Quote from a five-year old post, now removed from its previous location...
This all sounds like something else Iāve encountered in recent months: companies in the entertainment market trying to ENGINEER their fan-base. The worst of this is Lucasfilm, who use inflammatory language and sweeping false accusations of sexism and racism to try and drive away the existing STAR WARS fan community so that it can be replaced by a fandom more to their liking; a fandom that accepts, without question, the new āOrderā of the most recent movies. Remember āNew Cokeā? I donāt - but maybe it never got to the UK, in the wake of the outrage in the US when that particular product was released.
Five years ago, I watched a lot of shit. Followed several shit people, with idiotic opinions and "sources" they could never verify. Yeah, the guys who told us EVERY FKING WEEK that someone involved with Star Trek or Star Wars was about to be fired - and it NEVER happened.
And then, I realised what kind of awful sh8stains those "content creators" were, as the became more and more extreme in their positions, and more willing to just come out and say what they thought. I saw some of the other content one of them produced on a.... questionable platform - and there was no doubt in my mind that that masked individual, with his fascistic trappings openly on display, was the same masked individual whose... "stories" about genre media I had been following.
I am sorry I was so naive, so trusting of people simply not desrving of the attention. I let down fandoms I had been proud to be a part of, for longer than many of those "creators" have been alive.
I'm glad I came back to this blog this evening, saw what I'd written in the past, and chose not to let it stand in its previous form. If there's ANYTHING "wrong" about current popular media, it's that these... people have an audience.
...deep breath...
Okay, that's done. Keep your eyes and ears open, my friends - and your minds even more open. Learn to spot and recognise shit, and you won't trample dog crap into someone else's carpet.
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Soooo... my recent No Manās Sky experience: get enough Quicksilver to buy a Void Egg, and start working towards a Living Ship. Every so often, we get a āwait for -insert component- to matureā message, and a wait of about a day, interrupting your play experience and getting in the way of other stuff, such as collecting extracted resources, and repairing damaged frigates...
If youāre REALLY unlucky, like I was, you get one stage of the thread that REALLY fks with you, sending you tunnelling for 1000+ u through mountainsides on an EXTREME ENVIRONMENT EXTREME SENTINEL world to reach your objective. You overcome that, you move on... you get time-gated again. I worked through all that until the Egg wants to go through a Portal (I worked that out before looking it up) - but I donāt know much about Portals, and how to make them work. HOWEVER, I have a quest line about Portals already, so maybe I can get the knowledge and Portal location I need through that...
Uh uh.
It wanted me to make a particular piece of equipment, so I did, grabbing the materials from the already substantial stockpile on my freighter...
...but the game wants me to go step by step, collecting the materials on the way...
...and the locations it gives me are all fucked up. I am now stuck, and getting near to a Rage Uninstall Condition. ARGH.
I have submitted a bug report, and hope for a fix. I did this before for a āstuck inside a volcanoā glitch, and that got me out. Please, save me...
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Or better still, letās dissect this āstatementā, and explore it for what it really is. A desperate attempt to regain footing on the Apple Store, and get back some of that sweet, sweet Apple ca$h.
The statement, in full, screencapped for your... āenjoymentā (ooops, better be careful what we say, incase it triggers some newly-installed content-bot):-
Okay, I think we can all agree that the exploitation of children is abhorrent, and should be combatted wherever it is encountered. Thatās a common sense position. HOWEVER, dealing with such material should NEVER be placed in the āhandsā of automated systems, which are NOTORIOUS for tripping over themselves - see YouTube for the most glaring example of this. Properly trained, educated moderators and other support staff can pretty much tell at a glance what is and isnāt the hideous material we all want removed - and dealt with by the relevant authorities.
However, you said it yourselves:
QUOTE: āWeāre relying on automated tools to identify adult content...ā
Oh DEAR. I think we can see how this is going.
