#theres new stuff in the shop folks!

[alchemistsattic]

Did I make dice inspired by @dilfosaur‘s character Rosé? Maaaaybe.

Are they available in my shop now? Also maaaaaybe.

And then did I also make a video talking through how I made them??? Well. I guess you’ll just have to go watch for yourself ;)

#drawtectives #drawfee #theres new stuff in the shop folks! #handmade dice #dice #resin #resin art #dnd #drawtectives rosé

[iamreadytoforgiveyou]

💚 from the ask game

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

I'll start with my fav from my 2021 rewatch sokka/ and that is simply that he is gay./gay for zuko . I don't get it I'll never really get it sokka was the staightest boy in the show to me as he.. gets suki/yue/even seems interested in ty lee for 3 seconds/tries to get into good graces with a girls poetry club. He was def not coded gay esp for a 2000s nicktoon. and when i came to tumblr i had hoped to find convos involving how smart /developed he was and it was nothing but zukka everywhere no mention of sokka development it was very discourging . and maybe people think im homphobic but i lean towards jetko/zukaang. zukka i barealy understand.

now lets go with Zuko and I warn people this is gonna be snarky cause i've see so many bad takes since 2020 to well the nows.

this is the BIG ONE people get wrong. because fandom is.. Afraid to acutally Like the real Zuko because the real zuko fits all the problematic scales. from Kidnapping katara/sokka/ /Extortion/Stalking the gaang to capture aang/kidnapping aang/ /sending a man to murder Aang who almost blows up Katara/Toph/ theres a reason zuko is angry at himself eh sent a man to murder Aang.. and he knows it wrong he's not stupid. he's in denial through half of s3 and living in terrible guilt from how he treated iroh/sending combustion man after aang. also Mai never abused zuko....

theres a reason people think im not a zutara shipper its bec i disagree with 99 percent of their takes. including that he was in love wiht katara the whole time Katara was never on his mind Zuko mind was: I must capture the Avatar so I can get back home and have dads love for 90 percent of the show up until the eclipse where his new goal was: Stop Ozai from killing the earth kingdom people /help Avatar he has a very one track mind when it comes to his goals.

fandom gets everything wrong with him.

Awkard turtletuck/maturedad/ maturer than Aang/ the one to save CinderKatara from abusive aang/an uncaring friend group/really loved his time in uncles tea shop/ never did anything wrong / never colonized anything/

I mean the earth kingdom didnt fall just because of azula Zuko made his choice to help her. . They colonized the both of em Ba Sin Sa. Azula gets woofied too she is def responsible for conquering the city but Zuko did help hes not innocent here but fans will def say everything he did is excused cause and azula fans have done this too. and its so .. tiresom

the idea zuko never meant to harm anyone to achieve his endgame/ He almost burnt suki and sokka had to save her. h was not above kidnapping katara to get what he wants. or knocking her out twice. The idea zuko never had any attention to harm anyone to get to Aang to get home is ludrucious. /this boy wanted to go home for 90 percent of the show.

Zuko is an impulsive teenager with a bit of an ego who looked down on the common folk for a good while thats why he robbed from earth kingdom people he felt they owed him stuff. because he was the prince of the FN. having to live among em is what helped him gain sympathy for their plight to leave the firenation so they wouldn't die.

Zuko arc is learning the fire nation is a cruel ruthless nation and his way of thinking that he's better than people is wrong. I dont think some people can reconsile low self esteem doesnt mean you can't look down on others.. Cause he did from calling katara a pesant in s1 and saying how the people in the earth kingdom should respect them to iroh in s2/ He has to learn sympathy/empathy for people outside the fire nation. . Zuko journey is to learn to be a better man. its like .. a man in his teens/early 20s learning their biggoted beliefs are nothing but bs and having to grown and improve.

. he is not without flaws in the end when he joins avatar he's still grumpy. he's awkward because he trying to befriend the people he us to hunt down so its gonna be awkward. Zuko isn't team dad. He's been adopted into the gaang.

I also disgree with haters saying Zuko should have changed 100percent into mr. calm/collected otherwise his arc is a bust. Zuko is a lot like Iago to me in turns of character changing sides with villian to the good guys. I'd rather they stay themselfs in terms of snark than became a perfect /happy sunshine attitudie character.

i just think fandom is afraid to enjoy Assholes. there i said it. I love jerks so i dont understand it. Think of Spongebob going from a square to a perfect smooth circle and that's how fandom treats Zuko in teh shipping side of things. there's a reason i never felt happy in teh zutara fandom. most people dont talk about him how i see him . but as a teenager i related to zukos anger a lot and i had to work on that anger. how zuko is treated to me feels very.... ableist to me when you try to ignore his flaws. it reads off as he's unlovable if he has any uncomfortable personality traits.

#atla #zuko

[mychaotic-academia]

I’ve never posted any “about me” stuff so here’s some random me-based facts if anyone was curious!

I am 27 going on 28 (my birthday is October 21st)

I’m married to the love of my life, Vee, and she and I met when I was 18 and she was 21. I auditioned for her A Capella group in college and she fell in love instantly (the funny part is I was just thinking “I hope this girl lets me into her A Capella group” but I wasn’t far behind)

I have a cat named Bunny that I’m obsessed with. She’s a calico short hair and I do sometimes post pics! I tag them #Bunny

I work as a paraeducator in a high school, which basically means I help students with IEPs and such in classrooms. Right now I work in a classroom for students returning to school after school avoidance or hospitalizations. I love my job!

I’m in graduate school to get my Special Education degree so I can become a Special Ed teacher. I love being in classes again and I’m excited for the new step in my career!

I majored in Psychology in my Undergrad, and the 4 years I spent at University were amazing! I was originally going to be an adjustment counselor, but changed my mind.

I’m a creative person, and I write (poems, stories, novel length projects that never come to be), paint, play music, and sing. I sometimes post some of my creative content here too!

I’ve been a voracious reader since I was old enough to read. Before that my Dad read to me every night before bed. We kept that up through sometime in Middle School as we read all the Harry Potter novels, most as they were coming out (I’m old!)

I’m a pagan and a not quite professional but working on it psychic. I love doing readings for folks so ask away! I’m working on getting fluent enough to pick up a gig somewhere as a reader.

My parents are both writers. My mom has a published book of poetry and is published fairly widely for her poetry. My dad has self published two novels (he didn’t want to deal with getting a publishing deal but his books are good!)

I’m majorly into aesthetics and general awe. I see beauty everywhere and I’m constantly amazed by the world. My theory is that I’m a brand new soul and so everything is exciting to me, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

My old blog (if I follow you it is unfortunately still my “main”, nullnvoyd) was a BPD blog. I deleted everything and pretty much deactivated it as far as I could because it wasn’t helping. I’ve struggled with mental health since I was a kid, but am in a very good place right now, which feels amazing.

I was diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago and it has explained so much!

I live in Massachusetts and am watching the trees for any signs of leaves turning because it truly is a marvel to live in New England in the Fall.

I was born in Newfoundland Canada. My parents grew up there. In the early-mid 90s (when I was born) the fishery crashed and Newfoundland had unemployment of around 30+%. My dad got a job down here because he was, at the time, one of the few people who could do what he does with computers. I’m still only a Canadian citizen, mainly because its expensive to become a citizen in the US. I want to be a citizen for the next election though so I’ll have to prioritize it.

I used to own a crystal shop, but its down for now because I’m working and in school full time.

I was on Tumblr back in the day, when it was at the height of its popularity. I think it was 2011 or 2012 when I made my first account. Crazy how time flies once you leave public education and start getting older.

I love makeup and fashion, and I was self conscious about it for a long time because it didn’t feel like an “intellectual” pursuit, but that was completely a misconception. They are forms of art!

So thats a bit about me! Theres more, I’m sure, because people always contain untold multitudes, but those are what I could think of on half a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning.

#me #about me #about myself #dark academia #chaotic academia #academia #academia aesthetic #aesthetic #booklr #books #chaotic academic aesthetic #dark academic aesthetic #reading

[wytfut]

Acreage Living

Had always imagined that I’d live on an acreage as a young adult. And by acreage, anything over 1 acre... maybe close to 10-20.

Now I’ve lived on one since, 1988 (2.25 acres).....  kinda wish I hadn’t gone for more than 1.  Even at 1, they can keep you pretty busy, depending on what you do on it.

For everything I have going on my acreage, I’d make a terrible neighbor in town. A home owners association would have a tizzy....  

I usually have at least one junk parts vehicle (currently), and in the past I had a small junk yard happening. 2 or 3 1957 series ford pickups (folks found out that we liked them, and it was like they were breeding out back) [just recently learned that this series ford truck are called “refrigerators”], with a few years 1953 Mercury ....     thru the years quite an assortment of others. 

When we first moved out here, the house (the original homestead house, not the current house), had a fairly new remodel. Brand new 2 stall garage, with an attached enclosed shop. A steel 2 stall (former gas company maintenance shed), and I’d guess an old wash house. 

Things did change thru the years. House burnt down Xmas 93. And around 2000 I moved an old 5 stall horse barn out back. 

We didn’t know when we moved in we were about 150′ from a 30″ transportation natural gas line.... that ran parallel to our property, directly thru our neighbors property (His house sat 20′ from that line). And thats how that steel shed came into play onto our property. We new when we got the house it had Natural Gas, but didn’t realize that it had a “farm tap” on that main.  Theres a lot of stories dealing with that gas line, I’ll tell in another episode...

When we moved out here the yard proper around the house was very nice. The rest of the property, including what we could see out the front window, was overgrown with piss elms, Marijuana and iron junk. 

I spent a lot of time the first 2 years clearing out all of that and a couple of buildings that had fallen in. 

A neighboring farmer was a pack rat (depression kid), and had a lot of junk piled up in our direct line of site of our living room. I had talked to him to see if I could clean it all up and haul all the junk off, plant some cedars... with a view to the  Interstate. 

Initially he was very good about the whole thing.... A couple of years into it, I noticed some of his junk was reappearing again in our view. I knew I was interrupting his thought train, but he DID say he’d be fine with it. 

One day he pulled this old very tired sprayer attachment  (hoses all rotted off, flat tires, rusty hydraulics, fiber glass tank all sun baked and cracked, etc...poor shape) back out to under the trees right in the middle of the view.   I know, its his junk not mine, and its his property.... but he said he was fine with it...       I went out and asked about what was going on...    “ You just can’t throw this away, this is good stuff!!!” ...  please remember my description above.  Then he said “ I can’t let you plant cedars here either, as what if I decide to farm that?.... I’d have to get some equipment to remove them”...

Ok ok....    For what ever reason he never mentioned the footings right in the middle of everything, that he’d also have to remove and the big ass Elms growing everywhere ... all to make it a field.   Turns out, he just didn’t want his junk thrown away.  So we lived with it for quite a while. One day just out of the blue, he showed up with a tractor and left with the sprayer... didn’t say anything. it never came back. 

In this pack rats assortment, I hauled into my ever growing brush/junk pile/hole.... over 5 pickup loads of hand coils of barbed wire. Thats right 5 truck loads. They were not stacked neatly in one place.... they were buried under tall grass and I’d find them anywhere when I was getting tired and ready to quit for the day. .... oh lordie what a  bunch of wire. Those hand coils were 5′ in diameter.... lots of barbed wire.

My brush/junk pile which I still have (currently HUGE,.... been a bad couple of years for wind storms), I then made into a shooting back stop. I had a bunch of heavy rail road ties I stacked/wired up and down as the front. Worked very well until the last 10 years when I started getting neighbors. ... It wasn’t used a lot, but when we wanted to shoot, it worked great. 

Kids had a good time out here growing up. Do about anything, without disturbing anyone. We had fields on 3 sides.  Yet we were within walking distance of town (driveway isn’t a quarter mile long, and then its Waverly, at that time). Bring their buddies out. Camp out, have a camp fire, shoot, etc. ... maybe a motorcycle or 2. Race around in a truck or car. good times....

Once the kids got out of the house, I considered seriously about moving out. Kids heard about it.....    so I’m still here.   

Threw the years we’ve had a lot of different wild life trot thru. Deer many many times. Ground hogs, coyotes, foxes, Opossum, coons, snakes, Turkeys, Red tail hawks, rabbits, Owls, and bats.   Current residents are coyote and fox. Everything else seem to appear/disappear in some odd pattern. No bats for years. Would really like to get some bats back.

As the field to the north of us traded hands for development, the city of Waverly’s city limit move to our north property line. Before the subdivision was built, the city of Waverly had “jurisdiction” over all property within 3 miles of town. 

Which basically means, if I build any structures on the property, or make improvements I have to have a building permit from the City of Waverly. Which is interesting here in Lancaster county Nebraski...

If the city of Waverly were not to approve of my build....   I could apply to the county (they’d pass anything), and it’d be a done deal that the city really couldn’t say anything about it. The City has had their fair share of hair pulling with all levels of government and their 3 mile jurisdiction. Battling NRD, State, and county.

