#anyway export settings are all over the place....
Text
this is gonna be SO long and rambly sorry anyway i saw a post abt how babel does queer characters and it got me thinking abt why the tropes it uses would usually turn me off other stories but didn’t here
MAJOR BABEL SPOILERS //
i feel like i’d be more mad abt how robinramy ended up in babel if it marketed itself as queer lit at all or if its fans were going “WOW AMAZING QUEER REP” abt it. but no one told me any of that, so finding out they were gay was just a fun little bonus surprise to me. i get why ppl are eh abt robinramy not getting together/technically still being subtext (which i dont think is really true btw like the book literally says “robin was falling in love” but idk i guess if you were stupid you might’ve assumed that it was falling in love with oxford given how romantic some of the other language is (WHICH IS ALSO THE POINT bc i think robin’s friendship with ramy blurring into romance is why he romanticised like all his friendships/experiences in oxford BUT IM GETTING OFF-TOPIC)). i just think robin’s repression abt being gay was intrinsically tied to his attitudes on imperialism (wrt refusing to acknowledge anything that complicated his life until it was too late) and i don’t consider it a cop out or queerbait. like i genuinely don’t think robinramy could ever have gotten together without drastic alterations being made in terms of plot and character. plus i think it’s clear that kuang didn’t want to write a story with any kind of focus on romance at all, because it’s not that kind of book. there’s no successful het romance either, so it grates a lot less. the only reason romance is included at all is to show the ways in which white entitlement manifests. so the tragic way robinramy played out just made sense to me.
and i speak as someone who accidentally spoiled myself on You Know What in the middle of reading and i was like ugghh boooo dreading it the whole time expecting to roll my eyes when it happened but then when it did i was like. wow im actually not that mad LMFAO 😭😭😭 actually thematically the book sets it up so well that i believed that this was unfortunately the only way it could’ve gone. babel is about the loss and tragedy and grief that colonised people experience. it’s about the lengths people will go to to uphold empire and the lengths ppl will go to to tear it down like idk 😭 i guess it is bury your gays but it didnt bother me this time because i thought it fit thematically ❤️ i enjoy tragedy as a genre a lot and i would’ve made it gay anyway you know. thanks rf kuang for doing it for me so i didnt have to.
WHICH IS ALL TO SAY that i guess if you’re going into babel for the queer rep without appreciating that the story is fundamentally a tragedy it would feel like it’s just reusing tired tropes….. but i think the choices kuang made were rly deliberate and not in a way that feels like trauma porn or shock value. the book is fundamentally about the struggles of poc so the layer of queerness that was introduced felt like a subtle extension of the experiences of characters of colour in the book, and i enjoyed and related to it as a queer chinese person who kind of realised they had to prioritise their fight for the liberation of poc over queerness mainly because the idea of western queer liberation cannot be dissociated from imperialism and many aspects of homophobia as we know it was an export of christian european empire into our colonised countries in the first place and FUCK THIS IS A WHOLE OTHER TANGENT ABOUT HOW I THINK RAMY AS A CHARACTER IS EMBLEMATIC OF THE TENSION AND STRUGGLE THAT QUEER POC DIASPORA HAVE BETWEEN OUR IDENTITIES GODDAMNIT OK FORGET IT POST CANCELLED i just rly think babel’s handling of queer characters is fine and makes sense and i like it personally and maybe i will make a coherent analysis about it one day but that day is not today byeeeeeee
#/#//#sam speaks#byeeee ive been trying to type this post for over an hour but i give up#slashes are there bc i dont want it to show up in the main tag it’s rly incoherent and also subjective#babel#babel spoilers
47 notes
·
View notes
Text
My Sonic Underground au, ft. Tails
Bc ofc it features Tails. Anyway this got away from me, like majorly, whoops. This is my attempt to squeeze it into the 'main' canon with the games 'n all but have it feel cohesive.
__
OKAY SO the rough summary is that in Sonic Underground, things were Bad and the war started even earlier, leaving the triplets at 10. They’re young and unprepared and things shift outside the original show.
Sonic ends up meeting the Oracle early and alone. He gives Sonic a choice: to keep fighting as is; or to win, but cease who is. Sonic asks if he can meet in the middle, but the Oracle just states that there is no victory without sacrifice. Sonic thinks of his family and the people hurt and their mother and the best way to win is a guaranteed win, even if he’s not here for it, and takes option B; and an unknown hedgehog wakes up on an unknown island with an unknown name. Miles away, a man wakes up without memories, but a lust for power.
Meanwhile, Sonic goes missing in the night and days after, they hear that Robotnik is dead –or missing, or gone, there is no distinction and every rumor Manic hears is different. Even with the timing, they refuse to think that Sonic is dead, even if it feels like lying.
-
Sonic and the Oracle made a deal, one the Oracle had seen times and times ago. Both Robotnik and Sonic would lose their memories, not just of the war Robotropolis and Mobotropolis, but of their own past and everything in between. Along with this, they would be compelled to never see the land again. If only one returned then the majority of the spell would remain intact, but if they both did, the magic would be broken and both sets of memories would return
To use the magic, Sonic sacrificed his amulet and as of the au, it acts as the direct connection linking Sonic and Robotnik’s memories to Robo/Mobotropolis.
And thus, neither of them remember this.
_
The hedgehog wakes up on what he learns is Christmas Island surrounded by birds and the softest grass he’s ever known. He doesn’t know the language and has very untreated trauma and PTSD. He hangs around for a bit and heals and he’s young and curious and it all feels so new and foreign and nature is so beautiful and he’s so fast!
One day, he sees a man attacking his friends and capturing the other animals on the island. Instinct kicks in and it overpowers the fear. He’s fast and he can fight and defend and anticipation runs up his quills and it all feels right. He wins, saves his friends, beats the man and in the chaos, Eggman flees and Sonic chases. He finds a plane and then a little brother and the rest is history.
Back with Sonia and Manic, as time passes, they meet their mother and slowly regain control over the kingdom. 5 years go by, and Mobotropolis isn’t what it was, and never will be; but their scientists have learned how to clean the tar-stained buildings and pull the toxins out of the soil and there are saplings scattered across the city. The city finally has the resources to connect with the outside world and imports are finally trickling in –exports are harder but steel and metal is abundant and they don’t care who they trade with.
And then one day, Manic sits in front of the TV and he’s been keeping track of the dates, he had ever since he was a little kid, and after strife and war he’s finally gonna see the EX World Grand Prix and the first fucking thing he sees is Sonic (who gets a dicey first place).
So everyone naturally starts going crazy and the monarchy sends out people to find him, but no dice. Sonic doesn’t stay anywhere and no one knows where he lives, he just appears when there is some event and then disappears after. Cut to Bartleby who takes it upon himself to bring the prince home and regain some of the respect his family, and Sonia, had for him. He has objectively worse luck and spends the majority of time on dead trails and unknowingly missing Sonic by minutes.
Meanwhile, the siblings are getting impatient and their mother seems ambivalent at best so they decide to go find him themselves. They’re drawn in the same direction and after looking at a map, they decide to head to Central City because it’s big and in the right direction and what other leads to they have. They sneak out in the night, but in the palace walls, their mother watches, but turns away when they look back.
Cut to Sonic, who is enjoying a lull between adventures and Eggman takeovers. Everything is peaceful and nice and past weird. After double-checking around, he and Tails determine that Eggman is MIA, and has been for about 2 weeks which isn’t much time to make anything other than maybe some low level bots…which honestly, not a bad time for a vacation!
Jump to Tails and Sonic running off on an old school adventure, no Tornado, no chaos emeralds, just their own feet and tails. They’re having a blast being tourists, stopping various Eggman atrocities, some are wandering robots and some seem like some half-baked scheme ‘still in beta’, as Tails puts it. Meanwhile, Sonic’s been having some weird thoughts lately and his dreams are full of people he can’t remember. But he sees the buildings and pollution and fire and assumes its stress dreams and pushes a little harder on their travels. He’s not sure where they’re going, but he always follows the wind.
Back to the triplets minus one, Sonia and Manic are in a random village and okay this traveling thing kinda sucks. They only transportation they have is some of Robotnik’s old machines and they’re cumbersome, fuel hungry, bulky, and are all-in-all, terrible. They do what they can to avoid them and walk on their own, and desperately miss their bus and even the palace; they’re not unused to hardships and hunger, but man it was nice to not have it.
By pure chance, during a break in a small town, and small was putting it lightly, they see a streak of blue. They chase after it and they don’t see the blur, but they do see a fox who somehow out runs them before they can stop him. The next day, they’re despondent, but they see the town has a hotdog stand and specializes in chilidogs. Much to their surprise, and not-surprise, they find that fox again, who is sitting on a table, waiting for his food.
They approach Tails, who gets suspicious when they ask about Sonic, but he doesn’t play dumb. Manic is nearly in tears and is babbling how he needs to take them to him and they’re family. Tails' food is called, 7 chilidogs and a chicken sandwich, but Sonia stops him from leaving like, “just pass him a message please.” Tails is sus but agrees, Sonis passes him a pre-written note and Tails leaves, and then promptly reads it on the way back to camp.
(Sonia and Manic talk about Tails and his mutation when he leaves. Due to the pollution on Robotropolis, they’re used to mutations but they’ve never seen one that severe. They’re sympathetic, but their language is demeaning, Sonia more than Manic.) Something to note is that they don’t know he can fly.
