Tag Archives: Fanwork

2023-02-23-Frost

These last few weeks have been a recovery week. I’m feeling fairly good as I write this, but with medication changes you sometimes have a bad time.

That said, things have regulated out a bit now, and I have some upcoming project goals in the next month.

Earlier last week my dad and I went through my grandma’s stained glass supplies, and I picked out a few pieces to make some projects with. I’ve fooled around with pattern cutting and using some old tools, but I’m definitely going to need new glass cutters. I’ll write a separate blog post documenting that process collectively, but I’ll start drawing some patterns for some sun catchers next week, and I think I’m gonna theme them around a few personal/friend related things to start.a picture of my kitchen table covered in cardbord, glass, and paper pattern pieces, along with my tools.

[Image I.D.: A picture of my kitchen table covered in cardbord, glass, and paper pattern pieces, along with my tools.]

I’ve been trying to slow down. I think. At least in the sense that I’m trying to be more reflective about how I write and how I communicate with others, which has been a process like all things are. First and foremost, it’s nice to have a support system of people who recognize the difficulties I have with communication and tools to improve myself.

It’s especially hard in the creative sense. It’s no secret I’m constantly inspired. I am interested in *so* much, but much like with my communication skills, I’m working hard to be more direct, and a bit limited in my inspirations so I can hone in *how* I’m inspired, and how that directs me.

I’ve been struggling to pick up a book this month, but one that is currently in my interest pile is Queer Airwaves: The Story of Gay and Lesbian Broadcasting by Gail Johnson and Michael C Keith. Shocker I know, I’m thinking about radio again.

I haven’t picked it up yet, but at least with my experience in the rural Southwest, radio is an extremely conservative form of media. I’ve pitched LGBT focused radio content in the past, and I was a bit in over my head, but I think I’m up for some digging again. When I pick Queer Airwaves up, I’m sure I’ll talk about it here.

With work done and having some time off, of course I used part of that time to do errands. A small fondness from chores was cleaning one of the cabinets in our house, we found a really pretty ash tray made by my grandmother for her father in law. I’m so enamored with the shape of this piece, I might try to recreate it at some point. A family filled with ex smokers can be so, so autistic about smoking paraphernalia.A picture of a circular ashtray being held upright, it is a big circular dish, with a raised wall with three evenly spaced notches for joints. It is glaced in oxides and glaze in blue, teal, brown and grey.

[Image I.D.: A picture of a circular ashtray being held upright, it is a big circular dish, with a raised wall with three evenly spaced notches for joints. It is glaced in oxides and glaze in blue, teal, brown and grey.]

This is more of an unfinished blog post this week. I’ve been a lot busier with appointments and tasks and futureproofing some things, more to come, as always.

Inspiration and Appreciation

from the bones to the other side by marquis

Grappling with the new era and figuring out the umpires has been a casual back processor of mine for a while, but Blink’s work is utterly horrifying and effective. Alternation is such a sore spot among fans and taking such a unique and again, terrifying look into even a “good” call in a game of Blaseball is amazing.

You will not go to heaven, you’ll go to Kansas City by waltztangocache

Hen has one of the most stellar grasps of environmental horror I’ve ever read. The Mints are an…underrepresented team in the lore and fic genre and this instantly pulled me in I’m fascinated with these players and this world soo much.

Flying Wild High-AWAY GAMES by Otterpop
Ohh the memorial belt.

Pandora does a such a sweet job recapping the little in/out of universe game that the “Wild High” teams play for this BNN Article. My fondness for the old division remains from the time the Lovers were welcomed into the Legacy league.

There’s a lot of beloved interps in here that Pandora captured, and in true Wild Wings fashion, our incineration is the first one to introduce the belt to the new era.

Ada’s Poems

First off, go look at Ada’s website! She’s so fucking stellar with code (helped me out when I first started my site), and the site style is just stunning.

I’m highlighting her entire poems page, because they’re all really beautiful and visceral pieces.

My personal favorite is is To Change but you should read them all. https://www.youtube.com/embed/IALJrMgacMU

This tiny pottery studio tour by issey roquet was CRAZY inspiring as someone who A) would really like to get back into pottery and B) doesn’t have a large space.

I also took the time to watch her shorts, she has such a lovely presentation! I hope she posts more to Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/embed/7cOVubGtaB0

I really loved this sketchbook tour by Terra Zook. I appreciate the discussion between mental health and art and your creative output. I also found reflecting on the things you create when you were struggling is…just really nice. I appreciated her outlook.

Her style is also really, really fun. It popped quite nice for me and hit me with some ideas for sustaining a sketchbook.

Closing

Thanks if you’ve gotten this far! You get to read both my shill corner and a special blog update (update.)

2023-02-05-February Blog

Author’s Note: I’m aware this is quite long! the following link will take you to the section labled Blaseball, I keep it at the bottom of the article so someone not interested in my non blaseball thoughts can consume what they please. Additionally on review I’ll probably do bi-monthly “This the the stuff I think is cool as hell” section, sans the blaseball fanworks appreciation that’s always gonna be here.