In all honesty, I donāt find the āNew Tumblrā to be āthe most welcoming environmentā. I donāt come here for sexually explicit material, but any environment that practices EXCLUSION, for any reason other than upholding THE LAW, is trying to tell us how to think, what is and isnāt acceptable. And thatās NOT your job.
Itās not āwide open creative expressionā if you restrict what form that expression can take. That sure as hell (am I allowed to say that?) doesnāt sound like ālove and hope for our communityā - itās more like ālove for our standing with The Great God Appleā and āhope that we make heaps and heaps of MONEY with your app on their Storeā.
And no, I will not put my data, my personal information and my standing in jeopardy to line the pockets of some āsites on the internet that feature adult contentā.
(*** 14-03-24: bullshit redacted. I will address this in a future post. ***)
I could go on and on - and maybe I will elsewhere. It certainly wonāt be here, thatās for sure.
REDACTED OBJECT: Code-Name BOREAS MAUVE; extracted from Foundation records as requested...
- Dr. Vendredi
Object Class: Eculid Neutralised (Provisional)
Special Containment Procedures: Prior to its disappearance, and the disappearance of BOREAS MAUVE-2 (see Incident Report BOREAS MAUVE -Exodus), BOREAS MAUVE was contained by a limited personnel presence forming a loose perimeter around the site of the object's discovery. The site's cover story was that it was a site of special scientific interest, with public access being strongly discouraged to prevent disturbing sensitive wildlife.
Any members of the public venturing inside the above perimeter were detained by plain clothes security staff, and strongly reprimanded before being released.
Security cameras were installed in the main area of the site, focussing on BOREAS MAUVE and its path of movement, with the consent of BOREAS MAUVE-2, and remain in operation by order of Project Director ---------- to document the possible return of BOREAS MAUVE and/or BOREAS MAUVE-2.
Description: BOREAS MAUVE was discovered by police from --------, --, whilst investigating BOREAS MAUVE-2's suspected involvement in acts of theft and criminal damage in the town. BOREAS MAUVE-2 had been interviewed at the local precinct, and had been fully forthcoming and compliant, denying any involvement in criminal activity. BOREAS MAUVE-2 was unwilling to provide the address of his place of residence, and officers followed the subject into the nearby woods, where the cave system containing BOREAS MAUVE was found. Monitoring Facility Mockingbird intercepted communications between the discovering officers and state police, and Mobile Task Force Omicron-72 "Holy Rollers" were deployed to secure the area. BOREAS MAUVE-2 greeted Foundation personnel on their arrival, and offered no resistance, telling personnel "The Siet-Aramn has been expecting you."
BOREAS MAUVE is a ovoid mass of unidentified mineral material, smooth and unreflective black in appearance, measuring 1.5 metres along its long axis, and 0.85 metres in diameter along its short axis. The object is in constant movement, rolling end over end at a constant speed of 0.88 metres per second along a perfectly circular path 23.7 metres in diameter, moving in a clockwise direction and wearing a groove currently 8 cm deep in the stone floor of the chamber. Attempts to impede this movement are not recommended, as the object will continue along its path no matter what obstacle or obstacles are placed in its path, pushing the obstruction aside or destroying it, and BOREAS MAUVE-2 has advised against "trying to stop the Siet-Aramn from completing its ordained orbits".
Whilst displaying no signs of wear, or any susceptibility to physical damage, BOREAS MAUVE generates a small volume of fine black dust, hereafter designated BOREAS MAUVE-1. The object's primary anomalous effect becomes evident when this dust enters the human body - see BOREAS MAUVE-2.
BOREAS MAUVE-2 is a Caucasian human male of United States citizenship, aged 57 years, who was encountered in the chamber occupied by BOREAS MAUVE on initial discovery. This individual has been identified as Thomas James Caldicott, former United States Air Force, who left the service on medical grounds after a distinguished career and seeing action in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. The most recent medical records available indicated that Caldicott had entered a significant, life-threatening physical and mental decline, suffering from severe liver and kidney damage as a result of sustained abuse of methylated spirits and other alcohol-based liquids not intended for human consumption, but no traces of any anatomical damage were recorded by medical examination of BOREAS MAUVE-2, carried out with the subject's ready consent.