The note is flowery and written on weird paper. It’s not cryptic, but it’s assuming a lot of info Tails doesn’t know and doesn’t think Sonic knows either. He reaches camp, gives Sonic the chilidogs and the note. Sonic reads it and freezes, just staring off into the distance, dog half bitten, as those distant dreams become a bit clearer and he finally has names to put to those faces.
Tails is concerned when he snaps him out if it, and ravenous, Sonic devours the rest of his dinner. He tells Tails that they’re important to him, but he can’t remember why. They talk about what to do for the night and Sonic wants to meet them ASAP, but the note didn’t say how to. So they decide to figure it out in the morning. Right before they go to bed, Sonic snaps up, startling Tails, and tells him that they’re his siblings and tells him what he can remember, mostly vague, hazy things about siblings and a mom.
Sonic’s memories are fuzzy and he passes out quickly and while he doesn’t remember his dreams, he wakes up in a cold sweat with feeling of smoke in his lungs. It’s early day and Tails is gone. Sonic has about 60-70% his memory back.
Cut to Tails, who didn’t sleep great tbh, but the second it hit dawn, he was up. Sonic had family and Tails ignores the pit in his stomach and is determined to fix this! The note suddenly makes much more sense and if Sonic really does have parents and a mom, then Tails is gonna reunite them.
So he goes into town and after an hour of looking, he ends up back at the currently-closed chilidog stand where he finds them loitering and in hindsight that seems obvious. He tells them that he’s gonna bring them to Sonic and they’re elated and follow him down to the path to their camp.
But Sonic crashes into them first, having gone to look for Tails. There is a heartfelt reunion, though it’s clearly more on Sonia and Manic’s side that Sonic. “We’re your siblings!” and stuff. They get breakfast at another stand and talk. Sonic introduces Tails as the “coolest, nerdiest, smartest fox best friend anyone could have.”
Sonia and Manic tell Sonic about their home and mother and their relationship, but specifically omit info because they don’t want to scare him off. They convince him to come back home and shockingly, Sonic agrees. Privately, Tails asks him if he’s sure and Sonic says that he has a feeling that’s where they need to be.
Time skip!
They bring Sonic and Tails to their plane and take off towards Mobotropolis.
Tails is in awe of the plane and Manic and Sonia think it’s because it’s so big and advanced and like nothing on Mobius or that the kid has ever seen. However, dramatic irony, Tails is in awe because it’s so old and archaic. It’s hilariously outdated and it’s like being in a time capsule. He can see hints of Eggman and the rudimentary inspiration for his current designs, but he doesn’t consciously recognize it.
His awe plus his size plus his general kid-ness leads them to think that Tails is just some kid Sonic hangs out with and watches. Like some weird charity/ ‘babysitting your partner/besties kid brother’ thing, even if it doesn’t make sense with what they’ve seen.
Then Sonic calls Tails ‘Little Bro’ on habit and that won’t cause problems later at all; spoilers, Manic and Tails are both jealous, but it stems from different places. Manic thinks it’s because he subconsciously missed them and feels hurt at the replacement while Tails’ chronic insecurity pops up.
Now that they have them trapped on a plane, and not aware of Sonic’s escape room tricks or Tails’…everything, they start to let more secrets out. They imply that Tails shouldn’t be in the room to hear this and Sonic shuts them down and tells them that if want to tell him something, then they should just say it now –with the implication that Sonic will just tell Tails anyway.
So they tell Sonic that he’s actually a prince and that they’re all royalty and Sonic is, “No thank you, I don’t want it, take it back. I’m good, thanks.” Tails finds it hilarious.
They continue to treat Tails like a kid and it gets old fast and Tails is being thr bigger man and it sucks.
The flight lasts over a day and no one is happy. Tails wants to go to the cockpit and see if he can speed it up, but Sonia refuses and says its autopilot anyway –which is true to be fair. Eventually Tails ‘gives up’, but goes to the engine room to find a guide to the motherboard to to follow the wires to do it himself.
Meanwhile, Sonic and his siblings keep clashing in ways that are both equally familiar and new. Sonic may have memories of them, but they feel more like dreams and he’s not the person he remembers, or the brother they remember; and to him, their lives are, well not inconsequential, but feel less real than his 'current' one.
They have already gotten into the same fight twice: why Sonic left, despite Sonic not having any answers either. There is heaviness in the ship and this is fight number 3 in less than 2 hours. The tension builds, but shatters as Tails runs back onto the deck. He’s talking a mile a minute how this ship is Eggman’s but it’s not and it’s older, and Sonia and Manic are lost but Sonic is clearly worried. Sonia notices that the worried crease in his forehead is the same.
Tails gestures for them to follow him and takes off running, Sonic is on his heels and Sonia and Manic are left behind, even as they run –it is lampshaded.
Tails takes them to the cockpit and walks in, clearly having hacked it earlier. Sonia isn’t happy and they still see Tails as some kid and they’re frustrated he’s bothering them when they were busy. Tails flies up to interact with something up high, a series of pipes and a cryptic sigil which makes Sonic’s eyes widen. He’s suddenly balanced on the headrest of the pilots chair and... was he always that fast. Tails and Sonic are discussing something and Sonia and Manic are lost and holy shit the kid can fly??????
The rest of the trip remains awkward as they realize both sides are hiding secrets. Sonic tries to make peace and let bygones be bygones and start new. Sonia isn't about that and just wants everything like it used to be. But, unlike the Sonic that Sonia remembers, he doesn’t rise to the bait or join conflict, and deflects or shuts it down. No one knows how to communicate or what to say; it’s clearly an 'us versus them.'
They find a common ground in war and they talk about their adventures for a bit, but neither party realize Eggman and Robotnik are the same. To Sonia and Manic, Tails should be in a sanctuary or somewhere with other little kids to be protected and they don’t doubt he’s capable but he’s a little kid! Sonic casually defends him.
After this, Manic confronts Sonic about Tails as his brother and his jealously and Sonic tells him to grow up. Tails is his own person and so is Manic, neither are a replacement. Tails is younger and smart and techy, but he’s not Manic and Sonic doesn’t like the implication that he either picked Tails up as a replacement or that Sonic was desperate that he forced it on him. He bluntly tells Manic that Tails was a little kid that needed help and Manic didn’t, they’re the same age, and the situations are so contextually different that being jealous is insane. They’re different people and, “he needed me in ways that you don't.”
Manic doesn’t get over it, but he does try to be nicer to Tails and tries to work through his jealousy. Sonic does privately think that he got on so well with Amy because she subconsciously reminded him of Sonia.
As they get closer to the city, the pollution gets worse and Tails and Sonic feel awful and it’s harder for Tails to fly without clean air. The majority of the skyline is still bleak, but Sonia and Manic imply that Robotnik is fully in the past but neither Sonic nor Tails believe it; they’re used to Eggman, and while they still don’t know they’re one in the same, they’re used to this sort of game.
Eventually they reach the kingdom’s borders and Sonic passes out as the magic completely collapses and the Oracle’s spell snaps. He wakes up with both sets of memories just in time to land, and if Sonic has his memories, then Eggman does too.
So now they’re all in Mobotropolis and I’m not sure what happens next but oof.
Notes:
Alena knew about the deal, which is why she never tried to find Sonic or his 'body'.
Eggman going MIA was him going to Mobotropolis, but he didn’t get his memories back until Sonic reached the border
Yes, Bartleby is still looking for Sonic, no one told him - he is actively doing this about 90% of the story.
Sonia and Manic think Sonic is irresponsible with Tails because he lets him roam wherever with minimal supervision
#sonic#sonic underground#sonic the hedgehog#sonia the hedgehog#manic the hedgehog#miles tails prower#tails the fox#sonic hedgehog#bc i know my lore#my writing#this is...a lot and long#and nothing really happens#but thats my writing style tbh#ur boi loves their details#yes i take questions thank u for coming to my ted talk#Fanfic#Sonic underground au
82 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hi, hope you're good. Just hoping you could clarify what changed to make Tumblr live get through GDPR please? As far as we know it breaches data laws so if you can explain asap that would be great (and stop people from reporting this to the ICO). Thanks!
afaik tumblr live was never “breaching” any laws, that was a bit of misinformation swirling around. you can’t be in breach of a law when you’re not doing anything in that law’s jurisdiction, that’s like saying you’re going over the speed limit to someone who doesn’t own a car.
anyway, afaik it’s all GDPR-compliant, or we wouldn’t have expanded to countries that enforce GDPR. fwiw, tumblr live has been available in places like California this whole time, which also have very strict GDPR-like laws.
but when in doubt, test it out! if you’re in the EU, do a data export via your account/blog/privacy settings (i can’t remember exactly where the personal data export is), and see what’s there from tumblr live.
16 notes
·
View notes
Note
hi jojo, i wanted to ask how you corrupt/datamosh art to get genuine glitches … i think the way computers rip apart jpegs or pngs is both beautiful and gives an interesting look into how they process information. seeing something you carefully constructed by hand be reduced to seemingly arbitrary fragments of data is humbling. i didnt even know this was a thing you could do til i saw you do it (i forget when, i think it was with one of your rainer paintings?)
