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shuttershocky · 1 year

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this overwatch 2 shit has GOT to be illegal right? I mean, they sold the game on the promise of PvE and now they cancel it. This better earn them a false advertising charge

And the wildest part is that you can't even play Overwatch 1 anymore.

Anyone who's followed this blog long enough has probably seen me post a rant about how terrible video games are at media preservation, and how we should preserve games (even ones we don't like) to be playable in some manner long after the developers take the servers offline because games are art and deserve to be able to be experienced by the future long after they've been discarded by their makers as a product.

You can't do that anymore with Overwatch 1, a game that wasn't even free to play.

People paid 40$ in 2016, 60$ if they went for the deluxe edition, to play Overwatch. New heroes, maps, etc were promised to come as free updates, instantly accessible for anyone to play without grinding or microtransactions (though there were mtx for cosmetics) and that the game would be supported for many years.

This was one of the many reasons why Overwatch back then absorbed a large part of TF2's playerbase: TF2 had been chugging along since 2007, at the 8-9 year point its updates were winding down and people have accepted it was finally hitting the end of tis life, and were looking for a new cartoon team shooter that would last for years. OW was not TF2's successor and was never intended to be, but that promise of many years of free support was a major part of why people gave it a chance just the same.

And then just 3 years later in 2019 they announced Overwatch 2, a game that looked really, really similar to Overwatch 1, except it was going to have the actual story missions via PvE mode that Overwatch 1 didn't have. They said there would be enough new things to justify the '2', and that people who bought Overwatch 1 need not worry about their investment in the first game.

And then it turned out what they meant by that was that they were killing Overwatch 1 by closing its servers, forcing everyone to move over to Overwatch 2, a Free to Play game where you had to grind to unlock the new heroes (people who bought OW1 instantly had the new hero unlocked but come on), was chock full of the usual Free to Play engagement mechanics, and changed the 6v6 format to 5v5, if you had a full squad of friends before, you had to tell one guy to get fucked.

I think the worst part was that when people were understandably angry that Overwatch 2's actual changes from the original were almost all monetization based, games journalists that pressed Blizzard on why players now had to grind a battlepass for heroes, which Overwatch 1 had always given for free, were met with a "well, heroes are the strongest engagement point for our players" type of deflection where they didn't even try to hide their reasons behind something respectable.

Now they're announcing that OW2's PvE mode, the whole (public) reason they made OW2 a sequel instead of an update to OW1, isn't even happening anymore, and Overwatch 1's original 6v6 remains dead and inaccessible.

I didn't like Overwatch 1. I was really hyped for it when it came out, but found myself really disliking the gameplay (especially on its map design which I thought was terrible) which only worsened with its creative and balancing direction until I lost interest in only a few weeks.

Still, killing OW1 to force all players to move to OW2's free to play model was inexcusable. All art must be preserved in some manner, even ones we don't think are good enough to be worth preserving. Overwatch in particular was so massive in 2016-2018 that to kill it is to make inaccessible the source material of a kajillion other pieces of art from those years.

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dduane · 3 months

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The question is at the bottom of this very long thing.

I decided to do a reread of the Wizards series -- I don't think I'd gotten beyond The Wizard's Dilemma on my last re-read in 2016.

Reading A Wizard Alone was interesting, ada neurodiverse fiftyish woman married to an autistic guy, with one autistic (young) adult child and one differently-neurodiverse teen child.

The ending of the book threw me - back in 2002, when the book was published, my husband didn't have a diagnosis (nor did I) and the term "executive function disorder" didn't exist. I knew three autistic adults talking openly about autism. And it was still four years to knowing my one-year-old child's odd responses and sensitivities were a variation of autism.

Fast forward to 2023, and the very language around autism has changed. My son does have disabling effects from autism, but he doesn't say he doesn't want to be autistic. He doesn't want to have an eating disorder, he'd like to be able to do more things for himself, and he definitely wishes we understood him better (and vice versa) but even at eleven, he'd have known that making Darryl's choice would change him utterly.

If you were writing the book now, what would Darryl's choice look like?

Thank you for reading this.

Hey, thanks for your note. I very much appreciate it.

A more currently-written A Wizard Alone would look a lot like this:

...because, when I was updating the Young Wizards books a decade or so ago to their New Millennium Editions, in 2013 I took the welcome opportunity to extensively rewrite the book with (much!) better data, and with input from the autistic readership.

The rewrite's been discussed here and there online over time. Here's one examination of it. Here's another. There are numerous others scattered across the online landscape, if you go looking for them.

This version of the book is (to my intense regret) not available in print in the US, as the North American publisher has so far shown no particular interest in updating the books to their new editions. Should this occur, though, the very first thing on my to-do list is to have the 2002 edition of Alone pulled from print, and replaced with the 2013 edition.

...And yeah, Darryl's choice is a lot different in the revised edition; as it should be. :)

Thanks again.

#A Wizard Alone #Young Wizards #Young Wizards meta #Darryl McAllister #autism

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novoki · 2 years

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Gladstone: Chief Mouser of the Treasury

Larry the Cat gets a ton of attention across the internet for his role as Chief Mouser at No. 10, but nobody knows about Gladstone which makes me super sad so i’m here to rectify that:

Gladstone is the Chief Mouser of Her Majesty’s Treasury in Whitehall, London. he was appointed in 2016 following Larry and Palmerston’s appointments as Chief Mousers of No. 10 and the Foreign Office respectively - and should get just as much as, if not more (as i personally believe), attention as them!

why, you say? well ohoho i’m glad you asked:

1) he’s better at his job than Larry

Larry is well-known for his “lack of killer instinct” and is notoriously bad at his job as Chief Mouser. the press calls him “Lazy Larry” due to his tendency to sleep on while mice run amok and in 2012 was almost fired from his position due to incompetency!

Gladstone, by comparison, is a natural mouser.

Gladstone’s catch count was last reported as 22, far higher than Larry’s (if not as high as Palmerston’s, i’ll admit). Gladstone made his first catch within 48 hours of arriving at the Treasury whereas it took Larry just under two months. Larry also had to have an assistant appointed, Freya, to help with mousing duties; Gladtsone catches all his mice himself, and has even moved onto flies, as can be seen above.

2) he’s fashionable as all hell

while all the cats of Whitehall are undoubtedly adorable, only one can hold the title for best dressed: Gladstone.

clearly, Larry and Palmerston have nothing on Gladstone. both have simple solid-coloured collars whereas Gladstone is leading the fashion revolution with every new bowtie he wears.

in fact, he’s started a trend with his bowties! when Evie and Ossie became the new Chief Mousers of the Cabinet Office in late 2016, they sported Gladstone’s iconic bowties. #styleicon

3) he’s a social media influencer

the last reason Gladstone should be just as much a household name as Larry and Palmerston is because his job isn’t only limited to mousing - he also uses his platforms to spread the message about his work:

Gladstone’s Twitter and Instagram is filled with constant updates as to what the Treasury is doing, and he often features in simple ‘5 things about ___’ videos that are cute as well as informative. he’s also seen frequently supporting global events like Pride yearly (hence the rainbow bowtie above).

4) in summary: he’s awesome

now that Palmerston has retired to lead a more chill life, and now that Larry looks to be on the horizon of replacing Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, perhaps it’s time to acknowledge how cool Gladstone is and pay him the respect and attention he deserves?

