inprnt page opened

hi, some people asked if i sell prints, and i made an inprnt shop, check it out if you want.

https://www.inprnt.com/profile/nekomoder/

In order to understand Lovecraft's take on cosmic horror (I say "take" like he didn't pioneer the genre, lol) it is necessary to know something about the culture he grew up in - that of old-money East Coast white people.

You know how annoying wealthy people are now? Yeah, it's basically always been that way, and coupled with the deluge of ridiculous ideas spawned from the Victorian era these were some of the most unbearably arrogant people on earth.

We colonized a bunch of people? Well, that was our right, because we're so much better than they are and deserve to hold all the power.

We have wealth where others have none? Well, that's our right, because we're so much better than they are and deserve to hold all the power.

We abuse our wealth to mistreat others while shielding ourselves from many of life's discomforts? Well, that's our right, because etc.

Which is to say, people of means (and especially generational wealth) were exactly as annoying as they are today. And Lovecraft, being raised in that culture (though he was never himself as ludicrously affluent as his forbearers), internalized so much of this bullshit. He personally believed, for over the first 20 years of his life, that he was simply born better than most people, and that it was only fair that life should naturally come easier to him as a result.

Of course, money can't protect you from everything, and Lovecraft genuinely went through some shit in his youth, which might explain why he became somewhat disillusioned with this idea. He still believed it should work that way, but it clearly didn't, and he found those who still believed otherwise to be unbearably naive and optimistic. In Lovecraft's world, security was a fleeting illusion, and superiority an empty promise. In the end, the forces that we have tried so desperately to shield ourselves from will find their way back to us, and the only way to maintain peace of mind is to be blithely ignorant of our own inevitable fate.

Which is to say, I find it a bit odd when people say that the core of Lovecraftian horror is that bad things are coming and nothing can stop them. The core of Lovecraftian horror is that power and safety are fleeting. Lovecraft's stories aren't often about bad things happening to everyone with equal measure; typically, they're about bad things happening to people like him, shattering the illusions they have of their place in the universe.

When other types of characters exist, they are usually incidental at best, or the very cause of the danger at worst. And when we repurpose his ideas to tell stories about characters who aren't arrogantly bigoted fuckheads, it's downright silly to expect that we force them into the same exact type of suffering that Lovecraft put his characters through - when you are already acquainted with the realities of the universe's indifference, you're simply not going to have the same kind of experience as someone who was so blithely sheltered. You might even decide to take up your arms and fight back against the darkness.

And hell, since you actually have half a clue how to stay alive in a world that hates you, you might even make it.

Everyone gets “The 90s” look wrong so let’s fix it

If you weren’t here for part one, lemme sum it up real fast:

Okay, all up to speed? We’re being served 80s throwback stuff with the serial numbers scratched off, re-labeled as yo totally 90s. What we’ve got now isn’t completely wrong, but I’m telling you, there’s so much gold left unmined.

As we saw in part one with Memphis Milano, these things get messy. Trends don’t start and end neatly every ten years. The first wave of 90s throwback attempts focused on the early part of the decade, and nobody since really pushed to represent the other seven years. Well, if you really wanna do something, I guess you gotta do it yourself.

I have suggestions. Get your flannel ready, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover.

Analog Grunge

SURRRRRRRGE or uh, Grunge, is probably the look that defines the decade best. The big kickoff point here is Nirvana - after a shiny pop-dominated music scene in the 80s, Nevermind was like a breath of fresh smog.

Your design has to look like it survived a nuclear blast, then was run over by your parents’ Buick a couple of times.

If there’s a Comic Sans for the 90s, it’s “distressed typewriter font.” Seriously, it’s mandatory. When I pulled images for this post I could not escape typewriter fonts. I don’t think you couldn’t call yourself a respectable designer without it. Just look at how much mileage old-timey typewriters and label makers got:

Hell, it’s the giant X in The X Files!

I think another component to Grunge is sort of an anti-digital, pro-analog message. My pet theory is home computers went from being a semi-common novelty in 1990 to an essential gotta-have-it purchase in every American home by ‘99. Desktop publishing apps made it almost too easy to make pixel-perfect, clean, uniform designs. Digital photography and scanners meant you could now publish full color photographs with ease.

But digital perfection is the enemy of Grunge. Analog means authenticity.