On closer examination, BOREAS MAUVE-2 was found to have a small quantity of BOREAS MAUVE-1 in his blood-stream, and accumulated in his brain, muscle and lymphatic tissue. In addition to their natural functions, tissues thus affected appear to be adapted to filter other harmful contaminants out of BOREAS MAUVE-2's system, and maintain the whole body in peak physical condition. Experiments with D-Class personnel (see Experimental Logs BOREAS MAUVE/D- BOREAS MAUVEA and BOREAS MAUVE/D- BOREAS MAUVEB) and BOREAS MAUVE-2's own testimony have indicated that only a single exposure to this substance is sufficient for its effects to commence.
The majority of currently accumulated information concerning the origins and nature of BOREAS MAUVE and its effects come from interviews with BOREAS MAUVE-2 conducted by Director ----------, and transcribed in Appendix BOREAS MAUVE-Alpha.
Appendix BOREAS MAUVE-Alpha:
Transcript of interview with BOREAS MAUVE-2 and Director ----------.
Director: Thank you for agreeing to this interview... Mr Caldicott? Or maybe I should call you Captain?
BOREAS MAUVE-2: Sounds like you know my military record. Mister's fine - the other... well, I don't have particularly good memories from the last time someone referred to me by my Air Force title.
(Discussion of BOREAS MAUVE-2's history prior to discovering BOREAS MAUVE omitted for brevity)
Director: So, I guess that brings us to the real matter in question - BOREAS MAUVE, which you've previously referred to as the "Siet-Aramn".
BOREAS MAUVE-2: (nods) No time like the present. Where'd you wanna start?
Director: At the beginning. Tell me how you found the object.
BOREAS MAUVE-2: Okay... I'd just stumbled upon (-), but I was in too bad a shape to put up with police trouble, or the self-righteous town NIMBYs. My guts really hurt - that was the sterno - and I just wanted to find somewhere to lay my head, get just a few minutes of sleep. I came across a cave opening, went in, found it went deeper than I expected. Got it into my head that maybe someone coulda got lost down there, and I might find their wallet, some jewellery...
Director: Enough to buy you the next drink?
BOREAS MAUVE-2: Yeah, pretty much. You're that desperate, you'll tear down the walls of Heaven itself for a sip of something. Even if that something could very easily kill you. Ye gods, the stuff I've drunk in my time...
Director: And then, you found the object...?
BOREAS MAUVE-2: (chuckles) Yeah. Came to a cave with a pretty flat floor, and there it was, rolling along its path, grinding a rut in the rock. Not for one second did I go "Hold on, what the fuck is this? I better get outta here!" I just went, heh, ain't hurtin' me none, so I just found a spot to lie down, and before I knew it, I was asleep. There was something... soothing, I guess, about the sound of the Siet-Aramn rolling along.
Director: And when you woke up...?
BOREAS MAUVE-2: Wasn't as straightforward as that. It all started while I was sleeping. I had... wouldn't call it a dream, as such. More of a... well, a vision. I knew I was asleep, but everything I saw, and felt - all so... real.
Director: Tell me what you saw.
BOREAS MAUVE-2: I... I was flying through what had to be space, real Star Wars like, stars blurring and stretching out around me. Next moment, I stop dead, and I'm hanging there in space, looking into a patch of the purest black I've ever seen. Now, my plan for the tail-end of my time with the Air Force had always been to try out with NASA, maybe get to the moon, or Mars - in the end, wasn't gonna happen, but I'd still read up on space, astronomy, and this thing looked a whole heap like what you'd expect a black hole to look like.
