“This film has long scenes where there’s time to illustrate the thought process. All Moses does in some of them is to listen, which is very, very challenging. To make Moses expressive, we used a lot of what some people call ‘bottom eyelid animation.’ It’s really difficult to suggest what Moses is feeling and thinking when all you’ve got to work with are the lines surrounding the eye. There were also scenes where most of what I did were very, very subtle head moves, because I want the characters as true, as believable, and as real as possible.” — James Baxter, animator for Moses
jk rowling has given me so much, created such a magical world that made me feel safe. but, years later, I have come to the conclusion that she is…. a dumb b*tch
Do y’all want to hear a secret story I’ve never told anyone?
(ok here goes. its funny i promise)
At the time this story took place, I was like 6 years old. Growing up, I was a very mature child because I was never around other kids my age. My mom used to work a lot, so that left me with my dad but my dad was high off his ass (weed smoker) all the time, so he’d be passed out. My siblings were all in their late teens and with friends, so when I got home it was just me by myself. Everyday
And I had no other way to entertain myself than by watching TV. I watched everything, but my favorite was the after dark shows that came on HBO and stuff. The down side of watching those things was that I learned about things that was way ahead of my time with no adult supervision.
Well, one day when I came home from school I was watching TV (dad was alseep again and I was alone) and I saw one of those little flity phone companies. They were like sex operators or whatever, but at that time, my naive ass just thought that it was to find best friends. Like penpals and stuff, so one day I got the house phone and dialed the number.
The first thing that popped up was this super seductive voice but my dumb ass just assumed the person was sick (lmfao) and it said “For a man, press one. For a woman, press two.”
So I was thinking “Boys are gross, I need a best friend that’s a girl.” So I pressed two.
It rang a couple times until this lady answered the phone and I remember her saying “Hey, my name is Cynthia. What’s your name?”
So I was like ‘shit I gotta come up with something cool to tell my bestie’ “What’s up, Cynthia.”
And immediately, she got super quiet before she asked me “Um…whom am I speaking to?”
“The name is Delilah, but all my friends call me D.” (I remember I was coloring in my Lisa Frank diary when I said it too omg)
And Cynthia got quiet again before speaking. “Uh, how old are you?”
“I’m six and a half.” *scribbles in diary harder* “What about you?”
So she got super quiet again and was like “Uh…sweetie, where is your mother?”
“My mom’s at her job. Something my dad can’t seem to get.” *takes a sip from juicebox*
And I could hear her let out a stiffled laugh from the other line before clearing her throat. “Well, where is your father?”
“My dad smoked too much weed again and he passed out. Again.”
This time, she let out a louder laugh and I was like ‘heck yeah I made a friend. Check mate.’
So Cynthia askes me another question. “You’re not old enough to be on here, honey. I think you should hang up.”
So I got really pressed and kinda got sassy with her and busted out a line I had seen used in the movie Clueless. “Listen Cynthia, I’m a young, independent woman that don’t need no man. I need a friend, okay? It said you’d be nice to me on the TV.”
At this point I could hear her laughing really loud and before I could finish, she stopped me. “C-Can you hold on one second, honey? I’ll be right back. Stay right where you are.”
I was like “Okay.” And in the mean time, I made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and got some juice to get comfy while I waited. She finally came back like five minutes later and asked me if I was still there. I told her I was and this time, I could hear my voice echo a bit, meaning I was on speaker obivously.
“How old are you again?” She asked.
“I’m six and a half, don’t forget it, girlfriend!” *sassily snaps my fingers and takes a sip from juice*
This time, i could hear people laughing and saying ‘oh my god’ and shit like that in the background, so I asked her who it was. She told me they were her buddies and I remember saying something like “It’s always good to have ya homeis with you, right?’ and everyone laughed again.
Then they started asking me all kinds of shit too.
“Where do you live?”
“In a house, duh.”
“What school do you go to?”
“Why? So you can kidnap me? No thanks, girl.”
“How did you even get this number?”
“The TV, duh.”
