LaZodiac, Who Exists

My personal blog. I'm an author, I do streams every Sunday, and so on. Please consider my book, Cursed World: Initial Sparks!

[prokopetz]

Faux Middle Eastern RPG Settings: SAND SAND SAND SAND SAND SAND SAND SAND oh and I guess there’s towers or something but did I mention that there’s also lots and lots of sand

[prokopetz]

@gojirahkiin replied:

I get that there are probably harmful stereotypes somewhere in there given the other things prokopetz posts sometimes, but this feels like calling out space games for having too much vacuum.

It ain’t just the geography – there’s this whole preoccupation with sand on top of it. The people constantly talk about the sand. The slang and idioms all mention sand. There are social institutions with the word “sand” in their names. The folklore is about sand. There are prophecies about sand. There’s magic sand. The monsters are made of sand. Sometimes there’s even a made-up religion that somehow revolves around sand. Did we mention there’s sand?

[lazodiac]

Middle Eastern Pastiche :handshake: Northern Climate Pastiche Being really obsessed with abundant powder.

[parkayquarts]

hbo max blocks screenshots even when I use the snipping tool AND firefox AND ublock which is a fucking first. i will never understand streaming services blocking the ability to take screenshots thats literally free advertising for your show right there. HOW THE HELL IS SOMEBODY GONNA PIRATE YOUR SHOW THROUGH SCREENSHOTS. JACKASS

[parkayquarts]

somewhere out there is a guy who meticulously takes screenshots of every individual frame of his favorite tv shows and then painstakingly etches each one onto a roll of film which he puts into his old timey projector and recreates the footage as a silent film with his own lavishly hand-lettered dialogue cards and original score that he plays on his upright piano and charges audiences one shiny penny a play. at last, big media has finally outsmarted ol' Zachary Zoetrope

[theheroheart]

PSA for everyone who doesn't know, explained simply

this is NOT because of blocking screenshots, it's because of HOW streaming sites use your computer's hardware to optimise performance, which means the thing rendering the video and the thing capturing your screen aren't the SAME thing. so they can't talk together.

you can fix this by going to your browser settings, searching for "hardware acceleration", and turning that off.

[team-thickness12]

This also fixes screen sharing to other screens. It has been GODSEND

[lucarleigho]

type this in the toolbar to find this setting in firefox: about:preferences#searchResults

[mctreeleth]

ol' Zachary Zoetrope is back in business!

[vinceaddams]

It's nice that loud noises don't stick to clothes like smells do. That would be really bad if they did.

[zinderant]

This tells us how clothes respond to two out of the five senses. What can we say about the others?

Colors are kind of the opposite. We try very hard to make colors stick to clothes, but they get unstuck when bright lights hit them too hard. Fortunately this is a slow process and you can enjoy your colors many times before they come unstuck.

It is unclear whether clothes can gain or lose taste through exposure. Most of taste is mediated by smell, and clothes tend not to be exposed to sweetness, sourness, bitterness or umami, and even if they did, they would not give up this taste in turn unless consumed, which one does not do with clothes. We'll call this 'not applicable'.

Textures can go either way: clothes that are touched by things can either become more textured (pilling) or less (wearing thin), but eventually they break the clothes entirely, suggesting perhaps that clothes are most sensitive to touch of all the senses.

[qwertystop]

I think I disagree with your conclusion, there. True, touch is the most common sense by which clothes are destroyed, but it is also the sense most commonly applied to clothes in both their standard use and their storage. If clothes were continually exposed to very strong light, as they are for continual touch, they could be burned away and not merely bleached.

[depsidase]

[ahallister]

I can actually think of an alternative explanation: small print press. He’d put out orders for various rare books with the traveling merchants who’d come through town, and every so often they’d turn up with one and he’d set about printing a hundred copies or so, then sell the fresh new copies to merchants heading towards various university towns like Avignon, Grenoble, Toulouse, etc. He’d likely keep a couple copies of each book for himself, generating a library, and might wind up with all sorts of books he couldn’t profitably make copies of to sell to the universities, like fairy tales.

If that’s his business model, then Belle might be the closest thing he’d have to an apprentice, since we can see he’s getting on in age and might have nobody else to even consider passing the business along to when he slips the mortal coil. As one final thought, her dad is an inventor, and might be the bookseller’s only actual local customer, which might also explain the relationship. Her dad would occasionally want certain types of books on natural philosophy, and the bookseller would be the one with contacts who could procure them. Just look how dangerous it was for him to go traveling all alone! Far better to leave that sort of business to professional traveling merchants.

[galwednesday]

If you combine these ideas, then you wind up with a bookseller who was training Belle as an apprentice for both small press publishing and money laundering, only to watch his very promising student be swept away by some rich guy the whole town was trying to kill twenty minutes ago. He admires her hustle, but it leaves a gaping hole in his succession plan.