HI OLIVER!! thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to talk about databending because it's something i adore unabashedly. it's an amazing technique to use whenever you wanna make some Crazy Stuff. i personally use audacity to databend—this is a pretty common method, but i'm gonna make a mini-tutorial about it anyway because it's FUN, and because the process is actually really simple!
Here's the image I'll be imploding for this demonstration. I chose it because it was like the first file in my pictures folder, and because it's a good image.
STEP 1. Prepare your image! It has to be an uncompressed image format such as .bmp or .tif, because compressed image formats (such as .png or jpg) are generally too volatile to work with due to the nature of their data. I opened this image in Paint, saved it as a 24-bit Bitmap, and named it FREAK.bmp, because that's what it is.
STEP 2. In Audacity, go to File > Import > Raw Data. Open the image you prepared, and use these settings to import it:
You'll get this image as raw audio data, which I recommend you do NOT play. It will be very loud and abrasive, so probably keep your volume down in case you accidentally play it.
STEP 3. Start messing with the audio! You can use basically anything in Audacity's effects menu for good results, though I tend to favor Bass and Treble, Echo, Invert, dblue Crusher, and dblue Glitch. You can also copy and paste portions of the audio data in different places, and even import other audio to play alongside the data.
Try not to edit the very beginning or very end of the audio, as this might end up corrupting the image header, and it won't be readable as an image anymore. Don't shy too far from them, though; if you avoid them too much, the top and bottom areas of the image will remain unchanged. The positioning of the audio data is surprisingly straightforward, so with enough practice, you can approximate what portion you'll be editing with relative ease.
This is definitely the longest part of the process, since it can take a lot of trial and error for good results. At the start, I recommend doing little portions at a time to get a sense of what exactly your edits are affecting. Try a lot of different things, and remember that Audacity lets you undo things easily and infinitely!
STEP 4. Once your audio is sufficiently screwed, go to File > Export > Export Audio. Use these settings to export it:
Make sure to replace .raw with .bmp, or whatever image format you used.
STEP 5. Enjoy your image! Here's what I ended up with.
For the record, I messed with the audio a LOT here. You can get much more subtle—or much more severe results—depending on how much or how little you alter, or how you alter it. Here's another databent picture, which I made by putting a 3 second clip of "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" over the image data.
It's so interesting seeing a song be reduced to something so arbitrary in an image format. It's equally interesting seeing something as arbitrary as audio waveforms becoming a semi-coherent image, ignoring the Soulja Boy-induced scar in the center. It always makes you wonder how it works. If you sang at just the right pitch, could it became a photo of a sunset? What if it became a portrait of someone you've never seen before, or someone that doesn't exist at all? That's obviously impossible, but there's this strange sense of wonder about it anyway. It still seems plausible, because the data that constitutes an image is generated in such a way that there exist infinite, arbitrary combinations—combinations which might just be coherent to us, if a billion different binary stars align.
The way this data is stored isn't arbitrary at all though, even if it looks that way to us. Audacity's audio waveforms are only one way to visualize this raw data. Here's FREAK.bmp, but visualized via plaintext rather than audio data.
Computers just seem so magical sometimes. The raw data is incomprehensible to our eyes, but they can read it for us and transmit exactly what they see. As long as you keep the proper headers in place, it'll still read this data as a picture, as perceivable pixels, no matter how nonsensical it otherwise looks to a human.
It's interesting to think about databending in terms of glitches. The results are often very similar to glitches that might organically manifest, but the process is entirely intentional. It usually takes some effort and intent to get a "good" result from databending, but glitches and corruption are entirely void of human intent. They just happen, arbitrarily, for any number of reasons.
If something's just a little out of place, you might get a huge, jarring stripe slashed across the image's center—or you might break the image entirely, if it's out of place a little too far to the left. You'd never be able to tell the difference yourself, but a computer certainly can. But to a computer...
... these images might as well be identical.
#in conclusion: i like when images are wacky!#also this isn't entirely related but i recently rewatched this video about how sprites are compressed and read in gen 1 pokemon games:#https://youtu.be/aF1Yw_wu2cM <- go watch it if you wanna see more things reduced to data AND how it works. it's COOL
205 notes
·
View notes
Text
I.L.Y.F.I—>Chapter 1
Masterlist
—Sanzu Haruchiyo x f!reader
————————————————💋
—Featuring: Kokonoi, Kakucho, Haitani’s & Sanzu as well as a brief meeting with Y/N
—Warnings: mentions of illegal matters & drugs.
—Word Count: 2.1k
————————————————💋
A/N: Thank you all for you patience and I hope you enjoy this first look into “I love you for Infinity.” A Tag list will be made as soon one is requested, just let me know if you want to be tagged in this series.❣️
Here they were once again…another meeting held for their “business” and yet all he could think about was why Mikey wasn’t here. ‘Pathetic,’ he thought as he continued to clean his katana. Just before another negative thought clouded his mind the meeting began. “We need him on our side to export our supply. Customers are getting antsy and they want what they ordered.” Kokonoi’s voice was stern as he looked around the table, seeing the others more or less interested in what he was saying. “Is anyone even listening?” He huffed.
“Yeah. Yeah. We’re listening Koko,” Rindou sighed as he rubbed his temple looking over to see his brother scrolling on his phone that was hidden underneath the table, a light scoff filled the silence before another one of them spoke. “How do you suggest that we do this then? It’s not like we can walk up to his house and demand that he lets us use the ports for our own needs.” Kakucho’s grave voice continued. “Well I’m glad you asked,” Kokonoi beamed. “Since he is the owner of Yinming’s Industrial Exports I’m sure a little persuasion wouldn’t hurt,“ the blonde glared at Sanzu who was too busy cleaning his katana to notice. “Right Sanzu?” The blonde haired male cleared his throat.
After a brief moment of silence the pinkette mumbled, “Yeah sure…” Kokonoi tsked as he closed his eyes while exhaling deeply. “Can we go now? I’m hungry and I haven’t had my medicine yet.” Sanzu sighed while placing his chin on the palm of his hand, and drumming his fingers on the table with the other. “You seriously didn’t hear anything I said…did you?” Kokonoi was clearly irritated with this entire meeting. “I hate all of you just so you know. We’re done now.” With a huff the male stood up walking out the room leaving the others to deal with the rest. “Someone is grumpy,” Ran chuckled as he stood up.
“Well…I’ll let the three of you deal with how to get Mr. Yinming to join us.” Stretching as he spoke, a sweet sigh rolled off his tongue. “What? No. You and them two will figure that out, I have things to take care of for Mikey. You know the drill already Haitani.” Kakucho objected before walking out after Kokonoi. “I have to do things for Mikey…” Sanzu mocked as he stood up as well. “God I can’t stand that multicolored asshole.” He always ranted about his distaste for Kakucho considering Mikey has been favoring him more than the pinkette lately. “You can kill him later Sanzu let’s just get this stupid shit over with.” Rindou droned while grabbing the keys to their Escalade walking ahead of the two males with no intention of waiting for them to follow.
~Evening~
“Alright. We’re here, now I need the two of you to be on your best behavior so no interrogating unless we need to.” Rindou glared at Sanzu through the rearview mirror while looking over at his brother as well. “What? You know I don’t do anything to get my hands dirty, unless they hurt you,” Ran cooed softly. “Look I know you’re a fucking idiot, but you know what I mean. You like to egg him on knowing damn well how much he feeds off that stupid shit now behave because I swear to god I’m not gonna stop Kakucho from smacking you this time.” Rindou hissed while getting out of the car. “Rude. Anyways it looks like Kokonoi set us up with an appointment already, all we need to do is follow suit and just act like businessmen.” Ran smiled trying to lighten the mood. “So tell him we want to use his business to promote our business…smart,” Sanzu smirked while looking at his phone.
“You just stay quiet and don’t say shit. Just let us do all the talking.” The shorter male spoke sternly as he gave the pinkette a side glare. “Ugh! You’re so boring! All you’re gonna do is talk about numbers and shit, if that’s how it’s going to be then why didn’t Kokonoi come himself?” Sanzu huffed. “He had his reasons, besides the two of us are needed here to make sure that he takes the deal, and well you’re here to make sure that he doesn’t reject us.” Ran smiled while patting the males head. “Now fix yourselves. We need to look presentable.” He began to fix his tie and jacket while looking over at Rindou leaning closer to fix any stray strands of hair, “Get. The. Fuck. Off.” The male hissed, slapping his hands away in a huff before turning to knock on the door. “Just trying to help…” The elder pouted.
“You’re annoying.” Was all that was said before the large double doors opened.
“Hello Mr. Yinming has been waiting for you. Please follow me.” An older male spoke as he bowed before turning to walk ahead of the three. “The two gentlemen by the door will take your shoes and coats, I shall also inform the three of you that the dinner Mr. Yinming's holding is slightly postponed, but will be brought to the room shortly.” Despite all the twists and turns of the halls they made it to what appeared to be Yinmings study. “Mr. Yinming? The men from Golden Dragon Enterprises are here to discuss their export matters.” Without missing a beat Yinming rose his hand as if to hush the elder before looking up briefly from his papers and continuing to scribble on them. “Have a seat.” Was all that was said while the doors behind them closed. ‘So this was the man who ran all of the ports in Japan and seemed to be somewhat crude with his potential business partners,’ Ran’s thoughts seemed to be etched into his normally calm features while Rindou seemed indifferent with the males tone.
