I know it's been talked about before but I still don't think it's been emphasized how *fucked* today's internet experience is for children. I didn't know what the word "discourse" was when I was 8, or 10, or even 13. I was too busy playing the nigh-limitless amount of flash games out there on the internet and making sure my neopets were fed. Like I cannot stress enough that if I had free time on the computer, 9 times out of 10 I could go and play a jaunty little game someone had whipped up and put out there for no other reason than that creating games was awesome and easy to do. Or go to some page that existed just to collect memes; you see back then there were more than 4 sites, and you didn't need accounts to visit them. I didn't get targeted ads. I wasn't exposed to any sort of political ideology. I spent a lot of time on the computer but no one site monopolized my time or tried to fucking manipulate me into using it more. The internet was for more than one thing back then, and honestly I don't think enough people realize how much has been stolen from us.
I understand the feelings of despair, but the rest of the internet is still very much out there. There’s a growing and dedicated movement to take it back from corporations. I’ll link a few of the neat little websites I’ve found on Neocities and in various other places. https://sadgrl.online/ - A good jumping-off point that has html guides, links to webrings, and other cool stuff.
https://deathgenerator.com - You ever wanted to make one of those funny fake video game screenshots, but you don’t have the patience to do the image editing? Well, here you go!
https://signal.vercel.app/edit - A neat little free online midi editor! You can upload midi files or compose your own!
https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/ - A cool falling-sand-type game. The website it’s hosted on is full of other cool games, most of which are free and don’t require flash (rip flash)
https://webshark.neocities.org/gamepages - Speaking of games that don’t require flash, here’s a whole page of ‘em. Most are fairly simple, but they’re still a lot of fun.
https://ocremix.org/ and https://vgmusic.com/ - Two websites that have been around since almost forever. OCRemix is home to video game music remixes, and VGMusic has a MASSIVE library of video game midis! I used to spend a lot of time on VGMusic in particular when I was a kid.
https://cooltext.com/ - You can make cool-looking text! They also have free fonts you can download.
And this is by no means a comprehensive list, no. This is just a sampling. There’s so much out there just waiting to be discovered-- you just have to go looking for it! (And remember, kids, be careful out there-- computer viruses and malware are still very much a threat, so I encourage you to get uBlock Origin or NoScript-- or both-- for your web browser before you start web surfing! Also never give out any personal information! And for the love of all that is good, and for your own safety, please stay away from the porn sites if you’re under the age of 18.)
Have fun, stay safe, and
HEY KIDS, YOU WANT MORE GAMES? ITCH.IO HAS PLENTY OF WEIRD GAMES YOU CAN PLAY ON YOUR BROWSER OR DOWNLOAD ON YOU COMPUTER. Just remember to always check tags and description to avoid finding things that are for a much older audience.
There's also special browsers like NuMuKi that you can still play old flash games on!!!
Literally reblogging this mainly for the VGMusic link. That place fucking raised me in my own little solitude of *actually being able to find and download and listen to* video game tunes as a preteen in the mid-2000s, even if they were just (usually very accurate) recreations that people had made.
That site taught me about MIDI. It enticed me to learn to MAKE MIDI files. It’s where my entire digital music skillset began, and in turn I contributed a handful of MIDIs to the site, and so did many people I’d come to call friends and acquaintances through the Homestuck music and general VGM communities!!
We so desperately need to support sites like these, so please do give them a visit and, if you find value in what they provide, maybe thank the creators in whatever ways feel right to you💙
video essays about horror, fear and dread
- Films That Feel Like Bad Dreams
- The Nightmare Artist
- Fear of Big Things Underwater
- Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House
- House of Leaves: The Horror Of Fiction
- Monsters in the Closet: A History of LGBT Representation in Horror Cinema
- The History of Insane Asylums and Horror Movies
- The Saddest Horror Movie You’ve Never Seen
- Fear of Forgetting
- Slender Man: Misunderstanding Ten Years Of The Internet
- The Real Reason The Thing (1982) is Better than The Thing (2011)
- The Bizarre Clown Painting No One Fully Understands
- The Little Book of Cosmic Horrors
- The Disturbing Art of A.I.
- Fear of Depths
- Goya’s Witches
- David Lynch: The Treachery of Language
- The True History That Created Folk Horror
- The Existential Horror of David Cronenberg’s Camera
Hello! Are you hyperfixated on RedactedAudio?
Do you want (need) to know who to follow to cultivate your dashboard and feed your gremlin brain good, good boyfriend roleplay content?
Cool, I’ve got you, and I’ve got hyperlinks. Buckle up.
(Note: This is by no means a comprehensive, objective, or complete list. I've only been in the fandom for six months or so. I have biases and favorites and limited time. I hope to update this list periodically, and if you feel I've missed someone, please feel free to reblog with your additions! I just would have loved a guide like this when I got into the fandom back in August and wanted to spread some positivity~!)
Fanfiction:
@angelnoodlesoup: she/her
Sophie is just one of the sweetest David stans that's ever existed who writes, like, the sweetest things about him. Her posts are just going to make you feel warm, fluffy, soft things in your heart area; give into the sweetness. Highlights: Sophie writes this adorable timestamp series of vignettes exploring Davey and Angel's day, but I'm particularly attacked to their David/Angel neighbors to lovers AU~
I was actually going to put Max in the visual content portion of this post, because they post delightful Redacted edits on Tiktok (under the same username, highly recommend~), but then they made a uquiz that gave me an existential crisis, so here we are. Highlights: This quiz sent my whole server for a loop and has made me reconsider my relationship with Lovely as a character and kin; it's a great time.
