#and then I copy the final version back to the original document
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...So I was noodling around with the above image as preliminary work for a piece of Middle Kingdoms concept art that's going to illustrate a chapter-heading rubric from The Door Into Sunset. And while working on it, I belatedly realized that to correctly set up that scene, I was first going to have to tear up the entire left-hand side of the image (and the space beyond it), because the new covered fish market I had in mind wasn't going to fit in the space.
So I rolled my eyes at myself (I should have seen this coming...), got busy tearing it up, and then built the fish market. It's very loosely based, as I think I mentioned somewhere here earlier, on the famous Vismarkt, the covered fishmarket in the center of Brugge in Belgium (a.k.a. Bruges). (Image via Carto.net.)
Back in medieval times, right through to the Renaissance and beyond, fish was originally sold in Bruges in the open, from wooden pallets. But other stallholders in the main market complained about the smell, and the fish-sellers themselves weren't happy with the venue: selling such perishable goods out in the broad (and often hot) daylight was suboptimal. A permanent, covered place for the fishmongers' stalls makes more sense. Yet at the same time, you want decent light on what you're selling or buying... just not direct sun.
Choosing the architecture for a market like this in Darthis city was also going to be an issue. The Vismarkt was installed in a new dedicated market square in 1821, with the architect opting for a Victorian-cum-Classical look: not something that would make sense in this alternate Earth—if I was seriously considering a straightforward copy, which I wasn't. However, the Darthene architectural aesthetic does contain both building styles very like our Romanesque style, and elements similarly reminiscent of Gothic. (Though in the Middle Kingdoms the AU-Romanesque wasn't abandoned when the kinda-Gothic came in, but coexists with it).
After I'd given the situation some thought, I found myself wanting something that drew on those two traditions... or would maybe kind of split the difference between them: a building open on all sides that would be relatively light and airy, recalling a tent or canopy. This kind of design's unquestionably made a lot easier in that universe by the availability of magic-workers able to pull stone out of the ground without excavation, and also able to fashion it into the desired shapes without the use of physical tools. So finally I settled on a broad, vaguely Gothic-styled cross or groined vault as the preferred shape for the roofs: then rummaged around to see what I could find in the local toolkit that would enable me to build it.
Semi-plan view:
Diagonal side view:
(Please note that all of these images are the result of the digital version of kitbashing, as I don’t currently have anything like the skills to create shapes like these in Blender.)
Better lighting in this case is fortunately a materials-technology issue, long since solved on our own Earth. The stone of the roof segments is what architects now would refer to as an "alabastrite marble", about an inch thick—light enough to need relatively little in the way of external supports, and thin enough to transmit light readily. This marble's name comes (probably obviously enough) from alabaster, which has been used on and off in European church windows since medieval times as an affordable alternative to glass, in times and places where that’s been expensive.
This approach has had occasional revivals in modern our-Earth architecture. However, since alabaster is only useful in relatively small pieces, and is vulnerable to heat and moisture, it's often replaced by thin-cut marble set in metal frameworks. One good example of this would be the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale. (image via Amusing Planet)
The thin-cut Vermont marble transmits light safely without endangering the documents. But sometimes genuine alabaster has been used, too: the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles features tens of thousands of panes of it. (image via Expedia)
The equivalent use of marble in the royal Arlene library rr'Virendir, in Prydon city—replacing much ancient glass destroyed during the earthquakes accompanying the last battle of the Great War—is probably where the Darthene authorities got the idea for this implementation. And since the marble used in this construction would almost certainly have come from Arlen, light-colored marble being the country’s “vernacular" stone due to it being quarried all over the place there, it makes perfect sense for this marble to have been a gift of the Arlene Throne to the city of Darthis. And would also account for the presence of his grace the King over there by the market stall up against the wall, pretending to check out the produce while he also checks out the nearly-finished construction (and, idly, two of his spouses).
The Queen is after all very picky about making sure her contractors are getting things right. Yes, she jokes a lot about having lots of room in the dungeons if things go wrong... but sometimes, if you don't know her, it's hard to be sure she's joking.
Meanwhile, so far, it doesn't look too bad.
Things learned over the past couple of weeks, in between also doing other work:
Translucence is a bitch to master in Daz Studio
Certain aspects of Blender are conspiring with one another to make me scream
My rendering computer is displaying a tendency toward quirkiness in the memory department that would register as nearly endearing if I could figure out what was causing it
...But at least now that the set I need is pretty much done (except for some minor tightening, straightening, and tweaking of materials and color temperatures), I can turn my attention to the question of how to produce the rather specialized VFX required for the two shot I'm setting up. ...Yeah, all this work has been for a two shot. But that shot needs people in the background, and the right street furniture. And nature abhors an undressed set. ...See also: "the backs of the melons."
Next challenge: track down a source for heaps of digitized prawns. :)
#Middle Kingdoms#Darthis#fishmarket#Middle Kingdoms meta#Freelorn#Herewiss#Eftgan#and a cast of tens#also#Blender#argh
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Creepypasta: Ted the Caver (2001)
youtube
There was a season of Are You Scared? that presented some actual famous creepypasta (pasta? pastas?), and I was so giddy about it. I love creepypasta and Weird Internet Fiction, and I recognized all the famous ones right off the bat; the moment there was a season preview and a cave was mentioned, I KNEW. So the episode with "Ted the Caver" instantly became one of my favorites ("GET IN THE FUCKING CAVE, TEDDY!!"). But it also kills me that the show presents the final installment as if it's the whole story: just one spooked, caveless guy wandering around meebling about his spelunking obsession. Buddy, there is SO MUCH caving in the full version, you don't even know. There is NONE MORE CAVING:
[Note: The original Angelfire site still works, but while I was researching this, I started running into malware. As such, I'm going to also link you to an unofficial mirror of the site at a creepypasta wiki.]
But I get it: there's no way to read the entire story aloud for a half-hour show. It was originally published as an unassuming hobbyist blog in 2001, and "Ted the Caver" is partly so effective because it is genuinely just an amateur caving blog for about 10,000 words. My understanding is that the author really is a caving enthusiast—I mean, he'd have to be, because the story is filled with actual photos of him and a friend chipping their way through a hole the size of a baseball into a cave they dub "Floyd's Tomb." So this was a real expedition... that the author wrote a delightful little spoop around.
Honestly, the real horror for me isn't even the Descent-style Something that seems to be living down there; it's the genuine terror of these fools squeezing themselves through eight-inch openings into the bowels of the earth, God bless. You can tell the mundane aspects are absolutely true to life, because the squeezing and the scraping and the panic—I'll just stop there, in case anyone has any phobias, claustro or otherwise. If I didn't before, I do now.
But it also has to be noted, "real horror" is what "Ted the Caver" is all about: the horror of a story backed up by reams of accurate detail and told through a really, really basic-ass Angelfire website. (I say this lovingly, as someone who had a shitty Geocities site herself.) It truly looks like it's just someone's blog—because that's mostly what it really is. Who wrote it? Well, an actual guy named Ted:
Well, I guess it’s time I add my two cents to the topic. My name is Ted and I am the author of the story you have been discussing. I am the original author. I created the story on my own and copied no one
...he wrote, in response to a plagiarism accusation (turns out the other guy copied him, and closely at that).
