barbucci: What was actually realized was a harmless mythology, closer to fairy tales and therefore to the Disney style. There is no mention of witches anymore... We would have focused on a more New Age aesthetic, with references to Wicca, which was very popular in those years.

After leaving W.I.T.C.H., you left Italy for France, from where you embarked on various successful projects, with Sky Doll first. It can be said that you found your dimension and creative freedom. Now that 20 years have passed, what is your relationship with W.I.T.C.H.?

Canepa: It's needless to say that the bond has always been very strong and still is today. It was our own creation for a long time: seeing it succeed worldwide brought joy, but also suffering because we felt disconnected from it.

Barbucci: It was a love-hate relationship, but I must say that it gave me the greatest satisfaction of my life: seeing dolls of the characters I drew being sold in supermarkets!

Some sketches made by Alessandro Barbucci at the beginning of 2021, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of W.I.T.C.H.

Canepa: After twenty years, perhaps it can be said that we have made "peace" with what happened. The hardships we endured have now drifted away with the wind, and that's how it should be. Today, I can talk about W.I.T.C.H. with more tranquility, almost with tenderness. For many years, I didn't even want to face it. Initially, leaving Italy helped, but then W.I.T.C.H. reached France and the rest of the world. Over time, this forced me to look at it with more "serene" eyes, so to speak. If I hadn't left W.I.T.C.H., I would never have created Sky Doll and END, and perhaps I would have never become the director of a French series that, today, celebrates nearly 100 books 12 years after its creation. Destiny, then? I believe so. Fate wanted to take something away from me to give me something else. In hindsight, I truly believe there was a magical thread in all of this... or rather, a true witch's touch! There is a happy ending to it all: today, history reminds us that we are the true creators of W.I.T.C.H. The readers know it, and so do industry professionals. Even Disney, in the end, acknowledged us. Every now and then, Elisabetta, Alessandro, and I talk and, laughing, we say, "What if we got back together and remade W.I.T.C.H. in our own way?" In any case, this remains and will always be the most important project of my life. And to have touched so many hearts around the world... well, there's nothing more beautiful and satisfying. So, thank you all. I was happy to give you these five girls.

For Women's Day 2021, Barbucci drew again the famous pinup from the first issue, Halloween.

Current and Future Projects

Alessandro Barbucci His most recent work is "Le Sorelle Grémillet" where he returns to portraying teenage girls ("it's a bit like how I would have liked to create W.I.T.C.H. back then, but it wasn't possible"). Additionally, Alessandro continues to work on "EKHÖ" and other projects. Follow his Instagram and Facebook to stay updated!

Barbara Canepa For over 12 years, Barbara Canepa has been the editorial director of the Metamorphose series for the French publisher Group Delcourt, with over 100 published books. She has several projects in the works, including "MINA's Diary," where she will serve as the writer, while Isabella Mazzanti will handle the artwork and coloring. The work is a free interpretation of Stoker's Dracula, introducing a new way of conceiving vampires. For the past two years, she has been finishing the writing of 12 volumes of a new jeunesse series, "GREENWOOD," aimed at rediscovering and respecting nature to the fullest. Stay updated on her activities by following her on Instagram and Facebook!

#w.i.t.c.h. #interview #alessandro barbucci #barbara canepa #disney #witch #elyon escanor #will vandom #irma lair #taranee cook #cornelia hale #hay lin #end

[dandelionrevolution]

I’m not sure how reliably I’ll be able to keep up with it, but I’ve been wanting to start posting weekly or monthly Good News compilations, with a focus on ecology but also some health and human rights type stuff. I’ll try to keep the sources recent (like from within the last week or month, whichever it happens to be), but sometimes original dates are hard to find. Also, all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.

Anyway, here’s some good news from the first week of March!

1. Mexican Wolf Population Grows for Eighth Consecutive Year

““In total, 99 pups carefully selected for their genetic value have been placed in 40 wild dens since 2016, and some of these fosters have produced litters of their own. While recovery is in the future, examining the last decade of data certainly provides optimism that recovery will be achieved.””

2. “Remarkable achievement:” Victoria solar farm reaches full power ahead of schedule

“The 130MW Glenrowan solar farm in Victoria has knocked out another milestone, reaching full power and completing final grid connection testing just months after achieving first generation in late November.”

3. UTEP scientists capture first known photographs of tropical bird long thought lost

“The yellow-crested helmetshrike is a rare bird species endemic to Africa that had been listed as “lost” by the American Bird Conservancy when it hadn’t been seen in nearly two decades. Until now.”

4. France Protects Abortion as a 'Guaranteed Freedom' in Constitution

“[A]t a special congress in Versailles, France’s parliament voted by an overwhelming majority to add the freedom to have an abortion to the country’s constitution. Though abortion has been legal in France since 1975, the historic move aims to establish a safeguard in the face of global attacks on abortion access and sexual and reproductive health rights.”

5. [Fish & Wildlife] Service Approves Conservation Agreement for Six Aquatic Species in the Trinity River Basin

“Besides conserving the six species in the CCAA, activities implemented in this agreement will also improve the water quality and natural flows of rivers for the benefit of rural and urban communities dependent on these water sources.”

6. Reforestation offset the effects of global warming in the southeastern United States

“In America’s southeast, except for most of Florida and Virginia, “temperatures have flatlined, or even cooled,” due to reforestation, even as most of the world has grown warmer, reports The Guardian.”

7. Places across the U.S. are testing no-strings cash as part of the social safety net

“Cash aid without conditions was considered a radical idea before the pandemic. But early results from a program in Stockton, Calif., showed promise. Then interest exploded after it became clear how much COVID stimulus checks and emergency rental payments had helped people. The U.S. Census Bureau found that an expanded child tax credit cut child poverty in half.”

8. The Road to Recovery for the Florida Golden Aster: Why We Should Care

“After a five-year review conducted in 2009 recommended reclassifying the species to threatened, the Florida golden aster was proposed for removal from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants due to recovery in June 2021, indicating the threats to the species had been reduced or eliminated.”

9. A smart molecule beats the mutation behind most pancreatic cancer

“Researchers have designed a candidate drug that could help make pancreatic cancer, which is almost always fatal, a treatable, perhaps even curable, condition.”