First time we shot guns out here, a deputy showed up, on a fire works complaint. Once he saw we were shooting, “I’m not going to get into this, as it too much of a gray area for me to try and make a point...” and he left.  After that, we’d shoot, and no big deal and no law enforcement.

Not so long ago I was thinking of building new house on the back portion of the property. 

I had found a floor plan that Patti and I both liked (its a miracle). I submitted it to the City of Waverly.... and they immediately rejected it. Said it wouldn’t meet the covenant. 

Covenant? what covenant. I’m not in a neighborhood.... I’m an acreage, with no HOA.... odd conversation.  Didn’t I just write that this is an acreage outside of town?

My thoughts were, well then I’ll just go to the county with this. But stopped, as the county will not let you break up property less than 20 acres. I only have over 2, and I had thought once the new home was built, I’d sell off the front one. ... 

Being I wasn’t real serious about this idea,.... I just dropped it. 

Oh yeah.... why wouldn’t they pass my floor plan? .... it was a steel structure. Steel siding, steel roof.....     Said if I put common siding on it, and a regular roof on it, they’d pass it...      SMH!!   lol, steel building with asphalt shingles and vinyl siding, makes me giggle. Yeah, I know, steel buildings life span on average is around 20 years.

I now have neighbors (5 houses)  all along the north side of the property. Houses less than 100′ from our house. So we don’t shoot any more. I try to minimalize junk to their view. Been some really good neighbors....    One neighbor told me to go ahead and shoot, no big deal...    I replied,  “with little kids playing around” ... not gonna do it.

As my boys are gone from here since around 2000, and I maintain this 2.25 acres, keeping it respectable....   I’ve opened up the property to all of my neighbors, for their kids to use at their whim. ATV’s, Motorcycles, what ever....  Its silly of me to mow all of this, and not ever ever be used by someone... just silly expense of gasoline and time.

Have had folks try and talk me out of this, as “its a huge liability risk” ...  well I suppose someone really could get hurt. But kids/people get hurt, its a part of life. My kids did... I don’t want anyone to die back there and I’d feel horrible, if it were to happen. But people die and get hurt...  

Only restriction I’ve put on my open invitation.... they have to wear a helmet. And only the kids and their friends that live against my property. Had a few strays for a bit, but they left after a short period.  I also know, if someone were to sue me... what are they gonna get? I don’t really have nothing of value.... not of suing value anyways. 

When they were digging the basement of one of the houses on the north side of my place.... I noticed a puddle of fluid oozing up under the track loader...  No it wasn’t a muddy property, or had it rained recently. That track loader was pushing up goo.... 

It dawned on me..... I had no idea where my septic legs ran. Neither did the city or the county.  So before they started framing it in I got a mini excavator here, and dug all over the north edge of my property... Found the septic leg and blocked it off with quick mix cement. 

Now I did that not knowing where else that leg ran. But guessing there were more legs than what appeared. 

3 Summers later I dug in another 100′ of legs to solve my septic tank puking almost daily. That leg that was bleeding in my new neighbors yard, was the only leg my house had....    problem solved.

When it was a farm to my north, there were trees planted on the north side of “my” property. Once the subdivision was built, I lost all ownership to those trees. Really not a big deal but was surprised none the less. I told all of my new neighbors that the trees were theirs to do with what they wanted. Surprisingly they left the trees....   except for one. And it was no big deal.... just cedars.

3 summers ago had a terrific wind storm here. Worst I had ever seen on my property. It really looked like a war zone... amazing. My back was really giving me a fit at that time, but I knew I could get it done, but it was going to take at least a week. 

As I was out scanning the property, one of my new neighbors came out.... and offered to help. This really hurt my pride, but then again my back was a mess. I accepted. 

Started around 8 the next morning (note it was a weekday) and by the time 9;30 rolled around, I had 5 neighbors out helping me out. Chain saws, ATV, my tractor, my pick up...   the mess was done by mid afternoon. I was shocked, and humbled once again in my life.... 

I still don’t like the demands of an acreage. But now with “youthful” neighbors, who will speak to you when you go outside.....    that’s kind of cool...   I also get a grin every time I see the kids out fooling around out back, enjoying the property.

Having neighborly neighbors in this day and age, is becoming more and more rare. Lots of folks (really noted here in Waverlyville), don’t want nothing to do with their neighbors, and never speak. 

I have the need to know and trust my neighbors...     good folks so far.

[unpopularly-opinionated]

I don’t play WoW but I used to play Overwatch and Diablo and this touches on just the general issues that are inside of Activision Blizzard right now regarding the major decline of World of Warcraft and how they’re losing to Final Fantasy XIV, how if the latest WoW expansion or Overwatch 2 flop as they’re projected to do then Blizzard’s most definitely going to pivot almost entirely to mobile games, and how the differences in age demographics are actually dividing the company into multiple camps.

It’s important to note two things: 1) this could be fake but also 2) the link came from Grummz, a former team lead on WoW and producer on Diablo II and Starcraft. It still could be fake despite this, but if he’s sharing it then I feel like there’s at least some measure of truth in this.

Transcription below in case this gets deleted and/or you don’t wanna click the link. Warning, it’s fairly long.

“I’m dropping this here after getting chewed out for three hours over shit the chewee did at work so fuck it. Assume larp and let me vent.”

>Shadowlands is a shitshow. Critical response, Player drop off and just about every engagement metric outside of cash shop have been catastrophic. No higher up expected this because of their “we are too big to fail, if we built it they will come” mentality. They refuse to accept their focus on the world being a begrudged mechanic to funnel players to raiding is not appealing to the player base at large because it appeals to them. They have spent the last 4 months trying to course correct but there is no solid direction and the response to 9.1 has only made things worse.

>Sylvanas is planned to replace the Arbiter despite so many people in the company and god knows how many online saying this would be a total replication of Kerrigans storyline in Starcraft 2 that killed none competitive interest in the brand entirely and you can only go “no, no they WILL like it eventually” for so many real world years before its time to change course. Thus far that has not happened.

>The elephant in the room is FFXIV. To the people in charge they are acting like this came out of nowhere and don’t even seem to understand why its drawing players away in their tens of thousands. We have all tried to highlight things it is doing that are clearly appealing to an mmo audience and not, in my opinion, focussing more on mobile game style retention traps to keep MAU users and habit forming personalities logging in. Its not that they don’t care. They just seem so pig headed and digging their heels in with their fingers in their ears thinking all the problems will go away because WoW is “too big to fail”, there will never be real competition and “they will keep coming back”. But they aren’t coming back anymore. Not in the numbers they used to.

>The people making the spending choices know this. The new model for WoW is market the hell out of a expansion pack for a huge quarter then use 6 month lock ins to pad numbers for the quarters after that. Even if corona had not happened 9.1 still would have been dropping after the initial 6 month subs expired to “keep the chain holding”.

>The mood in the company is tense but also very much “its just a rough transition period”. Activision has been pushing hard for Blizzard to release more regular product and to generate more income per user. As far as i know this is going to be a transition over the next 5 years to a much larger mobile/tablet gaming focus. By all accounts not just WoW but Overwatch was intended to be the moneymaker in the interim but once again someone had the bright idea to kill a game casual players loved on the alter of e-sports hoping for another Brood War. From what i hear the “told you so’s” were loud and a lot of people walked beyond Kaplan.

>The sentiment that was shared quietly in private but being spoken more often is simply that the leadership at Blizzard are not bad people, nor incompetent people but people who had to fill seats left when the old guard jumped ship wether they were suited for it or not. Brack is a genuinely good man out of his depth, Ion is a fantastic raid designer put in charge of designing a virtual world he has no interest or real ideas for and so on. They have been taking form the roles they excel at to be put in positions where they get to do far less of that purely because there is nobody left with the experience to do so and the trickle down is a lack of concrete direction, ambition and focus.

>2021 has seen the playerbase, media and gaming at large “turn” on WoW to a degree i don’t think the leads in their “positivity dojo” bubble considered possible. Its gone from people going “This is how Blizz needs to fix WoW!” to “WoW is no longer salvageable, time for greener pastures” and i think on some level this was never considered as a possibility so there have never been any major plans beyond the usual “try and minimise player drop off by arranging releases around competitors launching updates/products”. The official forums being filled with talk of FFXIV and worse “why do we actually pay a sub?” hasn’t helped.

>There have been some testing the waters lately from certain higher ups if we can remove the line “No King Rules Forever”. Read into that what you will.

>There are still arguments going on about the Kael’thas Voice actor shitshow. I don’t know much about it but i know its heated, wouldn’t be the first time a knee jerk reaction only seemed to generate bad press. We lost a noticeable amount of pvp engagement after the Swifty thing.

>The Preach interview was treated as a disaster and there was talk of more strongly vetting interviewers for “bad actors” and only engaging with a list of questions Blizzard provides. Some pointed out that could just be used to create some form of Fireside Chat akin to the FFXIV “Live letters” but that fell on deaf ears.

>The two sentiments right now among the team are either “we really need a win” or “theres a dedicated cabal of internet trolls out to kill WoW”. Right now we are crunching hard to get 9.2 ready to wrap up the jailors storyline so we can get an expansion out early 2022. If that doesn’t happen there are talks of major shakeups coming down from Activision that have been threatened for a few  years now. Its an all hands on deck feeling thats been around to some degree since the “Is this an out of season April Fools Joke” Blizzcon. A make or break deadline is coming closer and things like Diablo 4 were not planned before then. Blizzard needs a significant win not just in initial profit but consumer goodwill. Nobody likes working at what the public now seems to see as “the bad guy” of the mmo industry.

>This has also made new hires decline. Not significantly but the “you WANT Blizzard on your resume” line doesn’t seem to have the appeal it used to. This has lead to more hiring via friend of a friend, to some rumblings about nepotism, and people severely lacking in experience “because they get great twitter optics”.

>On the topic of Twitter we are not being told to “disengage” from it. Multiple employees like Nervig and Holisky publicly attacking paying customers because they got too heated and couldn’t keep quiet is bad press that could have been avoided. A email reminder has gone around more than once lately stating “if you are not customer relations you should not be representing the company to customers, especially if you cannot remain professional”.

>Lastly the biggest elephant in the room is “yo’ boy” Asmongold. The newer hires cannot stand him. They have used terms like “toxic masculinity” and “dogwhistles to dangerous males” while some of the oldest crowd still remaining have called him “based” or “telling it like it is” which has lead to friction to put it mildly. People are told not to talk about him and the recent FFXIV stuff only made it all worse. The idea that an outside element can have such an effect on the product genuinely upsets people. Like Zach is engaging in some malicious act of cyberwarfare. Many of us have point out the now famous quotes by Naoki Yoshida about understanding that players will drift and we need to make something worth coming back to because they want to but some people for lack of a better word see out customers -or “consumers” as they refer to them nowadays- as some kind of antagonistic relationship where the goal is not being an entertainer putting on a show for a crowd but some kind of game hunter trying to trap a large, profitable kill. I wish i could blame Activision but this is a sentiment from more of the younger crowd than the “tech boomers”. Which personal opinion is probably why so many folks like Metzen and Morheim left.

>Before you ask, yes the topic of “wokeness” has shown up in group talks. Its not all some grand sjw conspiracy, people really do want to feel welcome and represented. However the “we need everything veto’ed by people not working on it to see if its inoffensive and bland enough” rubs some of us the wrong way. Like anything in life you can take something too far and lose sight of the core ideals and with everything gone on since Blitzchung it feels like people are forming little factions to pull people in different directions to decide “What Blizzards identity is now” and how to appeal to new players. There has been some drop offs with “go woke go broke” as the only answer in the survey when unsubbing but honestly we are losing subs in unforseen numbers anyway and still making more money than ever through cash shop “heavy users” so it honestly doesn’t make an impact.

>All in all things are rough right now. Blizzard doesn’t have the love of the customers anymore, is no longer treated as an industry giant and while D4,D2R and Immortal aren’t going to kill Diablo even if they fail the sentiment for World of Warcraft and Overwatch 2 are a lot more tense and stressful. The phrase “it might be good to brush up on your mobile development portfolio if we get another underperformer” has been doing the rounds a lot. If Shadowlands continues its stark decline and Overwatch 2 is looking to underperform like its current projections suggest i think the Blizzard of a few years from now will be imitating King a lot more than trying to learn any lessons from Square Enix’s mmo division.

#random #video games #Blizzard #Activision #WoW #World of Warcraft #Diablo #Overwatch #Starcraft #Activision Blizzard

[jasonsgrayson]

Jasonsgrayson’s Guide To All Things Spideytorch

Hi guys, I know I do rec lists sometimes, and I wanted to do one for Spideytorch since I just got into it and a lot of the fics on AO3 are really great. Theres a ton of fics here, of all shapes and sizes and ratings, and in no particular order as always, so take your pick.