On the other hand the pinkette was ready to leave wanting to get this over with. Despite not wanting to be there he knew that there wasn’t a true reason to come here, upon further inspection of the study his cyan eyes darted between Yinming’s artifacts and photos of his business ventures. “So…you deal drugs?” The pinkette asked nonchalantly, Rindou’s normally sleepy eyes were now sharp as he glared at the male, “Dont you have a time to be stupid somewhere else?” He growled silently. Yingmings eyes looked up from under his brow, head unmoving from the papers before him when he suddenly burst into laughter. “Good fucking eye! Shit you’re good,” The male chuckled.
“Actually I wouldn’t say I personally deal this “drugs” more or so….assist companies in exporting goods.” He beamed while leaning back on his chair and looking at the three males before him. “It’s like you calling your organization “Golden Dragon Enterprises, when in reality we all know who you really are.” The three males frowned as they glared at the male facing them, “Woah…if looks could kill. Guys come on, we all handle business in the same dock,” he chuckled to himself. “Pun intended.” The male winked, Ran chuckled while he adjusted himself on the sofa. “Very clever, Mr. Yinming. A brief explanation on why we use the Golden Dragon-“ just before he could finish Rindou spoke sternly and rather quickly. “It’s a cover up. That’s all you need to know, now can we get on with this?”
“Straight to the point type of guy? I love it. Please continue.” Yinming spoke with a hint of humor slipping into his words. As the Haitani’s began to speak to Yinming about the services and what the financial statuses would be Sanzu sat there silently already feeling the boredom rotting his brain, with one swift movement he stood from the couch causing the three males to look over, the two brothers giving a concerning look. “What? I need fresh air. Besides, the two of you can handle this.” The male huffed before walking out of the room to find a more open area, Sanzu walked around the mansion looking at everything Yinming owned seeing rare artifacts and paintings aligning the walls as well as the shelves, a low whistle filled the silence as he stopped in front of the largest painting. There sat Yinming, a woman and a small girl, he stared at the painting seemingly entranced by the features as well as colors. “That’s an old painting.” A soft voice filled the hall causing Sanzu to react rather quickly with pointing a gun straight to the source.
“Woah there pinky.” The woman laughed as she raised her hands up in a playful surrender. “Didn’t mean to startle you…just didn’t know who you were. Having a strange man in the house walking around and looking at things is a little unsettling…don’t you think?” She grinned. The male eyed her suspiciously for a brief moment before slowly putting the gun away. “Yeah I guess so. Still you shouldn’t walk up on people you don’t know.” He hissed while having his gaze turn back to the painting before him. “Yeah…you’re probably right,” the mystery woman shrugged while standing next to him admiring the same painting.
Once Sanzu had his fill of the bright colors he began to walk away looking around to see what else he could find. “You know snooping around here will only get you into trouble. Unless that’s what you’re into then by all means be my guest.” This caused the scared male to huff as he looked back at the woman. “Why are you so goddamn interested in what I’m doing? It’s not like this is your shit.” He hissed. Without saying a word the woman pointed towards the painting with a smirk, “Could say that all of this is actually mine, Pinky.” Sanzu curled a brow, eyes trailing from the painting back to the woman, a sudden playful smirk spread across his scared lips as he fully turned to face her. “Well pardon me, princess looks like I forgot to bow and kiss your feet.” The woman rolled her eyes and turned away while a smirk of her own showed, “Don't you mean gravel at my feet?” The look of irritation showed on Sanzu’s features as a small growl emitted from him, but before he could cut her down laughter filled the hall as the woman covered her mouth while shaking her head.
“God, the look on your face is priceless. I’m just joking jeez, take the stick out of your ass will you? It just seemed so fun to mess with you is all,” she smiled softly while looking away. “I’m Yinming Y/N, and you are?” This entire situation felt….weird. Why was his hands beginning to sweat, cheeks burning and the way she laughed…why did all of this intrigue him? Apart from her looks, which he had to admit weren’t half bad. She seemed to treat him as if he was….normal. “Wait….you’re not afraid of me? Like my scars…nothing about me throws you off and screams “danger”?” He quoted the word with his fingers.
“Why should I be scared? If I should be scared of you then shouldn’t I be scared of everyone? You’re just another person trying to make a living right? What’s so bad about that?” She smiled again. “So…aren’t you going to tell me your name?” A small laugh filled the empty space between them as she waited patiently for him to answer. “Uh…,” For the first time ever Sanzu was speechless, how could someone like her treat him so normally? Usually when people even see him they run away, but…she didn’t instead here they were having a normal conversation. “Yeah…I’m….Sanzu Haruchiyo, but you can call me…Sanzu…,” he whispered. Another smile spread across Y/Ns lips sending a warm shiver down his back from her reaction.
“I like that name, Haruchiyo. Can I call you Haru instead?” Just the way Haru slipped past her luscious lips caused Sanzu to gulp. “I..I mean…i-if…” her expression soon turned into worry when he began to stutter, “If you’re not ok with it then Im fine with calling you, San-,”
“No!” He shouted, causing another silence to fall between the two. “I mean…damn that was louder than I meant to say that shit. You can call me…Haru if you want.” Letting his hand rub the nape of his neck. Another soft smile played across her lips, but before she could say anything another voice came from behind the two startling them. “Y/N! I have been looking for you, I would like for you to meet The Haitani’s and I see that you have already met Sanzu.” The older man chuckled. “We will be working with them, consider them original clients from now on ok?” Yinming beamed as he walked over to stand next to Y/N. ”—And in order to celebrate this new endeavor. LET’S FEAST!”
#tokyo revengers#tokyo revengers headcanons#tokyo revengers imagines#tokyo revengers scenarios#tokyo revengers boys#tokyo revengers x reader#tokyo revengers toman#tokyo revengers valhalla#tokyo revengers brahman#tokyo revengers bonten#tokyo revengers black dragons#bonten sanzu#sanzu headcanons#sanzu scenarios#sanzu imagines#sanzu haruchiyo#haruchiyo sanzu#yandere sanzu#sanzu x reader#tokyo revengers x you#sanzu x you#sea: i.l.y.f.i❣️
83 notes
·
View notes
Text
today was my birthday!! ( ᐛ )و the ceaseless march of time never stops, but that’s not what i’m here to talk about, i got gifted a copy of realistic paint studio by my family! and i thought i’d share my thoughts here
all the fun of oil painting without the carcinogenic terrors of cadmium yellow!
so i’m coming at this from somebody who
primarily uses, and will continue to use, clip studio paint
has never actually used oil paints in any significant way
absolutely TANKED high school art classes back in the day. i mean bombed. i mean nosedive. sub f tier. my teacher pulled me aside and said i should give up on art school to save the place for ‘somebody who actually has talent, you will never be good’ tier. i kept at it anyway but all that to say that there’s a classical, ‘right’ way to do these sorts of things and i’m actually not sure what that is because i’m self-taught, so if you’re in the same boat this overview might be of use to you
right out the gate this thing costs £30, if you want the ‘vip’ set (which is only £5 more than the ‘base’ set and comes with extra tools so i’d just go for it). upfront i will say, clip studio paint often goes on sale for £25 and has a wealth of tools available to it. if you have a choice, without a doubt, pick up csp. the free asset store alone is unbelievable. this thing is robust but only in certain aspects, think of it more as a very, very advanced toy
realistic paint studio has a fun feature going for it, tutorials! you know those old bob ross paintalongs? almost every tool has a reference picture and a guide that teaches you how to use it, especially for the more difficult ones like watercolours
a couple i did
the pros:
the engine that handles paint and mixing is unbelievable. it is absolutely incredible. i’ve used a lot of art programs in my time (GIMP, photoshop, krita, csp, and whatever weird little novelties i’ve found floating around like alchemy, etc) and rps feels buttery smooth. unmatched
every brush you can use comes with a demonstration of how you can use it and for what purpose
far closer to traditional mediums as far as colour and general ‘feel’ goes so if you’re looking to make the jump from traditional to drawing tablet this is a great middle ground while you get used to it
supports tilt (but very usable without it, and i’m saying that as someone who doesn’t use a tilt tablet)
buttery smooth. i’m listing it again. i cannot stress this enough
the cons:
if you’re coming to this program from photoshop/csp the QoL features you are used to are gone. the transform tool is manageable but there is no mesh transform or perspective warp. no layer modes. no multiply, no overlay, no dodge, no hue sliders, no cropping, no gradient maps, no liquify. they were not kidding when they said ‘realistic’, if you make a mistake you have to rawdog it and paint over it.
the ui is not a traditional art program ui. you click toolboxes which bring up brushes, and you select from that set, then the box drifts off-screen. you’re either going to love this or hate it. you can assign certain brushes to hotkeys under the favouriting system, but that’s very limited so expect to see that little toolbox a lot
the export feature is clunky. most apps let you export from the file menu but you have to save your work, quit, retreat to the general app management area and export from there. there is a method of exporting in the file itself, but it only lets you set up these little postable scenes. it’s cute, but this isn’t intuitive. also, and this is a real nitpick, a lot of the pre-rendered scenes offered hide the very bottom of the canvas, where your signature traditionally goes
my general thoughts are that this is a cool, interesting piece of kit! it feels a little too janky to use consistently, especially if you need a quick and easy user experience for commissions or the like, but it’s the best at what it sets out to do. certainly ‘limited’, but i wouldn’t count that as a flaw, it isn’t like you can slap a multiply layer over a real charcoal drawing and call it done. i’d argue that if you want to improve, and you want to improve very quickly at that, you’re going to struggle to find a better digital medium to work in. you won’t be tempted to use shortcuts because they’ve been slapped out of your hands. you can’t liquify tool your way out of this one, me. i’m looking forward to sharing more studies and, when i think i’ve got a half-decent handle on it, lavishly painted sad old men
#rochedotpng#fun and interesting program! i've been having a great time with it#overall a mixed bag but what's in that bag is very very impressive
69 notes
·
View notes
Text
Idea Pitch: A Teenage Clark in Metropolis
“What are you doing up so late, honey?”