10. Nurses’ union at Austin’s Ascension Seton Medical Center ratifies historic first contract

“The contract, which NNOC said in a news release was “overwhelmingly” voted through by the union, includes provisions the union believes will improve patient care and retention of nurses.”

This and future editions will also be going up on my new Ko-fi, where you can support my art and get doodled phone wallpapers! EDIT: Actually, I can't find any indication that curating links like this is allowed on Ko-fi, so to play it safe I'll stick to just posting here on Tumblr. BUT, you can still support me over on Ko-fi if you want to see my Good News compilations continue!

#hopepunk #good news #wolf #wolves #mexican wolf #conservation #solar #solar power #birds #abortion #healthcare #abortion rights #reproductive rights #reproductive health #fish and wildlife #turtles #alligator snapping turtle #snapping turtle #river #reforestation #global warming #climate change #climate solutions #poverty #social safety net #flowers #endangered species #cancer #science #union

[lookingforcactus]

Non-paywall version here.

"Shawna Freeman Lane, 34, continued to teach college-level business by laptop after she gave birth by C-section in 2017. Her husband, Eric Lane, was home with her in Fircrest, Wash., for three weeks. The same thing happened in 2018, when their second child was born—except this time, Mr. Lane only got two weeks at home.

Having to leave his still-healing wife in the lurch was hard for Mr. Lane, as was tracking his children’s development via text messages while at work. But when their third was born last May, things were different. In 2020, Washington state had passed a new law entitling working parents to 12 weeks of paid leave, to bond with their newborn.

“It felt like winning the lottery, honestly,” said Mr. Lane, who stayed home for six weeks after their son was born, then another six weeks when Ms. Freeman Lane went back to work.

They are part of an explosion in the number of workers taking parental leave. In the 12 months through February [2023], a monthly 406,000 workers were absent on average due to paid or unpaid parental leave, up 13.5% from 2021, according to Labor Department data. The 478,000 working parents absent in January was the most since records began in 1994.

One driver behind the upswing is likely the increase in births in the past two years versus the prepandemic trend. The pandemic itself may also be a factor, as lockdowns and Covid kept many workers home.

But the main factor appears to be government and employer policies. While the U.S. remains the only advanced economy without nationally mandated paid parental leave, the share of workers with access to leave is growing, to 25% in March last year versus 19% in 2019, according to the Labor Department. Seven states plus the District of Columbia now require employers to provide paid leave, up from four in 2018, while private employers are also expanding the benefit. Four more states will require paid parental leave by 2026.

“As the state laws have passed, there has been a culture change, and more awareness and support for mothers and—especially—fathers around taking leave,” said Jane Waldfogel, a public affairs professor at Columbia University.

A greater propensity by fathers to take leave is an important contributor. The number of men on parental leave tripled to an average of 76,500 in the six months ended in February [2023] from five years earlier, whereas the number of women rose 11% to 336,000, according to census data.

More parental leave-taking benefits the economy in the impact on families’ well-being, said Emily Oster, economics professor at Brown University—ranging from near-term outcomes such as infant mortality rates to longer-term measures, including child test scores and adult earnings. “In this sense, leave now is an investment in the economic future,” Ms. Oster said...

Leave policies are a small but increasingly key way that firms compete for workers, according to Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. About 3% of currently active online job postings nationwide explicitly advertise parental leave, about a fivefold increase from before the pandemic, ZipRecruiter data show.

Industries seeing the biggest increase are retail, and transportation and warehousing, said Ms. Pollak—something she calls the “Amazon effect.” The e-commerce giant was at the forefront of offering parental-leave benefits, prompting competitors to do the same...

Parents are also taking longer leaves. The typical mother now takes 120 days of bonding leave, up from 110 in 2019, and the median father is out for 60 days, a 15-day increase, according to Sparrow, a leave-management platform. New York state family bonding claims data show a similar trend, with moms claiming 9.9 weeks in 2021, a three-week gain from 2018, and dads extending their average leave by 2.3 weeks, to 6.9...

“My son is so much fun now. He’s getting to the stage where he’s his own human,” [Jonathan Leslie, a 36-year-old software engineer] said. “Having the open-ended play with him—that opportunity won’t come again.”

-via The Wall Street Journal, 4/8/23. Non-paywall version via ProgramBusiness, 4/10/23.

#parental leave #labor rights #paid leave #pto #parenting #child development #infants and toddlers #united states #us politics #washington state #good news #hope

[marveltrumpshate]

March 2024 MTH fills

The best way to see all the fills that have been shared with us is our monthly roundups tag or our #MTH-fills channel on our Discord, but you can also view them through the following methods:

Our Tumblr tags: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Our AO3 collection (only has works posted to AO3; see "subcollections" for specific auction years)

Completed works tag list

To find specific content, use our completed works tag lists above which includes instructions on how to search for a particular character, gen or romantic relationship, universe, and fanwork type. 

SOLO CHARACTERS

Hobie Brown

@jacketpotatoo - Art of Hobie stitching together his Spider-Man outfit for @nostalgicatsea

Marc Spector

@newnewyorker93 - Felt beanbag Moon Knight sachet for @ruquas

GEN/PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS

Bucky Barnes & Natasha Romanov

MedeaV/@medeafive - "Winter at the beach" (Bucky & Nat fic where Bucky has a hard time adjusting to modern swimwear) for @puzzlebean

Bucky Barnes & Natasha Romanov & Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson

@bulkyphrase - Wooden Captain America: The Winter Soldier alphabet block set for Maiasaura

Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers & Tony Stark & Sam Wilson

swtalmnd/@amysnotdeadyet - "Feed" (Bucky & Sam & Steve & Tony gen AU fic (background Bucky/Tony) where Steve and Sam go grocery shopping and bring back what they bought to the tower) for @saganarojanaolt and newtypeshadow (MTH 2022)

Steve Rogers & Thor

happyaspie/@yes-i-am-happyaspie - Art of MCU Steve showing Thor his drawing while they have an ice cream break on the side of a road during their road trip for @marvakakittenwrites

SHIPS

Bucky Barnes/Helmut Zemo

Alistair Nightly - Podfic of "Five Alarm Neighbors," a Bucky/Zemo non-powered AU fic where Zemo wants to get the attention of firefighter neighbor Bucky by @six-demon-bag for Lady Gigi

Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Flowering Glass/@floweringglass - A set of Bucky/Steve/Tony-themed stained glass trinket boxes that can come together into one design for @tehroserose