Above the cut are my all time favorite spideytorch fics, below the cut are a mess of totally awesome fics that you guys should really take a look at. 

If you want to save some time just look at any of Traincat’s and lamujerarana’s spideytorch stuff. They’re amazing. 

Kind, Sober, and Fully Dressed by Traincat Rated M - 8,685 words Is this my favorite spideytorch fic of all time? Yes. Is it one of my favorite fanfics of all time in general? Also yes. Are the Johnny Storm sex tape related events of this fic cannon? Yes they absolutely fucking are. Read it, I beg of you.

"Pete, my man, my completely platonic best bro," he muttered to himself in the voice he reserved solely for mocking Johnny Storm. "Come over and watch my maybe sex tape! Fun times! Just two guys hanging out -" he slammed the bathroom door maybe a little harder than necessary "- watching the one guy's celebrity sex tape! Good clean fun!" Mrs. Moretti downstairs banged on her ceiling with a broom. Everything was coming up Parker tonight. -- Or, in which Peter proves himself tragically unable to take a hint. Post-Amazing Spider-Man Digital #17, aka the time Johnny asked Peter to watch his sex tape.

Lost and Found by Traincat Rated E - 8,154 words Is it another fake relationship fic? Yes. Is it my second favorite spideytorch fic? Also yes.

“A field trip?” Peter said. “Just a little family outing,” Sue said, passing him a knife. He took it and obediently started helping her cut the crusts off a small mountain of sandwiches. “We thought you might like to join us.” “I mean, it sounds great,” Peter said. “But work is a little swamped and somehow whenever I take off with you guys I always manage to go missing for two months. My landlady does not love it.” “We really could use the extra set of hands. Also,” Sue said, “someone needs to keep an eye on Johnny.” Peter groaned. -- Peter's spider-sense starts acting up on a Future Foundation field trip. He and Johnny, recently returned from the Negative Zone, have to pretend to be married. These two things are related.

Work Song by Traincat Rated E - 50,953 words I will never get tired of this one, I’ve read it so many times it’s one of my absolute favorites. Basically Peter is Johnny’s sugar daddy.

Peter Parker has his company, more money than he knows what to do with, and the echoes of a ghost in his head. Johnny Storm's lost his family, his home, and is clinging to the remnants of his old life. -- "I’m here with you. That’s not nothing, right?” “No,” Peter agreed. It definitely felt like something, all the way up here with Johnny so close they were almost touching. Peter looked at him, at the full lips set in a slight frown, the sharp curve of his jaw, the way his hair fell across his forehead. He fit all the dazzling lights around them, warm like sunshine even in the middle of the night. “Beautiful,” Peter said before he could stop himself.

River Eyes by perissologist Rated M - 22,749 words I love it because Noir is my shit, especially when it’s done this freaking well.

If Jonathan Storm was the movie star Betty said he was, he looked the part: Hair like spun gold in perfect curls atop slender features, with eyes bluer than the Hudson in midsummer. “Normally I’d ask what a dame like you is doing in a place like this, but”—Peter cast a glance up his guest—“you’re not exactly a dame, are you?” Storm flashed a weak smile. “I can be, if you want.” Peter raised an eyebrow. Storm turned beet-red. “I mean. I’m. I didn’t mean that.” Storm huffed and shoved out a hand. “Johnny Storm.” --- It's 1933, Peter Parker has just shut down a Nazi eugenist and lost one of his oldest friends, and life in the big city is as joyless and hardscrabble as ever. Then Johnny Storm, movie star with a soul made of sunshine, walks through Peter's door, asking for his help. The rest, as they say, is history.

Eight Arms to Hold You by metaphoracle Rated T - 15,071 words I love it because it has Namor the Sub Mariner and fake relationships and Atlantis, and a really lecherous octopus, and really what’s not to like?

When Spider-Man’s best friend Johnny Storm asks him for help in tactfully declining a marriage proposal from the King of Atlantis, Namor the Sub-Mariner, the only solution is for him to volunteer Daily Bugle photographer Peter Parker to pretend to be dating Johnny at the Engagement Banquet in Atlantis. Sure, it’s technically lying to his best friend about who Peter Parker is, but the important thing is that Johnny won’t have to marry Namor, and if Peter gets some photographs of Atlantis to sell, what’s the harm? Peter thought the most difficult thing about this scenario was going to be making sure Johnny didn’t figure out Peter is actually Spider-Man. Having to pretend he wasn’t actually falling in love with his best friend never crossed his mind. Featuring fake relationships, forced (almost) marriages, identity porn, traditional Atlantean clothing, and amorous cephalopods.

Keep Throwing Things and Slamming the Door by Traincat Rated T - 7,817 words I think I’ve read this one a half a dozen times already, it’s so good/funny. She-Hulk’s in it, and she is fabulous.

Waking up in a stranger's bed is not how superhero Johnny Storm planned on spending the morning after the night before. From now on… A) No more secret hookups with Peter Parker—he's the last man on earth Johnny'd want to share a room with, never mind a king-size bed. B) Maintain a professional persona at all times. After all, he's a photographer for New York's #1 Superhero Bashing Rag and Johnny's perfect tabloid fodder. C) Keep friends close but enemies closer. Easier said than done, with She-Hulk away on her honeymoon and Spider-Man avoiding him.

The Boy From New York City by Traincat Rated E - 84,499 words I really love this one. Of all the fics on this list I would say this is a spideytorch must read, a true classic.

Central City, California is beautiful, but it’s not where Johnny wants to be – and he’s not who he wants to be, either. Inspired by the recent return of Spider-Man, Johnny convinces the newly minted Fantastic Four to return to the Baxter Building, the site of the incident that gave them their powers. But not everything is what it seems, and worse yet, Spider-Man wants nothing to do with the Human Torch. In the wake of Gwen’s death, Peter has finally put the mask back on, but nothing’s the same as it once was, and the thrill has gone out of Spider-Man. The Fantastic Four’s arrival only makes everything worse. The Human Torch is good looking, he’ll give him that much, but Peter has no plans of making friends. A series of strange attacks and a fateful encounter on the docks may not leave him much choice.

‘cause I can’t compete with your boyfriend (he’s got 27 tattoos) by Traincat Rated T - 13,495 words Who doesn’t love a high school au? I know I do. 

The thing was, Peter was stuck with Johnny forever, basically. The super glue of unintentional friendship. It was cosmic, fated, and incredibly annoying. Johnny Storm might have been a handbasket of bad decisions and personality defects wrapped up with an incredible smile, but he was Peter’s handbasket of bad decisions -- of which Daken was still the worst one Johnny had ever made, and Johnny had made some truly bad decisions. -- Johnny dates Daken, Peter has a crisis, and everything works out okay in the end.

All That We Were by paramountie Rated G - 10,298 words Here’s a super cute stuck in an alternate universe kid fic, if that’s your thing (It sure as hell is mine).

“What do you think the deal is anyway?” Peter asks. “My money’s on dreamscape.” “Twenty bucks says it’s an alternate universe.” “Nuh-uh, pal. It’s a dream for sure. Or a nightmare.”

The Spider Prince and the Morning Star by Traincat Rated M - 24,337 words Every ship needs a great fairytale fic, and this is a phenomenal fairytale fic. It’s sort of a Beauty and the Beast/Eros and Psyche tale and I loved it so much.

“Folks like to say there’s a monster that lives in the forest,” Old Swenson said the next day when Johnny told him his story. Johnny worked in his shop, when Swenson could afford to pay him. He fixed things, clocks and broken carriages. Johnny wasn’t good for much, but he had a hand for repairs. “And that it’ll grant you wishes, for a price. Folks will say anything, after a drink or five. Don’t listen to that kind of foolish talk, Johnny.” When Johnny makes a deal with the monster that lives in the woods – himself for his sister’s happiness – he doesn’t expect the giant spider to take him to a beautiful castle, or to reveal himself a cursed prince. There’s only one catch: he’s only a man in the darkest night, and Johnny can never see his face.

Better in Picture by weekend_conspiracy_theorist Rated T - 12,218 words I love this one, it’s freaking hilarious. It really uses Matt, Foggy, and Peter to their full comedic potential.

In which Peter Parker has no interest in sleeping with Matt Murdock, no matter what anyone seems to think.

you keep me hanging on by lamujerarana Rated E - 19,031 words Here’s a great friends with benefits to lovers fic, because there must always be at least one.

Johnny, reeling from his breakup with Medusa and the loss of his entire family, turns to Peter for comfort...that eventually involves casual sex that isn't so casual for Johnny, since he just so happens to be in love with Peter. Everything becomes incredibly complicated. This story takes place between the events of Inhumans vs X-Men #6 and Uncanny Avengers v3 #20.

Always Glad You Came by aloneintherain Rated T - 13,290 words Mistaken Identity or boys being dumb, take your pick.

Spider-Man is a relatively new, controversial vigilante, and Johnny has a crush the size of the Empire Building. The Four - operating under the assumption that Spidey is an adult - do not approve. “I just happen to think Spider-Man's cool,” Johnny says, matter-of-factly. “A hero can think another hero is cool without making it weird. I admire his aloofness. And his badass-ness.” “His aloofness,” Ben repeats, chuckling into his mug of beer. It’s roughly the size of Johnny’s head. “Yeah, sure, I bet that’s all your admire, right?”

When Peter Met Johnny by Measured Rated T - 14,437 words A paparazzi fic!

Peter takes up additional paparazzi work to pay the bills, which inevitably leads to an angry flaming man, a broken camera, an accidental friendship and a whole lot more than he bargained for.

Tied to the Wait and Sees by Mizzy Rated T - 14,283 words This is hilarious, poor Johnny’s trying his best. 

Johnny Storm's in love. With Spider-man. Except no one seems to even believe Johnny when he tells them. Everyone thinks he's totally joking. What a buzzkill. Even his bff doesn't react supportively, which is rude, disrespectful, and completely awkward when Johnny walks into a time anomaly and wakes up in the future married not to his beloved Spider-man, but to Peter Parker. Huh, no wonder Parker reacted so badly to the news.

Say You Will, Say You Won’t by Traincat Rated T - 15,563 words Peter in this one is hilarious, it’s perfect characterization.

Johnny Storm found him on a Friday afternoon, wearing the kind of beseeching look that filled Peter with dread. “I need to ask you a favor,” he said. “No,” Peter said, swinging away. -- Peter and Johnny get married, really-not-really.

Tales From The Black Pages by Traincat Rated T - 19,019 words A soulmate words fic, because, again, there must always be at least one. And it’s a really great one, too. 

Peter Parker was born with his words. Johnny Storm's been sure his will be said sarcastically since he was a child. Everything else more or less happens according to plan. A first words soulmate AU.

Weaving Spiders Come Not Here by Mizzy Rated T - 13,809 words Mistaken identity or boys being dumb, I think I can guess which one it is. 

People are treating Peter oddly. Really oddly. It turns out they're being nice to him because they think his boyfriend cheated on him. …with Spider-Man. It's honestly quite tiring pretending to be jealous of yourself.

Peter Parker’s Guide to Secret Identities by coocoocachu Rated T - 93,789 words Johnny is a teen heartthrob, enough said. 

“Oh wow, it’s the Human Torch, Johnny Storm.” MJ whispered to Peter. Peter just hummed back. Maybe it was a little childish to be upset but he totally had that thing with the weird mutant moth under control last night. Peter leaned against the wall while MJ milled around talking to people trying to figure out what the big scoop was here. ‘There always has to be a reason for an exclusive, Peter!’ she had said. Yeah, Peter thought, and the reason is Johnny Storm loves the attention. Peter fiddled with his camera. Action shots were more his thing, particularly somehow managing to take action selfies of himself as Spider-Man or a few of his supercharged enemies. Pictures of egotistical superhero’s shirtless? Not really his area.

stranger danger by I_mNotYourEnemy Rated T - 10,600 words Mistaken identity or boys being dumb 3: Grindr Identity

pete is this a bad time to ask who this is?? Hothead Is this not Grindr Peter? pete nope Hothead Ahhh fuck Sorry for the unsolicited dick pic pete that’s alright, ive seen worse -- In which Johnny gets a username wrong, Peter gets a dick pic, and MJ gets a headache just thinking about the situation.

Turn Me On, Turn Me Off by blue_jack Rated E - 5,158 words Honestly the summary speaks for itself here.

“I have. A vibrator. Stuck. In my ass,” Johnny said, enunciating clearly and concisely while staring him straight in the eyes, and Peter didn’t know who was blushing harder, but he was sure they were in a race to see who could match the color of his mask first.

Flip a Coin - Choose Both Sides by the_overlord Rated T - 10,993 words Johnny is president of the Spider-Man fanclub. Just- that’s it. 

Wherein Johnny Storm gets given a wrong number and ends up the President of Spiderman's fanclub. Things get a little more complicated from there.