@batch-of-pengwings: robin/bird, she/her
Robin, an absolute sweetheart who makes all the fun ask games that keep the community interconnected and thinking and talking which is just really sweet and fun in the best way. Highlights: The Winter Wonderland game is the one who went around most recently, and it’s so fun to engage with the fandom and discuss who we think is stupid enough to get their tongues stuck on a telephone poll~
@bicyclepainting: they/them
Clover, the fandom's resident Smartass, doing the lord's work and reminding us all how fucking smoochable Aaron is on a regular basis on top of being the coolest astrology nerd don't give them your birth chart you will be perceived /lh Highlights: No one is doing Aaron/Smartass like they are; like, read and absorb the delicious, domestic delight that is them. I also recommend their deep dives into the Redacted bois signs, if you're into that; they're very thorough and fun to read!
@cashandprizes: she/they
My Lexi, my queerplatonic soulmate… She is on a quest to dissect and critique fandom brick by philosophical brick, and I both love her and fear her in equal measure. (That’s a lie, I love her infinitely, more than anything, but she is in fact incredibly intelligent and intimidating.) Highlights: Come for the scathing insights into gray-morality and DD:DNE’s place in fiction, stay for the stripper!Gavin fic they’re working on and their sequel to Lasko’s SexTember audio because she really wanted to make him cry
@ejunkiet: she/her
EJ, the very first of my Redacted loves~ Not only is EJ an endless well of kindness and positivity, but she also writes fucking bomb ass everything. You get angst, you get smut, you get fluff- We stan a multitalented, ace queen. (She also writes really cute CastleAudios fanfiction and original stuff as a cherry on top.) Highlights: EJ writes just some of my favorite David/Angel smut; she captures Angel's little shit nature perfectly. She's also written the sweetest thing of Damien meeting Huxley's moms that I can't get enough of~
@dominimoonbeam: she/her
Domini, truly one of the pillars of the fandom. I don't know what'd we'd be without her fantastic fics or her original novellas or her fantastic, beautiful, rarepair-creating brain. Highlights: God, there's too many to choose from! There's the Sam/Darlin fake dating AU that has us all gripped by the proverbial balls. There's the David/Darlin tattoo shop AU that has me frothing at the mouth because tattoo artists are stinkin hot. That's not even getting into their Cam/William fic, because god, that is such a good rarepair. We love two immortals finding love with one another, we really do. My personal favorite has got to be their Huxley/Darlin piece though, because Darlin gets to be cute and awkward and so, so loved in it.
@frenchiefitzhere: she/her
Frenchie, the fandom's unofficial (but basically official) Marie Greer, not only a gorgeous writer but also the creator of the most fantastical and unique fansongs (who makes original audio content to boot~) Highlights: We would be nowhere as a fandom without the Marie/Colm greer backstory and saga or her audios as the Greer Matriarch herself, but personally? Her Imperium!Lasko/Adam fic kind of changed my life, I'm kind of obsessed with it.
@friendlyfaded: he/him
Miles, the king and professor of the rarepairs! Beware, you will leave his blog wishing for fics for a ship that doesn’t actually exist yet. It’s unavoidable when you read the careful, creative, thoughtful way he considers seemingly silly pairings and makes them gorgeous. Highlights: I recommend his whole rarepairs with prof tag for a snack and his Sweetheart/Lasko/Milo fic for a whole meal~
@gingerbreadmonsters: she/her
Ginger, literally one of the sweetest, friendliest people in the entire Internet. I cannot adequately describe the absolute magnificent poetry of Ginger's prose, so you just have to read it for yourself. You will not be disappointed. Highlights: Ginger's Milo/Sweetheart series is for if you're feeling sweet, and her Vincent/Lovely/Gavin/Freelancer foursome fic is if you're feeling spicy~ Or if you're like me and are longing for an character we'll never see again, you can read her gorgeous, Doctor Who-inspired look in Marcus's mind.
@glassbearclock: she/her
Beans, also known as the best Milo/Sweetheart writer in the game. Their banter is taken from the mouth of god and first name Erik last name Redacted himself, and you could not convince me otherwise. Highlights: I’m a big fan of her sweet, wholesome, Jewish!Milo sick fic, but aYO her Milo/Sweetheart first date fic is so good y’all like goddamn Sweetheart phases through their door and makes Milo faceplant it on accident man that shit is so good
@horrorscoupes: they/he
My beautiful, darling Lotus, my gloriously deranged brother in arms (affectionate). The way they write each and every d(a)emons is just so -chef kiss-. Highlights: I think about their Regulus/Doll fic, like, literally every day, it's just yummy and depraved. Though, for a true taste of genius, for a galaxy brain treat, you've got to read his Shark!Vega/Pet masterpiece.
@k9rage: he/xi
My beloved Calico, our helpful Image Description fairy. He is just so cool and writes the most glorious smut like the world has ever seen. As of publishing, he's writing a Vega/Lasko street racing AU that's gonna be just smoke ash cinder fire hot. Highlights: You need to read his Damien/Gavin waxplay fic; like, this changed my life, I think about it daily. Ooh, AND his Aaron/SmartAss/Gavin threesome fic, because he didn't do all that thinking and imagining for us to not appreciate it. I'm also reccing @calicostorms, his other blog and spotify, so you can get at his stellar Redacted character playlists!
Lovely, absolute stand-out writer in the fandom! Would you believe they have a whole (as of posting) 95 works for the RedactedASMR fandom on AO3? There’s <2000 fics, which makes Lovely a whole five percent of the fanfiction on their own. That’s wild and so hella cool. Highlights: Literally everything they write. Explore their extremely well done masterlist, it’s beautifully put together, and you’ll find something you love. (I’m particularly fond of the Darlin/Vega fic they wrote based off of one of FriendlyFaded’s posts~)
@romirola: she/her
Dr. Romi, the one and the only and one of the legitimate sweetest goddamn people that has ever existed. You've never met a more polite, darling person in all your days. How did she write all these thousands of words of art while getting a doctorate? God, I wish I knew... if only we could also be so beautiful and wonderful and accomplished. Highlights: You haven't existed until you've read her Milo/Sweetheart Tangled AU; like, what are you doing here? GO. (I also deeply recommend her found family Shaw Pack + Sam fic, if you're looking for something that's still ongoing!)
