The admins put their heads together at the end of last year. 2024 is our ten year anniversary, we said. We should do some cool stuff, we said. Our first idea?

Nothing.

But.

Bangers.

Anyway here's Hamlet.

I try to keep personal things outside of fandom, well personal (apart from the odd funny thing my partner says), but I am far too excited to not talk about this!

I have an audition (I already have the part, this audition is a formality) this evening for a part in a play called Rotterdam, where I'll be playing a character called Lelani.

The play is about a lesbian couple living in Rotterdam (Alice and Fiona), Alice is about to send an email to her parents to come out as gay, but before she does - Fiona tells her that they think they are supposed to be a man.

The rest of the play centers around Fiona (who becomes Adrian) transitioning to male and how this makes Alice feel about her identity and sexuality. Pair that with a budding "friendship" with Dutch colleague Lelani and Adrian's brother/Alice's ex-boyfriend (long story) on the scene - it makes a really interesting story about gender, sexuality, love and finding home.

I'm so in love with the script and the comedic nature of it that I encourage you to check it out if you can! It's written by Jon Britain and I cannot wait to be in it! Undoubtedly bc I'm excited about it I'll post about it more as we go, but I wanted to tell people about it so you can go check it out yourselves.

In the meantime I'm gonna go break a leg!

Gonna be honest, it bothers the heck out of me that people that use AI are calling their crap "covers" and "comic dubs". Like no, you did not put in the effort to "cover" or "dub" shit, you just fed it to the AI and let it do all the work.

"But I can't voice act and I don't have enough money to request something from the original VA," there are literally several of us out there who would gladly say your line or whatever for free. Some of us who do this as a hobby and would crap our pants with joy if someone showed any interest.

And yes, it won't be perfect but imperfections are literally a part of art, actual art. Regardless, it will actually have some soul in it and be done by someone who is passionate about it. Plus, you actually get to interact with creators within your fandom, which I think is cool as heck!

But no, people in fandoms have become so damn picky nowadays they'd rather resort to AI. It feels like, not only are people refusing to do things like read fanfics if how a character is written doesn't fit every single little headcanon they have for them (which is definitely not good), but also now even fandubs, that used to got attention and be appreciated so long as the person was having fun and making the character their own, are being ignored or given unnecessary critiques.

Five pebbles reading

HEY! I thought I got the volume to a reasonable level but Tumblr boosted so just a heads-up about the volume! It might be a tad loud...and I closed this out without saving...

Hopefully this tickles someone's fancy ^^. The track is the reading of the dialogue Five Pebbles has for Survivor and Monk in that order. Nothing too fancy but also used this as a means to work on some more subtle audio work.

Enjoy! Hopefully!

One thing I want to add about the horrible AI plan:

(Context: AMTMP has proposed scanning background actors for one day of pay, then using their image in perpetuity without paying them. It’s bad!)

And it’s bad for the obvious compensation reasons, which many have pointed out. But it’s also one of the final steps in the homogenization of media so many despise.

There are many different acting strategies, theories, etc. All of them are about how to best and most authentically reach inside a character and find the things that make them tick. While the director and writers absolutely have a huge part in this too, actors frequently shape characters in big and small ways throughout the process.

An example from my life: we did a play in high school. I had a small role, one scene. I got the scene, highlighted it, notated it, and went ‘ok,this is a funny scene, this is where the laughs are’. I came out first rehearsal, did the part, everyone laughed. We fine tuned it with the director and my scene partner, with props (paper was crumpled, etc). Got great laughs in the run, the show was great. This was the fall.

End of the school year, at the theatre department awards ceremony, I win an award for that show for scene stealer (positive) type deal, basically an smaller part done in a particularly excellent way. And the director revealed that when she had read the play to get ready to do it, she hadn’t thought it was a funny scene! She had read it as solely utilitarian! But then I got up and pulled the laugh out of it and she went holy crap yeah that’s amazing. And worked as stated above to refine it.

The studios don’t want that, or don’t care enough to want that. They want to be able to churn out endless market tested content, exactly what the AI written script asks for, and in the same way that AI script would lose the human element that creates new and exciting art, an AI ‘actor’ would just do exactly what was asked for, forever and ever and ever…

Entertainment workers need better compensation and conditions. And they also need to be allowed to ply their craft fully, not just for us, though we love the final products, but for themselves.

LAWYERS WILL REFRAIN FROM FLIRTING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jollyposting is still in season, I'm gonna wreck my voice doing this silly idea.