Tanglewood Tree by amaronith Rated E - 6,901 words Another fuckbuddies to lovers au.

but love is a light in the sky, and an unspoken lie, and a half whispered prayer Or: what happens when Johnny becomes fuck buddies with the guy he's been in love with for years.

let the choir bell sing by gottalovev Rated E - 16,457 words Another fake relationship, this one set abroad in Venice.

Johnny and Spider-Man are on assignment at the Carnival of Venice, and asked to be present at an influential politician's costumed party. When he becomes worried that said politician wants to match him up with his daughter, Johnny announces he's secretly married to Spider-Man. They can totally fake being secret husbands for a few days! Not a problem, not even when they have to share a bed. After all, they are good buddies; it's not as if Johnny would have to sleep with someone he has a crush on, like Peter Parker.

Stay With Me - by oneshinyapple Rated E - 2 works - 29,958 words total This is a great verse which is also part of the Like Gravity verse, which I haven’t read all the installments of. 

Movie nights, fighting alien dinosaurs, and falling in love with your best friend — one of these may be a worse idea than the others.

A Melody That’s Calling Your Name by gleesquid Rated T - 32,731 words Another great high school au.

When a boy gets trapped in the Baxter Building fire, Peter must make a quick choice: let the boy die terrified in the flames or gain his trust by showing him what's underneath his mask. In the end, it's no choice at all. But when that same boy shows up on the first day of senior year, Peter finds himself caught in a spiraling lie. The next thing he knows, he's got a boyfriend, he's starring in a musical, he's going to rich kids' costume parties, and he's realizing that maybe there are worse things than having someone know your biggest secret. You'd think high school couldn't get any weirder than a radioactive spider bite, but that's just the Parker Luck.

hang a shining star upon the highest bough by lamujerarana Rated E - 15,386 words A lovely little Christmas fic for that time of year

The first time Johnny and Peter meet up at the Statue of Liberty on Christmas morning, Johnny's kind, thoughtful, and supportive to Peter at a time when Peter, still mourning the loss of Gwen Stacy, really needs it. Peter doesn't know how he'll ever pay him back for that, but he's sure going to try. Or, Peter tries his best, throughout various Christmases, to be there for Johnny when he needs it.

take my medicine, treat you like adrenaline by gleesquid Rated E - 2,763 words The one and only Spiderverse fic on this list, for when you’re in that Peter B. Parker mood.

“Every time I even think about dating again, it’s like, ‘oh, there’s MJ’s nose,’ or ‘hey, she has MJ’s eyes.’ I don’t know how to not see her in everyone. I don’t know if I want to.” “You ever figured you’re maybe barking up the wrong tree?” Peter furrowed his brow. “Explain.” “Well, ya know.” Harry sipped his martini. “There’s a larger dating pool out there than you’d think. With people who will not remind you of MJ.” Or: After the divorce, Peter tries for a rebound.

Save a Horse-Adjacent Alien by Traincat Rated E - 3,915 words Poor Johnny made a terrible actor. 

He was minding his own business, sitting in a movie theater in Queens, snacking on popcorn and wondering how many times he could make fun of Johnny Storm’s hair before Aunt May asked why he was so fixated, when the trailers ended, the lights went out, and Johnny appeared on the screen. Peter’s mouth went dry, and it wasn't because of the popcorn. Maybe it was the distance the movie gave him, Johnny up on a screen instead of right in front of him, warm and bright and frighteningly human. Maybe it was how endearingly terrible of an actor he was. Maybe it was the lighting. It was, Peter thought, probably the cowboy boots.

Bring That Summer by pommenade Rated T - 15,070 words Ahh social media, get’s you every time.

Juggling the duties of Spider-Man as well as his life as CEO of Parker Industries was easy. Peter Parker had years of practice. Add in a clandestine relationship with Johnny Storm and things got a bit more complicated. Add in Johnny's Instagram account, and suddenly Peter's life is impossible.

Educational Purposes by Traincat Rated E - 5,510 words A sexy little married fic

“I just,” Johnny said, flicking his gaze up at Peter through his eyelashes. He pressed the pen to his bottom lip and lowered his voice, pornographic. “I really need to pass your class, Professor Parker.” Peter snorted. “Cute, Johnny.” “Please, Professor Parker?” Johnny continued, and suddenly Peter realized that he wasn’t just joking around. “Isn’t there anything I could do to improve my grade? Anything at all?”

#spideytorch #spidertorch #fic rec #rec list #spiderman #peter parker #the human torch #human torch #johnny storm #ao3 #archive of our own #traincat #lamujerarana #fanfiction #fanfic #otp #fic rec list #marvel #fantastic four #the fantastic four

[mushroom-trafficking]

slips a piece of paper under your door. Setac 8 and 14. Harmony 23 and 7 !!! canary 24 !!!

(slips on the paper like a banana peel and dies)

Setac:

8 - What do you think had the biggest impact on you growing up?

Well. Obvious answer is Ysil ruining my life as that is big impact no? Uhh, otherwise probably my sister harmony arguing with entire family to stick up for me. Was hard to grasp at time because I felt so bad for her and blaming self for what happened but she chose to help me. It took me long time to realise people chose to be there for you because they want to be. Shame it took me so long to realise it but it made things much better after everything else.

14 - What are your favourite music genres?

HMM. Hmmmmmm. Hmmmm. I don’t tend to listen to much music.. But I enjoy a lot of wind instruments? They are so delicate but soothing. Pan pipes and ocarina are very nice, can be peaceful to play when just travelling as nature makes best accompaniment.

But also who doesn’t enjoy accordion music, there is something just so bouncy! You cannot help but want to dance. I will always throw some good coin your way if I spy accordion in corner of tavern.

Harmony:

23 - Have you ever had a crush on someone? Do you have a crush now?

Nah no real crushes nowadays, though sometimes that real rugged adventurer type comes into the store and you’re like damn I wish they would whisk me away and we could fight monsters together. But that’s less of a crush and more just. Aggressive daydreaming. In the past— I mean yaknow, yeah.

(Towards the end of this you would notice how she wouldn’t be able to meet your eye and you get the feeling “the past” isn’t as far back as she would like to admit)

7 - Who do you look up to?

If you want the lame answer for sure my brother is up there. He’s achieved a lot and I’m proud of him and yaknow who doesn’t wanna go around knocking in some heads.

Another wise uhh. Oh— Theres this cool researcher who I have a few books of! Her name is Alexandra Ainsworth Lore! She goes around on his huge ship of hers findin all these cool unknown artefacts that people think are legends and— well. FINDS EM. I wish I could do stuff like that, just chartin a course an sailin around lookin for all these wonders. And of course probably getting first dibs tryin em out. I know she puts most of em in museums which is. A little lame but yaknow I think if she hoarded em all she’d probably get some people after her. But what a cool life that must be…

Canary:

24 - What do you consider your main love language?

Oooooooo boy. Wassit called? Acts of service? I like doing stuff for people. I like when people come home or visit and you’ve just got em a little something waiting like— a smoothie or a new video game. Or just helpin em with whatever, I like goin grocery shopping with people which some folks find weird but it’s nice! Good way to make sure your friends are eatin their veggies tho. Ha! But yaknow spending time together is great too, we don’t gotta do stuff all the time it’s nice just. Being near each other sometimes while you just do your own thing. Maybe sneak a little snuggle in there too whatever you can get away with. I tend to be more vocal than most but yaknow not everyone uses their words which is fine, but I blabber a lot so good luck stopping me callin you nice things! Haha! Even if you cover my mouth you can’t stop me getting you nice things forever.

#ask meme #oc meme #reply #octoshott #setac #harmony #canary

[eamonwhalen]

Rap I Liked 2020

An attempt at an omnivorous list of rap songs from the year 2020 that undoubtedly missed many good songs. 

In a Spotify Playlist

In an Apple Music Playlist

If you’d like to read what I wrote this year click here. 

1. Quelle Chris and Chris Keys featuring Earl Sweatshirt, Denmark Vesey, Merill Garbus and Big Sen - Mirage

2.   Mozzy featuring Blxst - I Ain’t Perfect

3. Jay Electronica featuring Jay-Z - A.P.I.D.T.A

Sleep well Lately, I haven't been sleepin' well I even hit the beach to soak my feet and skip some seashells Sleep well The lump inside my throat sometimes it towers like the Eiffel Sometimes I wonder do the trees get sad when they see leaves fell Sleep well The last time that I kissed you, you felt cold but you looked peaceful I read our message thread when I get low and need a refill Sleep well

4. Shabazz Palaces - Fast Learner

5. G-Herbo featuring Juice WRLD, Chance The Rapper and Lil Uzi Vert - PTSD

“People judge people from my city, or people who go through what we go through. It’s just the way you’re brought up and different situations that you experience that change your life and make you who you are. There’s a lot of people who would come to my city and not make it. There’s certain survival skills that you learn in Chicago from just naturally adapting to your environment. People judge us and outcast us from what they see on the outside but they really don’t know what’s going on on the inside. We’re making rational decisions because what we go through forces us to make those decisions. Just the older I get, the more serious I look at it. When I was younger I had my family taking care of me, and I was just living life like a kid. But by 14-15, there’s a lot of kids in my city who are living the lives of adults at that age. Other places people don’t live like that. When I was 16 I started to see people die around me. In my city theres so little to depend on, so people take other options to survive and make a way for themselves. At a young age you start learning this,” - G-Herbo, from an interview I did with him a few years ago. 

6. 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’ featuring Young Thug - Rich N***a Shit

the sounds of luxury

7. Sada Baby - Slide

8. Megan Thee Stallion - Circles

https://youtu.be/TwZl9WCHjnc

9. Polo G - Martin & Gina

10. Gunna - Skybox

11. Pop Smoke - Yea Yea

Rest in Peace Pop Smoke

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/pop-smoke-dior-protest-music/

12. Bfb Da Packman featuring Sada Baby - Free Joe Exotic

13. NBA Youngboy - The Story of OJ (Top Version)

14. Bris - Me Important

Rest In Peace Tricky Dance Moves

15. Playboi Carti - @ MEH

16. Navy Blue featuring Ka - In Good Hands

“Even friends in a frenzy became ravenous

Brothers named universal, wise, supreme became savages

It's said the common thread with our enemies

Is we was all men in need with no amenities

Couldn't sit in peace, we each hit the streets for remedies

Through the hatred accumulate a hundred arms we was centipedes

The stress of empty pantries kept us antsy

No lie, essentials essentially in a shanty

Could give scripture but that big picture is what you can't see

Every grain I spelt is what helped enhance me

Went from gun waving to saving lives

I give sight to the blind just for the 85

That's what I was in the line of scrimmage

Lost some folks of course, that growth redefined percentage

Doomed in the womb, surprised I ain't see a hanger

Start questioning affection when all you see is anger,

But now I’m in good hands, surrounded by good women, good babies, good mans,”

-Ka

17. Lil Uzi Vert - Chrome Heart Tags

18. SahBabii - Double Dick

19. Rezcoast Grizz - Water

20. Future featuring Drake, Da Baby and Lil Baby - Life Is Good Remix

21. Drakeo The Ruler featuring Icewear Vezzo and ALLBLACK - We Know The Truth

The Ruler’s home. Read Jeff Weiss on Drakeo’s trial and release, and the book Rap On Trial for an underreported and understudied phenomenon. 

22. Future and Lil Uzi Vert - That’s It 

23. Shordie Shordie - Save A Little

coolest new voice in Rap

24. Busta Rhymes featuring Kendrick Lamar - Look Over Your Shoulder

25. Cam & China - Know What I’m Saying

https://youtu.be/H1JSWy9lxuk

26. Ovrkast featuring Navy Blue - Face

27. J Hus featuring icee tgm - Helicopter

Shaitan in police uniform Feds in a helicopter I seen pigs fly but I never seen a unicorn Tryna find cover on somebody's front lawn I see an undercover and he had his gun drawn Didn't like me 'cause I'll never conform Man want beef, but they'll never come forth Like CB, all I need is one corn You see me alone but I got a strong force No man can ever put my life on pause They enslaved my ancestor, no remorse I bring knowledge to Europe, just like the Moors The knowledge, they need it, they cravin' for more Left the yard before the jakes kicked in the door Have you seen a lengman drop his stick on the floor? Say you wanna bang, you don't look like you're sure

28. Demahjiae featuring Mejiwahn, Michael Sneed and Pink Siifu - Wild & Fireflies

29. Lil Baby featuring 42 Dugg - We Paid

No choice but to respect someone who is not only still rockin’ with the Detroit Lions in 2020 but says so much on the biggest song of his career thus far. 

30. Ka - Patron Saints

31. Benny The Butcher - Famous

32. Key! - Spend One Night

33. Smino featuring JID and Kenny Beats - Baguetti

34. Open Mike Eagle - Death Parade 

35. OMB Peezy - Sleep At Night

36. Mick Jenkins - “Carefree”

read me on Mick Jenkins circa 2016.