@sealriously-sealrious: they/them
Chrys who writes- no contest I think we can all agree- the best Huxley that this fandom has ever seen. He is just so well-explored and so multifaceted, just the top-tier himbo content we all need and deserve. Highlights: Huxley and Freelancer at the aquarium, Huxley and Freelancer going camping, sfw, nsfw, whatever you want, we've GOT. (There's even some imperium!Huxley, if you're so inclined >:))
@starlitangels: she/her
Starlit, another absolute powerhouse of the fandom. Just look at this masterlist, I think there’s something here for literally every character. That’s what babes call RANGE. Highlights: The way they explore the Shaw pack is so fun; I’d highly recommend her fic exploring Gabe and his backstory or her fic exploring the Shaw’s future pups~!
@taelonsamada: she/her
A pillar- or should I say fence post?- of the fandom and just an utter peach. Always has a nice word to say and says the best nice words about Sam and Darlin- Highlights: Her nsfw Geordi/Cutie fic holds a special place in my heart (the blindfold? the gag? Be still my beating heart), but you haven’t lived until you’ve read her Shaw-centric Ranch AU~!
@teasandcardigans: she/her
Mads, another lovely creator that could be in either section of this post- that's how talented she is! Not only is she a lovely writer but she also designs the most fun Redacted stickers! Also, she's got the only Redacted fan tiktok that Erik has confirmed seen and liked, can't not mention that it's so cool Highlights: Honestly, there's too many to mention! A really popular of hers is a "What If" echo-esque reimagining of everyone's stories which is so fun, and my personal, biased favorite is her Alexis & Gavin fic hear me OUT-
Cait, out here doing the most and the best. They’ve run the Redacted Winter Gift Exchange for the past two years, connecting blogs who might have never spoken to each other, inspiring creativity, and spreading holiday cheer~ Highlights: I recommend taking a look-see through the “Redacted 2022 Winter Gift Exchange” tag- much thanks to Cait for making it possible- to consider if you’d like to join next year! Until then, there’s a compilation of their cute headcanon posts to inspire you!
@zozo-01: she/her
Zo, one of the sweetest people in the fandom~ Not only is she a fantastic writer, but she is also one of the friendliest people in the space! Constantly excited and supportive and positive and a joy to follow and befriend. Highlights: Her Sam/Darlin Deity AU is going to change the world and break some hearts, I just know it. (Just like her Alexis and Darlin meeting fic broke mine-) If you're not up to getting your heart broken and just want a friend, I recommend asking her about her Powerpoint of Bollywood scenes that could be Sam/Darlin moments~!
Fanart:
@andr0leda: she/they
Androleda’s art is so gorgeous in that most of them are uncolored or working with a smaller palette, and it just makes those colors stand out and the line work all the more elegant. Highlights: Their wolf!Darlin piece got so popular, and you can see why! It looks like the cover of a really cool YA fantasy novel. Also, her Sam/Darlin art just melts the heart- the gentle hand, the key around the neck-!
Kays, a fantastic artist who plays around with the prettiest, brightest colors and has the prettiest (hottest) fem listeners. They also have super fun Redacted playlists! Highlights: Their Sweetheart, Valentina, is kind of smokin hot, I mean look at her, but also good lord, have you seen their Warden like lock me up anytime hello-
Bow’s art just makes me so soft and gooey inside I dunno. Their art is so pretty, and they always have the most expressive faces. Not to mention the colors- like, Bow uses the simplest but most emotionally evocative shades of pinks and blues that make me inexplicably feel things, and I love it. Highlights: Literally all their Davey/Angel is the sweetest, but I also have this deep fondness for their imp!FL and Vindemiator pieces, because look at these deep, mournful blues, they’re beautiful!
@cascadiiing: they/them
Atlas creates the most beautiful, squishable, smoochable characters on top of being the most beautiful, squishable, smoochable (platonic) sweetie in existence~ they’re so sweet and friendly on top of being so talented at such a young age, and I would protect them with my life. Highlights: Their Sam kind of makes me so lovesick, I could barf- he’s just that pretty. Their Alexis/Christian art is fanart of my own fic, I’ll grant you, but it’s also so fucking pretty look at the dreamy colors and it MOVES-
Where would we be without Clara, like honestly- What really stands out about their art is- other than the overwhelming talent- the obvious thought and joy that went into designing the outfits. Only the best from our resident fashion design student! Highlights: literally everything. If I must be specific, the David design pinned to their blog is utterly ahdhkakshdjsk, and I am particularly partial to their Alexis design, because I love my beautiful, possibly complex lady okay-
@fregget-frou : he/they
Mal has the prettiest Listeners; I’m lowkey in love with all of them~ I love the way he does such fluffy, voluminous hair, and I dunno, all their listener OC’s have this fashion model-esque glamour and posture about them that’s really attractive. Highlights: Of their listeners, Mal’s Angel has got to be my favorite. Look at this fluffy-haired cutie! Look at this menace! I would also propose to them, they’re gorgeous!
@gwenifred: she/her
Gwen draws the most gorgeous, swoon-worthy Huxleys and is just a big sweetpea to boot. Her and Pali sharing OC’s and art trades here and on Twitter is a testament to how friendly and sweet the fandom can be! Highlights: Everything she draws is gorgeous, but you haven’t lived until you’ve seen her animation work!