Between December 30, 1999 and February 24, 2000 Brad and I worked on a passage in Freeway cave. We made numerous trips, and spent many hours of hard work, before we were finally able to get through the opening and into the new section of cave. During the course of our adventure I kept a caving journal and documented our activities surrounding our attempts to be the first people to enter the new passage. Since we were giving friends and family members updates as we worked, I thought it would be a good idea to put my entire journal on a web page, along with our pictures, then we could simply refer people to the site.
The thought then occurred to me: It sure would be fun to embellish the story a little!
Ted hasn't given his full name, but he is an actual Ted, it seems. And honestly, as much as I would like him to be credited as openly as Eric Heisserer is for "The Dionaea House," it really works in the story's favor that it's so difficult to figure out who wrote it. Not to spoil you, but the story told by the blog, much to Shane and Ryan's frustration in the video above, ends in a single puff of irony:
See all of you soon, with a lot of answers!
Love,
Ted
Magnificent. Because, let's face it: if a cave monster really did eat trap and eat your friend, isn't this what it would look like? No silly explanation for how a video camera somehow made it back to his friends and family from, like, the center of the fucking earth through a hole the size of a cantaloupe. No, your man there is just gone. And he's given enough detail in previous entries for you to imagine that what he finally came face to face with down there is Not Good. That's enough.
#creepypasta#internet fiction#first look on patreon#claustrophobia#spooky season#halloween everyday#watcher#are you scared#video#long post
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Random Cuts
So as I'm writing, if I cut or rework more than a few words, I take the original copy and put it on a document in case it finds a home later. Here's the thing, I don't always label what the cut came from? So it's like a few pages of jumbled paragraphs and scenes. Anywho, I was in the cuts doc as I was working on some recent stuff and scrolling back through, so here are some things that got cut that I don't think will find a home anywhere that I thought people might enjoy.
Love you!
From Yearling, (I think) during Bambi and Joel's first time:
It was like you’d taken all the softness you had left in you - everything not shredded or turned to stone by the men who had come before - and offered it up to him. As though you were saying “this is me, all that I have to offer and I’m trusting you to care for it and want it, anyway.”
Honestly, this could be from anything. But I THINK it's from New in Town? No idea what chapter.
“A common trait with your sex, I’m afraid,” you smirked a little, teasing.
Joel snorted.
“Not my fault men are idiots,” you said. “Present company excluded, of course.”
“Of course,” he said sarcastically.
There was going to be a bit with mistletoe at the end of Holly Jolly but I scrapped it because it was clunky. Not before writing several paragraphs of it, though, and this was my favorite bit.
“Baby Girl,” he said. “Did you just say… did you say under the missing toes?”
“Yeah!” She said. “I don’t know what it means, but…”
He tried very very hard not to laugh. He mostly managed it.
“It’s not missing toes, Kiddo, it’s mistletoe,” he said. “It’s a plant. People hang it up and you’re supposed to kiss when you’re under it…”
And I rewrote the final fight between Din/Doll/Gideon, this was from the scrapped version (that literally made it as far as several pages before I decided to rework it because I didn't like the flow - I did pull some of what I wrote into the final version, though.)
Sosha came up alongside him, holding the spear he’d given you, her shoulders back and head high. Din fought to not look back to where he knew you were. He didn’t want to give you away.
“Give us the child,” she said, using the same voice. “And maybe we’ll leave you alive. I’m willing to negotiate.”
“There is no walking away from this, Handmaid,” he said. Din was glad he had the helmet. It had worked. Gideon thought Sosha was you. If Pell hadn’t noticed the difference, you could get Grogu and Pell would get you out. He’d just need to get the dark troopers away from the cell they were all clustered around, the one that must be holding Grogu. “You’re hardly in a position to negotiate. You went back on our agreement, destroyed my ship and most of my forces. Why would I trust anything you offer?”
“Then we are on even footing,” she replied. “But you want to live, we want the child. Don’t push us.”
“I’m not settling again,” Gideon said, raising his blaster.
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The Patch (5th Dec 2023) and Blowtorch
Finally back home - and first play test with vanilla game after patch, gives that the Blowtorch needs reinstalling.
(More info on Blowtorch here. Even more detailed info here)
Instructions:
Go to your Blowtorch folder (the one you saved somewhere safe)
Select and right click/copy the folder in it with the name The Sims 4.
Now navigate to your Game folder in either Origin or EA App directory - NOT THE GAME FOLDER IN DOCUMENTS/Electronic Arts
Paste the copied folder - you should get a question about overwriting files, answer yes.
If you have stored your game files in other location than C:/ you need to find it. Same if you have a MAC. (I have never used a Mac so not very good at support for Mac, but principally its the same.)
Now your world is empty and clean again BLOWTORCHED
If you have saves with hood deco they should now load and look like you intended.
Note: As soon as the EP drops, I will make an update for it. And a new version of my Empty Save.
I will also focus for a couple of weeks on more Hood Deco for you to place, and new build sets.
I know some of you are waiting for more updated clothing, but I need to work with the new EP for a bit. But I will get back to my update list real soon!
Find my posted Hood Deco stuff with the tag #sims 4 hood deco
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Pokemon Movie Brain Blast
You know this scene in the credits of Spell of the Unown (M03)? In case you don't know, that woman is Molly Hale's mother. According to Takeshi Shudo (OG head writer), he asked for a copy of the final draft of the script, and it turned out the explanation was she was in the hospital for the entire movie. Shudo was not happy.
This was a very personal story to him, written with aspects of his own life in mind (Molly's Japanese name is Me, after Shudo's own daughter, and her mother was intended to be dead like his own). But as production went on, he was in no condition (he even landed in the hospital himself!) and eventually no mood to continue writing, so he asked fellow series writer and father Hideki Sonoda to take his stead. For most of the movie, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. This scene, however, became a major sticking point for Shudo as well as numerous fans for betraying the original intentions behind the story and Molly's character.
...But what if I told you that the dub fixed EVERYTHING about it?
On the DVD commentary for Mewtwo Strikes Back (M01), Michael Haigney (English writer/director) and Norman J. Grossfeld (English writer/producer) talk a bit how certain lines were added in an effort to explain things they felt didn't make sense in the original Japanese version. For example, the Tears of Life (pictured above) is set up as an old legend in the dub, while it goes unexplained in the Japanese version and both versions of MSB Evolution (M22).
In a similar vein (as explained on M03's own commentary), the dub implies that, rather than being dead, Mrs. Hale was also researching the Unown before being captured by them. While it was likely written with the short term in mind, this explanation not only fixes her sudden appearance in the ED, but also adds to the story in two major ways.
1: Molly having both of her parents be absentee Pokemon researchers taken away by the Unown allows the dub to maintain her initial loneliness and rationale without her mother dead and thus the ED contradicting the story. While it's further removed from the "dead mother" idea, it resolves the logical failing Sonoda introduced: "If Molly's mom was in the hospital the whole time, why didn't she visit her? Why have Entei kidnap Ash's mom?"