37. Chris Brown and Young Thug featuring Lil Duke and Gunna - Big Slimes

38. Freddie Gibbs and Alchemist - God Is Perfect

39. Chester Watson - Life Wrote Itself

40. Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats - DIET

read me on Denzel Curry circa 2015

41. Young Dolph - Hold Up Hold Up Hold Up

Still probably the coolest thing any rapper has done in years. 

42. Dua Saleh - Hellbound

43. Rod Wave - Fuck The World

44. Young Nudy - Deeper Than Rap

45. Bobby Raps - Believe The Lie

Alex Howard, more like Alex Garland!

46. Saba - So and So

47. 2 Chainz featuring TyDollaSign - Can’t Go For That

https://youtu.be/ccenFp_3kq8

48. Blu and Exile - The Feeling

49. astralblak - Out In The Woods

50. Key Glock - Word On the Streets

51. Black Thought featuring Portugal. The Man & The Last Artful, Dodgr - Nature of the Beast

I feel like Phillip Seymour Hoffman, less Denzel Washington When people are watching me If the right amount of likes and follows can make me less hollow I'd somehow be more complete But people tend to be more toxic so we see more gossip And there's tension on the streets

52. Flo Milli - Not Friendly

53. Shootergang Kony - Still Kony 2

54. Homeboy Sandman - Trauma

55. Kevin Gates - Weeks

56. Pink Siifu and Fly Anakin - Open Up Shop

57. P Will aka Prince Williams - Survival 

58. Cupcakke - Discounts

59. Nas - Ultra Black

60. Spillage Village - End Of Daze

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/magazine/societal-collapse.html

What I listened to most besides songs by artists on this list:

Jazmine Sullivan’s live performances of Lost One and Pick Up Your Feelings

Other stuff that doesn’t really belong on a Rap list:

Liv.e, Brent Faiyaz, Helado Negro, Slauson Malone, Chronixx, Contour, King Krule, Kehlani, Moses Sumney, Thundercat, Soccer Mommy. 

Best books I read that were published in 2020: The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins and I Got A Monster by Brandon Soderberg and Baynard Woods

[rhimorechill]

1-30 can i just have your opinion on all of them please

KDHSKHFKFB whoever u are anon ur actually my only follower ever

1. are you of the “tom nook is a crook” or “tom nook is an honest businessman” opinion ?

HES AN HONEST BUSINESSMAN !!! ur loans have NO interest and he was handing out 100k interest/month for a good while there !!!!! the only reason it dropped to 10k is b/c i accidentally made a mil while tryna get dreamies ok. the whole "nook inc owns the entire island" thing is KINDA WEIRD but like ! i mean. its still a pretty sweet deal

2. do you play as yourself or a made up character ?

i play as me !! and then everyone tells me my character is cute which ROCKS

3. where is your house located ?

well CURRENTLY. its just at the center of the island. but once i get terraforming (which will be as soon as i get lolly, mitzi, and purrl) it will be on its own little island in the middle of the island

4. who were your first villagers ?

hamlet and renee ! and bea and agent s and broccolo. oh and quillson. theyre all gone now but i moved bea into a friends island so i can visit her later !!

5. preferable method of earning bells ?

turnip runs babey !!! srsly i will pay like 500k tips and make a million in PROFIT (per run !!) its fucking awesome. i never use turnip exchange tho that shit website always stops telling me where i am in the queue

6. what villager personalities do you typically get along best with ?

i love all of them. so much. normal and lazy villagers might take the cake, but ankha was on my island for 2 days and nearly stole my heart, so snooty villagers r up there too. smug villagers ? like i mostly have experience w raymond b/c i fucking HATED quillson and keaton n ed i barely paid attention to (ed gets points tho. he shares my bday) but that goddamn nerd has a war with slugs. we love to see it. peppy villagers rock (i have THREE on my island rn... but ugh i gotta kick out merry sometime..... i love her but i just !! have too many). i CANNOT hate jock villagers those guys just wanna work out !!! and talk abt working out !!!! theyve done nothing wrong in their whole lives. uchi villagers are great too and cranky villagers r trying their best !!! every villager is good is what im saying. even quillson (i guess)

7. who is your current best friend in the game ?

MGHGSHGD felicity or raymond !!! they send me mail all the time and also i really like raymond. b/c hes such a fucking NERD of an accountant. and felicity was the first of my dreamies to move in so im 💚 when it comes to her...... SOMEDAY. lolly will also be my bff. lolly come home

8. is there a villager you want to get rid of ?

MERRY WHITNEY VELMA. PLEASE GO AWAY. U R ALL SWEETIES BUT NONE OF U MADE THE CUT. ONLY ONE OF U IS EVEN A CAT. (if you want whitney or velma pls dm me !!! someone asked for merry already but id love for them to be on islands where ppl love em)

9. do you hoard a lot of items ?

YES. i did a purge the other day and laid a fuckton of items out to give away. it did not fit and i had to shove some on the cliffs. i still have a big pile waiting to be taken. meanwhile my storage gets new items added

10. take medicine or save & restart ?

medicine is for chumps.

11. where is your favorite spot in your village ?

HMMMM i rlly like my entrance !!!! its rlly neat and has green AND pink mums + trees..... and fencing and a path. IDK i worked hard on it and think it turned out rlly well !!!! other than that maybe my shopping area ? i dont have terraforming yet so theres a lot i Havent Gotten To wrt my island (like my cliffs are almost entirely undeveloped b/c i havent placed any inclines. so theres no pathing)

12. what achievement do you want to hit the most ? (ex: golden equipment, all fish / bugs, etc)

its not REALLY an achievement but i want all my dreamies real bad. after that i want a 5 star island !! i would like a lily of the valley. or 20.

13. do you know any secret tips ?

HMMM i dont think so ?? i dont really know any secrets. ive been trying out campsite cycling and it has Not been going well tho. if u need tips on tting to move villagers out or smthn i can help w that !! this is such a vague q that im like DO i know smthn ??? that is a secret ?????? i also vaguely know abt *m**b* sp**f*ng but im not allowed to do that soooo. thats a pipe dream. fun fact: its not a secret but gardening is SO fucking complicated theres genetics n shit. its wild. thank god someone straight up gave me blue roses so i dont have to go thru that shit. also do not tt backwards when dealing with turnips. not even 30 mins to save ur 600+ prices frm closing time. They Will Change

14. who are your dreamies ?

THESE CATS (i know major shocker from tumblr user pumakittycat. app is acnh life)

15. favorite furniture item ?

HMMMM THIS IS A TOUGH ONE. maybe mum cushions ? those r cute as fuck. i love every flower item, honestly, frm garden wagons to flower stands to pansy tables to hycanith lamps to. idk the bonsai shelf ? i have one of those. i also love my sea globe. its great. WAIT DO RUGS AND WALLS/FLOORS COUNT THERES NO QUESTIONS ABT THOSE i love so many FUCKING items. also autumn woods wall, if ur out there,

16. favorite clothing item / outfit ?

my green clover dress !!!! its the best thing EVER. my full outfit also consists of a silver tiara, a cherry blossom pouchette, white fishnets, and green rubbertoed sneakers. and, ofc, clover facepaint. ALSO FOR CONTEXT. my island is named clover bay thats why im like Clover Time. Theyre Important To The Aesthetic. im also an aro bitch who loves overall dresses. b/c they slap

17. favorite museum room ?

I LOVE THE LITTLE BUTTERFLY ROOM do not even TALK to me unless ur the butterfly room in the museum THERES SO MANY AT ALL TIMES ITS SO NICE

18. cedar, fruit, or palm tree ?

FRUIT. i literally chopped down every single hardwood tree on my island and replaced them w orange trees

19. favorite fruit ?

.......Oranges

20. favorite fish ?

HM. bitterling has a special place in my heart for being my Only fish model. whale sharks also rock tho. and thats only of the ones ive caught !!! i also love frogs, turtles, and obligatorily catfish. oh and seahorses and bettas

21. favorite bug ?

HM. ladybugs maybe. and both birdwings ! maybe also emperors butterflies. possibly others as well

22. favorite flower breed ?

MUMS !!!!!

23. favorite crossbred rare flower breed + color ?

GREEN MUMS.

24. favorite villager personality ?

havent we been over this ? im a dumb bitch who likes all of them way too much

25. favorite time of day to play ?

i uh. play. all the time. i tt a Lot tho so i like setting my time to 1pm ? idk it Feels like a good time

26. favorite special visitor event or reward ? (ex: selecting an art piece from redd, aiding guliver and getting a special item, etc)

SAHARAH. im obsessed w the fucking rugs and the tickets and the lottery. i also love celeste, and gulliver has a spot on the faves list for providing lucky cats sometimes (also a fave item) and for having been to space

27. favorite kk song ?

call me basic, but bubblegum kk plays at all times in my living room

28. favorite animal crossing game ?

ACNH lmao. i never really sat down and got Dedicated to city folk, which is the only other game ive played

29. if you’ve played animal crossing before, are there any animals you’re nostalgic for ? if this is your first game, has any animal in particular left some effect on you ?

ROVERRRRR come home :( also harriet.... i Miss Her. and resetti (i REFUSE to use rescue services dont @ me). and also the bus driver guy who took u to the city. If You Were An NPC In City Folk I Miss You Now

30. share a story from your gameplay

SO. i love the little alien easter egg. i set up a photoshoot and made like a little storyline abt the aliens and stuff. i even got a flying saucer and put that down and used it. and every fucking time !!!! i do shit with aliens !!!!!!! gulliver shows up on my beach. i know he went to space in cf n stuff (I GOT FLAVOR TEXT ONE TIME-- DURING NH-- ABT HIM NOT WANTING TO GO BACK EVEN) so i think its fucking hilarious that the aliens show up.... so does he

#rhi's asks #anon #acnh #LMAOOOOO thank u for asking so much....... heres a brick wall of text

[lethbians]

I've never really played Animal Crossing either (I love video games, but I was a v poor kid so I couldn't really afford a lot of different games? the only console I have is my gameboy but it is lit!) but I did try the mobile one and like... is there a difference between like the console version and the mobile one? I don't really like the mobile game because it is... so repetitive?

yo i never had a lot of games either and we always had to get ours from used game shops so I FEEL. also gameboys.. Hit. my dumbass sold mine a few years ago to help pay for other stuff and i miss it every day... like i couldve sold my fuckin books or something but i didnt... 3

i actually deleted the mobile app bc it was boring sdjhksf i have No idea what it’s like now but i couldnt stand how u had to pay real money for stuff and like sometimes i like to sit and play for a long time in one sitting so i like to time travel over several days in game  and like u couldnt..do that... yeah no theres a big difference imo between the games. i rank them prolly 1. new leaf 2. wild world 3. city folk 150. pocket camp

i think animal crossing is repetitive to a point but like. paying off your loans takes a Lot of time (even with me playing a pretty dedicated amount and still going to work it took 2 full weeks maybe more to pay off my loans, and that was with time travel and selling bugs from the island every night for hours skdhjs) and collecting everything in the museum takes a Lot of time (u can only catch certain bugs and fish at certain times) and theres sseveral other big rewarding goals that take awhile and so idk it gets kinda repetitive with the fishing n stuff but u can always focus on another goal when one gets boring so it works for me

#animal crossing #Anonymous

[ltjlily17]

The truth about vampires

Let’s start off with some basics. What’s your name? Rachel How old are you? 35 What’s your hair and eye color? Green eyes, brown to teal hair. How tall are you? 5′6″

What’s your relationship status? Married Alright, enough of that. Let’s move on to the random shit. What’s your favorite song? Mayonaise by the Smashing Pumpkins, Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton and In Your Atmosphere by John Mayer. What does that song mean? What is the message behind it? They are all pretty different theme wise, but all three really evoke a feeling. Is it your favorite because you relate to it, or do you just like the beat? They’re all more guitar heavy than having a beat, the lyrics and overall feeling the songs provide are what really get m, though. Have any pets? If so, what are they and what’s their names? I have a dog named Finn, and a cat named Mateo. Have you ever met your idol? If so, were they nice or were they kind of an ass? I don’t have an idol. What’s your favorite method of gaming? (PC, Xbox, Playstation, etc) Either the Switch or my laptop. Xbox is fine, but I guess I prefer a handheld type device.  If you’re in college, what’s your major and why did you pick it? I am not in college. My major when I attended varied between visual communications, education and IT. I didn’t choose nor graduate. How’re you doing today? Meh, theres a lot going on around me with people I care about. I was talking to a friend earlier about how most people are stressed or unhapy this time of year, which is really not my experience. I love buying gifts for others, decorating and baking, so this is generally a good time for me. What color are your bedroom walls? Ugh, like a pastel yellow. I really dislike the color. I have painted some grey paint splotches on one wall to see which one I liked most, but I’ve never gotten around to actually painting. Describe your favorite shirt. I don’t know that I have a favorite. I typically wear a shirt I got from John Mayer’s last tour the most- its got a cool fish and cat graphic on it. Use this space to tell someone off. I’ve no one to tell off. What’s your view on smart watches? Cool or a waste of money? I have one. I like it. I really like watches in general, though and I feel a little sad I don’t wear the analog ones anymore, but I’d miss the functionality of the smartwatch. What is one poster that you have hanging on your bedroom wall of? I don’t have anything hanging on the walls in my room. We have slanted ceilings, so there isn’t even enough space for a poster. My room was covered in band posters as a teenager, though. How many times have you moved in your life? I lived at home til 20, lived with my first roommate til 25, a townhouse with a friend and my now husband for a year, an apt with my now husband for 4 years and now our house for 5 years. If you moved, do you like where you are now better than where you were? I’ve stayed in pretty much the same area, but living in our house is definitely better than the one bedroom apartment we were in. What’s your favorite color and why? Grey. Darker earthy tones. Do you have a calendar? If so, what’s the theme? Nope. Just use my watch/phone. Have any famous person’s autographs? I do on some concert tickets from when I was younger. Do you draw well? Depends on your perspective, to my non-artistic friends, they think I’m amazing. The artistic friends, probably just roll their eyes lol. What type of cell phone do you have? iPhone X. Should you be doing anything else right now or are you just bored? I finally finished the wedding I had been editing and the only other project I have right now is the paint by number of our dog I got for my husband as a gift, but he’s here, so it has to wait. Finishing that wedding was a huge weight off my shoulders.

