a collection of many things

[kindof-amess]

Thinking about the Hadestown proshot and Orpheus being introduced wiping down a table with his back to the audience. Hermes has to call out to him again to get him to take his opening bow, and for the show to start, Orpheus has to turn around.

[a-silly-poll-side-blog-yay]

you just teleported to the last game you played how is it going? {you're plot involved}

good

bad

great

awful

dead

I don't play games/results

Remaining time: 3 days 8 hours

Soma 😔

[nerdylizard5]

KOTOR… I probably am dead in the intro tutorial part. Or when the planet gets destroyed.

[ashfae]

The last game I played was Tetris. I am so doomed. Especially if I'm in Tetris Spoilers version in which case I'm dead over and over and over but surviving anyway. Dooooooooooomed. At least the sex will be great. On the other hand, I-prime. Dooooooooooom.

[i-draws-dinosaurs]

Birds are basically the dinosaurs that managed to “nooo you wouldn’t hurt a cute little baby guy on his birthday” their way out of a mass extinction

[i-draws-dinosaurs]

Alternatively, birds:

(Asteriornis art by Phillip Krzeminski)

[i-draws-dinosaurs]

[homeofhousechickens]

[sonoftheria]

✴︎ BETRAYED STRAYS ✴︎

[silvaerial]

Patron Saints of One-Way Trips

[quasi-normalcy]

I think there's probably a moral element to doomerism where it's not just that they think that society is doomed, they think that it deserves to be doomed for its decadent and sinful ways, and they don't like the idea that it might somehow escape justice.

[sea-salted-wolverine]

Hey. Heyhey. Do me a favor real quick.

If you don't already know you have issues doing so, squat down real quick. Bend your knees all the way and touch the floor. Just make sure you can do it. Okay? For me? And then stand up all the way and make sure you can balance on one foot.

Like. You don't need to blow it into some huge thing. Just. Make sure all your bits and peices still work the way you think they do.

[sea-salted-wolverine]

Can you turn your head to look behind you without twisting your shoulders? What about standing on your toes? If you sit down on the floor can you get back up without using your hands?

If there was ever a tumblr post worth sending to your mom, it's this one.

Just saying, bodies are a use it or lose it kinda thing.

[sea-salted-wolverine]

okay so every time I see this post crop back up in queues and notifications I end up thinking about it. Because I made the post and even I'm still doing the thing where I read the post about maintaining range of motion in my delicate meatsuit and I nod and hmm and think yeah that's a good idea and then dont move from where I'm curled up shrimp style staring at the nightmare rectangle.

So like. Thinking real hard about moving doesn't count as moving. Major bummer. Anyways. Joints.

[muffinlance]

If your answer to any of those was "no", I cannot emphasize enough that this isn't just "bummer, guess it's gone forever". You can get that mobility back, it is actually very achievable with the right modifications for your level!

This is the very simple "starting from zero muscles" program I followed, highly recommend it or something similar:

Hybrid Programs | Start Your Fitness Journey Today — Hybrid Calisthenics

Explore our hybrid calisthenics programs to build strength, muscle, and help lose fat with adaptable routines for all fitness levels. Achiev

@hybridcalisthenics

[kindreddarling]

I'm going to play the hell out of this game. I'm about to be sick off myself. 😂 I legit had to pause and take a moment when I saw the train car is the household selection screen. So creative and charming! And the size of the world... yes! 🥹🥰

[secretsivekept]

Hey guys, you know about the Same Energy website right? has someone made a post about that? Cuz otherwise im gonna sing its praises to high heaven for its artistic references

[secretsivekept]

Okay so I'm just gonna talk about it even if someone's already made a post, someone's gotta spread the word of this incredible website

So you go to the main page, and you like the vibes of one of these pictures

Lets click skull face lady.

It then gives you BUNCHES of images with similar vibes. Want to tweak it a little and narrow it down further? What if you like the vibe of thatt purple one more? Well u click that one and TADA

And you can just keep narrowing down from there, and if you make an account you can even save images you like :D

I know it sounds like i'm advertising for them but honestly i would GLADLY take money to advertise for these guys, their website is still only in beta mode but already I use this (or try to) for my art warmups because I get to try to do something a little different each time. (I would give money to support them but I am broke AF so that's why I'm just spreading the word instead ;A; )

And on the front page there's even an option to search with your own images I think! (Though, I tried to do that but I kept getting an Error, so I don't know if that's a Me With Bad Internet issue or a Website issue. Again, website is in beta, so if it is a problem on their end it will hopefully be fixed soon).

and i just love this website cuz its GREAT for collecting asthetics and vibes (i mean, hence the name "same energy")

It's like Pinterest on crack :0

So yeah :D Definitely go check out Same Energy, it is a GREAT resource for artists and those trying to collect specific vibes.

[your-local-grubdog]

Sharing here bc helpful resource, but also to add on a few notes.