I barely had time to work out what I was seeing before I started... "falling", diving down towards this dusty grey planet, with oily black clouds stretched across it, kinda like the bands on the surface of Jupiter. Without slowing, I came down to ground level, then down into tunnels, carved deep into the planet - twisting, winding tunnels that eventually came to a great big dome-shaped cavern. In there were dozens of Siet-Aramn, all moving in their own circles, some clockwise, others anticlockwise, never touching. They were all moving around a larger, stationary version of a Siet-Aramn... the Akul-Siet. The First And Greatest.
Director: How did you come to know these names?
BOREAS MAUVE-2: I was just getting to that. As I watched the Akul-Siet, I could actually see that it was rotating on the spot, very slowly, clockwise, and... and knowledge just... appeared in my mind. "Akul-Siet, the life-blood manifest of existence; the shadow between stars. Siet-Aramn, the drops of blood shed to bring life into the universe..."
Director: It sounds as though you're describing dark matter, or what theoretical physicists would refer to as such.
BOREAS MAUVE-2: I guess you could say that, yes.
Director: And these... droplets of dark matter, they possess intelligence? Their ability to communicate would seem to indicate-
BOREAS MAUVE-2: I didn't say that anyone, or anything, spoke to me. It was... a kind of communication unlike anything I've known before. Maybe no-one has ever felt it before. It was... was kinda like music - y'know how a particular chord can "pluck at your heartstrings"?
Director: I believe I do. Maybe similar to the sensation of someone "walking over your grave"?
BOREAS MAUVE-2: Yeah - something you feel, or experience, but it bypasses your senses. You "feel" it simply because it's there, it exists.
The interview continues from BOREAS MAUVE-2 waking from his "dream-state", and discovering the anomalous effects of BOREAS MAUVE. He documents at length his increased vigour, restored physical and mental health, and subsequent interactions with the populace of the town of --------, Maryland. BOREAS MAUVE-2 routinely runs the 11 miles to town and back every day, and engages in casual work as a convenience store bagging clerk, an assistant in a local thrift store and provides free bicycle repairs and maintenance for the community. He is generally well-regarded by the populace, although some suspicion has arisen surrounding his inability to provide a home address, leading to the involvement of local law enforcement and the discovery of BOREAS MAUVE.
Experimental Log BOREAS MAUVE/D-BOREAS MAUVE A:
D-Class test subject entered BOREAS MAUVE chamber, and remained there for 162 minutes, 11 seconds, having been welcomed and offered Ā refreshment by BOREAS MAUVE-2. Subsequent blood tests confirmed presence of BOREAS MAUVE-1 in subject's system, and following a standard rest period, D-BOREAS MAUVE A reported increased vitality and bodily health, and described a dream-like experience matching the one detailed by BOREAS MAUVE-2.
Attempts to purge BOREAS MAUVE-1 from D-BOREAS MAUVE A's body were unsuccessful. D-BOREAS MAUVE A terminated.
Experimental Log BOREAS MAUVE/D-BOREAS MAUVE B:
Test Subject D- BOREAS MAUVE B spent 18 days in medical isolation, until sufficient blood had been collected to perform a full-volume transfusion. Subject was then sent to BOREAS MAUVE's chamber, and remained there for 143 minutes, 28 seconds. BOREAS MAUVE-2 acknowledged the presence of D-BOREAS MAUVE B, but did not engage in conversation - during the whole experimental period, BOREAS MAUVE-2 was only seen to shake his head, and walk away.
On return to the testing facility, and following a standard rest period, D-BOREAS MAUVE B began to manifest the expected effects of exposure to BOREAS MAUVE-1, and also experiencing the previously recorded dream-state. D- BOREAS MAUVE B was then thereafter subjected to a full-volume blood transfusion, using the collected blood. All continuous anomalous effects ceased, and the subject returned to baseline condition, with the exception of any and all previously recorded medical conditions, eliminated by the presence of BOREAS MAUVE-1 in the subject's body.
