ok wallmark slugs what about spive slugs.....

ok so basically

x. com/haylorflorals/status/1695558478998458510?s=46&t=EYbIfzp2Ta48OGdrioZAig

oh i was absolutely NOT prepared for "once i was 20 years old," was less prepared for the first shot of him at "soon we'll be 30 years old," and then the footage of the other boys. 😭💚 this is beautifully done

Genshin Impact: mysterious door of Hangeh Afrasiyab.

With the release of 3.6 version, during the quest Khvarena of Good and Evil, in the depths of Gate of Zulqarnain players can find the location called Hangeh Afrasiyab. I've seen other lore enthusiasts speculate about the name taken from Hang-e Afrāsiāb or Hang-eafrāsiāb — "the cave in which Afrāsiāb, the fugitive king of Turān, spent his last days".

I'm not going to talk about the Afrāsiāb, for anyone interested I already placed link(s) in the text. My focus is the enormous gate we see there.

If you say it's an entrance or at least is related to Khaenri'ah, you're probably right. The emblem (adornment?) on it, a star, and its colors, remind me of Enjou, the envoy serving under Abyss Prince(ss):

Although my photo is cropped with letterbox, the star is obviously eight-pointed. Because Genshin Impact is heavily impacted (pun intended) by Gnosticism, I must mention the Ogdoad.

In the early days of Gnostic teachings, Ogdoad was a supercelestial region above the seven heavens — and with the better understanding of astronomy — the sphere of the fixed stars. With the introduction of system developed by the theological Valentinus, the seven heavens with the region above them were regarded as the lowest stage of exercise of creative power. Above them was Pleroma, where were exhibited the first manifestations of the evolution of subordinate existence from the great First Principle.

What am I getting at, you ask? I suspect, in accordance to system of Valentinus, Khaenri'ah is the region above seven heavens, while Celestia is Pleroma. Literal underground location has little importance, as Gnostics seem to be allergic to metaphors matching with facts.

No, seriously, trust me on this, when I say you don't want to think too much about relevance and accuracy while analyzing work of Gnostics. Otherwise your brain will melt.

For a nation known for hatred towards Celestia's regime, Khaenri'ahs, including current Abyss Order, sure love including it in their heritage.

Knowing Hangeh Afrasiyab is located in Sumeru, which is based on Middle East, the interpretation of Ogdoad by Ancient Egyptians piqued my interest. Those people saw Ogdoad as a group of eight gods, worshiped in Hermopolis, taking an appearance of snakes (feminine) and frogs or monkeys (masculine), divided into four pairs/couples (BTW, number four is associated with death in Chinese culture and we're talking about Chinese game):

Nun & Naunet — gods of primeval waters;

Kuk & Kauket — gods of darkness;

Huh & Hauhet — gods of infinity/eternity (life's loops, anyone?);

Tenemu & Tenemut — gods of invisibility.

Fun fact: if you try to search up the fourth couple, plenty of academic and religious analysis on Gnosticism pop up. The invisibility is ought to be meant as protection, as far as I understand (spoiler: I don't).

Fits the dynamic between Khaneri'ah and Celestia, doesn't it? That's because, in my honest opinion, it is but another overshadowing, less and less subtle as story progresses, and the main story line shall be eventually easy to predict if you're truly (like, really truly) familiar with Gnosticism.

Most people are not, myself included, and now I wish I had a degree in philosophy instead of administration.

On r/Genshin_Lore someone pointed out that further description of an achievement Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here is a quote engraved above the doors of Hell in Dante Alighieri's Inferno.

Therefore, for the end of my speculations, I am leaving beneath the excerpt of Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake. It's an 18th century book imitating biblical prophecy. No matter what Christians say about Gnosticism and how many Catholics refer to everything they dislike as Gnostic while they mean heresy, these two beliefs wouldn't exist without each other. Same goes to whatever is going on for Khaenri'ah (Abyss Order) and Celestia, as I already mentioned.

Ad astra abyssosque!

THE ARGUMENT

Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burden'd air, Hungry clouds swag on the deep.

Once meek, and in a perilous path The just man kept his course along The Vale of Death. Roses are planted where thorns grow, And on the barren heath Sing the honey bees.

Then the perilous path was planted, And a river and a spring On every cliff and tomb; And on the bleached bones Red clay brought forth: Till the villain left the paths of ease To walk in perilous paths, and drive The just man into barren climes.

Now the sneaking serpent walks In mild humility; And the just man rages in the wilds Where lions roam.

Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burden'd air, Hungry clouds swag on the deep.

As a new heaven is begun, and it is now thirty-three years since its advent, the Eternal Hell revives. And lo! Swedenborg is the angel sitting at the tomb: his writings are the linen clothes folded up. Now is the dominion of Edom, and the return of Adam into Paradise. - See Isaiah xxxiv. and xxxv. chap. Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence. From these contraries spring what the religious call Good and Evil. Good is the passive that obeys reason; Evil is the active springing from Energy. Good is heaven. Evil is hell.

