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abbyshands · 2 months

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PALESTINE LINKS

in honor of the media blackout this week, i wanted to compile a list of links and resources regarding what’s going on in gaza. i advise all of you to give these links a look at, or to at least reblog them. the people in gaza need the bare minimum from us in that sense. &, well, if you can’t take enough time out of your day to give these links at least a look, a like, or share, then, bye !

& for all the the last of us fans out there, you need to see this. it’s genuinely a must. not to call anyone out, but i see a lot of people who have not spoken out about this at all, who, for example, keep publishing or reblogging fics etc during the blackout. i love a good fic as much as anyone else, but you can wait a week. there’s really no excuses here. if you didn’t know about the previous blackout, then now is your chance. don’t turn a blind eye to this.

at the end of this post are links specifically for those engaged in the last of us tumblr. if you aren’t going to look at the links before that, then at least look at those.

oh, & for the dumbasses who are unfollowing me for spending a week to post about a fucking genocide? fuck you, & good fucking riddance. you are not and never were welcome on my page. i don’t want you here anyways!

PALESTINE LINKS

SEVERAL ways you can help the people in gaza. some of which are fully free.

SEVERAL links regarding info around this genocide, such as places to boycott, and ways to learn more about the nature of it all.

SEVERAL ways you can help, including ways to donate, petitions you can sign, and campaigns you can join.

places you NEED to boycott. don’t buy from them, regardless of if they really fund israel or not. if they support them, that is more than enough. boycotting is a way to resist, so do it. at the end of this post are also places that are helping those who are in gaza, and families you can help escape by donating.

know that this issue did NOT begin oct. 7th. this is so much deeper than you know, and has been going on for 70+ years. click the above link to educate yourself on that front.

CLICK HERE TO HELP PALESTINE! this site has already been debunked on if it really helps the people in gaza or not, and it does. just one click is all you need. one button, once per day. you can even do it on different devices or browsers so you get more than one click in. click it daily!

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES using this link, and this link (this will help you find ways to call or email them depending on where you live). also, urge biden and congress to do right by the people in gaza. the U.S. sends billions of dollars to israel every year, funding the genocide that’s ensuing as we watch on from the comfort our homes. do the bare minimum, & hold them accountable. please.

HERE ARE WAYS YOU CAN DONATE or find a PROTEST near you! not everyone is readily available to do these things, i know that. but looking into them could never hurt, or at least sharing it elsewhere so there is more awareness surrounding it.

LEARN OF AFRO-PALESTINIAN EXPERIENCES, & the efforts they have made over the years. i think it’s so, so crucial that we hear their voices, &, god, learning of all that they’ve been through, & all that they’ve done, is so inspiring.

here is some more info regarding BOYCOTTING. boycotting does, and has been proven to work. this post explains the subject a bit more in case it happens to confuse anybody, along w/companies and such that need to be boycotted, & why. as i said before, boycotting is a way to resist. so do it!

HERE IS A 🇵🇸 MASTERLIST including ways to educate yourself, donate, books you can read, & films you can watch. this is one of the best links i have regarding this genocide, and i highly recommend you look at it!

SOUTH AFRICA took israel to court for this genocide! read about it in the above link.

FOR THE LAST OF US FANS

do not remain in the dark about the last of us’s link to the ongoing conflict in gaza. neil druckmann, the director of the game, is a ZIONIST. he grew up in israel, and TLOU2 is rooted in israeli themes. now, no one is saying you have to quit playing the game, or dislike it, for all you dense ones out there. but i ask that you remain aware of this aspect of it, especially if you are regularly engaged in the last of us tumblr.

this is a link that i highly, highly recommend you read through. it discusses the HEAVILY ISRAELI THEMES TLOU2 displays. click the following link to learn more on TLOU2 & NEIL DRUCKMANN.

DO NOT BUY TLOU, TLOU REMASTERED, TLOU2, TLOU2 REMASTERED, OR ANY GAME FROM ND! neil druckmann has donated money to the IDF in the past. & where do you think he’s getting his money from? yeah, you got that. watch gameplays, pirate these games, or buy them secondhand. several shops sell used games. & for those of you who went and purchased the game anyway, knowing about all of this? fuck you.

if you think your $10 doesn’t matter, then think about this: okay, one person spends $10 on the game. whatever. but when 100,000 people do it? that’s a million dollars, going into the hands of a zionist, who is using YOUR money to help kill innocent men, women, and children. put that in your pipe and smoke it.

it is not just the games you need to boycott. HBO’S show also needs to be. follow this link to learn of more movies and shows you need to boycott, & the reasons why, including the last of us. let’s also not forget that dina & abby’s actresses are in support of israel, and BELLA RAMSEY, ellie’s actress, has also shown support.

boycott. the fucking. show. there are a million websites where you can pirate it, so you are not giving any of your support to it. resist.

i understand that not everyone is educated on this subject, and that not everyone knew of the previous media blackout. for the last of us fans, i understand that not everyone knew about the game or show’s israeli nature. but it is never too late to take part. it is never too late to care. i promise you that. if you purchased the game, at least donate to one of the sources above. that’s just bare minimum.

get educated, get loud, & GET PROUD! these are innocent people who are dying as you read this from your bed, couch, whatever. the least you can do is like & reblog so this reaches more people. your voice matters, big account or small.

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE 🇵🇸🍉

#gaza #palestine #free palestine #free palestine 🇵🇸#free gaza #gaza strip #israel #the last of us #the last of us 2 #tlou #tlou2 #ellie williams #abby anderson #neil druckmann #boycott israel #the last of us remastered #the last of us 2 remastered

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pksy · 10 months

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So, there's an article circulating from a Eurovision gossip site about the Tallinn gig. It's a very stupid blurb that seems to try and paint Käärijä in a not-so-nice light and attempt to rile people up. But, as we all know, fans can get pretty hot under the collar about things.

Specifically, it insinuates that Käärijä was taking a mean-spirited stab at Loreen when he "...reportedly asked the audience if they had watched Eurovision and what they thought about Loreen winning the contest."

If anybody watched the videos, or were present for the gig, it was largely answered with silence and a bit of booing. It's not like the whole audience was hissing and screaming about it.

The part that irks me the most is that this blurb goes on to say, "It is said that Käärijä's satisfaction with the audience's response was more than evident," which really reads like he was being a smug dick about it.

Now, as a fan, I know I'm biased, but from what I've seen in clips, he barely reacted and moved on. So, personally, I didn't interpret it as smug satisfaction. I also try to take the approach of ignorance over malice, as we can't really fathom what people are thinking and feeling all the time.

He's well aware of the soreness surrounding Loreen's victory and has spoken out against people being nasty about it. Am I too deep in the sauce to think that maybe he was curious as to what people outside of Finland may have thought about the matter? I mean, he didn't push it after the audience response.

I know that this is coming from a gossip site, and it shouldn't hold any sway, especially as it goes on to say that the Käärijä doll he received was indeed a voodoo doll (which I'm quite certain was a joke), but I just don't like the hate that it's attempting to perpetuate.

Gonna go ahead and recommend saving your sanity and not reading the comments. There is lots of unnecessary meanness and hypocrisy in there. Oh boy. I just can't believe people make a living off of this kind of trash.

I'm also not gonna link the article directly in this post because I don't wanna give them any more traffic and reward them for this garbage. You can find it pretty easily on Google, anyway.

#käärijä #kaarija #jere pöyhönen #rant over #gossip sucks

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phanfictioncatalogue · 1 month

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AU - Canon Divergence (2) Masterlist

part one

a night to remember (ao3) - calvinahobbes

Summary: Why did he think going anywhere alone would be a good idea? And to an honest to god queer prom for sad grown-ups who missed out the first time around because they were too busy being closeted.

Bittersweet (ao3) - heylazeh

Summary: “Do you believe that there's another world at the other side of the mirror where everyone is opposite?”

“No.”

“Watch out"

dan and philly's wet moments (ao3) - heartsopenminds

Summary: Phil loathes hiring people to come and fix stuff around the house - he never imagined that watching someone power washing a patio could be so much fun though.

dan is not a pianist (ao3) - Marranje

Summary: How Phil went from watching the pianist and youtuber Dan from afar to being by his side through the most important moments of their lives.

Disturb the Universe (ao3) - iihappydaysii

Summary: Dan and Phil are a successful YouTube duo, best friends and next door neighbors. Phil's married with two kids and Dan's long term boyfriend is like the queen's cousin or something. Their lives are fine--perfectly acceptable--but when two unrelated emergencies land Dan and Phil living together for the first time since 2012, they're forced to examine the choices they've made and confront the feelings they've kept quiet for nearly a decade.

Drips Through (ao3) - artbabe

Summary: Dan goes outside to smoke at a party. Phil joins him.

drop your heart I'll save it for you (ao3) - Anonymous

Summary: Tenderness isn't part of the deal, nor are soft words, or feelings, or kisses that don't lead to fucking. It's not what Dan asked for, and it's certainly not why someone would choose to fuck their friend slash flatmate slash colleague who they absolutely don’t have any feelings for.

Equilibrium (ao3) - phan_anon

Summary: It's 2016, and Omega!Dan doesn't need an Alpha to be happy, thank you very much. He's quite content living with best friend, flat mate, business partner, co-author, ex-boyfriend, and occasional lover, Beta!Phil. Quite content, that is, until an unplanned pregnancy disturbs the comfortable equilibrium they've established over the years...

from up here you can't beat the view (just watch me now) (ao3) - kishere, maybeformepersonally

Summary: It's 2009 and Dan finds Phil on the internet when a well-meaning mate of his recommends him to a certain site she likes. Dan quickly becomes a fan: watching Phil's videos religiously and interacting with him on his socials. And, soon enough, Phil starts noticing him.