#in other words: my latest hyperfication #cats in power is so fucking funny though #cats in power #cats of the world #cats #funny #uk politics #gladstone the cat #larry the cat #palmerston the cat #chief mouser #lol #comedy #uk #united kingdom #cats in politics #hm treasury #westminster #whitehall

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matan4il · 26 days

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Update post:

Today is the 180th day of the war. Almost 6 months since the Hamas massacre started this war. And still, when I came across a video clip of TV announcers broadcasting on Oct 7, 2023 and I heard the words, "hundreds of Israelis have been killed" (even as I know that the number was actually greater than that, something that took time to confirm back in October), it still felt like it just happened, like it's still hard to believe it's real, and not a nightmare that we might wake up from any moment now.

A combined terrorist attack (vehicular and then stabbing) took place over night. A 26 years old Arab man drove his car into 4 policemen, injuring them, one initially was in a serious condition. The terrorist then drove on, stopped by another group of police personnel, where he got out of the car and tried stabbing them. He was neutralized.

Obviously, everyone in Israel has heard about the aid workers killed in Gaza. IDK yet how it happened, what the details are, we're all waiting to hear, just like other fair-minded people are (I'm not talking about the anti-Israel crowd, who have made up their minds before the incident even happened, they come pre-programmed with the belief that everything wrong is both Israel's fault and intentional). For now, it looks like a huge, tragic mistake, based on misidentification in the middle of the night (such mistakes sadly happen. The accidental death of 3 Israeli hostages in broad daylight was an example that it does, and other "friendly fire" incidents that have happened to Israeli soldiers are another. That's war, there's tragically no army with zero mistakes on its record). I am SO sorry for the innocent people killed, and their loved ones. I feel for them, for their pain and loss.

That said, how do I know it wasn't intentional? For one thing, because World Central Kitchen is actually one of the few humanitarian aid organizations that tried to help both Palestinians and Israelis. Which is one reason Israel very much wanted WCK to be a major factor in aiding people in Gaza in the long run, not just during the war, and the last thing it would want, is for these workers to be hurt, and for this organization to stop working there. The other thing is that we know an incident like this might provide enough international pressure to force Israel to stop the war, while our hostages are still held in the hands of brutal rapist terrorists, and while Hamas still exists, and threatens more massacres like the one we saw on Oct 7. What logical country would sacrifice the safety of its 9.8 million citizens (and the 8.4 million non-citizens it sees itself as responsible for, too) just in order to kill 7 random people, who were perceived as helping it, and who aren't even a part of the group that supposedly this country is targeting? It's not a logical call to make. Anyone who thinks Israel did this intentionally, is treating the Jewish state as if it's a comic book evil villain. I wonder why. When a humanitarian aid airdrop accidentally killed at least 5 Palestinians, and at least 18 were killed during another, I don't remember that anyone was quick to say it was intentional without so much as an investigation, or that those responsible for it must be stopped, rather than that they must study what went wrong, and continue while taking precautions that it won't happen again.

In Belgium, a home for Holocaust survivors has been vandalized with supposedly pro-Palestinian graffiti, reading "Gaza free" and followed by a swastika. This is pure antisemitism, very thinly veiled.

Here's a reminder that if Hamas is allowed to continue existing, and ruling Gaza as a dictatorship, that's not just a threat to the lives of Israeli and Jews, it's also horrible news for Palestinians. IDF soldiers found in Gaza documents that reveal how Hamas had tortured and brutally executed one of its own commanders back in 2016, based on the accusation that he's gay. Anyone who claims to be pro-Palestinian, but is silent about the human rights abuses that Palestinian suffer at the hands of their own leadership, is not that at all, they're just exploiting the Palestinians to demonize Jews.

This is 22 years old Dor Almog (right) and his best friend, Amit.

Amit invited him to the Nova music festival, but he had to miss most of it due to an exam he had. Dor planned to study, and then join his friend at the end of the party, but he fell asleep, and was woken up by the sirens alerting everyone about the thousands of Hamas rockets fired at Israel at 6:30 in the morning. "That was the last time I saw Amit," Dor said about the moment his best friend left for the party. "We've been friends since the age of zero." Amit went to the party and was murdered by Hamas terrorists. Dor and the rest of Amit's friends decided to get his tattoo on their body, and that at some point they would travel to India, which was his dream that he didn't get to fulfil. Dor fought to be called for reserves duty in Gaza. He's the only soldier who survived the deadliest incident there, in which 21 Israeli young men were killed, the last operation his unit was supposed to be a part of, before being discharged. When the explosion took place, he was in a building that collapsed, he fell two floors, and the building crashed over him. "I smiled, because I thought I was about to die, and be with Amit again. But then I literally saw a light at the end of a tunnel, and started crawling there." He was kept in a coma for 5 days, to help his body cope, and only 2 days after he woke up, was he told the news about what happened to his friends in the unit. "That was the real blow." When asked about being a hero, he said, "I'll be that when I get back on my feet."

May Amit's memory be a blessing.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #antisemitism #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #terrorism #anti terrorism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish #israelunderattack

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sevdrag · 6 months

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hello sev i am sorry to bother you but. if you have the time. could you PLEASE elaborate on how you thought elon musk was a tumblr meme i have not been able to stop thinking about it

So. The first thing you need to know about me is that I haven't been able to follow the news for the last, like, well. About 10 years. First I was in a black-hole-of-employment, and then once 2016 hit, reading the news just made me unhealthy levels of furious. So I stopped doing it for my own sanity. This, more than anything, allowed me to live a blissful life where Actual Husband could update me every weekend on anything important, while I had a drink in my hand. I ignored as much news as I could during those years, cause it turned me into something horrible. So! That's the foundation of this story.

I also don't pay attention to, like, famous people and stuff. At all. I thought the band was called One Directional, okay? I am happy in my little corner.

The second thing to note is that while I'm quite intelligent, I also am incredibly scatter-brained. It's the ADHD.

The third is to note that I'm a heavy Tumblr user. I've curated my dash here to show me, mostly, things I like to see. It's relaxing.

So I saw all the memes about Glup Shitto and Blorbo and a million other made-up Tumblr names (whatever they were back in like 2015-ish) during my daily lunchtime scroll, right? SO when I see a post about a guy named Elon Musk, paired with something absolutely fucking ridiculous, my brain just goes: Oh. Tumblr made up another meme guy. This one's rich. That's funny.

I don't remember, but I'm possibly even reblogging stuff about Elon Musk during this time, still thinking it's a meme name. I mean, look at it. Elon Musk. Sorry, dudebro, but your name be dumb.

Elon Musk wants to build his own spaceship. Okay, Tumblr. Sure. It's like a Tony Stark that's just buttfuckingly stupid. I get the meme. Cause, like, he does crazy fucking stuff, right? Crazy stupid stuff. Gotta be a meme. Tumblr's really going for it, I think. Alright.

Anyway, Elon Musk comes up in a Discord GC one day, and my friends are talking about him like he's a real person, and I just said:

Hold on. I thought he was a meme.

Chat, of course, is silent for a drastically embarrassing amount of time, and then explodes.

And that's how I learned, in front of a bunch of friends, that Elon Musk was NOT a tumblr meme character, but a real-life idiot doing real-life crazy ass shit. It took me a humiliatingly-ass time to realize it, and I DO still get Sevdragged about it to this very day.

tl;dr due to my head-in-the-sand tendencies and my love of Tumblr, unlike the rest of you, I had a blissful period in my life where Elon Musk was completely made-up.

I wish that were still true.

#elon musk #shitposts by sev #thanks jorts #sevdrag gets sevdragged #its okay #the story is actually too funny to not share #sometimes i am an idiot

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jimhines · 1 year

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2022 Writing Income

It’s that time again – for fifteen years now I’ve been writing an annual blog post about my income as a writer. Money tends to be an uncomfortable, even taboo topic, but I think it’s important to help counter the myths that we’re all multimillionaires living in Glass Onion-style mansions. (Side note: If anyone wants to pay millions of dollars for my book, I’ll happily update this blog post from my private island mansion.)