Now after a while the group of people buzzed off and it was just me and Cynthia on the phone. We had a cool conversation about Lisa Frank books and I learned that she lived in Seattle with her boyfriend and that she had a little girl a couple years older than me.
At one point, I told her about the boys in my school that were bullying me and that I didn’t think I was very pretty. And you know what? She gave me some advice that I never forgot, even til this very day I still remembered it. She told me,
“Sometimes people will be mean to you for no reason and they won’t like you, but all that matters is if you like you. If you like yourself, that’s all that matters.”
Now at one point, nine o’clock rolled around and it was my bedtime, so I sadly told Cynthia “Okay, bestie. Its my bed time. I don’t wanna miss out on my beauty sleep.” and after exchanging goodbyes, we hung up.
So yeah, that’s my experience with the chatlines. Sometimes I think about Cynthia and wonder what happened to her in life. Is she still with her boyfriend? How is her daughter? I’ll never know.
I never told anyone this until now because its too good not to share lmfao. Adult supervision is important!
This is amazing and I’m so glad you shared it. I hope Cynthia is living her best life.
the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is presents a romance-style female-focused fantasy adventure, which is rare for blockbuster movies.
– you are Keira Knightley, the high-spirited and ever so slightly spoiled child of a doting father who happens to be the governor
– every man in the world is crazy about you, from the dashing naval officer who asks for your hand in marriage to the handsome young blacksmith’s apprentice who you met as a child and feel a strong bond with to the devilish pirate lord who saves your life and flirts with you shamelessly and you make out with him once but it’s for a good cause
– you have two weddings, one where you femme it up and then it turns all emo when it rains on your wedding day and the groom is dragged off in chains by another guy who secretly has the hots for you and then you have a second wedding where you dress as a man because you’re the pirate king now and you exchange custom vows and witty banter during a sword fight with zombies
But still interested in feeding yourself? What if I told you that there’s a woman with a blog who had to feed both herself and her young son…on 10 British pounds ($15/14 Euro) per week?
Let me tell you a thing.
This woman saved my life last year. Actually saved my life. I had a piggy bank full of change and that’s it. Many people in my fandom might remember that dark time as when I had to hock my writing skills in exchange for donations. I cried a lot then.
This is real talk, people: I marked down exactly what I needed to buy, totaled it, counted out that exact change, and then went to three different stores to buy what I needed so I didn’t have to dump a load of change on just one person. I was already embarrassed, but to feel people staring? Utter shame suffused me. The reasons behind that are another post all together.
AgirlcalledJack.com is run by a British woman who was on benefits for years. Things got desperate. She had to find a way to feed herself and her son using just the basics that could be found at the supermarket. But the recipes she came up with are amazing.
You have to consider the differing costs of things between countries, but if you just have three ingredients in your cupboard, this woman will tell you what to do with it. Check what you already have. Chances are you have the basics of a filling meal already.
Bake your own bread. It’s easier than you think. Here’s a list of many recipes, each using some variation of just plain flour, yeast, some oil, maybe water or lemon juice. And kneading bread is therapeutic.
She has a book, but many recipes can be found on her blog for free. She prices her recipes down to the cent, and every year she participates in a project called “Living Below the Line” where she has to live on 1 BP per day of food for five days.
Things improved for me a little, but her website is my go to. I learned how to bake bread (using my crockpot, but that was my own twist), and I have a little cart full of things that saved me back then, just in case I need them again. She gives you the tools to feed yourself, for very little money, and that’s a fabulous feeling.
Tip: Whenever you have a little extra money, buy a 10 dollar/pound/euro giftcard from your discount grocer. Stash it. That’s your super emergency money. Make sure they don’t charge by the month for lack of use, though.
I don’t care if it sounds like an advertisement–you won’t be buying anything from the site. What I DO care about is your mental, emotional, and physical health–and dammit, food’s right in the center of that.
If you don’t need this now, pass it on to someone who does. Pass it on anyway, because do you REALLY know which of the people in your life is in need? Which follower might be staring at their own piggy bank? Trust me: someone out there needs to see this.
Reblogging for all the impoverished students. Jack is the breadline queen. And if you don’t need this – donate to your nearest food bank, stat.