Bro checked out the reviews on Letterboxed for Hobbs and Shaw and people are fuckin stupid that shit RULED IDRIS ELBA WAS AN EVIL CYBORG MAN WHO FIGHTS JASON STATHAM AND DWAYNE JOHNSON ON SAMOA WITH AN ARMY OF DWAYNES FAMILY USING ANCIENT SAMOAN WEAPONS

4, 10, 30, 37, and 45 for the writers' questions!

4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?

answered!

10. How do you decide what to write?

I used to reliably write one fic per month, and that was decided by whatever idea nugget had captivated my brain most recently.

ever since I’ve broken into the landscape of ao3 exchanges, it’s decided by recent exchanges I might’ve signed up for or exquisite requests that have caught my eye.

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

glib answer: fluff is out of my comfort zone. anything calling for an unqualified uncomplicated happy ending… leads to me gnashing the end of an imaginary pencil going “but why is this so hard???” there’s no honour with fluff and no lessons learned, I just bounce at the earliest opportunity back to gestating dark wretched bonbons.

realistic answer: m/m. I used to have a disease called “I can only write fic from women or non-binary people or men of colour’s povs” (I don’t relate to people who think writing women is revulsively political because MEN who are the default in their societies fill that role for me instead and women are my comfort zone) and m/m was a huge leap… but it’ll get easier with practice, is what I tell myself! it has gotten easier.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

I don’t think it’s underrated when you put the fandom into context, but I’m going to discuss the lightness of a foreign sky a second time [drumroll], specifically epigraphs/poetry, because I like the choice of poem I picked and more broadly the poet I looked up:

while looking for epigraphs/poems to crib titles from I rediscovered Alfian sa’at’s poetry. The Merlion, which the fic title is paraphrased from, is a nice wry ode to the diffusion of identity and rootlessness that doesn't side with the subject of that (privileged) rootlessness, exactly, but does do a nod to loss from the unsaid weathering of their sense of self. all of which I thought was somewhat fitting considering the OG book's subject matter, and so decided to put into conversation with it through my fic.

that aside, it's just a poem that manages to be irreverent and thoughtfully witty (the contemporary Chernobyl reference!) while staying lyrical:

"I wish it had paws," you said, "It's quite grotesque the way it is, you know, limbless; can you imagine it writhing in the water, like some post-Chernobyl nightmare? I mean, how does it move? Like a torpedo? Or does it shoulder itself against the currents, gnashing with frustration, its furious mane bleached the colour of a drowned sun? [...] What a riddle, this lesser brother of the Sphinx. What sibling polarity, how its sister's lips are sealed with self-knowledge and how its own jaws clamp open in self-doubt, still surprised after all these years."

the common online consensus among singaporeans (that I've observed, anyway) is that Crazy Rich Asians has gotten mixed receptions given its wild embellishments and setting inaccuracies (wrt the everyday lives of most of the singaporean populace, lol, not counting expat enclaves) -- and i think something like Alfian Sa'at's Void Deck is a great antidote to CRA's fictive luxury:

And old folks sit like sages To deploy chess pieces with ancient strategies. In a corner, a caged bird bursts With the song of its master's pride And wrinkled women breathe, through Tai-chi-tuned windpipes, the operatic melody of the air… All a wanton fantasy. Eyes reveal a meeting-point For loners and loiterers: A sense of things reduced- Conversations that trickle through Brief noddings at lift landings, Teenage rhetoric scrawled, in liquid paper, On the stone-table chessboard, (Where the king used to sit) The grandiose house-selling dreams of residents Compacted in anonymous letterboxes;

so: if I like something about this fic, I hope it's some sort of groundedness in... emotion, setting texture, and all that jazz.

45. What’s something you’ve improved on since you started writing fic?

answered—but I like to think (hope) that I’m better at writing lines that feel like an emotional gut punch or sharp insight, and including them in every other paragraph in fic so that the reader feels either like they’ve been walloped or sanctified (or left thinking "wtf? I'm never going to trust this person again") by the end.

(fic writer asks)

My Sunshine Jimmy

So, along with My Boy Charlie, another archetypal character I write is Jimmy - though just like Charlie, he's taken on many forms, including appearing [without my say so] in my Ancient Greek OC Antidas (with some variation to fit context, of course).

These archetypes aren't gender specific by the way; in my current project, Arity is also in many ways a Jimmy; and as I shared on Sunday, they do get into a relationship together, so they're a lot sometimes.

Jimmy originally came into being in my (published, now unpublished) pair of novellas titled 'Double White Lines'.