Remember, every writer’s career is different, and I’m only one data point.

Prior Years: Here are the annual write-ups going back to 2007: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021.

In 2016, instead of a personal income write-up, I did a survey of almost 400 novelists about their income.

My Background: I’m a primarily “traditionally published,” U.S.-based SF/F author with 15 books in print from major New York publishers. The first of those books came out from DAW in 2006. I have an agent, and have been with them since about 2004.

I’ve self-published a middle grade fantasy and a few short collections. I’ve also sold about 50 short stories to different magazines and anthologies.

I’ve never hit the NYT or USA Today bestseller lists.

I’m currently the sole parent of a teenager (at home) and a 22-year-old (at college). I have a day job that’s just over half-time, both for the paycheck and the benefits.

2022 in Summary: There’s no gentle way to say this. The last several years have kind of sucked. Losing my wife to cancer in 2019 completely derailed my writing. I was hoping 2022 would be a comeback year, but life had other plans…

I did write and sell two new short stories and one nonfiction piece, which was nice. I’ve got a finished middle grade book that’s been on submission for a while. I finished a standalone fantasy that’s been sitting with my publisher for a while.

Normally, my editor is pretty quick about responding, but last year wasn’t normal for DAW, either. DAW was acquired by Astra House. A lot of their time and energy went into that deal. I’m hoping for the best, but things still haven’t settled into the new “normal.”

Last year did see the release — finally — of Terminal Peace, the third book in the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse series. I’m thrilled and relieved to see that book in print, but it came out right in the middle of the Astra House acquisition, which may have impacted things like promotion and publicity.

I also finished the first draft and started revising a new standalone middle grade fantasy with series potential.

2022 Income: The biggest check was the publication payment for Terminal Peace. All total, before taxes and various expenses, the writing brought in $13,957.16. While that’s absolutely nothing to sneer at, and I’m grateful for the success, it’s also a dropoff from the past couple of years. To be blunt, if you look at the cumulative graph, things have been slumping a bit.

Income Breakdown:

Patreon has been a small but steady and helpful source of income. My thanks to everyone for that!

As usual, my U.S. novels are the biggest piece of the pie. The short fiction category is a bit higher this year, thanks to those two new stories. I didn’t self-publish anything new in 2022, but if that middle grade book doesn’t sell, I’d like to publish that one later this year.

Novels (U.S. editions): $8,542.83

Novels (Non-U.S. editions): $473.25

Self-Published: $1158.24

Short fiction: $892.86

Audio: $521.04

Patreon: $1668.94

Other: $700

I mentioned earlier that things have been in a bit of a slump, and I need to focus on breaking out of that. Some things I can’t currently control. Tomorrow I could wake up to an offer from DAW on the book they’ve got, and maybe an email from my agent that the middle grade title he’s been shopping around went to auction and got a six-figure advance. But I can’t make these things happen.

Priority #1 is to keep writing. If I’m not doing that, other goals are pretty much moot.

Priority #2 is to figure out some alternate options. It may be time to put more time and effort into self-publishing as a complement to my traditionally published work.

The biggest thing making me anxious is that I’m pretty much out of contract. The paperback of Terminal Peace comes out this year, but for the first time in about 15 years, I don’t have the security, the luxury, or the deadlines of a signed contract. In some ways, this is freeing: I can write whatever I want. But there’s no guarantee as to when things will see print. Submitting to the traditional publishers is a long, slow process…

From talking to other writers who’ve been doing this a while, I’ve learned that pretty much every career has its ups and downs. Personal, pandemic, and publisher issues have been a bit of a perfect storm for me these past few years, but I’m not going anywhere. After 27 years as a writer, I’m excited to see what comes next.

Wrap Up:

I hope this has been helpful. As always, feel free to share the post and/or ask questions.

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eregyrn-falls-art · 1 year

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Gruß vom Krampus!

December 5th is Krampusnacht, and I've done some pieces related to that over the years. This year I decided to update my depictions of Stan and Ford in the older two pieces (from 2016 and 2017 respectively), and to put the three all together. The original piece from 2016 was done for the 2017 Hunkles calendar (December of course), and the sequel was done for New Years the following year, with the final pic in the sequence appearing in Dec. 2020.

As I said in the original post, my version of the Krampus is based on looking at traditional folk costumes actually worn by krampus figures in Austria for the Krampusnacht festival.

And finally, just to keep it all in one place: after posting the 2020 piece, I got an ask about the little collection of Pines dolls that hang off of Krampus's basket in the second pic, and that Stan is holding in the last pic. I went into a long explanation (including an overview of the Krampus tradition and celebrations), so I'll put it below a cut here:

fernikart57 asked:

In your Krampus art... what's with that belt, neclace, bead (?) of plushes from the Pines Family?

Okay so like… the explanation is probably kind of dumb. And it’s me making stuff up, rather than relying completely on the actual folklore.

So the Krampus figure is actually a collection of figures from Central Europe, particularly in the Alps, and the specific traditions associated with the Krampus can vary from region to region and town to town. Thus, while a set of the Krampus tropes have kind of been exported and caught on in popular culture, that pop culture figure now only resembles *some* Krampus traditions. I don’t think it’s accurate to talk about “a” Krampus or “the” Krampus, exactly, because of that regional variation. It’s also worth noting that Krampus celebrations are very much alive in various towns in the Alps.

Generally speaking, though, Krampus is a “wild man” figure, often with a demonic face (mask), a furry body, and goat-like features (especially horns). There are some theories that the basic figure itself is pre-Christian (like a lot of the wild-man traditions of Central and Northern Europe). (I personally think that’s pretty plausible, given the range of costumes we see.)

After the advent of Christianity, though, the Krampus became associated with “the devil” or demonic figures. And eventually, in a lot of traditions within the Central European mountain area, Krampus got paired with St. Nicholas, as a kind of tag-team. St. Nicholas in those traditions is almost certainly one of the origins of Santa Claus, in that he rewards well-behaved children with presents. (But, traditionally he dresses like a bishop, and not in the outfit that a lot of Americans are familiar with.) The 6th of December is the Feast of St. Nicholas, so Krampusnacht (”Krampus night”) is the 5th of December. And Krampus acts as the opposite of St. Nicholas – if presents are a means of encouraging good behavior, then Krampus is the threat used to discourage bad behavior.

So, some of the accreted trappings of the Krampus are a whip and a bundle of birch branches, for beating children / people, and a basket that he carries on his back, into which he puts the naughty children he finds, to carry them off for punishment. (Obviously, the message there is: don’t be naughty or the Krampus will get you.) A number of the Krampusnacht traditions involve men costumed as Krampus running wild through the streets, threatening people with their birch branches or whips and so on, making noise (thus all of the bells worn around the neck) and kind of terrorizing people (not just kids), as a set-up for St. Nicholas to come in the next day and reassert order. (Sometimes it’s only “terrorizing” in an “all in good fun” sense, similar to Halloween scariness; but apparently in some towns, it can get kind of rough.)

So with all of that background… I was originally just looking for a sort of “crytpid” or monster for Stan and Ford to be fighting, with a December theme, for that 2017 calendar piece. They are encountering more of a magical, “real monster” version (rather than the folkloric ritual version), and therefore I took some liberties with the idea, even though I incorporated a lot of design elements from a variety of real Krampus costumes.

