Sygol Framed Poll (handle With Care), 2024 Mixed Media On Tumblr Post

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200 Word RPGs 2024

Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.

This is the submission thread for the 2024 event, running from November 1st, 2024 through November 30th, 2024. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.

project hail mary is so good wtf.

ahem. this is a book review, aka me rambling about a book i consumed at light speed because i loved it so much.

Official Title: "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir Just Made Me Cry On My Couch So Now I Must Speak About It

not spoiler free

first off the plot is insane. like, kudos to andy weir for thinking that. ALL THAT. holy SHIT.

second of all, let me talk about ryland grace as a character. he is SUCH a likeable main character it's insane. smart in unique ways, funny, Just Some Dude, a middle school teacher, an astrobiologist. a man who's not afraid to cry or show emotion. a man who is a cinnamon roll of an astronaut. He Is So Amazing And I Love Him

and how could i talk about grace without talking about rocky?? rocky... not going to lie i was very caught off guard when a sentient alien showed up, but he turned out to be so smart and adorable it killed me. also ERIDIANS SPEAK IN MUSICAL CHORDS. THATS SO COOL

(side not: eventually grace was able to tell what chords rocky was speaking without looking at his computer. what i'm saying is that grace basically developed perfect pitch to talk to aliens and i think that's cool of him. my musician heart approves.)

the sheer strength of the friendship between grace and rocky... like, the initial trust that neither will destroy each other, which moves to them working together as scientific partners and friends - best friends because grace has no one else.:. the instinct to protect each other... *screams because hope is real*

ASTROPHAGE. WHAT THE HELL. THEYRE SO COOL. i mean besides the fact that they were actively causing at least two apocalypses - as a concept, a microscopic object (even if it weren't a living thing) that absorbs THAT much energy is just an INSANE concept. and they make neutrinos. like the fucking sun. and they eat star radiation. what the fuck. thank you for the brain food, andy weir

screw stratt for literally jailing grace and sending him to space, however that does not disqualify her from badassery.

DMITRI IS AMAZING also briefly i thought him and grace had a thing. yeah i can't go five fucking minutes without seeing gay people but i don't care. i don't care. ryland grace is mildly bisexual. you hear me?

the hilarious russian people in this book sustained me

a s t ro p h a g e E A T S T A R S

grace's crewmates died but in that time he was alone he never lost hope. humans, huh? (i mean that's probably because he literally lost his entire memory and only recovered it in pieces, but still)

if this were a movie... i have no idea how they would pull that off

somehow this book was very high-stakes while being comforting at the same time?? like yes the ship failing and the taumeba and everything stressed me out, but also alien friends and earth friends. grace had friends in memory and a friend in real time

(his realization that eridians don't know about radiation or relativity... damn. they were living in the dark. but they were doing so quite literally, because they had no way of knowing what was out there. how did they make star maps????)

this book made me like humans a little more

anyway that's all i have to say, for now at least. PLEASE read this book if you like science fiction and little alien guys. (i mean if you read that sentence you've probably read the book, but. k i will stop typing now)

hat kiss:)

*Deltarune intensifies*

Over the course of the campaign gradually drop subtle hints building up to the fact that all the characters are really just children playing pretend. That perilous expedition into the Underdark? It was actually a trip into the musty basement in Sally’s house. The climactic battle at the neck of the Swifthelm river? Just the creek in the woods out back. The dramatic tear-inducing death of Sir Bertram the selfless paladin? Bobby’s family moved and he couldn’t come over anymore.

good bones by maggie smith saturday . give it up for good bones by maggie smith saturday

As an autistic person, all of the above

not-so-friendly reminder to unfollow me if:

u think autism is a disease or illness

u think autism needs to be “cured”

u support Autism Speaks or organizations like it

u “feel bad” for ppl with autism and their families

u think autistic children are a burden to their parents/guardians 

u don’t believe in getting children vaccinated because vaccines “cause autism”

i’m putting together a little list of the short creative writing i’ve written for tumblr. so far i’ve got: april fool’s door saga, Don’t Touch The Pink Stuff, clown meat deli dream, tupperware dream, grinch x tony the tiger fic, scuba horror story, cabin in the words horror story, atheist afterlife, Arcady the Vampire, and my tip jar if you enjoy my writing and want more. am i forgetting anything?

my friend just started watching atla (fucking finally) and he was like “how the fuck is this show apparently appropriate for seven year olds it’s about genocide???!!!?!!?!?!” and like..... the thing is, it’s animated and they don’t swear. there are no explicit depictions of blood or sexual violence. those are the standards by which [american] censors deem something to be a kids’ show. of course, what is and isn’t “appropriate for kids” is extremely arbitrary, because every kid is different, and will react differently to content, but if we are to rate certain media for certain demographics, we need specific guidelines.

we also discussed the fact that the matter of genocide is something that will either go over a young viewer’s head entirely, since they have yet to truly grasp the enormity of that grief & trauma, or, by the time they have reached the age of seven, they are so familiar with genocide and its effects that they would not consider a tv show that centers genocides in its narrative to be out of the ordinary.

(not always, of course, but) typically, you either grow up knowing that you come from genocide survivors (as well as many who did not survive) and that is second nature to you, something you carry with you in your guts and bones and heart, or, by the time you are seven (still a young child), the concept of such brutal atrocities has not yet entered your worldview, and thus you do not grasp what has actually happened to aang, katara, etc. you recognize that aang is “the last,” but you don’t actually understand what that means.

similarly, some children will see depictions of imperialist/colonial violence and immediately understand and relate, because again, it is something they grew up carrying with them; whereas others will simply understand the fire nation to be “the bad guys,” without fully understanding the human effects of their violence.

atla depicts imperialism, colonialism, genocide, poverty, labor camps, ptsd, abuse, etc. but unlike utena (which i just watched, so it’s on my mind) it does not depict sibling incest, it does not depict sexual violence period. sure, atla contains commentary on patriarchal violence, but not in the same way utena does. it’s that britta meme: “I can excuse colonial violence and paternal abuse, but I draw the line at incest!”

and I mean yeah. that makes sense. I read lolita at a very young age (upon my mother’s insistence that it’s time I learn how the world works), but I recognize that sexual violence is considered far more taboo than state/imperial violence, which is, frankly, considered commonplace (especially during bush-era america).

and then there’s a show like adventure time, which does depict taboos such as sexual violence, but is able to get past censors due to the more abstract nature of its storytelling, making it “kid friendly” by virtue of the fact that kids simply wouldn’t pick up on the less “appropriate” elements of the story.

I’m not sure I really have a singular point to make here. I just think the question “how is this [piece of media] apparently ‘for kids’?” can lead to interesting conversations about what forms of violence we deem age-appropriate in our society, why, as well as the ways in which various stories are told, and how audiences react to them. so these are just some scattered thoughts on the matter, based on some conversations I’ve had with friends recently. I think it’s a valuable question to ask, as long as you try to approach the subject from a place of understanding. shrug.