“Oh, just running some numbers. The crops haven’t really recovered since the drought last year and prices for things are going up and... And...”
“We’ll make it through. We always do.”
“I know. I know. Just... Well, we probably won’t be able to spend the money for Clark to really join any clubs or the like, let alone a new, good camera after he broke the last one and that has me thinking about those fliers...”
“John...”
“I know! It’d be best to have him at home but if Luthor Corp can give him a place in Metropolis, with a better education, than maybe that’s what’s best for him, at least for a year. And let’s face it, our little man is too super to just end up in a little town like ours. Not when he has such big dreams.”
“I’m not going to say you’re wrong but...”
Clark stood just out of sight, tears in his eyes as he balled his hands into fists. It wasn’t out of anger though. No, it was out of determination. He remembered how lean things had gotten last year and felt bad every time his strength caused his parents problems. Every time they needed new hinges or nails to deal with a mistake of his. The idea of leaving home, of going off to the big city like this, did scare him but if it helped his folks breathe than he had to be ready.
And so Clark enters a set of dorms in the heart of Metropolis for those who are without and need a jump start on their future, all provided by Luthor Corp. Kids from all over the state are picked by income, grades and merit to be a part with them all going to Metropolis High School as freshman. Amongst them is a kid chosen for his photography submission, Jimmy Olsen who bunks just above Clark, a girl with so much gumption that she spent two weeks hounding the people running the program before showing a potential future in journalism with a piece on the program that went viral, even if an exporting error made it so her name wasn’t actually on it. The program leads had gotten the file though and so Lois Lane joined.
There was one oddity amongst them though. One person who seemed genuinely angry to be there and at least at first regards Clark’s overtures of kindness with suspicion. He knows how people really are after all. Corporate flunkies are always trying to get close to him after all, hoping to curry favor with his father. And now he’s been banished here for ‘perspective’.
But just maybe, Lex might manage to get some, especially since other kids here seem to be interested in taking down this ‘Superman’ who rises up not long after they all move in. At bare minimum, they’ll make good pawns, especially with how naive Clark is about the world.
=========
This idea came to me because of family stuff that really isn’t mine to share. I don’t even think I’d claim this to be MAWS related but I tagged it anyways because if I did do it, I’d be using the dynamics and characterizations set by that but making them probably almost a decade younger than they are in the show. Admittedly, just due to my strengths, “Teenage Superman” is an idea that had floated into my head for this show already, this just theoretically gave it an initial hook and premise.
Do I plan to actually do it? Probably not anytime soon. Probably never. But that’s what these idea pitches are for. To share that which I won’t get to. I hope you all liked it.
I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!
I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past.
I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead,
If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.
And finally a Twitter you can follow too!
7 notes
·
View notes
Note
Sorry if this question is too broad or imposing but I'm trying to get into modding Fallout 4 for the first time, mostly to make armor skins. What're the best tutorials? I've tried searching online but a lot of the tutorials are outdated. (Would also love to know how to bash existing skins together though modelling my own would be fun too). Again sorry for this ask I'm just so lost about how to get into modding lol.
Ahhh do not apologize for asking me about modding fallout. I could talk about the guts of this stupid game all day ahhh
modding grip^
Unfortunately I...don't know any good tutorials. I think a lot of Fo4 modders came over already knowing skyrim or FNV. Most of what I know is based on outdated guides, old loverslab threads, my existing graphic design knowledge, and trial-and-error. I think armour is the best place to start because there are so many tools available (thanks tittymodders!), and you don't have to worry about needing 3DS Max for collisions or animations.
This is the only modding tutorial I've ever watched. It's old, but good to show you a proper workflow and how to set up your files. They use creation kit, but if you're just making armour its way easier to use xEdit. I don't even have the ck installed, I do everything in xEdit.
This is an excellent guide to outfit conversions. It gets pretty in depth, but you really don't need to bother with the dismemberment section if it's just for you. It's for FG reduced but you can use it as a general guide for weighting anything for any body and getting your modded outfit game ready.
Texture edits and outfit conversions are where I started and are probably the easiest. The best thing to do is just poke around mods you like and see how they do it.
Some tools:
xEdit: Plugin editor for creation engine games. If you're doing any kind of modding you should learn how to use this. Esl-flagging, running complex sorter, making bashed patches and making your own compatibility patches are skills you need if you want to run a heavily modded game.
Icestorms texture toolbox: the best texture tool, i use the "batch processing" tab at the end to convert .png (no alpha) and .tga (alpha) files to .dds.
Nvidia texture tools exporter: lets you open .dds file in photoshop with the alpha channel intact. You don't need a nvidia card, I'm all team red. Don't bother using this to export unless you have to, its slow as fuck.
Sagethumbs: Gives .dds files thumbnails in windows explorer.
IrfanView: For quickly viewing texture files without launching photoshop. Also an excellent general image viewer.
Bethesda Archive Extractor: Crack open those .ba2 files and get to the goods.
Material Editor: What it says on the tin, lets you edit Fo4 and Fo76 material files. These are like containers that have the paths to all your textures and how they are to be shaded to attach to .nif files.
NifSkope: View and edit .nif files. Dev 7 is the recommended, but Dev 8 can open Fo76 meshes if you want to backport those.
Outfit Studio: Even if you don't use body replacers, this is an incredible tool for editing and weighting meshes. If you're making armour you need this. This is also where I make most of my mashups: you can pull parts from different outfits, slap them together, and export them quickly and easily.
Blender: It's free and it works. Learning to navigate this is going to be your biggest hurdle but it's worth it, trust me. Thankfully blender has a huge community and hundreds of tutorials. This is where I make my hi poly models and do all my retopo/uvs. I also prefer to use blender to edit meshes because it has more robust editing tools.
PyNifly: What I use to import/export .nif files from blender.
Fo4 is made in the 2013 version of 3DS Max and the havok content tools but i haven't bothered to pirate that yet. You don't need it for armour anyways.
I'm sorry this is so long and rambly. If you have a more specific question I might be more helpful ha.
#asks#fallout#fallout 4#long post#fighting to keep this short i will not infodump i will not infodump i will no- ah fuck i did it. sorry.#i got into modding by editing existing textures that weren't up to my standard#and then making outfit conversions for bt3 because almost nobody was back then#i have been basically banging my head into my computer for the last year trying to learn what little i do know#yeah i know fuck adobe but nothing is better than photoshop. just pirate it. its always morally correct to steal from adobe.#i pay for it though because i actually use adobe fonts/cloud and i am a clown#i know it sounds silly but all the best technical advice is on loverslab. just..bring an adblock..and dont open that site in public lol#please do not be scared to ask me things i want everyone to be able to mod this hell game#the best thing about fo4 is that its made of legos so you can easily pull it apart and put it back together however you want#i had never touched a 3d program before i started modding fallout last year you can do it anon! i am the monkey with a typewriter of mods#typing this with blender outfit studio and mo2 open in the background mod author sigma grindset#ive thought about making some tutorials but i have both a lisp and a stutter...that would be brutal. maybe some text ones.#god im so normal about this game
28 notes
·
View notes
Text
POZNAN, Poland—Despite the fact that Poland’s archconservative ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) looks well placed to win its third straight election on Oct. 15, its leaders are spooked that a low turnout will force it into a coalition, perhaps with the country’s even-further-right party, the Confederation Liberty and Independence. In desperation, PiS is lashing out wildly: at Germany, the European Union, the liberal opposition, developing world refugees, and critically minded filmmakers—as well as war-battered Ukraine, which until now it had buttressed with steely determination.
A Sept. 21 comment made by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki that Poland will stop arming Ukraine, which he later walked back on, set off alarm bells from Kyiv to Washington. “The message is not that Poland is pulling its support from Ukraine,” said Konstanty Gebert, a Warsaw-based author and analyst, “but rather that Ukraine is much too ungrateful toward its colonial benefactor. It should simply accept what it gets from Poland and be thankful.”
Even if the Morawiecki remark was misinterpreted—Poland is boosting its own depleted defense capabilities, he clarified—the implications are unnerving for the Atlantic alliance, which until now has marshalled its members’ consensus on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and active solidarity with Kyiv intact. If Poland, of all countries—a committed foe of President Vladimir Putin’s Russia and until now a champion of Ukraine—can waver in its support, how far behind are other countries long fatigued by the grinding war, the cost of sanctions, and hobbling energy crises?
Morawiecki’s comment came on top of a string of flare-ups between the neighbors and allies—flare-ups that PiS, rather than address constructively, has chosen to exploit for electoral gains. In a swing at Ukraine [on Sept. 20], Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative backed by PiS, said, “Ukraine is behaving like a drowning person clinging to everything he can. A drowning person is extremely dangerous; he can pull you down to the depths … simply drown the rescuer.”