This is a search engine! Long pressing images on mobile will bring up where the engine found the image (not sure how to pull this up on desktop). It is no different from the images section of Google or Duck Duck Go or w/e else you use in this regard.

I specify this bc pintrest is a hellscape of stolen works :,) it's entire foundation is based on ppl finding aesthetic photos and art and uploading them to the site with no credit or permission. This isn't like that. It is a search engine.

Sometimes what it finds may be reuploads, which sucks, but it's not based in trying to do that. So if you like a photo you see, check out the source. If it seems ligit, consider helping the artist by leaving a tip or doing whatever pleases that site's algorithm.

[theprofessional-amateur]

Every day I get a little closer to saying fuck it and becoming an apprentice in some at risk heritage craft or profession.

[theprofessional-amateur]

"let's have AI-"

I'm gonna go learn the art of hand engraving or thatched roofing. Maybe hand make clogs.

[trickstertime]

As a professional hand engraver, when it comes to old crafts like these, its way more accessible to get started with the basics than you'd expect. Back in the day good steel was expensive so trying something like hand engraving was expensive and difficult to justify. But now you can can just buy a good quality handpush graver online for less than a fancy coffee. Just think, for under a hundred quid you could get all the kit you need to get started with fucking up coins and stabbing yourself repeatedly!!!

Don't threaten to do it, go research it, and actually give it a go!!! Most of the books for old crafts are out of copyright. Even if you don't get a job at whatever you try, or hell, even of you don't become in any way good at it, just learning and trying something new is good for you, and it gives you a greater understanding and appreciation for things.

Fuck AI? Good. I agree. Now fucking do something about it. Return to doing human hand crafted things as an act of rebellion! Start knitting, start wood carving, start engraving, whatever the fuck. But most importantly, remember you don't need to be making money doing it to make it worth doing.

[blighted-elf]

Vampire: The Masquerade - Choice of Games Titles

[amnesiaguy]

dnd paladin character concept: a knight raised alongside a magic user, who loves his friend, considers them family — but the magic user through a twist of fate ascends to godhood, vanishing from normal human life. so the knight swears fealty to the fledgling god so he can have some connection to them even still & the god who loves him dearly in return blesses him with gifts and divine powers as a way to reach back toward him, back toward earth. this paladin’s vows are easy to keep, like second nature… and prayer is both automatic and personal

[amnesiaguy]

can you imagine being a new god’s firstborn devotee? their most beloved, their milk tooth? he knew his god when they were a lanky teenager and helped lie for them when they used to sneak out of their studies. the two of them would crack each other up late at night until they thought they might hurl. no other paladin knows his god as intimately and well — he saw them pimply and awkward and human and real, and worships them even still. that kind of devotion is impossible to manufacture

[amnesiaguy]

the paladin chooses a quest to follow, with the caveat “should my god allow it.” he goes to pray by the river — they used to seek the river together every time they made large decisions, and it was by a river he swore his sacred oaths — and murmurs “will you allow it, old friend?” to the water. a flower blooms at his bent knee. (his god trusts his judgement; they will never forbid him any path he requests to follow.)

[geezmarty]

only social on the internet unionized enough for mass bullying to actually work. I love us

[minkhollow42]

In the beginning, tumblr broke the reblog chain. This has made a lot of people very angry and is widely regarded as a bad move.

[despazito]

Olympics has patagium drama now

[despazito]

Sharovipteryx has been banned from representing Triassic Kyrgyzstan per IOC ruling

[homunculus-argument]

If you could take one historical person with you to visit some thing or place for a few hours, who would you take and where?

I'd take Beethoven to a rave. Not because I'd think he'd particularly enjoy the scene, but he would have loved experiencing an event where you're supposed to feel the music vibrating through the air and the floor.

[iamthepulta]

The joke answer is giving any Babylonian scribe Microsoft Excel. I desperately want to see them enjoy =sum().

The real answer is taking Ennigaldi-Nanna to see the Smithsonian Museums. She was the high priestess of Ur, daughter of Nabonidus, King of Babylon. He is considered one of the kings most interested in archaeological history and likely passed this off to his daughter, as she ran what is considered the first museum of chronologically organized and labeled artifacts from the last 1500 years of Babylonian history.

I think the scale of information we've gathered and are able to share would delight her, and she'd also be deeply relieved that we still look at the Babylonians and Assyrians today as great archaeological powers and some of the longest-lasting cultural influences of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Especially since she lived to see the Fall of Babylon in 539 BC and would've seen the Achaemenid Empire overtake Mesopotamia- politically, if not culturally.

[homunculus-argument]

I love the idea that even if we account for there being a language barrier, she would probably be pretty quick to recognise what this is. There's labels she can't read written in letters she doesn't recognise, in languages she has never heard, but they're next to artefacts on display, so clearly this is a museum! And she would know why you wanted to show this to her. That you knew that she she would love to see it.

[igotosilly]

The Audra winters situation lowkey scares me. It makes me feel very demoralized that people might not like my worlds. But what keeps me going is the fact that at least one person may like it and it may make them happy.