A familiar enough story on the surface but here's the catch: Phil has never been involved with YouTube.

Phil is a camboy.

Guilty Pleasure (ao3) - ThoughtaThought

Summary: Dan and Phil meet at a BDSM club and decide to play. Dan is a rigger and a masochist. Phil is a sadist and a rope bunny. It’s perfect.

hard launch at last (ao3) - calvinahobbes

Summary: “Maybe the exact right moment won’t ever present itself.” Dan can feel himself hurtling towards some cosmic revelation as they stand here on a sandy beach in Portugal, the ocean bringing out the blue in Phil’s eyes.

I try to picture me without you but I can't (ao3) - Anonymous

Summary: After Dan's tragic death, Phil starts having a bunch of strange dreams where he is still alive. But are they really just dreams?

Or: Phil's s̶o̶u̶l̶ consciousness can't cope with Dan's death, so he starts hopping between different universes to look for him.

more than convenient (ao3) - baroquen

Summary: Based on a Tumblr post.

In which Dan keeps seeing Phil as the closest profile on Grindr and finally says "fuck it."

(Except it's very sappy)

nylon is for delicate work (ao3) - Anonymous

Summary: A forensic linguist meets a lawyer in Rawtenstall.

re: the apple store guy...IT ALL WORKED OUT! (ao3) - strange_highs_and_strange_lowss

Summary: Based on a craiglist "best of" posting. Apple Store customers Dan and Phil frequent the "missed communications" page. The world's most coincidental first date follows.

rocks wishing to be clouds (ao3) - catboyhowell (bloodyscarab) (ao3) - pinkseason

Summary: i'm a loose bolt of a complete machine. what a match, i'm half-doomed, and you're semi-sweet. - a story about kidnapper voicemails, habitual insecurity, and conversations within conversations.

Tried to do headstands for you (every time I fell on you) (ao3) - popsongnation

Summary: “I’m not always this clumsy and accident prone, I swear,” Dan says, and maybe he’s lying, but Phil doesn’t have to know that. How hard can it be not to injure yourself at a coffee shop? He just needs to remember which way the doors open, and buy new shoes. He’ll be fine.

Or: coffee shop/uni AU in which Dan keeps injuring himself in increasingly ridiculous ways, Phil regularly has to patch him up, and it’s Christmas time.

Two Man Team (ao3) - Nefertiti1052 (Succubusphan)

Summary: This is the story of two struggling friends who after many trials and tribulations find their way back to each other and build the life they've always dreamed of.

Or how Phil changed his life by talking to random strangers on the internet.

#phanfictioncatalogue #phanfiction #phanfic #phan #masterlists #au #canondivergence #canondivergence masterlist

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godbirdart · 1 year

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first off, i just want to say that i love your art, you are a huge inspiration to me and i love how expressive your characters are! would you have any tips for someone trying to grow a following from their art? specifically within the furry community ideally. im just not sure where to start

i hope youre having a great day!

thank you so much!!

okay i gotta preface this with: i have been doing commissions for over a decade. everything i say here i've been doing since roughly 2014, but my career as an artist didn't really Take Off and become reliable until 2019. success isn't immediate. some artists will grow faster or slower than others, not every tactic is going to apply / work for every artist; and that's okay. just keep pushing yourself and adapting and figuring out what works for You!

i’m putting this under a readmore as it got a bit long. every time someone asks me for advice on professional Anything i always write up a five page essay despite trying to bulletpoint it oof

post on multiple platforms and keep them all updated. i’m putting this one in bold because it is possibly the Most Important thing. we’re all watching twitter sinking over there, and many of my mutuals there were floundering because they hadn’t established themselves on any other social media site. i strongly recommend three or four socials minimum. my main four sites are tumblr, deviantart, twitter and toyhouse. furaffinity is also good. inkblot and artfol are new and i use them frequently as well. if you don’t like posting manually to every site each and every time you post art, Postybirb exists and is what i use to crosspost all my art to most of my socials at once.

avoid venting a lot on main. we all have frustrating days where our art isn’t getting the recognition we hoped, or we’re feeling petty about a controversial topic or the latest drama. it happens! it’s okay! however, many people just don’t like seeing dozens of negative posts on their feed. most people will sympathize, but if your negative vents are constantly clogging their dashboard they’re not gonna stick around.

shamelessly self promote yourself. reblog your own art. retweet it again. repost it. mention your other socials. we live in a world of timezones! when you post art, only a fraction of your audience is going to see it. i recommend reblogging / retweeting one to four individual pieces periodically over the course of a day and change it up each day. you can also repost your own work into photosets and title it “recent commissions” or the something like that.

don’t hide your linktrees and carrds. seriously! the amount of times on twitter i went to try and follow someone on another platform only to find they had no carrd or linktree link,, it is infuriating. put your socials link in your bio or pinned or SOMEWHERE readily at the top of your profile that’s easy to spot.

if you’re offering commissions, make a telegram channel or discord server for your announcements / openings.

post regularly. this one is a lot harder for artists that don’t make a lot of content, but posting even a status update once or twice a day can go a long way - especially if you’re on twitter with that platform’s hideous algorithm. alternatively as i said earlier, just retweet/reblog your work a few times a day and you should be good.

art trends are cool and fun and an easy way to get your work seen by others. see a “draw your sona in this outfit” meme? go, have fun with it. this one’s a bit tricky as timing is everything when it comes to ~trending~ content, so try and draw quick. that said, it’s never outdated to drawover reaction memes with your fursona.

try not to clog your socials with memes and shitposty images. this one is directed at twitter specifically. with twitter moments now gone, your media tab is the last way for people to hope to find your work organically on your profile without having to use the twitter search. they can’t get invested in your work if they can’t find it!

it’s okay to change course if you’re not vibing with where you’re headed. if you want to move onto a new aesthetic - that’s fine! you may lose some followers if they don’t click with your new vibe, but you’ll inevitably gain some new ones.

avoid frequent name changes. so many of the artists i follow have changed their brands / urls over the years that i don’t recognize them anymore.

tag your work properly. on tumblr, the first five tags on the original post are the tags your work will pop up in in the search feature. make those first five tags the Most important ones; example: #furry, #anthro, #art #fursona etc. twitter’s algo seems flip-flop if it likes tags or hates them. if you see a tag trending, repost your art in a photoset with the hashtag in the post [example: if #pokemon is trending, repost some of your pokemon fanart with the hashtag in the post body]. if the tag isn’t trending,,, i’ll be honest it’s a gamble if twitter likes your post or not at that point. i have no advice for that hell algorithm.

hosting raffles or doing a mini art request event [example: “leave a ref and i might draw your oc”] is good for traction while simultaneously giving back to the community + your audience a little!

try and reply to / like comments on your work. it’s not required per se, but it’s good to express gratitude.

engage with other members of the community. comment on other peoples work. like it. retweet it. follow other people. obviously don’t be disingenuous about it, but this is what the professionals call ~networking~

don’t compare yourself to others. this one is one you have got to keep in mind constantly. you’re going to find 17 year olds with huge followings and 30 year olds that are doing professional industry work whose level feels alien and almost out of reach. if you’re not doing as well, don’t let yourself get discouraged. we all gotta start somewhere!

related to the above point: be nice to your followers. venting on main about not having the same audience volume as others can come off as a huge middle finger to the audience you already have.

gaining a following takes time. unless you get a really lucky break, it’s going to take a lot of work and self promotion to build up your brand.

slap your name on everything. i mean it. any art you do - sign it. watermark it. people can and will share art in telegram channels and discord servers, and if the art interests someone they can easily source it back to you if your name is on it.

you can buy adspace. if you’re catering to a furry audience specifically, you can buy adspace on furaffinity pretty easily. inkblot i believe also offers adspace for artists though i haven’t looked too deep into it. this is really a “if you’re okay burning money” situation, as the huge chunkk of internet users have adblockers now and it’s a gamble if people will see or even click on your ad.

just have fun and do your own thing. you can hop on trends and draw art that caters to your audience’s tastes, but don’t forget to draw what YOU want and what YOU’RE about. Draw what makes YOU happy.

hope these help!! ;w;

#long post

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skinks · 10 months

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how do you keep finding these incredibly niche and incredibly awesome aesthetics

omg WELL, I will try to be concise here!!

basically it started because I got really into vaporwave relatively early in its existence, I think I discovered it in around 2013. Now, something about there being an entire online named Artistic Movement with clear design principles was extremely cool to me, and 2013 is also the earliest I can find a use of the term “junglepunk” on my blog, because this is the term I was using as a personal placeholder for the type of stuff that I have since discovered is being called utopian scholastic. I figured, if there wasn’t a “vaporwave” equivalent for the art/media niche I remembered so vividly, I would just call it something of my own.

So, I came to this newer discovery because in the decade since getting into vaporwave I’ve followed just… so many aesthetic blogs. One of my absolute favourites is @newwavearch90 but I love going on an adventure down various tumblr rabbit holes of related blogs and posts. I also watch a lot of design history videos on youtube, as well as having an interest in lost media, old web stuff, analog horror ARGs, stuff like that. For example, this guy’s video about clip art is very interesting:

youtube

And so, a few months ago youtube recommended me THIS video and as soon as I saw the thumbnail I was like oh holy shit, I know exactly what style of design this is talking about. Anyone who used Windows XP would recognise this:

youtube

And once again, like the vaporwave discovery, the realisation that there are ongoing efforts being made to classify design movements of which I have vivid living memory was like… mindblowing to me. For some reason, lol. My appreciation for vaporwave has always been through a reflective filter of the media produced during that time, my response to it is really my response to the media, as opposed to having any real emotional connection to the actual time period and places the media is portraying.