Fortunately there are two newcomers in town, one with an eye for mechanics and meticulous attention to detail and one with a love of risks and charm to spare, and that's how the neurotic clock and slutty candlestick take over the legitimate and criminal wings of his enterprise respectively.

[qwertystop]

Glass lilacs for the Glorious 25th.

A little broken, but that's okay.

[moggettt]

barks robotically

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[official-cisphobe]

here's a random word generator--whatever word it gives you is now the thing you are the deity of

[helpthegremlinisloose]

Deity of snails

I mean not the worst thing in the world, they little guys :>

@thelamentknight @blackcat101 @marigoldendragon @kalistorydreamer

[marigoldendragon]

I've become the deity of acceptable.

Which is hilarious because my life motto is 'it's not just good, it's good enough'

@kuri-karin @scint1llat3 @fiden-criatura and anyone else who wants to play ~

[fiden-criatura]

Deity of courtesy apparently

Which fair i suppose

I'm very "yes and?" About things,

@forgwater @misteria247 @hanafubukki @a-twistedheartslonging

[hanafubukki]

Thank you for the tag 💞💞

Diety of joy!!! Omg?? I love seeing people smile 🥹🥹💞💞🥰🥰

Tagging, no pressure: @chibi-celesti @l0velyl4vender @amenoyozakura @onyanjuu

[chibi-celesti]

A fancy diety name game? Sure, why not!

Diety of Kinship. Awwww! I cherish all the bonds and people I befriend!

@lilyofthisvalley18 @blessingofthestars @coolbattlegirl and Everyone else is welcomed to play as well!!

[qwertystop]

I'm bell, apparently. Could be worse. @lazodiac @flairina @bisectedbrioche

[lazodiac]

GRUDGE.

cool sure that feels correct I suppose.

[editoress]

Alarm Off perfec t time for put lying in bed to t/hink! Inside very Quiet and Peace thoughts very productive put in Alarm Off. Put Thinking in Alarm Off time. no problems ever lying in bedd with alarm off because good Contemplation and Eyes Closed for difficult deep thoughts about day. alarmOff yes safe place to close eyes lie in bed can trust not to fall back asleep. friend bed

[geekydemigodinthevoid]

I love that the internet saw people comparing women and other alienated groups of people and went, “they’re dating,” and, “they support each other.” We’re improving as a society.

[geekydemigodinthevoid]

Does anyone know who these artists are?? They’re brilliant and I’d like to credit them!!

[geekydemigodinthevoid]

[cell113]

THIS IS HOW TO TAKE A TRASH OPINION COMIC AND MAKE IT BETTER. THANK YOU.

[ophidahlia]

The best genre to ever have existed

[bowie-boy]

These improved my day

[surprisebitch]

GAY RIGHTS

[criizomheavvn-deactivated202111]

these are the only things in the world i find worth crying for becayse it’s so fcking cute and wholesome wtf

[ghost-writer143]

I WOULD LIKE TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE OG ARTIST GREW OUT OF THEIR I’M NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS PHASE

AND NOW THE GIRLS ARE CANON

[cipheramnesia]

The “guys I respect” artist also came out as non-binary, generally got more accepting. It’s growth.

[getoffmybog]

I follow the artist for the book club art! @nomsikka on instagram :)

[qwertystop]

Gradually playing through the Mega Man Star Force series. Tonight, I have reached Hover Scotland. Also, Luna, you're twelve, how did you get on an international flight unaccompanied to a place where you don't speak the language on less than a day's notice.

[gazeldhazel]

expletives as a category of words is kinda really funny and also entirely transparent of the censorship of society. it is a category of words that are bad words because they are bad words. specifically created to be "bad". and you arent allowed to say them in certain contexts or certain spaces or on tv or radio or rarely in movies or whatever. you have to be 18 or older to say fuck, you cant say shit or fuck or piss or any or expletive in any kind of content online unless they're suuuper chill, advertisers hate expletives because they're Bad, its like. why. im gonna say this without googling anything because its probably true but like, at least with slurs there's a history of violence alongside the usage of the slur, that the system used to belittle minorities and abuse and harass them with words and actions alike, and every use of the slur calls upon that history to enact that violence, but expletives are like. okay hold on lemme google something. okay maybe i can excuse fuck because it's also a verb for sex but that touches on how society doesnt want to talk about sex but it loves to objectify women for their sex appeal so ill give fuck a pass. okay both shit and fuck are said to have been "taboo" for some reason so its difficult to even know the history of them but like. i feel like we're just saying words are bad for the sake of saying they're bad

[demilypyro]

i feel like most swears are just words people don't like to think about. people don't wanna hear about shit because shit is gross and people don't like it, to the point it straight up affected the word? "how dare you make me think about shit, i don't wanna think about that stuff, so don't mention it." but like you can say poop i guess? why is one word for shit worse than another? who fucking knows. it's definitely still considered impolite to randomly talk about poop but it's not a full-on swear like shit is for some fuckin reason. and yeah the english language having so many swears that are just words relating to sex is like 100% puritanism. and hell is also a swear i guess. because christianity. i think we're not even supposed to say damn because that's like a religious thing too? but i guess people kinda got over that one. this shit is so dumb bro. it feels like these all used to have Reasons behind them but they kinda lost that as time went by and now they're just Expletives, as a class of words onto their own. like that even means anything.