Blaseball Play and Siesta

Click the above link for my thoughts!

I think February is a strange month, in terms of the false start it provides between the transition between winter and spring. It’s been cold. I’ve been tired.

Things are starting to thaw?

Evidently from the recent updates I’m quite focused on my personal site. It’s been a welcomed piece of fun for me. I’m reteaching myself JavaScript, which is nightmarish, but hey, this blog is running so that’s a plus. I’ve been messing around with art, specifically the pixel kind, a lot of stuff isn’t ready to be put on my site yet, but I’m getting there.

In terms of other affairs, I’ve been applying for additional work and housing situations as returning in the fall draws closer. I’ve been filling in morning shifts, from 7am to 12pm several times a week just about, it’s a radio station job that I’ve done for a long time. I find being up that early with a task to focus on extremely fulfilling. It’s harder to keep that energy up working at home. But the call of radio work is always there man. It’s pretty funny.

There’s this artist I quite like, Annabelle Gao, who did a series some time ago called Slow Living. I think there’s an obvious difference between the lives she and I live, but I do find a lot of her motivational sentiment and vulnerability quite refreshing. There’s a lot of good to take from the work she does! Both artistically and as what I kind of what, working as an adult in fields I’m passionate about. (An aside, I’d love to find other women, in particular fat women or queer women who document their lives from an artistic standpoint, I haven’t had much luck there. You ache to see people like you yknow?)

I think Slow Living stuck in particular in my head because of the length of time it’s taken me to repair a lot of the routines and fix the damage those disruptions caused for me. When I reflect on January, I am proud of the cycles I took through recovery, and I’m excited for more to come.

There’s so much in the world that I cannot control, and it terrifies me greatly, but I can fight for what I can control.

Blaseball: Play and Siesta

Running parallel to the cycles of life and work and personal affairs is of course the cycle of everyone’s favorite fictional death sport, Blaseball.

The team behind it announced this week that they will be going on a longer siesta as both the fanbase and the development team recognized the major problems with the sim, the UI and accessibility could not be resolved as the game went on.

I am so, so incredibly relieved for them.

I’m going to be frank, I think it is so vital to give grace and nuance to creators, artists, designers, anyone who is working to provide something to others. I sent in accessibility complaints, the Wild Wings’ season one was wrought with bugs, errors, and glitches (I say this not in a “we were being targeted way” more of a “they changed our acronym and it broke the entire team page view on the site way.”)It was a mess on all sides, whether or not they believed they were ready for the Return or not.

I still had a lot of fucking fun.

I think I find as someone who participated in, watches and engages with actual sports, the frustrations being levied at The Game Band are quite expected; its like staring into a funhouse mirror where parodies of both the sports industry and the games industry are seen all the way down here. I also think a large part of the community who, while existing in not too dissimilar positions as TGB in terms of being hungry and passionate people at all levels of their professions, understand the highs and lows that come with the development of what is arguably a product of pandemic mind power.

I’m not going to be the person to rattle on about the funding they’ve received, we’re all living in capitalist hell. I am going to be the person to say I hope the team at TGB is taking care of themselves. I hope fan volunteers are taking a break as well. I’m excited for what’s to come.

Fanwork Appreciation

among the reeds, among the rushes by Novelsinourhead

Stara has been capturing some absolutely beautiful storytelling within Blaseball for a long time, and xer continuous commentary on antisemitism within our community and fiction in general is frankly a weight that ze does not deserve to bare. I think this interp of Mike Townsend is really, really fantastic, and could talk at lengths at how stunning I find Stara’s writing on players across the league. Read this.

something wicked by marquis

Blink hitting it out of the park as always, what a fucking stunning exploration of such a sensitive subject. You and Gob both are so fucking good at just absolutely heartbreaking depictions of grief. This features Nagomi Mcdaniel, York Silk’s Mother Lehua Silk, and her son. Read this.

This section is for things I’ve enjoyed this week:

Untold Story of Disco by Polyphonic, I have a deeply fond memory of disco as a young child, babysat by post-hippie movement adults in an economic recession, my impression of of a lot of that subculture feels so distant now as an adult, understanding their passions as people and their passions for the genre kinda clicks a little more now, and I think that is quite sweet.

RadiAngel by ZeddyBear

RadiAngel by zeddy-bear, I read through this entire game for the lesbian groupchat, check the content warnings of course, but I thought this was a really stunning novel, I’m glad Kish got us to play this, it’s been in my “play this” folder for too long.

https://www.tumblr.com/jean-wei/707347681420427264/made-a-soup-zine-in-2021-asked-my-friends-to-send

This zine is A) absolutely stunning and B) such a blessing for a guy who has soup as a safe food.

Signing off

I’m not sure how often I’ll do these, we will have to see. maybe monthly, maybe bi-monthly, whenever I wanna talk about something extensive is probably a good guess.

I enjoy writing appreciations for other artists work so much, I know that will be frequent

Until next time I suppose, keep your eyes out for site updates and fic archiv websites, and thanks for reading :]