@ice-palace-art: They/It/He/Dae
Darby has some of the most beautiful designs, I can hardly stand it. He creates the most gorgeous, realistically proportioned characters and listeners, and they’re just really smoochable okay let me live- Highlights: It has this one piece of Gavin and Lasko having a sleepover that fills me with the warm fuzzies every time I see it, and their Aaron design fills me with longing I am hopelessly in love with their dad-bodded Aaron.
@itsdaifuku: she/her
Y’all don’t even know the little happy stim storm Fuku’s art sets me on; like, all her art is so cute and joyful and somehow colorful even when it’s in black and white? It just gives the vibe of life and vibrancy constantly? How does she do that? Highlights: Literally, everything she draws is gorgeous and sweet, though her designs for the Shaws and their mates are so S-tier and so cute. (I’m also particularly fond of her designs for Love and Alexis, my favorite characters, I’m biased, sue me)
@mr-laveau: he/they
Laveau, my favorite Milo kinnie~ (Yeah, I said it out loud; I’m callin you out.) Charming, thoughtful, friendly, much more talented than they have any right to be when they’re also so funny and sweet, AND also writing at their other blog @bratty-telepath. You’ve never seen such a double threat. Highlights: Literally, everything he makes. All his designs are colorful and gorgeous and filled to the brim with deliberate, intentional details (though I am incredibly partial to their Alexis and Darlin designs and the parallels he included between them.)
Nai is a fucking blessing unto this fandom, and we are not worthy. You haven’t really lived, haven’t experienced all the pure, positive silliness that this hellsite has to offer until you experience Nai’s Redacted Actor AU. It’s pure serotonin, and we’re all here listening to Boyfriend ASMR, I know we could use it. Highlights: Other than said AU posts (which really are so fuckin good), have you seen their drawing of Vincent and Sam’s Monarchal ball? Ooh, and if you go to their tiktok under the same username, you can see some of the really cool dating sim they’re working on!
@nanowatzophina: any pronouns
Na’no is not only a must follow on tumblr, but I also highly recommend their tiktok if you wish to wade through the horrid cesspool of that app (I say with tiktok as one of my top social media sites- we have a codependent relationship) Their art is super cute and expressive, and I get massive gender envy from the way he draws hair and teeth. Highlights: Her aspec Freelancer is just so close to my heart; I adore Avery so deeply. Also, the way they draw imperium!Vega and Pet makes my heart fucking melt and want to jump out my chest- the size difference, my god
@obsessivedino: they/them
Mint’s contribution to the fandom cannot possibly be overstated. Their art style is just so clean and neat and with the cutest expressions, and I love their designs so much, especially for the d(a)emon bois I just ahhhhh Highlights: If you’ve joined the official unofficial Redacted Discord server, you’ve seen their adorable stickers reminding you to kick that ass or hydrate unless you want to die-drate, and you haven’t truly embraced life unless you’ve seen their two-year anniversary masterpiece. Ooh, or pocket caelum!
@palilious: she/her
There is no Redacted fandom or fandom list without Pali, and we’ve all accepted that. Her style is so uniquely and instantaneously recognizable as hers, and everyone adores it, including but not limited to GBA, Nomad, and Cardlin! Highlights: Literally everyone she draws is so pretty, though I have a soft spot for her Vincent or her Nomad drawings if you’re looking for more VAs to listen to!
@pearl-kite: she/they
Kirehn has the most huggable humans and the most awe-inspiring d(a)emons. The way she draws the d(a)emons with constellations worked into the designs and color palettes is just so gorgeous and purposeful and thoughtful. Highlights: Their Vega is so frightening but beautiful, you just can’t look away from him. I’m also particularly in love with their Darlin!
Do y’all ever do this thing when you see an ethereally beautiful person and you have no words, all you can do is giggle like a vapid schoolgirl(gn)? That’s me with all of Anna’s paintings: no words, just awe. Highlights: I don’t even really like Gavin, okay, he’s not my type, but lord above, Anna’s Gavin is something else. Their Sam also has those Captain America, boy next door good looks I imagined, it’s like they took him right out of my daydreams.
@ryokoaoi : they/them
Ryo has the absolute cutest, most adorable art style, one can barely handle it! Everything they draw is just so pretty and so colorful and detailed and sweet. (Except the sad things, those are less sweet but gosh they’re still so pretty.) They also have this Magic Swap AU that they design that is so fun to read about! Highlights: Their swapped! Gavin and Avior designs are so fun, I adore them deeply, and if you need something to cheer you up, you can always depend on their DAMN pieces that always include a little invisible Caelum to bring you joy~!
@slushrottweiler: she-they
There is nothing like seeing Slush’s signature blue linework on your dashboard, it’s such a sweet treat- or spicy. There are also very good, very spicy treats. Her blog is a magnificent roulette wheel of blue surprises. Highlights: I love their Sam/Darlin stuff, especially this one because wowee them shoulderblades, but their HuxDami BA piece takes the cake.
Spooky has my whole heart and wallet and my other heart if I had one I fell in love with their rich color palettes and shading and Alexis right away and had to commission them. Could not recommend enough, they were a treasure to work with~ Highlights: I’m not biased- okay yes I am but not now their Alexis is fuckin smoking hot but also their Cam might be my favorite Cam look at that smile-!
