I'm coming out of my FA hiatus to sadly bear some very sad news.

My good friend  Stormcatcher passed away on the 20th of this month after a long battle with cancer. He was one of my oldest and dearest friends, and without his help I don't know where I'd be today. I miss him so much and I am so glad he was in my life.

Please rest well, sabredad. I'll always love you.

OK FIRST:

Please do not contact me in regards to GamerGate. I've watched this shit unfold since August, I don't need randos on HERE bothering me. I don't care what slam-dunk you think you have, I've seen it all and GG still doesn't look any better.

Other stuff:

I'm sorry I'm not too active here lately, I've been in a bit of an art slump. You can see a few more of my sketches and such here:

http://sasugakirin.tumblr.com/ (mild)
http://sexysasuga.tumblr.com/ (extra spicy)

So I want to talk a little about a meme that's gotten strong over the past couple of years.

"Social Justice Warriors"

Now, Anyone who knows me for more than about ten minutes knows that I am passionate about feminism and social justice issues, and have some pretty intense opinions on it. But we have to address some issues here.

Are there people who overreact to little things in regards to social justice, and snap at people for mistakes?

Yes, of course.

Are there people that get too caught up in championing other people's social justice issues and end up going a little overboard?

Yes, of course.

Are there youngsters who get involved with social justice and don't know how to handle themselves when advocating for it?

Yes, of course.

Do a lot of those people use Tumblr?

Duh, obviously.

There's no doubt that there's plenty of people like that out there, and the thing you may not be aware of if you're not too deep into SJ issues is, people who are concerned about social justice are also annoyed by those people and if they're really bad, they get ignored by feminists, trans advocates, racial equality advocates, etc.
Now the thing is, the internet being the nastiness machine that it is, even people who are otherwise progressive and smart will often make jokes about "Social Justice Warriors" and such. But I think they're not being aware of exactly what they're doing and what they're helping.

The extremists who frequent Tumblr and support super stupidity like trans-racialists do get ridiculed and called "Social Justice Warriors". But so do completely reasonable people speaking in favor of causes like feminism, racial equality, gay rights, trans rights, etc. This is because no matter how many of you are doing it for a joke, the people who started the "Social Justice Warriors" meme are not just people doing it for a joke; they are people who have a specific agenda to get women, POC, LGBT people, etc. to shut up and stop demanding equal treatment. They may deny it up and down but if you watch this stuff go down enough, you see how the people who drive these sort of things are just as extremist as the Tumblr kids, but worse because their actual goal is to shut up minorities and protect the status quo. Just look at how you can't speak about even the most gentle and moderate sort of feminism without being called a radical feminist; that's because the goal is to make all feminism look extreme.

Let's take an example of something that's becoming more frequently a "friendly joke" about social justice issues: the word "cis". For those unfamiliar, "cis", or "cisgender" is a term for people who are not transgender. If you think that's weird to have a word for that, consider that up until trans advocates came up with the term cisgender, the only terms that cis people came up with were backhandedly insulting to trans people; words like "normal", or "genetic", or "real". It's important to have a word for non-trans people that doesn't frame trans people as "false" or "imitation", because if you're discussing trans issues, you can't do that successfully if you start out with trans people in a negative light.

The reason I bring this up is because as social justice advocates began to use the term "cis", people online have started making a joke of it, as if merely using the word means someone is a dreaded humorless SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR. Now think about this, really think about it. If you use "cis" that way, even if you just mean it as a lighthearted joke, what messages are you sending, even if you don't intend to?

First off, you're broadcasting to any trans person that hears you that you are someone that doesn't take them and the bigotry against them seriously. This might not lead to an argument, this far more often is going to lead to a trans person who is afraid to open up to and befriend you. Secondly, you're going to make the people who legitimately hate trans people feel comfortable and safe. You know who really hates the word "cis"? It's not the online jokesters who want to ridicule tumblr kids, it's real anti-trans bigots who literally want trans people to be viewed as freaks and do everything they can to bring down any discussion of equality for trans folks. The ones who rally against "cis" the hardest are the ones who want trans people to not be allowed to transition, and want trans women to be always referred to as "really men" and trans men as "really women" and non-trans people always referred to as "normal". And those people feel much happier when people are ridiculing the use of "cis", because then trans people are prevented from speaking about their issues without using self-demeaning language.

