I Am Queer First and That's Enough

Did some early arcade games cause people to suffer hallucinations, memory loss, and short-term personality changes? Yes, they did – because many folks who played them were experiencing close range exposure to bright, rapidly flashing lights for the first time in their lives, and – at the time – public awareness of photosensitive epilepsy was practically nonexistent. Most who had it were undiagnosed, and its symptoms often weren’t recognised when they arose – and if you have no idea what photosensitive epilepsy is, those symptoms might look a lot like alien mind control!

Were early video arcades frequented by serious-looking men in dark suits? Again, yes they were – because they were suspected of being money-laundering fronts for illegal gambling rings, and thus were routinely placed under federal surveillance. And those suspicions weren’t unfounded – it later transpired that many early video arcades were, in fact, money-laundering fronts for illegal gambling rings.

Did arcade cabinets with strange titles and indecipherable gameplay quietly pop up in out-of-the-way places, then vanish shortly thereafter, never to be seen again? Absolutely – because a thriving black market in off-brand bootlegs arose almost immediately. Quality control was nonexistent, so many such cabinets had operational lifespans measured in weeks, and you’d most often see them in arcades with poor locations simply because they were cheap.

they're expected back this upcoming weekend

I just spent ten days in my childhood home to keep an eye on things

I have hidden 100 small yellow ducks all over the house

They just came home after a friend's birthday party and I'm guessing went straight to bed, because my dad just sent a photo to the family group chat of the duck I placed on his bed with only the caption "thank you 😘" which makes me suspect they haven't found any of the others yet. Or noticed that this one has a number on the bottom.

He did not appreciate it when I told him about zookeepers throwing a pumpkin full of meat into a tiger enclosure.

My mother, on the other hand, thinks the whole thing is hilarious. She loves the ducks. She has accepted the ducks. She's sad that my dad insists on collecting the ducks because she thinks they should just stay where they are and become part of the decor. "I reckon I will find them when I find them," she says. I told her that I had to replace one because the original number 4 dropped on the tiles and got decapitated and she thinks I should dramatically stage it next time I visit.

I did spend a night at the house last week because I didn't want to get stuck at a train station at 11pm on a Sunday, and my dad insisted that I must have lied or misremembered when I told him there were a total of 4 ducks in his office, because he has found 3 and is absolutely adamant that there can't be another one (there is. It's in a box of paperclips in the drawer that he likes to keep half-open to rest documents on. It's even visible if you look down at it).

I also told them about the incident with our neighbour and that I had deleted the clip from the security camera's app as well as the clip of me heading into the garage with the keys to my dad's classic car (I stuck a duck in front of the speedometer) and they now think I am a criminal mastermind, which is honestly pretty fun considering my extreme lack of coolness in almost all other regards.

I've been looking for a fun/quick little animation sideproject to flex my frame-by-frame muscles, so introducing Margie! A cat-goose dragon based on this little fella from this medieval manuscript

The full saga of Margie and the Nuns (so far). Realised I never compiled these in one place.! Also, bonus Margies!

And now, we get to wonder: what does Dracula do with this, an empty ship and the last (barely) living morsel aboard? I imagine he now constantly walks abroad. Idling. Chatting. Thanking the captain so kindly for the fine cuisine on his cruise. Maybe he feigns ignorance over whether he was thoughtful enough to snap the men’s necks before he dumped the corpses overboard or if, silly him, he forgot to gift them euthanasia and they are now all waterlogged undead, stalking along the ocean floor, gnawing sea life as they trudge in search of a shore. 

Because Dracula being Dracula, he won’t resist a good slow knife twist when it’s down to a one-on-one intimate sadism session. 

@nooby-banana​ what do you think is worse?

A) Dwelling underwater, crushed by the pressure, unable to die, but able to starve, preying desperately on the frightened marine life as you scramble for each other’s company in the sunless gloom like a school of bloodsucking fish?

B) All of the above, but trailing after your ship, collecting more of your fellows as you go, until the living first mate plunges over the edge, thinking himself safe in drowning–only to find your teeth waiting?

C) All of the above, but finally, eventually, finding a moonlit shore to lurch up to, all brine and cold blood, following the ghost of an old sailor’s instinct–you have landed, and you wish for a drink. A seaside tavern is not a home. It needs no invitation as it glows against the night. Welcome, welcome, where have our old favorites been so long? We thought you dea–