to be clear you SHOULD buy that cast iron pan and you SHOULD buy that knife set and you SHOULD buy that fancy rice cooker and you SHOULD buy that novelty mug. high quality kitchenware is always worth it you’re literally gonna be using that almost every day
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Ok but like. What the fuck is there to do on the internet anymore?
Idk when I was younger, you could just go and go and find exciting new websites full of whatever cool things you wanted to explore. An overabundance of ways to occupy your time online.
Now, it's just... Social media. That's it. Social media and news sites. And I'm tired of social media and I'm tired of the news.
Am I just like completely inept at finding new things or has the internet just fallen apart that much with the problems of SEO and web 3.0 turning everything into a same-site prison?
You're right that the internet is smaller than it used to be, but there's still some cool stuff left in the corners. I'd recommend checking checking out Neocities if you haven't--it's an independent web hosting platform like Geocities of the old web, and there are hundreds of interesting and active pages discoverable both through their search function and through web buttons (links attached to small pictures with the title of a website) within the websites themselves. Here are three examples of web buttons you may find in link pages:
Most Neocities websites have link pages or button collections with anywhere from tens to hundreds of these. Don't be afraid to explore!
If you're looking for something more like a search engine, I can point you towards Marginalia. It's not a particularly smart engine, but it's perfectly usable if you've ever been taught to use search engines back when they were mostly run through keywords instead of full sentence comprehension. There's also an "about" and "tips" section on the front page with more information. The algorithm of Marginalia can be filtered by the user to allow, disallow, or require JavaScript depending on your needs, plus there are filters designed specifically to prioritize web 1.0 sites or mostly text-based ones. It is possible to search for modern websites with it, but it can return websites from just about any decade (since the invention of the web, obviously) so long as they contain the information you're looking for. For example, here are some random interesting sites I've found using Marginalia:
Native Languages of the Americas: Native American Cultures
BASIC HTML COMPETENCY IS THE NEW PUNK FOLK EXPLOSION!
Earthbound Text Labs by Bill Eager
The possibilities for discovery are truly endless.
Now you might want to know about directories. These make browsing for websites easier, but require you to read through and judge which ones to visit, as there aren't algorithms ranking the sites besides the whim of whoever coded the directory. Some of them have themes, others don't. Here are two that I've used:
Yesterlinks Directory
Ichigo Directory
Directories can be harder to come by just by surfing the net, but they aren't impossible to find. Many personal websites have their own directories of interesting sites hidden within them.
Webrings are similar to directories, but are actually more community-based. You have to register your website to be a part of a webring, usually by sending an email to whoever runs it and meeting some kind of entry criteria. For example, my personal website used to be a part of a webring called Sweet Dreams, which was for websites that heavily utilize color palettes and images of cute things, particularly sweets. Webrings will give you access to a widget upon entry that allow visitors and other members to browse between the registered websites in a massive ring, ergo, where the term gets its name. Webrings can have any theme or criteria for entry. If you can make a website about it, you can find a webring for it.
Now, you might be wondering about social media alternatives. I can't offer much, but I can nudge you towards the idea of forums. Here's one I found that could really use some traffic. I also browse a bit on MelonLand forum, which is actually closed right now--it's currently closed on Mondays--but on any other day of the week, you can find a fun community there dedicated to web revival. You can find it through MelonLand's main page. I'd also recommend checking out SpaceHey, which is a MySpace clone that's customizable and easy to use.
I hope this is of some help to you. The internet may feel less magical than it used to be, but that doesn't mean that the spark has completely died out. These types of indie websites need more attention if we ever hope to reverse the damage done to the internet by centralization and corporate interest. People are trying to make the web a cooler place to be, but we're going to have to do the work of finding and interacting with these projects in order to get them off the ground someday.
ALSO you should consider browsing Virtual Pet List and seeing if there are any pet sites you might be interested in playing. There is a whole genre of browser games right under your nose
laughing because i KNOW shane was so precise and textbook perfect when he assembled that campfire.
he set up the most beautiful teepee of sticks that anyone has ever seen and brought out the big guns by also setting up a log cabin arrangement of the thicker logs to make sure they'd have a good burn time on this fire. the mathematical precision in the angles and choice of thickness? gorgeous. stunning. he even shaved off wood shavings for tinder instead of using paper or pre-bought firestarter. if he wasn't afraid of fumbling it and ruining it, he would have used flint. as it is, he got it with one match, and he KNOWS how good this fire creation he just did is.