This sort of situation occurs for any type of social issue. Does that mean I'm saying you can never joke about social issues? Fucking of course not! I joke about them all the fucking time! But here's the crucial thing: I make jokes about such things with people who know me well enough to understand what I'm saying, I don't just broadcast random snide comments to strangers. I also don't make jokes that use the very idea of caring about equality as something ridiculous, because honestly, how is that funny?

Another thing I want to point out is, most jokes people tell about social justice? They're just not FUNNY. And I don't mean "they're not funny because this subject is super serious!!", I mean "they're not funny because comedically the jokes are weakly written and rely on boring stereotypes rather than real humor". I mean, think about it, when was the last time you heard someone online made a joke calling someone a Social Justice Warrior that was actually funny? I never have. It's always something along the lines of "You're a Social Justice Warrior, go back to tumblr!" or mockingly saying "Ehhhnn cis white males are evil!" Those aren't jokes, those are the style of taunts that first graders think are funny.

So yes, go out there and make fun of shit, but be careful and aware of how your humor can actually be taken advantage of by the real bad guys. And just stop doing that shit because it annoys me.

Hey y'all ... I just wanted to let you know if you've tried to communicate with me on Facebook, I don't actually use it, I just have the login so I can read links people send to me. So please don't be offended if I don't see your messages, it's just cause I'm never on it (I just now logged on after like three months)! Contacting me over FA or Twitter is much more reliable. ~:3

SO, this past week I found out about a thing

Kids, for your own good, DO NOT USE SILICONE PLUGS TO STRETCH YOUR PIERCINGS. It is a BAD idea.

Silicone makes for great, comfortable jewelry for already-healed piercings because it's comfy and stretchy and soft. But for stretching ears it's probably the worst material possible.

First: Silicone can bond to your skin while it heals. This means that once your new stretch is healed, you might have to rip out all of that new skin to get the plug out. You should always use a non-textured non-porous material for healing, like glass, stone, or even acrylic (acrylic sucks but it's still better than silicone for healing).

Second: Silicone seems like a good idea because you can squish it down to fit in a smaller piercing and then let it stretch out. But the problem is that it's too fast. Stretching is a commitment; if you want to go from a regular piercing to a 0 or higher, you're going to spend at least a year, probably more, slowly going larger. If you go too fast, the stretch will have a LOT of scar tissue inside it which means when you take out your plugs the hole will bunch up and look like a cat's asshole. The goal is to have a nice smooth hole because that is stronger and healthier and looks way better.

One reason you use tapers to stretch is because if you're going too fast, your body warns you by feeling intense pain so you can go back and let it heal for another month or so. But with silicone, you don't have time to react to the pain, and more importantly, YOU CAN'T STOP IT IN TIME BEFORE THE DAMAGE IS DONE. The reason I found out people were doing this was that someone showed me video of a stupid kid who ripped his fucking earlobes in half stretching with silicone. Even if you don't get as damaged as that kid did, there's still major chance of a blowout and horrible damage that leads to your piercing being weaker overall and subject to tearing later.

So don't learn the hard way like that kid did. Stretch slow, use tapers, be patient. The reward is a stretched piercing that feels great when you tug on it because it's healthy and happy and strong.

If only so you'll recognize the fanart I'll do of it eventually.

MONSTER PULSE

Seriously, it's a very interesting and well-written take on the "kids with pet battle monsters" genre. It's about a group of kids who, due to science-fiction-ness, each have a body part transformed into a battle monster. The body parts become autonomous and permanently separate from the host, but are still linked and perform necessary functions; for example, the main character's monster is her heart, but even though her heart is outside her body in the form of a giant beast, her blood still gets circulated around inside her and she can still feel her pulse. The kids are in danger because of the (apparently underfunded and somewhat inept) shadowy organization that created the monster energy that transformed them, and the kids decided to fight to protect other kids from being transformed, or at least help them adapt if it happens.