I didn’t want to put any actual children into Krampus’s basket for Ford and Stan to rescue, though (in the original calendar piece, they wouldn’t have been that visible). But when I did the second piece, I included the doll versions of the four Pines, hanging from Krampus’s basket, as a sort of… symbolic magical threat, an expression of the idea that the Pines are its supernatural targets. The dolls act as kind of representations of Krampus’s targets, and I also thought of them, in that sense, as a darker reflection of the St. Nicholas gift-giving tradition (still toys, but toys with a sinister meaning). If Krampus was a “real” supernatural being that goes around punishing the “naughty” or “wicked”… then what is its definition of “wicked”, and would it be a fair one, or unfair?

In this scenario, Stan and Ford are not in the mood to debate with it over whether it is fair to take them to task for being “naughty”, but they are DEFINITELY not going to stand for the idea that the Krampus might go after Dipper and Mabel, so – time to take it down!

Anyway, for more about the actual Krampus, I recommend taking a look at the Krampus article on Wikipedia, or listening to this excellent podcast (which I was listening to as I finished the piece the other day; am very interested in getting that guy’s book!).

#gravity falls #stanford pines #stanley pines #sea grunks!#krampus #krampusnacht #gruss von krampus!#holidays #folklore #my art #id in alt

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trollpium · 3 months

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🕰️ Timeline Talk

Okay, I just discovered the Brozone Website (it took me a while, whoops.) and in John Dory's blog update, on February 19, 1999, they performed in Pop Village.

Which doesn't make sense to me since it's around January that Branch could've been born according to Floyd's blog update.

The first movie had said Branch was a kid/toddler there, therefore baby Branch would have still be in the Troll Tree. In Trolls (2016) the bergens have eaten Branch's grandmother (assuming around (2000-2001) while when Branch was baby (January 1999), his grandma was still alive.

Because in the first movie the trolls had their escaped on the day of the Trollstice which occurs once every year.

BUT Trollstice could occur perhaps on any day of the year as it was not specified which day of the year and in the span of one months, baby Branch could've looked like a toddler. The trolls could've moved to Pop Village within the first two weeks February of 1999. That would've made John Dory's blog update make sense and the timeline wouldn't be so confusing.

BUT ALAS,

There is a hindrance in this theory. Because Brozone broke up in March 11 of 1999; their grandma was still alive, Branch was still a baby, and John Dory posted about Pop Village in February of 1999.

It's joever.

There's no braining to the Trolls timeline. Let's just enjoy the movie series, shall we? (⁠●⁠´⁠⌓⁠`⁠●⁠)

Continued from my last Trolls timeline talk

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tgmsunmontue · 2 months

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You need to learn how to fall 8/10

Hangster (and IceMav) - Bradley is too tall to be a naval aviator and instead becomes a sky diver, specialising in spin recovery. He is a civilian contractor to the military to teach pilots how to survive parachute spins from ejections. A more in-depth version of this post.

(Likely to be updating this daily now until it's finished, another 2-3 parts max).

PROLOGUE 2003-2006 2007-2010 2011-2015 2016+ ~2019 ~2019 (contd 1)

>>Bradley

>>Jake

(2019 continued - Part 2)

He’s offered a drink and he accepts a cup of coffee, even if it’s the last thing his nerves need. Maverick is watching him over his own hot drink, and Iceman is quietly sitting there and Jake feels so out of his depth. He’s not familiar enough with the Admiral, but he’s never clocked a wedding ring on Maverick in the last couple of weeks, but there is definitely one there now and the Admiral is wearing one as well. Okay then. A plate of plane-shaped shortbread is on the coffee table and he stares at them, because this all feels a little surreal. Maverick sees him staring at them and pushes the plate closer.

“You can have some, they’re good. Ice’s favorite.”

“I know they’re good. Bradley sent me some…”

“Did he now? Should have known he didn’t eat that many himself…” Iceman murmurs quietly and Jake can hear the underlying amusement and he wonders how Bradley managed to talk all about his upbringing and at the same time completely fail to mention who he lived with. Who raised him. He wonders when exactly Bradley was planning on telling him and he reaches for a cookie. He’s chewing when he hears steps thump up onto the porch and he doesn’t miss the look the Maverick and Iceman exchange.

“Hey, I’m home! Whose car is in the drive?”

“We’re through here!” Iceman calls out, and Jake would swear he’s holding back laughter. Then Bradley is standing in the doorway, curls almost brushing the top of the doorframe and even travel-rumpled he looks good. Jake stands, brushes his hands on his pants and is torn between what he should do.

“Shit. Jake. Hi.” At least he looks happy to see him, grinning and Jake grins back, immediately feeling more relaxed at Bradley’s easy acceptance of his unexpected presence.

“Hi. Was going to surprise you.”

“Think he got the surprise though.”

“Pete, shut up,” Iceman says, and he’s standing as well, reaching and tugging on Maverick’s hand.

“We’ll leave you to it. Nice to meet you Jake.”

“And you sir.”

He turns back to Bradley, who has shifted into the room, letting Maverick and Iceman move past him and he looks nervous now, glancing at where Maverick and Iceman have disappeared to and back to Jake.

“So. There’s that. Still want to date me?”

The expression on his face is blank and Jake realizes it’s a challenge, that maybe he thinks Jake will say no because he’s now in the too-hard basket or something. Well, he’s going to learn that Jake never backs down from a challenge, and he’s wanted this for years and he’s not going to let a Captain and an Admiral stop him. Especially as all they seem to be is amused by the whole thing.

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“I mean, I would have liked a heads up, but I –”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for you to find out this way. I wanted to tell you in person, because I know they’re kind of a big deal…”

“Not your fault, I shouldn’t have just turned up on your doorstep.”

“You turned up on my doorstep…” Bradley says, and the grin he gives Jake then is bright, fingers are tugging at his belt loops, drawing him close and he can feel the heat building between their bodies.

“I sure did. Hi.”

“Not actually his doorstep, his doorstep is next door… It’s A for Admiral and B for Bradley, it’s not that hard to remember!”

“Mav! For fucks sake, leave them alone. Sorry about him. Though you do have your own place Bradley…”

“Yeah yeah, going now… I’m just going to go and grab my bag. One second.”

Then Bradley is going back outside, Jake doesn’t even get a word in, and the Admiral is back, looking at him, and it’s definitely Admiral Kazansky, not Tom or Iceman, expression deadly serious.

“Lieutenant. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention to anyone what you learnt tonight.”

“Learnt what? I simply surprised Bradley on his return home sir,” Jake states, because he can keep his mouth shut, especially for this. Also he hates to think about any of the alternatives if he doesn’t. Oh fuck, he can never break Bradley’s heart. He’ll be a dead man. Or permanently stationed in the South Pacific shuttling shellbacks back and forth over the equator, or in Antarctica watching Hercules land and take off and then nothing but darkness for months on end.

“Good man. Thank you.”

… … …

Bradley leads Jake through to his part of house, shoves the door open and then deadlocks it behind him, dumping his bags and turning toward Jake. It’s still relatively early, they could go out for dinner, if that’s what Jake wanted.

“Sorry about that trial by fire, I really didn’t mean for you to have to go through that. At least not without me there as well.”

“It’s okay. Could have been a lot worse. I am very curious as to how you know them though…”

“Mav is my godfather. My dad knew Tom from flight school, and they were all at Top Gun when my dad died. So I inherited a lot of honorary uncles and all of them fly… jumping out of planes to get away from them was just a coping mechanism…” Bradley jokes, and he doesn’t get much further as Jake’s hand is in his hair, fingers twisting in his curls, bringing his face down to meet his lips with a kiss. It’s gorgeously soft, gentle but with layers of promise and intensity and he lets himself just melt into it; the relief of Jake being completely unworried about Ice and Mav washing through him. He feels Jake’s hand on his hip, bringing him close and he lets himself press close.