In the first of these, Freeway, he's introduced through the eyes of Gracie [another of my archetypes who will also be in the novel I'm writing now, so more on her soon.]

So, Jimmy and Gracie from Freeway:

Original Jimmy

It was sunny outside, and quiet except for the distant hum of traffic on the freeway behind the house, where it ran west towards Langarrin. Gracie sat on the brick letterbox, kicking her heels against one side, waiting for Jimmy to come pick her up. He was her best friend – they’d known each other since early childhood. Besides her sister, Lou, he was the only person that she had any real attachment to.

She didn’t have long to wait. He pulled up in the Rex, shorthand for the WRX, a rally car that was fashionable amongst a certain type of guy. She jumped into the passenger’s seat. 

‘I’m glad you dressed for the occasion,’ he said, hazel eyes sparkling with humour. ‘Those are your best trackies, I s’pose?’

She returned the favour, looking him up and down, pointedly eyeballing his tight pink shirt and skinny jeans, and scoffed.

‘Where’s the metrosexual convention?’

He chuckled and turned his attention to pulling the Rex out into the street. 

Once they were on their way, he said, ‘Got some news - don’t go getting all heartbroken on me, though...’

‘A posting?’ He was in the Navy. Postings were a fact of life. 

He nodded. ‘Melbourne. I leave in a couple of weeks.’

‘How long?’

‘Nine months probably. It might get extended.’

She just nodded, taking a moment to adjust to the news.

She felt thrown of balance each time he went away. Somewhere, at the back of her mind, she thought he wouldn’t come back; and it was true in a certain way. The longer postings always returned some new variation of the Jimmy she’d known before.

It would’ve been easier if they’d been any good at keeping in touch – but Gracie never knew what to say, and Jimmy was always so busy – sometimes totally uncontactable for months at a time, and sometimes just taken up with whatever friends he was mixing with at the time.

It was understandable that their relationship got put on ice, she thought, all things considered; but it was still hard to be left behind and not take it to heart.

They arrived at the Henley Maccas a few minutes later and went in.

Once they had their food, they took a table near the window, looking out on the shabby carpark.

Gracie slowly drank her shake as he told her about his plans, in between scoffing down two burgers and fries. He always ate like he was ravenous.

During a lull in his monologue, she said, ‘It’s been a while since you’ve been to Melbourne, right?’

‘Yeah, a few years.’

‘Guess you’re about due to check in with your Melbourne wife, then. Visit the kids.’ It was a long running joke between them – the classic, about sailors having a family in every port.

‘What did we call the last one? Joseph?��

‘Joe. He was a pizza baby.’

He snorted. ‘That’s right. I’m really looking forward to having Papa Joe’s again. Best pizza I’ve ever eaten.’

A couple of girls walked into the fast-food joint. They caught Jimmy’s attention. 

‘Who’s that with Jude?’ he asked Gracie, gesturing with his chin.

Gracie looked over her shoulder. He was talking about a small, dark-haired girl who was probably around twenty-five, maybe Italian or something like that, dark-haired and pretty.

‘That’s Kirsten’s younger sister, Rosie.’

‘Good-lookin’.’

Gracie rolled her eyes. ‘You’d shag anything, honestly.’

‘Not anything,’ he said, with some dignity. ‘I wouldn’t touch Lou with a ten-foot pole.’

She grinned. ‘Just as well. She’d shank you if you tried.’

He laughed, but he managed to catch Jude’s eye, and the two girls came over.

‘Hey, Jimmy.’

‘Jude. What’s goin’ on?’

‘Just chillin’.’

‘Nice.’ He looked at Rosie. ‘You’re Kirsten’s sister, aren’t ya?’

Gracie smothered a smile. She found it amusing the way he broadened his accent to flirt; inexplicably, it seemed to work more often than not. It was working on Rosie, anyway; she smiled artfully, sizing him up. 

‘And you’re Jimmy. You used to date Kirsten’s bestie.’

‘Nah - I wouldn’t say date. We used to be friends, though.’

‘Friends, huh?’ she said, in a playful way.

‘What’re ya getting’ at?’ he said, leaning forward a little, echoing her tone.

‘Oh, nothing. I’ve just heard of you.’

‘And my reputation?’

She smiled, all traces of pretended shyness gone.

‘You might say that.’

Gracie saw Jimmy relax. He knew at that exact moment that she was keen. 

‘What’re ya doing tonight?’

‘Nothing much. Why?’

‘You should come down the Pipes.’

‘I might,’ Rosie said, mustering a hint of implied resistance. ‘I’ll see.’

‘Sweet,’ he said, standing up. ‘Carn, Gracie. Let’s beat it.’

She followed him out, saying bye to the two girls as she passed. They pretended not to hear her.  