[brehaaorgana]

So I've been following the story on and off recently because...my brain has been chewing on it a lot, I guess. And I have to say that I don't think anyone should be personally demoralized by the AOS story.

Cut for length

There's a confluence of factors here that made things go so bad in terms of publishing a book for other people to read:

A lot of people on tiktok bought a book with absolutely ZERO previews of the actual written content. Frankly, this is a big mistake. I agree with the people who have said that no one really needs a refund over this because, well, they bought a self-published debut novel without having read even a preview excerpt. Anyone can avoid this very issue as long as they provide readers with an excerpt/teaser of the book's writing. Set correct expectations with text previews for buyers. Or, make the story free.

Winter insists that their book was professionally edited. Winter has ALSO said that when they have edited their book, they fully rewrite the book from the very beginning. These things could definitely both be true, but 1) a developmental editor is not a copy editor, and in either case an editor cannot force changes or ensure that all necessary changes were made, and 2) completely rewriting a book from start to finish is not how you edit to prepare a book for publication, and is not how you incorporate editing feedback just before publishing. The traditional editing process undergoes several rounds between writer and editor before the core text is complete and then you copy edit. You do not start retyping it all from chapter one if you're preparing to publish. This only leaves room to introduce new mistakes. You can avoid this problem by not doing that right before you publish.

Winter claimed the editor was a developmental editor who worked on the hunger games. This led to WILDLY misplaced expectations from readers: the professional editor in question worked on Marketing for the Hunger Games, and was not an editor for the books. They're just a developmental editor who used to work in marketing and worked on the hunger games. You can avoid this by not overstating things or using misleading language to set expectations higher.

The book was riddled with spelling errors, grammatical errors, and basic composition issues, as well as incorrectly used words. I honestly wonder if AOS was written in MS word or not, because MS Word would have caught a LOT of these problems. (Yes you can buy a one time purchase of MS word and not a subscription still. I have done it. For serious writing AND the best editing tools, I still would finalize a text in word.) you can avoid this by: making sure you've had a final strong copyedit before publishing a book people will purchase. Also by not selling pre-orders before you're actually done with 95% of copyedits.

These issues are really easy to avoid! The other issues — the actual quality of the prose itself, and the story, the characters, the world building — are all more varied, and the ways to avoid those flaws are more dependent on the individual writer and their story.

If you don't mind a really really long podcast about it, I enjoyed SBU English Club's discussion of Age of Scorpius, where they summarize the story, the positives, the negatives, and then discuss how something might be actionably improved or what caused the specific issue and how it might be avoided.

If I were to sum it up, I would say the issue is partly:

1) sometimes the first book you write shouldn't be the first book you publish, and

2) the editing process is where you have to set aside personal ego in the interest of creating an amazing final product. And I think Winter is too attached to the sanctity of their world and ideas as they are to effectively improve them.

An analogy: writing a book is like growing a vegetable/kitchen garden. You have a bunch of seeds and seedlings and you plant them and you nourish the soil and you let them take root and you have the confidence everything is going to work out in your garden and it will be AWESOME.

And then you have to weed and thin out the garden. Lots of the seedlings would be perfectly healthy individually, but you can't actually let 12 basil plants grow together in a tiny little square of the garden because that will make half of them die and stunt them as they fight each other for nutrients. So you have to yank out a bunch of things you lovingly planted and wanted to grow and toss them aside in order to actually have a single healthy basil plant.

You can't have 8 tomato plants in one square foot, because a SINGLE tomato plant needs a lot of nutrients and space for its roots, and too many tomatoes planted too densely together makes for ripe conditions for plant diseases or powdery mildew that will kill ALL of your crop at once, or cause something like blossom end rot because you can't give that many plants in that small of a space enough nutrients without nutrient burns. So if you don't judiciously kill off the excess tomato plants, you will end up with bad or dead tomatoes as the season progresses anyways. And if you don't yank out weeds they choke out your good plants.

If you want to have grown anything edible, you have to to toss out some of your hard work in the name of the garden succeeding and having edible vegetables and herbs. (Also sometimes some plants unexpectedly do better while others struggle and it's up to you to decide to work with the garden and focus on the thriving stuff instead of wasting time and energy on proving you can keep that stupid squash alive this year.)

A gardener doesn't want to rip out the seeds that they planted because they put in so much work! It took a lot of time and effort to get plants sprouting or transplanted! But if a gardener doesn't thin out their plants, pinch off leaves for growth, prune the dead spots/deadhead things, rip out weeds, and harvest veggies before they go rotten — they will end up with a lot of inedible compost and a poor kitchen garden.

This is editing a novel.

This is what they mean by kill your darlings, which you do so that the rest of your work can flourish and grow stronger and so that you actually have something digestible at the end.

The attitude you need when first planting the kitchen garden or writing the story itself is totally different from the attitude you need to finalize things and ensure it produces something tasty.

And I feel like generally, this is where AOS stumbled.