#where i don't necessarily need to know the source material

[paganposting]

How I Made My Altar

Creating an altar is something that varies a lot by tradition, but this is a guide on how i personally made and maintain mine. Hopefully this is helpful to someone!

Step One- Planning and Sourcing

In my tradition, there isn't necessarily a huge difference in making personal vs deity altars. As I've heard several of my teachers say- an altar is the place in your home where magic is always welcome. if you wish to add to that by including deities that are always welcome or honored in that space, great! if a deity does request their own specific altar, no problem!

The more complicated aspect for me, is that i feel deeply i must be in right relationship with the items on my altar. Part of this is everything being ethically sourced. All things on this table were either found by me, purchased from a small local business I trust, or received as a gift. These items have been accumulated over the last 5 years of my practice. If you are just starting out and feel as i do about sourcing, you might have a lot of arts and crafts projects ahead.

What aspects of your practice you feel are necessary to represent on your altar? Should you have artwork? Plants? Symbols or sigils?

What work will be done at your altar and which tools should be there? Are you doing meditation that requires a nice smelling herb or oil? Will you be doing spells on it that require big empty space?

Step Two- Find or Make Materials

My recommendation if you don't have the budget to buy a specific dedicated table/ shelf for your altar is to clear a space where you feel the most presence of magic in your life. My earliest altars were cleared off spots on bookshelves and in the kitchen.

Now that you have a list of themes or specific items you want on your altar, go on a nature walk and find things that call to you. Whenever I go to new or interesting places, I keep my eyes peeled for things that might be useful in my practice. Don't take too much, and ask permission from the land before leaving with anything. If the item feels oddly heavy as you walk away with it- give it back.

Step Three- Assemble

The main thing i do at my altar is meditate and pray to deities. Because i view this space as my gods' front door, i care a lot about it looking aesthetically pleasing. I am not part of a tradition where it matters what things go on the left or right, the elements are not associated with cardinal directions, and deities aren't really unsatisfied sharing an altar with each other (even if they may not get along in some lore). Because of this, i just lay things out intuitively, aiming for some symmetry. I also prefer to do spells outdoors, so my altar doesn't need to have a workable space beyond a nice spot to charge things.

Do I feel the need for my altar to have directional correspondences?

Is it important to me to optimize aesthetics?

I work a lot with the seasons, and this is meant to have some nice summertime vibes. With the harvest season coming up, i'll definitely redecorate it.

If anyone has questions please let me know

go n-éirí leat! good luck!

#paganism #pagan community #paganblr #witchblr #witchcraft #baby pagan #baby witch #baby witch tips #altar #pagan altar #altar ideas #altar setup #my altar

[wispscribbles]

hi i just discovered your beautiful art so i obviously needed to scroll down your whole blog to catch up on everything you posted haha

i just wanted to say that i got way too emotional after reading that post of yours regarding mw3 and your mental health… on one hand i’m so sorry that you felt that way, but on the other i feel it with my whole heart

ghoap content especially for me helped me these past few months with my mental health in ways i would never have expected, it was my solace and inspiration, i started working out too and got back into drawing, got a lot better at it as well!

but unfortunately i get way too fixated on fictional stuff and there comes a time that my brain switches up and connects the things i liked and comforted me with things that make me extremely uncomfortable and stressed out, especially if i fall down a fandom rabbit hole that i would never have searched up, beacuse i know myself, i know my limits and triggers but i feel like i’m not a part of the fandom if i don’t like and interact with every single headcanon, art and ship

these past days i was really down because of that, and the things i read (why did i do that???) and now when i think of ghoap i think of that stuff and im scared that i alienated myself from the one thing that made me happy

but discovering your art and with that your post reminded me that im not alone in these feelings, even if it’s not the same exactly, and i wanted to thank you, for sharing your thoughts that time i guess haha <33

((sorry for rambling))

Long reply under 'keep reading' !! CW: talk of triggers and MCD

Always feel free to ramble my way!!! How nice you could find some comfort in my art and ghoap stuff. Especially in my mw3 post. I've been considering deleting it a few times, but hearing it maybe helped to read in some way makes me happy I left it up.

I get where you're coming from - I very much use these fictional characters as a safe space, but ppl view them very differently. There's room for it all, "don't like, don't interact" is very much a policy I agree with. It's important to mute words and be aware of your own triggers as you browse stuff in this fandom, because there's such a wide variety of stuff out there. You do NOT have to interact and agree with every thought people have on this ship, that's impossible and super stressful. There's plenty of stuff and headcanons I don't vibe with. There are no 'requirements' that you have to meet in order to enjoy fiction.

It's part of why I enjoy ghoap - that their dynamic resonates and has sparked so much creativity and outlets for so many - but it also means there's gonna be a lot of stuff u don't necessarily agree with or feel comfortable with. For example, a lot of folks use the MCD in mw3 as a way to explore grief, which I think is really cool, but on a bad day that could potentially get my brain in a bad headspace, so I only check out that art and those fics when I feel okay. There's also a bunch of stuff I'd never want to interact with, and that’s fine !!

I'm personally quite vanilla and a sucker for exploring the softer, more domestic aspects of these characters. It's what brings me joy. I know there are parts of this fandom who don’t vibe with what I make at all, and would call it untrue to the characters. Some creators enjoy exploring the more violent or toxic sides to the source material. That's just how it is, we all need different things from fiction. As long as we're capable of chilling in our respective sandboxes, then all's good.

But if you're like me, and enjoy the softer things, then definitely be aware and careful while exploring this ship and fandom. I've seen takes on these characters that are so far removed from how I view them, that they're basically the complete opposite, and it can leave a very bad taste, especially if you're the type to hinge your safe space on fiction.

Just... be mindful of yourself and your potential triggers, be respectful and don't interact with things that make you uncomfortable to the point of feeling unsafe. Shape your own online experience to your best ability.

Hope you're doing okay and still find joy in ghoap <3

#ask #anon ask #long post #mcd #mcd mention #major character death #mw3 spoilers #ish #few extra thoughts in tags: #sry it took a while to respond. i wanted to give a proper answer #hope this makes sense or helps somehow #and if interacting with this fandom continues to have a negative impact on your mental health then take a break #i understand using fiction as an outlet or safe space (i do it) but if the bad starts outweighing the good then try to distance yourself #don't dive into those rabbit holes that u know will make u feel bad #i understand the urge but its so important to protect yourself online #I’m far from an expert on this stuff so this is just my two cents #stay safe!!

[dootznbootz]

I don't think Greek Mythology retellings/adaptions/inspired/etc. are necessarily "evil"...but I DO think people REALLY need to understand that there's a huge difference between the actual mythology and certain media.

I feel like people have to basically do a "Fandom ___" to say the different versions. Like "PJO ___", "Hades game ___", "TSOA ___". For it to be understood that these depictions are DIFFERENT. I'm saying this as someone who grew up reading PJO and still has a soft spot for it. But as someone who really loves Greek Mythology as well, I sometimes get really SAD.

I'm going to use the comparison of Howl's Moving Castle with it's Book Vs. Movie. I enjoy both!!! But they are honestly very different. In the movie there is no "sister swap", Markle isn't a young teenager, Sophie doesn't throw weed killer at Howl, and many more moments. But I enjoy both because even though there are changes they still keep components that are ingrained into the characters!

In some Greek Myth retellings/adaptations/stories/etc., characters are...SO different from the source material. That's fine...Choose what you want with your story... But folks should know that the modern adaptations are NOT the source material!!!

It bothers me that a lot of these wonderful myths and stories are twisted up and seen so differently because of a modern version of them. You can have that character be "awful" or a certain way in your story. But I almost feel that as fans, it's not good to generalize them or see it as "This is the truth". People are hating the mythological figure when it's only in that interpretation they are like that.

In PJO, Ares is "Zeus' favorite", isn't a good dad, a misogynist, etc. The actual myths? One of his Epithets is LITERALLY "Feasted by Women", in the Iliad everybody basically bullies him with Zeus literally saying he hates him. He cries when he learns one of his sons is killed in the war. He literally kills someone about to rape his daughter. Ares isn't perfect but it makes me sad with how he's viewed and talked about when it's only in PJO he's like that. Same with Dionysus. Read the Bacchae, you'll love it.

In Lore Olympus, Apollo rapes Persephone (noticing the fact that modern takes on the myths add rapes where there never were hmmmmm) when he never did in any of the myths.

In TSOA, Thetis is cruel when in the Iliad, she is such a loving mother to Achilles. She grieved alongside her son over Patroclus. Also with Agamemnon. In Ipheginia at Aulis, Agamemnon is a MESS. He adored his children.

