uninhibitedandunrepentant:

[WARNING]

Spoilers! Do not read if you have not finished ME3 or wish to avoid spoilers for the ending.

Alright. I’ve been toying with the idea of the Indoctrination theory for the ending of Mass Effect 3 that has been floating around the internet. And I have discussed many points with my housemate, who has also studied literature extensively. She knows how invested I am in the story, and has given me a seed of hope that has blossomed into a razor-sharp flower of abject disbelief. She has also been researching this purely to ease my troubled mind, because living with me when I am in the throes of anguish or the grips of rage is pure hell.

And I can safely say that this is either the most dick move that Bioware could have pulled, or pure. Fucking. Genius.

So, yes. I have been won over to the indoctrination theory, and I’ll share with you some of the reasons why.

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awwdip:

I am a basketballer.

Tim is considerably less husky than I imagined him to be.

Source: attleborotaco

feedthereavers:

toptumbles:

Advice from Robert

my life

“Hey, this should be fu— IT’S NOT FUN AT ALL!”

Way to run a kink meme, champ.

Frankly, I have to say that I miss the easy listening station in Saints Row: The Third. I mean, who doesn’t love the tonal dissonance of destroying waves of SWAT teams to bouncy polka music? The classical station helps fill the gap, but it’s still not the same as my wonderful easy listening/80’s pop playlist from the last game (which I really need to go download for when I’m running people over in real life):

Gerhand Narholtz - Berg Und Tal

Gerhand Narholtz - Bossa Cubana

Bruno Bertoli - Dolce Vita

Laszlo Borteri - Gypsy Dance

Martin Beeler - Mountain Hut Landler

Simple Minds - Don’t You Forget About Me

Culture Club - Karma Chameleon

A-Ha - Take On Me

Loverboy - Working For The Weekend

Galactic F.Lyrics Born - I Got It

DJ Quik F.B Real - Fandango

Brahms - Hungarian Dance No. 5

Edvard Grieg - In the Hall of the Mountain King

Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries

Robin Jeffrey - Baidoushka

Ravi Shani - Bangara Dance

Niko Radic - Cigany

Greg Knowles - Connaught Chase

Greg Knowles - Drumjig

Ian Clarke - Emerald Jig

Friedrick Sehl - Hungarian Sundance

Oliver Andres - Kalamazoo Style

Colin Baldry - Whistle Happy

Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World

Europe - The Final Countdown

I also wish they didn’t give you everything up front; it’d be nice if you could find some extra tracks as you go through the game. Though if I had it my way, I’d just throw together a playlist from my own library— though I’m sure someone will mod that into the PC version. Oh, and would it kill you to get me an iPod? Aren’t I a minor god at this point?

I have to say that the comparisons to gay people in real life are a bit unsettling. Fact is that queer identity exists as an integral part of modern culture, dependent on our current gender roles, our current media, our current wiew of sex and identity, and is very dependent on class.

Wade and Herren live in a magical version of medieval Europe with radically different gender roles and sexual politics, and even if we were to think of Fereldern as more similar to how Europe was then, the very idea of sexual preference as identity wouldn’t exist for a few centuries yet. Not to mention that even if two merchants were to see enough of the higher classes to get a grip on their gender stereotypes (that is, the sing song talking), why would they apply those stereotypes to themselves? More importantly, in a land where people don’t seem ot care who you have sex with, why would anyone make the association between gay men and femininty.

Overhtinking much? Well, no. This is just me explaining why it makes no sense to defend someone’s behaviour in Fereldern with how people act in the real world. If there was a good reason explaining why they behave like they do, that would be fine, even subversive to see because it would introduce the general public to the thoughts around queer identity. This comes across as if the limp wrist is in the DNA of gay men, and I find it offensive.

[Source]

Not that this is a work of fiction written by real people who exist in modern culture. And even if it was, of course no part of their society, culture, belief systems, etc, would influence this vacuum of a fictional world. What I find unsettling is that your PC can make a Star Wars reference in a medieval fantasy world where motion pictures and space operas don’t exist.

Shouldn’t you be writing an academic paper or something?

AND THE INTER-DIMENSIONAL LINGUIST WILL LAY DOWN WITH THE CANNIBALISTIC HERMAPHRODITE AND EVERYTHING WAS RIGHT IN THE WORLD. SING A SONG ABOUT THAT, JOHNNY CASH!

I AM STILL TOTALLY PLOTZING OVER HERE GUYS.

scribbleymark:

“41 Ways to Die”, line art.

Line art for a work in progress gift-art for http://satchels.tumblr.com . It’s everyone’s favorite vile, horrible, smelly, wendigo Diablo (uh yeah, that’s his actual name) from the Wraeththu books by Storm Constantine (I have my doubts that this is her actual name). Believe it or not, this started out as a joke. LOL Otherlanes massage parlor, Zekiel has magic fingers. But MNat has no sense of humor. Everything MNat touches turns into serious business. Now it’s just morally and physically questionable slash. Go team!

I stole the title from the song by Azam Ali. Which is better than “E.T.” Katy Perry: Get your weirdly appropriate and damnably catchy song out of my head.

What is wrong with you people?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/DragonAgeOriginsNonPlayableCharacters

>

Ser Jory

>

I Have A Family: He tries to justify his cowardice with this. It doesn’t work.

I like how not wanting to die horribly and without any forewarning now counts as cowardice to the video game-playing denizens of the internet.

Too Dumb to Live: Oh yeah, go ahead and draw your sword on Duncan and start threatening him. That’s sure to work. Agree to join the Grey Wardens—for the assumed glory, not to fight the darkspawn really—when your wife and child are more important to you, and try to chicken out when you realize that the commitment is absolute.