@sri-rachaa: she/her
Rae is such a treasure to this fandom, we hardly deserve her. Her art is so ethereally pretty and delicate? The way she draws hair and noses and silhouettes- her line work is just phenomenal. Everything she creates is just a delight to look at. Highlights: The Southern Siblings AU is a gift, a treasure, a boon that cannot be ignored. I’m also a big fan of her Lovely OC who is ridiculously pretty~
@tankwolf : she/her
June has been posting fanart for only two months, but I’m already absolutely obsessed. I just find her monochrome character portraits so visually engaging and interesting. I would love so badly to be friends with her listener OC’s… Highlights: …or more than friends, because her Sweetheart is something else good lord. I would just love it if June could stop putting the hot people in crop tops please (but also don’t cause whoa)
All the fanart Terra creates is so bright and vivid and colorful and expressive, they’re really such a treat to see and experience. I’m a sucker for the colors they use, cause it makes my lizard brain all happy and go “shiny pretty happy.” Highlights: Everything they draw with the Shaw Pack is pure dopamine, like this one of the bois and their mates hanging by the pool. I am particularly attached to this piece from Milo’s HBS, because they’re so fucking in love, your honor, I love them.
@thefablefoxart : she/her
Angelina’s Redacted couple series is one of the truest delights of the fandom; like, they’re so colorful and cute and just adorably designed. I’m also deeply in love with the way she does hair. Everyone just has really fucking good looking hair, and I can’t get over it-Highlights: On top of the aforementioned couple series, I just want to bring attention to this adorable chibi Sam that she drew- it brings me so much serotonin- and their Darlin, Kai who I wish would just give me a shot okay I have a Southern accent too-
If you’re reading all the way here, I hope you found the post helpful and smiled while making your way through it! Or both! The RedactedAudio fandom is truly one of my favorite spaces on the internet; it’s so intimate and creative, and I’ve found some amazing, perfect friends here, so I hope you will too 💖
again playing around with the formatting please stop hurting me tumblr I’m trying to be nice
If you can see this, I love you, and you’re watching me try to format this post so tumblr doesn’t cut off the bottom of it please ignore the Android behind the emerald curtain go about your day
THE MANDALORIANS CLAPPING WITH THEIR GAUNTLETS INSTEADS OF TNWIR HANDS WAS SO CUTE I CANT TAKE IT??????
Do the Pedro Pascal/Mandolorian Stans know about him narrating CNN’s latest docuseries, Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World? If you like his voice, it’s nice to put on in the background
I've seen increasing buzz around here about Howl's Moving Castle (book). I think you all deserve to know that all of Diana Wynne Jones's books are filled with characters and plots that are absolutely as delightful and unhinged as that one.
Some Actual Plots include:
Dogsbody - The star Sirius is accused of murder and sentenced to exile on Earth in the body of a dog until he finds a magical item called a Zoi. He's adopted by a young Irish girl living with her abusive and neglectful English relatives. He has to balance his desire to find the Zoi with needing to be a Good Dog for the girl who takes care of him. Also the Wild Hunt is there. Hexwood - A girl finds a magical wood behind her house where she meets a wizard who thinks he's a convict of the intergalactic government, a boy created by the man to destroy said government, and a robot found in a junk heap. The magic wood is actually an alternate reality being generated by an AI who has a grudge to settle with the head of said government. The book is about abuse, PTSD, and trauma. The Dark Lord of Derkholm - Magical world is being destroyed by a company using it as an isekai amusement park for people from another dimension. Bio-wizard is appointed Dark Lord for the year, and he and his family (four of whom are bioengineered griffins) have to find a way to survive the season while everything is going wrong. Deep Secret - Interdimensional detective/diplomat/wizard needs to find a replacement for his deceased mentor. He does so at a fantasy convention, while trying to keep an interdimensional empire from collapsing into civil war after the emperor is assassinated along with all of his heirs.
She's an absolute master at weaving fantasy elements into the mundane world and writing from the PoV of kids. Her books are funny, clever, and full of delightful characters. I'm begging you all to check them out.
Two of my favorites not already mentioned.
A Tale of Time City - Two time traveling children kidnap a 3rd child. There's a lot of miscommunication, skipping school, shenanigans and maybe having to save time itself. Plus descriptions of futuristic clothes, food and glasses that I still want.
The Homeward Bounders- So there's are these demons, that play board games using our dimension and all the others as their playing field. When people discover them, they kick them to a different dimension, and they just keep trying to get back home. An ending I've been thinking about since I first read it at 11
Plus!
A Sudden Wild Magic: Another Earth in an alternate reality has been spying on ours to steal our technological advancement. Unfortunately, those ideas being taken without the balance of returned ideas has caused some Issues. Which they then try to inflict on our earth to see how we fix it. A small group of people decide this is not ok and they’re going to go to the other universe and stop it. Classic DWJ-Brand Chaos™ ensues.
Witch Week, part of the Chrestomanci series, was so weirdly formative for me. Harry Potter had just reached the USA when I was at the target age for it, and it seemed like every adult in my life was bending down to my level and asking me patronisingly if I liked this new book that had just come out. and I kept telling them that “as British boarding-school stories about orphaned witches go, I prefer Witch Week.” This shut down so many of these conversations because, at the time, people just did not understand that “British boarding-school stories about orphaned witches” was a whole children’s fiction genre before Harry Potter (and they’ve forgotten it now.)
Not that these well-meaning idiotic librarians and Girl Scout leaders actually cared, but the reason was something like: Witch Week had bits that really stuck with me, big pieces of weird creativity or memorable relatableness from the kids, pieces of observation that I agreed with, and bits of advice to a child that I appreciated. Harry Potter was obviously more film-quality and had more bombastic set pieces, plus had obvious sequel potential, while Witch Week is broadly bleak and upsetting and closed-in: an unlovely fascist 1980s Britain with deeply unlikeable children, all lightly bullying each other for survival under the constant threat of execution. (Until they find out that the poisonous atmosphere of their existence is due to the flaw at the heart of their world, which has poisoned it, and they all decide individually at the very last moment to fix it, at great personal sacrifice to some of them. This nobility is all the more admirable for them being unlikeable children raised in a paranoid world.)