In Circe, Odysseus is viewed as a selfish man who ONLY hurts others and doesn't care about his family when that is LITERALLY his one consistent character trait. HE is actually the one who is the victim of rape. Circe was never raped.

Medusa is only a victim in Ovid's, a Roman man, works. Not in GREEK mythology. She was just a cool monster. Leave Perseus alone. Poseidon and Medusa actually had a consensual relationship in Greek Mythology!

These adaptations/retellings/inspired by/etc. whatever anybody wants to call them, are not the real myths! They may be similar in some ways but to just generalize them or hate the deity/mythological figure because of something they did in the new media feels fucked up!

You can enjoy these new stories. There's nothing wrong with that!!! But know they're not the real myths. Maybe even label it as "I hate ____'s version of ____". As that makes it clear what version you're talking about.

#I'm probably wording this very weird. I'm sorry for that haha #idk I'm getting sad #I'm clutching the gods and my special lil heroes to my chest to protect them from the hate. #this is silly but...idk had to say it :( #anti circe #anti madeline miller #sorry but that book makes me the sad™ #greek mythology #tagamemnon #Mad rambles #shot by odysseus #PJO is special to me but I'm protecting the Gods >:( They can suck in PJO. to say the suck in the myths when you don't know the actual #myths is...sad #tw rape #<because so many adaptations ALSO add them when they're not there!!!! #save me morally gray circe #essay

[2024-grimoire-challenge]

December Prep 2

Let's look into a couple of things this week The first is how to properly study, research and gather information and the second is the various kinds of prompts you will see in the challenge throughout the year.

The basic steps in any research process are

Identify and develop your topic (we will have multiple so it will be important to follow the same steps for each topic.)

Preliminary search for information - we will be gathering a list of resources for everyone before the challenge begins including websites, a list of recommended books, and more.

Locate the information/ materials - Gather all your sources into one place! A folder on your pc, or a bookmark bar in your browser can go a long way to helping you keep this organized.

Evaluate and use Discernment on your informational sources.

Take notes! - self explanatory. Using the resources at your disposal, take notes on your selected topic, gather all of those notes, and keep them organized. You don't need to think of this in exact terms of a research paper, but the idea is the same! All of your notes will be helpful in actually filling and creating the pages for your grimoire! But, you also can just keep the notes as they are in your grimoire!

Now lets get on to the types of prompts you will see!

Meditation/ Journal - these will generally be the end of every week and after every practical prompt, so you can look back at what you've done and learned, in order to help you process what you'd done and how you feel and think about it.

Research/ Study - these will include things like herbs, gems, types of magical practices and topics, tools, history

Practical/ Hands on - at least one a week, where you get your hands dirty, so to speak, and really perform some magic or do the work you're studying.

Submissions - I encourage everyone to share their thoughts, ideas, and physical progress within the challenge. You don't have to share pictures, if you're not comfortable, but thoughts and ideas and a short post about what you accomplished!

Holiday/ Seasonal posts - We'll have posts for the typical holidays and some that not so common.

Divination prompts - On occasion we'll have a divination prompt. It won't necessarily require you to perform any divination if you're not comfortable or don't know how, but the option will be there!

Cooking prompt - We've all seen those cool witchy inspired cooking posts on this site. So why not do one? Why not learn to make bread? Or mead? Or cute little pastries? Or anything. This'll be a new prompt, one I encourage everyone to take part in and share!

There may be more of these added as we go, but in general this is all of the types of posts we'll be seeing!

What else is there to do?

Well if you’ve already got notes somewhere (a notebook or files on your computer or what have you) you’re gonna want to actually design a grimoire right? And this is a grimoire challenge right? So let’s look at different design and style options!

If you’ve seen the video I posted of my grimoire pages, they’re very scrapbook/ junk journal styled. Which is a fun and totally customizable option.

Let’s look at some note taking methods, to help us take notes as well as design our grimoire pages, and some scrapbook supplies and ideas for ways to decorate our grimoires.

https://crm.org/news/note-taking-methods#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20different%20methods,and%20Bullet%20Method%2C%20among%20others.

These are just a few links for some ideas.

Your grimoire should suit you, no matter how you choose to design and decorate it. It could be a scrapbook like mine, a bullet note journal, or a leather bound tome with thick ink lettering in a cipher that only you can read. However you want to design it, it should be an expression of you and your practice.

I am excited to be running this challenge again, and to be helping all of your find inspiration for your practices and grimoires!

Good luck and happy crafting!

Mod Hazel

#2024 grimoire challenge #grimoire #grimoire challenge #witch #witchy #witchcraft #pagan #paganism #witchy challenge #spell book #spells #witch spells #Witchblr #2024 GC #witch challenge #book of shadows #magick #magic #magical book #grimoire inspiration

[i-like-rocks22]

I watched the Squid Game reality series so you don't have to.

1. It is just as grim and psychologically intense as the show. I went into it not knowing anything about the set up and expecting the format to have been changed to be less nightmarish; maybe the games would be fun versions, maybe smaller prizes would be available for individuals or teams, or different stages of the game would have different casts. Nope.

2. It isn't funny. It's overly dramatised (it's produced in the style of US reality shows so it really focuses on the worst in people). Something I didn't expect and was absolutely astounded to see is that the contestants have to fake being shot as a black inkpack on their chest explodes when they're eliminated. Some of them have a bit of fun doing an over dramatic fall to the ground. Most just sit down looking completely destroyed which, when you consider the format and the reasons people are there (severely in debt, can't retire, disabled children that need care) it's just absolutely vile.

(Honourable mention to the only funny bit of editing in the show: when the remaining 20 contestants get together in a circle to discuss the next task, the very American team captain gives a motivational pep talk consisting entirely of buzz words, then goes 'let's pray' and it immediately swaps to focus on the remaining Brits who look absolutely horrified (for those outside of the UK most Brits are either non-religious or very quietly religious and find overt showings of religion like group prayer really weird)).

3. Deeply uncomfortable by the editing and voiceover choices that repeatedly portrayed black people, particularly black women, as the 'villains'. It was very very noticeable. There was a particular interaction where a black woman was shown in a very negative light, and I am still unclear on what happened during the show (due to the choppy and unclear editing) and cagey responses from contestants in interviews after. VERY very strange, and has led to that black contestant receiving a lot of hate.

4. The amount of contestants breaking down emotionally through the show makes so much sense not only when you consider the conditions they were being kept in, but the sheer amount of bonus psychological fuckery that was included. Not just the main tasks but additional challenges, individual tasks, and public votes for eliminations. A lot of these happened at random in the dorm rooms meaning they had no true safe space in which to relax. The filming was evidently over at least a week and I can't imagine how emotionally exhausted they must have been. I hope the contestants would have been offered some therapy on leaving but I don't think that's likely.

5. The one shining light in the whole show was how, very differently to the original series, individuals started to work together much earlier and more thoroughly through the tasks. Lots of people offered support and words of kindness to those struggling and appeared to really bond. In the end, while a grim and unsatisfying watch, that was the one thing I took away.

I am perfectly happy to watch some trashy TV from time to time and I don't believe every thing you watch should necessarily be dissected for it's greater meaning. But, not surprisingly when considering the source material, this was so far beyond trashy; it was exploitative and depressing and I can't believe it actually got (excuse the pun) green lit.

TL:DR; the black mirror episode that would be based off of squid game? Yeah that was it.

#squid game #squid game the series #review #squid game 2023 #i have thoughts #who the fuck came up with this #genuinely felt so awful for a lot of the contestants #reality tv #black mirror #maybe the real Torment Nexus is the friends we made along the way #Torment Nexus #capitalism #have i said fuck capitalism? #because fuck capitalism

[cloud-based-and-rainpilled]

Nerdy “Aziraphale and Crowley are super in love” Analysis time! (Filmmaking and acting edition)

(Very late but I promise it’s worth it)

Imo the moment Aziraphale realizes he’s in love with Crowley is Ep 3 when the Apocalypse is looming and Crowley flippantly says, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you”

Aziraphale gives the look

And it all changes

From an acting perspective, Crowley takes a confident and almost defiant stance. Despite walking away, his arms are wide open. He constantly shrouds himself in being aloof and bad, so this exaggerated gesture is the way he shows his true feelings. This is the world I can provide you. Please take it.