2: By having the explanation for Mrs. Hale's absence be that she was taken by the Unown much like Spencer would be in the movie's inciting incident, it adds a personal layer to why he's so feverishly researching them; not only to document their existence, but so he can find a way to bring his wife back, not unlike Dr. Fuji perfecting cloning to revive his daughter in M01's extended prologue, The Birth of Mewtwo.
Implying that Mrs. Hale went through a similar experience also makes it easy to infer that the Unown returned her to Molly as well. (Side note: This scene was originally part of the ED as well, but was moved up to take place right after Greenfield turns back to normal; another smart decision on the dub's part.)
Rewriting the story is frowned upon among the anime community, as it's often perceived as compromising the original vision and integrity. But Spell of the Unown already had it happen when Sonoda wrote the most controversial scene of the movie, a moment so opposed to Shudo's intent that he quit the series entirely not long after. This scene (and therefore, the entire story) was fixed because 4Kids were allowed to make the changes they did. They made a great movie even better, they held true to the themes and character, and they didn't even have to re-kill Mrs. Hale to do it.
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WIND MEETS THE ROM : Part 18 of 27 :
MLP Fan Fiction
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WIND MEETS THE ROM
Part 18 of 27
by
De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)
Cover art by @wind-the-mama-cat
54212 words
© 2023 by Glen Ten-Eyck
Writing begun 06/01/18
All rights reserved. This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author.
//////////////
Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users
Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions.
All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.
///////////////////////
New to the story? Read from Part 1, here!
///////////////////////
As he got his portions and came down to the tea, Wind smiled at him. To her surprise, he smiled back. “I have heard good things of you, Lady Wind Whisper. Thank you for the tea.”
Over their quiet dinner, Hanar told Wind, “We will be up later than usual with the evening dancing. Tia and Midnight must leave for Canterlot and the service of the rest of the kingdom tomorrow.”
Just after dinner, Tia, Midnight and Marchhare retired to Marchhare's caravan to work through the Kingdom's business that really would not wait for the next day. It was not long before they emerged from the caravan, all the cases sealed and ready for delivery back to Canterlot.
Whitly took the cases and spread his wings, flying back to Canterlot. Midnight took her place in the center of the dancing green, the Skydancers gathered just behind her.
Wind saw Rom gathering at the usual place for musicians and realized with a jolt what she had been hearing during the fair but not all playing in one place. Five different kinds of Rom Lyre, three different flutes, and four different types of the Rom's simple seeming but complex to play drum sets.
They swung into an ethereal and rich version of Wind's Wings. Luna had no coaching for this dance. Her elegant hoof and wing work flowed seamlessly with the brilliant flourishes of her sash work. The Sky Dancers, staying on the ground behind her followed her lead in an amazing display. Wind began to truly appreciate how important her contribution of sways and slides were to the Rom. The Sky Dancers, following Midnight's lead, were even incorporating them into their wing work as she made the sways and slides with her whole body, including her wonderfully big and active wings.
She noticed that even Tia, while playing her beautiful big Moro Lyre, was moving her head and horn in gentle sways.
The whole dance session lasted for nearly the entire night. Wind, watching carefully, caught a few cracks in Marchhare's facade of not being able to dance any but couples dances. Getting carried away by the music, several times, he did very well for a bit before catching himself and suddenly becoming four left hooves again. She chuckled to herself when she saw it.
Hanar saw Wind notice and winked at her.
Finally, they all broke for a nap before full dawn overtook them.
Breakfast was the usual madhouse of horses vying for their favorite treats. All of Midnight's Munchies leftovers were on the board along with the usual fare! Wind was serving the Rom black tea and Hanar was in the serving line with her, as usual.
A pegasus landed outside of the camp and requested, “Permission to enter the camp, Your Grace, Marchhare?”
Marchhare looked up in surprise. “Baron Whitly! Of course, come in and join us for breakfast! What has brought you back from Canterlot?”
He joined the line while replying, “I did know that Their Highnesses will be returning to Canterlot today. Inquiry among the others in the messaging pool told me that they will not leave until the Rom have been packed up and the Rom are ready to leave.”
He sighed, “To make up some for my gaffe yesterday eve, I have returned to see if I may be of some assistance in your chores.
“I admit that, as a baron, I always let my towns manage their fairs and your comings and goings. It was only yesterday that I realized that there is far more to a fair than simply entertainment and trade. I wish to amend that by being such help as I may.”
A smiling Tia reached under the table to a hidden tray and gave him a nice twist with a tan colored topping.
Midnight stared at it in near shock! “Tia! You gave him one of your private stash of butterscotch goodies!”
Tia nodded gently. “When we have a baron this good, some sacrifices must be made.”
Wind listened with amusement and whispered to Hanar, “I heard that getting between Tia and her butterscotch topped goodies was listed as suicide by trampling!”
A giggling Hanar snorted, “Pretty close! Whitly has certainly made a good impression on Tia and Midnight.”
The meal done, the Rom set about tearing down their booths and stowing away the parts. To everyone's surprise, Whitly carefully followed directions and was actually a considerable help in getting everything properly cleaned and stored.
When all was done, Tia and Midnight went into Marchhare's caravan. Princesses Celestia and Luna emerged. They bade Baron Whitly to fly in formation with them on their return to Canterlot.
Wind took her place in the hitch beside Hanar and Pulled as the cadence was called. The serene trance of Road Songs, Pulling and the simple enjoyment of being beside Hanar overtook her. She was actually surprised when the whole caravan pulled into a Wayside to stop for lunch.
She found the others examining the Wayside wood ricks where the free firewood was supposed to be. She saw several stout ribbon like ties hanging from a holder made for them but there was no fire wood in the frame made to hold it. There were recent tracks of a loaded wagon and two ponies leading from rick out to the road.
Wind shook her head and asked Hanar, “Do ponies steal the firewood very often? It does not look like the wayside ran out, not with those tracks.”
Hanar giggled, “The old 'you need firewood, we got some cheap' ploy. I haven't seen that for several years.”
Wind pointed to the ties hanging from the side of the wood rick. “What are those?”
Rose was sort of chuckling as she answered, “Those are called benefice ties. When the wood cutters leave the wood, it is bundled in those ties. The Royal Road Police count them and seal them. That is how the wood cutters get paid. Whoever took this wood took it ties and all.”
Wind looked around and wanted to know, “Why isn't anyhorse upset by this? How will we cook our lunch?”
It was Hoof Dancer who snorted, “For one thing, the thieves will be along directly to sell us some firewood that they “just happen to have to spare,” and for the other, my dear dead donkey of a husband has already gone to fetch the RRP from both the Haymarket North and Haymarket South Road section stations.”
Wind looked around and, as she was watching, she saw old Marchhare sort of fade into view. One moment he was not there, the next he was standing quietly beside Hoof Dancer. And grinning.
Wind now understood enough to know that the grin was not a good sign for somepony.