If you’re in school/college, what’s your favorite subject and why? Not in school. Maybe now that I’m done with the wedding I’ll start exploring some learning opportunities. Are you a cat or a dog person? Why? I would’ve always said cat until I got a dog. There are a lot of things about dogs I was really not into, but I love my dog so much. Personality wise, I’m more of a cat person, but in practice I like dogs. Tell me about the plot of your favorite book. I have several. One has a ghost that rings a bell around a mounted moose’s head. Do you wear glasses or contacts? Glasses. What do you think about horror movies? I like them. I’ve seen a lot of old ones. Back in the day, my mom and I would go to Blockbuster and I’d get a different horror movie every week. If you love them (I do), what’s your favorite? Nightmare on Elm Stree is a classic for me. It Follows is probably the one that fucked me up the most. Got any cool Christmas presents picked out for family or friends yet? I’ve got all my gifts purchsed except for the hub. He sent me a ridiculous wish list that included a suit of armor and a castle and then decided he didn’t want any gifts this year. I’m running out of time to figure something out. Do you do Black Friday shopping or wait for Cyber Monday? Neither. I’m definitely not going to go out on Black Friday and deal with all those people for junk I don’t need. As for Cyber Monday, I don’t really pay much attention to any of the deals and don’t really buy more on that day than I would on any other. Have any mental illnesses? Not encompassing enough to get any kinda of diagnosis. What’s your favorite word and why? No idea.  What is the most expensive thing you own, and what is it? My car? I mean, I don’t outright own it yet. Singular item, my MacBook or iMac, I guess.  Did you buy that item yourself? Yes, I bought the macbook and iMac after I left my job at Cassano’s and needed a new laptop since my previous one was owned by the company. Where do you work and what is your position? *I am currently unemployed. How often do you cuss? A fair amount. Maybe just a little bit more than whomever I’m talking to. What type of car do you drive, if any? I have a 2012 Volvo s60. Are you happy with it? If no, what’s your dream car? I prefer to drive my car than my husbands, but I’m like 50/50 on liking it. Right now, my dream vehicles are the new Land Rover Defender or an Audi Q8. Do you have a lot of social media accounts? Which ones? I have Instagram, Facebook LinkedIn and Tumblr. I very rarely post on any of them. I use snapchat a lot, though, if that counts. What is your favorite genre of music? My Spotify year end review said I listen to Pop, Rock, Indie, Folk and Emo the most. In that order. Does your family have holiday traditions? If so, what are they? Nope. My fmaily just barely cobbles themselves together for major holidays. If you’re in a relationship, are you happy with it? Sure. People are breaking up around us, and it really makes me appreciate the relationship my husband and I have, even if it doesn’t always feel like its going as well as it is. How long have you been with your significant other? Just hit the 10 year mark. Do you like psychology? (It’s my college major). Nah. Never really been something I’m too interested in. What is something your state is popularly known for? College football I guess.  Do you like to do craft projects? If so, what’s the coolest thing you made? I do. I recently drew a bunch of Dungeons and Dragons monsters to use as ornaments on a tree in my dining room where my husband and his friends play Dungeons and Dragons on Sundays. I’ve made some painting as house warming gifts or nursery art for friends children that they’ve hung up and thats nice to see. Do you watch sports or do you think they’re overrated? Nah. Not really a fan. What’s one occupation you think gets paid too much and doesn’t deserve to? Meh, I don’t know that I want to hate on any specific occupation. The extremely rich do bother me, however, with how much money they make, often at their employees detriment. Do you straigthen your hair? Not usually. I have more lately, since its getting long again. I’m more likely to do the loose waves thing, though. Ever dyed your hair a color that isn’t natural? (blue, pink, etc) Yes, it is currently teal. How’s your relationship with your parents? Relationship with my mom is okay, none with my dad. Do you still live with them or do you have your own house? I live in my own home. What’s something you are currently saving money for to buy? Hmm, nothing. The couple of items I want at the moment, I asked for on my Christmas list. Do you smoke/vape? If so, what brand do you smoke/what device do you use? Nope, I’ve never smoked. Ever done drugs? Nope. Tell me one of your worst habits. Picking at my cuticles? What’s a weird quirk you have that no one else you know does? No idea, I kind of doubt that theres something I do that no one else ever does. If you game, what type of headset do you use? I don’t ever need a headset. What type of computer do you own, and do you like it? I have a MacBook Pro. I used to have an Air and I loved it, but my husband talked me into getting the Pro instead and I regret it.  What’s the thing that annoys you the most? When my husband asks google to make his cellphone ring at max volume without even trying to look for it. Today, it was in his pocket. What brand of TV do you have? Samsung. Are you excited for Christmas? (It’s December 1st today when I made this) Kind of? I love how cozy my house feels with all the decorations.  Tell me about your favorite vacation you’ve taken. We went to New York for my birthday/anniversary/Halloween 2 years ago. Tell me something cool about yourself. I am not cool? Did/do you get good grades in school/college? Not in my middle school/high school years. What’s your ringtone on your phone? Vibrate. What’s your favorite store to shop in? The internet. If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would buy and why? I have no idea. I’d probably sit on the money for a long time and then once I finally broke the seal, buy a bunch of stuff. How long have you had a Bzoink account? Don’t have one. Ever been to Field of Screams? If so, what’s your favorite attraction? Nope. Do you own a Polaroid camera? I have an Instax camera. Do you have hardwood floor in your room or carpet? The two bedrooms upstairs have carpet, but the rest of the house is hardwood. It’s a Saturday night, what are you typically doing? Relaxing at home, most likely. Doing a crossword puzzle, probably. Do you have a lot of friends or do you not have any at all? I have a couple. What’s your all time favorite movie and why? I don’t know, really. I watch the Iron Man movies and Thor Ragnarok the most these days. How many blankets do you sleep with at night? A sheet and comforter. What’s the last TV show you watched? Did you enjoy it? The Mandalorian. I do enjoy it.  Do you prefer cable TV or do you use Netflix? We have cable, but never really watch it. Everything we want to watch is only Netflix or Disney+. What is your dream job and why? I have no idea. Need to get to thinking on that. Do you think you would be a good therapist? I do. I think I can listen to people and help them come to their own answers pretty well. What’s your favorite brand of clothing? I don’t know that I have a favorite. Anything that fits well and has a lot of sales lol.

#dontletthemgetyoudown #peopleinmotion #survey #songs #vampire #sweetness

[acidmatze]

German farming village aesthetic part III

Because there’s so much more! Im not even living in a village anymore but a small town and yet things haven’t changed...

There never was an open restaurant or pub in your village. Never. There is a building that says its a restaurant but you can’t remember it ever being open. It doesn’t matter who you ask, no one remembers it being open. One day there is a sign on the door that it’s open. “It’s closed!” your mother insists and drags you along.

You live near the woods. You move. You still live near the woods. You move again. You live near the woods. They follow you. Once you spend your childhood near them you can never leave them.

You think moving to a bigger city will make The Noises stop. But they dont. You lie awake in summer at night, sweating and pretend you don’t hear the screaming coming from the forest

Your parents neighbour has seen raccoons in the field behind her house. Your neighbour has seen them too. You don’t know how they sound like. One night you hear blood-curdling screams and the sound of something violently fighting. “Must be the raccoons...”

You go grocery shopping. Theres a lady selling fresh fruits. She is smiling sweetly. A bit too sweet. A bit too bright. You buy peaches. Ten minutes later you are deep in the store and still feel her gaze following you.

There’s a farmers market in town. Every wednesday. Every year. They suddenly appear. You never seen anyone ever preparing for them or packing up their stuff and going home.

You hear a rusty church bell at night. There is a church down the road but its a modern one that does not have a bell.

Someone is singing folk songs. You always hear someone singing folk songs. You dont know which direction its coming from its just all around you.

You visit your grandma and she offers you tea. Its too sweet. You grandma sits next to you and wants to chat to you as normal. You never dared to complain about the sweetness

There are corn fields everywhere. No one planted corn. One day it just grew and everyone accepted their fate

Your village is located between mountain ridges. You should see the plains when facing west. But no matter where you turn there are mountains. One day you manage to reach The Plains but you cant go far. The mountains dont like to lose their dearest friends 

It is summer and hot. You look outside and the woods are shrouded in mist. It is 11 in the morning.

You try to take a new path to get to your friend. Its sand and gravel and its dusty and you can barely see whats ahead of you. You see a barn that you have never seen before. Its calling to you. Dont go

In elementary school you learned what to do in case of a thunderstorm. Not to hide under trees. That cars are the safest place to be. You also learn not to go near the mines. Do not go near the mines. Do not go near the mines

#my writing #its summer folks

[yelloskello]

Saw a post on twitter talkin abt how reviews 4 detective pikachu keep saying it sucks cause u have to have knowledge of the pokemon franchise for it (which is stupid, but thats another can of worms) and comparing it to avengers endgame's 20 movie homework assignment - which isnt hyperbole. And i was thinking of all the folks who are like 'stop crying why dont you understand how sequels work'. And it got me musing on what marvel and disney have done here to basically guarantee that they not only garner huge profits from their new movies, but that they continue to garner huge profits on basically every mcu movie theyve made since 2008.

Like. MCU movies whether i like it or not are a huge part of being... social, basically. I dont give a shit about them, but i also have almost no friends and dont give a shit about communicating with people in a general sense. But every time a new marvel movie comes out, its fuckin all people talk about. It permeates everything. Ive seen the societal pressure to continue seeing these movies even if you dont care about them, *just* so you can be part of everyday conversation for a good few months. People RUN to see the movie as soon as humanly possible because people want to avoid spoilers so desperately they completely isolate themselves from the world. And, yeah, you can apply this to literally any movie in a popular franchise or any standalone heavy hitter - what sets mcu apart is that 20 movie homework assignment.

In looking up what movies are essential to watch before endgame, the absolute shortest list i could find was 8, and that was like, bare bones. Watching those 8 movies, if youre a newbie to the franchise, you still wouldnt know who the fuck most of the heroes popping up are or why the fuck theyre there. (I have general knowledge of marvel, but i never saw ant man, so even being marginally aware of the hero when i saw civil war and he popped up, i was like 'what the fuck, whyd they kidnap celebrity paul rudd?') In order to fully understand who everybody is, i'd say you have to watch at least the first movie of every individual hero's movie line. In order to have perspective on the inner workings of characters and what has happened to them so you can see where theyre coming from, youd have to watch *all* of it. Which, i mean, if people wanna do that, u do u booboo. Some people are in love with this shit. Some people wanna be able to, like, be part of greater society and talk to their friends. I get it. Youre not gonna be able to keep up with conversation as well if you dont know who a third of the characters even are. If your friends are big fans, you better be able to talk shop, too.

What im musing on is that, like, theres no way this wasnt fully intentional. Theres no way that disney and marvel arent aware of the social influence their franchise has, and no way they werent aware of how it would be from the beginning, just by watching social trends when huge movies come out. I mean, thats what your marketing team is there for, yknow. Its literally their job. The entire mcu line was carefully crafted to make sure youre not just giving money to their new movies, but to all their old movies, since its required watching and youll experience some level of social isolation if you dont. Yeah, other franchises have done this stuff too, having multiple sequals or breaking up their sequals into several parts to make more money. But - and i might be wrong, if theres another quite this huge, im just not remembering - not to the extent the mcu has. Not *20 fucking movies*, spanning several different storylines with their own sequels that are only intermingled juuuuust enough to be important. Imagine if all the disney princess movies were intermingled. Imagine if, in order to watch moana, you had to watch everything from, oh, little mermaid on, to understand whats going on.