So why do I love this comic? Well, for one, all of the characters are so well-written and likable it's kind of nuts, and what's more, all the child characters are written very much like children (using child logic and thinking even when they're faced with horrible circumstances), not like little adults. There's not a single one of the main cast I don't like, and even the "bad guys" are portrayed well and don't come off as shallow "villains". Also, the comic is funny and charming as hell, but still manages to be a little creepy and disturbing; not, despite the premise, in a gory sense, but rather in a "holy shit those kids just saw something really shocking and terrible" sense.

Another thing I like about it is that I've been reading a lot of manga lately, and Monster Pulse is just really refreshing after seeing SO MANY derivative, market-driven cliched manga. Especially that all the kids look like actual goofy kids, not like fakes baby super-models as they would be in a manga. It's like watching a hundred blockbuster movies, then watching an indie film and being shocked to see normal-looking people on-screen.

So yeah, anyway it's a good comic so fucking read it!

Hey, y'all, I wanted to let you know about a new group that  zero-shift has created,  jojo_furs ! It's a group dedicated to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, a popular and long-running manga series in Japan. I've been a fan of Jojo for years, so I was really happy to see this.

What's so great about the series, you might wonder? Well, for one thing the art is enthralling and has a style far different from the usual anime look we've come to expect from manga. The creator, Hirohiko Araki, mixes odd poses, strange clothes, and weird but appealing color schemes to make an unforgettable blend.

Also, the writing definitely lives up to the title. The first two series were odd right out of the gate, with sexy muscular men learning chi arts to fight vampires in gory battles, but series 3 is when the strangeness really took off, when Araki created the concept of Stands.

Stands, in the Jojo-verse, are manifestations of a person's fighting spirit; they're basically the Stand-user's spirit existing as a puppet outside their body. Stands are only visible to Stand-users, and they all have amazing powers. But where in a normal series the powers would be standard things like telekinesis, energy blasts, telepathy, etc., in Jojo it's things like, the power to make zippers appear on any surface, or to deflate people like balloons, or to unravel one's own body into string. It gets incredibly weird as you have situations like a woman who can create stickers that duplicate anything they touch, fighting a guy that can summon invisible zombies.

One of my personal favorite things about Jojo is that unlike most stories about super-battles, intelligence and creativity are what win fights, not strength; I like to call it the anti-DBZ. In Jojo, people almost never win battles just by being stronger or learning a new powered-up state, they win by figuring out the weakness of other Stands, or using their own in a smart way. Stands that would sound weak in your average super-hero story are deadly threats because of their creative users. This keeps the battles and stories fresh and unpredictable, and the endings of battles rarely turn into an "I just attained another level of super-saiyan!" asspull.

So go check it out! There are some links on the JojoFurs page to where you can find the manga and read it for yourself, and I highly recommend it!

Don't watch this, Haz; you won't like it! ~>(

Yeah, yeah, this is me being a feminist whore, but I think every guy should read this blog post:

Unwinona: I debated whether or not to share this story.

'Cause, you may not notice it going on around you, or you may forget it immediately after because it doesn't affect you or you think it's a rare incident, but this shit happens all the fucking time. I get this shit frequently, and it has nothing to do with if you're pretty or not. I hear men mumbling at me on the bus (most recent: "Mm, look at your sexy ass ..." said at 11pm when I was alone on the bus with this guy), and I've had plenty shouted at me from cars or said by passerby (if I'm wearing business-casual, I get "DYKE!" and if I'm wearing casual, I get "BIG TIIIIITS").