From a filmmaking perspective, this is a wide shot, showing Crowley and Aziraphale's physical and emotional distance. Crowley is in focus, pointing out to the right. In Western filmmaking, characters moving left to right indicate progress

This doesn't apply to countries where they write right to left or up and down. Anime flows up and down for this reason, but that's another story

Crowley has his back to the camera because his reaction doesn't matter here. He knows what he wants; his needs are clear to himself and the audience

Aziraphale's reaction here is massive. As a new viewer (still 3 eps to go,) I first interpreted their relationship as an unusual companionship. The montage at the beginning of this episode shows their progress from having a mutual agreement to an alliance to a friendship

But this look

That’s the change

The camera pushes in as Aziraphale realizes what Crowley is implying, and he's overwhelmed to the point of burgeoning tears. It's not quite a Hitchcock/Jaws zoom, but it similarly presses the subject closer and tighter into the camera claustrophobically.

Subconsciously, as the audience, we now feel his feelings pressed into him

Part of Aziraphale's reaction is his high moral standard of being an angel. While here he calls Crowley a demon, he has previously insisted, because he is a fallen angel, there is hope for goodness still.

He sees his future as a possibility in Crowley, which would destroy his known world. His moral code however is much more malleable than he would like to think, but to admit that would be failure of doing his duty as an angel

But just this acting choice, his quivering palpable fear, this reaction is much more than, “I don’t want to kill a child/not be an angel.” If he agrees to go with Crowley, the ‘side’ he’s picking isn’t good or evil, it’s love

As the characters are asexual/nonbinary (I think?,) I don’t think canonically the fact that it’s a homosexual relationship is necessarily the issue. However, the metaphor of choosing to walk away from everything you know and believe and the rigid standards of goodness, and instead choosing to be with someone who will inevitably lead you to be cast out from your world, is (unfortunately) a universal gay experience, especially considering the source material is from the late 1980’s

Crowley’s reaction to this rejection is straight up anger played off as a totally reasonable, “C’mon man, we’re best buds,” but his eyes are covered by glasses. Eyes are the windows of the soul and he certainly doesn’t want to break right now in the face of rejection. His eyes are blocked in a very emotional tight shot of him which mirrors Aziraphale's.

Now his reaction matters and we don't really get to see it

I don't know where this goes from here (well uhhhhh I did see The Spoilers ™ but I ain't gonna talk about that lol,) but this just feels like a massive turning point, and the acting and filmmaking really enhance it. From an outsider's perspective, I didn't 'get' this ship at all, but now in context, it completely makes sense. This scene is utterly devastating

This has probably been talked about to death for 4+ years now lol, but just wanted to point out some acting/filmmaking choices that really brought the oh shit moment to light <3

#good omens #good omens season 1 #good omens season 2 #crowley #aziraphale #ineffable husbands #ineffable partners #ineffable dumbasses #crowly x aziraphale #good omens analysis

[genericpuff]

Does anyone else wish that more Hades x Persephone stories made use of Despoina, the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon? Some accounts have her as a goddess of winter and it would have been interesting to see how that would have played out.

So I actually have a lot of thoughts on this and it goes beyond Despoina a little bit, but bear with me here because I still think it's worth talking about. Note that I'm obviously not an authoritative figure on this topic, this is simply my two cents based on the research I've done on Despoina, the Eleusinian Mysteries, and the context of The Hymn to Demeter as a whole.

Frankly, I think the reason that the modern retellings of Hades and Persephone don't make more use of Despoina is because we still don't really know a lot about her. Even in my own research of her, from what I've gathered (i.e. I could totally be wrong on this so if I am please send me resources if you have them!!!) the claim that she was the 'goddess of winter' is pretty much on the same level as claiming there's source material about Persephone going down to the Underworld willingly - i.e. it seems like something someone said maybe 20-30 years ago and people just kind of went "yep, that's canon!" and claiming there were sources surrounding it while never actually being able to provide those sources... probably because they don't exist.

In reality we don't know much about Despoina - and thus she tends to not be depicted in these modern retellings - because she's affiliated with The Eleusinian Mysteries which are, well... a mystery! The Mysteries itself was an initiation process for a cult dedicated to Demeter and Persephone, the members within were sworn to secrecy so all of the writings we have about it are pretty minimal and theoretical aside from knowing for a fact they were associated with Demeter, Persephone, and Hecate (and in some versions, Aphrodite). So unless someone who was actually there is able to appear and tell us what the actual fuck was going on behind closed doors, all we have are the word of mouth stories and depictions told through Greek poets such as Callimachus.

By extension, we don't know all that much about Despoina who was strongly connected to the Mysteries. We know she was the offspring of Poseidon and Demeter, we sort of know she's an actual tangible goddess but there are also other works that claim "Despoine" was simply a title within the Mysteries (as it means "the mistress") used to describe certain goddesses such as Persephone, but when it comes to her as a goddess affiliated with winter specifically, really she seems to only be mentioned as a consequential footnote in Demeter's search for Kore (which led to the drought / winter season) and frankly from what I can glean, I think that's the only real 'connection' there is that people tend to conflate as "goddess of winter", because she was born the same time Demeter would have started winter.

But why would there be a goddess of winter, really? In the Mediterranean where it doesn't traditionally snow aside from on mountaintops and at higher altitudes? It does get colder, yes, but Mediterranean winters still tend to be mild and wet, you wouldn't find blistering cold "Canadian" winters in Athens as we imagine them to be when we think of Demeter and the creation of the seasons. Even the notion that Demeter used winter to kill the mortals is told in such a manner to describe the seasons but they don't necessarily mean snow literally, they mean drought, the lack of summer harvest, when Greece would go through periods of drought where harvests were minimal and mortals were at a higher risk of starvation. Remember that these myths still come from a specific regional context so what we call 'winter' isn't precisely the same as what Ancient Greek poets like Homer called 'winter'.

If there was a goddess of winter, it would technically be Demeter, but again, not exactly because it's more the absence of the Mediterranean heat and sun needed to grow the plants they traditionally consumed. The closest thing we know to be a "goddess of winter/snow/frost" with actual text and sources is Khione, a mountain nymph whose name literally translates to 'snow' due to snow being more common in, you guessed it, the mountains of Greece.

Anyways, I'm digressing now, but my point is that a lot of modern retellings frankly struggle to depict Despoina because there just isn't enough on her to know who she was like we have with Demeter and Persephone. She was an enigmatic figure spoken of within cults that kept their information behind closed doors. And a lot of the research that is out there is muddied with made-up headcanon stuff. None of this is to be argumentative, but I did want to talk about it because in all my readings of Despoina (which there are , again, not a lot of!) there just doesn't seem to be anything backing up the claims that she's the goddess of winter and frost, it seems to all just be "well I read it somewhere" only for that 'somewhere' to be a poorly-made Wiki page with no scholarly sources or references, Tumblr posts that also don't have scholarly sources (or are using sources from those aforementioned Wiki pages), or to just not exist, period.

But hey, I'm very aware I could be entirely off base on this; again, if there's actual writings about her being the goddess of winter that I've missed, please by all means send them my way. I'm just really struggling to pull up anything tangible that has her cited as such that isn't rooted in modern day hearsay or fanfiction.

#ama #ask me anything #anon ama #anon ask me anything #greek myth #despoina #despoine

[mylordshesacactus]

LOVE, WATER, FIRE

What is your best writing advice?

"Show don't tell" doesn't mean what you think it does. Learn it better, and free yourself from a half-understood mnemonic.

When you show, you slow. Learn THAT one backward and forward as well; it won't fix pacing issues overnight, but it'll help you understand what causes them.

Writing fanfiction? Go back to the source material FREQUENTLY, or you'll lose all sense of the characters and end up writing someone unrecognizable.

If you struggle to block out action sequences, genuine advice? Think in terms of combat rounds in D&D. Not literally, of course, nobody should be taking rigorous turns, but: Play out the action in your head. If six seconds have gone by, everyone in this sequence should have done something. That thing could be charging into melee range--noting that this extra combatant is running toward the fight but hasn't gotten there yet. It could be reloading a weapon. It could be clutching their side in shock and wheezing. They don't need to be Selecting A Combat Action, but fight scenes become incoherent when you lose track of who's doing what. When you forget about Goon #3 and then have him show up again doing something that doesn't remotely track with where you last left him. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO INCLUDE THEM IN THE NARRATION if they're not important! If two seconds ago your protagonist kicked a guy off the dock, we can safely assume they'll spend at least the next several "combat rounds" climbing back out. But at any given moment, YOU should know where everyone is, what they're doing, and why.

But most importantly:

Anyone purporting to give The End-All Be-All Writing Advice is either delusional or a scam. Yes, including or perhaps especially famous bestselling authors. What works for them won't necessarily work for you, and there are plenty of people who don't even like their work. You're never going to be whoever's advice you try to mimic. Write your stuff, not theirs.