Juulna/@juuls - Podfic of "One Date Wonder," a Bucky/Steve/Tony non-powered AU fic about Steve and Bucky helping out Tony, who's luckless at dating for @aquatigermice

Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark

@amysnotdeadyet/swtalmnd - "Catalytic" (AU fic where Bucky and Tony make lasagna) for newtypeshadow and @saganarojanaolt (MTH 2022) - "Fuel" (AU fic where Bucky and Tony talk about cooking) for newtypeshadow and saganarojanaolt (MTH 2022)

snarkyship/@snarkyship-main - "A Marriage of Convenience" (Bucky/Tony arranged marriage and mistaken identity medieval/fantasy AU comic) (also on Tumblr) for @massivespacewren (MTH 2022)

Bucky Barnes/Loki

Lalaith Quetzalli/@lalaithquetzallicaresi - Cover/poster for "I Have a Heart," an MCU Bucky/Loki A/B/O AU fic by and for @marvakakittenwrites - Cover/poster for "Grief Stricken Souls," a Bucky/Loki A/B/O AU fic where the two meet at a bereavement support group by and for marvakakittenwrites

Clint Barton/Phil Coulson

ArielT and NickiB - "On the Grid" (MCU Clint/Coulson fic where Phil teaches Clint how to live on the grid) for @winter-angst

Jack Rollins/Brock Rumlow

@ruquas - "The burdens I took to change the ones you have" (Brock Rumlow/Jack Rollins non-powered soulmate hurt/comfort AU fic) for @kalika999 (MTH 2022)

Loki/Tony Stark

Lalaith Quetzalli/@lalaithquetzallicaresi - Header/banner for "Best Laid Plans," a Loki/Tony A/B/O AU fic by and for marvakakittenwrites

Matt Murdock/Foggy Nelson

Marvel_Kitten - "Too Late, Buddy!" (post-Daredevil S01E06 MCU Matt/Foggy fic where Foggy finds out about Matt's secret double life) for @kimmycup

@not-madder-red - "Cats And Bags" (dark Matt/Foggy AU fic where Foggy tries to prevent Matt, whom he thinks is an asshole, from dating Karen by catfishing Matt) for @missmoochy

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Juulna/@juuls - Podfic of "Here to Stay," a post-Endgame Steve/Tony fic where Steve stays at Tony's cabin by @avengersnewb for @ishipallthings

#monthly roundup #march 2024 #mth 2022 #mth 2023

[mariacallous]

On Reddit and Truth Social, users have been trying to re-create the meme-stock magic for Trump Media and Technology Group—the company behind Truth Social—that boosted companies like GameStop in 2021. So far, they haven’t been too successful.

Truth Social, former president Donald Trump’s Twitter copycat, lacks two essential ingredients to the narrative of previous campaigns: underlying fundamentals and the foil of institutional investors. Large hedge funds had shorted GameStop, betting that the price would go down. This time, the stock is owned primarily by retail investors.

Unlike other social media companies, the Truth Social doesn’t disclose how many users it has, but has said previously that just 9 million people have signed up for the site, compared with over 3 billion monthly active users on Facebook. TruthSocial visitors have declined from 5.4 million in January to around 5 million in February, according to web analytics firm SimilarWeb. The site’s lack of users has contributed to poor financial performance.

On the r/wallstreetbets subreddit, home of meme-stock boosterism, most users aren’t buying what Truth Social is selling. “If you invest in this on a long enough timeline you will lose everything. Thus is strictly a movement play,” wrote Reddit user Rich4718. “If you think Donald Trump is going to create an income positive social media platform you are an absolute fucking moron.”

The company started trading publicly on March 26 under the ticker symbol DJT and has already experienced wild swings in price. On Monday, the stock slid nearly 20 percent, erasing $2 billion in value.

In a filing on Monday, the company said it had just over $4 million in revenue and $58 million in net losses. This comes after the auditor for Trump Media and Technology Group made a startling admission: The company’s losses “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue,” according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on March 25. And yet the company is valued at around $7 billion, despite reporting these sizable losses. The valuation is propped up in part by Trump fans who see investing in the company as a way to support the former president. In some cases, these investors hold a genuine belief that Truth Social could become a major social media player.

Albert Choi, a professor of Law at the University of Michigan, says investors in Trump Media may be motivated by factors beyond traditional financial logic, like boosting the price through generating hype.

“If that’s your primary motivating factor, then you’re not going to care too much about whether the company is actually making money,” says Choi.

“I believe DJT is an investment in Donald Trump, not just Truth Social,” Reddit user autsauce, who declined to share their real name, tells WIRED. “If market participants start asking that question, which I am betting they will, they will likely arrive at a very different price valuing Truth Social in a silo.”

Choi noted that Trump winning the Presidential election could actually hurt the company’s stock, as investors' perceived need to support the former president financially by investing could fade.

“My guess is that the interest in the stock would largely disappear,” Choi said.

Some Truth Social fans have spun the company’s entry into the public market as a fresh start. The infusion of capital from people buying shares in the company will enable Truth Social to post an improved financial performance, they argue.

“With $300M to properly grow a company and Trump’s impending win in 2024, the entire situation has changed,” Chad Nedohin, who regularly livestreams about his support for the company while wearing a Jack Sparrow costume, wrote on Truth Social.

Still, Truth Social doesn’t really provide anything unique. The company’s defining feature is that it's the website where Trump is currently posting, and it is, unsurprisingly, home to many posts discussing conspiracy theories about QAnon, stolen elections, and deep state plots.

But Devin Nunes, Truth Social CEO and former Republican US representative, said in an interview last week with the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk that the company plans to combine features from other social networks.

“We’re trying to take the best of all platforms and put it into one,” Nunes said, “whether it be Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, et cetera.”

Truth Social still needs to comply with Apple’s and Google’s terms of service to remain in its respective app stores. Nunes claims, however, that Truth Social “doesn’t use any of the woke companies, referencing Parler, the social media company that was kicked off Apple’s and Google’s mobile app stores in the wake of the January 6 riot at the Capitol. “It’s kind of an interesting investment, because you’re really investing in your constitutional rights,” Nunes said. “We’re the only company out there that can’t be shut down by woke companies.”

[beardedmrbean]

California is facing a record $68 billion budget deficit.

This is largely attributed to a “severe revenue decline,” according to the state's Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO).