and yet it is spent on an audience that simply does NOT appreciate any aspect of it because his city kid ass truly might be experiencing a firepit for the first time. ilya has no frame of reference for how sexy shane's firestarting skills display just was.
man just performed a perfect outdoorsy person mating dance and the audience of his performance doesn't have the experience to understand how impressive and sexy and "you should fuck me about it" it was 😔.
ilya already mad firepit time has to happen at all because shane already said no sex on the patio furniture so this planned chunk of time is already a wash and ilya was then so mad about shane immediately going to fuck around with sticks that he didn't pick up on the no being one of the "convince me to say yes" variety 😔
the rituals are intricate, and they are both still very dumb 😔
OH MY GOD DAVID DID THE SAME THING TO YUNA WHEN THEY WERE DATING.
he confessed it later in their relationship together because by that point it was funny that he had tried so hard to impress her with his fire skills at bonfires and hangouts and it just hadn't worked because she just. hadn't really noticed at all. and now it's a playful/teasing thing ("oh? you're building a fire? david, we're already married." "yuna, i'm starting a flirting fire can you come look at it, please?"), and shane who hasn't consciously decided to copy his parents but also hasn't gotten the full story of them dating and WHY they mention david building fires so often (because ewwwww parents being in love which means kissing. GROSS.), but he's seen his mom standing by or sitting and watching and both of them looking so content and happy and his mom teasingly complimenting his dad on how well he builds fires.
and then he tries it on ilya and it just. doesn't work. excuse me, please be impressed by this fire i made. from watching my parents, this is supposed to work. play your part here, please.
and now i'm feeling extra-soft imagining yuna and david coming over one night and seeing shane keep glancing at ilya as he's making the fire and understanding EXACTLY what he's trying to do here.
(and also understanding exactly why it is NOT working for him XD)
LMAOOOO ok but the idea of yuna and david watching shane fail to flirt with ilya via fire starting is so funny to me. like, at this point ilya just probably thinks shane enjoys sitting by the fire since the first time they did that at the cottage it was a very chill experience involving more talking & watching the fire, meanwhile poor shane is like “:( why isn’t ilya swooning and giving me a kissy for being the best fire-starter. why isn’t he trying to show off with his own fire. :( he didn’t even call me Mr. Fire Man or try to chirp me”
and this miscommunicated little circle probably goes NOWHERE until david and yuna go from ‘aw he’s mirroring us this is kinda cute’ to ‘oh shane is getting sad that ilya isn’t flirting back.’ at which point david probably takes ilya aside and is like “ilya. as a member of the family, i want to share some of my secrets for how to start a good fire with you.”
and ilya is of course like “ah! bonding time with david :)” and so david shows his city boy ass some very basic fire starting stuff (because ilya TRULY does not know shit about this 😔) and also tells him some stories about impressing yuna with his fires back when they were dating. ilya is trying to learn well, but he’s not at all thinking about this skill in reference to shane.
UNTIL ☝️ they’re close to finishing and yuna comes over. and she starts the little fire flirting thing with david. “oh my, thats quite an impressive fire.” “well i’ve got someone pretty impressive to impress ;)” and ilya kinda watches from the side like 👀
shane meanwhile is ignoring the fire pit because 1) parents flirting EWWWWW and 2) oh so NOW ilya is interested in fires 😤 hmph he hasn’t even glanced at shane in the last 10 minutes!! …but of course once david and yuna start wrapping up their routine and ilya glances at shane he immediately wanders over to check out how ilya did and also chirp him about how his fire looks and that activates the competitive instinct in ilya.
so the next time shane makes a fire he chirps & compliments it. and shane looks so soft and pleased and is it getting hot near this fire?? wow hollander very sexy~
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hello i just found your oubing art and OH MY GOD IT IS ETHEREAL!!!! the way you draw them is so dynamic and full of life, and the chemistry practically buzzes off the page!!!! literally i love your art style so muc
also your AUs have me in a chokehold they are all SO DANG GOOD im thinking about them to music aldllalslskalak
anyway for the question part of this, i specifically wanted to ask about the Prince & General AU where Nezha is apparently pretending to be a woman named Lady Zha. You mentioned he snuck into an immortals’ festival or something? What is he trying to accomplish exactly? I know it’s to help his town but I was hoping you’d be willing to elaborate a bit on how exactly he’s trying to do that?
