[ID: two pieces of digital fanart depicting Luz and Belos from the owl house dressed as Sarah and Jareth from Labyrinth (1986), respectively. They're wearing the costumes from the hallucination/ballroom scene. In the first piece Luz stands in the foreground with her skirt bunched in her fists, facing towards us but looking at something out of frame. She has a necklace of her egg palismen and a rod of Asclepius hairpin, and is wearing her white vans under her ballgown. Belos stands behind her in shadow, looking down at her and holding up a light glyph. The background is black. The second image is the same piece except with no shading, more vibrant colours and a purple background. End ID] @toh-described

🦉💫Don't tell me truth hurts little girl/Cause it hurts like hell🔮🌟

Labyrinth au!! Honestly surprised I've never seen one of these before?? feels very fitting. But I guess I'm the only one w/ this specific brainrot cocktail lol

(DO NOT TAG AS SHIP OR I WILL EXPLODE YOUR EYEBALLS💥)

Something I wonder all the time that is like not related to any blorbos but is still very fun for me to think about is if Central 46 has the equivalent of sending off the latest beloathed politician to be Provisional Governer-General of the worst post in Seireitei.

Like, one guy gets a lot of supporters behind him that the last directive from the Reio was actually a fake designed to supplant he and his allies, all devised by his rival (and like the directive doesn’t matter. It could be completely sound. This is all about the Spin) And that rival gets sent to bumfuck nowhere to hate his life for 50 years before they let him back in the Seireitei.

And you can simply imagine how fucking fun this made it for Aizen to commandeer the Central 46, let alone how easy it already was considering the multi-layers of shrouds hanging over every aspect of this governing body.

Also, imagine this dude who was sent to bumfuck nowhere is called back because Central 46 was slaughtered and they need a new council STAT. The utter whiplash. The vindication. The growing whistle of alarm sounding through his head as he packs up his life that’s honestly not so bad to go play in the political pit of vipers again. After all the old vipers got smashed by rocks.

He is not a blorbo but I think about him lmao.

i was having some wordgirl reboot thoughts and then embarked on a 9+ hour straight journey i can never take back (my hands and back hurt so much) (i have never drawn so much in such a short period of time) 

also im sorry the quality is so bad; i just hope theyre clear enough to see!

Pandora opening her fucking box to take a peek inside:

Anon you have no idea what you have done.

Anon I don’t even have internet right now because my cat decided the fiber optic cord was a toy.

Tumblr mobile cannot handle a rant this size.

It may take me days to type this up.

If you found your maker's bag of bones...

almost every day after work i boot up PCSX2 to continue my game of Castlevania: Curse of Darkness on Trevor mode. and every time, without fail, i end up simply slow panning the camera around Trevor and sighing wistfully to myself

Y'all are gonna get Sons of The Stars (Abby's version)(from the vault) like this week at this rate aksksks

HOW DID YOU MANIFEST RHAT EHDHSHHDHF

uhm i think u mean "thank you jess for using ur psychic powers for good and not evil"

Your Slider one shot, so frustrated on Slider's behalf! Ugh and Maverick is also a stubborn bastard. I'll have to gather my thoughts but......

My jaw dropped at the Scaled Composites shade! I was not expecting that one. Tell me how you really feel about Burt Rutan LMAO.

i feel so so fine about burt rutan, admire his career, but i have a visceral “do you think god stays in heaven because he too lives in fear of what he’s created here on earth” reaction every time i see a scaled aircraft.

like human beings were not meant to fly machines that look like this for another millennium or so & this big ugly fat fucker has been flying since 1998 for instance:

like what the fuck. this is the hubris of man at this point. scaled composites is approaching tower of babel levels of human arrogance. what are they COOKING.

For the anon who said you were a pre-smartphone kid: I need you to know how recent of an invention smartphones are. I’m 23 and I’m a pre-smartphone kid. My first phone was a flip phone. It was awesome coz it had a camera.

Yes! And then you'd scare the shit out of yourself when you accidentally hit the internet button before smashing the homw button roughly 47,000 times to back out before it connected or else you'd get a massive charge 😩

Okay, so controversial opinion, but the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies were absolutely terrible. Particularly as adaptations. Like, completely butchered characters and theme in every way that mattered. But they also played a huge role in my childhood/teens, and it makes me feel some type of way.

Like many, I was young when the LotR movies came out, and like many, they fill me with warm feelings of nostalgia. I still feel something when I hear the Breaking of the Fellowship, I still feel soft when I hear Concerning Hobbits. I still love Arwen's dresses, and the Ride of the Rohirrim still gives me a rush. That Jackson pulled off something previously thought undoable goes without saying. And many of the elements were fantastic. The costumes, most of the armor, many of the set pieces, the music. Watching Fellowship will always make me feel warm.