He was referring to the burden Poland bears in backing Ukraine, which it has done by channeling humanitarian aid and weapons as well as opening its borders to refugees. But he could well have been describing PiS’s increasingly desperate flailing to burnish its populist credibility in the run-up to the election after years of holding power.
Poland and Ukraine have been locking horns over underpriced Ukrainian grain shipments, mostly corn and wheat, which last spring began to flood Polish, Slovak, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian markets until the Central Europeans, with the EU’s blessing, imposed a ban on Ukrainian imports, which expired on Sept. 15. When Russia first cordoned off the Black Sea to Ukrainian exports, the EU told the Central Europeans to open their borders to Ukraine to move agricultural commodities through their territories as an alternative route. The ban allowed them to do so while preventing domestic sales of the Ukrainian products. But Ukrainian grain, which is exempt from EU customs duties, leaked out into the Central European markets anyway. This forced out regional crops from domestic and some export markets, pushed prices down, and ignited farmers’ protestations. On Sept. 16, Poland and Hungary defied the EU and reimposed the ban on imported Ukrainian food products, which then prompted Kyiv to announce its intention to take the rift before the World Trade Organization.
In contrast to Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia, the Polish government has not been able to work out a compromise solution for the Ukrainian imports. The European Commission, which has no lost love for PiS, has sided with Ukraine.
“PiS is doing everything it can to divert attention from its own failures, but it’s not empty electioneering,” said Konstanty Gebert, a Warsaw-based author and analyst. “To get the big rural vote on their side, which it has to do, PiS is willing to pay a high political price for putting Ukraine down. The upshot depends on the electoral results, the percentage of peasant votes lost, and those gained by the extreme-right with their anti-Ukrainian propaganda.”
PiS’s flailing, Gebert said, reflects its conviction that only it understands the true interests of the Polish nation and that “its falling from power poses a life-or-death threat to the nation.” In the eyes of the PiS, Gebert added, “If it loses, Poland will come under the yoke of Brussels, be a slave to Germany, and flooded with Black and Muslim rapists. It wants to save Poles from the fate of people in the West, who they say can’t go out on the streets without fearing violent crime.”
Ukraine poured fuel on the fire by upbraiding Poland in front of the United Nations in New York. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused some EU countries of “feigning solidarity by indirectly supporting Russia”—a barb that understandably stung Poles, whose animosity toward Russia is legendary.
Another red-button issue at the front of PiS’s campaign is immigration. PiS is resisting EU plans to introduce a new migration pact that would give countries quotas of relocated migrants and require them to pay 20,000 euros (about $21,180) for each one they refuse. It is not the million-plus Ukrainian refugees in Poland that PiS encourages Poles to dread, but rather the roughly 20,000 refugees from Northern Africa and the Middle East that have entered Poland through Belarus this year. Belarus and Russia signal to these regions that individuals can gain access to the EU through Belarus; the unsuspecting refugees are let loose at the Belarusian-Polish border, often subject to beatings at the hands of first the Belarusians and then the Poles.
Agnieszka Holland’s film Green Border, which throws a harsh light on Poland’s treatment of refugees, premiered last week in Poland to the hysterical outcry of government officials, one of whom renounced the film as “disgusting libel” that is “harmful to the Polish state and Poles.”
While the Ukrainian refugees in Poland have thus far enjoyed the sympathy and support of Poles, their situation is changing, said activists from Logos and Spilno Hub, nongovernmental organizations in Poznan that assist Ukrainian nationals. Earlier this month, the Polish government announced it would be ending aid payments to Ukrainian migrants. However, in contrast to Germany, Ukrainian refugees in Poland are given immediate access to the job market, and they have pounced on it, helping Poland plug labor market gaps. The unemployment rate in Poznan, a business-minded city in western Poland, is 1 percent.
But Polish generosity is wearing thin. The Ukrainian activists say the social media rants against all refugees is vitriolic, much of it calling back to World War II-era atrocities between Poles and Ukrainians. A Ukrainian aid worker, Valentina, from the northeastern city of Sumy, was accompanying a class of Ukrainian school kids when teenagers accosted her, screaming, “Hey bitch, go back to Ukraine!” Physical violence is now increasingly common, Gebert said.
The geopolitical consequences of PiS’s histrionics reach far beyond Poland itself. In Slovakia, elections this weekend could bring about the return of Robert Fico, a former prime minister who is openly anti-EU and pro-Russia. Hungary, too, has long been a mouthpiece for Moscow in Europe.
And PiS’s most likely coalition partner, called simply the “Confederation” in Poland, makes no bones at all about its hostility to Ukraine and the more than 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees in Poland. (Its 2019 European Parliament campaign included a five-point platform: “We don’t want Jews, homosexuals, abortion, taxes, and the EU.”) Its presence in a coalition government led by PiS could entail a Poland-Ukraine realignment of some sort—and diluted sympathy for the Ukrainians now living in Poland.
A government that’s even more nationalistic than the current one in Warsaw might throw a wrench into Ukraine’s accession to the EU. After all, Ukraine’s high costs could shrink Poland’s slice of the EU pie. And a lukewarm, tight-fisted Poland could cause Kyiv to swap besties, putting its full faith in France and Germany rather than Poland. They, at least, have the clout in the EU that Ukraine needs, while PiS is openly hostile to Brussels.
PiS’s roughshod campaigning will hurt Poland in the long run, wrote Marek Swierczynski in Polityka, a centrist weekly news magazine. “PiS is toying with matters of strategic importance in this election campaign,” he argued. “And it is also toying with the very risky issue of anti-Ukrainian resentment. Now we have exposed ourselves to the criticism of global public opinion, all for the sake of this party scoring a few points with its own supporters.”
The gravitas that Poland has accrued over the past year and a half is immense—but it can expire if Poland’s will proves fickle.
4 notes
·
View notes
Note
How do you make gifs? Care to share your process? o3o
oooh yes i can!!! i tried not to get too detailed with it since im interpreting this as just asking for my process rather than an actual tutorial sudhf.
the general tools i use are photoshop (i pay $10 a month T_T), vlc media player, and one of my various video downloading sites. i don't torrent or anything bc that scares me and i dont understand it. plus, since i almost exclusively gif kdramas the video uploads are generally in pretty decent quality and dont get scrubbed from the web the way western shows do.
so once i have the video downloaded i open it with vlc media player. I use a really inefficient method to extract frames but it works well enough that i don't really care to change it. plus i cant really figure out another way? they say that certain video programs can capture frames for you but none of the ones ive tried seem to have that feature. there's also supposedly another method to do it in vlc media player but it's never worked for me. anyway.
so to extract frames in vlc i find the moment i want to capture and then use the "e" hotkey to skip to the next frame and click the little screenshot button to capture it.
i do this over and over at lightning speed until I get all the frames i want. yes this does often lead to accidentally skipping frames (which can make the gif a little choppy) so sometimes i redo it, but sometimes i don't bother.
after i've captured the frames, i copy them from my pictures folder (not entirely sure why they end up there but im not going to mess with the pathway) to a specific folder ive created for that gif or gifset.
then I'll go through and make sure there are no duplicate or missing frames. after that, i edit them down to about 70 frames per gif, then select them all and rename them so that they're in numbered order (photoshop loads them out of order if i don't).
I do 70 frames mostly bc my sharpening action on photoshop doesnt go past 70 frames and i haven't bothered to fix it lol. also it's comfortable length for a gif so there's not much reason to. you can usually get away with about 40-50 frames tho before it feels too short.
ok nowww i open photoshop and things get good.
first thing i do is load the files into a stack.
i have a bunch of settings in place to make life easier so i already have my sharpening action created (which sharpens all the frames for me rather than having to do it manually. gift from God), and my timeline visible. so now i just play my sharpening action
then load the frames into an animation and reverse them so they dont play backwards.
then i set the frame delay to 0.05 seconds. it's interesting bc gifs played at normal speed look kinda weird. so having it slowed down a little is ideal. not too much though or it looks choppy.
now i crop the gif. i dont have to do this here but generally i do. just helps me focus without the distraction of the tv bars on the top and bottom and just. All the other stuff going on in the background.
nowwww i color. usually start with a color adjustment curve layer. when you use the little eyedrop tool this can really deepen the image and bring it to life. you dont realize how dull tv looks until you gif lol.
that gives me the base tones i want and deepens the image.
sometimes i brighten the gif with the curves layer, but in this case adding a separate brightening layer worked better.
then i'll export the gif with tumblr dimensions and upload it into a draft.
if it is still too dark or the colors look off, i'll just mess more with the layers. in this case, i only needed the two, but a lot of gifs will need a few different adjustment layers like vibrance or selective color to look right.
And that's kinda it!
colored:
uncolored:
hopefully it makes sense lol. Like I said, im not thinking of this as a tutorial or anything but i still want ppl to know what im talking about uhsfusd
23 notes
·
View notes
Photo
ROLLING STONE, APRIL 2001: Mutter review and interview with Paul
Very adorable, the tiny creature. His hands are so small and his eyes aren't even open yet. Don't think of anything at all and last of all probably of the evil Uncle Lindemann.