So of course, probably none of the guys reading this do this. But it's important for you to read it because so very many guys are unaware that this happens so much. The guys that treat women like shit (and that includes gay dudebros who love to make jokes about how ugly and gross pussy is, and how they're glad they don't have to deal with crazy women, etc.) need to know that other men don't approve of this.

 ezziblack is open for commissions! She's a fun artist and her work is very charming, and her prices are super low! If anyone's in a commissioning mood, go give her some business! <3

But not visual design, psyche!! Today I just wanted to talk about creating a compelling character in ways other than the visual design. We all want to have popular, well-liked characters, but I find that compelling characters with a lot of depth are what really attract people. So what's involved in that?

Something that people often don't consider about fictional characters: creators of fictional characters need to know a lot about them. Who they are, what they like and don't like, where they come from, how they react to various situations, etc. This is important not just to fiction writers, but people creating characters to use as RP or internet personas, too!

Many people who are making their first stabs at writing fiction often stumble in thinking their character through only so far as what's needed for the story. You see this in a lot of horror films, where the characters aren't fleshed out much, given maybe one or two character traits, because presumably they won't last long. But when a writer really develops a character well (especially one that's going to be used a lot, for a long time), the character's sense of being a full person comes out, consciously or unconsciously, even if you never reveal the information you know! When your mind really knows a character, your subconscious mind imbues them with a power so much that some writers feel like their own characters are almost coming to life and thinking for themselves. It's intense stuff.

J.K. Rowling is notorious for this; almost every character in her books has detailed backstories and interests, even if you never find out what they are in the books, and this creates a real sense of depth to them. Like how she knew Dumbledore was gay even though she never mentioned it in the books, and you can go back and notice little bits and pieces that hint at it that you wouldn't notice otherwise. This is useful to people making internet personas because the more you know about your character, the more you can "act" them in on-the-fly RP situations or portray them naturally in art.

But why not just play your character as yourself, especially if it's supposed to be a furry version of you? Well, you can. And there's nothing wrong with that at all. But the thing is that real people are able to be compelling in RL because of a lot of nonverbal stuff and just their presence as people; in text it's harder to convey. Plus, let's face it, a lot of us here online tend toward the shy side; shy people are not as good at self-marketing in RL, so of course it's going to be even harder to do in text! Having a character that's different from you is like a puppet, a mask you can put on and act out, and that opens up a lot of opportunities.

So how do we go about creating a character separate from ourselves? Basically, you should think about as many details as you can about your character, and hopefully write them down! I know that sounds vague, but it's really at the heart of it. In a sense it's easier for a writer since they can focus on how the character relates to a specific setting, but for RP characters you have to be ready for a lot of stuff. Since it's helpful to keep organized, check out this link for two great character questionnaires. Answer as many of those questions as you can about or as your character, and you'll be well along to knowing them as a fully-fleshed entity. Google other character questionnaires and see if they have some other interesting things to ask of your characters. Heck, do some of those quiz memes that ask you personal info, but do them as if the character was filling it out!

For an example, let's look at  hazardbarzard's popular character Panja. Everyone knows he's a horny lion slut who's charming as heck and flirts with everyone around ... but did you know he's scared of spiders? Or that he doesn't like spicy food? Or that he loves karaoke and dreams of being a professional singer? Or that he feels a great deal of guilt over his mistakes and is terrified of disappointing people? You might not have known, but Haz does, and its that fullness of character that gives Panja a greater presence than some other characters because he has confidence in Panja as a person.

Something I want to point out in particular, though, is related to my previous journal on visual character design. It's important to think about the theme of your character, as in the overall theme of their personality. But you have to be careful about cliches there. If you decide you want your character to be The Cool Guy, well, if you just leave it at that, you end up with Poochy. You need to think about specifics, what traits are cool about the character, and what's NOT cool about them! Think about what makes someone have the traits you want, and why they have them, and how it affects them. You have to think about that for other character archetypes too, like the Jerk Character, or the Hunky Character, or the Smart Character. Archetypes are wonderful but they're only the bare bones of a character's personality and need to be fleshed out.

Also I want to caution you that like how I said before about trying to pile all your favorite traits onto one character's looks, putting them all on your character's personality tends to result in a Mary Sue. Putting every single personality trait you like (even the bad ones!) into one character makes the character seem unrealistic and difficult to keep mental track of (which in turn makes people lose interest). It can be better to focus on 1-3 good traits and 1-3 bad traits and work from there. You can always add more traits later, and just be careful not to add traits that conflict with the established character.