Do you prefer urban fantasy or high fantasy?

Yes!

Genuinely though. They're both good and they both serve their respective narratives in some way. In general I'm more drawn to high fantasy, personally, but I'm never not going to be interested in a well-done urban fantasy.

Pedantic nitpick though, these things are not the opposites they are being portrayed as. I think what the question was GOING for was actually "low vs high fantasy" which is a completely separate concept. Words mean things! But also, I'm not an ass, and the intent was pretty clear.

(High Fantasy: This story is set in a completely separate world from ours, with no crossover into our known and lived reality. ANY completely separate world, regardless of technology level! STAR WARS IS HIGH FANTASY. This is not an opinion, this is a genre fact.

Low Fantasy: The story is set partially in our world or includes crossover or other intrinsic connections to a realistic world that follows the same rules and expectations of our world. Isekai and portal fantasies like Narnia fall into this category, as do hidden-world/veiled-magic fantasies like the Bad Wizard Lady Books, Percy Jackson, and Artemis Fowl; and also a lot of true-anthropomorphic fiction like Watership Down, Warriors, etc. Note that "low fantasy" does NOT mean "gritty" fantasy or fantasy that focuses on the lower classes instead of nobles, nor does it mean a low-magic pseudo-medieval setting

Urban Fantasy: A story with fantasy tropes and themes that takes place in an urban setting. Can be low or high fantasy!)

What is the worst thing you've ever created?

Okay so this one time in high school me and my best friend Sam were trying to make lemon bars at his house and to this day we do NOT know what the hell ingredient we neglected to add to the lemon bars

but given the state of the results, there is a non-zero chance that the ingredient we forgot was flour.

#askmeme #not today satan I do not shittalk my work #i learn from it

[astrojulia]

Hi!! I saw your blog and it's beautiful! I'd like to ask if you could share some tips about editing posts, specifically changing the font color and doing that cool effect where it has more than one color on the same font ☺ if you're not comfortable teaching that's okay too! Have a good night

Hello Siren,

Thank you for the compliment. Yes, I can teach you. Just follow a tip from Auntie here: do it because you genuinely like the aesthetic. The time you spend writing the post is sometimes the same as editing it, and in my experience, this won't necessarily translate into more likes or reblogs. So, do it because you think it's beautiful.

As comical as it sounds, I won't be using HTML in this post because using the codes could cause problems. I've seen some tutorials, but I just really learned when I searched on my own.. I also do all my editings on my notebook. So, here's everything I use:

Websites I use for editing:

HTML Code Editor: While you're creating your HTML, you can simultaneously see if it's working

BBcode & HTML Text Colorizer: This is where you'll create the gradient

Browserling: I use this site to make the gradient code compatible for Tumblr

Aesthetic Symbols: this is for that cute symbols

Piliapp: more copy/paste symbols

Fontes e Letras: copy/paste fonts

Canva: This is where I create some of my designs. I also use Photoshop

Deviantart: a lot of material for Photoshop like templates, PSDs and Renders (PNG image with a good resolution), you can see the ones I use the most in my sources

@animatedglittergraphics-n-more: dividers

@saradika: dividers

@engrampixel: cute material

Color Hunt: if you don't have a color pallete in mind, here you can find a lot of options

Adobe Color: if you want to create your own HTML color palette this site can help

DaFont: where I download my fonts, the ones I use the most are: Betterfly, Arcadepix, Starborn, Lemon Milk, Cursive Sans and BubbleGum

EmojiTerra: as I use tumblr on my notebook, this is where I get my emojis

HTML Text Editing

Important:

Go use the HTML Code Editor in this part and your life will be way easier.

Some things I do right here in the tumblr editor, like putting the images and different fonts like Lucille.

All HTML code starts with < > and ends with , that is, when you start a paragraph you will write <p> and when you finish you will write </p> (HTML Code Editor ends your coding automatically)

I'm teaching all this because if you want to make gradients in your entire text and not just in the title, you'll need to know about html

To start your HTML you will need to go to the gear that appears on the right side when you are writing your post, go to the bottom until you find the Text Editor and switch to HTML.

The Codes

<p> start a paragraph </p>

<br> to make a space between text less than a paragraph (good to use in indented text) you don't need to put </br>

<b> make the text bold </b>

<i> leave the text in italics</i>

<strike> leave the text crossed out </strike>

<small> make the text small like this </small>

<h1> make the text large like this </h1>

<h2> make the text large like this </h2>

<ul> Create unordered list (dotted) </ul>

<ol>Create lists with order (numeric) </ol>

*instead of making paragraphs you will create new items in the list using the code <li> </li>

<blockquote class="npf_indented"> make the text indented </blockquote>

<span style="color: #HTML"> Code to color your texts, pay attention that it uses (") instead of (') and doesn't use (;) </span>

Tutorial on creating invisible spaces, just like I use to do the navigation, if I put it here everything bugs. PT-BR

<a href="URL">Link Text</a>: Creates a hyperlink

Making your Gradient

Go to BBCode and HTML already with your HTML text and colors in hand. Write or copy your text in the box, choose the gradient type (I use middle) and select your colors (from one to three different colors)

Now copy the text in the "HTML code for this text: (To use on your website)" box and go to the Browseling, you will replace the (') to (") and the (;) for nothing

Copy and paste your new code direct in your tumblr post editor or in the HTML Code Editor. Success!!

I think that's all. Kisses from the Sea! 🐚

#astrojulia #others #astrojuliasks #html tutorial #gradient text #gradient text tutorial #html

[stateswscarlet]

Good morning Scarlet, I hope that you're doing amazing!

First of all, I wanted to thank you for all the amount of time you put in explaining the law to all of us and seeing all those success stories, we all know how good of a blessing you are in our life.

So, I've been working on manifesting my ex back for a few months now, more than a year actually, and it's kinda embarrassing to me. I'm naturally a visualizer and have inner convos, but when envisioning scenarios like us hugging, holding hands, and being together again (what I've always done before knowing the law and being in love with him) it feels too good to be true, even if I have a deep understanding of the law conceptually. I know part of this process involves letting go of attachment to the 3D and recognizing that my outer feelings (anxiety, fear) and thoughts (how will he change his mind, he doesn't love u anymore) don't define my true self (the inner man that is being happy and in a rs with him). However, despite this understanding, I still encounter challenges when I attempt to engage my imagination regarding these scenarios. I often feel unfulfilled or disconnected from the vision of us being together.

Furthermore, I've been feeling doubtful about all that lately. Different sources offer conflicting advice - some suggest focusing on feelings, while others emphasize decision-making. I've even studied materials from authors like Edward and watched Tom Kearin (BSW), and while I understand the concepts intellectually and have applied them before with success, I haven't seen significant movement. The only time I experienced progress was when I wholeheartedly believed in my ex's return, even if I wasn't necessarily thinking from the end (focusing on the 3D aka he is going to come back). However, now, as I try to embody the version of myself with him already, I'm starting to lose faith in the possibility of him changing his mind and coming back. Have you ever experienced a similar struggle or doubt in your manifestation journey?

I feel maybe my issue is linked to the "feeling" that I do not understand, do you have maybe some recommandations in terms of source, or YouTube channel or else ? I feel like I'll never succeed in this specific manifestation while I succeeded in others for instance my job and travels... it was so hard for me too bc for more than a year I was jobless and so focused on that, that one day I decided I am going to get a job no matter what and not thinking from the end and it happened while I didn't focused on how I felt, I wasn't like "I need to feel I'm already employed", so I am lost in all of that ..

thank you so much for the kind words!

“working on manifesting my ex back” im really hoping you only worded it like this for simplicity sake to tell me, but please stop identifying with manifesting (at all) or seeing anything as a process bc there is NO PROCESS. there is no work to be, no point A or point B, and no one is coming “back”.

the reason you feel disconnected is because you’re still dominantly believing the 3D as a fact/seeing it as unchanging/dont understand youre SHIFTING TO A DIFFERENT REALITY/STATE and not changing the current one. figure out which one. in other words, youre being accidentally 3D oriented.

“i havent seen much movement” excuse me? wym movement? eradicate that word from your loa vocabulary please theres no such thing as movement. do you HAVE IT OR NOT?

stop looking for more material. no coach or video or book can change how you feel internally if youre just looking for results and refuse to completely drop the outer man and their reasoning.

your sp isnt changing his mind, you SHIFT TO A STATE where you and them are together. the one in the current 3D is NOT the one youre in a relationship with nor will ever be, you have to fully drop that version of him.

if just deciding you have something fulfills you, then so be it. do whatever you enjoy.