And so after discovering Frutiger Aero I googled it, and came across the CARI (Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute) site. They work to catalogue and index this exact stuff, the aesthetics and reasoning behind all these different movements. It’s also co-founded by the same guy who runs @newwavearch90. Finding the actual names of the aesthetics I have the most emotional connection/nostalgia for has been less of a stroke of luck, but more because I’ve been snooping around the types of blogs and websites where I just happened to see certain posts tagged either Global Village Coffeehouse or Utopian Scholastic, then the giant lightbulb goes off. The relief of putting a name to a sound, an image, a feeling that was so important and exciting and comforting to you in the past, that has shaped so much of your taste and interests in the years since.

I think the base concept of “aesthetics” in general has gotten a bad rap in recent years. I know it can be grating to see teenagers try to categorise their whole identities into the easily consumed “aesthetic”, but we can’t ignore how much ageism and specifically misogyny is wrapped up in that assessment. Like, yes, where once there were just preps and goths it can be depressing to see teenagers (especially teen girls) ask themselves whether they are “old money east coast quiet luxury aesthetic girlies” or “mallpunk y2k whimsigoth aesthetic girlies” - but the problem isn’t in teens trying to find their identity, it’s that social media pushes the search for identity specifically through consumerism.

Teens liking aesthetics on tiktok just isn’t my concern. I’m far more interested in how art and design aesthetics relate to consumerism, to technological advances, to socio-political cultural context, to societal values. Why did these aesthetics arise at the time they did, and why were they popular, why did they fall out of the zeitgeist etc.

So yeah, to be not at all concise in any way; it’s because this stuff fascinates me and I love researching it 🥳

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keyboard-mang0 · 2 years

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Ok, I don't know where this idea came from, but I want it out of my head so now I'm making it everyone else's problem. Yall know the anime Zombieland Saga? To give a brief summary it is about an idol group made up entirely of the undead, specifically they are zombies, who disguise themselves as human in order to perform music. Its an amazing show and I truly cannot recommend it more highly, but that isn't the point right now!

What the point is is what if ya did something similar with a SAGAU? Could go either way of cult or imposter, but either is still funny.

• You have been living pretty comfortably in Mondstadt for some time, brought in by the allure of all that is entailed by the name "City of Freedom"

• The city already being home to one mysterious bard you decided on a differing route, the Adventure's Guild, to keep the mora coming in.

• While perhaps they found it odd how staunchly you refused to have anyone accompany you EVER, they couldn't argue that you clearly knew what you were doing since you would always get the job done and without a scratch on you!

• It was happenstance that started the decline, you were out doing your thing when I Mitachurl managed the blind-side you. Assuming you were alone you only groaned in annoyance as a massive axe neatly cleaved your head off of your shoulders.

• It wasn't until the shrill scream of Amber watching the incident that you realized you've been caught. So naturally, you let your body flop down as if you had died, waited for Amber to focus on the Hilichurls, and slowly crawled your way towards where your head landed and made your escape.

• Later sitting at Good Hunter with fresh stitches and a new layer of makeup to cover it, you were just enjoying your meal when Amber came stumbling back through the gates, looking more then just mildly traumatized. And then you made eye contact with eachother.

• Again she shrieked at the site of you, because she KNOWS she saw you get decapitated, and yet here you sit perfectly unharmed. This time she fients before she can properly convey that you are the reason why.

• Hiding away in your home you debate whether or not to consider the jig as up, and just start packing now. In that debate you praised any Archon that could hear you that when there came knocking on your door, you still had your make-up on.

• To say finding Eula glaring at you from beyond your door was frightening would be an understatement.

• You all but got dragged to the Knights of Favonius headquarters for questioning. Bwing met at the door with Kaeya's smirk, a visibly exhausted Jean, a barely conscious Lisa, and of course a terrified looking Amber.

• Apparently Amber had reported that you had died a grizzly death at the hands of Hilichurls, and yet there are dozens of accounts that you were perfectly fine less then an hour after Amber's reported time of death.

• You gave a silent apology to Amber as you pushed that it would be impossible for you to be able to sit here and answer these questions if you were dead. A point that they had no argument against.

• And so, a couple hours of questions and rewriting a report, and they let you go, but now a new problem arises, its started raining.

• In your tired daze, you didn't notice, not as your hair got soaked, and makeup began to drip and peel off of your skin.

• It was Lisa's alarmed noise that got your attention, and when you whirled around to look at her, the damage was done.

• The gathered knights watched in varying degrees of horror as what had appeared to be your skin suddenly flung off of your features in a goo-y mass. Leaving behind the palid grey-blue and green of your dead flesh.

• Amber even through her fear immediately saw the thick and messy sutchers that now held your head in place. As well as many other tracks of stitching that you've had to use in order to keep yourself in as few pieces as possible.

• Seconds are all you have to turn and run, that moment of hesitation upon seeing your true colors, literally, and the plethora of evidence that point to injures that by every account should have been fatal.

• A mad dash home, bar the door, lock the windows, and take these few precious seconds to try and pack as much as you can physically carry for your escape.

• In your panic you foolishly didn't listen that closely to what was happening outside of the rain. And so as you slung your heavy pack over your shoulder and ran out your door, you did so straight into the Acting Grandmaster's sword.

• And well... That's unfortunate.

• Jean had the closest view as you stared down at her sword buried in your chest, a drawn out quiet moment of the both of you staring at the impalment. And before she has the chance to pull it back out again, you've raised your hands up in exasperation, cause just COME ON, AS IF YOU DIDN'T ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS!

• The shock of the situation was the main thing that stopped any of the multiple Knights and vision-barers from going near you as you began to pace back and forth in front of your house, Jean's sword still neatly secured inside your chest, as you shout into the rain about how you couldn't get a break anymore, how today has just been fiasco after fiasco.

• And by the end they all just had to wonder. What do you even DO with a person that can shrug off a beheading and treats being impaled as nothing more then an annoyance?

• And so you were permitted to stay in Mondstadt, under the circumstances that you have not been anything less then helpful since you arrived, and as long as you are careful about your disguise. The report of your death and the little show of your undead annoyance would be swept under the rug.

• Ahh, but if only there was a way to subtly silence that damned Bard that won't shut up about how he witnessed a Mondstadt citizen die a dozen deaths and yet still continues to live amongst them.

Ok, this was a stupid idea, poorly written on my phone in a rush to just write it down, thus the weird layout. But I hope yall enjoyed it anyway! I've not written in the headcannons format before, so this has certainly been interesting.

#genshin x reader #genshin impact #genshin sagau #zombie au #all mondstadt character's referenced

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astriiformes · 1 year

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@squidaresquishy replied to your post: My wool for Andreas got here today and it's so

where do u buy actual nice quality historically appropriate fibers (wool, linen)??? all i can find on the obvious sites like joann's or craft stores are like… weird polyester faux-flannel or cotton

So I have a fancier answer, a slightly less-fancy answer, and significantly less-fancy answer, both because it's good to spread your net wide regardless and also because as a cosplayer/costume-maker without much money, I've found that sometimes you have to get creative.

I bought my wool for my Andreas costume from Pendleton Woolen Mill because a friend who lives near them and is working on the same costume tipped me off to a clearance sale they were having. They're an example of a nice, high-quality seller that I usually couldn't afford to buy from where timing made all the difference (and I will absolutely be watching their site for sales in the future). Other stores I've heard friends recommend that sell natural fabrics, some of them specifically catered to historical costuming, include Burnley & Trowbridge and Silk Baron, and the other day while doing research for Andreas, I was poking around on the Historical Costuming subreddit and came across this list, which looks solid. On the whole I don't have a ton of recommendations though, since I rarely have the money to buy fabrics from more specialty retailers.

(Oh, and it's not fabric, but if you're ever looking for leather, Tandy Leather is another great place to get historical costume materials)

The slightly-less fancy answer is that I buy most of my cosplay fabrics, historical costuming ones included, from a local fabric outlet, which is not something every city has but has been an absolute treasure trove for me. They sell everything at 50% off and have some very weird finds (like the metallic linen I used for my Golden Guard tunic), but it's also been a good place to look for natural fabrics. I found nice silk and wool there for my sister's Cassandra de Rolo costume, and it's where I'm hoping I'll find another wool for Andreas' jacket. Even if your city doesn't have a fabric outlet, it may have local, non-chain fabric stores that are worth investigating (though the affordability may vary). I found out about the place near me through other cosplay friends, so asking around in local crafting and cosplay communities may lead you somewhere. If you're looking for historical fabrics specifically, I'd consider bothering the local SCA chapter about local recommendations!

Last though -- nice fabrics can be found in weird places. As a poor cosplayer who is usually trying to figure out the best way to hit the "nice materials" and "affordability" sweet spot, I've made a habit of checking out local thrift stores and yard sales for fabric whenever I can. Sometimes that looks like nabbing a $2 sheet to sew a cloak mock-up out of, but if you're persistent you can sometimes make pretty incredible finds. A few months ago I found a plain white linen curtain set that I nabbed knowing I would want for a costume at some point, and sure enough now my current plan is to use it for Andreas' shirt. It cost me maybe $8, which is insane for that amount of linen -- but not for thrift store curtains. The biggest challenge with this method is knowing what you've found. In that case I lucked out and the curtain tag was still attached, telling me they were a 100% linen blend, but sometimes you have to get more creative. We're big fans of the "If something looks and feels suspiciously like wool or linen, buy it, bring it home, and set a small piece of it on fire to test it" method in my household (natural fibers burn, manufactured ones melt; it's a legit test and you can read up on it!) but that does require a certain familiarity with wool/linen/etc to be able to pick out likely culprits. If you can make it work though, this is absolutely the cheapest way to get natural fabrics, and I've found it to be very worth my time.