While it’s not the largest deficit the state has ever faced as a percentage of overall spending, it’s the largest in terms of real dollars — and could have a big impact on California taxpayers in the coming years.

Here’s what has eaten into the Golden State’s coffers.

Unprecedented drop in revenue

California is dealing with a revenue shortfall partly due to a delay in 2022-2023 tax collection. The IRS postponed 2022 tax payment deadlines for individuals and businesses in 55 of the 58 California counties to provide relief after a series of natural weather disasters, including severe winter storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides.

Tax payments were originally postponed until Oct. 16, 2023, but hours before the deadline they were further postponed until Nov. 16, 2023. In line with the federal action, California also extended its due date for state tax returns to the same date.

These delays meant California had to adopt its 2023-24 budget before collections began, “without a clear picture of the impact of recent economic weakness on state revenues,” according to the LAO.

Total income tax collections were down 25% in 2022-23, according to the LAO — a decline compared to those seen during the Great Recession and dot-com bust.

“Federal delays in tax collection forced California to pass a budget based on projections instead of actual tax receipts," Erin Mellon, communications director for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, told Fox News. "Now that we have a clearer picture of the state’s finances, we must now solve what would have been last year’s problem in this year’s budget.”

The exodus

California has also lost residents and businesses — and therefore, tax revenue — in recent years.

The Golden State’s population declined for the first time in 2021, as it lost around 281,000 residents, according to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). In 2022, the population dropped again by around 211,000 residents — with many moving to other states like Texas, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona.

Read more: 'It's not taxed at all': Warren Buffett shares the 'best investment' you can make when battling inflation

“Housing costs loom large in this dynamic,” according to the PPIC, which found through a survey that 34% of Californians are considering moving out of the state due to housing costs.

Other factors such as the post-pandemic remote work trend — which has resulted in empty office towers in California’s downtown cores — have also played a role in migration out of the state.

Poor economic conditions

In an effort to tame inflation in the U.S., the Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates 11 times — from 0.25% to 5.5% — since March 2022. These actions have made borrowing more expensive and have reduced the amount of money available for investment.

This has cooled California’s economy in a number of ways. Home sales in the state are down by about 50%, according to the LAO, which it largely attributes to the surge in mortgage rates. The monthly mortgage to buy a typical California home has gone from $3,500 to $5,400 over the course of the Fed’s rate hikes the LAO says.

The Fed’s rate hikes have “hit segments of the economy that have an outsized importance to California,” according to the LAO, including startups and technology companies. Investment in the state’s tech economy has “dropped significantly” due to the financial conditions — evidenced by the number of California companies that went public in 2022 and 2023 being down by over 80% from 2021, the LAO says.

One result of this is that California businesses have had less funding to be able to expand their operations or hire new workers. The LAO pointed out that the number of unemployed workers in the Golden State has risen by nearly 200,000 people since the summer of 2022, lifting the percentage from 3.8% to 4.8%.

Fixing the budget crunch

The LAO suggests that California has various options to address its $68 billion budget deficit — including declaring a budget emergency and then withdrawing around $24 billion in cash reserves.

California also has the option to lower school spending to the constitutional minimum — a move that could save around $16.7 billion over three years. It could also cut back on at least $8 billion of temporary or one-time spending in 2024-25.

However, these are just short-term solutions and may not address the state’s longer term budget issues. In the past, the state has cut back on business tax credits and deductions and increased broad-based taxes to generate more revenue.

Mellon did not reveal any specifics behind the state’s recovery plan in her comments to Fox News. She simply said: “In January, the Governor will introduce a balanced budget proposal that addresses our challenges, protects vital services and public safety and brings increased focus on how the state’s investments are being implemented, while ensuring accountability and judicious use of taxpayer money.”

#nunyas news

[levbolton]

Mokumoku Ren/ Mokmok Len interview in Kono Manga ga Sugoi!

A manga uploaded to Twitter became a big buzz, and this is their first full-length work, "The Summer Hikari died," was selected as No. 1 in the Male Category. A bromance depicting the summer days of two high school boys…. How was the next generation horror work drawn by an up-and-coming newcomer born?

Mokumoku Ren debuted with the short story "Period" included in the appendix booklet of the “Monthly Comic Gene" June 2021 issue. From August 31, 2021, KADOKAWA's "Young Ace UP" site started publishing the manga series "The Summer Hikaru died". This is the first serial work.

1. Please tell us your impression of being selected as the number one winner.

Mokumokuren (hereinafter referred to as Moku): I never thought that I would be chosen as the number one winner, so I was very surprised. When it became popular on TikTok, I had the impression that there were many female readers, so when I heard that it won in the man category I was surprised again.

2. This is Mokumoku Ren-sensei's serial debut. Please tell us the story of how she started serialization.

Moku: Originally, I didn't want to be a manga artist. Ever since I was a little child, Iliked to draw, and I liked to make up stories, but I never turned them into manga.

3. What kind of stories were you fantasizing about?

Moku: When I was young, it was like an original ensemble drama with fairies. I had never completed a single manga properly, but I had some time off due to the corona crisis, so I made the story and characters I had been thinking about for a long time into this manga format. Thanks to the buzz I posted on Twitter, I received offers from several editorial departments.

4. When the number of “likes” and retweets kept increasing, didn’t you get overwhelmed?

Moku: I thought, "Wow!" (laughs). However, when the serialization started and it went on TikTok, the reaction was bigger, so I hurriedly downloaded the app at that time. I saw a junior high school student saying “Omoshiroi”, and I thought “that’s a lie” at first. But if I were a junior high school student now, I'm sure I would read this work.

5. Why did you choose the web media “Young Ace UP”?

Moku: I myself had zero name recognition, so I thought it would be better for the series to be available to read for free, so I chose "Young Ace UP".