[agro-carnist]

Now that I'm slightly less in the spotlight, I'd like to talk about what has been going on and give my side. I'm sure you've all seen what has been said about me, but in case you haven't, this will include a discussion about zoophilia, zoosadism, pedophilia, and taboo kink/fetish.

I've taken several days to write this because I needed to clear my head so I could write something concise. I did not want to immediately write something too quickly that I couldn't think through.

I don't expect anyone to completely understand me or totally agree with my opinions, but I am writing this with full sincerity. I'd just like a little bit of faith when you read this. My positions are based on the science that I read, and I try to be someone that sticks to the side of evidence, not one of pure feelings or assumptions or what we think is common sense, even when it is difficult to understand or seems counterintuitive. I've always preached this principle on here, so I hope you all feel the same way. I ask that you read this with that in mind. Even if you don't reach the same conclusion as me, consider what I say and what I give with good faith.

All linked sources with restricted access can be read by copy/pasting the url or title into sci-hub

First, that twitter account is mine. The art contained on the twitter account is mine. Yes it is graphic. No I am not a zoophile, zoosadist, or pedophile. I understand this kind of art is disgusting and/or disturbing to many people. That is why I kept it on an account specifically for this kind of extreme art. It is why I don't advertise it. I am not secretive about my kinks/fetishes - I enjoy things like gore, noncon, and animal characters - but I know when and where these kinds of things are appropriate. Some of my art is not meant for a general audience. I won't advertise it to anyone and everyone to see because it can be upsetting to most people. That's also why I give plenty of content warnings and include the twitter censor that blurs the image and you have to click 'show' on to see. And that's why I believe posting screenshots of this material with my username, showing everyone exactly where to go to find this content, is irresponsible. I know the people that posted it think they're doing a service, but this is how children find content they shouldn't see. Callouts are how people find things they otherwise would never see. I, personally, don't think calling people out this way helps kids. I think it does more harm than good. My twitter was public but is now private because I don't want curious minors to look me up and look at what is on the account.

I understand that it can be hard to know why someone would enjoy erotic art of violence between animal characters without being a zoophile/zoosadist. But there are many reasons people enjoy taboo erotica without desiring it in the real world. About half of people experience paraphilic sexual fantasies, and the fantasies alone are not indicative of pathology. Deviant sexual fantasies are, in fact, "within the normal realm of human experience." There is little evidence that fantasy alone means someone wants to or will commit a sexual offense. Forced sex fantasies are extremely common. Violent sexual fantasies are not abnormal. Sex therapists and educators acknowledge that fantasies are not necessarily repressed desires. Sexual fantasy is not sexual desire. It's ok for our sexual interests to not reflect our moral code. Often taboo sexual fantasies are a way to explore how we feel about things, like repulsion. Humans are curious animals. We have morbid curiosities. Fantasies can be a way to experience something that would be immoral to act upon.

Why I am into taboo kink is hard to explain, and a lot of it I don't understand myself - human minds are very complex - but I can try to explain some of it. I enjoy exploring the darker parts of humanity. We're still animals and that means we still hold onto aspects that don't align with our morals. We have morbid curiosities. When we pass by a car crash, we want to see it, or when someone tells us something disturbing is spreading on the internet, we take interest in what it could be. Art is a way to fulfill that curiosity without any victims. Another thing is that it can be fun or therapeutic to imagine yourself in situations of bodily harm. That's probably confusing, but I like to explore what my body looks like on the inside, or what it would feel like to experience certain physical traumas, without the threat of dying. Fear and arousal are closely intertwined. The animal characters I draw are also very far removed from real world animals. They are sapient and behave very human. To me the only difference between them and an anthro furry character is the number of legs they walk on and the lack of clothes.

Because I draw this kind of content, many people are claiming that I am faking having ZOCD and my intrusive thoughts, or that my intrusive thoughts have turned into wanted thoughts. They say that if I really was distressed by these thoughts, I wouldn't engage with them through art. But my intrusive thoughts are about real people and animals. I do not have intrusive thoughts about characters. I watch movies and read books with murder, kidnapping, torture, disease, and freak accidents and enjoy these pieces of media. This does not negate the fact that I have intrusive thoughts about these things or the distress I feel regarding them. Someone getting hurt in a movie does not distress me. My intrusive thoughts include ideas of me or a loved one getting hurt, or me suddenly hurting someone. Intrusive thoughts target your fears and your morals. They make you question who you are as a person. That's why thoughts of real world violence are so distressing and depictions of violence in media are (usually) not. I fear losing someone I love, I fear losing a part of my mind or body, I fear losing control of my humanity and hurting someone, I fear loss of inhibition that makes me do things I wouldn't otherwise do. I don't fear hurting a character or a character doing a bad thing to another character. When I'm obsessing and becoming paranoid it's not over things that happen in fictional worlds. My therapist doesn't have to reassure me that I'll be ok if something bad happens in that fictional world. She does have to reassure me that the world isn't out to get me and that I don't have to act on a thought. Others with OCD might find media that resembles the content of their intrusive thoughts triggering, and that's normal, but not everyone will react the same. Not everyone copes with their mental illnesses the same way or has the same triggers. Most violent depictions just don't garner that same reaction from me because I don't have any moral qualms with fake people or animals getting hurt since they aren't real victims. It doesn't attack my moral beliefs that way. It may be upsetting to see, but doesn't make me fear for my or others' safety.

I love horror movies and haunted houses. I love the adrenaline and fear I experience during them. But I still metaphorically shit my pants at the thought of an actual serial killer stalking me and jumping out of a hiding spot. The difference is that the former exists in a safe space that I can leave and where I know it's a script. How I feel about a scenario in fiction does not dictate how I feel about it happening in the real world. To tell me that I don't actually have the disorder that I've been diagnosed with is extremely upsetting. So is to tell me I'm hiding secret bloodthirsty desires behind a mental illness or that I'm making OCD look bad by not having a moral conundrum about fake people or animals being hurt. I especially don't appreciate people that don't have OCD preaching about what "real" intrusive thoughts are or what I should or should not be doing while having OCD. The things that have been said to or about me have been undeniably ableist. And the distress that has caused me has just been brushed aside because I don't adhere to what people think I as a person with OCD "should" act like. I feel like I'm not being granted agency over my own experiences.

I am even being compared to some of the worst people like Kero the wolf or HypnotistSappho. I hope you believe me when I say that is truly disgusting and offensive. These were the kinds of people that belonged to groups for sharing material of real animals being tortured for sexual pleasure, or tried to start an organization to promote bestiality, or openly promoted zoophilia and pedophilia as normal sexual orientations, or actively abused children and animals. I have not done anything like that. My artistic expression is nothing like their real world, extensive and widespread levels of abuse. I am so offended that I'd spend years spreading animal welfare advocacy, including explicitly anti-bestiality rhetoric, only to be lumped in with monsters, like my art erases all the work I've done. How someone could believe I actually desire to torture animals baffles me. How someone could think all this work was just master manipulation to con everyone so I could secretly abuse leaves my head spinning.

I also haven't ever claimed that my nsfw art is a coping mechanism for my OCD/intrusive thoughts. This is an assumption people have made. Occasionally elements of my intrusive thoughts will make their way into my art as a way to confront them head on on my own terms, but almost always are not a factor in my nsfw art. Art based on my intrusive thoughts as catharsis I don't share publicly.

Yes, I enjoy hurting fictional characters. They exist in a world with no consequences. Nobody actually gets hurt. Anything can happen to them and nothing about the world changes. I have no desire to hurt an animal, because that impacts the real world. I have never looked at an animal and felt excitement at the idea of hurting it. I have never felt attraction to an animal. I have never felt the urge to make sexual contact with an animal. I have never experienced attraction to a child, either.

I am also being accused of being a pedophile. This is because I made a tweet saying I enjoy explicitly abusive relationships between adult and minor characters, but don't enjoy minor/adult ships depicted as cute or wholesome. People interpret this as me having a malicious desire to abuse a child. But here's the thing: you don't know why someone enjoys a certain dynamic. Many people that like to see abusive relationships depicted in stories or erotica are survivors of abuse themselves. Many people use kink as a coping mechanism, and the stigma of their kink play often hinders them from trauma recovery. Like I said before, kink and fantasy are not morality guidebooks. This also assumes every character drawn in ship art or erotica is an object of attraction to those that create or consume it. But even porn can serve a purpose other than arousal. Personally I just like these dynamics because they offer a compelling story and/or character interactions that can explore trauma and its effects and can feel therapeutic to work through.