I hope some of that helps! In general a "leave no stone unturned" method where you nab fabrics from a few different places works well, as does being willing to employ a little creativity. Best of luck with your own projects!

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chibi-sunrise · 1 year

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Tales of Luminaria Information/Resource Collection

When people want to know more about a piece of media that’s gone offline, they usually go to a wiki or a TV Tropes page because those places usually have all the information available.

But information on Tales of Luminaria is pretty scattered everywhere on different social media sites. A lot of fans were rushing to take screenshots and record what they could of the game before it shut down, after all. And because the information is scattered, it can be pretty difficult for people who have never played Tales of Luminaria to actually learn more about the game and its finer details.

So I made this post. I wanted to collect all the links to different places that have information on Luminaria in one place. It might end up helpful for Luminaria fans who are searching for really specific, miscellaneous things too!

Personally, I recommend finding a character you’re interested in first, and then checking out all the character episodes they appear in!

*If you want to understand the full story (that the devs released) of Luminaria, then you’re gonna have to watch every character episode they released eventually, but that’s roughly...38 hours of story content? And that’s a low estimate too! Not everyone has that kinda time, so that’s why I’d suggest finding a character you’re interested in first. Then you go wherever that interest leads you, at whatever pace you like

(”But what if I’m not interested in any of these characters?” Then I have a different recommendation for you!)

Jerle Federation

Leo Fourcade

Celia Arvier

Michelle Bouquet

Lisette Regnier

Lucien Dufaure

Maxime Hasselmans

Vanessa Morax

Yelsy Tw’elteu Huainaz’jin

Gildllan Empire

August Wallenstein

Alexandra von Sonne

Bastien Forge

Laplace

Gaspard Herbet

Hugo Simon

Amelie Laurence

Falk

Adventurers

Edouard Rouquier

Lydie Delacroix

Ana-Maria Marschner

Charles

Raoul

(”Okay, so I’ve looked at all the characters now, but I’m still not interested in any of them...” Check out this post for a different recommendation, then!)

After you’ve checked out the character episodes you were interested in, you’ll probably still have some questions about the story/setting/world. You can check out the game’s Terminology section and each character’s Chronology Tab to get a better understanding of the timeline, when certain events take place, and some details on the world these characters live in.

You can also check out Tales of Luminaria’s Two Part ONA! I made a post on where you can watch it, and I’ve included various comments from the anime directors, animation studio, writing team, etc.

Now, as I’ve mentioned before, information on Tales of Luminaria is scattered. You won’t find everything you’re looking for on one wiki/TV Tropes page, and you won’t find everything you’re looking for on one social media site either (but that’s true for every piece of media, isn’t it?)

Tumblr has the least amount of information on this game. To be fair, tumblr has always been less “information collection/archival” and more “fandom/fanworks/meta/shipping,” and that’s what people like about tumblr. Fanworks are important too, after all; they have the ability to move people.

Reddit strikes me more as a “information collection” kinda place. And their information collection is usually organized the best too. That being said, it’s very EN fandom-oriented, and most of Luminaria’s important news is in JP... And said news’ll probably all be in JP from now on as well.

Youtube is the only place you can watch character episodes, of course. And different channels offer different ways to watch them. There’s also some interesting miscellaneous compilations you can find too. Searching for it’s a nightmare, though, so that’s why I made a post.

Twitter is massive. Twitter easily has the most information on Luminaria out of all social media sites, and you’ll get even more information out of it if you understand some JP. Searching through twitter is an awful, horrible experience, though, so I had to make a post. Twitter users also tend to lock their accounts and delete their tweets, though, and that’s just how twitter is, so sometimes you just lose bits of information you wanted to check. Oh well!

I’ve also made a post on comments from different staff members and members of the game’s development team.

And that’s all I’ve got for now! But who knows what the future will have for us?

#tales of luminaria #luminaria #tales of #tales series #tales of series

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hime-memes · 1 year

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• Not-Your-Mother’s™ Character Building Questions •

- Hime’s character building questions with a twist ! -

** If this goes well - I may make a part 2 ! **

As always: Feel free to change anything within these that you see fit to make it work for your muse & the receiver’s muse !

Recommended For: Adult muses / plots / timelines. ** ( Could also work really well for those that employ video responses for their ask answers ! There are multiple parts to some questions and it has potential to open the way for more in-depth RPs and character development ! ) **

Trigger Warnings For: alcohol / drug references, NSFW-ish innuendo, swearing, death mentions, violence.

1 | Does your character have a favorite swear word ? If so, what is it & why is it their favorite ? 2 | If your character could fight any muppet, which would it be ? ( Bonus: At what location ? ) 3 | Is someone else going to have to clear their browser history if they meet an untimely end ? What message would they give that person ? 4 | What cartoon / fictional character was their sexual awakening ? Looking back on it, how do they feel about that choice now ? 5 | What fills them with unbridled rage & how often do they encounter this thing ? 6 | If they could switch bodies with ( 1 ) animal for the day, what would it be and why ? 7 | What’s their favorite youtube viral video & how did they find it ? 8 | Which social media site do they use and what do they think is the worst part(s) of it ? 9 | Picture it: your character wakes up in a booth, at a crappy diner, across from a ( clearly ) dead body with ‘ What’s new pussy cat ? ‘ playing on a loop. What’s their first guess as to what happened and what is their next move ? 10 | What clickbait title would your character use to describe themselves ? 11 | What’s their favorite saying ... and why ? Does this have an impact on how they live their life or is it a silly thing they just like to say ? 12 | What targeted ad shirt would they un-ironically own ? 13 | If they could cause whatever chaos they wanted -- Where would they start and would they escalate their antics quickly ? 14 | Which anime would consume their lives as a teen and why ? 15 | What’s their favorite insult to use and when / where did they learn it ? 16 | What family tradition(s) have they modified, or simply grown to ignore ? Is there a reason they’ve done so ? 17 | If their personality was an alcoholic beverage ... what would it be and how do they think others will interpret this information ? 18 | What would their social media handle(s) be and what significance do they have for your character ? 19 | How many demonic chihuahua - toddler hybrids could your character reasonably fight before they were overwhelmed and overpowered ? Did they walk into this scenario with a plan in place, or are they winging it as they go ? 20 | What’s the worst bootleg movie they would become invested in by accident ? 21 | How do they insult the average reddit / tumblr user ? ( We all know they deserve it. ) 22 | What does cilantro taste like to your muse ? Delicious herb -- or -- corner store bathroom hand soap ? Do they eat it anyway ? 23 | What’s the craziest thing your character has done for love ? Did it pan out ... or did it start their villain origin story ? 24 | What’s the hot button issue that they use to rile the people around them up so they can just watch the chaos and stupidity unfold ? 25 | What’s your character’s snide comeback to the family member that constantly asks them if they’re dating now, thinking about having kids, getting married, etc. ? 26 | What’s your character’s reaction to brand™ twitter ? 27 | What big chain store would they single handedly and with no remorse put out of business if possible & why ? Would their plan to do so be successful - or just make stocks in the company rise from the attention ? 28 | How does your character feel about adult Minecraft & Roblox youtubers ? Is their criticism valid ? 29 | What 3 AM infomercial can they recite verbatim ? Can they do it right now ? 30 | What modern slang word do they detest above all others ? Can they tell us why or when the first realized they hated it ? 31 | What fanfiction would your character write & for what fandom ? What’s the most interesting tag they’ve given / would give a fic ? 32 | What is your character’s favorite meme and in what contexts do they use it ? Has it ever caused a misunderstanding or fight ? 33 | Oh no ! Your character just sent a late drunk text ... who was it to, what was it about & what did they say ? ( Bonus: Tell us the response they got ! ) 34 | What is your character’s favorite vine™ or tiktok™ ? Can you quote it for us ? ( If applicable ! ) 35 | What’s your character’s least favorite color & who’s wardrobe would they change to nothing but that color just to add an extra reason to hate them ? 36 | Your character is told to make one dish / meal for someone they like -- What do they choose that will make their crush fall in love with them instantly ? 37 | Can your character describe what kind of phone they have, their favorite apps, the person they contact the most, and what their favorite phone case / accessory is ? 38 | If your muse could be isekaied into the another dimension/time, where would they choose to go & would they survive the trip ? Would they bring anyone with them ? How do they think their companion would react ? 39 | Tell us, is your character creative ? If so, in what way do they stand a cut above the rest ? Are they aware of this ? 40 | Give us the style run down for your character ! What sorts of items do they go for when creating their signature style ? Do other people try to replicate this / even if they did, would the look have the same impact ? What are their influences when dressing themselves ? 41 | Forget love interests; when your character saw their nemesis did they know immediately that they were the one, or did they have to antagonize one another first ? What kind of relationship do your character and their nemesis have ? Do they foresee it changing in the future ? If so, how ? 42 | What’s the most expensive gift your character has received & how do they feel about it ? 43 | What lyrics speak to your character’s soul and why ? Do they have any musical selections that would surprise the people that know them ? If so, what might they be ? 44 | What does it take for your character to stand up for someone else ? Are they a reluctant protector -- or bold badass ? Who’s behalf do they step in for most often ? Does teh other person seem okay with this or are they usually annoyed ? How does your character feel about that reaction ? 45 | Can your character name a movie and a book that has fundamentally changed them in one way or anther ? Can they elaborate on why ? When did they first encounter this media and why has it stuck with them for so long ? Do they often watch/read these ? 46 | After some snooping, someone’s found your character’s dating profile: what’s the most shocking thing they find out about your character ? How accurate is your character’s dating profile ? Can you tell us what their bio says ? Which dating site do they frequent ? Have they successfully met someone using it ? 47 | What smells / flavors do your character associate with themselves ? Would this be accurate if they asked other people ? Why do they feel those scents and flavors are representative of them ? 48 | Would your character rather fight a baboon once a month, or fight a chicken every time they needed to get in a vehicle to go somewhere ? 49 | What’s the most pained your character has ever been ? Was it physical, emotional, or mentally ? Is it something they’d be willing to discuss ? If so - how have they come to terms with it ? 50 | Your character has to write a haiku that describes their dominant emotion: tell us what it says and see if we can guess the emotion it’s describing !