Last time I checked, he got picked up after winning in an arena, having been given little to no idea what the job would entail (you know, like what your PC gets). That’s like thinking yer signing up to be a knight, only to be put on the kamikaze squadron— they’re a bit different, when you’re balancing family and career, you know. You know, I also don’t recall Jory being all that threatening during that scene… by which I mean AT ALL, EVER. He just draws his sword, backs up all shaky-like, tries to talk his way out of this MADNESS (and could you really disagree that it’s anything but?), and then gets slaughtered by our “Good Man” (as a conversation with Alastair prompts you to call him— I assume this is for the people looking to get into Alistair’s pants).

But I suppose since this is a DARK AND GRITTY ADULT GAME, anyone naive enough to fall for the glory of such a prestigious position just deserves to die— you don’t belong here! You’d think “cowardice” would get a break, though, seeing as it’s just THE INSTINCT TO NOT GET KILLED— you know, that thing that animals hat get to pass on their DNA have— filtered through a human moral construct. (Morrigan, you can step in any time you like.) I thought dark and gritty didn’t like moralization, but I guess not.

I literally want to punch all the faces of everyone who’s ever defended Duncan’s actions in this scene— or the Grey Wardens in general with regards to their so-called “Right of Conscription”. Just who gave these assholes this “right”, anyway?

You know, it’s thanks to this that I’ve decided to make my Warden as evil as possible. I already know that Loghain’s joining the party once that rolls around, but what to do if Anora tried to have Alastair killed? I might just let her. I mean, is he really going to leave the throne to that woman? I hear you have to basically force him to become king! Stiff upper lip and suck in yer gut, boy— you don’t want to be marked a coward, after all. He’s reminding me of the old Han Solo-type, anyway— ugh.

waltdisneyconfessions:

When I list Disney princesses, I include Emperor Kuzco.

scribbleymark:

“Seven, They Were Seven”, work in progress: rough, final line art, final painting.

These are the Seven Drakhaouls from Sarah Ash’s “Tears of Artamon” trilogy: Za’afiel, Sahariel, Nilaihah, Belberith, Khezef, Adramelech and Nagazdiel. I love you guys! D:

You will also find this on my deviant art page and my online portfolio, but I’m so proud of this little monstrosity I decided to post it here as well. I also hope this will provide some sort of visual explanation for how I generally work through illustrations.

Marcelle Natisin: Far superiour to an unsettling large number of artists who are massively rich and popular, yet nowhere near as skilled or talented. Exhibit A.

Publishers radically change the cover of a book, but then keep the same ISBN. I want to find the edition with THIS cover (the non-shitty one), not THAT one (the shitty one)!

You know how learning a new language is all, like, hard and stuff. Well, I have an idea that might make it less hard. See, before venturing into your language of choice, everyone should be made to undergo 6 months worth of classes studying Inuktitut. It looks like this:

Inuluktaat inuulisaannguqput nangminiirungnasimaqaqɬutik ajjigiingmiglu ilitarijaujjutsiaqaqɬutiglu pijungnautitauqaqɬutik. Isumaksaqsiurungnatsiarnirmik inuutsiarutigijarlu piliqtungauttut, asianngurnullu iliurnirviqatigiittaruksariaqaraluaqput qatanngutigiiqqatigiittut anirniqsaarni.

(Naturally, speakers of Inuktitut, Kalaallisut, or any other similar language will have to substitute whatever language is the most baffling to them.)

The idea? Well, after months of rigorous study of a language that will likely result in the suffering of multiple strokes and burst capillaries in speakers of any Indo-European language (if not many others), trying to learn, say, Spanish or Russian will probably seem like a wonderfully relaxing vacation. It’s like the New York of languages: if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Or you’ll end up dead in the gutter.

Despite being only marginally fluent in the language of my birth, I’ve decided to create a conlang. It wouldn’t be the first time, either— I recall trying as far back as 2004, by which I mean I created a clunky cipher of English. But hopefully with my Improved Body of Linguistic Knowledge™, I can get it right this time. It would probably help if I understood enough about grammar and syntax to ensure some amount of consistency in those areas, but what can you do? Well, I could probably read that giant textbook on linguistics that I got, but that’s neither here nor there.

So, getting to it, here’s Article 1 of the Declaration of Human Rights in Sabhayyiat, in the Shalkari dialect (yes, dialects— dear god, what have I gotten myself into?):

ENG: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

SBH: ˘Marang illeya, etene chęsva-ghiyrrue zḫiengkbe, virrimume veqzhey etene ŧhidhchaħa weukħan, ngaim sḫ virranharaim rhe uemarl gheszengk eshegan.

Completely literal translation: Born+[past tense suffix] free, and dignity-rights equal+in beings+all. Reason and conscience possessing they to beings+[outside one’s self] as family act be+[present, now, suffix indicating a command.]

Polished translation: Having been born free, and equal in dignity and rights, all beings possess reason and conscience, and to each other will act as family.

Haha, yeah, I don’t even know if I kept the syntax consistent within that single sentence. My current method of translation is to take the English text, rephrase it as if it were a retranslation back into English, and then take that and attempt to order it according to how I think the sentence would be literally constructed— basically, I come up with the polished translation before the literal one— before finally translating it to Sabhayyiat.

My next project is to translate the Tower of Babel, as per Omniglot (have I mentioned how that site is like crack cocaine?) tradition. May the Divine Fever of She Who Devours the Sins of the World purify me of my inevitable upcoming rage and frustration as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Did I mention that I’ve also devised an entire cosmology and pantheon of gods for this fake culture? Yeeeaaah, more on that clusterfuck later.