#sal talks

Pillowfort is a long form blogging site and is coming up to its 10 year anniversary and has been able to stay user funded. It means no ads and the changes it makes are for the users. It's also anti-genAI!! (My profile)

Cara is pretty neat for art/creative works! It's like a mix of BSky/X/Insta in terms of layout and the stuff it has - a portfolio gallery that you can put your clean art in, make long text posts about your art or whatever, monthly prompt challenges... I've actually really enjoyed all the MathArt I've stumbled upon along with just the usual sort of art I follow. It's also anti-genAI (My profile)

If you want to see more, here's a pifo post about artists checking out other art sites in 2025.

There are other sites I'm on (see my carrd) but these two have been my faves. Pifo is like Tumblr where I find general Cool Stuff from following WebDiscussions, PillowArtists, Crochet, OCs, fandom communities, etc. I can post my art, tag it, and then share it to the relevant communities. Cara is where I go for mostly art and art discussions. Cara is more on the professional side but it's not bad.

Anyways, I'm just gonna keep posting where I can but Pifo and Cara have been really enjoyable. If you're looking for places that are more for the users and artists, definitely check those out, even if it's just a little bit every once every few days.

Rundown of Pifo | Pifo 101 Community | Multi-Use Invite Link (here's another)

Ford coming back from the portal younger than Stanley. And no, i don't mean he's still in his 30's and no time has passed for him at all (although that's fun too), but instead of 30 years it's only been 15 for Stanford.

Obviously time differences are fun, and Standford would for sure feel guilty that people had to work double the time he spent in the portal trying to get him out, BUT i actually think he would be even MORE of an asshole than he is in the show. Because think about it, 45yo Stanford Pines at his peak of interdimensional crimes and proficient survivalist suddenly gets put into earth. Arrogant, paranoid, and dangerously competent Ford goes back and sees that even in what is supposed to be his home everyone has outgrown him.

Wendy: Why does Stan look younger? Ford (visibly younger): I'm his twin Wendy: ... I'm pretty sure twins don't work like that

Also his dynamic with all the other characters would be fun to explore! Him projecting onto Dipper even more, not in a "this kid could have a bright future like me!" but in a "this kid will be me if i don't tech him better" or Stanley feeling insecure that his brother is now not only smarter, but also stronger and somehow the same level of criminal that Stan himself is??

Give me a younger Ford being apathic to Stan's efforts because he doesn't know what 30 years would feel like. He learns by the end sure, but he has no idea how that amount of time affected Stanley. Ford: Grammar, Stanley. You had the time to learn it. (Gets punched in the face)

“Corporations are feeding on societies like parasites, and if we don’t put them out of commission in a way that matters then they will literally enslave us all for profit.”

And then followed it up with,

“Protests are nice, but riots actively work.”

There’s no One thing that we can point to and say “this is the problem” and just change that to make ML work. And honestly? If the show had stuck to the monster of the week format, and actually leaned into that instead of trying to shoehorn in serialized drama, Hawkmoth/Papillon is the perfect villain for that.

A story’s structure and the antagonists go hand-in-hand, so Papillon has always been the perfect fit for ML’s initial pitch!! Iiiiiiif– they had stuck to it and didn’t went through a major identity crisis, lol.

Rules: list five things you never get tired of writing. It can be tropes, themes, characters, phrases, whatever brings you joy. Then tag five people!

• One sentence paragraph that are just a curse (eg: “Shit.” “Well, fuck.” “…the fuck?” “Damnit!”).

• Classic Marinette and Félix (they’re a package deal to me, and as such, count as one thing).

• Directly relating an object’s/the scenery description to whatever the characters are thinking about/currently dealing with (be it an emotion, something they’re grappling with, or even the current scene playing out).

• Verbing nouns.

• Humor that doesn’t pause everything happening to make itself known, but keeps on driving the narrative without downplaying character drama (bonus points if it also offers character insight).