#original rp meme #rp meme #character buillding meme

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jaythelay · 6 months

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Honestly the idea of a union for youtube is stupid but the idea of forming a union against youtube makes so much more sense.

"Oh, you're going to take a fellow content creator's video down because it said fuck?"

"Go ahead, do it to us all, watch that revenue drop. We recommended adblock, and told them stories of how you fucked us over too, fuck you donate to our patreon."

Instead everyone just kinda...hates each other. Like of course now more than ever people on youtube are friendlier and more willing to mention each other, (hey anyone remember when it was bizarrely taboo for a channel to mention another channel?) but it's simply bizarre that the top brass of creation haven't decided to band together in instances where youtube screws a fellow creator, especially smaller creators.

Like, youtube doesn't need to have a union, I just think the creators need to unionize on their own terms and retaliate to youtube's bullshit. If it's really you're job, then act like it. Act like this is how you get to live in your house everyday fed and healthy.

Instead they all treat it like YT is this be all end all and nothing can be done. Fact is, ya'll are their revenue stream, *fuck with them* already. Shit.

You know how much Google would shit if they took someone's channel down with their inherently awful automated system and the next day 80% of the top 200 creator's posted a video talking about how YT has fucked them and how you can avoid giving them any money by using adblock, and instead of paying for their laughably egotistically overpriced premium, to support their patreon instead? That's gonna be a massive fucking meme they CANNOT reverse other than to say sorry and undo and wait for the damage to undo. Put the fear of God and the fucking User in their Corporate Ass.

Of course it can't be that kneejerk, it needs time and patience because yes it's a massive fuckin' Alexandria library or whatever, but if talks fall through and they don't hold up their end, pull that shit.

What're they gonna do, kick that amount of revenue away? Nah. Ya'll just gotta draw the fuckin' line in the sand, because when they do end up banning adblock, ya'll're fucked. *fucked fucked* at that point you lose ALL power. You have Absolutely Nothing to defend yourselves with. Whatever YouTube decides, will be effectively permanent and unchangeable, you remember the original adpocalypse? Imagine if they didn't need to change anything even slightly.

Imagine this, right now, you can say "get adblock to fuck YT over and pay for our patreon instead of Premium" in the future, you'll only be able to say "boycott YT Premium!" and it never, ever, works.

And Yes, Google is trying to ban Adblock by forcing all websites to only use Chromium, their shitty browser, this specifically fucks FireFox, the browser all of you Should be using, because Google is a genuinely Evil Company. I say, let them pull that Lawsuit of a trigger Now when we have our best chance of any progressive government, than later when shit's uncertain either way. Let's really let this shit be settled that Google cannot force a monopoly on The INTERNET.

Nobody weaponizes adblock and they really really should. Imagine really having the ability to say "I will use your site because you forced a monopoly, but I will not support it in any way directly." Like where the hell are you going to find any more specific information on tech support than Reddit or YT?

It just frustrates the fuck out of me that anyone would call a creator a "YouTuber" because that means in some way YT has ever fucking mattered. God no. They're the most irrelevant part of their own website at this point because nobody likes them. Everyone, has been burned by YT by now or knows of Several Creator's bafflingly fucked over by them as well.

This is the website where if you knew you were going to be copyrightten unfairly, you'd Purposefully get Copyrightten at least Thrice so Nobody gets Paid. As it was, you'd have the revenue stolen by literally anyone/whoever put the claim in because YT just didn't give a shit where your paycheck went, and that money was just gone permanently, the best you could do was Attempt Strong Emphasis on ATTEMPT, to counter the claim, and if you were successful, now whatever revenue generated is yours, again though, not anything before the claim, that's stolen!

But the very fact these same creators call themselves "YouTubers" like, you gotta admit, it's a bit sad, pathetic, frustrating, and just reinforces the notion that, heeeeey, you know, maybe you guys Do Need AN Union??? Treat it like a Job? Not a Joke?

WallstreetJournal did a hitpiece on all of you guys and most of you idiots fell for it...Like...how badly fractured can such a shithole be. It's hard to feel bad for anyone of them like, ya'll could've...tried? In the past. Like. Hundred times now, Guaranteed, Hundred Times Now, Tried.

I guess I'm blaming ancestor's who were but babies, but now? Now's the time to talk, we're way, way past the teenager phase, we're in young adult phase, let's make sure this ship don't sink because this shit's a literal infinite library Google should not even remotely have sole control over if I'm being honest. It outgrew them. They need us, not the other way around. We don't even need competition if we just become their competition.

I dunno how it'd be done. That's why I'm just kinda...throwing it out there, drunkenly. I don't think it could be a "legal union" or whatever, just a "we all agree to have each other's backs and actually organize something in the event YT pulls some shit."

As is ya'll act like it's a Minecraft Server where you each get your own little worlds. If you gotta eat, and YT fucks you, whatcha gonna do? Hope to God twitter works? Oh shit that's gone to hell, so, hope one of your big YT friends can contact some fucking hidden contact FBI shit as it's always portrayed? Oh don't have neither? Well buddy, looks like onlyfans for you!

anyways we need to break up Google and YouTube needs to become a government public library anyone can upload anything to and the internet needs it's own constitution that protects itself as it's own country as it god damn is god BLESS it.

#YouTube #YouTube Union #Ramble and scramble #Seriously tho stop calling creator's “YouTubers”#they're creators #online content creators #content creators #video makers #video creators #editors #writers #song artists #animators #god please #anything but give YT any fuckin undeserved credit #They CHOSE not to be for us #they removed “broadcast yourself” and Google removed “Don't be Evil” and went on to be the most evil company on the god damn #Like please at some point can ANYONE just stand up to them and not go #'oh google stadia is good #you just no wanna gimnet it a shoot #It's just comical #you didn't even need to look at their past works to know that specific product was gonna flop #guaranteed not everyone got the refunds and such either #like understand they still fucked people over regardless and your anecdotes truly serve to obscure the reality of this whole company #imagine this too #Google used to have Google Videos and they still couldn't compete with the Original YouTube #so instead bought it #and made it worse every update with seldom few crumbs of decency here and there scattered between 2 decades #I'm drunk as shit fuck off #sssniperwolf

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poisonnxkki · 2 years

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Graveyards & Building A Relationship With Spirits✨

🖤Disclaimer: this post is UPG and explains my methods. Every relationship is unique and methods should be personalized to best reflect the practitioner & spirit they are working with.

Why I'm Beginning This Process (Again):

This post is really bittersweet for me because even though I'm about to embark on a new chapter in my practice, I'm leaving behind an old one. I recently moved back home and so I had to say goodbye to the spirits from the graveyard that I had previously been working with. I spent almost 2 years giving offerings, cleaning graves and developing a relationships there. Due to this move, I had to find a new local graveyard that I could work in. Luckily there are a couple very large cemeteries not far from where I live (and when I say large, I mean very, very large). One cemetery is fairly new and the other, although further away, is actually almost as old as the town itself. I have yet to decide which one I'll be frequenting most or if I want to build a relationship with both but since I've done this process a couple times now, I figured I would share what I do.

This will be my third time moving to a new graveyard. My first time working in a graveyard I was really inexperienced and although I'm sure the spirits were aware of that, I also did not do enough research or understand what I was doing. I stopped going to that grave sites for multiple reasons, but the largest one was it's location. The cemetery was surrounded by some powerful nature spirits and it was difficult for me, as a beginner, to decipher what energy I was picking up on. Even now, the cemeteries that I tend to lean towards are cemeteries in the city, usually bordering busy streets. Location is something I recommend considering when selecting a graveyard to practice in.

Beginning A Relationship:

Deciding why you want to start this relationship- although working in graveyards has been a part of my practice for some time now, every time I move to a new graveyard I need to re-evaluate why it is I'm doing this and what I hope to accomplish by developing this relationship. When I first started, I was just beginning to learn about spirit work and figured that working in graveyards and with the spirits of the dead would be good practice. Honestly, as a beginner getting real world experience is super important and as long as it's done respectfully, I don't think there’s any problem with that reasoning. Currently, graveyards and spirit work is a part of my deity work as well as a staple of my practice. It is okay for your reason to change as time goes on and as you develop a relationship.

Understanding graveyard etiquette- I wrote an entire blog post on graveyard etiquette a while ago on my page so I recommend checking that out but having an understand of graveyard etiquette and how to be respectful when visiting cemeteries is super important to this type of work. The dead are much less mutable than the living, which means that it is much harder to fix a mistake with them than it is to do the proper research from the beginning.