First off erm, thank you???? That's genuinely SO SO sweet and hearing abt the effect my art gives off??? I'm so honored ;-; and the fact you seem to enjoy my AUs too!! Aaaughh I'm glad you're liking my silly self indulgent ideas haha
As for the Prince and General AU though, who am I to pass up the chance to ramble on about one of the favorite AUs I've made? ehe
In short though, to answer your question, Nezha is attempting to sell himself off into marriage! Specifically so that his family would receive a dowry!
The dynasty Nezha lives in is still widely patriarchal. Though Chentang Guan doesn't strictly follow the norms of the time, these traditions and practices still continue to live on, including the practice of bride prices or dowries which are given to the bride's family as an act of good will, respect and a show of status and wealth.
In the state Chentang Guan is left in after the loss of nearly half the Li family's entire kingdom, they are in desperate need of funds and resources to spare, and as neighboring kingdoms and former allies continue to cut ties and avoid trade with the whatever remains of Chentang Guan, Nezha is left with no other choice but to recall the political lessons and stories his mother had instilled upon him and follow in her footsteps
ok this makes more sense now. it also explains why he had to pretend to be a woman. i hadn’t realized that marriage was what nezha was angling toward; i fully assumed ao bing just fell head over heels and the trying to marry lady zha thing was an obstacle to nezha’s plan, rather than the plan itself 😂
but him specifically trying to find someone who’s wealthy enough to pay an exorbitant bride price makes sense!! because there’s no guarantee a marriage alliance wouldn’t fall through once his identity was revealed, and if a woman married nezha, he would both be unable to pay a good bride price for her, but also her family’s dowry to her would be within her control and wouldn’t innately benefit Chentang Guan…. so getting a man to pay a hefty bride price FOR nezha is really the only way to guarantee they can use the money for aid.
damn…. nezha is smarter than i am, it seems
man…. this make the whole runaway situation later even more heartbreaking on nezha’s part… he loves ao bing so much that he’s willing to break his own heart and also pass up a way to help Chentang Guan. solely because he doesnt want ao bing to be stuck with a disappointing bride… GOD
UGH!!! MY HEART?!?!?! LITERALLY THIS IS SUCH A GOOD AU I AM FROTHING AT THE MOUTH AHHHHHHHH
dont worry nezha, as soon as ao bing finds out who you really are he will literally be the opposite of disappointed. I WISH YOU TWO HAPPINESSS!!!!!!!!!
MORE OF THIS AU 🥺🥺 AND WITH A ZHENYING AND NEZHA'S ACTUAL APPEARANCE OUTSIDE OF LADY ZHA
Zhenying in this au was raised by Nezha for most of her life after Lady Yin's death to the point they have a somewhat parent/child relationship, and I hope that shows in her design with her taking some of Nezha's colors and inheriting his hair buns,,
zhenying is truly doing it like no one else, bless 🙏
i love that nezha is such a good older brother wahhhhhh!!! also LMAO the way she calls him da-ge cracks me up. muzha & jinzha who? the only brother she knows is nezha.
also them shouting at each other while ao bing sweats…. INCREDIBLE AHHHHHH
also this nezha design…. im in love with it ahhhhh!!!! he’s so hot… ao bing you lucky man. you thought lady zha was pretty but wait til you see how hot he looks now 😂
anyway i love this au so much and also drew you some fanart of nezha teaching zhenying makeup. thank you!!!!!
Oubing Arranged Marriage AU(?) ramble before I suffer through midterms on Friday
(technically it's more of a Cinderella-esque au, but that doesn't give the most fitting image image in my mind </3)
A lot stays the same in this au, a good chunk also changes so bear with me here 😭
So, first thing's first, the dragons aren't imprisoned. They're still kept under close watch by heaven and forced to do as they say, but they're given a lot more freedom than they do in canon. The Eastern Dragon clan itself has become a well-known and well respected group, having earned great renown and many riches through tales of great battles against demonkind in defense of innocent and helpless mortals.
Second, the whole demon pill/spirit pearl incarnation still happens, though with how well the dragons have acted, acting on heaven's will, the spirit pearl was instead given to Ao Bing when he was born as a gift to the dragon clan, with the demon pill being entrusted to Taiyi Zhenren to be destroyed or sealed away immediately instead, no 3 year curse required. But, somewhere on the journey, Taiyi, my diva, fumbles </3 and Nezha was born as the demon pill incarnate because, idk, Taiyi dropped the demon pill on a very pregnant lady Yin and is forced to become the third prince's uncle because he's too embarrassed to admit to the grandmaster that he fucked up 🫶
Anyways, the boys develop as usual. Ao Bing lives lavishly with great treasures and riches, and is trained and taught well by both his family and clan members, along with his shifu Shen Gongbao, meanwhile, Nezha has... Well, his life doesn't exactly stray from how it was in canon.