“Welcome home,” Jake murmurs against his lips, and he grins, places another kiss against the corner of his lips.

“Mmm. Definitely up there with the top five best times I’ve come home…”

“Let’s take it into first place hmm?”

“You sure I can’t interest you in dinner, or a shower? We don’t have to, uh, just fall into having sex… not that I have a problem with that either.”

“All of the above, I could eat, definitely interested in helping you shower, more than interested in having sex. But it’s not just sex. I want to date you…”

“Yeah… okay. That all sounds great. We’ve been dancing around each other for long enough I guess…”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Couldn’t have you thinking I was easy.”

“Nothing about you suggests that you’re easy. However, everything suggests that you’re worth it…”

Bradley can feel the flush in his cheeks, embarrassed at the sincerity in Jake’s voice, but Jake is running a hand over his chest, stomach, pressing firmer over his crotch where he is definitely getting hard and he groans, lets his own hand squeeze one of Jake’s ass cheeks.

“How about we place a food order for something to be delivered in… hmm… ninety minutes. That’ll give us enough time for that shower.”

“Jesus, how long are your showers?”

“It’s what comes after the first shower and before the second shower…”

“I’m an idiot…”

“It’s okay, I think you might be a little distracted right now.”

“You’re a menace,” Bradley mutters, ducking his head enough to nip at Jake’s neck.

“You like it.”

“I do…”

They figure out what to order, but the whole time they orbit each other, Jake doesn’t seem to want to stop touching him, like he doesn’t want to risk Bradley disappearing on him and he has no reason not to accommodate it. Let’s him flick the buttons on his shirt out, place kisses on skin as it’s exposed and he returns the favor, undresses Jake with the same level of care.

“How?” Jake asks, his fingers running lightly over the scars on his chin, jaw, neck.

“Bad landing. Came in too fast. Broke my arm…”

“Oh, I watched a video of that.”

“Really?”

Jake blushes and Bradley forces himself not to laugh in delight, thinking that Jake is obviously as enamored of him to have looked at old jump videos. He pulls him under the spray of water and lets the warm water fall over them, brings the shower head much lower than he usually has it so Jake can actually look at him without getting a face full of water.

“Yeah, a while ago now.”

“Really? How long ago?”

“Few years. When we first met,” Jake says, head ducking to not meet his eyes, mouth sucking at the skin of his left pec in an obvious attempt to distract him, so he lets Jake get his way. Runs a hand through Jake’s now slick hair, urges him to meet his mouth in a kiss, shifts his body to press against him, lets his free hand run to cup Jake’s growing erection.

“God your hands… they feel huge.”

“I’m proportional,” Bradley says, gripping tighter, starting a slow teasing hand job.

“Yeah you are… holy shit.”

“Shut up, you’re making me self-conscious.”

“No wonder your brain stops working, all your blood is needed here…” Jake says, palming Bradley’s cock and he laughs, presses himself into Jake’s hand.

They stand there, unrushed, hands moving on each other’s cocks, mouths licking over wet skin, back to kissing before exploring somewhere else. The skin over Jake’s collar irritates easily, his moustache making the skin red, and he wonders if it’s going to be a thing all over, scrapes his chin with its stubble over the flesh of Jake’s shoulder and yep, looks like it. He’s achingly hard and a little surprised at it, then realizes it’s probably the weeks and months of flirting, this build-up, the wanting this, gaining momentum with every message and phone call, regardless of the content.

He feels Jake’s hand slip around them both and he grunts, shifts a little to accommodate the height difference because while Jake’s not short, he’s also nowhere near as tall as Bradley. He lets his hand cover Jake’s, moves with it, catches Jake’s mouth with his own and revels in the little broken sounds they’re both making.

All his senses feel hyperaware, the smooth feel of Jake’s skin under his fingers as he touches his cock, body pressed against him in other places, Jake’s fingers digging into his bicep, his own fingers in Jake’s hair. The non-taste of the shower water making the taste of Jake’s mouth even sweeter where he can taste the coffee and lemon-rosemary shortbread he’d been eating. There’s no build up of scent, the running water doesn’t allow for it, but he gets little whiffs, sweaty arousal before it’s rinsed away. The sound of water hitting the hard tiles, glass door and skin creating all sorts of different rhythms, slick skin and their shared breath, coming faster as their lips slide in messy kisses.

The sight though, the sight he’s being afforded is something else again. Golden hue of Jake’s skin turned red in places by Bradley’s own doing, dark blonde hair turned dark under the water, lips swollen, cock disappearing between their joined hands, his eyes either watching Bradley with intensity or squeezing tightly shut as his hips jerk a little into their combined grip. It’s all stunning. He can’t tell if Jake’s close, doesn’t know him like this well enough, looks forward to becoming well acquainted with all his tells.

“Close, god you’re hot…”

“Fuck yes, come on…”

He doesn’t bother holding back, lets his orgasm wash through him, his entire body shuddering with the release and he groans appreciatively. Feels good. So good. Now he can focus on Jake, drop to his knees and suck him off, or keep the hand job going, whatever the hell he wants, Bradley will give it to him. Which is a harder firmer grip on his cock, Jake guiding his hand now. He tightens and jerks quickly, presses his mouth to Jake’s neck and sucks, feels Jake starting to tremble and he moves quickly, letting go for the briefest of moments which still draws a whine of discontent from Jake. Then he’s behind him, his cock pressing against Jake’s ass, but the angle for his hand is imminently better and he can’t kiss Jake easily like this, but he can definitely focus on getting him off and he murmurs words against the edge of Jake’s ear, tells him how much he wants to see him come apart for him.

Jake shakes and trembles as he comes and Bradley holds him against his chest, his hand slowing until Jake jerks away, over sensitive and he pulls his hand away; peppering the back of Jake’s neck and across his shoulders with kisses before Jake is turning and kissing him firmly, hands on either side of his face.

“Welcome home. Properly.”

“Welcome home handjob. That’s a tradition I could get behind…”

“I aim to please…” Jake says, and Bradley can feel the smile against his chest and he can’t stop smiling in return.

They dry off and he’s a little disappointed to note that the redness of beard burn is fading already, he goes through his drawers and tries to find something that might fit Jake, their torsos are similarly sized, but his pants are all going to swim on him.

“Get you something of Mav’s to wear…” Bradley says as he watches Jake pull on a pair of his old pajama pants, rolling up the legs. He looks soft, hair going fluffy, also wearing one of Bradley’s old University t-shirts, which actually fits given how much it’s shrunk over the years. He draws Jake down onto the sofa with him, tucks himself around him and lets himself exhale, feeling warm and content, everything settling around him.

He can’t believe that Jake’s here, not just here in San Diego but in his home. The warm honey-like joy crystallizes into something harder, colder and he realizes that Jake is here, being trained by Mav for something, because he’d still be having nearly daily phone calls with them while he was away. They’ve become very accustomed at having conversation which speak volumes without giving specifics. He doesn’t have that practice with Jake though, hadn’t thought about getting further information from either Mav or Ice. Doesn’t know if he wants to bring it up but can’t ignore what he knows is coming.

“So, you’re here for whatever top secret mission Mav is currently working on, the one that is making Ice incapable of sleeping. Potentially a mission that Mav is also going on, which means it’s fucking risky because his call sign isn’t Maverick because he plays it safe.”

“You jump out of planes for a living.”

“Yes, and yet there are still less deaths in that then there are amongst naval aviators.”