Art does not exist in a vacuum. I don't argue it does. Art is influenced by its creator. But you can't look at the content of someone's kink or fantasy to judge the quality of someone's character. This is the position of professionals that study and counsel people. Whether or not someone commits a sexual offense is more influenced by that person's personality traits, moral positions, pre-existing positive beliefs about offending, environment, and negative emotional states. And, look, fiction does indeed effect reality, but there is little evidence that porn encourages someone to offend or results in more violent offenses. Availability of porn may even be associated with lower levels of sexual aggression. This professional report goes into great detail on sexual offending and concludes that there is no reason "scientific or otherwise" for criminalization of any type of virtual porn because it does not lead to offending, and may even provide a substitute for people that may otherwise offend. Even if you find that content reprehensible. Offensive art has its place and deserves to exist. That is the position I have come to based on the scientific evidence.

And I want to make another thing clear: I am not a proshipper. Disliking the position of one group does not make me a member of a different group. I have no desire to put myself in a category, I just have my own opinions. I also have plenty of issues with the proship community. I just now look at fiction and kink with more nuance than I used to. I don't participate in fearmongering based on knee-jerk reactions to media anymore.

Going forward I'm going to do my best to be more responsible with my nsfw accounts. Any interactions I've made with minors are honest mistakes. I genuinely don't want to expose minors to my nsfw or interact with them. I don't go out seeking minors to talk to. But I know interacting with minors through an nsfw account is serious, so I'm going to do better to police myself and always check that no one I'm interacting with is underage.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading. Sadly I expect many people won't read this, they'll just continue to repeat "zoophile" and "pedophile." But I really appreciate you if you took the time to read. I know many people really do want to be good and believe they are protecting people by engaging in callouts against people for their fictional interests. I think most people have their hearts in the right place but are misguided by the current culture. And I don't mind if you disagree with me, but I always want people to take their positions with the most information. I want there to be honest discussions about these topics, not naming and shaming people.

I might make updates to this post if I think of things I forgot to address. Like I said, it's been many days of my head buzzing and this post is also very long. I welcome any good faith questions or concerns. People that come just to attack in bad faith will just be blocked. I won't humor that. Please meet me with the same honesty I came with. I want to continue to do good.

-Agro

[blubushie]

90% of your sniperposting posts are of the ship speeding bullet, or Sniper x Scout. Any thoughts on that you would like to share to the public, sir? (Sorry if youre not accepting asks rn :p)

Yeah gimme that microphone. Bet you didn't expect "Blu analyses shipping" when you sent this ask in, didja? ;]

I, Blubushie, hereby declare:

Tbh I just reblog all the Sniper art I see what tickles my brain. Most of that happens to be Speeding Bullet art, which makes sense since Speeding Bullet is a very very popular ship and art isn't often done of Sniper by himself. He's usually on somebody's arm, whether it's Scout or Spy or Demo. I'm there for Sniper, not for the shipping.

Awkward moment to mention that I don't really ship anyone in canon except for Soldier and Zhanna, who are canonically engaged. And that's more of a "Whelp, they're engaged, so reckon that's legit then." There's no one that I go feral over, but I've never really been involved in shipping in fandoms even as a teen when I was much more into fandoms. It's never caught my attention.

For me shipping usually verges into headcanon territory and I try to stay as true to canon as possible because of my love for source material. I'm a lore bloke. I like scanning for shit in the media to see where people get these ideas from, especially crackships for the shits and gigs, but at the end of the day I'm still a lore bloke, and also an author, and there's something a mite uncomfortable to me about what happens once stories leave your own mind and enter into the minds of others. In a "if this was the creator's intention they would've shown it more clearly" kind of way. I know most people are aware their ships will likely never be legitimised in media--that's a good thing, that awareness--but the reason why people cram two canon characters together and decide they're A Thing in their own minds is largely a mystery to me, because I've never really done it.

I think Scout and Sniper would make a good pair, with Scout keeping Sniper busy enough that he's satisfied and also doing much of the talking for him so that he won't have to, but Scout also doesn't know when to shut the fuck up and some quiet is necessary for sniping. You can't have outside distractions and Scout, largely, is one massive distraction. They're great as a friendship, I can see them as a romantic pairing, but they'd be absolutely terrible for working together unless Scout learns to shut up sometimes when people need him to.

Anyway, I'm more inclined to enjoy Sniper/Scout than I am Sniper/Spy or even Sniper/Medic or Sniper/Demo, and these are the largest Sniper ships in the fandom. But shipping has never really been my thing. Even with my fic, the focus isn't necessarily on Jesse and Mundy's romantic relationship (though that defo plays a massive part), but rather it's about Mundy's own quest for redemption and forgiveness in his own eyes after he's already been redeemed in the eyes of the person he's wronged. She's forgiven him, but he hasn't forgiven himself.

Ain't that hell, ay?

Anyway, that got off on a massive tangent. All this is to say that no, I don't really have any thoughts to share on why I reblog so much Speeding Bullet. I'm there for Sniper. It just happens that the best art I see and the level of skill that usually tickles my brain and makes me want to reblog is art of that particular ship.

#blu whos #sniperposting #should i tag this as tf2? #fuck it #tf2

[mayakern]

Adding my two cents here, hope you don't mind... The entire synthetic vs natural fiber argument is really reminding me of the plastic straw debate.... And I feel like the arguments are ignoring the nuance of the situations. Would I love if everything everywhere could be natural and biodegradable etc etc? Sure! Ofc! Except when degrading is what you DON'T want. I need to drink with a straw sometimes due to a bunch of personal health and sensory reasons. You know what sucks? Finding the fancy paper straw the cafe gave you has started to degrade part way through your drink. Or going somewhere that doesn't have straws at all. And personal stainless steel straws are a sensory nightmare!

Regarding clothing, I'd rather have a high quality polyester skirt that I can where over and over for years than a cotton skirt that will, given the material, eventually wear down regardless of how you care for it. I have synthetic blend shirts in my closet that I've had a literal decade and that I still wear! And I've had plenty of natural fiber clothes become sensory hell that I maybe got 3 or 4 wears out of. Polyester and other moisture wicking blends are also the best options for exercising and camping, especially if you have a tendency (like me) to overheat and oversweat. Cotton takes ages to dry out and doesn't breathe nearly as well.

And none of the natural fiber arguments ever seem to take the environmental costs to produce those natural fibers into account. A lot of the time they require a lot of water to grow and maintain on land they're likely not native to, planted in ways that push native plants and animals from their own environments. How is that necessarily better?

There are pros and cons of both fabric types. And ignoring that in favor of purely natural fibers can have negative impacts on people who may not have other choices. Like disabled people. Fat people. Poor people. People running small businesses. I promise, those of us that fall into any or all of those categories who are also environmentally conscious have looked into alternative options. And if we've gone back to synthetics? It's because we don't have one or we've weighed our options and came to the conclusion that actually, synthetic IS the more viable option.

When it comes right down to it, I think it's how we treat the garments and how long we continue wearing them that makes a difference, not what the materials are. Fast fashion is the problem. Not synthetic material itself.

I'm GLAD you provide high quality, durable, ethically sourced synthetic material skirts made in sizes and patterns we can't get anywhere else, all at a relatively affordable price point. Thank you!

And I apologize this is so long I just think, in this instance, the arguments can be a bit ridiculous sometimes. 😅

this is another facet and honestly part of it i just haven't had the energy to address. there's a lot of nuance to a situation that is often treated without nuance. you mentioned straws, which i think is a good comparison, but to me it really reminds me of the big push towards veganism a few years ago that completely overlooked labor concerns and that these "superfood" or alternative grain fads were incredibly destructive to the communities that relied on those foods as staples.

anyway that's a whole other issue with its own host of difficulties that i'm really not equipped to dig into haha

but yeah the quality in the construction of a garment and how it's treated (i.e. if it's worn for years or discarded after one use) bare way more impact on the environment than people realize.

the problem is, it is a lot easier and more profitable to sell people on changing WHAT they consume (natural vs synthetic) rather than HOW they consume.

#ask #long post

[eslanes]

Ｔｈｅ Ｅｖｉｌ Ｄｅａｄ Ｃｈａｌｌｅｎｇｅ 💀

eslanes presents...the grooviest challenge this side of the grave!

The Concept: Six friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons. Chaos ensues.

The Challenge: It's 1996. Five sims (plus one by me) will attempt to survive the night in a remote cabin in Granite Falls that just so happens to be the home of sleeping Sumerian demons. As per horror tropes, only one can survive (hint - it won't be mine lol).