True to the prediction, to the creak and grumble of poorly made wheels, a dray wagon loaded with bundled firewood pulled into the wayside. As the drovers, an off yellow pony and an orange one, sort of sneered, “See you gots you a problem. This here wayside done run outen wood. Tell you what. Give us a big ol lunch and 20 gold bits and we can spare you the wood to cook it up. No coin and no lunch, you gets no wood. Got that?”
Black Lotus pointed up with her horn, just before her magic grabbed both of the miscreants and lifted them off the ground. The pegasus, in the blue uniform of the Royal Road Police, saw that the situation on the ground was under control and spiraled in to a landing.
The drum of galloping ponies could be heard coming from the road. Two RRP ponies entered the south entrance and two more came in from the north. Seeing that the ponies that they were after were going nowhere, they slowed and homed in on the wagon.
They had out their note pads and were already sorting out the load of stolen firewood. One of the five came over to Black Lotus and respectfully asked her to continue holding the crooked ponies but let them down to where the RRP could properly manacle them. She did and they did. After that, she let go of them entirely.
One, with Sargent's stripes, politely asked Marchhare, “Your Grace, we have done assessing the stolen wood and verifying by the tie seals that it came from here. Would your band do us the favor of restacking it into the rick?”
For an answer, they all went to the wagon and even the small foals lifted out a bundle or two and took them to the rick and neatly stacked them. Wind, seeing what they were doing, joined them, sinking her claws into a bundle and carrying it to the growing stack in the rick.
Once the wood was all stacked properly and accounted for, Hoof Dancer used her magic to take two bundles and open the benefice ties. She neatly hung them with the others already hanging there and brought over the firewood.
Lunch was soon cooking over the coals.
Black Lotus took the liberty of speaking to the RRP officers quietly before they removed the prisoners and their wagon. Doing a quiet little happy dance, she told the rest of the band, “I have invited the RRP who just helped us to come join us for lunch as soon as they have finished dealing with the thieves.”
Wind wandered over to the boxed spring that supplied the wayside with water. She began to pick a string bag full of bank sorrel and cresses. Hanar was soon by her side, helping.
“Thank you, Wind. These will make a lovely fresh salad.”
Wind smiled as her hand busily gathered the small bounty. “I am trying to leave some to regrow the patch, like you have showed me. I am puzzled by something though. With as many freight wagons and ponies who use the waysides, why are there any of these plants left?”
Hanar grinned a little sideways as she replied, “Laziness. Comes of being in a hurry. That sounds like a contradiction but it is not. They come in and drop their hitch and get some water and rush back to their camp to boil the oats that they brought for rations. They don't look for anything fresh outside of the grazing meadow. Plus, when they see us picking any, they are too proud to 'eat that Rom stuff. Those horses will eat anything!' That attitude cuts them off from some lovely eating and saves us some excellent salads.”
Wind chuckled at the reasoning but asked, “I managed to sort out what plant makes that delicious Rom black tea. Why haven't ponies stumbled onto it?”
Hanar happily informed her, “They have. Many times. It has to be treated and dried just right. If you don't, it makes all equines sick to their tummies.”
The sheer elegance of the notion nearly stunned Wind! She chortled, “Somehorse among the Rom is a true sadist! If I had not seen how many of the ponies treat us, I would wonder if they deserved it.”
Hanar nodded agreement, adding, “There are a few who treat us well and we do return the favor. We still don't let them know our secrets. They could tell without meaning to.”
Soon they were done. Returing to camp, they busied themselves with preparing and properly dressing the salad.
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Using Notion helped me graduate Summa Cum Laude from University
I graduate in less than a month with my M.S. in Informatics degree after working and attending school full time for the last two years. It’s pretty crazy to think that I’m graduating with at least (since the fall semester isn’t quite done yet) a 3.94 GPA, and I still managed to work full time, get promoted, and move to a new state without dropping the ball on any of my work.
One of the ways that I was able to keep on top of all my assignments and work throughout this time was to use Notion to keep track of all my university assignments and notes in one place. If you want to read the full piece on medium, I have linked it here. Otherwise, keep reading below for how I used Notion for the past few years.
Home Dashboard
In my personal Notion, the top portion of the dashboard contains all of the pages I regularly use and go to, as well as a top of mind to — do list and other tasks for a specific time period. While I was working towards my master’s degree, the top section looked something like the one below.
Relevant assignments were split into categories and hidden in toggle lists so that I could keep the overall dashboard cleaner. And while I can get to my class by going to my studying page and then the course, I also hyperlinked it in the header so that I can quickly get to it from the home page.
Course Dashboard
Note — Originally, I modified a free Notion template I found in late 2020/early 2021, and unfortunately, I have no idea where to find that template now — if you happen to know, comment below so others can find it! The template I use now has been modified to work for me a little bit better but it is still based on the template I used originally.
Once I click on the class page, it takes me to my central class dashboard page. I keep this particular template for all my classes as I have found it so helpful.
The top half of the page for each class contains the title, an image that is (vaguely) academic, information about the course, a to-do list for that week/month, and then a section where I have individual pages for each module and notes. I often copy the to-do list from the course dashboard into my home dashboard so I have the details on what I need to do in two places that I frequent often.
Underneath, I have a database of all the due dates, including the dates of the modules, details on the assignments, tags, and completion status. As the course went on, I filtered on incomplete status so that I knew what needed to still be done and what was yet to be completed.
Modules + Notes
For my notes, I separated them into individual modules and kept the assignments for that week in the module so I could find them later and know exactly where they were. I also linked (via Google Drive or embedded PDFs), the slides, readings, and any notes for that module so that I could find them easier.
If a particular course had labs, I created a separate page for them, and separated my lab notes by date and in toggles so that I could have them all together in one place without cluttering everything up.
Final Thoughts
Using Notion for the past couple of years has definitely been incredibly helpful in making sure that I keep track and keep up with all the assignments and work I needed to do each semester and for each class. I ended up actually upgrading to the paid version of Notion (about $40 a year) so that I could have all my classes and notes and documents saved. I also backed up them all into a Google Drive as well just in case Notion went down.
This system really worked well for me, and if you give it a try in the upcoming spring semester, or even now, I’d love to hear how it worked out for you :)
#notion#dark academia#notes#studyblr#masters degree#academia#litwtchstudies#how i use notion#studying#academichelp#informatics#study help#study aesthetic
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taking the leap
Our minds often make problems much larger than they actually are.
Yesterday, after over a month of planning my first revision of page of swords, I finally sat down and began it. I had been labouring over setting files up and making detailed notes, subconsciously putting off the process itself because I thought it was a monolithic task.
I was also terrified of ruining my existing work—which is utterly foolish considering the handful of automatic backups saved to the cloud. Despite knowing about Scrivener’s snapshot feature (basically a version history). But I was still hesitant to make the changes and type over what I’d previously written.
What gave me the push was the fact that it had been on my to-do for so long. I realised that I didn’t need to do it all at once, just a little here and a little there.
I set a focus timer for twenty-five minutes and became promptly absorbed by the task. Twenty-five minutes became a day, and I had completed the first major item on my revision list. That just goes to show that often times, we just need to get started on something to finish it. And “just twenty-five minutes” is no where near as intimidating as “every single time the concept is referenced in the manuscript”.