Older, more mature (?) Jimmy

So in Arity, Jimmy is older, but he is still a clown. As I said above, Arity is also like him - and this is my first attempt at showing the chaos of a conversation between two idiots. I'm not sure I am happy with it, but this is where it's at right now :)

~~~

A minute later, a guy came in from outside, shutting the door behind himself. He looked at me and cheerfully said, ‘Good morning.’

I replied with a non-committal ‘Morning,’ and went on drinking my coffee.

He said humorously, ‘Not even a good morning? Hard to believe, when we live in this paradise.’ He gestured with an expansive, vaguely theatrical arm, indicating the Lodge and perhaps Langarrin as a whole.

'Living the dream,' I said, very dryly.

There was nothing else to pay attention to, so I found myself listening to him pouring cereal then milk into a bowl behind me, before making coffee. He was humming half under his breath as he did it – I couldn’t identify the song.

To my surprise, he came and sat opposite me. I looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

I was struck by his face – he had what I’ve always called a kind face, complete with dimples; though he was otherwise just an average looking guy – hazel eyed, dark-haired, tattooed, in his late twenties or early thirties. 

He said, ‘I’m Jimmy,’ and offered his hand over the table. 

‘I’m Arity.’

‘Like hilarity without the hill?’

I snorted. ‘Yes, just like that.’

‘Weird.’ He took a mouthful or cereal, then set his spoon down with a wrinkled nose. Reaching for the honey, he squeezed it all over the contents of the bowl. ‘Were your parents hippies?’

I shook my head. ‘Nah. It was the name of the street my dad grew up on.’ He looked at me quizzically, and I smiled. ‘You think you’re the first person to tell me it’s a weird name?’

He shook his head, then through a mouthful of food, he said, ‘I’m just glad you’re not a hippy, since we’re friends now.’

‘Are we?’ I said, chuckling at this approach. He was weird, and I appreciated that. ‘I’m not sure I agree. I need to know what you have against hippies first.’

‘They don’t shave their pits, of course.’ 

I hadn’t expected that answer, and I snorted.

‘What do you care about your friends’ armpits? Besides, do you shave your armpits?’

He twinkled at me – an expression that was at once mischievous and approving – of what, I wasn’t sure.

‘Maybe I do.’ He drank the last of the milk in his bowl then set it aside, before adding, ‘I do hang out at the gym. Gotta shave to really see that muscle definition.’

I looked him over pointedly. ‘What muscle?’

He looked at me as though I’d struck him a mortal blow – but the smile never left his eyes.

‘Really? Is this how you go about building friendships?’ He tutted, shaking his head, ‘Arity, Arity, Arity.’

Dryly, I said, ‘Observations of fact are worse that slandering an entire sub-culture’s grooming habits, now?’

He gave me a playfully dirty look, but didn’t answer as there was a beep from his pocket, and he took out his phone. He was quiet for a moment, tapping out a message.

I went back to staring at the french doors. I wondered suddenly why the textured glass had been put in. The room would’ve been nicer without it, looking out onto the garden.

He set the phone onto the table. ‘You know I don’t mean it, right?’

‘Don’t mean what?’

‘About the hippies.’

‘Oh,’ I said, taking another drink of my coffee before, looking at him from under my brows, I added, ‘I did, about the muscles.’

He was doing his best to suppress his laughter and said sternly, ‘You wait. That’ll change. I’ll be so built I’ll be able to pick you up and fling you across the room.’

I wide-eyed him, and said in a pitiful voice, ‘But why would you fling your brand-new friend around?’

He scoffed. ‘Why else does a man get strong?’

‘To fling his enemies?’

‘I have no enemies to fling.’

Dryly, I said, ‘You’ll have no friends, either, if you start treating them like that.’

The laughter at last bubbled up out of him, and he stood abruptly.

'Dammit, you’re too quick.’

I smiled. ‘Checkmate.’

He scowled at me without any seriousness at all; but there was the sound of voices from reception. One of them was Kristy’s.

Great.

‘That’s my cue to leave,’ he said, knocking the table twice with his knuckles. ‘Until tomorrow morning, Hilarity.’

~~~

So - that's an intro to Jimmy and Arity, I guess. Jimmy does have more depth than either of these descriptions really show. He's been through it, but he's one of those people who uses humour to deal with everything.

Hmm... Since it isn't published anymore, I can post the whole Freeway chapter about Gracie and Jimmy (which is functionally a short story, more or less) if anyone is interested in knowing more? It's the only part of the novella that I think is worth reading, to be honest, hence the unpublishing - even though it's far from perfect.

Anyway - I have no idea if this is insightful to anyone else, but it's super fun tracing this stuff from my end 😀 revisiting old work, dragging these fools from retirement to hang out here for all to see... Not that Jimmy minds - he's down for anything honestly 😂

for the friendship asks - #11 for Aragorn and Faramir!