And then, like the big bright maraschino cherry on top, if you complain about it being inaccessible, you get social backlash. Youre socially isolated and out of the popular loop if you dont see it, but if you take issue with everything you have to do just to get there, youre chastised by your peers. The only way to win is to give marvel lots of money, and thats entirely intentional on their part.

And yes, i know, ppl can pirate movies or read summaries. I am one of the ppl who basically live by doing that, so ofc i know. But i think we can all agree that reading summaries is absolutely not the same as seeing the movie first hand, leaves out a ton of details, and gives you none of the emotional impact of the situation, so youre still socially stunted - and theres absolutely a societal trend to some people to just experience the whole thing because it just feels right. Basically as a ritual. (See: people rewatching the LOTR trilogy before going to see the hobbit movies, just to hype themselves up and turn seeing the movie into a much bigger personal event, as ONE example among mmmaaannnyyy.) And pirating? Tons of folks are vehemently morally opposed to that. (I am not, but like, doesnt mean there aint a significant number of ppl who are.)

Its clever. And also kinda horrifying, in a 'capitalism is highly manipulative and insidious' kinda way.

Im 100% sure this musing is not new or groundbreaking in any way, shape, or form, and that tons of people have been well aware of it for ages. Its just interesting to think about.

#i suppose it's worth mentioning that I also very literally work in marketing #for a large local nonprofit #so talkin about how this is all meticulously planned ain't tinfoil hatting #after seeing all the work that goes into marketing for a *local nonprofit* #and comparing it to a company with the kind of means disney and marvel would have? #I can guarantee: there are no happy accidents here. EVERYTHING is planned out to the letter.

[khaliasama]

A Bizarre Bazaar Run by Buzzing Buds

“Now, we’ve been over this a thousand times. You remember how to dock the ship, correct?” Zodvin asked from behind the pilot’s chair. He gripped the back of the once plush chair and dug his blunted talons into the long worn leather. The saggy skin that made up his outrageous frill began to lift and puff to reflex his nervous state as the battered shop came closer into view.

“Has it ever crossed your mind that the more you hover, the more pressure you place upon Possum’s shoulders?” Sobok retorted as he sauntered into the view. He joined his hunched over partner by the pilot’s chair, green eyes glued to their target destination.

“Possum can do it! Possum good pilot!” the ysoki in question piped up from the seat. The old leather chair had numerous, thick books stacked atop the cushion just to allow the rodent the ability to peek over the much-too-tall dashboard.

Without looking away, Sobok reached over and grasped Possum’s skull between his thumb and first two fingers. He gently turned their head back toward the front. “Eyes forward, always,” he reaffirmed with a low hiss.

“Right, right,” Possum replied, nodding enthusiastically the moment his parent had retraced his hand. Their big, black ears flopped up and down by the constant movement.

“Steady now...” Zodvin mumbled from behind the chair.

Their destination was a crafted structure mounted on a cluster of asteroids. Crude looking thrusters jutted out from the sides and beneath the haphazard looking building. They puttered to life once or twice. They weren’t there for movement, morso to keep the structure from drifting away. While the metal building was clearly made to resemble any other generic shop found on other planets, it still held a distinct resemblance to an old insect hive.

Above the entrance hung the structure’s namesake: Buzzar. It was written with neon letters that in no way, shape, or form resembled one another. The logo was a complete mismash of style as if each letter had been scrounged up from a different location.

Possum was able to navigate their home ship that was more built for a hulking vesk opposed to a tiny ysoki like themself straight into the rickety docking port offered by Buzzar. Zodvin flinched upon hearing metal scraping against metal. The ship came to a halt with a jerk, nearly sending the green-scaled Zodvin to the floor had he not been attached already to the pilot’s seat. As the ship powered down, Possum turned to look up at Sobok, eyes bright with excitement.

“Possum did it!” the exclaimed.

“Indeed,” Sobok replied, finally tearing his eyes away. He turned on his heel and walked toward the main exit. “From what I gathered, this area is still relatively untouched from the sudden influx of universe tearings. That doesn’t mean we should let our guards down.”

Possum hopped out of the pilot seat and landed on the metal flooring with a loud thump. They bounded after the cobra-like vesk, hot on his heels. Zodvin followed soon after, scrambling to his feet to chase the other two down.

“You think this place will ever get hit?” Zodvin asked as they descended the ramp. He cringed upon seeing the sides of their ship. It had suffered a few scrapes from the docking.

“Anything’s possible in this climate. I’d say something along the lines of ‘I hope not,’ but it’s hard to be optimistic with the events settling before us thus far,” Sobok responded. He crossed his arms behind his back and walked with purpose toward Buzzar’s entrance.

Possum had taken the lead already, bursting past their parents with little effort. This would mark their third visit to this strange sight out in the middle of space. They paused before the gaping entrance and sat back on their haunches, tilting their head upward until they nearly fell backwards from the sheer height that towered before them.

The building was shaped from long sheets of metal warped and wrapped around one another to produce a conal shape. Some of the material looked fresh while other parts looked like it had been scraped up from the bottom of a barrel. Possum’s ears twitched as it heard the electrical current flicker through the letters that made up the building’s namesake.

Their parents caught up and walked past, dipping underneath the roof of the entrance and coming upon the main doorway - the only nicely crafted part of the whole building. The doors shimmered chrome and looked brand new. Possum jumped onto Sobok’s leg and clamored up his body until they nestled in the the massive hood of their jacket as the two vesks triggered the motion sensor and walked through the metal doors. They opened and closed with a familiar whoosh, whisking the trio into a decompression chamber.

After a few minutes of waiting, they were cleared to enter Buzzar, and as per usual, it was a lackluster sight. The organization of the shelves and stock was questionable at best. Guns, rifles, and other weapons hung on the walls with no particular structure to how they were grouped. Bins of rocks and scraps of metal were left out in the open. It was nothing short of a mess.

Enough of the clutter had been cleared to allow for a large desk to be placed in the center of the main floor, manned by a single shirren. He possessed a long, centipede-like neck and head. The dim lighting reflected off his dark brown exoskeleton. As the trio approached, the shirren’s orange antennae began to twist and twitch.

“Friends!” came a cheerful greeting that projected into the trio’s minds.

Possum sat up in their makeshift nest. “Friend!” they yelled into the stillness of the messy shop. Their voice was the only one to echo off the dark and dusty walls.

“Yes, yes! It’s wonderful to see you again, little fuzzy friend.” The shirren clicked his mandibles and splayed his hands atop the countertop, brushing aside bits of a radio that had been taken apart.

“Possum! My name is Possum!” the ysoki continued, practically barking from Sobok’s jacket hood.

“My apologies, Possum. You chose that name and I should be mindful of that choice!”

“This place looks as rundown as the last time we saw it, Nact,” Zodvin mumbled as he approached the counter. He swiped a green finger along the desks edge and lifted the dusty pad closer to his eyes. His face scrunched with mild disgust upon further inspection. “Have any of you ever thought about cleaning the place up a bit? No wonder you guys hardly see much business out here.”

Nact tilted his head, eyes unblinking as he stared up at the frilled vesk. “We do clean.”

“Not enough! Look at this place...there’s shit everywhere!”

“But of course! It’s a shop!”

Zodvin pinched the bridge of his snout. “That’s not...no proper shop looks like this.”

Nact’s bright orange antenna twitched at the response. “I suppose we can afford to dust a little more,” he admitted.

Sobok cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the other two. “As enthralling as your conversation about excessive dust build up is, that isn’t the sole reason we decided to visit,” he stated. He rummaged about in his pocket before procuring a piece of metal and placing it on the desk. The light caught the chrome sheen of the surface as he slid it forward.

“We pulled apart an old, abandoned freighter. Wondered if you could use the scrap,” Sobok continued as he kept his eyes trained on the shirren before him.

Nact grasped the scrap between his clawed hands and brought it closer to his face. His head tilted to the left than right as his antenna caressed the worn metal. A few moments passed before he pushed it toward his mandibles and chewed on the piece. With a satisfied hum, Nact placed the scrap back upon the desk.

“We can work with this! Not the best condition, but not the worst either,” he hummed in their minds as he dipped out of view.

“We’ll bring the rest in, then,” Sobok replied before tilting his head to glance over his shoulder. “Possum, why don’t you go find the others while we do that? I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you.”

“But Possum want to help!” the ysoki exclaimed, sitting up in protest.

“And we appreciate the help, but Possum is scrawny in comparison,” Zodvin chimed in as he lifted Possum from their perch and set them on the ground.

“K’sen and Thil are upstairs sorting gun parts,” Nact chimed in, though he still hadn’t reappeared from his temporary hiding spot.

“Go on, now. We have boring adult stuff to talk about,” Zodvin said, nuding Possum with his foot.

With a soft grumble, Possum hoped away from the main gathering point and set themselves to scurrying up the nearby stairs. Navigating a building meant for larger folk would have been more difficult if Possum weren’t naturally adept at scaling all sorts of obstacles. Their legs couldn’t comfortably climb the massive set of stairs laid out before them, but Possum cleared this hurdle by hopping up each step with little effort. They sneezed on the way up; the amount of dust present tickled their sensitive nose.

Unused scrap metal seemed to be the biggest commodity the trio of shirren collected in their shop, making it look more like a hoarder’s paradise opposed to a facility used to buy and sell goods. Upon reaching the second floor, Possum paused their movements and lifted their ears. This floor was as flat and open as the last, but far more cluttered. Mismatched armor hung on mannequins of all shapes and sizes. They each lacked any kind of head shape, seemingly torn or eaten away by time.

Toward the far back, Possum’s ears caught movement. They bounded in the direction, hopping over empty ammo cartridges and pass a fuel tank. “Possum here!” the announced, stepping into view and spotting the other two shirren that shared business responsibility within Buzzar.

The two in question looked up, mandibles clicking and antenna feeling the air. The one closest to Possum was the taller of the two. They were beetle-like in nature with a shimmering iridescent carapace that seemed to change color each time they shifted under the dim light.

“Possum!” they called into the ysoki’s mind. “What a pleasant surprise!” They turned toward the other shirren, waving one of their clawed hands in the process. “Look, dear, it’s Possum!”

The final shirren tilted her head. She was the most traditional looking out of the trio of Buzzar with her heavily locust-like appearance. “I see that. Did you bring more scrap for us?” she called into their head.

“Yep! They bring it in while Possum told to come find you,” Possum replied as they pushed a nearby stool over and hopped onto it. Their feet dangled high above the ground as their body only covered maybe half of the stool’s surface. “What keep Thil and K’sen busy?”

“Sorting!” Thil, the iridescent beetle, chirped in Possum’s mind. “We’re a bit behind on shoring this place up.”

“How many others visit?” Possum asked.

“Can’t say it’s a whole lot,” K’sen, the locust-looking shirren, admitted. “If it weren’t for your parents helping us, we’d be gonners.”

“Why no big visits?” Possum continued. They began to kick their legs, watching how the shirren meticulously worked sorting gun parts into all kinds of piles. As they glanced over each small stack, they couldn’t help but wonder what the thought process was as nothing seemed to have a coherent pattern. If they squinted hard enough, they could maybe assume assume the choices were based on color.

K’sen shrugged, eyes focused on the work before her. “Competition for one thing. It could be argued that bigger chains do our job better, but they don’t have the same charm we do.”

“We’ve tried spreading the word, but people seem to be actively avoiding this area lately,” Thil added. “Almost as if something drove them off.”

Possum tilted their head. “What makes Thil say that?”

The long, segmented antenna that Thil sported grew still as the shirren fell into deep thought. “Just a feeling.”

“Not this again,” K’sen sighed in Possum’s mind. She paused her movements as she looked up at her partner. “You’ve been on about this for a while.”

“About what?” Possum interjected.

The somewhat cheery atmosphere had turned more chilly. The shirren glanced at each other before looking to Possum.

“Don’t worry about it, Possum. It’s nothing,” Thil tried to reassure the ysoki.

Possum tilted their head, dark eyes looking over the brightly colored shirren with intense curiosity. The two resumed their work, dropping into a comfortable silence once more. Possum didn’t try to press the issue. They had a feeling if they tried to continue the conversation, it would only end up with their friends becoming irritable. Wanting to avoid that outcome, Possum let themselves embrace the silence.

Twenty minutes passed with sparse conversation before Possum’s ears perked up at the sound of heavy footsteps ascending the nearby flight of stairs. They turned their head toward the source of the noise and spotted Zodvin’s green head poking above the numerous mounds of scraps.

“Possum! It’s time to go!” he called.

Possum hopped off the stool and pushed it back to its original spot. “Bye, bye!” the shouted at the shirren as they hopped off toward their parent. When the frilled vesk came into view, Possum jumped at him and climbed up his body. They found a perch on his shoulders.