By now you might be thinking, "Man, creating a character this deep sounds like a lot of work, fuck that." But no. If you were writing a novel, you'd have to think about this stuff for probably 10-20 different characters. J.K. Rowling did it for at least a hundred. By comparison, coming up with a bunch of stuff for one character isn't so much. Besides, if you want this character to be appealing to other people, it should be a character that you enjoy thinking about, because if it doesn't give you joy to think about the character, why should other people want to?

Still, you might be thinking that this is too in-depth, and that you just want a basic character for FA to have in your user icon and maybe get a commission or two. Well that's OK! There's nothing at all wrong with that, and if you're comfortable with that level of character creation that's totally cool! Your character is there as a tool for your enjoyment and you shouldn't force yourself to do more than you want with it.

But! I think we all know at least one person who really wants people to like their characters, some to the point of desperation and drama. Some wonder why no one likes their characters and wants to draw them. I'm not saying my advice can do that for you, but man, every little bit helps! Answering these detailed character questionnaires and figuring out all this stuff about the personality may take time and energy, but if you can have fun with it, it's not time wasted. It will increase your confidence in your character and at the very least get your creative juices flowing. In a furry art community, imagination and creativity are the best part of the experience, so just go for it! ~:3

And please, if you have some good tips for making an interesting and compelling character, please share them in the comments! ~:3

For some reason, FA just smells better today. Like a big pile of garbage suddenly got cleared away. I wonder why that is? ~|3

I was just watching this TED talk by Temple Grandin on how different modes of thinking, particularly autism spectrum types, are valuable to society, and I kind of got smacked in the face with something I'd never considered before. So I wanted to ask for some input.

Specifically. do you think in words or in images? Of course I don't mean specifically "can you imagine a picture?", but like she says in the talk, do you think primarily verbally, or with visual images/movie-like sequences/etc?

So y'all ... I watch a ton of people on here and just about every person has their own special character ... I'm by no means a genius of character design, but there is one thing I think could be helpful for everyone to keep in mind:

You can have more than one character.

Seriously. I see a lot of people loading up their "fursona" with every feature they like ever. And there's not anything WRONG with doing it that way if you enjoy it, but ... man, it makes your character look way too busy and kind of like you made it with one of those online character generators that lets you pile on accessories.

In character design, it's a delicate balancing act. You don't want so few features that your character looks bland, but you don't want so MANY features that your character is overdone. Let's take a look at my dear Hazzy for an example: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5386697/ He's a yellow-furred wolf guy with a muscular build, glasses, long headfur in a ponytail, and a scar across his chest. That's a good level of distinguishing traits, where most people spot a picture of him and recognize him immediately, but not so much that he takes six years to draw. I mean, imagine Hazzy with a bionic arm, 38 piercings, an eyepatch, a taur body, silver filigree armor on top of his clothes, 8 nipples, candy-apple red tiger stripes and blue leopard spots and you can see what I mean about getting too busy. So instead of piling stuff on, try making a LOT of personal characters and spreading your favorite features out among them.

And it's not BAD to have a lot of accessories and stuff, but once you do that, you have to tie them together to make your character visually appealing. The biggest way people seem to stumble on that is color. Use this Color Scheme Designer to help you figure out what colors are often most visually appealing and work together well. You can also use things like motifs to unify the character's theme, for example, if your character wears a lot of jewelry and accessories, have all those accessories use the same design style and matching colors.

I'm not trying to pick on anyone or complain; it's your character after all, do whatever you want with it! But I just offer this as something to think about to help people getting the most out of their characters. If anyone else knows some good (constructive!) tips or resources/websites for character design, please share them in the comments!