11. “Which of the friends do I relate to more?”

Whoof, that’s a tricky one. I guess Aragorn and Faramir just never seemed particularly relatable to me?? I mean, the hobbits I can relate to just fine—as I'm sure was Tolkien's design, because he built them to be the Everymen through whose eyes we experience the story—but Aragorn and Faramir feel more like the heroes of ancient legend, or like wax figures standing stoically in a museum, than they feel like your cousin or your neighbor or your friend. They're sort of...distant, unknowable, and untouchable. A step above "normal people", so to speak.

Now, let's see...usually, what makes characters relatable are the challenges and struggles they experience. Even if the circumstances of their stories are extraordinary and far outside the realm of our boring lives, the characters will react to those circumstances with very human emotions, and that's what makes it possible for us, the audience, to connect to them.

Aragorn's struggle is that he's a lost king who's trying to reclaim his throne. He has a lot of responsibility and expectations on his shoulders, but he sometimes doubts he'll be able to live up to it all. He's not so prideful that he thinks he can't make mistakes, but he picks himself up and does what he has to anyway.

Faramir's struggle is that he is overworked by a father who's slowly going mad, and the strain drives him nearly to his literal death. One of these days I'll do a mini-essay comparing Faramir in the movies vs. Faramir in the books, but in the meantime, suffice it to say that Book Faramir strikes me as even less relatable than Movie Faramir, simply because he has less flaws. He's admirable and noble, but it's he's the kind of person that you respect from a distance, not one that you can really understand.

I guess that just leaves Faramir with one potentially relatable thing: his daddy issues. However, I am thrilled to say that I can't relate to those either. My dad is The AwesomestTM, and I'm not just saying that because he reads this blog occasionally. (Hi Dad, love you! 💚) I'm saying that because it's true, and because whether you guys realize it or not, you love him too.

My dad the one who introduced me to Lord of the Rings when I was a smol. My dad is the one who raised us on family movie nights watching bonus features of the Extended Editions on our chonky little letterbox TV. My dad is the one bought me this absolutely dope-looking copy of LotR, which has featured in every single Photo of the Text at the top of my posts since the start of Two Towers. My dad is the one who suggested I draw this moment with Treebeard, Legolas, and Gimli, which you guys evidently thought was hilarious, because it was my second post to break 2K notes! This blog would not exist without him (nor would I, by definition, but that's beside the point). He's a nerd, and hilarious, and one of the wisest people I know, and he has never, not even once, even remotely attempted to set me on fire!

All that to say: I think, by process of elimination, I'll have to say Aragorn is more relatable to me, if only because we get to spend more time with him, get him in his head, and see him when he's getting cross with hobbits and isn't at his best.

I'm sorry if that's a boring answer, but thanks for giving me the chance to go off on a tangent about my dad!

FRIENDSHIP ASK GAME!

in my ancient history class we were forced to sit through this god awful movie and write a paragraph about it. the following is said paragraph. (this was also posted to my letterbox)

The film Troy (2004) directed by Wolfgang Petersen is not only inaccurate to the Iliad but also a terrible movie because of the poor and sluggish portrayal of the characters, the inaccurate and physically impossible weapons and armor, and the portrayal of the Greek religion and gods. To start, there are multiple sets of characters from the Iliad that are combined for the movie, namely Ajax and Diomedes, and Chryseis and Briseis. All characters are important to the story. In the Iliad Ajax is meant to represent courage and strength, and Diomedes is a strong leader of a fleet of ships, unfortunately in the film they are a miserable combination of violence and aggression, without even a fleet to command. Ajax and Diomedes being combined and boiled down to a rage fueled giant is lazy writing and gives off the impression that Wolfgang Petersen and the writers gave up and stopped trying to do any work. Furthermore, intervention from the gods in Troy (2004) is next to nonexistent despite divine intervention being the thing that drives the whole plot of the Iliad and is the reason the Trojan war started in the first place. For example, in the Iliad the priest Laocoon and his sons were eaten by a snake sent by Apollo that jumped out of the water after the priest protested the other Trojans bring the wooden horse into the walls of Troy, however in the film Troy (2004), Paris disagrees with pulling the horse into the walls of Troy, the Trojans only keep the horse because Paris was outvoted, without any intervention from Apollo or any of the other gods. Divine intervention is incredibly important to the plot of the Iliad and other poems from ancient Greece, and completely disregarding and ignoring the element that carried the whole original text is disrespectful to the story itself. Ultimately, the one element that the creators of the film got slightly accurate to the Iliad and ancient Greece would be the weapons and armor. The blades on swords being curved, along with the fighting choreography, and the shape of the shields being rounded, are all accurate to the Iliad and ancient Greece. Sadly there is one major flaw with ancient Greek battles, the armor is literally physically impossible. The weapons are able to pierce the bronze armor which is my all means not physically possible. The fact that the director and writers were too lazy to research a key aspect of the culture the film is about drives homes the point that this movie is lethargic and miserable. In closing, because of the lazy character portrayal of Ajax and Diomedes, lack of divine intervention from the gods and the impossibly fragile bronze armor, this movie is not only a terrible adaptation of the Iliad but also a terrible movie in general.