But that doesn't excuse the fact that, no matter how warm and safe those movies make you feel, they were terrible adaptations. The mere fact that they didn't include the Scouring of the Shire shows that they completely misinterpreted the entire theme and purpose of the story. Add to that making Aragorn and Gandalf the main characters (they gave Aragorn this entirely weird and unnecessary story arc because he didn't really have one in the books, which is like yeah, because he is not the main character and we are already at the end of his story), the fact that they spent the entirety of the Two Towers on Helm's Deep and the way they turned most of the "creeping horror" scenes into "let's drop 80 billion skulls from the ceiling bc it's spooky right" and I'd argue it's hard to disagree that the films pretty much butchered LotR.

Now, bear in mind that I'm not saying you shouldn't like them. I suspect that most people who love them do so for two reason (or both)--either they bring up warm memories of a younger you experiencing the joy of a beloved story come to life on screen and the viewing of them now evokes warm feelings, or it was baby's first fantasy (like the absolutely atrocious Game of Thrones for many a modern watcher) and it was just like wow. Whatever the reason, liking the movies isn't inherently a bad thing. As I've said many a time before--just because you like a bad thing doesn't make it a character flaw against you. But, and this is important, even Tolkien would agree that the Jackson movies were terrible adaptations--and we know this from letters written before his death, where he literally (and perhaps somewhat presciently) described scenes and adaptation choices he disagreed with (many of which mirror choices Jackson made verbatim--for example, he describes one script he read with the Weathertop scene (a near exact replica of Jackson's, only many, many years before) and how it completely butchers the tone and feeling he was trying to evoke. He also says that if pressed for time, removing Helm's Deep would be acceptable, bc it's sort of a skippable battle that could likely just be mentioned in passing to focus on the parts that matter.)

So whether or not you like the trilogy is sort of irrelevant. Your liking of it doesn't mean it was good. And to be clear, I still enjoy watching watching. I found most of his choices (casting, costuming, music) to be solid (though there are a few casting headscratchers) but his characterization is mostly awful, as are his changes. But I would never claim "this feels like Tolkien" because it fundamentally does not. Just read Book 1 of Lord of the Rings, and the difference is already astounding, tonally. And that is to say nothing of the way the themes of the story are sort of universally thrown aside.

But lately the primary comments I have seen from people who ~loved~ Rings of Power are three-fold: either people are haters bc they miss the PJ version of Middle-Earth, people are haters because they are racist incel men, or that haters don't matter bc the good Sir John Tolkien himself would have cried in rapturous glee to see his works so loving captured and beautifully rendered onscreen. And they are all wrong.

Look, are there racists who hate it? I mean yeah I have no doubt, but I'll also say that as someone who has been following this disaster from the get go, I find far more people talking about evil racists than...actual racist remarks. I'm not saying they don't exist (those sort of people certainly do) but I also think it was a way of shutting down haters "people only hate bc they are racist". Are there people who are disappointed that they didn't deep fake Young Huge Weaving a la Tony Stark and make him play younger Elrond whilst hiring a virtually unchanged Cate Blanchett to reprise her role while they flitted around in long wigs and velvet gowns? I'm almost certain.

But by and large, I think people who are "haters" are haters bc either it was crappily done, or are haters because, and this is important, it's not Tolkien. It's a fanfic of a fanfic, and a poorly done one at that. It's an AU if Middle Earth was a DnD land.

Rings of Power (love it or hate) is an abysmal adaptation of Tolkien. And it's not just because they don't have rights to 98% of what they need to make this story viable, it's because once again, they fundamentally do not understand the underlying theme and vibes of Tolkien. Galadriel not being a Commander is important. The Hobbits (I know they are Harfoots, fuck off, they should be Fallowhides anyway per the source material they actually do have the rights to) are not. Gandalf if not even a minor player, Celeborn is a major one. Sauron isn't a spooky serial killer haunting their dreams (although given they have no rights to Annatar I guess Steve the gym rat serial killer was the best choice). Elves keeping humans in permanent open air prison camps for generations never happened. Elrond would not have been dismissed from any council for not being a lord (given, you know, his parentage), Gil-Galad could never have even offered Galadriel a chance to the return to the homeland, and Findrod died in defense of Beren. Also, you know, the second age wasn't about funny sit-com dwarves (a truly bizarre interpretation that everyone loves but I can't figure out where it comes from since Tolkien dwarves are not even close to being comedic buffoons), bird's nest wearing hobbit types, and weirdly blond Elrond being an architect and gal pals with his future mother in law.

So you can like it, it can make you feel all warm and fuzzy and yadda yadda, but please, for the love of god, stop trying to claim it feels like Tolkien. "Oh they used flowerly language" okay, so did Spartacus but I'm not out here claiming that Claudius Glaber made me think about Fingolfin. This is not, and will never be Tolkien. This is an antithesis of quite literally everything he would have imagined for this. Stop trying to justify liking it with fabricated claims. If you like it, like it, but lying to yourself helps no one. I've said this before (and I realize the irony coming on the heels of a post entirely about justifying why I hate something but you know)--not everything has to be justified. Maybe you watched RoP and it made your heart tingle. Maybe you watched it and made you want to vomit. (The latter seems more likely). But Tolkien it aint, and I think that people have a right to feel justifiably upset at what they did to the material, to the fact that this show is clearly a part of a larger Hollywood thinktank designed to print money and generate talking points, and worry about the long term impact on public perception of Tolkien. Because, and again, perhaps this is a controversial opinion, but the vast majority of people are going to know Tolkien via the movies, not the books. I literally know someone who was doing a podcast about their favorite stories and did an entire episode about Lord of the Rings, but only the movies because they had never been able to get through the books. That is a problem because while the books will always be there, public perception and knowledge of them will always be superseded by the alternate public perception. The Jackson Trilogy is proof of that.