Witch Week is both a stand-alone and part of a series - the Chrestomanci series - everyone loves Chrestomanci, who in true form only shows up at the end. DWJ herself preferred Chrestomanci to Howl ( “chrestomanci is right there, girlies, why have a boy when you could have his dad?”) so it’s a win/win/win. But what was the reason that it stood out in my brain, while Harry Potter could have sunk without a ripple if everyone else hadn’t liked it so much? I think, ultimately, it was because I felt HP was a bit patronising, while Witch Week was both grounded/realistic and thrilling; it felt like having a private interior life. In fact, in addition to somehow in its sharpness not being something my mother would entirely approve of, Witch Week was about the private interior lives of children. I was super sensitive about being patronised at the time, and I was trying to build a private interior life despite having a bonkers mother.
So it isn’t actually a great book. That’s another important thing, that it isn’t a great book, particularly. But Charles’s choice at the end of Witch Week is a standout memory of childhood. And when Nan is told that inborn magical talent is frankly mediocre but a well-trained writing skill transcends worlds, if the reader is a child with no magical skills themselves, it is taken personally to heart and remembered for decades.
The private inner lives of children are often completely overlooked, in fiction and life. I felt DWJ always managed it; I felt JKR did it rarely.
To be fair, after a lot of reading, I can say that the ability to observe and transmit realistic children is indeed rare. And here’s something that most people don’t think about, because they’re thinking about adults or young adults instead: if you can’t get the kids right, a lot of the rest doesn’t follow. Put another way: maybe you scorn kids (and that’s okay). But if you can’t grant that “slightly smaller humans” have their own complex interiority, then why should we trust your other promises?
I know it's been talked about before but I still don't think it's been emphasized how *fucked* today's internet experience is for children. I didn't know what the word "discourse" was when I was 8, or 10, or even 13. I was too busy playing the nigh-limitless amount of flash games out there on the internet and making sure my neopets were fed. Like I cannot stress enough that if I had free time on the computer, 9 times out of 10 I could go and play a jaunty little game someone had whipped up and put out there for no other reason than that creating games was awesome and easy to do. Or go to some page that existed just to collect memes; you see back then there were more than 4 sites, and you didn't need accounts to visit them. I didn't get targeted ads. I wasn't exposed to any sort of political ideology. I spent a lot of time on the computer but no one site monopolized my time or tried to fucking manipulate me into using it more. The internet was for more than one thing back then, and honestly I don't think enough people realize how much has been stolen from us.
I understand the feelings of despair, but the rest of the internet is still very much out there. There’s a growing and dedicated movement to take it back from corporations. I’ll link a few of the neat little websites I’ve found on Neocities and in various other places. https://sadgrl.online/ - A good jumping-off point that has html guides, links to webrings, and other cool stuff.
https://deathgenerator.com - You ever wanted to make one of those funny fake video game screenshots, but you don’t have the patience to do the image editing? Well, here you go!
https://signal.vercel.app/edit - A neat little free online midi editor! You can upload midi files or compose your own!
https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/ - A cool falling-sand-type game. The website it’s hosted on is full of other cool games, most of which are free and don’t require flash (rip flash)
https://webshark.neocities.org/gamepages - Speaking of games that don’t require flash, here’s a whole page of ‘em. Most are fairly simple, but they’re still a lot of fun.
https://ocremix.org/ and https://vgmusic.com/ - Two websites that have been around since almost forever. OCRemix is home to video game music remixes, and VGMusic has a MASSIVE library of video game midis! I used to spend a lot of time on VGMusic in particular when I was a kid.
https://cooltext.com/ - You can make cool-looking text! They also have free fonts you can download.
And this is by no means a comprehensive list, no. This is just a sampling. There’s so much out there just waiting to be discovered-- you just have to go looking for it! (And remember, kids, be careful out there-- computer viruses and malware are still very much a threat, so I encourage you to get uBlock Origin or NoScript-- or both-- for your web browser before you start web surfing! Also never give out any personal information! And for the love of all that is good, and for your own safety, please stay away from the porn sites if you’re under the age of 18.)
Have fun, stay safe, and
HEY KIDS, YOU WANT MORE GAMES? ITCH.IO HAS PLENTY OF WEIRD GAMES YOU CAN PLAY ON YOUR BROWSER OR DOWNLOAD ON YOU COMPUTER. Just remember to always check tags and description to avoid finding things that are for a much older audience.
no, listen, when I say I want to integrate more specific solarpunk stuff in my life, i don’t mean to ask for yet again new “aesthetic” clothes that now you have to buy or make to show your support of the movement (screw that i’m consuming enough as it is), or more posts about impossible house goals, or whatever, I’m asking you what my options to build a portable and eco friendly phone charger are, im asking you viable tiny-appartment edible plants growing tricks on a budget, im asking tips to slow down when my mind and society tell me im not fast enough, i don’t need more rich art nouveau amateurs aesthetics or pristine but cold venus project, okay, i know i should joins associations where I am tho i’m constantly on the move, thanks for that, just, you know, can we get a bit more practical ??? how do I hack my temporary flat into going off the grid for the time i’m here
Hello! ☀️ Here are a few practical suggestions for stuff you can do:
- Make a bottle tower garden (a small one could do well on a windowsill)
- Make eco-friendly household cleaners
- Germinate strawberry seeds and care for the plants
- Grow plants from cuttings (you can grow almost anything this way)
- Make a sun jar
- Grow low maintenance houseplants
- Make a string garden
- Make a wall planter
- Germinate an avocado seed
- Make a shoe pocket garden
- Build a mini solar generator
- Re-grow kitchen scraps
- Find the right solar battery charger
- Recycle old solar cells
Hope you find something useful in there! I post stuff up from time to time under my diy tag. Feel free to drop me a message if you have any requests!