About: PLEASE READ DESCRIPTION. I can come across a little condescending or contrarian sometimes - sorry about that! Know it’s not intentional. You can call me Echo!

I only accept anon hate in the form of limerick. Please be aware of this before sending or your message will be blocked & deleted without comment. My blog MUST remain a silly space.

Blacklist Tags:

#important - catch-all politics & current events tag.

#this is cassandra - talks tag. From the song by Talis Kimberley.

#sadismposting - blacklist this one if you're squeamish.

#the intersection where the bodies meet - same as above, but more a study on violence as love rather than outright vicious hornyposting.

#something rotten in the house - incest, haunted houses, and greek tragedy. context

Interests:

Opera - #opera tag

Textile arts, focused historical techniques & materials. I’ve knitted hand warmers from yarn I cleaned, carded, and spun myself! - #textile, #move the sheep and the fences around

Fashion - mostly “vintage”/historical women’s styles, with the occasional kitenge or si-fi-esque look. - #clothing

Sub-Saharan African mythology, cultures, and tribes, particularly the Maasai. East Africa for culture, and West Africa for mythology, just because I think the West African gods are cooler. (Sorry, Kenya.😅) - #africa

Farming, homesteading, animal husbandry, etc. No tag. Lots of chickens.

Spiders - #spiders

Ancient legends, media analysis, meta narrative. Enemies to lovers, too; if the Epic of Gilgamesh did it, I can put it here. #can’t argue with a monomyth, #the play that eats the players, #enemies with benefits, #stories

Angels - I am not religious but feel strongly associated with them. #angels

Character tags: #gawainposting, #gearposting

Fandoms & medias & sideblogs & such

Abzu, Journey, Sky cotl (@starsfallhome)

Hollow Knight (@bobbinbugs)

comicaurora (no longer like it but left my side blogs up.) (@aurorar34, @gaias-letterbox​)

Princess Tutu + princess tutu abridged

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Blue Eye Samurai

Lego monkie kid

Death Palette

Outer Wilds

Ultrakill

Portal 1 & 2

Hatoful Boyfriend

Paul Shapera (no longer following but soft spot for older works)

Medieval literature

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Movement Through Time Week 5 : Painting - Collages inspired by Seán Hillen (10/02/23)

Today, I made some collages inspired by a recent artist i researched, Sean Hillen. I did this as part of my painting and printing electives that both involve image making, layering, and composition. All of my images are primary source

This I of a dinosaur I saw in a museum layered on top of an image of a house in limerick. The t-rex has time travelled to modern day limerick 😱.

This is an image consisting of an extinct mouse like animal that i saw stuffed in the Ulster Museum. It is infront of a black and white image of bunratty. The photo of bunratty folk Park is in black and white to give the illusion that the mouse has travelled from pre historic times to the 1940's Bunratty

This collage is a combination of an ancient town that I saw on a holiday to China a few years ago, along with a modern day cruise ship infront of an image of a Greek cathedral that I saw in Santorini. They are all from different time zones but the collage has made them into a singularity.

This image is of a classical building I saw in Italy. Standing infront of the building are a classical roman statue, along with myself and my sister Cara when we were younger. I have also included the top of a 1930's lighthouse that I saw in Bangor on top of the Ancient style Italian building. As well as that I have included a late 20th century Irish phone box. All of these images from different eras are combined in this one image that allows the viewer to travel through time

The final surrealistic collage I made is of a dinosaur that I saw in the Ulster Museum standing outside the graveyard in my village Kilcolmen when it was snowing a few weeks ago. I have also included a letterbox that is painted red as all Irish letterboxes would have been before ireland gained its independence in the 1920's. I have also used a medieval venician mask as a sun like light source in the image. I saw the mask in a shop window in Italy.