So you had a whole gaggle of designers running in the other direction. Sure you could use a computer, but your work absolutely had to look like it didn’t come from one. As much as possible, incorporate hand-drawn artwork, scribbles, dust and splotches. Write text with chicken scratch if you have to. As much as you could make your multimillion dollar ad campaign look like it came from the margins of some high schoolers’ math homework, the better.

Factory Pomo

Not everyone was running away from digital, though. Many designers were embracing computer apps - and I think that’s where Factory Pomo first came into being. Coined by designer Froyo Tam (that’s their logo up above!) Factory Pomo is one of those things that once you see an example, you can’t stop seeing it.

Want your logo to look futuristic and modern? Stick it in a circle and put some triangles around. Invert half the colors, then another half.

Max Krieger has a great writeup on the probable inflection point: Tomorrowland. As the story goes, Tomorrowland at Disney - the part of the park meant to look like it’s from the future - would very quickly look very outdated each time they tried to update it. Instead, in 1994 they decided to own being outdated. They came up with a ridiculously fun “timeless” futuristic look, mixing industrial design with Jules Verne. Factory Pomo’s signature was all over the blueprints.

The look quickly escaped the theme park and was especially prevalent in the booming mid 90s home computer market. It’s the Packard Bell cyborg, it’s the logo in Video Toaster. If you caught that The X Files logo earlier is both Factory Pomo with the tall type and X in a ring AND Grunge with the typewriter X in the background, you win 5 bonus Pogs. 

And it’s a stretch, but one could draw a line between Factory Pomo’s inverted black and whites and the Ska movement’s two-tone checkerboards. Maybe. Possibly. I’d have to call Tony Hawk to double check. 

Back to Froyo Tam for a second, but that bit about them coining the term? That was in 2017. “Factory Pomo” didn’t have a name for like… 25 years. How’s that possible, you may wonder? Weren’t designers following a defined style? Well, yes and no. I think people were designing stuff to look a certain way, but it’s less a game of “this is what the aesthetic looks like” and more like a game of telephone.

If you do an architecture tour in a major city, you’ll learn that every building and skyscraper is classified to a specific architectural movement. Every building that is but ones built in the last 20-30 years. Newer buildings have to wait a few decades for official classification. Historians need time and perspective to figure out what emerging trends in architecture are going on, whose work influenced who, that sort of thing.

Designing a logo for Slim Jims or Cherry Coke takes considerably less time than constructing a skyscraper, but I think the same principle holds true. It’s really difficult to tell what’s a trend and what’s a fad when you’re living in the moment. I couldn’t tell you what’s the defining aesthetic for the 2020s right now. It’ll be obvious in 2053, but right now, no clue.

Enough time has passed between the nineties and today that we can pick this stuff apart easily. Maybe if you’re lucky, you can be the first to classify these design movements, too.

Working on a part three! I’ll look into a few other trends and address the big question– Is the Y2K aesthetic actually a 90s thing? More to come.

*A ton of these examples above are from the CARI Institute, which you should totally check out, they’ve been cataloging this stuff for years.

I just saw someone say the words "jokingly gaslight" this might be a good time to reintroduce the internet to the terms "lying" or perhaps "pranking" or even just "joking" on it's own

Okay, say it with me guys…

If you are giving someone wrong information in the hopes that they'll believe that it's true, then that's lying.

If you are giving someone wrong information under the assumption that they'll ultimately realise that it's false, and that they will find this funny, then that's joking.

If you are giving someone wrong information in the hopes that they'll believe that it's true and that their response will be funny, then that's a prank.

If you are giving someone wrong information in the hopes that they will notice the differences between your presentation of reality and their perception of it, and come to doubt their ability to judge what is and is not real, then that's gaslighting.

now dont leave this in the tags

whats that defunct land quote again? every part of the film making process is awful, but not making film is even worse? idk something like that. anywah im being completely normal about art rn ::))

found it

How to write good horror.