Offerings- before you go a graveyard you should gather all the offerings you plan to give them. Some of my favourites include coins, bread, water, flowers and apples. I personally like to bring coins and water for graves but leave bread and apples for the guardian. This is especially important because you never know if living relatives are still visiting a particular grave and leaving food at a headstone could be perceived as rude (unless of course you knew the person during their lifetime).

Finding the guardian- in some older cemeteries, there may be a statue (either near the front entrance or near the centre) which is not marked as a burial spot. This is known as the guardian and it watches over the deceased buried on the grounds. The guardian does not have to be a statue, it can also be a very old tree or a particular building. This is where I leave the bulk of my offerings because it is important to pay homage to the entity protecting the space. If you are unable to find the guardian or are unsure of where it is, I suggest leaving those offerings at the front gate (or which ever gate you enter from). In the small cemetery I worked in before, there was only a guardian so I only gave offerings to them but in the cemetery I worked in prior to that one, there was both a guardian and a gate keeper.

Action- finding some kind of action you can do, whether it's cleaning up headstones or picking up trash from the grounds, is important if you want the spirits to take you seriously. I find that coming with offerings isn't always enough to demonstrate my intentions.

Introductions- while I'm placing offerings or cleaning headstones I like to say a quiet introduction and state my intentions for being there. Something like "hi there my name is Poison. I'd like to start a working relationship with the spirits here. I'm just going to clean off your headstone/here is a small offering of my goodwill." is a good way to introduce yourself. Every time I revisit that grave I will state some variation of who I am and what I'm doing. Eventually they will begin to recognize me and I won't need to be as formal.

*All images are from Pinterest*

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koravelliumavast · 2 years

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Well that’s a new one: Amazon Cosmere reviews Mistborn edition. (Snippets of two reviews)

Breeze, Dox, Ham, Clubs, most of Kelsier, and most of Marsh could be deleted from the book and you wouldn't be missing out on anything. You can skip most of the chapters of Kells and his "crew" bantering, and you won't miss a thing. That's the biggest problem with this book. Beyond that, the book actually has some above-average qualities that make the book a worthwhile read - IF you've already read all the better books in the same vein - (Wheel of time, {does op know that Brandon finished wot???}the first few Sword of Truth books, and I'd also recommend the Foundryside series) If you're going to read this book, I recommend you skip any text that features dialogue coming from Dox, Breeze, Ham, and Clubs. Oh, and also skip every passage where the characters are reading the Lord Ruler's journal, or where they're reading the history books. What an insulting waste of time. And none of it matters in the end. Oh, and skip all the first-person text at the beginning of every chapter because none of that crap has any bearing on the story either.

•••

Okay, Allomancy as an explanation for super-powers is new as a concept but so what? It turns the cast of very paper-cut out characters into the typical super heroes with one special magic trick or, rarely, into the super-super special hero with all the abilities roled into one stomach lining. The novel was also trying to be a slick super-crime such as Oceans 11's in its plot but obviously Sanderson doesn't have much insight into the sort of brilliance required for the supreme criminal mind nor much knowledge of the intelligence methods used by a totalitarian government. The meetings of the supposedly super-thieves were as dull as dishwater to read, a gloss-over of basic facts and illustrative of such shallow thinking that I was as bored as if it was a meeting with a low-level accountant. The conversations were as completely uninspired as the characters, their "plotting" so empty of sophistication or subtlety, and so full of holes, that I was unconvinced that these guys were really as slick as they were described; it certainly wasn't demonstrated.

Then the actual action had them doing things that even the most amateur of subversive criminals would never consider. One of my pet peeves, Sanderson either doesn't think about what the "opposing" forces might be doing in reaction or he succumbed to the "stupid enemy" contrivance. For example, the entire core of the elite team visit together the site of a hit by the dread Inquisitors, a place that was hit because they'd met there or because Vin, now a part of the team, had lived there; and they all show up to expose themselves in a world where, supposedly, everyone will rat out everyone else at the drop of a dime! But, not to fear, the totalitarian regime that made the hit has neglected to stake it out to watch who turned up to check out the mess afterward! And none of the crowd of spectators actually informs on them, either. It was juvenile mistake and I couldn't help but think that, trying to write this sort of plot, Sanderson was completely out of his depth. He should at least have read a few espionage and crime novels and gotten a clue before trying to write one himself. This team wouldn't have lasted five minutes in fiction, never mind real life...

•••

That said, I find it nice to read somebody acknowledge the fact that if you mistreat your comrades, they'll leave you. Granted, one of the 'heroes' said that. However, that was the only sensible "nugget of wisdom" aside from Slazed speaking about religion, or Ham trying to find a conversation. Speaking of Slazed, his name changes from time to time. {??? No it doesn’t}

On the other hand, there are several flaws. First off, for someone who's supposed to be insane, Keelsier sure does admit that a lot. Yeah, it should go without saying that unhinged people DON't do that. (That's coming from someone who's seen a stranger start squeezing her finger. So, his friend had to explain that the man thought her knew her.) Also, glares and flat stares don't even begin to look the same. That's unless you have some reason for being able to discern facial expressions.

#cosmere #brandon sanderson #mistborn #kelsier #Mistborn era 1 #like yes the era 1 crew are idiots with no common sense #and vin is a teenage girl #their actions are stupid but it’s fun for the plot #vin venture #elend venture #also spelling their names wrong in the review is sad #plus getting rid of the crew NO

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mayalaen · 2 years

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Movie Count: 28/215 (Lincoln Lawyer didn’t count) I didn’t post last week, so I’m catching up 😜

Watching things like The Wolf of Wall Street always reminds me why I’m not filthy rich -- I don’t see the appeal in living like that. It would be nice to have money, but damn. The movie itself was good and everybody did a good job acting.

The Lincoln Lawyer wasn’t on the list, but we wanted to watch the series and thought it would be a good idea to see the movie first. Not my favorite genre, but it was strangely interesting, and now I’m looking forward to seeing the series!

Chinatown was filmed in the 70s, set in the 30s, and is described as “the greatest film in the noir genre.” I’m not a huge fan of that genre, and I felt dirty watching a Pola/nski film, but beyond that it was okay. I wouldn’t watch it again or recommend it to anyone.

Fargo was really fun to watch. The subject matter was probably upsetting for some people, but the acting, directing, and dialog were awesome! I’d watch it again 😁

Movies with the theme of racism usually get my mom talking about her experiences in the south before I was born, and In the Heat of the Night got her going good. Attitudes like this were what made my parents leave upstate NY and start traveling to find a new home. It took them a while because a lot of places down south were like this, so they kept going west. Anyway, Sidney Poitier was amazing, as always, and if the goal of the movie was to piss me off, they did a good job of it 👍

Chicago was painful because neither of us like musicals (which has always confused us because we’re SO into music), but it was on the list. Watching Catherine Zeta-Jones and her inability to keep time was really annoying and it’s like WHY cast someone who doesn’t have rhythm in a musical? When Queen Latifah showed up I was like YES at least she’s going to keep rhythm and she did ♥

I knew Zuck was an asshole, but after watching The Social Network and seeing how a lot of the things whispered about in geeky online forums were true, I dislike him even more. The dude is a misogynist douche -- and don’t blame it on Asperger’s or autism because there are plenty of people on the spectrum who are good people. This dude stole everybody’s ideas and screwed over everybody who got close. Even the parts of FB that were his ideas weren’t the reasons he’s rich now. In fact he didn’t want advertising because he wanted the site to be “cool” but his buddy pushed monetizing it. Yet another example of why no decent person can be a billionaire. The movie itself was really good! Acting, directing, etc. I liked it even as I was seething about asshole Zuck 😂

I’m trying to find the good in Taxi Driver. Looking beyond the in/cel-turns-terro/rist biography of it all, the acting in the movie was okay-ish. At the time, it was scandalous because of the content and some of the scenes, but I think maybe that was just PR on Scorsese’s part because even my mom was like “why did they make such a big deal about this? Even for the time, we had nastier, more scandalous stuff than this.”

Going through the list of movies, I’ve realized I don’t like Scorsese AT ALL. It’s like he’s trying to do art-house movies, but fails and instead it’s just annoying cuts, angles, awkward scene choices, and terrible music choices.

There are several more Scorsese films in our list, and neither of us are looking forward to them.