- grow oyster mushrooms on waste coffee grounds (also works with shiitake)
- a list of some food plants that can grow indoors with reduced light
- windowsill herbs
- egg carton seed germination
- germinate chayote and keep it as a houseplant (the root, stem, leaves, fruit, and seed are all edible)
- choosing a portable solar panel
- tips for energy efficient apartment life (but jsyk LED is better than CFL, and a tank bank or expanding water bottle is better than a brick or bottle of gravel)
- DIY draft stoppers
- DIY solar oven and recipes
- evaporative refrigeration
- use conkers/horse chestnuts to replace soap and detergents
- use baking soda as dry shampoo
- cleaning with vinegar do’s & don’ts and common myths
- DIY dryer balls
- apartment-friendly bokashi composting and DIY bokashi bran
- DIY moss terrarium for your soul (ain’t many souls slower or more patient than moss)
- and a list of some easy care indoor plants for your nerves
- and for your bathroom and your air quality
- recycle t-shirts into yarn for your crafts
coworker walked in on me enthusiastically making recordings of different sounds I found around the room (keyboards clacking, pencils scratching, whiteboards squeaking, phone busy tones, chairs creaking) and started laughing hysterically when I told her that I was “DJing reality”. she then left the room and came back with some crepe paper to tear and cut to capture more unique noises. delightful.
I might be autism
to any of my fellow trans folk in missouri, Plume (the telehealth provider i get my HRT from) is offering no-cost HRT prescriptions from April 24th-April 27th. please pass this on so anyone in need in missouri can get help
—
Transcript of email with links provided:
To our Plume community,
In response to the Missouri Attorney General’s emergency rule severely limiting access to gender-affirming medical care, we will provide gender-affirming hormone therapy at no cost before the rule goes into effect from April 24 to April 27.*
If you’re in Missouri and need immediate care, you can schedule your appointment here.
We are pulling together all available resources to help as many people as possible across the state, but we can’t do it alone. We’re calling on every clinician in the state who can join us in this effort, and applaud Planned Parenthood and other providers for expanding availability for gender-affirming care appointments up until April 27 as well. We’ll be actively promoting on our website any and all providers that are still accepting appointments, in case we can’t responsibly service everyone who needs it in time.
We understand how stressful this is for our Members, employees, and everyone in our community right now. Know that we’ll be doing everything in our power to help you through this.
Please forward this email to anyone in your community who could be of assistance.
-The Plume Care Team
If you have any questions, please reach out to us at hello@getplume.co.
*Please note, any no-cost medical services we are providing ahead of the proposed Missouri AG’s proposed rule are in effect only from April 24, 2023 through April 26, 2023 at 11:00 PM CT.
how about a sword fighting lesson from the pirate with a ruthless reputation ;)
made some versions of the agony grip for my friends for when the whole gang gets it . including different levels depending on the anguish
and a joyous one for when there is love abound
can i make a contribution?
for when the whole gang is being real autistic about something
For when you say something absolutely horrid in the group chat
Three blind mice.
Guys, those options sound awful but yes I will try them next time I have a cold
You're just making me want soup, I'm so with you
Genuinely I don't know what hickory is, but I'm with you otherwise! Altho I think ginger is for nausea not fevers. Honey is so good
My ex house mate Taylor, I'm excited to show him this post cos he's so wrong about it. He has a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar every morning. He hates it every morning. He has more if he's sick. It's deranged
You're right but I think there's too much scientific and clinical agreement on that for it to be a home remedy, you feel me?
Following off the last ask, do you have any advice on how to write a hard magic system? Since it usually has to be cohesive and fit together, how do you start?
First principles. Establish a set of unyielding axioms of How Magic Works and then start asking yourself what the consequences of those axioms are. It's very math-y to me - I think of it the same way as, for instance, defining a group as a set of values and an operation that combines elements of that set according to a specifically defined rule. Like how the integers can be built from the unit value 1, the addition operation + and its inverse. You can proof-by-induction your way through generating every integer from just those first principles, and everything that exists in the integer group follows from those facts. Extrapolating logically from established axioms is how a huge amount of algebraic shenanigans happen. Anyway, math is not necessary for this, but if you happen to be mathematically-minded, this approach of worldbuilding will feel extremely natural.
In ATLA, those first principles are:
- There are four elements.
- There are people who can "bend" one of those elements, giving them control over it that can be improved through training.
- There is an Avatar, who can bend all four elements and is reborn when they die. The Avatar is a fixed point in the world and exists to maintain balance. The Avatar is also uniquely capable of interacting with a "spirit world" that almost nobody else ever directly deals with.
Everything in the magic system extrapolates from one or more of these axioms. What is lightning? Well, axiom 1 says there are 4 elements, so lightning is one of them, making it easiest to see as a form of fire, so we'll say some firebenders can use it. Can we do healing magic? Well, axiom 1 says there are only 4 elements, so the body must be composed of them, so it makes sense someone could manipulate them - and the body is mostly water, so we can suggest that waterbending would allow for healing. Can anyone bend more than one element? Nope, rule 3 says only the avatar can do that. Hey wait, if the human body is mostly water, can a waterbender puppet them? …Huh. Yeah. Well shit. Can anyone control metal? Well, metal is a form of earth, but it's a very pure one, so maybe earthbenders have a lot of trouble with it and it's used to make prisons and stuff, but maybe somebody could figure out a trick to it someday.
In Fullmetal Alchemist, there is only one principle:
- Equivalent exchange. To gain something, something of equal value must be lost.