He now wants to be the voice from the pillow and take revenge badly. For the bad times when his mother's breasts didn't cry milk and he wasn't allowed to lick his nipples and didn't even have a navel. For this he will now sink Mama in the river and then dream of small children who are buried in the wet sand. A not entirely fair montage of the perfidious cover and three songs from the new Rammstein album "Mutter".
But Lindemann is certainly happy to be quoted - after all, no one writes satanic verses to be forgotten. The fact that he no longer wants to talk about it after the deed is done only makes his poetry even more of a beacon. This is now burning and blazing again over all continents and is lighting the hero's way to immortality. Alone: It flickers in the same colors as its predecessors. A new Rammstein record, but nothing new from Berlin. Pretty sick fantasies as if stolen from the Hannibal massacre, a song is finally called "Links 2 3 4" and is the only one that pricks your ears, but more of that later. When Lindemann drools "Rein Raus", there isn't a bit of metaphor involved in the sweaty game. If it weren't for the fact that the five friends were behind him, as always and constantly, the title would have what it takes to become a real hit on the Arenal ham road. Missed the chance, no metal goes with the sangria, what a shame. And then he comes too early, the stallion! We're already looking forward to the video and America's puritans to the stage show.
But to be honest, we're not too happy about it when we think of Germany's most successful rock export after the Scorpions. At first the arsonists kept us on our toes with the suspicion of serving themselves to the right fringe and made it difficult for anyone to be allowed to discover musical novelties in the crude mixture of heavy metal and techno with impunity. And now, with the critical voices from the left-establishment dying down, the boys are recording a third studio album that's about as surprising as recent Joe Cocker and Rod Stewart products. "As a musician, you always believe that your new record sounds fresh," says guitarist Paul Landers, who, after Richard Kruspe on the last one, was assigned to me as a credit agency this time. As I said, Lindemann doesn't talk. And so Paul thinks "Mutter" sounds fresh and new. Because every musician does, "even AC/DC and the Ramones". Of which it does not become truer in the carefully considered individual case. “But it's definitely nonsense trying to explain the innovations to someone who doesn't like the record anyway.”
Because my outing is still pending, Landers now continues light-footedly: "I think we left the tried and tested and redesigned the little things. Well, of course we're not Moby, who reinvents himself for every album. But he is also alone."And besides, there's something about being recognized by the fans. The class goal seems to have been reached. A plus, especially for continuity in America. But Paul doesn't want to know anything about that: “People now act as if we were the only successful German band over there." He is right. “But Atari Teenage Riot can also be bought there, the Guano Apes are known in places, the Einfallenden Neubauten, and Nena with the balloons in English!" But yes. And what about nectar? And didn't Inga Rumpf once have a ticket to New York?
For the new album, Paul tells us, the band have set themselves ”to be particularly good. That would have almost gone against the tree.” Pressure, of course, couldn't be denied, weighs heavily on a band and even on this one, “but I then called a fan of ours and he just said: Paul, you're good, so do it like this, you can!” After that everything was fine. Till brought 'about 50 songs' into the studio, there were discussions and then "Mutter". Life can be so simple sometimes. But now I would like to learn more about the discussions. “Of course there are two factions in the band!” Paul grins. I had already suspected that, even though Richard Kruspe didn't really want to comment on any of the lyrics at the time and Paul Landers now says: "The lyrics, that's so us!”
He says more. For example, that he is not Richard Kruspe and also belongs to the faction "which likes the piggy, messy and not the lyrically nice". His group is the stronger one it seems. But always ready to compromise. "When Till called out in a song, 'Hello hello, I want to fuck', the suckers wanted it 20 times, the others didn't want it at all. In the end it happened once. We always find a good mix.”
And sometimes they are also good for surprises, completely hidden. Which brings us back to “Links 2 3 4″. A noteworthy song, perhaps. It starts with a hundred people goose-stepping, then Lindemann asks a few stupid questions, and then it comes: “You want my heart in the right place, but then I look down and it beats to the left!” Hannes Wader could almost have written that back then, when Lindemann was still suffering through his messed up childhood in real socialism. “We made a song whose music the critics always wanted to hear, but whose lyrics they didn't want to hear from us. That is our statement. We say how we see things.” That's all there is to say, Paul believes. We think so too.
Then Lindemann sings "Here comes the sun" with the voice of Ozzy Osbourne, and then it gets gross again. Lindemann dreams of burnt skin and orders "Feuer Frei! bang bang” The world needs exactly such guys, or at least a good band, says Paul. “Without someone with character at the mic, nothing works. Good bands with an uncharismatic person as a singer never make it.” Voice is not important: “We see that with Grönemeyer. But we're lucky to have a man with life experience at the front. He went through things that none of us want to experience. Very bad things, but they are of use to us now.”
Even less godly, Richard Kruspe had described Till last year as "severely mentally disturbed". But Paul isn't Richard either, we've learned. With the new album, however, Rammstein have remained plain, simple and also somewhat disappointing. Pure pathos, bombast of steel, children's choirs and battlefield chants, bloodlust and purgatory. Produced by five nice guys and a sixth that you don't know exactly. The whole thing will probably only become interesting again when Mr. Lindemann writes his memoirs. We can even generously do without their soundtrack.
#Rammstein#Paul Landers#Till Lindemann#Richard Kruspe#a not so good review of Mutter for once#interview#translation#2001#*
59 notes
·
View notes
Text
Continued from here for @tvstarkuma!
Sonia nodded, following his lead to the tills. Purchasing items herself was a new thrill she'd come to enjoy since arriving in Japan: the thought of the Princess stepping into a shop at home, beyond some sort of ceremony or official reason, was unfathomable. But here, especially in a town so remote from the bigger, busier cities, no one looked twice at the fact she had a wallet with actual cash in it. No, it was likely her blonde hair that would garner stares. But at present, maybe it wasn't so odd: after all, the boy in the department store had golden hair too.
Unfortunately, that might have been all they had in common: her questions seemed to perplex him. Of course, she had to remember that: most teenagers didn't need to concern themselves with politics, or economics, or public policy. In fact, most teenagers didn't spend the majority of their time harnessing their prowess in a single skill or discipline, either. Even though she'd been thrilled to attend a 'normal school,' Hope's Peak was anything but normal. Case in point: allowing the Ultimate Princess to miss a week of classes in order to carry out official duties.
"Not quite like a doctor's appointment," She admitted with a pained smile. The poking and prodding that a doctor's appointment had would still be present, except in the form of prodding her conscience and cheerful nature. By compliments and questions that were phrased one way but had an entirely different meaning: that was the nature of being royal, especially when someone wanted something from you. "Perhaps more like a meeting over dinner. Which is a bit unfortunate: I passed what looked to be some lovely restaurants along the way as I walked here. I imagine they're owned by families, several generations over. I quite like experiencing places like that."
As she waited for him to ring up her purchases, Sonia reached into her quilted leather bag and retrieved a coordinating wallet, pulling out a series of yen bills that would cover the sale. "That's good, then: a variety of ages and backgrounds working together," She gave him a real smile this time. "I imagine you would be able to learn quite a lot from one another, as long as there are enough members of staff to keep the business running smoothly." Not that she had any experience running a business of her own, but she'd accompanied her parents on enough visits to various shops, factories, and farms in Novoselic and listened to what the owners had to say about them. Without a trained and enthusiastic staff, their goods might have never succeeded in their home country, much less be used in international export or, if truly lucky, given a Royal Seal.
Sonia paused her train of thought, eyebrows raising in interest as she carefully set the bills on the plastic tray provided to collect them. "You have only resided here for a year?" She half-asked, half-repeated. "Where did you come from before, then?" If it wasn't too much of a personal question, anyway. But it was an indirect way to see if he was from her part of the world or not.
#tvstarkuma#Non-Despair AU: Hope's Peak Academy verse#(Sonia over here is forgetting how to act like a normal teenager)#(Not that she has much experience in it)
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
Aseprite Export to Live2D Cubism (Old)
Short Tutorial on how i export from Aseprite and import it into Live2D Cubism!
Note: This way works fine for Inochi2D too!
Note²: This Tutorial is Outdated and may not be up to my standards anymore
This is basicly a short Tutorial on how to export and import a pixelart Live2D Model. this is somewhat close to what this tutorial i made a long ago goes over. but this focuses on only exporting... hope you find it somewhat useful :>
Tutorials on Steam
How to build up your Pixel-Live2D-Model
How to Export a Pixel-Live2D-Model from Aseprite to Live2D Cubism
How to Rig a Live2D Pixel-Model
Tutorials on Newgrounds
How to build up your Pixel-Live2D-Model
How to Export a Pixel-Live2D-Model from Aseprite to Live2D Cubism
How to Rig a Live2D Pixel-Model
Quick Before we start, we need to be sure you have everything needed!
First and formost you need a copy of Aseprite
Then you also need the "Export as PSD script" for Aseprite by Tsukina-7mochi on Github!
You also need a Copy of Gimp (its free dw)
And of course a Copy of Live2D Cubism (has free trail)
First and formost make a pixelart Model ready for export, this sounds a lot harder then it actually is. just follow any Live2D model Tutorial on how to seperate layers, it should look something like this when done -v-
Heres how my layers looked before Exporting!
And here is how my Model looked before exporting!
Now that the model is ready and done we should start preparing for exporting!