1- DON'T EXPLAIN WHAT THE HORROR IS. DON'T EXPLAIN ANYTHING. no context = more scary. "oh but it is just a ghost- " YES. you know that, I know that, but things are way more scary if you don't explain it. let your audience scare themselves trying to figure it out! the first FNAF game didn't explain anything it was just "ok these machines are kind aggro". that is part of what made it popular! (And truthfully this reason is why i dislike the other games in the series) i can't name how many horror movies i immediately lost interest in because it was explained. "oh no! there is blood dripping from the walls! " its demons or ghosts or whatever. you explained it. it isn't scary now that you explained the joke. if you have to explain what it is, explain it at the END of the story or near the climax at best. (or better yet, don't explain at all) 2- restraint is key i know it is tempting to show organs and blood dripping from the walls and someone eating out a corpse or whatever but don't outright show that kind of stuff ALL THE TIME or else your audience becomes desensitized to it, and if horror fans are reading/watching your work, chances are they are going to think this is weaksauce. you need to be SUBTLE when building up suspense in your story. don't show the real scary bits until the end of the buildup/ 3- normalicy and familiarity is key i am going to use bugsnax as an example. bugsnax has no gore and can be considered child friendly, but what made bugsnax scare people is that it has the facaude of a cutesy little game. doki doki lit club has a simmular principle where its like a normal dating sim but you are caught off guard and things feel off. this is a valuable tool. 4- be original and understand why the more popular ones are popular in the first place everyone has done analogue horror. why ? because we are all so used to modern technology that older televisions and tech seem kinda creepy. Blue_channel by gooseworks is one of my favorites. It gets right to the point, and while it DOES explain what the product is, it doesn't go "oooh death and scary!!! oooooooh!" it lets the audience make up their own horrifying reason as to what is happening here. saying "oooooooh look murder your parents ooooh!" isn't scary, and putting a glitchy tv filter over it isn't going to make it more scary. and finally 5- describe the unfamiliar i know i just said familiarity is key but that is only 1/2 of the equation. Everywhere at the end of time depicts the sounds of memory degrading in an alzheimers patients. this is an experience that no one could relate to except for those who are experiencing it (and sadly, those people are either dead or mentally comatose) this is also why lovecraft horror is loved, because we can only imagine so much before the lack of understanding drives you insane. hope this helps, for the love of all that is good, please stop writing bad horror.



I really don’t understand anyone who still posts selfies at this point like. we’re all fully aware that the feds are monitoring us and using our photos to build a surprise database that will help them later it’s just not fucking worth it anymore 

Human brain: security culture

Monkey brain: validation nice

I will Not be cockblocked by spy nimrod fucks

I haven’t ever really talked about this before but I’d like to introduce a concept that I’m going to call “security nihilism.”

Here’s the deal: You’re already burned.

It’s over! There’s no going back! Your face is in a database and your DNA is in a database and your social profile is in a database and there’s nothing you can do about it. Even if you didn’t put it there somebody else did. Congrats, we’re all fucked!

Facebook builds shadow profiles on people who don’t have accounts. Surveillance cameras are everywhere. Your cousin signed up for Ancestry and your brother did 23&Me.

So what can you do about it? Essentially nothing. So there’s no point in panicking.

You know what you have to do if you want some kind of privacy? Start leaving your phone at home randomly. Or at work randomly. People don’t think about the fact that their cell phone’s location data (which is constantly tracking even if you don’t enable location data for apps) is a more effective way of tracking them than anything they post online and it’s *real* easy to get a warrant for that data. And if you suddenly ditch your phone for the first time in several months it’s suspicious as FUCK.

Automated license plate readers track your drive. Do you commute? Do you drive the same way every day? Why the sudden change to your routine? What were you doing that you needed to park your car and wander away suddenly? What are you hiding?

Complaining about people posting selfies when companies are compiling DNA databases sharing them with the FBI is like blaming ocean pollution on people using plastic straws when about half of plastic ocean trash is abandoned fishing equipment.

Do you use gmail? You’re fucked.

Do you have a bank account? You’re fucked.

Do you use public transportation? You’re fucked.

Do you go to school? You’re fucked.

Do you have a job? You’re fucked.

I had to track down a guy who didn’t have facebook or social media profiles, didn’t have a listing in the phonebook, didn’t have a linkedin. I started with his first and last name and ended with his supervisor’s phone number, a ten year history of his income, and his home address. I got to it through his son’s little league team.

And I’m fucking J. Random Nobody. I don’t even have shiny databases full of tracking data.

So you’re already burned. There’s no going back, we passed the tipping point. Even if you threw out your computer and shut down all your accounts and smashed your cell phone and lived in the woods there’d be video of you walking out of town for the last time and satellite images of wherever you ended up setting up camp.

I was never going to be able to hide from the cameras on the streets and the data in my cell phone and the scanners that look at the license plate of my car and the information that my school sold about my age and income and interests. So fuck it. Share a selfie.

