Your gateway to endless inspiration
Media Rec - Blog Posts
readings: essays & articles
reassuring ghosts and haunted houses
fish recorded singing dawn chorus on reefs just like birds
what people around the world dream about
poet and philosopher david whyte on anger, forgiveness, and what maturity really means
oranges are orange, salmon are salmon
how memories persist where bodies and even brains do not
the avant-garde musical legacy of the moomins
the weight of our living: on hope, fire escapes, and visible desperation
disturbed minds and disruptive bodies
what is better ー a happy life or a meaningful one?
after my dad died, i started sending him emails. months later, someone wrote me back
on the igbo art of storytelling
what the caves are trying to tell us
promethean beasts — how animal uses of fire help illuminate human pyrocognition
the art of loving and losing female friends
on memorizing poetry
the ecological imagination of hayao miyazaki
reading in the age of constant distraction
holly warburton illustrates tender moments of love and light
romancing the fig: what one fruit can tell us about love, life and human civilization
mystery and birds: 5 ways to practice poetry
can a plant remember? this one seems to — here's the evidence
why female cannibals frighten and fascinate
when you give a tree an email adress
fear not — horror movies build community and emotional resilience
i think the near-extinction of people making fun, deep and/or unique interactive text-based browser games, projects and stories is catastrophic to the internet. i'm talking pre-itch.io era, nothing against it.
there are a lot of fun ones listed here and here but for the most part, they were made years ago and are now a dying breed. i get why. there's no money in it. factoring in the cost of web hosting and servers, it probably costs money. it's just sad that it's a dying art form.
anyway, here's some of my favorite browser-based interactive projects and games, if you're into that kind of thing. 90% of them are on the lists that i linked above.
A Better World - create an alternate history timeline
Alter Ego - abandonware birth-to-death life simulator game
Seedship - text-based game about colonizing a new planet
Sandboxels or ThisIsSand - free-falling sand physics games
Little Alchemy 2 - combine various elements to make new ones
Infinite Craft - kind of the same as Little Alchemy
ZenGM - simulate sports
Tamajoji - browser-based tamagotchi
IFDB - interactive fiction database (text adventure games)
Written Realms - more text adventure games with a user interface
The Cafe & Diner - mystery game
The New Campaign Trail - US presidential campaign game
Money Simulator - simulate financial decisions
Genesis - text-based adventure/fantasy game
Level 13 - text-based science fiction adventure game
Miniconomy - player driven economy game
Checkbox Olympics - games involving clicking checkboxes
BrantSteele.net - game show and Hunger Games simulators
Murder Games - fight to the death simulator by Orteil
Cookie Clicker - different but felt weird not including it. by Orteil.
if you're ever thinking about making a niche project that only a select number of individuals will be nerdy enough to enjoy, keep in mind i've been playing some of these games off and on for 20~ years (Alter Ego, for example). quite literally a lifetime of replayability.
Can you recommend me resources for racial literacy, please?
so this is a hard question to answer when I don't know where you're from or what your background is.
The first book you should be reading if you're USAmerican is
preferably the 10th edition.
here's some articles and resources that are free though.
This is a really good starting point if the above are too confusing though
let me know if you need more resources!!
mod ali
Wait, do people know about the Before I Play wiki?
I have used this for..... at this point easily over 6 years. It's a wiki where there will be low-spoiler/non-spoiler hints about just stuff you would want to know before playing a game.
It's always stuff like.... "Vitality in this game is useless, put your points in everything else first" or "Don't leave the second hub town until you buy X item, it'll become unobtainable."
Lemme pick an example almost everyone will know. From the Animal Crossing New Horizons page, the first tip is:
Nearly everything on the island is movable later, including all buildings and even cliffs and rivers. The main things that are fixed are the stuff on the border of the island (river mouths, beaches, rocks/peninsulae, the dock and the airport) and the resident services plaza, so picking your island layout should be based around that primarily.
That's stellar advice, tbh, given what you'll know about the game 30 hours in instead of 30 minutes.