[lazodiac]

So, it is definitely part and parcel because of Christianity, due to their desire of being seen as Pure and Clean, but it's actually a fairly uniquely Western English attitude. For some reason, the Americans see certain unclean, 'adult' oriented things as improper. You can't say fuck, because it's An Impure Act. Thus, frick- a way of saying fuck that sounds kiddy and thus is Okay.

You can't say shit because it's nasty. Thus, poo- a way a kid might say it, so it becomes socially more acceptable because they're Innocent.

Compare and contrast say, french swears. You can say fuck and shit and piss all you want, those are barely swears at all. But god forbid you say "tabernak!", that's genuinely what Quebecois french uses for fuck, and all it is is saying "tabernacle!" angrily. Traditional Parisian french uses sacre- you may be familiar with this as "sacre bleu!".

The fact that the French equivalent of "holy fuck!" is the Western image of a french person getting shocked by anything really shows what the difference between the two cultures are.

[desolationlesbian]

remember when Elementary adapted the holmes stories and made Watson a woman which removed the gay subtext but then made Moriarty also a woman and gave them weird lesbian subtext. masterful technique. the never-before-seen uno yuri reverse

[mistbjorn]

totally normal 10ft tall portrait of your nemesis’ coworker

[demilypyro]

I look good you agree

[alora-in-secret]

[this-site-isnt-safe-for-me]

[demilypyro]

hey fellow trans girls if you want to look like this you gotta take estrogen and eat a lot okay. you gotta. you gotta. you gotta. it doesnt matter what it takes don't let anything stop you. eat plenty and take estrogen. please. this is my body after 6 years on HRT and if i can do it, you can do it too

[demilypyro]

honestly really funny for Guilty Gear to build up That Man as like the ultimate evil for like 20 years and always depict him as this shadowy hooded figure

but then in Xrd it's revealed he was pretty unambiguously a good guy the whole time and in Strive he's playable and he's just kind of a weird but polite autistic nerd with a podcast

lol

[lazodiac]

If I recall his first actual appearance was in a pinball machine where he inexplicably has cat ears.

[qwertystop]

Amongst the many and varied takes on what makes humanity notable or distinct as a species in fiction:

emotions

nothing (we're generalists)

nothing (we're insignificant)

persistence hunters

broader HFY deathworld/"humans are space orcs" stuff

But I've been replaying Mega Man Star Force now that the collection's out, and I've never seen this particular take before.

If you fight for someone important to you, your strength becomes unrivaled. That is the mark of a "human". - Leo Kingdom (or Pegasus Magic or Dragon Sky, if you're playing a different version)

Humanity's special power? Friendship. Not in an emotional sense, aliens are plenty capable of socializing even if most of the ones we've seen are rather unpleasant people, but humanity alone has The Power Of Friendship, apparently, according to the alien radio lion sysadmin. That's a very literal thing, which goes unnamed in this game but the later games call "Link Power". So far, Geo has made friends with one person (not in this clip), and this gives him a shield at the start of combat and the ability to hang on at 1HP through a lethal blow, plus the thing that all your friends grant (can use their card in battle to transform for a power-up).

[theghostentire]

Finally started playing Ar Tonelico, the game series I've been obsessed with since high school yet have never actually played!

[qwertystop]

Good luck! The series is an absolute mess, but a fun one when it gets its act together.

I shall give you endless earth!

[theghostentire]

Yay thank you! I'm having fun so far! It's really awesome getting to hear the music in-game ☺️

[qwertystop]

My thoughts on... most of the game but not the start, I think? Are on here tagged "ar tonelico" and "liveblog", if you're curious (do it chronological, of course). And then I streamed the second game with @lazodiac to compare official and fan localizations. Would like to hear your own opinions on the games, if you post them.

Oh, and as far as your tags on the OP regarding Lyner - yes, he's absolutely a dumbass, but that's the point. I think Zodi's called him a golden retriever?

[lazodiac]

Lyner is a protagonist that, if he released in modern day, would get all the chibified owo art he deserves, because the man is dog-coded to hell and back. Genuine golden retriever energy.