The Details: the plot of this challenge will (evidently) follow the basic premise of the Evil Dead series (minus Army of Darkness - there will be no time travel). While the basic structure will stay the same, there will be options given via polls that will influence what happens.

⚠️ Given that the source material is 18+ so is this challenge! Content Warnings for violence, gore, sexual content, strong language and zombies ⚠️

The Sims: for this challenge I'm going to provide a name and brief description of each sim - it's up to you to fill in the blanks and fully flesh them out! Humans only please! Please see below the cut for the sims!

The Prize: The winner will receive a custom sim by yours truly (and another treat that I haven't decided yet)

Also, please keep in mind there will only be one survivor, please do not submit a sim unless you're okay with them dying a horrible death! Also to keep it fair, please only one submission per person.

To submit, @ me in your post and use the tag #eslanes evil dead challenge!

Deadline for submissions is September 18th! Challenge will run though October!

(PS: for those of you wondering about The Dating Game, that will run asap while I'm prepping for this challenge :))

Jason Jacobs (23M) - the bookworm

*Please do not submit for Jason, I will be providing him!* A childhood friend of Nancy and Danny. Recent college grad (anthropology, specifically ancient languages) working in his university's library. Jason is intelligent, shy but level headed. He's held a secret crush on Nancy since childhood. It goes without saying that he will not survive, but how he kicks it is up to you!

Nancy Crewes (21F) - the secret keeper

Nancy is a troubled, recent college drop-out. Her friends arranged this trip to the cabin as a show of support for their struggling friend. But what's actually wrong with Nancy? That's up for you to decide... (Nancy has a secret that is not known to the audience but will come out as the challenge progresses and will impact the plot. If you are submitting Nancy, please DM me with her secret - please do not put it in her submission post!!)

Danny Crewes (24M) & Bonnie Leigh (22F) - the 'on-the-outs' couple

Danny, older brother to Nancy (can be half siblings so they don't need to necessarily look alike). Danny is your typical jock - athletic, tall good-looking and cocky af. But, he's also very close with and fiercely protective of his younger sister. Danny arranged the trip to Granite Falls. Bonnie is Danny's on-and-off girlfriend of two years. Bonnie and Nancy do not get along, mostly because of Bonnie's frequent cheating on Danny. Bonnie, on the other hand just can't help it that she's so fabulous and hot! Bonnie is flirtatious, vain, charming and manipulative as hell - your typical sexy villain. She may also attempt to come onto others in the cabin, which may impact the plot...

Jesse Ross (23 any gender) & Brandon Power (24M) - the lovebirds

The main thing you need to know about these two is that they are SO in love. Like enough to make you sick. Like get a room. Brandon is another close childhood friend of Danny and Nancy and your typical brooding bad boy with a heart of gold. Jesse is a wildcard, they can be whoever you like (as long as they are a good match for Brandon). Just remember what happens to sims that spend too much time canoodling in horror movies...

#the sims 4 #ts4 #ts4 challenge #eslanes evil dead challenge

[ivyial]

Canonicity in the Context of Ships (and Ship Wars)

Essentially, what makes a ship canon? Does it even matter that a ship becomes canon?

So, disclaimer before we start:

1. This is my interpretation of the meaning of "canon" and what it means for a ship to be canon. As always, I'm open to disagreements and constructive criticism, especially if it can tame the constant aggression in some fandom spaces

2. I like ships, but I don't support ship wars because they're all fucking pointless and if you're a grown adult or close to being one and you're still harassing people over ships on the internet, you're a fucking loser

That being said

As we all know, online fandom spaces have developed their own vernacular over the years: canon, fanon, headcanon, OC, AU, OTP, the infamous 'Dead Dove: Do Not Eat', etc. Fandom slang has also evolved since it was first coined. A prime example of that would be the use of the term "lemon" to refer to erotic fanfiction, which while still used, has suffered a sharp decline in favour of the word "smut" (although smut has its own use and meaning outside of fandoms).

The word "canon" is arguably one of the most important words in fandom, since it refers to the official source material from a game, book, TV show, movie, whatever form of media said fandom is about. In essence, it's the official story: what actually happens and what was intended by the creators. Some universes are easily accessible and the canon isn't really subject to much debate. Most TV shows have very straightforward canon: assuming that everything is contained within, let's say, 5 seasons of 22 episodes each, with no spin-offs, movies, or exclusive bonus episodes, the canon of the show will be laid out in these episodes. That's it. Some other fandoms will be much more obscure: think of game franchises such as Resident Evil, where many games have been released over the years, remade, and some have been largely forgotten and can even contradict the current version of events. In this case, it can be much harder to define what canon is, which events are official and still applicable to the story and which should be discarded completely. (And I have to say, as a law student, canon is weirdly reminiscent of the hierarchy of norms, but that's for another day.)

I could discuss the importance of canon in fandoms, but that's irrelevant to the point of this post. Let's talk ships. I don't need to explain to everyone what a ship is. There's no point of contention there. In most media where romance is either dealt with or hinted at, fandoms, and therefore, shippers, will jump at the opportunity to write about or make art of their favourite ship. However, there's always something rearing its ugly head and contributing to the toxic atmosphere in fandoms: ship wars.

Ship wars are in essence extremely simple, and I'm sure we've all been in a fandom that participated in a ship war, whether we were involved in it ourselves or not. Long story short, shippers argue over which ship will become canon. Writers are toying with the idea of two or more major ships and teasing that both have their chances. So, in the end, it's all about who comes out on top and who becomes official.

The canonicity of a ship is a lot more complicated than the canonicity of media itself. I'd argue that even if the canonicity of the story is simple, it's likely that the canonicity of ships will necessarily be harder to draw conclusions about. So you can imagine how complicated canon is when it comes to ships from franchises that barely know their own canon.

Since I've seen a lot of arguments over canon ships in the Resident Evil fandom as of late, and this is what inspired this post, I will be using this example primarily - and since ideally I'd like this post to reach fandoms outside of RE, I'll be explaining and illustrating my examples. Other fandoms and ships might also be referred to.

1. Canon, semi-canon and non-canon

When it comes to ships, there are 3 main ways to describe them:

- Non-canon: quite straightforward. The ship has not officially expressed any desire (even implicit) to get together whatsoever. They may or may not interact in canon, and if they do, there's just no romantic interest there. Non-canon does not necessarily refer to a ship being into each other but not doing anything about it, as this is characterised as:

- Semi-canon: there's something there. Maybe both characters like each other romantically, maybe it's one-sided, maybe there is potential but it could either sail or be ruined completely by Character A's reaction to Character B's feelings. But overall, the general consensus seems to be that semi-canon ships have not acted on their feelings. This definition is not set in stone - we'll come back to it later.

- Canon: yay, your ship has sailed!! The pairing has officially been confirmed. The characters have acted on their feelings and you have won the ship war.

These are the general definitions of canon ships. And if you think they're clear and satisfactory, in what world are you living?

2. Past canon vs current canon

You finally got around to watching the season finale and there it is: Character A and B confessed and kissed. Finally, it's canon, and you can gloat on social media about how you were right all along.

But then it turns out that by the final season, your ship breaks up, and Character A gets with Character C. Even worse, Character A stays with Character C and the show ends with them being officially together. What the fuck.

So, what does that make your ship? It's officially a sunk ship, sure, but what about its canonicity? Should it be considered canon? I mean, they dated for 2 seasons. So technically, there was a period of time when your ship was canon. It just isn't anymore.

This is the first hurdle we meet when trying to define a ship as canon. It all hinges on the when aspect of it. This is also where ship canonicity differs from story canonicity. Storywise, the ship is rooted in canon since they were together at some point. Shipwise, however, they are not canon anymore, since they have broken up. It's canon that they happened, but they themselves aren't canon anymore.

At this point, I would argue that most people consider that a ship that is together by the end of the show/game/movie/book etc., by the end of canon essentially, is canon. Don't worry, we're still far from having solved this.

3. What does it take for a ship to be canon?

You will have noticed by now that, so far, I have instinctively referred to a canon ship as a ship that is together. I'd argue that this is what most people think of when they think of a canon ship.

But what does it mean for a ship to be together? Do we mean that they have to be a couple? Is it marriage, is it a relationship, is it friends with benefits? Or is it a simple kiss and confession? Do they even have to make out, or have sex, or put a label on their relationship?

This is when we venture into the territory of canon vs semi-canon. Earlier, I defined semi-canon as a ship that has feelings for each other, or is one-sided, but no one has acted on their feelings. Mind you, this is the definition provided by the Internet.