6. Did you have any ideas other than 'Summer when the light died' for the serialization?

Moku: I didn't. I said, "Let's just use what I posted on Twitter in the first episode." In the June 2021 issue of the magazine Comic Gene, I drew “Period”, and from April, I started to draw the serialization of “The summer Hikaru died”. I submitted it in January 2021, and published it in March. *

Notice: here is the post where moku announced the original idea that at the time was posted on pixiv, however you can see that the illustrations have been removed, i do not know if this is the same oneshot as the one translated

"Ku" slowly changes shape in the dark forest. Yoshiki, who has to go through a forest road, spots the hiragana "ku" floating in the forest. Eventually, "Ku" will change into something else... The motif is "Kune Kune" from an internet ghost story. It's scary to come over things that change form completely when you look at them from afar and up close. (Mokumoku Ren)

Notice: here is a cool drawing of the yokai Ku

Focus on Yoshinori and Hikaru's bromance-like relationship. Yoshiki and Hikaru, who are the same age and live in a village in the mountains, have "always lived together" since childhood. Because of their relationship, Yoshiki noticesthat Hikaru has been replaced by ‘something’, and she faints. “I thought that a high school student would be good for the main character, and from the beginning I thought it would be a boy. It would be nice if I could create an exquisite feeling because they are two boys. (Mokumoku Ren)

7. So did you have a bit of time to prepare for the serialization?

Moku: I didn't. The dialect used in the film is the Mie dialect, so I wanted to go to Mie Prefecture for coverage, but it was difficult due to the coronavirus pandemic.

8. Why set the story in Mie?

Moku: One of the reasons was that I wanted the characters to use distinctive dialects. I was looking for an exquisite line that was different from the Kansai dialect, and I chose the mountainous areas of the Tokai region. I also love the horror novels "The Higa Sisters" by Itomo Sawamura, and the first one, "Bogi Wanga ga Kuru", is set in Mie Prefecture.

What is the difference between Hikaru and "Hikaru"? Hikaru was replaced by something non-human. At present, there are few opportunities to draw the figure before being replaced. I try to portray “Hikaru” a little more childlike after the switch. In the black-and-white manuscripts, there is not much difference, but in the colour manuscripts, I changed the pupil colour. (Mokumoku Ren)

9. So, The Summer Hikaru Died is a mixture of all your favourite things?

Moku: Well, it's not like I conceived a new concept for this series, but rather that it's a mix of all the things that I've liked over the years.

10. You seem to like horror a lot.

Moku: As soon as I realized I liked it, I liked it already (laughs). I don't know why I like it, but ever since I can remember I've watched a lot of films. I've watched a lot of films ever since I can remember. I've always loved the 'True Horror Stories' series and the 'Ghost Stories Earbags' series, and I often refer to them.

11. Do you like 'J-horror'?

Moku: I like classic films such as Ring (directed by Hideo Nakata) and Ju-On (directed by Takashi Shimizu), and I watched The Room You Mustn't Live In (directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura) over and over again. But I also like foreign films. Recently, I watched Ali Aster's Midsummer and Hereditary, thinking, "Wow, the composition is really good".

12. Do you pay attention to the composition?

Moku: I pay attention to the composition, the colours, and also the direction. I think about how to switch it up here.

13. I was also impressed by the effective use of first-person POV (Point of View) in The Summer Hikaru Died.

Moku: I also like POV horror films. I've seen all of Koji Shiraishi's horror films. Recently, I went to see Welcome to the Occult Forest. (Okaruto no Mori e Yokoso )

14. In episode 3 (included in volume 1), Hikaru's past is revealed: "I fainted for two hours after watching a horror film".

Moku: Well, I didn't expect that, but I think it's just a plain old movie. Something classic that everyone has seen before, but that still makes Hikaru faint (laughs).

15. Has your view of films changed since you started drawing your own manga?

Moku : I started to think about what it would be like if I were to draw it as a manga. Like, "I'd probably split the frames here and turn the page here".

16. Is the cut-splitting of a film similar to that of a comic book?

Moku: I myself draw with a visual sense. When I draw, I think about the situation in which the character is placed. I think about where the light source is, the atmosphere and humidity, and whether it is clearly… visible.

Expressions of guilt crawling down Yoshiki's spine. The unique hand-shaped, a unique balloon expression. I wanted to do something interesting from a manga point of view. The guilt is like a crawl up the spine, so I thought it would be good to make a balloon crawl up from behind. I came up with this kind of expression when I was drawing the story. (Mokumoku Ren)

Supernatural images that exist in nature. The image of Yoshinori's hand inside Hikaru's body was 'processed from fractal images'. Fractal structure (self-similarity) refers to a figure in which a part of the figure is similar to the whole figure. The Sierpinski gasket, which is a series of triangles, is a typical example. The bottomless feeling of being able to see the same shape no matter how much you zoom in is weird. It's not good, is it? I like the fact that they are not artificial, but found in nature, like romanesco in vegetables or the veins of leaves. I also like the Lichtenberg figures drawn on wood with electricity, and other things that are in nature but look supernatural, which fits the image of this work. (Mokumoku Ren)

19. We've heard about the movies, but which manga works have influenced you?

Moku: Ever since I was a child, I spent all my allowance on manga. I collected HUNTER x HUNTER (Togashi Yoshihiro) and Jojo's Strange Adventure (Araki Hirohiko) with my own money. I also like manga with non-human characters, and one work that has influenced me in terms of artwork is Tokyo Ghoul. Whether or not the drawings are similar, I can say that I am influenced by the way Sui Ishida draws the facial expressions of the characters.

18. The Summer of the Dead Light has horror elements, so I am interested in what you find scary.

Moku: I don't find horror films very scary. If anything, I find them more enjoyable. That's why I can't help but say things like, "It's hot! I'm on a rollercoaster ride.” I watch horror films with a rollercoaster sensation. I guess you could say it's like watching a haunted house or an attraction. Personally, I'm scared of things I don't understand. Not the ones that have something to back them up, like 'the ghost of someone who died here', but the ones where you don't really know what it is. If there is proof, it feels like a story made up by humans. It's not about whether you've done something good or something bad, it's about when you're going to be attacked, irrespective of human convenience.

19. Any specific examples?

Moku: In 'The Summer Hikaru Died', it's the 'Ku' monster. I'm afraid of things that just appear. I'm scared of things that don't just appear out of the blue, but things that are clearly abnormal and appear in the distance, or things that blend into everyday life and are always in the background.