So, this happened in Minneapolis, the same city where I live. On the night of June 5th of last year, a 23-year-old black woman named CeCe Macdonald and her friends (all black, many queer or allied) were hassled by a group of white bar patrons. They shouted racial and homophobic slurs towards the group, and one smashed a bottle in CeCe's face, cutting clean through her cheek. CeCe fled, but one of the attackers chased her. Fearing for her life, she pulled a pair of scissors from her purse with the intent of warding him off, but the man tackled her and was impaled on the scissors and died.

And this week, CeCe was put on trial for murder, despite it obviously being self-defense. The judge in the case condescendingly told her she was wrong to endanger her attacker with scissors, and though evidence was allowed to impugn CeCe's character (she wrote a bad check once), the judge did not allow evidence that showed the attacker was a white supremacist with three prior assault convictions. Facing the prospect of 40 years in prison, CeCe accepted a plea bargain for manslaughter, but that means she will spend 3 and a half years in prison, for the crime of not letting her attacker beat and possibly kill her. Because she is black and he was white. And for extra horror, CeCe is trans, so she will have to spend the time in a men's prison, which means she will almost certainly have worse inflicted on her than the original attacker planned. Our "justice" system has decided openly that black trans woman < white nazi thug.

Hopefully that pisses you off as much as it does me. So, though the chances are slim of things being turned around, there's a few ways to speak up for this brave young woman:

Sign the petition asking for her to be pardoned, and (especially if you're a Minnesota resident) write to the governor asking to fix this gross injustice. Find out more about the efforts to support this young woman here: Support CeCe

But frankly, y'all ... if any comedian or show you watch uses the "offends everyone equally" defense? That thing is definitely the stupidest shit imaginable, and is guaranteed to be unfunny. It is 100% a bullshit defense when someone wants to make fucked-up bigot jokes but doesn't want to be called a bigot. If you ever use that defense you're either malicious or extremely naive. In the hopes that anyone reading this is just naive, I'll explain:

People don't all start on a level playing field, so "offending everyone equally" is inherently more damaging to certain groups because they started out already being systematically oppressed. It's not genuinely funny or edgy, it's just mimicing the same goddamn bigotries that are already there. Plus? When they make a joke about the white straight cis male character? He's not going to be taken by the audience as representative of his entire race/sexuality/gender/sex, but a minority character WILL.

Does that mean someone can't ever make a joke about race/sex/sexuality/gender identity/religion/etc.? Fuck no! But the people who are genuinely good at "edgy" humor like that? They never have to fall back on bullshit like "I offend everyone equally!" because they fucking know how to make jokes without hurting minorities. There's a handy little phrase: "Punch up, not down". That is, if your edgy humor tackles the people and systems that are in power over others, then it comes out funny and empowering because you're taking on a strong opponent that stresses out a lot of people who need some humorous relief. If your "edgy" humor tackles minority groups who are already less powerful than you and your target audience, then you're just being a fucking bully.

Anyway, just wanted to get that shit off my chest because if I saw one more person defending South Park or Family Guy with that stupid argument I was gonna scream.