So, if you have an unfinished manuscript you are to fearful to touch, I urge you to simply make a copy and put aside a small amount of time to work on it. You don’t even have to commit to the small time every day. But you’ll be surprised at how much easier it becomes when you reach the end of the time, to continue.
using version history
The benefits of making a copy go beyond preserving your original work. If you happen to rewrite something but later decide you preferred the original, most word processing programs have a document comparison/merge feature where you are able to reverse sections of changes you made to the original. For example, Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
Scrivener does not have this, but instead has snapshots—which is a manual form of version history. The downside of this is that you do need to remember to take the snapshots and that you cannot “roll-back” or “add” sections of text in the comparison screen, you will need to cut and paste from one document snapshot to the other.
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Hi there Runic!
I was wondering your opinion on using Scrivner to draft fics vs using Word? Like pros and cons? (Some of the articles online are so confusing! >//<‘)
Thanks so much for the ask, anon! And also thanks for your patience; I wanted to give this some thought, hence the wait.
I primarily use Scrivener and have been using it for a little over a decade. I also use Word during the final phase of edits. I'll list some of my favorite features of each one, followed by the cons.
Scrivener
Organizing a story in Scrivener is where it shines the most. For a longer story, you can break things down by chapter and easily move them around as needed. For me, I use a single file for all my fics and breakdown folders by fandom, then by ships. The use of status markers and labels and custom meta-data, while initially daunting, are also super great to flag what state your draft is in along with any other indicators you wish to use. For me, I like marking if fics are for an exchange or a gift for a friend. I've even customized the meta-data so I can plug in potential tags and ratings as I go!
Snapshots is a neat function that makes a copy of your current file. I use it with each new phase of editing, in case I need to refer to an older version. It's super easy to switch back and forth between snapshots, plus there's a preview to show what has been removed or added from the last version!
There are a ton of compiling options for when you wish to export your story as a Word doc or a PDF or even for epublishing. I don't use this too often, but I have lots of friends who do and it makes proper formatting really simple.
There is a focus mode that removes all the UI stuff and just shows you the words. If this didn't exist, I wouldn't be able to write anything lolsob.
You can set target goals for each document or even the entire file. And if you have multiple documents in a single folder with word count targets applied, Scrivener will add them all up and give you a total target estimate. Really handy for planning out how long your story will be!
THERE IS A DARK MODE THEME.
Word
The grammar/spelling checker is a lot more robust in comparison to Scrivener.
Sharing your Word document and sharing notes/comments with beta readers is a LOT easier in Word. It's similar to how Google Docs works with leaving comments, replying to each other, and marking them as resolved.
Copy-pasting from Word into AO3's rich text preserves the formatting, whereas I've had a lot of wonky issues going from Scrivener to AO3.
Text-to-speech, while kinda weird, is a godsend when I want to read out loud a fic before posting, but don't have the energy to do so.
If you have Word, you likely have a Microsoft subscription, which means you have access to OneDrive, which makes for VERY easy backups. Plus you can get Word on your phone and work off that and your computer seamlessly at no extra cost.
THERE IS ALSO A DARK MODE.
Hokay, now for cons.
Scrivener
Scrivener is not free. It is a one-time fee of $60~. That said, if you participate in NaNo and win, you can get a discount code (I believe it's 50% off?)
It was originally made for Macs, but then a Windows version was developed. The team behind Scrivener is very small and it took… forever to get the Windows version up to speed with the Mac version. There are still some differences between the two, but thankfully both versions are on the same page. Jumping off of this, there is an iOS version, but no Android version.
If you wish to back up your Scrivener stuff, you can only really do that via a Dropbox account. Also, I believe it's not possible to open the same file on different computer types. So if you have two computers (one Mac and one Windows) and want to open the same file on both, it's not really going to work. In my experience, I've also run into issues getting things to sync and open when using two Windows computers. So if you're planning to bounce around different computers/laptops/etc., definitely keep this in mind.
On top of that, for every device you want Scrivener on? You need to pay for that.
Scrivener has got one hell of a learning curve, too. I've been using it for so long and am STILL discovering new ways to use it. It can be intimidating, even after you go through all the tutorials.
Word
This also costs money, but sadly is not a one-time fee AND you need to invest in a bundle plan instead of just getting Word. Home subscriptions range from $70 to $100 a year, depending if you're getting it just for yourself or for your family/friends to use too. For me, I use it with my boyfriend and we use all the programs a bunch, so it works out well for us. This might work for you too if you're interested in having access to things like Excel and OneNote and cloud storage. But if you just want Word, that's not really feasible.
I haven't experienced this because I've stopped writing novel-length stories in Word, but I've heard from friends that the program slows down after 30k words or so, which is unfortunate and frustrating.
Furthermore, you can't really transition from file to file in Word as you can in Scrivener. You'd need to manage the folders on your computer outside of the program.
Word isn't really designed for book formatting. You CAN do it, but it takes some extra work on your end to format things accordingly, whereas Scrivener has a bunch of built-in features to help with that.
Microsoft is A LOT bigger than the Scrivener team, thus there are frequent updates. And because of that, you need to perform more updates to the program and might even need to reacquaint yourself with features and UI changes.
I hope this helps! Regardless of which program you wish to use, I hope it goes smoothly and you have a blast writing your stories on it!
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Hah! Three months of picking away at this and I’ve finally developed a color palette that I think I will enjoy for... at least as long as it takes me to recolor everything I’ve already done. As you can see, I managed to tighten it back down to 110 colors (;;>.>), and about 90% are completely new color actions. I have the color actions I borrowed (thank you Aelia, CuriousB, Kiinu, Nyren, Poppet and Shastakiss!) are labeled in yellow on the AKSOR4 color chart, and as always will label those recolors with the original creator and palette in the file names, the AKSOR4 color actions (for your convenience I have included the ones I’m using) and color info documents.
If you would like the color actions (and info about them) yourself, you can download them here **UPDATED as of May 6, 2023**: http://simfil.es/3746165/
If you would like to see what they look like in game (and how they compare to my previous AKSOR3b recolors, you can download these object recolors:
Chesterstick Cherry Dresser in AKSOR4 vs AKSOR3b: http://simfil.es/3761083/
Exploding Dragon Dining Table (Flower) in AKSOR4: https://aliksims.tumblr.com/post/189155568063/
Exploding Dragon Dining Table (Flower) in AKSOR3b: http://simfil.es/3746180/
St. Ajoque Reproductions “See Plus” Mirror in AKSOR4 vs AKSOR3b: http://simfil.es/3746169/
Maxis Basic Carpet in AKSOR4 vs AKSOR3b: http://simfil.es/3746173/
Maxis Wall Paint in AKSOR4 vs AKSOR3b: http://simfil.es/3746181/
This is just a little reminder that these colors are intended to replace the AKSOR3b recolors that I have done. You CAN NOT have both versions in your game at once, except for the uploaded files above. So MAKE SURE to track down wherever you stored the old recolors when you decided to add in the new ones!