Countryside in the mountains where conventions remain.The story takes place in the mountainous countryside of Mie. The model for the story is my grandmother's house. 'The model was my grandmother's house. It was a narrow village on the border between the mountains and the sea, with houses densely packed together. It is surrounded by haunted places, and there are many suicide spots and customsstill remain. The only shop in the small village was my grandmother's house. There was old polished glass, a black telephone still in use, and neighbours would come and go as they pleased. The scenery I used to see when I went back home with my parents was the basis for the setting of this film." (Mokumoku Ren)

20. It's a psychic photographic way of showing.

Moku : I used to watch TV specials on ghosts without fail (laughs). Rather than showing shocking scenes with a bang, I like it best when the scary feeling is just about to arrive, like in ....... That's why in The Summer Hikaru Died, I wanted to emphasise the creepy feeling, so I tried to keep the shocking scenes to a minimum.

21. In traditional horror stories, non-human beings often can't communicate with humans, but “Hikaru” is a little different after the switch.

Moku: I think it's interesting that they go beyond people's imaginations, rather than from the perspective of a transcendental being, like the human ....... There are things that are similar to humans, and there are things that seem similar but are completely different. I originally wanted to depict the feelings of the non-humans who have been replaced by humans, rather than the feelings of the humans themselves.

22. More non-human than human: ......?

Moku: That came first (laughs). I wanted something familiar to be transcendent, or something close by to suddenly seem scary. I put my idea of what I think of as an non-human being into it.

The intention of onomatopoeia flooding the entire screen. The onomatopoeia is printed in a typeface font instead of drawn, which is characteristic of this work. Unlike videos, there is no sound in manga, so I distort the text and make it move to add variety. I use fonts because I want people to read them. With hand-drawn text, it blends in with the picture, and I feel that the eye slides over it and it's hard to get people to read it. I use different fonts for things I want people to see even if they don't want to, and hand-drawn fonts for things that they don't need to be aware of. (Mokumoku Ren)

23. By the way, your pen name comes from the name of a yokai (Mokumoku Ren), right?

Moku: That's right. I've always loved the anime GeGeGe no Kitaro, so I became familiar with yokai. As for the origin of my pen name, I was told by a friend, "Why don't you use a yokai's name?” It's not that I particularly like the yokai "Mokumokuren". I chose it because it has a cute sound. I've seen The Great Yokai War (directed by Takashi Miike) more than 20 times.

24. You are a big fan of yokai, aren't you? How did you decide on the title?

Moku: I couldn't come up with a good idea at all until just before the series started. Our editor had to come up with something, but I kept struggling with it.

25. What were some of the rejected ideas?

Moku: 'Hikaru is dead'. It just doesn't have the word 'summer', but it doesn't feel like a title at all, so it's weak. In the end, we decided on 'Hikari ga shinda natsu' (The summer Hikaru died), and I like it because I feel that the three kanji in it (Hikaru/light, death and summer) alone give an idea of the content, and it's very coherent.

26. I was a little curious, but in the story, Hikaru died in the winter, about half a year ago, not in the summer, right?

Moku: That's right. So, if you understand that it was summer when Yoshiki accepted Hikari's death. If there had been a 'winter' in the title, I think it would have been completely different.

27. Why did you choose summer as the season in the work?

Moku: I wanted to draw short sleeves. Another reason is that I felt summer was the most mismatched season. In this work, I put a lot of emphasis on the 'mismatch' in general. The content is dark, so I thought summer would be the most energetic of the seasons. The visuals are intentionally bright. The cover of the book is also brightly coloured, and the background music for the PV was deliberately bright. We wanted to create a mismatch.

Chaos overflowing from Hikaru. Episode 6 (in volume 1) Last spread. The preliminary picture of this page, uploaded on Twitter, was a collage of photographic materials. 'That's not so much a name as it is a base for a picture. I transformed that base and drew on top of it. I created the work in a fully digital environment, from the name to the preliminary sketch and penning, so there is no clear separation between the different stages of the work, but it is seamless. I thought it would be disgusting if it was more graphic, so I included the face of my dog in this scene. (Mokumoku Ren)

The pet dog, Pug, actually makes a cameo appearance.

28. What do you enjoy most when you are drawing?

Moku: It's fun when I'm drawing the parts that I know will be exciting.

29. In particular?

Moku: I think the last part of the first volume (episode 6) could have had a strong impact. I drew a kind of solution to that in episode 7 (included in volume 2), but I discussed this with the editor in charge, and we had a hard time deciding on it, so I think I did my best. Also, looking at the reactions of readers, there are some who have given it a lot of thought, and it's fun when I can draw a development that betrays their expectations. I know I'm going to betray the readers' expectations (laughs).

Various compositions are used in the work. I use fisheye-like compositions for scenes where I want to be able to see far into the distance, or when I want to draw a lot of background, or when I want to show a bit more space. (Mokumoku Ren).

Comparison between the finished manuscript and the name for episode 8. In general, characters are drawn with a 'cross on a circle' style in the story, but it can be seen that the facial expression of the character (Yoshiki) has already been decided in detail. The facial expressions are definitely decided at the story writing stage. Without facial expressions, I don't know how the characters are feeling when they say their lines. For this story, I think it's very important to know what kind of face they’re making and what they’re saying. Timing, pauses and, in a film, the acting part. I feel that I want to convey the message through acting rather than dialogue. (Mokumoku Ren)

30. What about future developments?

Moku: The story will start moving in the next three volumes. If the first three volumes were the daily life chapter, I feel like I'm entering a new chapter in the story. I'm sorry to have been chosen as the No. 1 winner when we're still in the early stages of the story, but I hope you'll look forward to the rest of the story.

► PROFILE: Born in Tokyo. “The Summer Hikaru Died" is the first commercial serialisation of this promising new author. Less than a year after its serialisation, it won 11th place at the Global Special Award [Traditional Chinese] in the Web manga category of the Next Manga Award 2022. Information is also updated on the Twitter account. Twitter account. @mokmok_len

Well, they removed the onedrive email i created to share this so this was exhausting to edit into Tumblr, I’d appreciate it a lot if you reblogged this post

Other Mokumoku Ren interviews translated:

CREA (7th Nov 2022) | Da Vinci (5th Nov 2022) | Kono Manga ga Sugoi 2023 | Real sound 31st December | Real sound 5th July

#if this doesnt show in the tag i will unalive so please reblog this #hikaru ga shinda natsu #the summer hikaru died #hikaru x yoshiki #indo hikaru #indou hikaru #indoh hikaru #tsujinaka yoshiki #hikaru #yoshiki #mokmok len #mokumoku ren #i hope i don’t get flagged bcs i will die if i lose the posts and analysis and everything i made on this account #manga #hgsn translation

[geoffrard]

My Chemical Romance, Hardcore Sexual Repression, and the Lemon Stealing Whore - SOURCES

The interview: 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzAOmGe1S00

Transcript: https://mcr-transcripts.tumblr.com/post/17317559562/burning-angel-dvd-interview

Joanna Angel:

Complex: Interview: Joanna Angel Talks Alt Porn, Piracy, And Her Blow-Up Doll (Tara Aquino; Jul 29, 2011)

Turned Out A Punk #127: Joanna Angel (Burning Angel) (May 2017)

Hustlerworld Interview: Joanna Angel (March 2006) 

'Each Time It's More Fun' in Haaretz (Shahar Smooha, Jul 12, 2007). 