#movie catchup #movies #the wolf of wall street #the lincoln lawyer #chinatown #fargo #chicago #the social network #taxi driver #long post #reviews

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valerie · 5 months

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TWITL - week 43 - the cooler turn

The weather has finally turned to slightly cooler. I don't think we can really say "cold" when our highs are in the low 70s. It's definitely sweater weather in the mornings. Glorious! https://flic.kr/p/2pbERGk RUGBY WORLD CUP - The South Africa Springboks won the Rugby World Cup over the New Zealand All Blacks. It was a hard fought match and both teams played with much grit and determination. The All Blacks had chances to take the lead and maybe even win but it was not in the cards for them. Maybe I don't understand all the rules of rugby (I definitely don't) but I won't ever understand how one yellow card was turned red (All Blacks) and another yellow card stayed yellow (Springboks). Regardless of the officials, the All Blacks had their chances and the Springboks prevailed. As an All Blacks fan, it's a definitely a bittersweet feeling. I'm glad they made it to the final and I'm disappointed that they didn't get the win, especially since a lot of the players I've watched over the years have likely donned the All Blacks jersey for the last time. Alas. https://flic.kr/p/2pcmff7 Matthew Perry died yesterday. I was watching a long review of the Pixel 8 Pro when I happened upon a post on Threads that said he had died. I had to pause the video as I tried to process the information. How could he be dead? He's too young! (Just a couple of years older than me.) I checked online sources and saw that it was being reported at various news sites. It was true and oh, the sorrow that overwhelmed me for a moment. When Friends originally aired, my cousin and I would get together to watch those Thursday night shows. We were in the same age range as the characters on that show and I remember the laughs and the sitcom moments that were funny and charming and poignant in turns. I didn't watch the series in its entirety but I'd come in now and again through the years. One of my favorite moments of the show was when Chandler was stuck in the bank lobby with Jill Goodacre (who was already married to Harry Connick Jr at that point). And even though it's been years since I've watched it, I know that I was mildly surprised by how much I liked Fools Rush In. It is utterly sad that Matthew Perry is gone. His light is still there for us to witness in his work. And from the different tributes I'm reading online, it's obvious that he left his mark on the people who worked with him, were friends with him, and loved him. For me, his gift was laughter. His legacy is in his work and in the people left behind with fond memories. May peace find you in next, Matthew Perry. Thank you for your light. You will be missed... https://flic.kr/p/2pboFyW Resigned indifference. This week I found out something that miffed me. I was surprised, in an unpleasant way, and it took awhile for me to dismiss it to indifference. Part of me was a little sad but it was a moment where I had to realize that nothing lasts. In this case, it was a friendship of over two decades. I have so much more I could say but I'll leave that all to my private journal. Even though I shouldn't care about offending anyone in my own space, it's just not worth the bandwidth... https://flic.kr/p/2pc8job TV Milli Vanilli - We watched this documentary this week and it was very well done. I thought it was quite balanced and so very interesting. I loved hearing from the singers of the songs, as well as the faces of the group. I knew it would be sad because of Rob Pilantus' death but it was hopeful too, seeing where Fab Morvan is in his life. The whole story is infuriating too, especially in regards to the producer who concocted the whole thing. How does he not get more of the backlash? Why was his part shrugged off and dismissed? I was glad to watch this and it gave me a better idea of Pilantus and Morvan and their part of the deception. I definitely recommend this, especially if you're like me and lived through that time in music. Haunted Mansion - I was actually surprised by how much I liked this movie. I will credit LaKeith Stanfield because he knew how to pull those heartstrings. There were some very cool jump scares and even though it's been AGES since I've been on the ride, I saw elements here and there during the movie. I thought it was very well done and I bet it looked so good on the big screen. Loki - This show is really so good. I will always love cause and effect/time loops/general mind bending stuff and this show is giving us all of that. The end of the most recent episode was a crazy shock. What will happen next? Does anything happen next?! What will happen at the end of the season. Will there be another season? Found - Here's a show with what I consider a limited premise, as far as the show arc is concerned. The mystery of the week works really well, no doubt, but how long can it go on? Does the show operate on a limited timeline? Doe all these cases happen one of top of another so that time passes slower? I am very intrigued on how it's going to blow up in the main character's face because it will and then what? The Irrational - Maybe I just miss "case of the week" shows because I'm enjoying this one. There's enough room for the characters to grow and it feels like the kind of show that can go on for years. Besides the mystery of the episode, the characters are interesting enough to watch as well. https://flic.kr/p/2pbp5ba This time next week, I'll be writing my next novel for National Novel Writing Month. I still don't know exactly what my main female character does for a living. Yikes! I'll figure it out by Wednesday. Maybe. Hopefully? The working title of the novel is WHISPERS IN THE NIGHT. This could change if I hear a line from a song that makes sense for the story. Something else happens on Wednesday but I'll wait to talk about it in next week's blog post entry. Wait, do I usually write a blog post during National Novel Writing Month? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Well, I might have to write something next week depending on what happens on Wednesday. ;) https://flic.kr/p/2pc7jzh Social handles: - Threads – @kiari - Spoutible – @valerie - Bluesky – @kiari Just because... Read the full article

#movies #nanowrimo #rugby #tv #writing

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mariacallous · 8 months

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Meduza's The Beet: The fate of the Daugava

Hello, and welcome back to The Beet!

Eilish Hart here, the editor of this weekly newsletter from Meduza covering Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Our summer break has flown by and we’re returning to you this week with a very special photo report from Latvia. This story has been in the works since June and I’m thrilled to be able to share it with you, The Beet’s cherished subscribers, days before it hits Meduza’s site. (If you’re not a subscriber, you can become the latest addition to our mailing list here.)

The reporting for this feature took place against the backdrop of the widespread flooding in southern Ukraine earlier this summer, resulting from the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. The available evidence suggests that Russian forces blew up the dam from the inside, unleashing a deluge that President Volodymyr Zelensky decried as “the biggest crime of ecocide, not only during this war, but in decades.”

Some 70 years ago, however, it was the construction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station and reservoir that was wreaking havoc in Ukraine’s south. “One of the most painful consequences for locals was the flooding of the Dnipro wetlands,” recalled environmental historian Anna Olenenko during a panel the University of Toronto hosted back in June. These wetlands, she explained, had been the basis of the regional economy for generations, as well as a symbol of Ukrainian cultural heritage known as the Great Meadow (Velykyi Luh). But according to Olenenko’s archival research, the Soviet authorities ignored expert recommendations aimed at protecting this ecosystem and instead opted to radically reshape it, building a reservoir so large that it drowned the historic wetlands in a “man-made sea.” Some 37,000 people were forcibly resettled.

A few years later, Moscow set out to build a new cascade of hydroelectric power stations, this time in Soviet-occupied Latvia. But popular opposition to the looming loss of natural monuments along the Daugava River proved to be a stumbling block that grew increasingly insurmountable as the decades-long project marched on. For The Beet, Meduza photo editor Katya Balaban recounts how the fight to save the Daugava River’s natural riches kick-started Latvia’s independence movement. I hope you find her photo report, which has been expertly translated by Meduza senior news editor Sam Breazeale, as captivating as I did.

The fate of the Daugava

How the fight to save a river gave rise to Latvia’s independence movement

By Katya Balaban

Every day in September 1974, Ādolfs Riekstiņš went to the bank of the Daugava River and watched as the massive pit that would soon become the Riga Hydroelectric Power Plant reservoir filled with water. Last to disappear were the remnants of the mill that his grandfather had built.

Ten years had passed since Riekstiņš’s family and nearly 200 others had learned that the Soviet authorities were planning to flood the land they had lived on for generations. “That was the first time I saw my dad cry,” Ādolfs’s daughter, Rudīte Ķikuste, recalled. “He and my grandfather had planted so many trees on the island. And now he was being ordered to chop them all down himself.”

A map of the reservoir near the Riga HPP and Dole Island that shows the flooded areas on the island and along the riverbank

The Riekstiņš family had lived on Dole Island since 1740. Rudīte lived there for 18 years — almost up until the day it was flooded. She told The Beet that she learned to swim before she learned to read. For centuries, life on the island had been inseparable from the river.

Every family on Dole Island had their own boats. Practically everybody fished, and many of the island’s residents mined dolomite from the river’s bed and banks. With no spring frosts on the island, conditions were ideal for agriculture. Islanders grew early potatoes and cabbage, wheat, rye, apples, and even grapes. Fish, vegetables, and stone were sent to the capital, Riga. Most households on the island were relatively wealthy; Rudīte’s grandfather, for example, had a mill, a smithy, a cattle yard, and several cargo boats.

“Everybody knew one another, and when you left home, you never locked your door,” Rudīte said. With a population of about 500, the island had a school, a library, a church, shops, a fire brigade (with its very own Ford), and even an orchestra; Rudīte’s father played the trumpet.

While the Riekstiņš family’s home disappeared underwater in 1974, it wasn’t the first time they had been forced to leave Dole Island. Decades earlier, during the mass deportations of 1941 and 1949, the Soviet authorities sent almost half of the island’s inhabitants to Siberia. “They expelled everyone who had anything at all,” Rudīte said. “My father gave his grandfather’s mill to the authorities to protect the family from repressions, but he ended up on their lists anyways.” Ultimately, the family managed to avoid deportation in 1949 thanks to one “conscientious Soviet officer” who advised them “not to be at home today.”

After Joseph Stalin’s death and the start of Nikita Khrushchev’s Thaw, the Riekstiņš family returned to Dole Island. They found their home occupied, but they managed to buy it back, and Ādolfs began working at the mill that had once belonged to his father. Twenty years later, they were forced to leave Dole Island again, when half of its territory was flooded.

The cascade

Engineers first proposed using the Daugava River to generate electricity in the 1920s, during Latvia’s interwar period of independence. According to historian Mārtiņš Mintaurs, an associate professor at the University of Latvia, the original plan was to construct a cascade of seven power stations between the town of Jekabpils and Riga, as well as to build passageways for fish and to develop the river for boat traffic. The reservoirs would remain within the main river bed, and the water level rise was projected to be minimal. By the end of the 1930s, however, only one station had been built: the Ķegums Hydroelectric Power Station.

In the aftermath of World War II, during which Latvia came under Soviet occupation, the USSR’s Hydroproject Institute took over the project. The new, Moscow-designed plans included neither boat traffic nor fish passes, and instead of six more small stations, the authorities decided to build three large ones, each with a massive reservoir. The first new station, the Pļaviņas Hydroelectric Power Station, began operating in 1965; the Riga Hydroelectric Power Plant was built in 1974, and construction of a plant near the city of Daugavpils began in 1979.