Not every game is covered obviously and not every piece of advice is good, it's all subjective, BUT..... I look up almost every game I play for the first time, just to keep stuff in mind. The SMT4 page had top tier advice imo.
in-browser multiplayer games
these are some games i like playing with my friends, feel free to leave additions in the replies =3 all of these games are accessible through a desktop/mobile browser, although i don’t know how many of them would work on mobile.
tough love arena: a super fun beta fighter! you can play rolling 1v1 matches in lobbies of up to 8 people
gartic phone: kinda like the game telephone, but for drawings instead!
skribbl.io / sketchful.io: pictionary! you can add your own prompts.
draw battle: kinda skribbl/sketchful but team versus team!
frantic fanfic: put in your own characters and work together to make fanfics! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
giddio: buncha board and table games!
tagpro: topdown tag game!
codenames: use teamwork and hints to guess your team’s code names!
town of salem: mafia type game– might be difficult to play nowadays
mafia.gg: ever played TOS or any mafia game? this is a simple text-based form of it! really fun for roleplaying within the game.
one night ultimate werewolf: another social deduction game!
spyfall: game works better in call- figure out who the spy among you is by asking questions about your special location!
pokemon showdown: make a poketeam and play matches!
tetr.io: online tetris! kinda functions like tetris99.
there are a LOT of cards against humanity clones, like pretend you’re xyzzy or picturecards… i haven’t tried a lot of them, so proceed with caution!
geoguessr / virtualvacation: guess locations of places- virtualvacation is like geoguessr, but with videos instead
you need to play more short weird games on itch you need to play more short weird games on itch you need to play more short weird games on itch is it working you need to play more short weird games on itch it's good for you
MY BROTHER ; THE PARASITE
People die, and sometimes they come back. Your brother is one of those. Even as his body rots and his mind unravels, he still has control over you— just like when you were kids.
A short, interactive story about a corpse, a complicated sibling relationship, and the things we forget. Made in Twine. Written, illustrated, and coded in about three weeks for the IFComp.
Content warnings included on the itch.io page and in the story itself.
|| PLAY HERE! ||
games (mostly text-based) about houses and places-- exploring them, haunting them, feeding them:
childhood homes (and why we hate them) - after a decade, you return home.
return - a text-based horror game about coming home.
singing from the far side of the hill - about a trans woman, homeless after a bad breakup, who rents a stranger's spare room. it's a decision she comes to regret.
anatomy - Explore a suburban house, collect cassette tapes, study the physiology of domestic architecture.
leave house - leave house
the open house - We at Northtree Real Estate (in partnership with Optix Dynamix Labs) are proud to present our new, state-of-the-art, open house simulator! Come and take a quick tour of 15615 Hollow Oak Lane, a familiar and comfortable showcase home in one of our premier developments!
what girls do in the dark - This little game is based off one of the greatest fears they had as a teenage girl: showing up late to a stranger's slumber party.
unbecoming - a sonically-textured interactive horror fiction exploring cycles of trauma and unspeakable forces of nature in a mythic rural American landscape.
13 laurel road - an interactive fiction game about the relationships we have with places and reconciling with trauma. You play as a young man named Noah who has been tasked with picking up some things from his cousin’s old house.
domvs - a gothic mystery game in which you rely on your environment to uncover the truth.
flesh, blood, & concrete - you find yourself in a vast, empty apartment complex.
i am still here - a short, unconventional ghost story and vignette reflecting on the end of a long lockdown.
vacant - Film a ghost-hunting show.
this shit owns it's just a number go up idle game except the idle mechanic comes from you writing JavaScript to automate tasks it seems like the end goal of the game is to perfectly optimize against this little arbitrary system they've created. There's not any plot to speak of so far but even though nothing is happening people send you messages through the computer telling you to trust no one as they all have ulterior motives. Very relatable.
i do think theres something sad about how largely only the literature that's considered especially good or important is intentionally preserved. i want to read stuff that ancient people thought sucked enormous balls
an angel on letterboxd just dropped a whole playlist of films free on youtube I was filled with so much love and light I had to share with you guys
Well, cat's out of the bag.
For the past few months (and by that I mean I made 90% of this game in two weeks then stalled with the ending for several months) I've been making a short visual novel game called Labyrinthian. If you like grungy black-and-white hallways, paths that only go forward, and indie games that won't take more than 10 minutes of time, this game is for you.