‘Wearing Nothing but Attitude’ in The New York Times (Robert Lanham, May 1, 2005).

‘A Woman On Top’ in New Jersey Monthly (Eric Levin, Dec 19, 2007)

Hardcore (NJ & otherwise):  

Going Off Track: Geoff Rickly (2012)

Dark Blue Episode #4: Norman Brannon & Steve Pedulla (Oct 2018)

Geoff Rickly on Warped Tour 2004 discussing the meaning of the track Signals Over the Air from their 2003 album, War All the Time.

The Summer of Screamo in The New York Times (By Jonathan Dee, June 29, 2003).

Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994–2007) (Dan Ozzi, 2021). 

Popular Music, Gender, and Postmodernism: Anger is an Energy.  By Neil Nehring. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 1997.

MCR:

A ‘Great Romances of the 21st Century’ in Alternative Press #193 (Leslie Simon, Aug 2004)

Alternative Press: Frank Iero: The Oral History (Alt Press #389.2, Dec 2020).

Riot Grrrl:

‘Kathleen Hanna - Bikini Kill’ in Angry Women in Rock (Andrea Juno, 1996).

‘I Can Sell My Body If I Wanna: Riot Grrrl Body Writing and Performing Shameless Feminist Resistance.’ By Leah Perry. Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association 4 (2015).

#mine

[allthatslithers]

July ASWN: MONSTER REWIND MADNESS MONTH!

It's the All That Slithers Discord's birthday this month, and to celebrate we are going back into time to give you all the previous prompts from A Strongly Worded Notes past. :D

What this means is you can pick any monster from a previous ASWN prompt for this month!

As usual, the last week of the month is when we will share our retrospective monster creations, and be sure to let us know by @allthatslithers and using #aStronglyWordedNote so we can reblog them!

Also, we have an AO3 collection that you can add your works to if you wish, just please keep in mind that only works that meet our “monster” definition will be accepted into the collection. (As this rule is only applicable to the AO3 collection, you definitely can still post non-monster works created for ASWN.

If you’re new here or you’ve never participated in ASWN before and need a refresher on what it is, here’s all the info you need: ASWN is a low-pressure monthly event. No level of completion is required to post, and we strongly encourage everyone to join in and share. This isn't an event intended to stress you out — whatever you have, even if it's just a plot outline or a sketch, can be shared with us!

The List of Monsters Past:

Vampires (August 2021)

Aliens (September 2021)

Ghosts and Costume Party (October 2021)

Merpeople (November 2021)

Horned Beasts (December 2021)

Dragons (January 2022)

Fae (February 2022)

Equine Monsters (unicorns, centaurs, kelpies, etc) (March 2022)

Banshee (April 2022)

Werewolf (May 2022)

Eldritch Horror (June 2022)

True Forms (August 2022)

Harpy (September 2022)

Haunted House (October 2022)

Sea Serpent (November 2022)

Winter seasonal monsters (December 2022)

Elemental Monsters (January 2023)

Black Dog/Grimm (February 2023)

Modern myths and monsters (March 2023)

Minotaurs (April 2023)

Dryads (May 2023)

Build-a-Creature (June 2023)

#good omens #aswn #a strongly worded note #prompt

[luwukass]

💕lukas💕🧍‍♂️he/him🧍‍♂️🥰22🥰

fun facts:

im a transman been on t since march 9 2021, born and raised in the usa but i now live in swizterland with my spouse, im polyam, been listening to taylor since debut, saw taylor for fearless tour in austin tx.

this is a swiftie blog

(i do occasionally rb and post about other artists i listen to and other media but 99% of what i post here will be about taylor)

the majority of my posts rn are either polls or theories i tags polls with #my polls💕 and my theories with #clowning🤡 but here are some of my fav theories that i have had

ts11 and beyond

eras tour timeline

eras tour and TS11+ theory timeline

ttpd theories/tracklist breakdown

my only DNI is g@ylors or anyone else who speculates on taylors sexuality, i block on site

my asks are open and im down to make moots with everyone dms are also open

my eras tour dates:

amsterdam night one july 4th!!

zurich night one july 9th!!!

check out my favs list! (updated monthly)

#my posts 💕 #my polls 💕 #my art💕 #anons💕 #my favs 💕 #clowning 🤡 #my great war‼️ #taylor swift #the eras tour zurich #the eras tour amsterdam #swiftie #swifties

[jjaydazo]

I posted 661 times in 2022

That's 137 more posts than 2021!

430 posts created (65%)

231 posts reblogged (35%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@jjaydazo

@mother-of-frans-organization

@kodizzzle

@stacycpr

@shorukarts

I tagged 513 of my posts in 2022

Only 22% of my posts had no tags

#frisk - 130 posts

#frans - 126 posts

#sans x frisk - 87 posts

#ask - 80 posts

#sans - 79 posts

#frisk x sans - 50 posts

#artificialtale - 45 posts

#undertale - 32 posts

#sona - 28 posts

#lmao - 23 posts

Longest Tag: 122 characters

#my phone got full of themselves witb files again now i have to start fresh again looking some of my artwork from ibis q-q

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I just remembered I rarely draw intimate Frans, sooo

Here ya go.

531 notes - Posted March 7, 2022

#4

See the full post

557 notes - Posted February 26, 2022

#3

Pov: You’re a handsome himbo kneeling on ground but then you look up to see a beautiful and possibly you’re soon to be girlfriend looking at you. 

Daux Frisk belongs to @nuvex​

604 notes - Posted April 27, 2022

#2

See the full post

787 notes - Posted February 26, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I wonder what context is this... 

lmao. (I just want to redo for frans monthly.) 