If you decide you like the old colors better, please make sure to download them before I replace their files with the updated colors! I’ll be starting with walls and floors, so if you want them I recommend you go download them soon! (If you want a file that is replaced, I have saved backup copies, so send me an ask and I can re-upload the old files and send you a link on an individual basis. (An easy way to find all my recolors is to check my Index Page of Indexes, by the way.)
This was posted on March 31, 2023. I promise not to replace anything until at least Monday, April 3, 2023. I will be updating the appropriate tumblr pages for each recolor as I updated files, so you will be able to check that way. I will try to periodically update you all via a State of the Blog address as to what has been updated.
This is going to take at least the rest of this year, especially since I’ll be slightly updating the bases for some of my old recolors and reorganizing how I sort floors and walls. And because I do keep trying to remember to pace myself. >.> HOWEVER! I am not taking any requests, and I am not doing any new recolors. You may get something for Christmas, but it will probably be a very small gift as I focus on updating everything.
I hope you all are having a lovely year so far! Don’t forget to go find some nature to enjoy when you can! I love you all! Take care of yourselves! <3
PS- Also, what a great way to celebrate 1000 posts! Couldn’t have planned it better if I’d tried! .*･ﾟ☆ \(*^▽^*)/ ☆ﾟ･* .
#Object recolors#aksor4#state of the blog#sims 2#ts2#new palette!#someday I will be able to spell that word correctly on the first try#today is not that day
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The Chanoyu Hyaku-shu [茶湯百首], Part I: Poem 14.
〽 Cha wo furu ha tesaki wo furu to omou-na yo,
hiji-yori fure yo, sore ga hiji nari
[茶を振るは手先を振ると思うなよ、
肘より振れよ、それが秘事也].
“When whisking the tea¹, [we] should not think that [the chasen] is being agitated by the wrist². [Rather] the shaking motion [arises] from the elbow. This is a secret [teaching].”
Furu [振る] is used to express a wide range of meanings today, but its original meaning was to shake or wave. Here it refers to the action of the chasen when whisking usucha. Usucha was the original way³ that matcha was prepared -- not only in Japan, but in China⁴ and Korea, too.
The verb omou [思う] means to think. Omou-na [思うな], which seems to be a contracted form of omou-nashi [思うなし], means do not think.
Hiji-yori [肘より] means from the elbow -- that is, the whisking motion arises from the elbow, rather than the fingers, so the entire forearm is involved in the action.
Hiji [秘事] means a treasured secret.
While this poem was found in neither Jōō’s Matsu-ya manuscript, nor, apparently, in Rikyū’s 1580 manuscript, Katagiri Sadamasa claimed that he found a version that deviated from the traditionally received text in an (otherwise unidentified) Jōō manuscript. That version reads:
〽 cha wo furaba te-saki de furu to omou-na yo,
soko ne nu yō ni kokoroete fure
[茶を振らば手先で振ると思うなよ、
損こねぬように心得て振れ].
“If the tea is going to be whisked, [one] should not think that the whisking is done with the fingers. Perform the whisking with understanding, so [the tea] is not spoiled.”
This version seems to be talking about the preparation of koicha⁵; and that idea, coupled with its being unknown elsewhere (or found in any existing source, no matter how fragmentary), might suggest that it is spurious, added during the Edo period (when the argument for koicha’s preeminence was again being made by the proponents of certain schools).
_________________________
¹In this translation, whisking, as well as shaking and agitating are all used as translations for the verb furu [振る], which literally means to wave, to shake back and forth.
²Tesaki [手先] literally means the upper extremity of the arm. Usually interpreted to mean the fingers, it could also refer to the fingers and wrist as a unit, and this is probably the sense that is intended here. If not moved from the elbow (as this poem intimates), the whisking action would originate from the wrist (not the fingers).
³Sòng period Chinese documents appear to describe the drinking of what we would call usucha.
The Chá jīng [茶經], which describes the drinking of steeped (or boiled) fermented brick tea, does not appear to have been known before the middle of the Qīng cháo [清朝] (the Ching dynasty). Several points associated with this document, which were pointed out to me by Chinese scholars, make its authenticity questionable*: first, rather than a written manuscript, the “original” is a block-printed text that was published during the second half of the eighteenth century; second, this book was published precisely at the point in time when the Manchurian dynasty’s validity was being questioned (as part of the government’s propaganda campaign stating that “we are the preservers of authentic Chinese culture”); third, the document (which purports to reproduce an original document†) begins with a librarian’s stamp indicating that the language is that of Sòng cháo [宋朝] (i.e., the Song dynasty -- not Táng, as traditionally believed), though the language is idiomatically Qīng, not Sòng; and, finally, the assertion that it is a Táng writing, as well as its ascription to Lù Yǔ [陸羽; 733 ~ 804], appear only in an appendix of 5 pages of text that were added by the publisher (Zhào-kuàng-kak [照曠閣])‡.
___________
*Though, given the importance of the Chá jīng to a huge swathe of Chinese business, it is unlikely that any scholar will ever presume to speak out against it. Even though it is described as a late Táng book, copies printed on bamboo slats are now widely available (and these are often represented as actual historical artifacts, or replicas of the same), even though this implies that the Chá jīng dates from much earlier times (authentic books of this sort can be dated no later than the fourth century; paper was invented in China several centuries earlier than that, and universally used for documents by the Táng cháo).
†The story is that the original was extensively damaged during the fire that resulted when the Mongols burned Beijing. While this much could certainly be credible, the fact that it goes on to say that the original was later discarded after a copy had been made must be viewed with absolute suspicion -- since this is simply not the way that the Chinese treat ancient documents.
Furthermore, if the original was that badly damaged in the fire, how was it that the text was restored (or, more likely, recreated) -- since the details of this way of drinking tea are historically unprecedented?
Since at least the Míng cháo [明朝] (the practice is said to have begun during the first year of the dynasty -- which, like many similar assertions regarding matters of cultural identity and importance, is doubtful in and of itself, since these assertions imply that an entire cultural milieu was waiting in the wings, ready to flood across the country en masse once the legacy of the heretical interregnum had been swept under the national carpet), the Chinese had drunk steeped tea (wūlóng-chá [烏龍茶], oolong-cha). But brick tea of the sort that forms the basis of the practices described in the Chá jīng was a regional product associated with the Yúnnán area until the late 20th century (in Hong Kong this kind of tea was used to flavor the hot water at street-side food booths, which hardly indicates that it was traditionally held in any sort of esteem).
‡Again, I was told by Chinese scholars (who were working on this text) that other earlier ascriptions and citations began to appear only in more recent years, seemingly in an attempt to validate the authenticity of the Zhào-kuàng-kak publication.
⁴The Chinese process of sun-drying the leaves means that they can only be used to prepare a very thin beverage (since sun-drying allows for the development of tannins and other byproducts as the cellular constituents begin to break down, which makes for a bitter tea).