You can play it on itch.io for a minimum of free! Link here:
https://circuitbird.itch.io/labyrinthian
alright since i couldn't find any compilations of AA games i've made my own.
this is a link to a MEGA folder of AA1-AA6 and Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright in .3ds format, and AAI and Gyakuten Kenji 2 [the unofficial english patch] in .nds format.
.3ds files can be played on the citra emulator, which you can download here.
.nds files can be played on DeSmuME, which you can download here.
each game is in english, and every file has been tested and confirmed by me to be virus-free.
currently looking for: DGS 1 and 2, preferably patched with the official translation from the switch/steam release. [if you have a non-official translation, that will be added as a placeholder.]
if any links stop working, tell me ASAP and i'll get right to fixing it.
you are free to reupload these roms with no credit. after all, i didn't make these games.
adding this to my internet trinkets collection; bunch of very cool tools collected by @good-morning-czernobog! thank you for making this :D
included are:
dice rollers!
GIF and video makers and savers!
art refs and tools!
useful apps and generators!
open source/free to read books and research!
and other nice things!
finding out there's a frankenstein ballet and that it was in october of last year…DEVASTATING
look at this. look at these. im foaming at the mouth
Say what you want about the 2023 Shakespeare in The Park production of Hamlet, but the choices made in that play WORKED. Having Hamlet wear a black hoodie and camo pants and him dramatically putting his hood up when he was pissed off was inspired. Having Horatio video tape Claudius on an iPhone camera from the side of the stage during the play within the play was hilarious. Having the play within the play be a hip hop dance number that represented the murder!?! Fantastic. Having Ophelia be a singer before she went mad and having a beautiful voice that everyone loved to listen to and then seeing her singing get worse and worse as she got nearer to death?!?! Hamlet pulling out his iphone after killing Polonius to show his mom a picture of his dad compared to a picture of Claudius and angrily swiping back and forth between the two as he said “What judgement would step from this… to this?” The crowd fucking lost it every time. Horatio singing to Hamlet as he died made me fully sob every time. The way they did the ghost on stage was so chilling and I can’t even accurately describe it, you just had to be there. Hamlet being deeply exasperated the entire time was just perfect. Hamlet and Horatio had a secret handshake. Laertes inexplicably carried an acoustic guitar case for much of the play which was very funny but also hit you with the heartbreaking implication that he had used to play while Ophelia sang and he stopped carrying it after she died. It was peak teenage-angst-hamlet and it was so dear to me. PLEASE if anyone has a recording, send it to me.
happy pride month, please consider checking out a list i've made on backloggd of games with trans characters in them!
the ones shown are just a few examples, it is by no means a complete list as i am always looking for new additions. if you know of a game that isn't listed (or if you feel a correction should be made to an existing entry), please mention it to me in my ask box or in the list's comments!
thank you for reading!! 💖🏳️⚧️
some sites for when you’re bored and looking for new music
spotalike creates a playlist based on a song
magicplaylist creates a playlist based on a song
dubolt creates a playlist based on an artist
boilthefrog creates a playlist between any two artists
predominant suggests you albums based on cover art color
music-map suggests similar artists
gnoosic suggests similar artists and songs
The Digital Transgender Archive (DTA)
Welcome to the Digital Transgender Archive! This site was created to make transgender history accessible for anyone wishing to learn more. Whether you’re a researcher, student, or just someone curious about trans history, the DTA is for you!
…Based in Worcester, Massachusetts at the College of the Holy Cross, the DTA is an international collaboration among more than fifty colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, public libraries, and private collections. By digitally localizing a wide range of trans-related materials, the DTA expands access to trans history for academics and independent researchers alike in order to foster education and dialog concerning trans history.
The DTA uses the term transgender to refer to a broad and inclusive range of non-normative gender practices. We treat transgender as a practice rather than an identity category in order to bring together a trans-historical and trans-cultural collection of materials related to trans-ing gender. We collect materials from anywhere in the world with a focus on materials created before the year 2000.
You can dive right into the DTA or check out these links to start exploring:
DTA Starter’s Guide
Race & Ethnicity Research Guide
Search by Map
Global Terms
Art by Cricket Press.