“Ready to go?” Zodvin asked as he made his way back down the stairs.

“Uh-huh! Parents bring everything in?” Possum asked.

“Yep. We’re good to go.”

“Have good conversation?”

“Have great conversation.”

“Great!!” Possum chirped as they stepped back onto the first floor.

Nact had resumed his tinkering with the old, taken apart radio. Sobok awaited their return by the entrance. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Upon spotting the two, he pushed himself away and dropped his posture.

“Bye, Nact! See next time!” Possum called to the centipede before disappearing from the shop. They received an equally cheerful response.

As the trio approached their ship, Possum became antsy with energy. “Possum can drive again?” they asked, looking between Zodvin and Sobok.

An immediate reply wasn’t given, causing them to deflate a little. “Sure, Possum. Just be careful,” Zodvin finally said.

Possum tugged on the hanging skin that made up Zodvin’s frill. “Dad okay?”

“What? Yeah, Possum, don’t worry. Just a little tired from hauling a bunch of shit in.”

Something about his response made Possum frown. The entrance to their ship opened up and Possum hopped off of Zodvin’s shoulders. They ran up the ramp, far ahead of their parents, and straight into the ship. The state of their interior was a stark contrast to what lied within Buzzar. While the shirren owned shop had a clear layer of dust inhabiting every corner, the vesk ship was near spotless. Possum hopped into the pilot seat and eagerly awaited their parents’ arrival.

Normally, the two vesk were just as eager to board and blast off, but their movements now seemed sluggish and careful. The shift in mood was noticeable to Possum. “Where we go?” they called to the vesk as they stepped into view.

“Hmm...not sure yet. We’ll figure that out once we get a ways out of here,” Sobok said offhandedly.

Possum tilted their head again, large ears flopping over with the movement. “Dad okay?”

Sobok patted Possum’s head. “Dad fine,” he said with a smile.

The ship ignited to life, engines roaring like a massive beast. They pulled away from the quirky shirren shop attached to a cluster of asteroids and watched it grow smaller and smaller. The horribly mismatched letter signs were the last things to wink out of sight.

#khalia attempts writing #possum #it's starfinder related

[gatedcommunityfish]

30 questions tag

Rules: Tag the person who tagged you, answer the questions and tag 20 people! @subarulesbian i am finally doing this wow also thank u for the excuse to air my shit ily

1. How tall are you? 5′6″...the same height as hugh jackman so

2. What color and style is your hair? like snape but light brown and not as greasy

3. What color are your eyes? brown baybeee

4. Do you wear glasses? yeee bitch theyre very cute

5. Do you wear braces? nope!

6. What is your fashion style? goth lite to full goth but everything's blue not black, always got my rings and my little bell necklace for wardin off bad spirits bc i value my life

7. Full name? thomas? maybe? idk thom is fine maybe i need a new name

8. When were you born? april 28th 1998 babes thats taurus sun gemini moon gemini rising

9. Where are you from and where do you live now? im from santa cruz california n i live in oakland now for school, also lol the other day i saw someone avoid so much info so that people didnt know where they lived on the internet and wow forgot people cared about that

10. What school do you go to? mills college which i love and also fucking hate but thats institutions folks

11. What kind of student are you? i work my ass off and pretend i dont but tbh i just dont like talking about grades like i loovveee to talk about philosophy or art but like lets be real school doesnt mean shit. tbh i just love learning so when school doesnt grate my brain bc mental illness i honestly love it an embarrasing amount

12. Do you like school? lol i kinda answered this but like yeah theoretically and ussually practically big nerd alert but also im lucky to have a parent that doesnt care that i study useless shit that makes me happy

13. What are your favourite school subjects? book arts bitch!! lets be honest....paper is sexy

14. Favorite TV shows? mmmm idk really i havent been watching ANYTHING and all the stuff i used to love im like eh, i guess the good place i like, oh and i love anne of green gables bc its cute and pretty and i have @molly-b-denum to talk about it with, oh, ya know what, i LOVED downten (??) abbey

16. Favorite books? the seed to harvest series by octavia butler, honestly all octavia butler, and annihilation by jeff vandermeer, and all about love by bell hooks

17. Favourite past-time? painting, makin books, n singing at the top of my lungs but like where do i find the space to do that someone please sing w me

18. Do you have any regrets? uhhhhh yeah but i dont blame myself for making the decisions i did at the time

19. Dream job? hermit that people make pilgrimage to for advice and discussion

20. Would you like to get married? mmmmm yeah i love to plan and decorate and to look cute so, i want a huge train and the fanciest outfit uve ever seen!! but also idk about it as an institution so who knows

21. Would you like to have kids someday? yep! i absolutely love kids and i think i would be a good parent

22. How many? four, both my mom and i have three siblings and its like the perfect amount of love and fuckery

23. Do you like shopping? hellllll yeah!!! i love fashion and getting dressed up for my everyday and finding something that makes me feel like a wizard, looking this cute takes work 

24. What countries have you visited? well im from the us, ive been to mexico and guatemala, n the uk n ireland

25. What’s the scariest nightmare you’ve ever had? i used to have reoccuring nightmares about my family being bodysnached, 

26. Do you have any enemies? theres people i fucking hate but we dont interact and i dont think about them so i dont think that counts

27. Do you have a s/o? yeeeeeeee shes cute always wanted a goth gf ya know

28. Do you believe in miracles? mmmm idk i feel like miracles implies a god and im more of a magic bitch myself

lol theres only 28 questions but tbh thats fine 

i tag: anyone who wants to do this like really tag me i love to snoop

[houseofvans]

ART SCHOOL | Q&A w/ FRENCH (UK)

Influenced by heavy metal, fantasy artwork, and 80′s skate graphics. artist Richard Sayer, aka FRENCH, summons through his art the images of decrepit skulls, mummified skeletons, and creatures from the deep abyss, all with a “good dose of dayglo colours.” Not only one thing, FRENCH has been taking his dark arts to various mediums from animation, claymation, printmaking to textiles. His works have been shown all over the world, his graphics have appeared for various skate companies and brands –from Creature, Independent, to Santa Cruz–, and he once had his art show in Sweden visited by band 'Entombed.‘ We’re stoked to chat with FRENCH about his art, his process, and his influences as he gears up for his upcoming art show at New Image Art Gallery Dec. 16th in LA. 

Photographs courtesy of the artist.

Introduce yourself.   My name is French, well actually my real name is actually Richard Sayer, but since I was about 12 I’ve had the nick name of French and its just stuck ever since. I got the name ‘cos I bought a t-shirt on holiday in France and then when I came back I got given grief from all the other skaters for buying it. There’s a long standing resentment between the English and a the French a little like the States and Canada, so I guess it was meant as an insult to call me 'French’. I’m an artist / illustrator based in the UK, but I just spent the past 3 and half years living in Melbourne, Australia.  I make artwork for many different brands and industries, including the skate industry, fashion, print, music and advertising. 

I run a small skateboard brand with my friend Alex Irvine called Witchcraft hardware. I currently make all the artwork for an Australian brand called 'Death Rites’ run by my friend Shawn Yates.  

I exhibit my artwork widely, I have exhibited in the states, Europe, Asia, Australia, Israel and the UK. More recently my work is generally a bit darker, looks a bit like a cross between old metal album art, fantasy artwork and skate graphics from the 80’s but with a sense of humour and a good dose of dayglo colours. I’ve just started to work more with ceramics and also with animation as well. I like to work in many different fields and medias and I think that helps improve my work in all areas.

Your drawings are always filled with rad imagery like skulls, skeletons, dragons to crazy creatures.  What were your early influences art wise? I grew up surrounded by heavy metal records and music, my brother was a huge metal fan, which caused me to be. He was also super into 'Fighting Fantasy’ books, 'Warhammer’ , 'Dungeons and Dragons’ & all kinds of fantasy stuff, I think that just filtered its way into my brain and seeps out through my artwork. Obviously skateboarding and the artwork involved in that was a massive influence on me, when I was a kid I was obsessed with old Santa Cruz graphics and as I got older I was always more drawn to the skulls and puss versions of graphics, rather than the clean edge stuff. I grew up in a military town in the south of England so I think being surrounded by war monuments, soldiers and those sort of images it brought me more visually to it. My brother used to make me watch movies after school, before my mum got home from work, there would be a lot of John Carpenter movies, Arnie, horror movies of the 90’s had so many rad monster and animatronics that I think thats stuck with me as well, the covers for those old VHS tapes we seriously imaginative.  

What are your all time favorite materials you like to use? Any new mediums you’re interested in trying? I like working in pencil first and then ink over the top. Recently I’ve started to paint in colours to the artwork, I wouldn’t say it was painting as I just add areas of solid colours, nearly always dayglo or fluorescent paints. Saying its not painting, I think everything I do is drawing, for example I just started to make some ceramic pieces and I definitely come at 3D in the same way as I would drawing, but I think that makes it my own. I’m interested to see what the ceramic works come out like in the end as its still early days and I haven’t fully glazed a piece yet. 

You’ve created art for tons of things from skateboards to albums to clothing. How did you get started creating graphics or art for some of your favorite brands?  And tell us about your current or upcoming collaborations with Vans? I got started making artwork for people way back in the days when you had to show people a physical portfolio. I actually used to make post cards and small zines and then go and look up peoples details in Borders, like look in the magazines I liked for the art directors details and then send them a zine and post card and ask if I could take them my portfolio. I also used to just send people my zines and then call the office and see if they’d got it and if I could come and see them. I used to send so much stuff it was mad, it was a bit like 'if you through enough mud at the wall it starts to stick’ and I got work from a few people and from then on it kinder worked for me. 

I think the best way of getting work, is by having work. You do one job for one brand, people see it and want something from you and so on. I worked in a few different skate shops and at a skate distro as well so I got to know people at brands I liked and respected and sent them my work and then I gradually got more work in the skate industry. That’s pretty much how I got to do work for Creature, Independent, Santa Cruz, Real etc. I met Nick Street & Jasper Jones who worked for Vans europe and they started to hook me up with small jobs for Vans and gradually I got more and more through Vans, not just in Europe but also in the states and world wide. It’s funny, cos I actually worked in the Vans store when it first opened in London. 

I’m currently making work for a solo exhibition at New Image Art in Los Angeles which opens in December and Vans have very kindly offered to support the project and help me make a bunch of artwork for the show. I making drawings, animations, ceramics, enamel wall hangings, trophies, flocked screen prints and bunch of weird and wonderful merch. I’m really excited for it all, as well as stressed about making all this stuff. Recently you’ve been making some giant prints which we’ve seen on your IG.How did this come about? What’s your background with print making? How’d you get into it? The big dayglo paper ones? Yeah that was purely that I was having a few exhibitions in skate shops and smaller shop venues when I lived in Aus and I found that trying to sell original artwork to skate kids or metal heads is dumb. They can’t afford to buy originals and I can’t afford to sell it that cheap, but if I can make a print or zine and sell it for the price of a beer or a board then that audience is stoked. I’d rather be able to give something to those guys that love what I do and want to support it, but might not have a the cash to buy an original. I was working on and off at my friends printers in Melbourne and he just said that he would make me some huge digital prints on the fluro paper, the same as they used for band bill board posters and so I made a few and people seemed to dig them, so I made more. Its fun, cos its digital, theres no real set up cost and you can make as few or as many as you like. So if no one seems to like one image you can just ditch and make another. Also I really liked the bright coloured papers and the black ink, its a bit like a 1 colour black light print.  

What’s your process like for making art?  Do you keep a sketchbook or just get at it in the studio? I usually just work in my studio, in my house. I often work from reference images and pull together images and photos in photoshop and then draw from that in pencil, then re-work it again in pencil, adding the detail and finally ink it. If need extra computer stuff I scan it and do that after.

Who are some of your favorite artists you think folks should check out? Some my current fav’s are : Parker Jackson, Daniel Cantrell, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Grady Gordon, Will Sweeney, Ragnar Persson, Paul Parker, Aaron Storck.

What are your favorite kind of Vans? I always skate in black and white original old schools or sk8 hi’s, I don’t do colours. But since the new pro’s came out I’ve been really into them, the inner sole has saved my knees.  

Can you tell us your best or weirdest art story? I dunno if I have any weird ones really, its all pretty boring really, I just make artwork. I have a ton of weird skate trip stories, drunken stories, but art ones not really. Once one of the dudes from the band 'Entombed’ came to my art show in Sweden? 

What’s on the horizon for 2018? What you super stoked on coming up? I dunno yet, I’m just trying to get to the end of 2017 and make the exhibition at New Image Art the best I can. I’ll keep you posted!  

Follow FRENCH Website | www.funeralfrench.com Instagram | @funeralfrench

#Art #Vans #vans art #vansskate #french #funeral french #drawing #skulls #new image #interview #ceramics