The Koreans processed tea leaves in the same way as they traditionally did ginseng roots -- steaming -- followed by rapid drying over relatively mild heat (the leaves were put into a large, rather shallow pot (perhaps 60 or 80 cm in diameter -- this kind of pot was used to steam the rice, and also boil the soup, in the temple kitchen) that was suspended over a low fire, hand stirring the leaves until dry (which insured that the heat would not be too high). The steaming fixed the chemical content of the leaves so they would not begin to break down during the drying process. (Green tea was also produced in a similar way, though the steaming step was left out. The leaves were put into the same sort of large pot, and repeated picked up and rolled between the hands while being dried. Rolling ruptured the cells, so that oxidization of the cell contents could begin to occur.)
⁵Since it is difficult to spoil usucha, especially with regard to the way it is whisked (indeed, while some modern schools encourage whisking that borders on violence, others do little more than stir the usucha vigorously, so only a small island of foam forms in the middle of the bowl).
==============================================
◎ If these translations are valuable to you, please consider donating to support this work. Donations from the readers are the only source of income for the translator. Please use the following link:
https://PayPal.Me/chanoyutowa
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Posting Fic - How to prep your writing to display correctly on AO3 (via LibreOffice)
So I've seen guides online about how to convert your fanfic for AO3 after writing it in Google Docs, because a lot of people use GDocs to do their writing (which is a decent option, since it saves it in the cloud and all that). I'm not planning on repeating that here.
But I don't do my writing in GDocs, I do my writing in LibreOffice Writer, because it emulates an older version of Word (which is what I grew up on and am most used to), and because I can have more robust spellchecking than on GDocs. And when I was first considering finally posting my work to AO3, I'd heard lots of commentary about how often pasting into the rich text editor sometimes loses formatting, or what hoops people had to jump through to make sure everything looked good.
So I'm here with the actually-pretty-darn-simple method I use to post to AO3 for anyone who needs this, because I want to be helpful.
Please note: this is largely for the basic formatting one might use on AO3. I haven't tested it with fancier things (not even smallcaps yet, though I'm hoping that won't prove too difficult when I finally get around to a chapter that needs that functionality). Also, these instructions are for Windows, which is what I use.
The first step is, obviously, to write up your story in LibreOffice Writer. I have some formatting standards I prefer because it makes my works look like they're publication-ready, which helps me stay in the "I'm actually writing fiction here" groove.
Once you're done writing, you need to make sure the file is ready to save for AO3. With how I write, the only thing I change is that I remove that first-line indent across the whole document. This is easy enough. Select everything, and then go to Format > Paragraph.
Once in that dialog, change the first line indent to 0. If you don't see a number there at all, just enter the number in there.
Then press "OK." This will realign all the paragraphs, including their first lines, to the left margin.
Note that I haven't changed the spacing between paragraphs at all. It's still single-spaced, and that's fine, because the next step can handle that.
DON'T SAVE OVER THE ORIGINAL.
What you want to do at this point is select "Save As" and make sure to save it as an html file, not whatever file format you normally use. LibreOffice will probably ask if you want to do that or use its native format, and you can just tell it "use html format."
You should now have an html file wherever you saved it. If you double-click it, it will open in your default browser, and you can check that the formatting carried over properly if you want. It should look ready for posting, complete with the internet-standard single empty line between paragraphs. LibreOffice knows to wrap each paragraph in html paragraph tags, which is what AO3 likes, and AO3 (and generally the rest of the internet) reads that as the extra empty space between paragraphs, just like you should see here on Tumblr.
Now you need to navigate to where you have the file on your computer via your file manager of choice (I'm on Windows, so I use File Explorer, which I can reach just by right-clicking on the Start button, but I also have a shortcut to it on my taskbar). Right-click on the file, and "open with" Notepad. You can also just open Notepad and open the file from within the program.
You should see the html code for the file.
This is all set and ready to go. Copy everything between the "body" tags in the file (I also skip the lines that are for the chapter title, because I can enter that in a different spot on AO3).
Copy the selected code and paste it into the HTML editor on AO3. If you want AO3 to do a bit of cleanup for you, you can click over to the Rich Text editor, then back to HTML, and it will clean up extra carriage returns and such, but this isn't necessary. Double-check that everything looks good by clicking "Preview," and if you're happy, click "Post."
This even preserves smart quotes, which I don't bother to change to straight quotes, though I suppose you could do so if you wanted.
But honestly, that's how easy it is. Save the file as html, copy the html over to AO3, and done. No scripts, no file converters, no worrying if your formatting is going to survive being pasted into the Rich Text editor. Just LibreOffice and Notepad.
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Does Globi und der Schattenräuber have an English dub?
To make a long story short, Globi und der Schattenräuber (a.k.a. Globi and the Stolen Shadows) is a 2003 Swiss German animated film intended to modernize the beloved Swiss childrens' character Globi by placing him in an anime-inspired adventure helping a pair of teen musicians opposite a shadow-stealing villain. I've been interested in this movie for years because it sounded bizarre as hell, and earlier this year I was finally able to watch it. I'm super grateful, and I really enjoyed it, but the search is not over.
The film is documented on numerous cartoon and movie databases across the internet, some of which allege it is available with English audio. I know from an interview published prior to the film's release that an official English release was planned, but what I haven't been able to confirm is if that plan came to fruition.
Evidence of this supposed dub is sparse, and much of it could be interpreted as further proof that the dub was planned even if it never ended up happening. For one thing, the songs used in the film are in English, as is the text in the opening and closing credits. Plus, a piece of promotional artwork featuring the English title exists, which may have been used to market the film to potential distributors.
As well, the lip flaps just don't match the audio that well. Rather, it looks as though the animation was made to synch up with English dialogue. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of cartoon-characters-rotely-opening-and-closing-their-mouths in a way that's very common for productions of this scale from this time, but there are also multiple scenes where, when watching with the sound off, you can clearly make out what the English line would have been. Examples include when the Maestro first transforms and asks "What- What happened to me?" or when Globi rolls out the device for creating digital shadows and Benji appears to ask "Woah. What the heck is that?".
But if an English audio track for this film exists, how would it have been released? The original Swiss German version was released theatrically and then on DVD, but I can't find any evidence of the supposed English version of the film receiving this treatment. No TV broadcast that I know of either, nor any other method of distribution. Not to mention, I can't find who the cast and crew would have been on this dub, with one exception.
For whatever reason, IMDB has exactly one voice actor listed for an English version of this film: Alan Marriott in the role of Maestro. It's unclear why the rest of the English cast is missing, why the only character credited isn't even the title character but instead the villain of the piece, or for that matter where they even got this information, but I have reached out to Alan Marriott through his website to confirm the accuracy of this credit, and I'll update this post if he or his team get back to me.
In the meantime, if anybody out there has any information about this hypothetical dub, please let me know. I would love to unearth a watchable copy, or at the very least confirm whether or not the dub is real. Thank you!
#Globi und der Schattenräuber#Globi and the Stolen Shadows#lost media#existence unconfirmed#European animation#obscure films#Alan Marriott#long post
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I'm finally printing the first segment of Mirrors--correctly, this time. Got any silly bugs worked out. And I'm cleaning up the copy of the original document for the next segment of text. On paper, you can hardly tell the difference between 12 and 11.5 font, but I think the difference is significant enough, I might be able to squish the whole story into one volume......... we'll see...... I'll have to see what the first volume is looking like around the halfway point.