“i watched a video essay on it!” might as well be my catchphrase at this point so i hope you all saw this coming. part 1!
capitalism, poverty, and ratatouille
a queer look at the great gatsby
jennifer’s body & the horror of bad marketing
framing megan fox
witchcraft, gender & marxism (note: uploaded before coming out as a trans woman. her name is abigail now!)
explaining what went weird with ron weasley
chances to change - a happy death day video essay
facades and the fourth wall - a fleabag video essay
good vibrations: the beach boys’ pop masterpiece
the liberal escapism of bridgerton
deep cuts: society and queer horror
tracing the roots of pop culture transphobia
songs that use 5/4 time (or, what “from eden” by hozier and the mission impossible theme have in common)
the chord that makes christmas music sound so christmassy
Anyway if you all are sick of watching White Lady (and White Dude) Leftist content talking about popular fandoms and internet culture, check out some of these creators on Youtube. Not an exhaustive list, feel free to add your own. I tried to stick to a similar theme, but there is some variation.
Harriyanna Hook, who focuses on nostalgic properties through the lense of a black woman.
Jacob Geller, a Jewish man who does deep dives into various media. Mostly horror and sci-fi.
Kennie JD, a black woman that does this excellent series called bad movies and a beat every week on Saturday. A series where she reviews bad movies (often terrible romantic comedies and bad horror movies) while putting on her makeup.
D'Angello Wallace, a black man that focuses on internet culture, media, and people of interest. Sometimes shorter videos, sometimes deep dives. He used to be an art channel but now focuses more on culture than art.
Xiran Jay Zhao, a Chinese woman in who looks at media and focuses on the tokenism and appropriation of Asian culture.
T1J, who talks about culture, media, and social issues through the lens of a black man. He also has big Dad Energy.
Lady Knight The Brave, a Jewish woman who does deep dives into various media, often ones that have big fandoms attached.
Ada on Demand. A black woman that talks about social issues and culture, with a focus on pop culture.
Reignbot, a Filipino non-binary person that focuses their content on horror and ARGs and true crime.
Tee Noir, who focuses on various media, culture, and social platforms through the lens of a black queer woman.
free rpgmaker and/or browser games you should play:
beetle ninja
astrid & the witch
no one has to die
loved (misgendering tw at the very beginning though, also. abuse tw. emotional abuse specifically and i think gaslighting but it’s been a while since i’ve played it so idr)
six cats under (i haven’t played this yet but it looks sooo cute)
the exact moment
the grey rainbow
blog dedicated to categorizing and saving various posts i find helpful. main blog @venomgender ;
newly rbed posts almost definitely won't be tagged, but (in theory) they'll all be tagged within the month
tag explanations below cut:
#piracy - self explanatory. has both piracy tutorials and masterposts of pirated media
#digital privacy - posts dedicated to resources on digital privacy; has things ranging from browser extensions to google product alternatives
#cooking - cooking resources. both general how-tos and actual recipes
#trans - trans resources. more dedicated to transmasc than transfem posts just because im transmasc, but has several generalized posts as well
#art resources - self explanatory. has both tutorials and things like resource packs and stuff
#writing resources - self explanatory
#learning - learning resources, typically dedicated to masterposts about learning a specific "thing" (language, sewing basics, etc)
#media rec - media recommendations
#sewing - sewing resources. has both tutorials and sewing patterns
#tech - technology resources. stuff like removing windows 10 bloatware, switching to linux, improving pc performance
#video game resources - resources centered around making video games
#coding - coding resources. from basic language how-tos to how to make your own websites
#save - any other helpful post i see that doesnt easily fit into the above categories. typically has things that help with "adulting" but i dont like that word so im not making a tag for it.
#megathread - any post containing large amounts of links for different things. contains a variety of categories. mildly depreciated in terms of how often i actually tag things this...
#tutorial - posts that teach you things. normally will also be tagged with a more specific category. also mildly depreciated...
additionally anything tagged 'kinda' means it only sort of falls into the tagged category. i tag these things to in theory go through later and see if theres enough similar items to have them been grouped into a new one
I need some good fantasy or scifi to read that doesn't involve romance. preferably urban fantasy or cyberpunk or just downright weird shit, but I could do with more traditional stuff. as long as people aren't driven by lust. I'm so so soso so sososososoooooooo very tired of reading that sort of thing in traditional print novels.