Reblogging for students, working folks, and everyone who’s ever had to choose between essentials at the store because you can only afford milk OR bread, not both.
The sequence in the 5e player’s handbook for building new characters is as follows:
1. Race 2. Class 3. Roll ability scores 4. Background 5. Equipment
I think the sequence is designed to help newer players build characters where the attributes are aligned with their class (no dex based clerics need apply). The downside to this method is many of the details and other parts of characracter are missed. For example, I have seen multiple characters at my table without backgrounds. While I appreciate the help it gives new players, for me, it makes character creation mechanical. It breaks the process down into optimization (e.g. Should I choose wisdom my dump stat or something else?) as opposed to a story.
I want character creation that has an organic feeling and is more narrative based. So when I build a character, I prefer to use the following Life Cycle Method. By looking through all my various player handbooks, I found that this is a kin to 2nd Edition D&D.
Step 0: Acknowledge what you are doing This will not create min-maxed characters, and often the results will be different than what you want. That’s the joy of a full life. Use this method to build a strong identity for your character. Because you can swap ability scores in the next step, you can an idea of what class you want to be, but don’t be married to it. Also, check with your DM and party to ensure this method of character creation fits with your campaign.
Step 1: Roll Ability Scores – Straight down. Roll 4d6, drop the lowest, and assign that score to Strength. Then do the same for Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and finally Charisma. Optional: After rolling all of your stats, you can swap one ability score with one other. Take a moment to think about what these scores represent and how that would have impacted the life of your character.
Step 2: You were born a… Choose or randomly assign your race. Take the time to figure out how your ability scores and ideas from the first step might have impacted this. Were you a very charismatic half orc? Or an abnormally strong halfling? What does that say about your character?
Step 3. Then you took a job as a… Choose or randomly assign your background. What did your character do to eek out an existence before they became an adventurer? This is a chance to roll on that big table of fantasy professions you have. Use Custom Backgrounds rule (PHB 125) to select skills and proficiencies close to your profession.
Step 4. The moment. Normal people don’t adventure. They are happy being farmers, clerks, accountants, or whatever. Your character is different (whether they want to be or not). There is a moment in every character’s life where they can no longer enjoy the quiet safety of their home and must seek adventure. What did that look like for your character? Your character may not understand it now, but their old life is over.
How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand… there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold. – Frodo, Return of the King (film)
Step 5. So you became a… Choose your character’s class. Look at your ability scores and the story you are weaving. What fits and why?
Step 6. Everything else. Get equipment. Set height and weight. Choose a name. Calculate everything and write it down on your character sheet. Bonds and flaws should flow naturally from the story you created up to this point.
Example: Step 1: I roll my stats and swap my character’s intelligence and charisma so she is strong, charismatic, and not as wise as she should be. Maybe she gets in a lot of fights in town, but is smooth enough to talk her way out of it.
Step 2: I chose Tiefling. I can already see where this is going. My character looked different and had to deal with dopey townsfolk. She’s strong, so probably with her fists.
Step 3: She was an Innkeeper. She entertained passers by with a story or two and was pretty good with a flute. She was also strong enough to move all of the kegs herself. Her skills are Performance and Athletics, along with a a tool proficiency with her flute and she can speak elvish (or whatever language had the richest customers).
Step 4: Until one day she is in another bout with some dopey hayseed and accidently kills the person. She can’t talk her way of this with the law (or mob). Her inn is destroyed and she barely escapes with her life (and flute!).
Step 5. Kicked out of her home and wracked with guilt, our soon to be hero decides she needs to redeem herself for the murder and devotes herself to defending the weak. She’ll make a good Paladin for now. Maybe an order takes her in, or maybe a god or fey takes pity and grants her powers to aid in her redemption. Regardless, she is now a point of light in a dark and uncaring world.
Step 6. Her name is Yatari. She has a flaw of anger issues, but is caring to those who suffer. Insight makes a good skill for her, as does intimidation. She is very much a social creature. For now she’ll use a glaive; She’s been in enough fights to know that reach is very important.
That’s my method of creating characters? What deviations do you take when you build yours?
Red Hood 