choking back tears on the bus at kagura's last scene i cant do this anymore i cant my first love my baobei

”they couldn’t have had different enemy spawns depending on if the player is in co op or single player” it’s an if check…

Thinking about how I would write an adult Scooby-Doo series, because I think it can be done.

The first thing I’d do is make the characters actually be adults.  Still young, but adults, in the mid to late 20s range.  Mystery Inc. is a private detective type business that they run together.  In this universe, the supernatural/ghosts/etc are real, but not necessarily common, so when they take on a case, the culprit might be a person disguised as a monster, or it might actually be a real ghost.  The stakes can be higher; sometimes a bad guy is legitimately trying to kill them.  Sometimes the mystery they’re trying to solve is a murder.  Sometimes they actually get hurt on their cases.

Fred: the core of Fred’s character should be that he’s incredibly kind.  Like, give a stranger the shirt off his back kind.  The “Fred can’t talk to potential clients because he might take a case for free and we need to eat” kind.  He’s an honest and good person and sometimes gets himself into trouble because he assumes other people are too.  While he’s not very good at reading people or noticing ulterior motives, he’s brilliant when it comes to mechanical or engineering type stuff, so he’s the one who keeps the mystery machine running, builds their gadgets, and of course, designs the traps.

Daphne: she comes from old money, and her parents absolutely despise her life choices, to the point where they haven’t officially disowned her, but they have basically cut her off, so she doesn’t actually have access to any family money.  Growing up wealthy has granted her a variety of skills, including speaking multiple languages, horseback riding, and fencing.  She’s very into fashion and jewelry (even if she can’t afford it anymore) and has extensive knowledge of both that can occasionally provide a vital clue in a case. And even though her parents have cut her off, Daphne still has a wide network of contacts she can ask for favors sometimes, because she’s personable, and people tend to like her.  Daphne is also very emotionally intelligent, and is usually the one who can spot when someone is lying to them.

Side note - I ship Fred and Daphne, so I think I would start them off as an established couple for this universe.  Dating, engaged, married, I don’t care.  They are stupidly in love, ride or die for each other.  There’s no will they, won’t they, no worries about cheating.  They are in a healthy, happy, loving relationship, and no one (not even Daphne’s disapproving parents) are going to mess that up for them.

Velma: she is the forensics nerd who sometimes gets super excited about the wrong thing at the wrong time (”He was mummified in seconds? That’s so cool!” “Velma!  His wife is standing right there!” “Oh.  Sorry.”).  She’s not purposely insensitive, she just gets laser focused on her work and forgets to filter herself sometimes.  She’s also the one who can get so fixated on solving whatever mystery they’re working on, she’s willing to bend or maybe break laws.  Is breaking and entering really so bad?  Not if it gets them answers.

Shaggy: he is still the comic relief, but he’s the comic relief by being the only person in the group that actually has common sense.  He manages the business’s finances, he’s the only one who knows how to cook, and the others tease him for being a coward sometimes, but Shaggy maintains that if a ghost with an axe is coming for you, running is the only sensible option.  He should also have a range of random knowledge that sounds useless, but sometimes saves the day (ex ventriloquism, origami, the history of spoons, etc).

Scooby: as this is a universe where supernatural creatures exist, Scooby is an ancient eldritch type being that took a shine to Shaggy when he was a kid, and took the form of a talking dog to befriend and hang out with him.  Aside from the talking dog bit and not aging, he never uses his powers in a way that anyone notices.  The audience is not told upfront that Scooby is an ancient eldritch being; it should slowly be hinted at throughout the series so the audience put it together, but the characters never realize it.  Scooby genuinely considers Shaggy to be his best friend, and cares about the rest of the gang too.

Skip Google for Research

As Google has worked to overtake the internet, its search algorithm has not just gotten worse.  It has been designed to prioritize advertisers and popular pages often times excluding pages and content that better matches your search terms 

As a writer in need of information for my stories, I find this unacceptable.  As a proponent of availability of information so the populace can actually educate itself, it is unforgivable.

Below is a concise list of useful research sites compiled by Edward Clark over on Facebook. I was familiar with some, but not all of these.

⁂

Google is so powerful that it "hides" other search systems from us. We just don't know the existence of most of them. Meanwhile, there are still a huge number of excellent searchers in the world who specialize in books, science, other smart information. Keep a list of sites you never heard of.

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

www.pdfdrive.com is the largest website for free download of books in PDF format. Claiming over 225 million names.

www.base-search.net is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free