Beware the Ideas of March

starspiritgate @ 2014-08-04T09:10:00

2014-08-04T13:44:24Z

I've set up an alternate sketchblog here on DW @ yubishines, as a backup to my tumblr blog. I don't use dreamwidth for very much, to be sure, but now the "not much" is happening at my actual screenname instead of an outdated one. And on a site that doesn't have stupid scripts or autoplay music! With proper archives and tagging and everything!

To be honest, I've been wanting to phase out this username for a while -- it's been with me since before I signed up on LJ in 2003, all the way back in the ezboard days, certainly longer than some of the tumblr kids have been alive which is an alarming thought. This journal is pretty much the last holdout, I'm Yubi almost everywhere else now.

Though I'm a bit screwed when it comes to AIM, apparently I registered "yubishines" a zillion years ago and my account info is all glitched out or something, and it won't let me reset my password. I'll probably keep using "piratopteryx" there until I think of something better.

(Oh hey, I forgot I had "siaocabo" registered there, lol. maybe I should use that. even if I spelled it wrong.)

I'll keep this account around, since there's a few people floating around who still know me as Star.

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How to avoid bad kickstarters

2014-07-13T09:58:26Z

X-posted from yubishines.tumblr.com.

Been wanting to do a post like this for a while, after seeing one disastrous crowdfunding scheme after another, and the recent dashcon $17k fiasco is about the last straw. Even in a scenario where the people involved are earnest and telling the truth, kickstarters are full of inexperienced kids who have wildly underestimated how much work is required of them and quietly abandon their project six months later.

I know, I know, what y'all spend money on is your business, but let's throw cash at things that have some hope of coming to fruition, huh?

Here's some basic tips on how to avoid bad kickstarters:

( Read more... )

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Playlist: Apocalyptica

2014-05-18T13:36:27Z

I started out only trying to find songs with the same lazy-menacing-growl sound that Waits' "Black Wings" has, and then realized that 1) I'd be limited to like, four tracks, total, and 2) it cuts out almost all female vocalists. So I just picked my favorite "it's four in the morning and I'm feeling punchy" songs.

Could put this on 8tracks like all the cool kids do, but eh, I'm not fond of how you can't cycle through the tracklist there.

Links go to bandcamp, if possible, otherwise no link. Every time I post a song now it seems to end up deleted or copyright-struck in a week, so... just google 'em :P

( The evacuation plans have been prepared. Please remain calm. )

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starspiritgate @ 2014-03-21T05:13:00

2014-03-21T09:28:33Z

Not saying this over on the tumblr blog because ahahaha no, but I was looking back on that one post about not creating bland inoffensive interchangeable library paste in a misguided effort to be marketable to everyone, and looking at Zen Pencils and going, yup, that's exactly what not to do. That. Don't do that.

It isn't even just that the comics are so poorly researched that it's insulting (haha, yeah, Miyazaki's a Japanese artist, they all do wacky giant robot stuff, right?), it's that the whole thing takes the shallowest, most surface-level interpretation of the quote in question and delivers it in a smug, feel-good, pat-yourself-on-the-back presentation, reassuring you about how smart you are unlike those other gibbering knuckle-draggers. It's as deep as a puddle. It's the kind of thing you'll find printed in a primary school textbook or planner.

In comparison, I don't always like the Oatmeal comics (the Columbus/Bartolomé thing, for instance), but god damn, at least there's some personality behind 'em.

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Comic books.

2013-02-24T02:35:45Z

Looking back, I think I liked the idea of Fables more than I liked the execution. It's a shame, because I liked the detective-noir feel of the first issue or two, and I was really prepared to like Bigby (having a soft spot for gruff brash scruffy guys who may or may not be monsters will do that). But I quickly got the feeling that the author was using the comic as a soapbox -- not a bad thing in and of itself, but it shouldn't be intrusive -- plus all the characters having the same "voice."

I also found the exposition really unbelievably grating. Not just the parts that went "as you know, bob, I, as rapunzel, have all these hair-related issues that you are aware of, being my hairdresser for the last few decades," but when they were executing some grand plan to take down some villain or other, and you'd have one of the good guys standing around gloating about every awesome step of their awesome plan to the villain and how awesomely flawless it went.

There's a reason why it's usually villains that do the "expospeak about the master plan" thing. It's because it comes off as irritatingly smug and eyeroll-inducing.

(There's also a part where the doctor brings up the option of abortion to Snow, and she treats him like he's a monster for even entertaining the idea. And it's implied that the witch Totenkinder derives some of her magical power from working at an abortion clinic. See: soapboxing.)

I stopped reading right around when the Adversary was defeated (spoilers??), so maybe it's gotten better since, but I dunno if I want to give it a shot.

Aside from Fables, I haven't read a whole lot of non-web-based comics lately; I think I made a few forays before getting the impression that serious/adult graphic novels were primarily composed of awful people with horrific pasts doing terrible things to each other. (One word: Preacher.)

I'll happily read about human suffering! All day every day! But I just need to be able to root for somebody or hope that things get better eventually. Otherwise it's all repulsive gross-out wank.

Speaking of human suffering, y'know, I haven't actually watched Madoka. (I know! I know. Next I'll say I haven't watched Avatar or Korra... oh, wait.) Probably gonna set aside a weekend to marathon it; I've absorbed just enough trivia via osmosis about the show to know I'll never love again. I can't wait.

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“The terrible danger of screaming into the dark is the chance that something will answer back.”

2013-01-26T21:06:32Z

Since I've decided to use this journal more often, here's a thing I wrote last month. Fanfiction.

I've been intermittently keeping up with the Narnia Deconstruction posts, which really underlines what a raw deal Susan gets even at the start of the series, around the same time I found Lovecraft's commonplace book. (A commonplace book is... actually, rather like how some people use tumblr, a collection of words and quotes and scraps of ideas that you keep in a place to use later. Albeit with less porn gifs.)

Original posting: ...er, somewhere on plurk. (edit: found it) If you think the pace is a little funny, it's 'cause I wrote it sentence by half-sentence in IM-form.
Original posting where people could actually read it sensibly: tumblr.

( A great many things came into her possession, after all was said and done. )

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Tis the season

2012-12-18T20:02:34Z

Almost exactly one year since the Great Dreamwidth Absconding, and it seems like the right time to repost this...

( LJ baby, bring back thread functionality, for me )

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The great DW abscondage

2011-12-22T04:00:39Z

To RPers:

Hey! I'm Yubi. I play PM missmaillady (Homestuck), and also own the character accounts for Emily Stanton thecityneedsyou (The Protomen), Ruby subjectseven (Ruby Quest), Scarlet austerepath (The Path), and Celes generaltraitor (FF6). My tumblr is at repent, harlequin. My AO3 account is under YubiShines. My preferred pronoun is either he or she, doesn't matter which.

(EDIT: A full list of my RP characters can be found over yonder.)

My plurk is Piratopteryx. My personal AIM is starspiritgate, and my roleplay-only AIM is piratopteryx. Please do tell me who you are/where I know you if you message me, I have a dreadful memory for names.

Hiya!

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Theme colours.

2009-07-15T00:07:52Z

A man, a plan, a cat, a ham, a yak, a yam, a hat, a canal - Panama!
EDIT: :/ I don't really like the font, but this will do for now.

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