Nezha was a quick learner and an artist at heart. He was trained in politics and the art of strategy and war by his general father, and was taught the ways of cultivation, fighting techniques and (tried to be taught) meditation by Taiyi Zhenren, but he has always been a mama's boy, and so stuck to Lady Yin's side as he grew. She helped teach him small things such as manners, discipline and respect, and helped hone his skills in politics alongside her husband, as well as battle, but Lady Yin also taught him smaller, more domestic skills such as how to cook, do his hair– even to the point Nezha could be seen doing "peasant" duties such as cleaning, washing clothes, or trying to copy how Lady Yin applies her makeup. Despite all this, as the incarnation of the demon pill, Nezha had a penchant for causing trouble, and his loud and rowdy behavior, alongside his tendency to push and question societal rules and roles only adds to the fear and displeasure the people of Chentang Guan have for their youngest prince.
Nezha, despite his own behavior, wanted to be accepted by the people of his kingdom, wanted to bring glory and honor to his family, and hoped so badly to catch up to his older brothers' achievements and be someone his younger sister Zhenying could look up to. But, whatever hope he had didn't matter after Chentang Guan was attacked and overwhelmed by a demonic swarm, leaving most of the kingdom in ruins and over half the population dead, with Lady Yin being one of the many casualties that were mourned after the massacre had ended.
Chentang Guan wasn't the same after the incident.
Rumors of the kingdom being haunted and torn to cinders by demons kept outsiders from visiting, save for a few traders or thieves and crooks who have no place left to go. Chentang Guan, once a thriving, lively town was now a broken reflection of what it used to be, kept together by the remaining members of the Li family, and the bond they held with the surviving villagers and the few new outsiders that have called this poor rundown place their new home.
Somewhere down the line, Nezha took up the mantle and became a general much like his father and mother were, keeping close watch over the main center of Chentang Guan. Even still, Nezha, forced to grow up faster than he should (both physically due to his demonic nature and mentally bc of... YKnow, the incident), wasn't blind to his kingdom's hardships. They were a recovering community, but food and building resources were hard to come by after their farms and fields were destroyed in the attack, and with rumors of their town being cursed by demons, outside trade had become much harder, even with the Li Family's good name. They are in desperate need of resources, people, help, and through an offhand mention about a divine celebration among immortal and divine royalty from Taiyi, Nezha knew just what he needed to do.
His father and mother taught him the ways of politics, of the way power, riches and strength can be given through something as simple as a lone union, but his mother was the one who spoke of how- despite the constraints and restrictions- femininity can be just as powerful in the game of statemanship. So, as Nezha dons his mother's old hanfu, applying his makeup with practiced movements, and changing form just slightly to hide the most obvious of his demonic traits, the young general sets off with not a word to his master nor his family to take part in what may be the hardest battle he'll ever come to face.
Some proper references for the mysterious Lady Zha and Ao Bing 🫶
(Nezha's hanfu was once Lady Yin's, who had it custom made to wear during one of Nezha's birthdays, and yeah, Nezha did steal Taiyi's jade pendant, solely bc he wouldn't be allowed entry to the immortals' festival/celebration otherwise 💔)
(Ao Bing is just babey)
BONUS UNDER CUT, BUT BE WARNED THAT ITS SUGGESTIVE LMFAOO
There’s a total of like 6 steps to stir fry and I just found like 8 ways I’ve been doing it less than ideally. Thank you for this! I’m definitely making stir fry this week and I’ll be using this to guide me.
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btw I’ve found these stretches from the WAK blog very helpful when knitting a lot:
Plus make sure to take breaks regularly - and stop if anything starts to hurt!
especially with gift knitting I know it can be tempting to push through it for a deadline, but it’s really not worth causing long term injury. (And anyone knit-worthy should be understanding of that, imho.) Stay well :)
Genuinely don't know if I'm ever going to finish these, but I'm still proud of them! I'll put the master post with the cannibalism comics up too as a last confetti toss for the cotl fandom
This was AMAZING, STELLER work and you should be super proud of it! It was an incredible treat to have your artwork for this scene, thank you for it! I am still completely floored by all of the detail and the attention you've put into every panel