Appropriate amnestics were applied to D-BOREAS MAUVE B, and the subject was returned to the active D-Class staff pool, following a standard period of quarantine.
Addendum: At the end of Experiment BOREAS MAUVE/D-BOREAS MAUVE B, BOREAS MAUVE-2 approached site security and requested that they pass on the following message to Director ----------: "At least you let that poor boy live this time. Maybe there's hope for you after all."
Incident Report BOREAS MAUVE/Exodus:
On --/--/20--, the presence of a previously unrecorded shadowy shape - designated BOREAS MAUVE-3 - was detected in BOREAS MAUVE's chamber by the on-site security cameras at --:-- hours. BOREAS MAUVE-2 approached BOREAS MAUVE-3 , nodded respectfully, and is reported to have said "So, it's time, I guess." Ā BOREAS MAUVE-3 then approached BOREAS MAUVE, extended a humanoid upper limb towards the object, and touched it. The camera feed was interrupted for 28 seconds, and when transmission resumed, BOREAS MAUVE, BOREAS MAUVE-2 and BOREAS MAUVE-3 had disappeared.
Mobile Task Force Omicron-72 were immediately dispatched to secure the site, but no trace of BOREAS MAUVE or its related entities were recovered, apart from BOREAS MAUVE-2's personal belongings.
Following this incident, all collected instances of BOREAS MAUVE-1 have lost all anomalous properties, and now appear to all scientific tests to be nothing more than finely powdered graphite.
Additional: Incident Report BOREAS MAUVE/Ararat:
On --/--/20--, a report was received by the Foundation concerning an engagement between local military and members of a pseudo-religious group referred to as "The Daughters of Siet-Aramn" in the -------- region of Northern India. Military forces suffered -- fatalities and -- serious casualities, and all opposition forces were eliminated.
The opposing force appears to have been comprised of six adult females, ages between 16 and 43 years, all reported as possessing "exceptional speed, agility and resistance to injury". Local sources are reported as saying that the 16-year-old female was known to them, and had been born without lower legs. The body recovered had its full compliment of fully functional limbs.
Further details are very limited, but further investigations revealed a chamber at the centre of the group's compound with a 19.3 meter diameter perfect circle carved into the floor. No object matching the description of BOREAS MAUVE was reported, or recovered.
BOREAS MAUVE/Ararat - Supplemental
On --/--/20--, Project Director --------- received an envelope containing photocopies of documents recovered from the site of Incident BOREAS MAUVE/Ararat, supplied by persons unknown. These documents are hand-written, and are mainly in the local dialect, but some passages are written in English. These read:
"The Siet-Aramn calls, and we answer."
"Siet Drachnae awaits. We stand guard in readiness for her coming."
"We shed our blood for The Blood. We shall not be found wanting."
"The Siet prepare for the time of rising. Longbow has sent us the word."
According to Director ----------, "Longbow" was the call-sign used by BOREAS MAUVE-2 during that individual's time in the United States Air Force.
Here, I will explain the whole idea surrounding āDr. Vendrediā and their relationship with the SCP Foundation, or lack thereof, mirroring my own decision to not be bothered anymore about trying to get any SCPs on the official wiki, or the RPC Authority. If I can get the damn thing rendered, I have a video that goes into my experiences on the SCP Wiki, and how I just gave up trying.
Here, I will publish what the Foundation has ālostā, or had secretly extracted from their database...
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No longer coughing up stuff the colour of a 70s bathroom suite? CHECK
(Presently) not sweltering to semi-death in unrelenting and gods-damned unnatural heat for this part of the world? CHECK
Guess itās time to try and be creative again.
This summer has not gone according to plan. So far, I have made only minimal progress with the cosplay I had planned for ComicCon in May, but I HAVE been tinkering with Worbla scraps for another project or two - when Iām not getting called away for some stupid reason or another, and falling asleep in my chair after...
Sometimes, it feels as though Iām the only person on Earth who doesnāt get to do what THEY want. Of course, Iām far from alone in feeling that... but...
