Back From Hades

if you've made replies on posts there is now a tab on your blog showing every post youve replied to and your reply.

if this is not what you want, either go to your blog and click comments and disable it from there or just go to your individual blogs setting pages. just change it from blue to grey if you dont want everyone to see your replies AND the post you're replying to

PLEASE BE ADVISED that it is set to disabled for blogs that have not made any replies but it will turn ON if you reply with that blog in the future.! i just tested it with my main, which was greyed out but it turned on the moment i left a test reply

so couple of clarifications. comments are disabled as default for primary blogs that have their likes disabled. they are seemingly enabled for all other blogs that have replied to posts

I would never pay money for a redbox. if you ask politely and are very very persistent (i.e. annoying) they will let you take it away

here's my dad and i taking it away

luckily there are no shortage of freaks like us who will just take them away on our own volition. we did it all "by the book", too: we set up cones and caution tape, disconnected electricity properly, used an angle grinder to grind down the bolts in the concrete so nobody would trip on them, then cleaned everything up afterward and sealed off the electrical panel so the store would know everything is safe and tidy. though they were hesitant when we were first contacting them, they were honestly very relieved and grateful when we finally took it away, especially once they saw that we "knew what we were doing" (we don't) and look like we've "done this before" (we haven't).

the fun part: the reason why this redbox, in particular, was completely full and unraided is because the computer hardware inside had failed some months before the bankruptcy, and a failing company sure as hell wasn't gonna send a tech out to our podunk dipshit city to fix it, so it was impossible to rent movies or take any discs out. plus, for who knows how long, people were returning old redbox discs to this machine and not taking any out, leading to a much higher variety of movies than your average redbox.

there is a thriving community of redbox hackers and modders out there, as well, creating open-source software for repurposing the machines and not letting their very interesting and robust disc-management hardware go to waste. this one belongs to my brother (who was very annoying persistent and did all the legwork of contacting managers and securing permission) who is a programmer by trade and will be hacking it into a family-access movie library, with whatever discs we want. i mean the machine is completely weatherproof and has a built-in AC unit, it would be such a waste to not try to turn it into something cool.

if we get another one, i'm gonna try to mod it into some sort of art or zine vending machine. the disc boxes are just the right size for small print art or stickers. would make a great "little free library" too.

I hate to do this, but if anyone is generous enough and willing to buy a commission over at my VGen I would greatly appreciate it ;;

And for folks who are not able to buy a commission on VGen, I also have Patreon available with cheap tiers as an alternative.

This along with the recent pigeon nesting in the owl box also freaking the parents out gives me questions

Why not just eat the intruder ? Or at least just yeet it out of the nest ?

I know close-up vision for owls is absolutely GARBAGE, which is why they were ignoring that pigeon. and ospreys are basically just giant flying muppets armed with a handful of steak knives each so that doesn't really surprise me

Like first of all, in the actual canon it's pretty vague how she manages to heal him and from what exactly (obviously getting struck by lightning but what specific injury was killing him?).

And then secondly, it would be such a perfectly executed, full-circle moment where this form of bending Katara was forced to learn against her will and that she is scared and ashamed of suddenly becomes something she'll be forever grateful for knowing, maybe even feeling some weird form of thankfulness to Hama for having forced her to learn, because without it she would've lost Zuko. It would be a curse that she turned into a gift, a weapon turned into a tool of healing.

It would parallel how Zuko (and Aang) formed a new, more positive relationship with firebending. Both of them saw fire as destruction and hatred, but learned that it is also a source of life and warmth. In the same way, Katara would learn that bloodbending is not just a means to reach into someones body and take control of them, to take away their agency and autonomy, it is also the gift that allowed her to save the life of her best friend after he sacrificed himself for her.

...

‘You know,’ [Urn] said, turning to Simony. ‘Now I know Vorbis is evil. He burned my city. Well, the Tsorteans do it sometimes, and we burn theirs. It’s just war. It’s all part of history. And he lies and cheats and claws power for himself, and lots of people do that, too. But do you know what’s special? Do you know what it is?’

‘Of course,’ said Simony. ‘It’s what he’s doing to—’

‘It’s what he’s done to you.’

‘What?’

‘He turns other people into copies of himself.’

...

The black-on-black eyes stared imploringly at Brutha, who reached out automatically, without thinking … and then hesitated.

HE WAS A MURDERER, said Death. AND A CREATOR OF MURDERERS. A TORTURER. WITHOUT PASSION. CRUEL. CALLOUS. COMPASSIONLESS.

‘Yes. I know. He’s Vorbis,’ said Brutha. Vorbis changed people. Sometimes he changed them into dead people. But he always changed them. That was his triumph.

He sighed.

‘But I’m me,’ he said.

Terry Pratchett Small Gods (1992)