Jake lets out a long breath and Bradley waits.

“What do you know about the mission?”

“Nothing. Well. Highly classified. Mav having to teach a bunch of young upstarts. I commiserated with him.” Jake snorts and ducks his head, flushes a little and he wonders what else is there that he doesn’t know about. “When do you fly out?”

“Monday, oh-five-hundred.”

“Fuck. So a little over two days.”

“Yeah. You can see why I didn’t particularly want to wait until tomorrow night to see you.”

“Yeah, I’m glad you decided to come see me tonight… how did you get the address anyway?”

“You put it on the package of cookies you sent me.”

“Oh. Right. Of course, makes sense that it was just… not my part of the house address. I do actually have my own front door. You aren’t going to have to go through Mav and Ice each time you want to see me.”

“I’d do it anyway.”

PART NINE

#Top Gun fanfic #Hangster #you need to learn how to fall #IceMav #Sereshaw

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brf-rumortrackinganon · 4 months

Text

Timeline: Part 4 -July 2017

Previously:

2015 - April 2017 | An Update

May 2017 - June 2017

This piece features events, press, and PR from the summer of 2017. You will see competing narratives - the Daily Mail leaking Meghan's dossier drip by drip by drip and Meghan's team counterattacking with engagement rumors.

There are two main stories in the royal sphere during this time that we know Meghan is paying attention to, as these most definitely shape her understanding of what it means to be royal: royals taking glamorous summer vacations and daily coverage of Diana's life, the impact of her death, and her lasting legacy to the world.

Fasten your seatbelts!

(Note - this was initially meant to also include the August 2017 events but Tumblr was having problems saving the post.)

July 1, 2017: The Cambridges, Harry, and the Spencers attend a private memorial service at the Spencers' Althorp estate for Diana. Meghan's relationship history is published and it's revealed she left Cory for Harry.

July 2, 2017: Charles plans to host a 70th birthday party for Camilla and the Express speculates whether Harry will bring Meghan with him. Additionally, the broadcast network that airs Suits in Britain drops the series from its slate and won't show its upcoming seventh season.

July 3, 2017: Kensington Palace announces that the Cambridges will visit Poland and Germany.

July 4, 2017: Kensington Palace confirms that Harry will have a role in the upcoming state visit by King Felipe and Queen Letizia. Meghan teases whether she will attend Wimbledon 2017. Harry's scandals are revisited.

July 5, 2017: Meghan's appearance at the 2016 Create & Cultivate conference resurfaces, as do her comments from The Tig about being biracial.

July 6, 2017: Meghan does another airport pap walk as returns to Toronto after spending 10 days in London with Harry.

July 8, 2017: Meghan leaks that she has tried on wedding dresses with friends and is beginning to think about a wedding at Westminster Abbey. The Daily Mail publishes all about Meghan's first marriage and the divorce. Katie Nicholl publishes several scoops: 1) Meghan keeps clothes at Nottingham Cottage, 2) Meghan is so familiar to KP security and the RPOs that she doesn't need a security pass to enter, 3) Harry wants to be engaged by his birthday, and 4) they want to debut Meghan as his fiancee at Toronto Invictus Games.

July 9, 2017: Harry attends a music festival and is photographed getting close to a blonde woman. At the same time, there is fast-spreading gossip that Camilla disapproves of the relationship. Meghan gets worried: she hints about the engagement to get Harry back in line and tries to assuage concerns about her marital history by explaining that being married to Harry will be different than when she was married to Trevor. Meghan merches a baseball cap.

July 10, 2017: Meghan doesn't like the comparisons to Pippa Middleton anymore (which she began, mind you) and says they look nothing alike. It's announced that Trevor is thinking about writing a book about his relationship with Meghan, sparking another round of rumors that the marriage broke down when Meghan cheated on Trevor with a Suits castmate.

July 11, 2017: It's revealed that Meghan was still dating Cory when she began dating Harry.

July 12, 2017: Meghan attends the Suits party to celebrate taping their 100th episode. Meghan's team puts out a story that she and Harry are so alike because Meghan's uncle is the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church, just like Harry's grandmother is the leader of the Church of England. Rita Ora flirts with Harry and Meghan gets mad, saying she doesn't want to marry Harry.

July 13, 2017: The Spanish State Visit begins, with Harry accompanying King Felipe and Queen Letizia to Westminster Abbey and attending the state banquet (where he sits next to Rose Cholmondeley...iykyk). Meghan's "one tear, left eye, go" interview resurfaces and she tries to be a beauty guru again. Suits Season 7 premieres in the U.S.. Meghan practically calls Kate a Stepford Wife.

July 14, 2017: Meghan gets more private protection and increases her security team.

July 16, 2017: A friend of Harry says they're engaged and everyone is looking forward to the after-party more than the wedding. Meghan leaks that Harry will quit the royal family for her and her "don't give it five minutes if you're not going to give it five years" interview resurfaces. Harry wins his IPSO privacy case against The Mail for publishing paparazzi photographs taken in Jamaica.

July 17, 2017: Meghan sets up Chelsy to be Harry's Camilla in their marriage.

July 18, 2017: Meghan tries to be a yoga influencer again. Meghan also brings back her gender equality platform and reminds us about her soap commercial.

July 19, 2017:

Pictures from Meghan's childhood are published, including a photograph saying/showing she won Homecoming Queen in high school (US high school is ages 14 - 18). Speculation begins immediately that Meghan has had cosmetic surgery to minimize her black traits and Markle feeatures, including chemical treatments for her hair.

Meghan hints that Harry will propose on her birthday and that they will elope to marry.

Meghan leaks that she's worth $5 million.

July 20, 2017: Meghan says Harry will propose soon and they have no intentions of eloping.

July 22, 2017: Meghan's ice bucket challenge video resurfaces, causing speculation over how she knows Rory McIlroy and what the nature of their relationship is.

July 24, 2017: Meghan promotes Suits and hints that she wants IVF twins as soon as possible after the wedding. (The IVF twins story is important for two reasons. One, because in the first picture taken of Meghan after the pregnancy is announced, she is carrying two purple binders. We know she likes to virtue signal, so many people believe this is her hinting that they are expecting boy-girl twins. Second, because while she ended up having a boy, the decor and theme for her February baby shower indicated she was expecting a girl.)

July 25, 2017: Prince Albert of Monaco (son of Grace Kelly) gives advice to Meghan and Harry and British Vogue writes about Meghan and her fashion.

July 26, 2017: Meghan claps back against the rumors of plastic surgery by getting medical experts to say she hasn't had any work done.

July 27, 2017: Meghan teases an engagement in the Express, who recaps the relationship to date.

July 28, 2017: Meghan merches Rachel Zane's wardrobe. She's spotted in London, supposedly with Doria (though Doria is never seen). Meghan's insecurity over Harry's past causes problems for him.

July 29, 2017: An open letter is published to William and Kate, urging them not to have a third child. This comes after playful comments by the pair while on tour in Poland and Germany earlier in the month when they were gifted baby items by fans on walkabout.

July 31, 2017:

Christopher Geidt is forced out retires and is replaced by Charles's favorite, Edward Young.

Kate hires Catherine Quinn as her new private secretary.

Meghan is worried a Cambridge baby is going to steal her thunder and leaks that the Cambridges won't have any more children. After Kate's third pregnancy is announced and this article resurfaces, speculation begins over what Meghan knew (because Harry leaked like a sieve to her).

William and Catherine are in Belgium for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele.

Lainey gossips that the recent shakeups in palace household staff has to do with Charles's discomfort with William and Harry operating independently of him. She also confirms for the first time that Charles was angry with the KP love shield because it overshadowed his work in the Middle East.

