So Uh….some Dude Apparently Recreated Adobe Photoshop Feature-for-feature, For FREE, And It Runs In

“Got the morbs”

It's very endearing to me how many people are willing to keep an eye on a video feed so they can push a button and let a fish in the Netherlands get to the other side of a dam.

5 simple exercises to awaken dormant muscles

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english: coconut oil

french: :)

english: oh boy

french: oil of the nut of the coco

People who use the word “literally“ for something that can’t be literal is the reason I want man kind to be extinct.

One of the details that gets lost in the transition of manga-to-anime for Fullmetal Alchemist, is the overt presence of foreign language. For example, the Xingese characters actually regularly speak Xingese amongst each other. While they aren’t the only example of foreign language being spoken, they are the most prominent. In the anime, every character no matter what race or what country they are from, speaks the same language as a translation convention. The only real hints that there are other languages present are very minor, like the fact that Ling wrote his message to Lan Fan completely in Kanji and that no one outside of them could read it. 

However, the manga has an interesting convention to denote that foreign language is being spoken, by giving every foreign language speech bubbles that are horizontal instead of vertical. This is lost slightly even when the manga gets translated because in Japanese, the vertical speech bubbles also have vertically typeset dialogue which help better distinguish the languages. Nonetheless, the speech bubble shapes are very distinct. When Ling talks to Ed, his speech bubbles are all vertical

As are Lan Fan’s

But look at Fu’s thought bubbles here and compare them to Paninya and Al’s vertical bubbles. They’re horizontal! Fu is shown to be thinking in his native tongue!

Conversations that we heard all in one language in the anime, were supposed to be in Xingese.

Like Ling, Lan Fan, and Fu on the roof.

And Ling speaking with Mei at the end of the final battle.

Its just one of those really neat details Arakawa uses that makes FMA’s world just a bit richer in the manga than what we see in the anime version of the series.

Fun fact: back in 2012, on this very blog, I made a post about American Girl dolls I’d like to see. One included a Black girl growing up during the civil rights movement and listening to Motown music. So yes, I’d love to take credit for Melody. But her actual creation goes back to a tweet someone made that I can’t find a link to right now. AG and the civil rights/motown era is SUCH a natural match, it’s kind of baffling it took until 2016 for Melody to finally come out. Being that she was a part of the “BeForever” line, it’s beyond infuriating that she only got two books.

THE GOOD NEWS IS BeForever was kind of a disaster for AG and they’ve done away with the brand. Claudie was released with Meet Claudie and her next book is Travels with Claudie so she definitely looks like she’s returning to the six book format. I doubt that the other girls released under the BeForever line (Nanea, Maryellen and Courtney) will get their full six books, which makes me so angry. I mean, given that Nanea is kind of specific to JUST pearl harbor, I can sooort of understand her having just two (even though I DEFINITELY think she should have gotten six. Hawaiian history and culture deserve a full six books). Given that Courtney is in the 80s, and a lot of what was controversial in the 80s is still controversial today, I can see how AG would be very very very hesitant to seriously dig into 80s history and politics, although six books in which Ronald Reagan and The Moral Majority are the bad guys would fucking rule. But for Maryellen and Melody it is bullshit of the highest order that they only got 2 books, especially when you consider that Maryellen’s big story is super bland bullshit about her struggling to stand out in her big family and not so much about confronting the sexist and racist cultural bullshit of the 50s. BUT she gets massive bonus points for covering the Salk vaccine (a major turning-point in history that doesn’t get NEARLY the amount of love and attention it deserves) and for having an amazing collection.

Melody being only two books is unforgivable. COMPLETELY UNFORGIVABLE. You cannot fit the enormity of civil rights and Motown and the 60s in general into just two books. All that being said, however, the two books they gave her seem to do a massive job with the tiny bit of space they were given. First of all, the advisory board for Melody is STACKED. Secondly, the trailer for Melody: Love Has to Win is the shit of Ron DeSantis’s nightmares:

A LITTLE BLACK GIRL REFUSING THE SAY THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE AND SAYING THAT AMERICA IS UNJUST?! That’s the sound of millions of pearls being clutched all across the nation. I’m honestly shocked Moms for Liberty weren’t burning Melody’s books in the streets. I am hereby a Melody stan now and forever. I still SINCERELY hope she gets a re-release with her full six books and a much bigger collection. Because for real Melody may be my new favorite doll (although that could change depending on what kind of collection Claudie gets).

Hello! Do you have any favorite fiction works that intentionally address/explore linguistics? (For example, the Arrival movie, or Out of the silent planet)

hmm i don't think i know a ton, but babel is an auto-rec for me (translation magic! also breaks your heart!) and i really enjoyed the original ted chiang story that arrival is based on, "story of your life." ann leckie's imperial radch series does fun things with pronouns too, although linguistics is much less central.

always happy to get recs!

Uncommon Questions for OCs and their creators:

Send me a # (questions for OCs) or a letter (questions for creators) and I’ll answer

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR OCs

What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

How easy is it for your character to laugh?

How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

How easy is it to earn their trust?

How easy is it to earn their mistrust?

Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child

Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?

What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?

What animal do they fear most?

How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

What makes their stomach turn?

Are they easily embarrassed?

What embarrasses them?

What is their favorite number?

If they were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic or familial love, how would they do so?

Why do they get up in the morning? 

How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)? 

How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)? 

 Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom? 

 What are their thoughts on marriage? 

 What is their preferred mode of transportation? 

 What causes them to feel dread? 

 Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth? 

 Do they usually live up to their own ideals? 

 Who do they most regret meeting? 

 Who are they the most glad to have met? 

 Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke? 

 Could they be considered lazy? 

 How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt? 

 How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive? 

Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? 

Do they have a system for remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order (like anagrams, putting things to melodies, etc)? 

What memory do they revisit the most often? 

How easy is it for them to ignore flaws in other people? 

How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

How do they feel about children? 

How badly do they want to reach their end goal? 

If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so? 

QUESTIONS FOR CREATORS

A) Why are you excited about this character? B) What inspired you to create them? C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story? D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look? E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you? F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)? G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most? H) What trait do you admire most? I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe? J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?