Top Planters

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hello! its me again! with the question of

have any of the other slug cats met the Boomstick family?

maybe gormond could share parenting tips with Arti and Spear?

sorry this just came to mind so i thought i should ask!

yes !!!

saint enjoys bein around the two since their hubby is a good friend of arti ( he comes around incase nobody is able to watch spear and artis children )

the babs love him !!! the lil pink one reminds them of hunter sometimes tho

id like to also apologize for the VERY late response 💔

This clip reminds me of SM at times… (youtu.)be/M26nvB7S19o I saw this and remembered the word. Here is the antonym- (wellandgood.)com/what-is-freudenfreude/ Much better to dwell on. Lol, but it kinda looks like “fraud on fraud” to me. Language can be funny.

tbh quite a bit of social media is indeed powered by schadenfreude (there is also a song about this from avenue q, which i haven't thought of in ages!), and online purity culture thinking it's moralistically unimpeachable when attacking people over, like, thought crime is often fueled by this too. tabloid media frothing over people's struggles and downfalls heightens this as well, unfortunately :/

"Freudenfreude functions kind of like vicariously living through someone else’s wins—like when they get a new job, find their lifelong partner, or even simply finish a task on their to-do list." a much brighter and more compassionate concept!!! ❤

The Gateway Guardian: A Journey Through the World of Door Metal Plates with Kick Plate Direct

The door metal plate has come a long way, starting off as a work of art and evolving into more than just a protective shield against wear and tear. It serves as a silent guard today, greeting visitors and discouraging intruders. Its silent language, engraved into metal, says volumes about the character of a house or place of business.

In this exploration, we'll delve into the rich tapestry of door metal plates, uncovering their history, purpose, and evolution. We'll meet Kick Plate Direct, a company dedicated to crafting these guardians of the threshold, transforming them into works of art and practical wonders. So, step across the threshold with us, and prepare to be surprised by the fascinating world of door metal plates.

A Guardian Through the Ages:

Ornate bronze plates decorated the tomb entrances of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt, where the origins of door metal plates may be traced. Iron plates, which provided defence against raiders during the Middle Ages in Europe, eventually gave rise to elaborately crafted door rings and knockers. Metal plates became widely available due to mass production brought about by the industrial revolution, and they were later decorated with geometric patterns and clean lines by the Art Deco style.

Beyond Protection: A Canvas for Expression:

Door metal plates have evolved beyond their merely functional beginnings. For businesses and homes, they provide an empty canvas on which to showcase their uniqueness. The options are unlimited, ranging from simple geometric patterns to imaginative animal silhouettes. Kick Plate Direct has an amazing selection of alternatives, ranging from whimsical animal motifs and personalised artwork to traditional house numbers and monogrammed patterns. Each plate becomes a silent introduction, a glimpse into the personality that lies behind the door.

The Craftsmanship of Kick Plate Direct:

Behind each Kick Plate Direct masterpiece lies a dedication to quality and detail. They use state-of-the-art laser cutting technology to ensure detailed designs and precision from their trained artisans. There are materials to suit every taste and budget, ranging from beautiful brass and rustic copper to weatherproof aluminum and sturdy stainless steel. After that, a protective coating is applied to each plate to ensure that it withstands the environment and keeps its beauty for many years.

More Than Just Aesthetics: Functionality Matters:

Kick Plate Direct understands that beauty often blends seamlessly with practicality. Their door metal plates are not just aesthetic delights; they also offer functional benefits. Kick plates themselves protect the lower portion of the door from scuffs and dents, while house numbers ensure easy identification. Mail slots and letterboxes add convenience, while peepholes and doorbells enhance security. Kick Plate Direct offers a holistic approach, seamlessly blending form and function.

Finding Your Perfect Door Guardian:

Choosing the right door metal plate for your home or business can be a daunting task. But Kick Plate Direct simplifies the process. Their user-friendly website allows you to browse their extensive collection, filter by style, material, and budget. They offer expert advice and customization options, ensuring you find the perfect plate to reflect your unique personality.

The Final Step: Welcome, Visitor and Resident Alike

With your Kick Plate Direct masterpiece adorning your entrance, you've more than just chosen a decorative element. You've chosen a guardian, a storyteller, a silent ambassador of your space. It tells guests about you, greets friends and family, and says a lot about who you are. When you enter your home, pause to notice the silent guardian at the door's threshold—a reminder of the door metal plate's lasting significance.

Remember, your door metal plate is not just a piece of metal; it's a statement. With Kick Plate Direct, you can craft a personalized statement, a welcoming guardian that reflects your unique story and sets the stage for the adventures that lie within.

download | Super C (USA)