#timeline #brf #sussexes #pr shenanigans #pr stunts

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cypressure · 26 days

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Have you got any recommendations for dinosaur nonfiction books?

Your art makes me so happy 🥺

hey thank you, i appreciate your saying so (and also giving me the opportunity to talk about dinosaur books)! under the cut for length--

starting off with an overview before getting down to specific topics, my first recommendation is Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved by Darren Naish & Paul Barrett. this was first published in 2017, but the third edition was just released with plenty of updates to reflect new discoveries and hypotheses. it's very thorough and accessible, and takes you through all the major clades of dinosaurs and everything we know about their evolution and ecology. this is definitely the best starting point for getting up-to-date with dinosaur science.

the end-Cretaceous extinction has been getting lots of popular attention lately (thanks to DePalma and the Tanis site I suspect), so if you'd like to learn more on this subject, I love The Last Day of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black, also from 2022. this is the scariest dinosaur book i've ever read--she paints an incredibly vivid and horrifying picture of the aftermath of the meteor impact, and of how the animals which survived the event managed to live on.

if you want to read about how exactly we know all these things about dinosaurs, I just recently picked up Dave Hone's How Fast Did T. rex Run? (titled The Future of Dinosaurs in the UK i think), published in 2022. he delves into what we know from the fossil record and how paleontologists work to figure these things out, as well as what we don't know yet and what we probably will never know, and the difference between those two. i suggest it for learning about paleontology as a scientific process, and it's a very interesting read.

so far, all of these books have been about dinosaurs as a whole; if you are looking for popular publications about specific groups, there are not as many options unfortunately (for some reason there isn't a huge audience for 200-page books about obscure thyreophorans. sighs disappointedly). most of what we get is about the large, more familiar clades; you will see books on tyrannosaurs, and there's a few field guide-style books about Mesozoic birds (which tend to be very beautifully illustrated but kind of technical; see below for titles). my pick for clade-specific books is The Sauropod Dinosaurs: Life in the Age of Giants, by Mark Hallett and Matthew Wedel, from 2016. this one goes into serious detail about every conceivable aspect of sauropod paleobiology, which as you can imagine is a huge and fascinating topic, and all the artwork is gorgeous. caveat: it being 8 years old means there's some science in there which will be outdated by now, but as far as i can remember it's still worth checking out.

and finally, as a paleoartist, i have to mention paleoart books! if you're interested in the science behind the choices paleoartists make when reconstructing extinct animals, especially for your own practice, i cannot recommend enough Mark Witton's The Paleoartist's Handbook, from 2018. he thoroughly explains how to interpret fossil evidence and paleontological research from an artist's perspective, and covers about everything from soft tissues to composing a scene. this is one of less than a handful of books on this particular topic, and it's definitely the most in-depth.

with any scientific subject you have to be careful with older books; this is especially true with paleontology since the discipline has accelerated so much over the past few decades and shows no signs of slowing down. i would even hesitate to recommend anything published more than 10 years ago, since new discoveries and technology have made so many questions and hypotheses moot (and in turn created new and more interesting ones)! the only exception to this is a recommendation for historical significance: Robert Bakker's 1986 The Dinosaur Heresies is essential to understanding what modern paleontologists call the Dinosaur Renaissance, or how our perception of dinosaurs changed from lizardlike evolutionary dead-ends into the active, successful bird ancestors we see in reconstructions now. this book kickstarted that change, and it's easy to see how: it's a very engaging read, Bakker argues his points very effectively, plus there are cute dinosaur cartoons. (i also love a lot of older works for their personal significance, but gushing about formative dinosaur books is something for another post.)

finally, thanks to the wonders of the internet, books are not the only way to learn about current dinosaur science! the best way is always by reading paleontology papers, where scientists directly describe and illustrate new discoveries or hypotheses. however, i know jumping straight into the technical literature may be overwhelming: fortunately a lot of paleontologists have social media, blogs, and/or podcasts where they write about their work and new developments in the field. the heyday of science blogs is kind of past, but there are still a few very good ones out there: this list on Feedly has a good selection to browse. being just self-published material, all of these don't have the benefits of peer review that papers and books do, so always be willing to take things with a grain of salt and do your own research.

of course this is a non-exhaustive list, especially limiting myself to both works recently published and which i have actually read. i've certainly forgotten or missed out on many new paleontology books (Dean Lomax's Locked in Time is one of these which i still haven't gotten ahold of yet, but which im very excited to get to); i welcome any additional recommendations or thoughts from the rest of paleoblr!

i hope this was helpful and i wish you luck in your reading :)

#paleoblr #paleontology #book recs #process #cypress #< - the fursona you see at the top of this post. say hi #sorry this took me so long to post! both putting it together and then actually remembering to post it took more time than i expected #but i wanted to be thorough

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suzuran777 · 8 months

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Unreleased & cancelled BL visual novels

Recently I purchased some second-hand BL visual novel magazines, and while reading them, I realized just how many of these announced games were never actually released. I thought it could maybe be interesting to compile a list of these games. I will mention which games were officially cancelled, but the status of most of these games is completely unknown. Perhaps they will still be released one day, but some of these publishers also don't seem to exist anymore. The magazines I used to find most of this information are Binetsu Ouji, B's Log and Cool-B!

Ouka Otsu - Shinshuu Kikou Senki (【櫻華堕つ) Publisher: Fareastblade This story of this game was supposed to take place during the Second World War. A famous researcher called Dr. Kisaragi Akira made it possible for the Japanese empire to develop cyborgs with super human strength. However, the United States also developed cyborgs and their creator intends to destroy Kisagari's research. Kisaragi escapes and seeks the help of the few surviving cyborgs, who all have their own reasons for helping him even though they don't like him. Part of this game was released as an e-book and translations can be found here. I am surprised the developers stopped publishing information about this project because I frequently saw it in Cool-B. Back then they published a lot of information, CGs and even short stories. Their last blog update was posted in 2016 in which they explained how things have been difficult and they decided to temporarily suspend the project. However, they never returned to confirm when production would be resumed. Secretly, I still hope that this game will be released one day, there's so much content already and it all seems really promising, but the official website doesn't work anymore and the Twitter account was also deleted. Some of the staff who worked on the game did mention how they still wanted to complete the project one day, but it has also been some years since these tweets were posted,

Angel's Feather Onsen mono Publisher: Blue impact This was supposed to be the third, and final Angel's Feather game. Some Japanese websites mention that the game's staff left the company, which was probably the reason why this game was never released. The magazines mention how the name of this game was just a placeholder name at the time (literally Angel's Feather hot spring story) but I could not find if they ever announced the real title. Some CGs were published in magazines and it looks like it was supposed to be light-hearted fandisc, focusing on the characters spending time with each other and having fun at the hot springs.

White Shadow Publisher: Blue Impact According to the official website, which can still be accessed through Wayback Machine, the first information about this project was published in Binetsu Ouji in 2004. Similar to the third Angel's Feather game, there's not much hope that it will ever be released because the staff that originally worked on it quit. This means that sadly, Angel's Feather was Blue Impact's first and last BL visual novel series. It was supposed to be a post-apocalyptic story which takes place after a long-lasting war that destroyed most of the planet. Some humans survived, who clung to a small piece of land that had survived the disaster. The people who live could be classified into three types, normal humans without supernational powers, humans who have characteristics of other creatures (for example animal characteristics), and people with strong supernational powers. This game was also featured on the cover of Cool-B volume 2. The regular updates that were posted on the official website make it look like the game was almost finished before the employees quit, so it's really a shame it was never released.