Nope. Still didn't do it right. I'm blaming half of this on Canva just not saving. I will italicize something, manually hit save, exit the document, come back in, and the italic didn't save. But it's fine. I did some final tweaks, downloaded the final copy, and I will not be releasing or sharing any kind of full version until the whole thing is done properly. But also, Canva is way more trouble than it's worth. But I like the gigantic selection of fonts and graphics........dammit...........
I need a nap, my head is fucking killing me from coughing so goddamn hard.....
Anyway, I already printed it, so I'm just going to have to have a jank copy of Mirrors.
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KARIN JONES ‘UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF LOVE’ (1982)
Karin Jones (born and raised in Philadelphia) took her first musical steps singing in church. She was gifted with an extremely talented ear, and an accomplished pianist, percussionist and drummer, mostly developed without formal training. In her pre-teens Karin and her two older sisters formed a soul group called The Jonesettes that was managed by their father. They released a single titled ""Once I Had Love / Stop, Look & listen"" on Cougar Records in 1971 and participated on the gospel classic “After While” by ""Rev. Arvetra Jones And The Jonesettes"" released on HSE Records in 1975.
In 1976 a friend of Stevie Wonder told her that Marvin Gaye was looking for backing singers for his new record and subsequent tour. Karin auditioned for Marvin and was instantly hired. They recorded the “Got To Give It Up” EP and she hit the road for Marvin Gaye’s London Palladium tour (later released as a double live album on Motown in 1977).
Soon after Karin Jones started doing session work for the renowned label Jobete Records where Teddy Pendergrass got really impressed with her unique musical style. She signed with him for management in 1979, but with Teddy’s own frantic schedule, the arrangement dissolved a year later.
At a convention of the Black Music Association in Philadelphia, Karin met with Jim Tyrrell, who at the time was establishing his own label, T-Electric. Karin signed with T-Electric Records and recorded an album in 1980. However, the album was shelved because the label run out of money. After collecting dust for two years producer Jim Tyrrell brought it under the attention of industry veteran Ron Alexenburg who was president of Handshake Records. Alexenburg heard the album and very much liked it. He got Karin Jones to sign with his label and ""Under The Influence Of love"" finally got its well-deserved release in 1982.
“Under The Influence Of Love” is a monster of an album arranged by Dunn Pearson Jr (known for his work with Roy Ayers, Lou Ragland, Mary J. Blige, D’Angelo) and Bruce Hawes (Stevie Wonder, Kool And The Gang, The Temptations). All of this carefully supervised and produced by Jim Tyrrell. Also worth mentioning is that the duet on the album is the one and only time Eddie Levert, of the legendary O’Jays sang with a female artist.
Sadly (and shocking) Karin Jones suddenly passed away in 1984 from a diabetic coma. Strangely, she predicted an early demise while preparing her photo shoot for the album. Karin Jones was a true example of a bright light burning out way too quickly, thankfully we are left with the unique (and very rare) document that is her “Under The Influence Of Love” album.
The entire album is filled with heart breaking modern soul, deep disco, boogie-funk and a great range of tempos…all of this is topped off with Karin’s trademark vocals. Also included is the hit ‘Ready, Ready Love’ which was one of the biggest songs of the London steppers scene (or more fashionably known as ‘rare groove’) and almost impossible to get a hold of (unless you had deep pockets). To this day it remains a much sought-after gem and a ‘holy grail’ for fans and collectors alike.
Tidal Waves Music now proudly presents the FIRST ever OFFICIAL vinyl reissue of this rare Philadelphia album that goes for hefty amounts on the second-hand market (it was originally released on Handshake Records And Tapes back in 1982 and plagued by inferior bootlegs ever since). This unique record comes as a deluxe 180g vinyl edition with obi strip and features the original artwork.
A European 180g BLACK vinyl edition (limited to 500 copies) will be available exclusively for Record Store Day (UK/EUROPE) 2023 and available in participating record stores on April 22, 2023.
A North American 180g WHITE vinyl edition (limited to 500 copies) will be available in US stores on May 05, 2023. You can pre-order this version now from www.lightintheattic.net
An exclusive variant (#100 copies MILKY CLEAR Vinyl) is also available from www.ziarecords.com
An exclusive variant (#100 copies HOT PINK Vinyl) is also available from www.hhv.de
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Ideas related to the Watcher/Brier
(Image taken from the Doomwiki)
One obscure demon is the Watcher class from D2RPG, who also had variations called "Brier" and "Sentinel" (Familiar name, like how Plutonia had a level named "Slayer").
From what i remember, it seems their attack in that game was to raise some floor spikes that go to a certain direction until it hits the player, like a trail.
In a "real time" context, they'd be shooting a trail of floor spikes (Maybe it could try to chase you).
They also had a loud screech.
But i had some ideas on giving them new attacks:
Transforming itself
Imagine if a Watcher was a "shifter demon" where it could shape shift into other demons.
You know that enemy in the mod Beyond Reality that transformed into other demons to use their attacks? Imagine a demon that would occasionally turn into other enemy types just to use their attacks.
It'd give the illusion of an "extended moveset" while the demon still has its own attacks and design.
Transforming the Player
You know how Duke Nukem 3D's Protector Drone could shrink Duke with a projectile? Imagine that, where a Watcher could shrink Doomguy or even more interestingly: Turn Doomguy into a tiny rabbit that has to hop around for safety before turning back to normal after some time.
Illusion trickery
Remember the Hologram from 2016? Imagine if the Watcher could create copies of itself and some are meant to trick the player (Maybe it could use a fog or some clouds).
But there would be a subtle difference between the real Watcher and its fake immitations.
Shoot the real deal and the copies vanish.
Other ideas
Probably dumb but:
Maybe give it a blackhole projectile or tornado attack ripped off from Heretic's Iron Lich.
Maybe make it summon a "slippery ice" floor that makes the player slip too fast and makes use of the Dash system impractical (Like a reverse to the purple goo puddles and something that could've suited the Cultist base or any snow level)
Maybe some other weird magic trick that makes the Watcher on pair with Arch-viles as a support demons.
Its design
It's the kind of look that is rare in Doom: A floating upper half of a demonic entity, that looks like a ghost wearing a rope.
Can be compared to enemies in other games.
(From left to right: Heretic's Disciple of D'Sparil, Hexen's Dark Bishop and Quake DoE's Wrath)
And before release, its design showed a more traditional robe.
Though perhaps the head it has in the final release made it more interesting but it depends if you can mix the faceless hoodie with the spikey look.
(Or seperate them into different species, since it already has different variation based names for coming from the RPG series, so you could use different looks and even the gameplay ideas i suggested above)
Also, DrPySpy did a cool recreation this demon.
Here's a proper link incase Tumblr is allergic to proper Twitter links.
Either way, the RPG games are underrated in general and it's good that there's projects dedicated to reverse engineering them since documentation is so little of these games.
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