Can an alchemist make gold? Sure, if they have an equivalent amount of some other metal. But they're not supposed to, because it devalues local currency. Can an alchemist make a wall get spiky or turn it into a door? Sure, they're just turning an equal amount of one material into a different shape. Can an alchemist fix a broken device? Sure, if they know what parts of it need to be reshaped or transmuted. Can an alchemist create something from nothing? NO. Something of equal value must be transmuted. If it looks like an alchemist is creating something from nothing, they're draing the power/energy/value from something obscure. Can a philosopher's stone break the law of equivalent exchange? NO. It's providing power/energy/value from the human souls it contains, making it LOOK like the user can break the rules. Can an alchemist bring someone back from the dead? NO. What could equal the value of a human soul? Asking the question gets the attention of The Truth, a godlike entity that seems to exist in the balance of the law of Equivalent Exchange, who isn't exactly pleased when people fuck with it and tends to take its equivalent price out of the alchemist's body. Everything begins and ends with the single axiom.
I tried to build the elemental magic system for Aurora the same way, with only a few key principles:
- There are six base elements in the world. They used to be six living primordial beings, one composed of each element. They are now each separated into a physical element and an ambient elemental energy that used to form its soul.
- Some people have the latent ability to channel one or more elemental energies into the corresponding element(s), giving them command over them.
- Each element has a physical property and a "higher property" that represents something about who the elemental primordial was when they were alive, giving mages abilities beyond just hucking rocks and fireballs at each other.
- There is Soul Energy, which is omnipresent and forms structures in living things, does not belong to any primordial and can be used to impede elemental magic's effectiveness.
This is a bit of a mouthful for starting principles compared to how streamlined those other two examples were, but it gave me a lot of little details to work with. Can a mage manipulate someone else's body? Not if there's a soul in the way, because rule 4 says that structured soul energy can impede elemental magic, because otherwise it'd be way too easy to kill people and I want there to be cool fight scenes. Can a fire mage throw a super cool fireball at someone? Yes, as long as they have access to fire energy to channel according to rule 2. Can a fire mage channel fire energy into something else, like stone? Not really, because fire energy doesn't belong to the same primordial as physical stone, so they don't mesh according to rule 2. Can I have magic long-distance communication? Yes, because wind involves sound and has the "higher property" of communication, making it usable for sending magical messages according to rule 3. How do I account for weird materials that don't seem to cleanly fit into any of the six base categories? Since according to rule 1 there are six base elements, the things that don't seem to fit those categories must still be accounted for, so the answer we can construct is that most of them are "fused materials" that combine physicality and properties of two or more elements. Can anyone control all six elements? Yes, but let's say it's a rare thing, because those people would be very powerful. Hey, since Life's higher property by rule 3 is "survival and adaptation," is she actually really dead like the others? Huh. Kinda seems like she should be broadly unkillable in a way that matters, so I guess not - it'd be possible for someone to wake her back up. What would that do? Well, according to rule 1, Life is one of the six fundamental building blocks of the world, and according to our "fused materials" corollary, her material is woven into absolutely everything alive. So, waking her up and giving her command over her body again would be…… apocalyptically, catastrophically bad. Oh, but rule 4 says soul energy would help mitigate that a little bit! Enough to stop it from being a problem? No, definitely not, because life magic can be used to brute force mutation because I wanted to worldbuild cool mutant monsters. So that WOULD be bad. Okay, cool. Hey, are there other primordials? There's no reason why there couldn't be, since all these rules cover are the specific arrangement these six guys are in, and they must've come from SOMEWHERE, so yea, sure, there are other primordials. What kinds? Well, [SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS-]
Hard magic systems are great if you like starting from a very simple set of axioms and then just combining them in different ways to see what you can get. This is half the fun of worldbuilding - "what consequences arise from established premises 1 through n" - but it can also be difficult to get the sort of world you want out of a hard magic system, since first principles can extrapolate in unexpected directions. I had to work out the soul energy system because I didn't want it to be ludicrously easy for any mage to just boil someone from the inside out, because that is not the kind of world I wanted to make to play around in, even though it would've been easy to get that from "everyone is made of materials that can be magically manipulated." I worked out higher properties of the primordials because I wanted to have mages that could do weirder, more fun stuff than just slinging fireballs and mudslides at each other. Pure worldbuilding might involve starting from first principles and just seeing where the logic takes you, but I find it's helpful to have at least a few soft aesthetic concepts you want to build towards, and maybe massaging the rules a little until they produce the outcome you're set on seeing.
You can also have more than one magic system in a given world - that's what I did, technically speaking, and it's also what shows like The Owl House have. Owl House really makes it clear when a magic system has specific rules (Luz's runes combining in ways witches aren't sure how to do, but not working outside the Boiling Isles) and when it's a little more fluid and wacky (bard magic, wild witch magic, unique powers like Gus's eye and Hunter's teleportation, Eda's curse), and each individual magic system internally holds together, which is really all that matters for audience immersion.
JUICE is launching on April 13th!
You can watch Juice's launch on ESA's youtube channel at 13:45 CEST (11:45 GMT/07:45 EST)
Schedule Milestones (CEST)
14:15 Juice launch on Ariane 5 14:42 Separation of Juice from Ariane 5 upper stage 14:51 Earliest expected time to acquire Juice’s signal 15:55 Solar array deployment expected to be completed
More details about the launch can be found here:
If you want to watch see off our space cowboy with other 17776/20020 fans, we are hosting a watch along event here at the Class of 17776-20020 (16+ only) discord server! Come join and hang out!
My ‘The Last Unicorn’ charms arrived! I have 4 available for sale and once they’re gone I won’t have them around for a while (unless there’s high demand for it) so let me know via DMs if you’re interested! I’ll discuss more details about payment (as well as other things) there! Each one is $15 (not including shipping)
The pictures are a bit colder toned than the real charm and it’s 3.5 inches long (horizontally).
What I’ve been preaching n prayin n sayin