Let's say Character A confesses to Character B. Character B feels the same way, but they don't want to get into a relationship right now. The show ends there. I mean, technically, they like each other, right? That much was confirmed. They acted on their feelings by confessing. Technically, that gets them out of semi-canon territory. But does it get them into canon territory? Nothing came out of the confession, really.

We can't in good faith argue that two characters confessing is enough to make them canon, since the term semi-canon also exists, and could very well apply depending on your own definition of it.

The problem lies in defining what it takes for a ship to be canon. If we go back to the very roots of canon, it's confirmation that a ship has an official romantic nature.

Is liking each other enough? Doubtful: if a main character flirts with a minor side character, who reciprocates, does that make them canon? They're into each other. But it would be ridiculous by fandom standards to deem them canon when the side character might never be seen again and has no real bearing on the story.

Truth is, what makes a ship canon fluctuates depending on the standards set by the media itself. If a piece of media is heavily romance-based, canon will most likely be defined by the ship that makes it out in the end, the one that has proclaimed to be a couple. If the piece of media is not keen on romance, and never creates romantic relationships between characters, it might be enough for the fandom to consider canon a pairing that has simply alluded to being into each other.

Whether the last example is good enough reason to hail a ship as canon depends on the fandom and the shippers. Some might think it's a stretch, some might think it's more than enough.

One possibility would be to look at the writers' intention for the pairing, read interviews if they're available, etc. However, most of the time, franchises have changes in writers over the seasons/games/movies, and it gets even worse when you take into account franchises that are adapted from another source material - say, Game of Thrones vs ASOIAF: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss' intentions for the characters certainly differ from George R. R. Martin's intentions.

I'm going to start using actual examples now, to better illustrate my point. I'll be using Resident Evil ships, like I said. RE, despite having constant ship wars, is not famous for making ships canon or focusing on romance at all. The most you'll get is indicators that two characters are into each other or you'll get established relationships that are not subject to ship wars since they have no other love interest (see Mia and Ethan Winters: married couple, established as part of canon and the validity of their relationship with regards to other characters is never questioned). As a matter of fact, you could probably argue that the Winters are the only canon couple in the REverse.

Most RE ship wars happen as a result of Leon ships, the main ones being Aeon (Ada/Leon) vs Cleon (Claire/Leon). There are other Leon ships out there, mainly Chreon (Chris/Leon), Serennedy (Luis/Leon), Leshley/Eagleone (Ashley/Leon), and many more, but they don't engage in ship wars because they have the common sense to be normal human beings about their ships. (Seriously everyone, chill the fuck out.)

Aeon shippers are known for one thing: banging on and on about how their ship is canon - which, in their eyes, automatically discredits all other Leon ships (what's the point of shipping if it isn't to win, right? I'm obviously being sarcastic). Which, knowing the canon nature of Aeon, makes it the perfect test subject for this discussion and post.

Are Ada and Leon into each other? Sure. Ada confessed to falling in love with Leon in OG RE2, they flirted in OG RE4, Resident Evil: Damnation suggests that they have shared at least one night together, and in RE6, Helena guesses that Leon has feelings for Ada. These events, however, have changed in the remakes: Ada no longer confesses to being in love with Leon in RE2R, though she does kiss him to manipulate him, and they don't exactly flirt much in RE4R. But then, by discussing this, we'd end up discussing what is canon in a game franchise plagued by obscure secondary sources of canon, and that's not what I plan on doing here (I also severely lack the extensive knowledge to do that).

Despite all of this, Ada and Leon never actually get together. It's a constant game of cat and mouse, will-they-won't-they, whatever you wanna call it. Since they are on opposite sides of the same fight, it's practically impossible for them to get into a normal, healthy relationship. Going back to what I said about the canonicity of a ship being defined by the standards set by the piece of media itself, you could argue that Aeon is canon by those standards: since they can't get together, it only matters that they have shown reciprocated feelings towards one another.

However, that's not entirely true, is it? RE hasn't set those standards for romance. It doesn't act on ships, but it hasn't deterred romance as a whole: look at Mia and Ethan Winters. It is possible to get into a relationship in RE - now whether it is possible to get a happy ending is entirely less likely.

But I mean, there are other love interests for Leon that aren't on the side of who he's fighting. Look at Claire, or Ashley, or hell even Jill. We can't, as a fandom, reasonably ignore the flirting that went down between Claire and Leon in RE2R (and Infinite Darkness at times) and Leon and Ashley in both OG RE4 (though he does reject her at the end of the OG) and RE4R. And he was probably trying to flirt with Jill a little in Death Island, too - he's a bit of a whore (affectionate).

How do you even define the canonicity of a ship in a universe like RE, in which most characters can't form normal, healthy romantic relationships? Is it enough to kiss/sleep together (Aeon)? Is it enough to unabashedly flirt and to practically be parents to a practically adopted daughter (Cleon)? Is it enough to share all sorts of romantic tropes and overtly flirt with each other (Leshley/Eagleone)? What happens when you start removing all of the events that used to be canon, but might not be anymore/be part of a different canon than the current one?

4. Conclusion (kind of)

I really want to offer a definition of a canon ship that suits everyone, but every time i come up with one, I bump into yet another wall. Tentatively, we could define a canon ship as a ship that has, by the standards of the piece of media they belong to, acted on their desire to be together in a lasting manner that disproves all other potential ships for the characters. I'm sure that can be perfected, and there might be elements of this definition that can be refuted, but this is how I would characterise a ship as canon. Which would, you guessed it, make pretty much every Leon ship non-canon in the context of the REverse as a whole.

The one true conclusion of this post, however, is that shipping amounts to playing with Barbies and should not be taken so seriously. There are a lot of shippers who know that their ships have no chances of becoming canon, yet still choose to have fun with it, make content for it in their own space, and some of you guys are dicks enough to go and bully them over it. Go outside, take a breath, and understand that canonicity is not the be-all and end-all of shipping.

I went a bit overboard with this and I'm sorry (not really). I'd love to know everyone's opinions on what makes a ship canon, if there's scenarios I haven't considered, etc! Constructive criticism is more than welcome and as always, my ask box is always open <3

#fandom #ship #ships #shipping #meta analysis #fandom discourse #resident evil #leon kennedy #aeon #cleon #leshley #eagleone #otp

[brainrotdotorg]

Does it not bother you that the post was complaining about how we have to shield our children from sexual things? Like they’re fucking children??? Perhaps I’m misinterpreting then post but is it not wrong that children should be shielded from both sex and violence from a young age until they are mature enough to digest/handle knowing about both?? Kids don’t need to be exposed to that shit shit and it’s fucking weird in my opinion.

okay, I'm going to take this in good faith, because I genuinely want to get across what is trying to be said here.

nowhere in the post does it say that kids should be shown sex. in fact, nowhere in the post does it "complain" that we have to shield children from sexual things. the closest thing in the source material i could find to that was this: "I mean, I really wish that you didn't have to justify either, but it bugs me that, of the two, killing is the one that you can use in wholesome family friendly entertainment but fucking is the one that you forever need to shield your children from even knowing about."

That is the only instance of kids being mentioned in the entire post, but I'll address your worries specifically regarding kids, since that seems to be your central concern regarding the entire post.

I understand where the fear comes from towards exposing kids to explicit and mature topics. I agree, sex and violence are both mature topics. No one is denying that. But they are not equal in weight (when you think about what they are as divorced from popular media).

i'm saying that if a topless woman is depicted as dead onscreen, and what you think to cover up is not the gore, but her breasts, then, I don't know. Kind of fucked up in my opinion.

I feel like the prioritization of one censoring thing over another is enforcing what, in our culture's eyes, is more affronting and potentially damaging to kids. Not violence, but their bodies. My opinion was never about anger that "kids can't be shown sex." It's about frustration that violence is seen as the more acceptable thing to be depicted out of the two.

Not because anyone thinks that children should necessarily be shown either of these things; but when sexuality is seen as evil, as something that should be hidden away, what type of feelings do you think that will instill in people who internalize that? How do you think that will affect their relationship with sex, their ability to share their concerns and worries about it with trusted adults in life? Do you think that when they eventually grow up and have sexual desires, they will pursue their sexuality in a safe way?

I'm just going to copy and paste what I said in my addition to the post here as well as kind of a thought exercise: think about what this post is saying about the normalization of violence and demonization of eroticism. How sexual repression and the indulgence of violence lets a society be guided in a certain direction.

I hope this was able to clear some things up, genuinely.

#i really do hope this makes things clearer. #not to mention when you're using ''think of the children'' as a defense #please #PLEASE consider what other things in history people have said ''think of the children'' about.