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 This game has a hidden sound test. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences. In the Japanese version, the title screen fades in from black and features animated flames inside the kanji characters. The US title screen scrolls in from the right, and in Probotector it appears instantaneously. The fonts used for the menu and copyrights text which are also used for other text throughout the game were slightly changed for the European version. However, the Famicom version had the advantage of using Konami's own self-produced VRC2 mapper, as unlike in other territories, third-party developers in Japan were allowed to manufacture their own cartridges and mappers for the Famicom instead of using only Nintendo's stock. At the start of each stage, the NES version displays the name of the stage on a simple black screen along with the current lives and scores for each player with each score counter blinking , as well as the current high score. The FC version on the other hand has a more elaborate screen showing a side view of the whole Galuga archipelago similar to the map used in Ghosts 'n Goblins , along with a top-down map, both displaying the player's current location. Additionally the FC version refers to each level as an "area" instead of "stage". The "area" terminology is also used in Super C and Operation C. There are brief cut-scenes at the start of the game and between stages exclusive to the FC version. This is written in a rather grandiose and old-fashioned manner. Rather than being spelled out in katakana as would usually be done, "Contra" is spelled out in ateji, which are kanji chosen for their sound and not necessarily their meaning. These particular ones are "soul", "dipper" or "battle" , and "silk" or "ancient Rome". Communication will be impossible beyond this point. I will do my utmost to destroy the enemy's stronghold. The dialogue is otherwise identical. The FC version features an extended scene in the ending where the player character s can be seen entering the helicopter. Additionally, the number of flags on the side of the helicopter increases with each consecutive playthrough, for a maximum of 6 flags. The final cut-scene and the staff roll are letterboxed in the FC version, likely to imitate a movie-like aspect ratio. This effect is not present in the NES versions. Instead, the NES versions feature a congratulatory message prior to the staff roll, which also makes the formatting of the staff roll a bit more condensed. The FC version features a Konami logo after the staff roll, while the NES versions just has "presented by Konami" written in plain text. Before the game should return to the map to start a game from the beginning, you'll instead see a secret message about "Red Falcon". While we lost our earth frontline base, we are already making our next move. Red Falcon will be eternally immortal In the jungle stage, the rock formation patterns are much different and the palm trees sway in the wind. The waterfall stage in the NES versions is also animated, but using a simpler method color palette cycling. The palette itself is different as well. Additionally, the rock formation patterns are slightly different. For some reason the boss' arms are lower by one pixel in the North American version. In addition, graphics below the right arm seems to have been erased by accident. The snow level has an animated snowstorm that makes the level much more difficult since the snow particles can make seeing other, harmful, projectiles harder to see. Additionally, the trees in the background are animated as if their branches are blowing in the wind. The alien lair is animated, giving everything a pulsating, organic feel, and the animation speeds up as the level progresses and with the more damage you inflict on the final boss. In the area where you meet the final boss, the NES versions feature broken eggs instead of organic matter, which is actually closer to how it appears in the original arcade game. Strangely, the sprites for the bottom two facehugger eggs have slightly more shading on their top left, and what seems to be two incorrectly colored pixels in their opened state. The top eggs haven't been updated accordingly. Putting the spelling of "hangar" aside, the FC version features a relatively polished level select screen. Also of note is that there is a sound test only available in the FC version, similar to the sound test later featured in Super C and Gradius II. The European version featured many graphical differences due to very strict censorship laws regarding blood and violence in Germany. The two human protagonists, Bill and Lance, were replaced with robotic counterparts named "RD" and "RC" respectively. Their palettes were also changed, with the Player 1 character being recolored from blue to gray and the Player 2 character being changed from red to blue. The boss at the end of stage 6 was changed to look more robotic. The disks it fires have also been changed from blue to grey. The dark blue palette of the Stage 2 boss was changed to teal, and its shots are red instead of blue. The Stage 4 boss and its shots uses a darker palette in Probotector. This causes the teal parts of the shots to blend in with the background. The exclamation point in the congratulatory message was removed due to the updated font set lacking one. The Famicom version features a couple extra tracks that don't appear in the international NES version. Since the intro was removed from the NES version, as a result this track only appears in the Famicom version. Two versions of the track "Triumphal Return" are used in the Famicom version. The second version only appears in the Famicom version; the NES version only plays the standard stage clear theme, even after the final boss is beaten. The music itself would not be heard in the International versions until Operation C. Take a look! From The Cutting Room Floor. This game has a prototype article The NES game well known for being hardcore and hard and core. Source: [1]. The Contra series. Categories : Pages missing developer references Games developed by Konami Pages missing publisher references Games published by Konami NES games Pages missing date references Games released in Games with hidden sound tests Games with hidden level selects Games with regional differences To do Contra series. Navigation menu Personal tools English Create account Log in. Namespaces Page Discussion. Views Read View source View history. This page was last edited on 12 July , at Content is available under Attribution 3. This game has a prototype article. Prototype Info. Two years later, it was discovered that the mysterious invader calling itself "Red Falcon", which is plotting the destruction of mankind, is using the Galuga Archipelago as a frontline base. I have arrived at Point A. I will now commence infiltration. I have destroyed Galma Kilma. Proceeding to my next destination, Point B. I have arrived at Point B. I have destroyed Godomuga. I will now aim for the enemy's stronghold, Point C. I have arrived at Point C. The base interior defense system is operating. I have to hurry Foolish earthlings. Contra: Legacy of War Prototype. Contra 4 Prototypes.