The stations’ construction had a significant impact on the Daugava’s ecosystem. One of the biggest consequences was that the new dams disrupted the migrations of fish. “Initially, there was a plan to build a fish pass in the Riga HPP, but somebody came up with a so-called cost-cutting measure, and the fish pass was never built,” Mintaurs told The Beet. The power station presented an insurmountable obstacle for fish populations traveling back and forth from the Baltic Sea to spawn in the upper reaches of the river. Essentially, the entire Daugava, as well as the rivers and lakes connected to it that cover more than 60 percent of Latvia’s territory, was cut off.

But the Riga and Pļaviņas HPPs didn’t just impact the local ecosystem; they also altered the landscape itself. Artificial riverbanks built along the shores of the Riga reservoir brought the water level up to about 10 meters (33 feet) above ground level. The reservoir spread over an area of 35 square kilometers (13.5 square miles). Dole Island, the largest island on the Daugava River, lost more than half of its territory, while the nearby islands of Martiņsala and Nulpe were fully submerged.

Residents who witnessed the Riga HPP’s construction said the territory of the future reservoir gradually started to resemble a “Martian landscape” or a “desert.” After the homes on Dole Island were demolished and the trees chopped down, bulldozers began to dig the pit, removing the top layer of soil from the part of Dole Island that was slated to be flooded. Construction work continued around the clock.

Vilnis Roze was born on the island and lived there until he was 20 years old. The future reservoir’s territory began behind his family’s garden. He saw with his own eyes how everything in the area was cut down, removed, and dug up; in his words, the process was “barbaric" and the residents “weren’t asked about anything.”

Bulldozers regularly encroached on the Roze family’s garden, Vilnis told The Beet. “They were massive — they looked like tanks,” he recalled. “I was 14 or 15 years old, and one time, late at night, when this vehicle came into our garden yet again, I climbed into its tracks to stop it from running over our apple trees.” The Roze family had lived on the island since the early 1700s. The house where Vilnis grew up and the garden he was determined to defend are still on the island today. His brother lives there now.

‘A silent protest’

“I descended into the water; the visibility was very poor. In the dark, murky water, I saw the outline of a stone stage and benches for spectators. I joked to myself: if only we could organize an underwater concert,” recounted underwater archeologist Voldemārs Rains. In the 1990s, he and his colleagues made multiple dives to find out what had become of Staburags (or Staburadze), a natural monument that was once one of Latvia’s best-known cultural symbols.

Staburags was an 18.5-meter (61-foot) limestone cliff that appeared to “cry” from its numerous springs and that formed over the course of 10,000 years. It resembled the head of a bearded giant and was especially beautiful in the winter, when its white lime-rich springs would freeze. The site had inspired numerous legends over the centuries and Latvians traveled from all over the country to see it. Located next to it was Vīgante Park, which included a large platform and rows of benches. This was the stage that Rains saw while exploring the site three decades after it was submerged.

The construction of the Pļaviņas Hydroelectric Power Station in the 1960s entailed the flooding of other famous Latvian sites as well, including the Koknese Castle, which was built in the 13th century, as well as the nearby Pērse waterfall and the Oliņkalns Hill, which was the only training base for mountain climbers in Latvia and had the ruins of an ancient settlement on its summit.

During both the planning and construction stages of the Pļaviņas HPP, the prospect of losing these sites was painful for Latvia’s population and even led to open protests — something unthinkable during that era of Soviet rule.

Letters to the Soviet authorities opposing the construction of the Pļaviņas HPP were signed by biologists, archeologists, historians, mountain climbers, writers, journalists, artists, museum employees, and factory workers. “This project was developed by specialists who don’t know enough about the economic and cultural aspects of our republic [...] These sites, which belong exclusively to us, are part of our national character,” reads a 1958 letter from workers at Riga’s Popov Radio Factory to the Latvian Communist Party leadership. The public backlash delayed the construction of the Pļaviņas HPP by nearly five years, but the protests petered out after the Latvian Communist Party’s leadership was replaced in 1959. Construction began on the Pļaviņas HPP in 1961.

When it became clear that Staburags’s flooding was inevitable, people from all over the country began making pilgrimages to the site in what historian Mārtiņš Mintaurs called a “silent protest.” Archeologist Juris Urtāns visited the area several times during his childhood, before it was submerged. “People hiked along the Daugava, slept next to the river, and went out on rafts to preserve it in their memories however they could,” he recalled. Artists did their best to capture the cliff and the surrounding landscape that would soon be lost. Displaying a picture of Staburags became tantamount to flying Latvia’s traditional red-and-white flag, which was banned until 1988.

The only “compensation” for these losses that Latvia’s intelligentsia managed to attain were the large-scale archeological surveys carried out on the territory of the future reservoirs. “Everyone understood that we would lose a lot of cultural artifacts. The archaeological expeditions became rescue operations,” said Urtāns. During his childhood and adolescence, he had spent every summer performing excavations with his father, Vladislavs Urtāns, who took part in surveys during the construction of the Pļaviņas HPP and, later, the Riga HPP. “There had never been such large-scale excavations in Latvia and there haven’t been since, because they require an enormous amount of money,” Urtāns told The Beet. “Yes, we lost quite a lot on the Daugava River, but we also learned a lot.”

While the archaeologists increased the scope of their survey with every year of the hydroelectric plant’s construction, Urtāns estimates that they only managed to examine about 15 percent of Latvia’s archaeological cultural heritage in the flood zone of the Riga HPP reservoir, and even less in that of the Pļaviņas HPP.

A map of the Pļaviņas HPP reservoir and the natural and historic sites that were flooded due to its construction

‘The start of our revolution’

“This summer, at one of the most beautiful spots on the Daugava, the hamlet of Slutiški, one could observe unusual funeral processions. Excavators, bulldozers, and cars carrying human remains would travel the same path several times a day,” begins an article published in the newspaper Literatūra un Māksla (“Literature and Art”) on October 17, 1986.

By that point, the construction of the fourth station in the Daugava cascade, the Daugavpils HPP, had been ongoing for eight years. After moving a cemetery, multiple dacha communities, and an entire forest, the Soviet authorities had built access roads and temporary housing for hydraulic engineers, as well as a basin for the future reservoir and an embankment designed to serve as the dam. They planned to open the new station in 1990, but halted construction in 1987 — in no small part due to the article in Literatūra un Māksla.

In the article, titled “Thinking about the fate of the Daugava,” journalist Dainis Īvāns and water engineer Artur Snips called into question the benefit of the Daugavpils HPP and wrote about the damage it could do to Latvia’s economy, environment, and cultural heritage. The authors also criticized the technical and economic aspects of the project: Snips, who had previously worked at the Ķegums HPP, had managed to obtain the planning documents for the Daugavpils station.

Īvāns had spent the summer of 1986 staying with family in the Upper Daugava valley. “It had the most beautiful sites. Then suddenly I see these strange pegs hammered into the field. I started asking around, and it turned out that they were markers for the borders of the flood area,” he told The Beet. “I knew I had to do something.”

Īvāns and Snips’s article served as a trigger. “The day after the article’s publication, my apartment turned into the headquarters of the resistance,” Īvāns said. People began writing letters opposing the construction of the Daugavpils HPP; before long, 30,000 people had signed petitions against the station’s construction. A council of scientists convened several times at the Latvian Academy of Sciences to discuss the facility’s possible ramifications.

Members of the Belarusian intelligentsia got involved, as well. The water level in the Daugavpils reservoir was projected to rise by 20 meters (65 feet), which threatened to cause floods not only in Latvia but also in neighboring Belarus. The planned reservoir, stretching 200 kilometers (124 miles) wide, would have reached all the way to the city Navapolatsk.“Then an Eastern Europe-wide movement began. Estonians, Lithuanians, Slovakians, and Hungarians began coming to me to ‘learn from our experience,’” said Īvāns.

Two months after the article came out, the authorities tried to stop the protest wave by banning not only publications about the construction of the Daugavpils HPP but also any mention of the word “Daugava” itself. “It reached the point of absurdity. The June 17 Plant was ordered to stop producing a line of waffles that had a blue wrapper with the word ‘Daugava’ printed on it,” Īvāns recalled. In December 1987, the National History Museum of Latvia organized a photo exhibit on the Daugava River and Staburags. The Soviet leadership in Moscow ordered for the exhibit to be closed on the same day it opened.

To circumvent the censorship, musicians started singing about the river during concerts. “The word ‘Daugava’ became like a password,” Īvāns recalled. In May 1987, students from both Latvian and Belarusian universities traveled down the Daugava in boats with signs in support of preserving the river. Their route ended at the future site of the Daugavpils HPP, where they planned to hold a protest. “Fishermen” in gray suits stood all along the riverbank throughout their journey, and at the end they were met by the KGB chief and police officers. In response, the students sailed to the other side of the river and held their protest there.

By then, an unstoppable process had been set in motion. “Standing up for the Daugava meant the same thing as standing up for an independent Latvia. Many people know that the fight against the Daugavpils HPP was the start of our revolution,” Īvāns explained. “In defending the Daugava, people came to the realization that it was possible to stand up against the Soviet authorities.”

In the summer of 1987, the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Riga hosted a conference on environmental issues; the experts in attendance reached the conclusion that the construction of the Daugavpils HPP would be unacceptable on both environmental and economic grounds. On November 5, 1987, the Soviet Union’s Council of Ministers decided to stop the construction of the hydroelectric power plant near Daugavpils.

Less than four years later, in August 1991, Latvia declared independence from the Soviet Union.

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