[fyi the secret to actual opsec is to trust no one and to have no discernible patterns - being in a facial recognition database doesn’t matter if you make a point of not showing your face when you’re doing whatever you’re doing that you want to keep quiet; your goal isn’t to evade the facial recognition software as you’re on the run from the government, your goal is to never even show up on their radar]

Sorry folks, all of this is right. Getting judgmental at other people’s selfies and masking it as an opsec fail is just ignorant :D

As a security professional;

Yep. Correct.

Just because the ‘government’ and other companies know who you are doesn’t mean the rest of the world does. when you post a selfie you’re giving others online ammunition to doxx you.

nowadays doxxing isn’t even that much of a taboo, you piss off a whiny teen and then you find your home address and where you work posted up for the whole world to see

Don’t buy into the whole nihilistic thing, it’s really REALLY not the point

Oh shit I just realized I can post the "Gaussian Blur Wizard That Gaussian Blurs You" here

his friend "Motion Blur Mage That Motion Blurs You"

Their long suffering associate, the "Sharpen Cleric that Sharpens you (badly)"

Nooo!!! What have you all unleashed upon us!?!

dont forget the chromatic abberation warlock that chromatically abberates you

may I add Mystic Mosiac who turns your quality waaaaaaay down

some of you guys have got to stop calling your art styles "inconsistent" like it's a bad thing. you mean flexible? adaptable?? why would that not be smth you're proud of, imagine all the things you can draw bc you're not limiting yourself

i hate social media for teaching artists to brand/market themselves at their own expense and twisting perfectly natural artistic qualities into smth "bad.” variety is literally the one thing i strive for in my art, use your "inconsistency" as a learning process instead of viewing it as a fundamental flaw. it's art, enjoy yourself

ok, I’m just gonna fix this hold on— *overcomplicates the narrative* *overcomplicates the narrative* *overcomplicates the

some beetles cant fly but they dont mind. they are more armored than agile and in certain situations this is desirable

turns the page of my textbook. what eelse is there to learn

the common ancestor of all current day beetles was a sect of philosphers in ancient greece that took to creeping secretly within the earth as an ideal lifestyle

Hopefully this tip can help anyone

I still can't believe that people who actually want representation of minority groups in media keep falling for the obvious shitty cash-grab versions of "representation" that 80-90% of the media give us. I really hate how entertainment companies can exploit people like this, promise them the moon, and then give them a fucking rock of no value that had ZERO heart or soul put into it.

Don't give these people money until they can put some value into their productions and hire some decent writers instead of being lowest-common-denominator crap that is designed to suck money out of progressive people's wallets and assuage their guilt about their not being prejudiced (while often being subtly prejudiced against the groups they claim to represent in said cash-grab media, mainly by not thinking over any unfortunate implications).

And while there will always be an audience who complains about any minority group being represented, they're in the minority compared to those who think said representation is generally shit.

TUMBLRWOMAN 2023 Finals

TUMBLRWOMAN 2023 Finals

Help Needed

Hi there, I'm Birdie or Eddie. I'm a disabled queer person converting to judaism, in need of financial help. I was kicked out of an abusive family home, and I've been homeless ever since. I've been staying with friends, however I need to find a different place to stay by the end of March.

I have no income and am unable to work. I have applied for disability, and am waiting to hear back if I qualify for benefits, etc. etc. and that will take months.

Right now, priority wise, I mostly need money for pain meds, mobility supports, and hygiene products.

Anything is appreciated, thank you.

paypal / ko-fi / cashapp / wishlist

there’s an agenda at play

from her autobio comics:

#on a darker level #being from Hokkaido means she has reason to be personally invested in the Ishbal annihilation #because Hokkaido is stolen land #like a lot of other places colonized in the last few hundred years #if you’re sensitive to this kind of thing #it gives you a personal stake #in genocide stories #that most Japanese people don’t have #>> #idk i felt the way she handles the genocide #speaks to having been aware of that #from a formative age (via whetstonefire)

Those tags are 100% right and Arakawa has confirmed that it was intentional in an interview as she has family that are part Ainu.

So her family history definitely had a role in how she presented the genocide in FMA.

stop hatewatching bad shows stop hatewatching bad shows stop hatewatching bad shows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NO BECAUSE YOU COULD SPEND YOUR LIMITED TIME ON THIS EARTH DOING SOMETHING MUCH BETTER THAN WATCHING SOMETHING YOU KNOW YOU’LL HATE!!!!!!!!