Blame  kokuhane for this, since I took it from him. ~|3

Pinkie Pie:
[x] You’re the black sheep of the family.
[ ] You’re majorly hyper.
[ ] You love to siiiing! (even if I'm off-key! xD)
[ ] You’re known for throwing great parties!
[ ] You’re great at baking.
[x] People sometimes don’t get your jokes.
[ ] You’re a prankster troll.
[ ] You’re a super-intense personality.
[x] You have/had strange pets.
[x] You are known to go to extremes.
Total: 4
Applejack:
[x] You’re very stubborn.
[ ] You find great joy in working.
[ ] You prefer the country to the city.
[ ] You speak with an accent.
[ ] You HATE cheating.
[ ] You have freckles.
[x] You prefer casual wear rather than formal things.
[x] You wear your hair in (a) ponytail(s).
[ ] You have a large family.
[ ] You have trouble lying.
Total: 3
Twilight Sparkle:
[x] You have a huge collection of books.
[x] You value your alone time.
[x] You have trouble making friends.
[x] You are very intelligent.
[ ] You write letters regularly.
[ ] You find a lesson in everything.
[x] You have trouble doing things “the old-fashioned way.”
[ ] You’ve recently moved to a new town.
[x] You’re rather sarcastic.
[x] You’re often accused of being a know-it-all.
Total: 7
Rarity:
[ ] You love being the center of attention.
[x] You have a cat.
[ ] You sew well.
[ ] It’s well-known that you’re somewhat vain.
[ ] You love the excitement of the city!
[x] You will overwork yourself to do something nice for your friends.
[x] You wear makeup.
[x] You’re prone to whining.
[ ] You have original taste in fashion.
[ ] You enjoy bonding with your besties.
Total: 4
Rainbow Dash:
[ ] You love winning.
[ ] You like sports.
[ ] You have a funky hair color.
[x] You have fangirl tendencies.
[ ] You have no problem speaking your mind.
[ ] You will give up anything for your friends.
[x] You like being recognized for good things.
[x] You have no problem defying traditional gender-roles.
[ ] You act now, think later.
[ ] You’re very brave.
Total: 3
Fluttershy:
[x] You HATE being the center of attention.
[x] You struggle with sharing your mind.
[x] You love animals and help them however you can.
[ ] You’re graceful.
[x] You’re very quiet or soft-spoken.
[x] You have a secret mean-streak.
[x] You’ve been told you could model. (for embarrassing places -3-;;)
[ ] You’re the eldest of your friends.
[x] You like wearing your hair loose and long.
[ ] You’re very nurturing
Total: 7

So, looks like I'm FlutterSparkle? ~|3

Especially 1:34. ~X3

So, my friend  zero-shift has a podcast called Zero Point, where he takes a rather interesting approach to game reviews: He only reviews new series, things that don't have a million sequels and name recognition to fall back on, and gives his thoughts on how they did and if it has the makings of a memorable game. His episodes are in a nice, not-too-long, not-too-short format, and his ideas are always interesting and engaging, and of course he's got that great voice. So far he's done four episodes:

Intro to Zero Point
El-Shaddai
Ashura's Wrath
Vanquish

Go check them out and watch him for more!

Interesting how Google and all the other companies are up in arms about this new bill like they were about SOPA ... maybe because this bill gives the companies immunities and sells out individual rights. Fuckers.

Anyway, everyone should help speak out against this frightening thing and contact your congresspeople if you live in the US.

My favorite part was referencing the time-freezing power from Out of this World. ~X33

And it was actually very good!

What I liked:

- Aside from some awful shakey-cam stuff in the beginning, the film was well-shot, and very pleasing to the eye.
- The kids were all good actors and it was very easy to relate to. Katniss and Rue were especially awesome. I cried more than once. T3T
- The social commentary was weapons grade and laser-guided. Unlike other "innocent people forced to fight to the death" movies, it focused less on the standard "OMG the brutality of humanity" theme and more on the oppression of the poor, and it did so without being preachy. The social setup of the Capitol and the Districts, and the way the attitudes of the people were portrayed, were all very real feeling.

And, there's nothing that really stands out as unlikeable about it. The shakey-cam part was bad, but I understand WHY they did it (it fits the mood of the scene) but I was glad when it ended. Also, the running time is fucking beastly (two and a half hours) but thankfully there was no part where I felt that it was dragging, and it honestly didn't feel like two and half hours.

I wouldn't say that it's like a masterpiece, but I enjoyed it very much. Overall, I say go see it. Now I have to read the books so I know what happens. ~:(

A few days ago I wrote a journal about an 11-year-old trans girl being abused by German courts, and asked you all to sign a petition to support her, and people were awesome about it!

Well, someone sent me a link about a petition for a trans-rights bill in Canada, that's getting ignored in favor of more sensational news. So, if anyone has a moment you might want to check it out and add a signature. Couldn't hurt, right?

Hey, y'all! Taking a moment from getting pissed off about social issues to say that  reddyeno5 is having an interesting raffle for characters in a group pic, so why don't you all check it out? It's here:

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3276145/

Check out that yummy gallery, too! ~80