REMEMBER TO BACK UP YOUR FILE (the next parts can crash Aseprite)
First thing we need to do is Resize the model sence Live2D doesnt really handle models at pixel level i dont think :/
Just move over to your [Sprite] Bar and mouse over and click on "Sprite Size..."
Then this menu should open up, if the Lock Ratio isnt ticked off already then do that. now resize the model by a large amount.
i normally export mine by 5000% you can use % instead of pixels in the lower bars... (The model was orginally 55 x 110)
if you by mistake resize and save over your model, you can also do math to crush it back to its original size through the size menu aswell
Then after the resizing is done, we can start exporting, this is where we use the "Export as Psd" script you needed to install in the Intro.
Mouse over your files Tab then over your Scripts Tab and then click on "Export as Psd".
This Menu Opens up, you can click on the file name to decide where to place the file (thats a good idea to control if it exports correctly first of all :>)
then when you click export you should see Aseprite Crawl to a halt because you just set a 5000x5000 pixelfile to export with a script ment to handle small pixels like 100x100, this freezes the Aseprite. BUT DONT CLOSE IT. just leave it
go take a walk or something else for about 30mins or more (Time can take like 5-30ish) for an export, so just go do something else. :>
And when you come back something like this will probably be here! now its fully exported out into a .Psd file, but a catch. its *Broken* Oh nooooo Right? nope, we can fix it (its broken in a way making it not able to import into live2D Cubism yet...)
Open the file up with Gimp!
Just select the file and make it open with Gimp ether way is fine -v-
Then it should open up.. with an Error Oh no oh god! nope still not a problem just click ok
we just need to use Gimps inbuilt .Psd Exporter because that works!
so just go and export it and make it replace the Old psd, because its broken and not good for anything anyways
Now you basicly have a working .Psd. that you can just Drag over Live2D Cubism! :>
And after that the model is now safe and sound in the Live2D Cubism Editor, Now you can start Rigging you new Model and impress all you friends! :>
But i also have some Refrences for you soon to be Pixelmodel rigger!
Old Tutorial on Pixelmodel Exporting and Rigging by Me
Live2D paralax effect X axis by @poribakete137
i also have made Vods/Recordings of me making my Models if you would like to look over my shoulder while i make one of these!
Drawing the Grat-Grot-10-Berg Model (The One Shown)
Rigging The Grat-Grot-10-Berg Model (The One Shown also)
My Live2D Rigging/Drawing Playlist about 10 Vods so far!
But thats about it! i wish you the best of luck on making your own model now, and i hope it looks fantastic! and if you wanna show you cuz i'd love to see lol, you can find me on twitter @GratGrottenberg dont fear to dm me :>
BYE BYE!!! :>
1 note
·
View note
Text
Chapter 17 - The Shadow
I woke up with the birds chirping in the trees above my tent like always. I stretched when I got up, taking off the robe with delicacy not seen anywhere else in my actions. I put on my armour from the day before, the straps on the metal being just as easy to put on as they were to take off the day before.
Leaving my tent, I walked over to the running water source nearby to wash my eyes for maximum guarding abilities. This was, afterall, what the lady above had wished us to do. The gunk from my eyes washed out with ease and I soon started strolling through the woods to the cook’s station for the breakfast of the day.
It was usually something that could be taken with us on the road, just in case anyone needed to leave in a hurry or woke up late when work was to begin. Today’s special on the menu was an egg and fried ham wrap. The bread was an export from the sirens below our kingdom. They were the source of many of our exports, in fact. As for the fried ham, it was, at its core, just bacon with some bread on it. It was a recipe found in some Northern parts of Hubain knows where.
I grabbed my breakfast with a polite nod in the cook’s direction, trying to give them praise and discovery that they had hoped for with the little energy I had that early in the morning. The sky was still dark, but slowly getting brighter, when I sat with the other knights and discussed business with the night patrol before their shift was over. The bags under their eyes were evident. It makes sense, though, considering where we had set up camp.
The Enchanted Woods were no laughing matter to the guards stationed to watch in that direction overnight from even the castle. They would turn all the heads in the room with the things they said were heard or seen from there. These knights, though, were put into the place itself. They heard and saw things they seemed afraid to mention. The woods are said to mess with your mind, which is probably keeping their tongue in their throats.
I sent them off the bed with a dismissive wave, seeing their sleep deprived eyebags and wishing all good rest for each individual that had to stand post over all of us in our most defenceless state. I then went back to my wrap and finished eating it, picking up on some of the meaningless ramble the other guards were talking about. It didn’t matter anyway. As soon as it went in one ear, it went out the other and was soon replaced with the next sentence for judgement by my ears.
When I was done, I left the site to go on a stroll. The Enchanted Woods were the attraction of our kingdom, the lights attracting all types of merchants and species brought in scientists and doctors. The terrain and lifeforms in here were like from a dream.
I stopped in my tracks when I came to the natural garden that I had ventured to many years before with Sofia. I wonder if she would still look the same in this lighting…
A crack of a twig startled me, making me pull out my hidden dagger in the direction of the noise. I squinted because of the sunlight shining right in front of my face. I could have sworn by the great goddess that there was something, or someone, behind the tree across the mystical plants.
“Come out now or I will have no hesitation,” I called out, hoping to draw it out.
“...no…” a voice replied, so quiet that I almost didn’t pick up on it.
I tried to catch another glimpse of the figure hidden in the shadows, but to no avail. The trees became too dense in the direction the voice was coming from. It was almost like talking to the void.
I then lowered my dagger, not quite putting it away yet. “What are you doing out here anyway?” It seems to be humanoid…
“what? …I live here. What are you doing in my forest?”
1 note
·
View note
Text
Air Freight Forwarding Service in India
KAP Global Forwarders
KAP Global Forwarders Pvt. Ltd. is an emerging organization providing excellent international Freight Forwarding and supply chain solutions.
Freight forwarding is an essential contributor to the smooth running of international trade with the freight forwarder being responsible for choosing the best options for their customers' distribution needs.
In this article we'll discuss the freight forwarding industry and show how it is the unsung hero of the world trade.
What Is Freight Forwarding
Freight forwarding is all about moving goods from one part of the world to another economically and efficiently. Ensuring that cargo arrives at the right place and at the right time involves real skill.
Freight Forwarding Costs
It is important for freight forwarders to negotiate freight rates regularly with transport providers and to compare the costs involved with transporting goods along different routes. This helps them to get the right balance between cost and delivery times.
Although freight forwarding is used by companies all over the world, no two operations are the same owing to the type of goods being transported and the different sets of customer requirements.
Managing Freight Forwarding Risks
The complexity involved in freight forwarding means that there is an element of risk to do with loss or damage that needs to be managed.
Freight Forwarding Transaction Management
Freight forwarders are entrusted with the delivery of goods from one party to another, who often do not know each other. As a result, it is essential that the freight forwarder follows the set procedure and prepares accurate documentation to facilitate the transaction process.
Import and Export business though as being in existence for a while and people have made substantial income from venturing in the various kinds we have be it finished good, semi finished goods or unfinished goods.
Import and export is one of the most profitable or lucrative business to start. People have ventured in it before and are still very much in it now.
Those interested in the business have been disturbed by the idea or feeling that you need lots of money or capital to start with. While some rather than sitting back and waiting for a miracle or a Father Christmas to dash them some money or token, they took bold steps and that step has made the difference.
Nigeria is a country that imports almost everything that we use, both finished goods, semi finished goods and unfinished goods that make up to 90% of our daily needs. All the category mentioned are all imported and it's so bad that a lot of people make it a thing of class to use foreign products. Anyway, that's a social cultural and economic issue for the government to tackle. As a result of these menace most people have often preferred imported goods to locally made ones.
Moreover, many companies on the internet will be ready to do business with either organizations or individuals who will help in expanding their business both locally and internationally, and that's where the need for import and export business arises. If you really think you can make it in this business just as those venturing in it now and before then join me and lets us look at some possible ways to make it big in import and export business.
The first step I recommend is for you to search for fast moving product in the world of buying and selling. The best way to do this is by searching for fast moving product on the internet
Once the dealers of these various products are located negotiation can begin.
The most fascinating thing is that some of the dealers of these products will even be willing and ready to send samples of their products to you in order to test the market. The most important thing is for you to be honest because most of these dealers are always careful when dealing with Nigerians because of frequent or the market being over flooded with both online and offline fraudsters.
Now, air freight refers to the transportation of commercial or trading goods through the proper use of an aircraft specially designed for carrying cargo stuff. These types of airplanes are given another name i.e. cargo airplanes, these planes are operated by the airlines which handle passenger aircraft.
You may even correlate these services with other shipping services, but these service suppliers are deeply involved with the application of logistics in their day-to-day life. The basic advantage which we get from these services is the useful management and analysis of information and resources. In this analysis you may include fuel price, manpower handling, as well as setting of task of transportation from source to the destination. The freight service suppliers require some knowledge for their proper functioning which includes inventory, packaging, handling warehousing as well security related information on daily terms. With the revolutionizing world, now the application of logistics has also been optimized with the help of latest software's for the forwarding services.
Visit for more information: - https://kapglobal.co.in/
0 notes
Last Seen Blogs
icharizkaa
Icha
scullys-right-eyebrow-txf
Scully's Right Eyebrow
dochazard
The Doc's lab is open
super-wellison-love
Sem título
reddiesboca
this is a gays only event