This week coming, I FINALLY get to go and see ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, after a solid monthās delay thanks to the fking World Cup. On that day, I get to put some distance between me and my troubles for a while, and hopefully I will return with a refreshed outlook.
I may even manage to throw together a video on my attempts to get an SCP āpublishedā. Fun story, that...
To the rest of the world, itās July. Me? I havenāt even managed to achieve escape velocity from May yet.
Iāve been ill. Con-flu - followed by some post-viral semi-chest-infection that STILL hasnāt entirely cleared. Zero cosplay progress has been made, but thatās going to change - IF I get the chance.
Yup, my cosplay plans for MCM ComicCon this month have been put on hold.
I really wanted to get this done, but Iāve come to a point, with just one full week left to go, where Iāve realised thereās very little chance Iāll get everything done, and a 100% chance Iāll be so stressed out I wonāt even manage to get the outfit to the venue, Iāll be that strung out by the immensity of what Iām trying to do.
Hanging out the washing this morning, out in a nice stretch of sunny weather, I realised the sacrifice would be too great. I remembered from last year how my plans were curtailed by a combination of the weather and not enough water in my system, and just how easy it is to cause things to come apart when you could avoid the stress. Iām come so far with this project that I CANāT screw it up with so much done, so much time and money invested - so Iām not even going to try to ābull-rushā the whole thing.
I get it right, or I donāt do it at all. Easy enough words to live by, but not always so easy to put into practice.
This ISNāT a defeat. Itās a strategic withdrawal. Defeat is only a true defeat when you acknowledge thatās what it is, and I sure as hell aināt there yet. NO WAY.
The target is now Glasgow ComicCon, in (?) September. Maybe by that time, Iāll have learned how to make gloves properly. I may even have claws...
On the 22nd of this month, it will be the 20th anniversary of the first ever time I pushed myself to do something that, for me, was momentous. I want to try and achieve something like that again.
Okay, I have my weekend pass and hotel booked for MCM ComicCon at the end of the month. Iām yet to make a final decision on transport, but I think Iāll most likely repeat previous trips in that respect - it works.
Cosplay Status: I have all my materials, possibly except for belt(s). Individual components are as follows...
- Headpiece: Construction almost complete. Securing the two pieces together this evening. Some strengthening may still be needed, but at least I ātook the plungeā.
The earrings have received their first undercoat, and will most likely be first under the spray can. I have all the necessary fixings to attach them to the headpiece.
- Breastplate: The real sticking point. I have a rough idea how to proceed, but construction really needs to kick off ASAP.
- Lower body armour: The āskirtā panels are almost ready for undercoating, and now that I have my faux leather, Iām pretty much clear to start on the ābelt loopsā. The abdomen plate is all but ready for undercoating, too, but the crotchpiece is another no-show at this time. I have a clear plan how to make it work, however.
- Painting in general: Iāll need a dry weekend.
- Under-suit: I have it, but Iām still to try it on. Alterations are still going to be needed...
- Gloves: I have roughed out a pattern. I will be taking the plunge on this very soon.
- Boot covers: needing started. I have the material, and zips.
- Make-up: Holy crap, where do I BEGIN with this...?
I have, at the very most, three weeks. Three weeks, and a near-total inability to organise my time. I am now wholly committed to the project, so I better get my ass in gear!
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Anyone following me on Twitter https://twitter.com/AceOfThorns will be seeing my ComicCon cosplay taking shape. Iāve been so busy just making it that Iāve not really documented the process as much as Iād like, but Iāll be rectifying that here in the next few days.
The āannouncementā:- https://twitter.com/AceOfThorns/status/986295945028612096
So, I ended up having no choice. Today, after that stupid update 1709 not only failed to install, but also caught my PC in a rebooting loop, I had to reinstall Windows. And reinstall all my software (not yet completed). And mourn the loss of a bunch of saved games...