I don't like the mean girls musical because it's a worse version of Heathers but also. I wish it was a thing when I was in highschool because as the person who was always typecasted as the dumb one I would have KILLED IT as Karen

Just watched a really charming Minecraft "ARG" video with "Haunted" by Poe at the end. Made for me

Alyssa Tirrell at MMFA:

In late December, USA Boxing released a new set of guidelines for the inclusion of trans competitors, and right-wing media responded by criticizing the regulations, relying on anti-trans tropes and misinformation in their coverage. GOP members of Congress have since introduced twin legislation that promises to ban all trans competitors from the Olympic and amateur levels in any sport, citing the new regulations as a motivating concern and repeating the anti-trans framing popularized by right-wing media's backlash.  

While the USA Boxing guidelines are a departure from a trend of sports organizations banning trans participation, the requirements are considered stringent. Athletes under the age of 18 must compete “as their birth gender,” and adult competitors are required to obtain genital surgery and regular hormone testing, both in the four years preceding competition and throughout any competitive period. Nevertheless, right-wing media are attacking the rules, which USA Boxing says build on the consensus of several medical groups and international athletic federations.  On January 3, Fox News' America's Newsroom co-host Dana Perino referred to the eligibility requirements for trans female boxers as “nonsense.” Hosts and guests repeatedly referred to trans women as “men” or “guys,” and co-host Bill Hemmer quoted former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines' claim that “it will take a woman getting killed before these misogynistic fools wake up.”   Fox’s Outnumbered also said a woman could die because of the new rules, arguing that the regulations would lead to “one-punch killings.” Co-host Harris Faulkner cited Gaines' campaign against the inclusion of trans swimmers, misgendering Gaines' former competitor Lia Thomas in the process and expanding the panel's criticism to trans inclusion in noncontact athletic competitions as well. 

Despite such concerns over safety, coverage disregarded USA Boxing's medical citations, which include the recommendations of Boston Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine and Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital. Instead, for instance, The Ingraham Angle platformed the perspective of UFC fighter Colby Covington, who argued that “it doesn't matter what their hormone levels or pronouns are,” because “when they dig up their bones in 200 years, their bones won't leave pronouns.” (Actually, archeologists are capable of imputing that a skeleton may have belonged to a transgender person after more than 200 years.) [...] USA Boxing responded to backlash by restating that it is in compliance with federal law. The following day, U.S. Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced twin legislation in both the House and the Senate that would “prohibit any governing body recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) from allowing men to participate in any athletic event intended for females.” 

A joint press release cited the USA Boxing guidelines and repeated right-wing media's anti-trans framing. Tuberville's statement claimed that “men should not be competing in women’s sports at any level—and especially not in a sport like boxing. Whether in little league or the Olympics, it’s unsafe, it’s unfair, and it’s just plain wrong. This bill will ensure that the Olympics are fair to American women who train their whole lives to represent our country on the world stage.”   The press release also cited the support of a number of anti-trans organizations, including the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Independent Women's Forum, and the Independent Council on Women’s Sports and quoted several anti-trans figures, including American Principles Project President Terry Schilling and — yet again — Riley Gaines. 

Right-wing media pundits, led by anti-trans grifter Riley Gaines, is leading the backlash against USA Boxing's trans-inclusive policy.

It's 2023.

Caesar was stabbed 23 times.

What else were we gonna read this March?

Vox Channel Flips While Napping

Hey everyone so uh, the project I was working on in the background for a while is finally complete! Struggled a bit with sound balancing but hopefully it came out okay.

I worked really hard on this, so tagging some people who usually like my work @caxycreations, @profoundlyhauntedclaws, @verba-writing @floofyboi57 (since you voiced in this, thank you so much!).

wait i forgot to tell yall the absolute highlight of my day, and probably year, and probably existence because it was genuinely the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me

Back at it again at The Wall *does a back-flip into a pack of yellow lizards*

So a fun feature I hadn't had until I got the new mic was being able to plug in headphones to listen to the recording and my voice at the same time, so playing around with that (hence the inclusion and continued inclusion of Arti going forward in these, I mean who else is bringing the pearls). Also it is an odd experience that I don't haaate per-say but it was...different.

Breakdown of the acronyms

BG - Bright Green found in Drainage System

V- Viridian found in Garbage Wastes

DY - Dull Yellow also found in Garbage Wastes

But yeah, once more, just reading off the wiki. Learning new things that give more character to Five Pebbles, which is neat!

Seward to Mina, sweating profusely: oh haha, you see, that's my diary and... I couldn't possibly let you in on the terrible details of Lucy's death! it's too much!

Seward, internally: nobody can ever know about my Van Helsing impression

Jumping Jimminy Fuck it’s Sam and Max: Freelance Police