Torus Zero/ 0 -Torus (トーラス・ZERO) Publisher: CORE This is another one of these games that is mentioned pretty often in older magazines and was also featured on the cover of Cool-B (volume 4). The publisher CORE, became quite well-known in the industry after releasing Messiah, but Torus Zero was the project they originally wanted to release first. Before Messiah was released, they also released another visual novel called Fanatica, which upon reaching the final ending, mentioned how the story would be continued in Torus Zero. Unfortunately some of CORE's staff officially announced that they couldn't continue their projects after a big earthquake struck Japan in 2011. Now there's actually a bit of hope for this project because a few weeks ago, the artist Carnelian, announced a completely new project called Tokyo Gentou/Tokyo Phantasmagoria. In the magazine article it was mentioned that similar to CORE, a new BL game branch called Procyon would be releasing this new game. In an interview published in Cool-B volume 111 they mentioned that they came up with some of these ideas a long time ago, so I do wonder if they will use some elements of Torus Zero in this new game. Originally, Torus Zero focused on protagonist Riku who somehow ended up in a world in which he was the only human.

Unnamed project Publisher: CORE This game was only slightly teased in magazines and according to old BL game info website BOY-S STREET, the images were only on the website for a short time before it seemed like the entire project was scrapped and replaced with Torus Zero. It was supposed to be a school setting, but the main character is actually a demon and has two personalities.

Tenrin no Guneval (天輪のグネーヴァル) Publisher: Madalabo/Claw Mark A sci-fi story in which shadow creatures attack earth. Humans with special abilities saved mankind from this crisis. These characters all have their own special ability, some use fire or wind to fight while others can distort space. Technology also advanced, and flying motorbikes called 'Guneval' are used. This game was announced in 2012 and surprisingly the website can still be accessed, however it has been removed from all upcoming game lists in magazines and the last update on the website was only 4 months after the game was originally announced. Other than the usual visual novel gameplay, it was also supposed to have battle scenes in which you could control the main character to fight enemies. I'm kind of sad they never released this game because it seemed pretty interesting! Madalabo is mostly known for their other game Hadaka Shitsuji which seemed to be...the complete opposite of the story described on this game's website. I also really like superhero themes and the art is nice, so it's really a shame it never got released.

Shokushu Densetsu (触手伝説) Publisher: Madalabo Another Madalabo project that never got released. The title means 'legend of the tentacles' so I think you can already guess what this game is about. In 2011 they released a short booklet with some of the game's concept art, the characters, and other ideas for different future games. You can actually still buy a digital version of the booklet on DLsite here! You might even recognize some of these early concepts, as some of them were eventually used to create Kanja S (Patient S).

Nihon ni Natta Yoru (2本になった夜) Publisher: HardG.Lab This is… a strange one, the protagonist Taki Naruse is an ordinary university student who's busy with his homework and assignments. One day when he's forced to do a large number of tasks he decides to go to his lecturer to complain, but Taki gets ignored and his lecturer suddenly decides this is a perfect opportunity to check the new drug he has been developing. Long story short, Taki suddenly grows another dick (yep...). His lecturer suggests Taki uses his body to sleep with other men to ''cure'' his condition. I think this game was announced somewhere in 2011 and they published some information about it in Cool-B, but the official social media accounts were all deleted eventually.

New World Order Publisher: Love Delivery (HolicWorks) "When you die, say hello to God for me". This game was announced in 2015 and takes place in the United Kingdom. It focuses on a young British man called Lyr who works as a pastor at a church. He’s good at material arts and also knows how to use a gun. Together with three of his fellow pastors, he’s on a mission to kill. These are not just normal pastors, they’re professional assassins. I made a separate blog post about this some time ago, so if you want to read more you can find it here! The project was unfortunately officially cancelled in November 2022.

Heimskringla Publisher: Tyrant (HolicWorks) A dystopian future in which people developed the ability to see when a dead person’s soul leaves their body. The world once fell apart, but was then revided once more. In this new distorted world, humans started adapting to the environment and refugees from all over the world drifted to this country. As a result of this, it became a melting pot of many different races and towns continue to develop their own individual cultures. Five people, with five completely different backgrounds and birthplaces, travel together towards a certain place. There is only one thing all of them are looking for. Death. This game was officially cancelled in 2018, but it's quite hard to find any traces of it because Tyrant's official Twitter account was also deleted. I also wrote a blog post about it which you can check out here.

Gekka Souei (月下双影) Publisher: NOEL Two childhood friends who became enemies due to unfortunate circumstances. This game was supposed to focus on protagonist Hayate and two groups of shinobi, taking place in a modern day setting. It was quite hard to find information about this game because even with Wayback Machine you can't find much on the website. I happened to find a pretty good image of it on Twitter, posted by a user who happened to save some of the wallpapers back then. A little bit of information about this game was published in B'sLOG and in Cool-B, but only in 2006. Looking at the little bit of information I was able to find on the website, it seems like they had quite a lot of plans and wanted to add roleplay elements to this game too, as well as a SFW and 18+ version of the game. The magazines introduced quite a lot of characters and the interview with the developers (in Cool-B volume 10) mentions that they had planned to create five routes. They didn't really specify which characters, but I assume it's the ones that can be seen in the main visual?

Psychedelic (サイケデリック) Publisher: LOVE&DESTROY Another game that is not officially cancelled, but the publisher is working on multiple new projects and the official website has not been updated since 2014. The game takes place in Shibuya, Japan and focuses on five good friends who always hang out together. Will these normal days last forever? They promoted this game as being ''all reverse'' so you could choose which character tops/bottoms which is pretty rare nowadays. In 2018 LOVE&DESTROY mentioned that the project was currently 'on-hold' and it's still unknown if they ever decide to create the game.

Tsukiiro Tanshikyoku (月色譚詩曲) Publisher: Adelta & MonstreCarameliser I think most BLVN fans immediately recognize Kurosawa Rinko's artstyle, who's well known for creating Hashihime and Uuultra C. This game is also not officially cancelled, but there hasn't been any news for years. It was announced in 2018 as a second collab between Adelta and MonstreCarameliser (a year before that they released the short game Umiiro Kyoushikyoku). The website still works, but it was only updated a few times in 2018 and once in 2020. The game focuses on Kaguya, a heir of a certain kingdom (probably some kind of god realm if I look at the names of the characters) who was only interested in women and spending his parents' money. His parents eventually give up on him and send him down to planet earth, in the form of a baby. A young shunga painter (shunga = erotic art) called Takemasu finds him and takes care of him. However, Kaguya grows much faster than the inhabitants of the planet and regains his adult body within a few days.

Hashihime Fandisc Publisher: Adelta Every time I mention this people ask me if they really announced it, but yes, two fandiscs even! A 'good end' and 'bad end' one. It was announced in 2018, but only mentioned once in a blog post and in Cool-B magazine. It is not officially cancelled but they haven't posted anything about it ever since. It's actually still in Cool-B's upcoming game list, however usually when a game gets cancelled it just one day disappears from the list, without any explanation, so I don't want to be too hopeful. I think it's very possible that it was announced because a lot of other games also have fandiscs so it seemed like a good idea at the time, but Adelta started working on Uuultra C after this and is currently working on their new game Ooe, as well as their original drama CD series.

No Thank You!! OVA Publisher: parade Not a game announcement, but I still decided to include it. One of the tweets announcing it can still be found here, and no it was not posted on April Fools'… I think it was mentioned again a few months after the original announcement, but it has already been 10 years and they haven't mentioned it ever since.

#blvn #ouka otsu #angel's feather #madalabo #visual novels #blinfo

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