@frans-monthly : Meme

DauxTale! Frisk - @nuvex FlameHeart! Frisk - @ladysm ArtificialTale! Frisk - Iz mine 

Special small cameos: @shayromi @sharkowskii @stacycpr @feelisia @venelona @saturnbela And meh

1,847 notes - Posted May 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #YA DAMN RIGHT THE PEPE SPILL SHOULD BE NUM 1

[dedalvs]

Fiat Lingua Top 10 for 2022

It's been a good year over at Fiat Lingua, the once-monthly conlang journal that's been posting steadily since September, 2011. I created Fiat Lingua over ten years ago with the idea that it could be something like the Rutgers Optimality Archive: A place where conlangers could post work that either they wanted to showcase, or work that was in progress. We've had tons of contributors over the years, and some standout work I'm really proud of.

Behind the scenes, we have a number of metrics available to us, and one of them allows us to know what the top posts are over a given amount of time. So, for fun, here are the top 10 visited posts for this year (though, note, the numbers for the December post will be down a little bit, since it didn't have a full month. Still, though, it's incredible, so if you get a chance, take a look at this full novel Jim Hopkins wrote in his language Itlani).

NUMBER 10

We have a tie...

"Moya Abugida" (June, 2022) by Carl Buck: A detailed description of how to write the unique abugida of the Moya language.

"Die Wichtigkeit von Conlangs in Medien" (November, 2021) by Jonah Behring: A German language article on the importance of using authentically created conlangs in films and television shows.

NUMBER 9

"Wóxtjanato: A grammar" (January, 2022) by Jessie Sams: A conlang by the amazing @quothalinguist about a culture whose planet has suddenly and unexpectedly acquired a second moon.

NUMBER 7

We have a tie...

"Names Aren't Neutral: David J. Peterson on Creating a Fantasy Language" (March, 2019) by David J. Peterson: This was an article I wrote for an online magazine, but then the magazine went under, so I reclaimed it and put it up on Fiat Lingua. It's about why coming with "random" names for sff can often prove problematic.

"Tone for Conlangers: A Basic Introduction" (April, 2018) by Aidan Aannestad: A lot of conlangers are interested in having tone in their language, but don't really know how to go about it, and this is a great introduction.

NUMBER 6

"Afrihili: An African Interlanguage" (April, 2014) by William S. Annis: Afrihili is an a posteriori auxlang from the late 60s that uses Bantu languages as its source, and it is fascinating! One of my all-time favorite auxlangs, and William provides a wonderful introduction.

NUMBER 5

"An Itlani Wedding Blessing" (August, 2014) by James E. Hopkins: A lovely wedding blessing Jim wrote for, if I remember right, a friend's daughter who was getting married.

NUMBER 4

"Dothraki & the Nostratic Super Family" (February, 2015) by Charlotte Peak: For her MA thesis, Charlotte wrote a paper on how Dothraki could fit into the theoretical Nostratic super family. A fun read!

NUMBER 3

"Patterns of Allophony" (April, 2015) by William S. Annis: Definitely one of the most popular papers on Fiat Lingua, William illustrates graphically a number of very common sound changes.

NUMBER 2

"Slides for Linguistics 183: The Linguistics of Game of Thrones and the Art of Language Invention" (September, 2018) by David J. Peterson: In the summer of 2017 I taught a class on language creation at UC Berkeley. I uploaded all the slides I used in that course as one massive .pdf to Fiat Lingua.

And now for the top viewed article for 2022 on Fiat Lingua...

NUMBER 1

"A Conlanger's Thesaurus" (September, 2014) by William S. Annis: This is consistently the most accessed article on Fiat Lingua, and I don't expect that to change. The article is relatively short, compared to the information and use you can get out of it. William Annis details ways in which languages relate words to other similar words. For conlangers who struggle either with coming up with words that are different from English in meaning, or who struggle with coming up with words at all, this reference article should prove very useful. Using the word maps in this article, you might be able to come up with words you never dreamt of before, but words which could exist in some language. A great resource for conlangers who are desperately trying to break out of the influence of their L1 or L2!

* * * * *

And that's it for 2022! I'm looking forward to posting more conlang articles next year. If you are a conlanger, a conlang-researcher, or conlang fan who has something to say in .pdf format about a conlang or conlanging in general, please consider submitting something to Fiat Lingua! We take any and all articles related to conlanging in whatever form you have them. I'm also happy to help you think up ideas, or refine those ideas you have. There is no strong review like in a fancy journal: I just want to get what you have up. I'm especially in interested in hosting personal conlang stories—stories about how or why you started to create a language, or your experience creating your own language—personal stories that are often lost, but are so vital, as there is an absolute dearth of literature about conlangers! If you think you have even the seed of an idea, please get a hold of me! I want to share as many stories and ideas as I can.

#conlang #fiat lingua #quothalinguist #language #itlani #dothraki #wóxtjanato #afrihili #moya #language creation #language invention #language construction #language creation society #lcs

[seiya-starsniper]

For @dreamlingbingo 2023: Square B4: Rescue. Combined with Monthly March Prompt: MI6!Hob

Title: A View to a Dream

Rating: E

Word Count: 3372

Ship(s): Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling, Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Additional Tags: Post-Movie: No Time to Die (2021), mentioned one-sided 00Q, Imprisonment, Rescue Missions, Car Chases, Canon-Typical Violence, Alternate Universe - Human, Action & Romance, BAMF Hob Gadling, Double-0 Agent Hob Gadling, Bond Girl Dream of the Endless, Or is he a Hob Girl????

Fic Summary: Hob Gadling, code name 009, is sent on a mission to rescue Dream, of the Endless Family. As with all things, the mission doesn't quite go according to plan.

Also tagging the lovely @pyrecryptid who I've been screaming with over MI6 Hob for the last few days. Please check out her lovely art [here] that she somehow made totally independent of me writing this fic!

#dreamling #dream x hob #2023 dreamling bingo #dreamling bingo #sandman fanfic #sandman fic #mystuff #seiya writes #I HAVE BEEN VIBRATING FOR WEEKS WANTING TO POST THIS YOU ALL HAVE NO IDEA #because MI6 Hob is like my entire life right now #lmao omg I just noticed I didn't post the right word count whoops #fixed that now but rip my original reblogs #seiya writes dreamling