I’ve seen a lot of curious people wanting to dive into classical music but don’t know where to start, so I have written out a list of pieces to listen to depending on mood. I’ve only put out a few, but please add more if you want to. hope this helps y’all out. :)
stereotypical delightful classical music:
battalia a 10 in d major (biber)
brandenburg concerto no. 5
brandenburg concerto no. 3
symphony no. 45 - “farewell” (haydn)
if you need to chill:
rondo alla turca
fur elise
anitra’s dance
in the steppes of central asia (borodin) (added by viola-ology)
if you need to sleep:
moonlight sonata
swan lake
corral nocturne
sleep (eric whitacre) (added by thelonecomposer)
if you need to wake up:
morning mood
summer (from the four seasons)
buckaroo holiday (if you’ve played this in orch you might end up screaming instead of waking up joyfully)
if you are feeling very proud:
pomp and circumstance
symphony no. 9 (beethoven; this is where ode to joy came from)
1812 overture
symphony no. 5, finale (tchaikovsky) (added by viola-ology)
american (dvořák)
if you feel really excited:
hoedown (copland)
bacchanale
spring (from the four seasons) (be careful, if you listen to this too much you’ll start hating it)
la gazza ladra
death and the maiden (schubert)
if you are angry and you want to take a baseball bat and start hitting a bush:
dance of the knights (from the romeo and juliet suite by prokofiev)
winter, mvt. 1 (from the four seasons)
symphony no. 10 mvt. 2 (shostakovich)
symphony no. 5 (beethoven)
totentanz (liszt)
quartet no. 8, mvt. 2 (shostakovich) (added by viola-ology)
young person’s guide to the orchestra, fugue (britten) (added by iwillsavemyworld)
symphony no. 5 mvt. 4 (shostakovich) (added by eternal-cadenza)
marche slave (tchaikovsky) (added by eternal-cadenza)
if you want to cry for a really long time:
fantasia based on russian themes (rimsky-korsakov)
adagio for strings (barber)
violin concerto in e minor (mendelssohn)
aase’s death
andante festivo
vocalise (rachmaninoff) (added by tropicalmunchakoopas)
if you want to feel like you’re on an adventure:
an american in paris (gershwin)
if you want chills:
danse macabre
russian easter overture
egmont overture (added by shayshay526)
if you want to study:
eine kleine nachtmusik
bolero (ravel)
serenade for strings (elgar)
scheherazade (rimsky-korsakov) (added by viola-ology)
pines of rome, mvt. 4 (resphigi) (added by viola-ology)
if you really want to dance:
capriccio espagnol (rimsky-korsakov)
blue danube
le cid (massenet) (added by viola-ology)
radetzky march
if you want to start bouncing in your chair:
hopak (mussorgsky)
les toreadors (from carmen suite no.1)
if you’re about to pass out and you need energy:
hungarian dance no. 1
hungarian dance no. 5
if you want to hear suspense within music:
firebird
in the hall of the mountain king
ride of the valkyries
night on bald mountain (mussorgsky) (added by viola-ology)
if you want a jazzy/classical feel:
rhapsody in blue
jazz suite no. 2 (shostakovich) (added by eternal-cadenza)
if you want to feel emotional with no explanation:
introduction and rondo capriccioso
unfinished symphony (schubert)
symphony no. 7, allegretto (beethoven) (added by viola-ology)
canon in d (pachelbel)
if you want to sit back and have a nice cup of tea:
st. paul’s suite
concerto for two violins (vivaldi)
l’arlésienne suite
concierto de aranjuez (added by tropicalmunchakoopas)
pieces that don’t really have a valid explanation:
symphony no. 40 (mozart)
cello suite no. 1 (bach)
polovtsian dances
enigma variations (elgar) (added by viola-ology)
perpetuum mobile
moto perpetuo (paganini)
pieces that just sound really cool:
scherzo tarantelle
dance of the goblins
caprice no. 24 (paganini)
new world symphony, allegro con fuoco (dvorak) (added by viola-ology)
le tombeau de couperin (added by tropicalmunchakoopas)
carnival of the animals (added by shadowraven45662)
if you feel like listening to concertos all day (I do not recommend doing that):
concerto for two violins (bach)
concerto for two violins (vivaldi)
violin concerto in a minor (vivaldi)
violin concerto (tchaikovsky) (added by iwillsavemyworld)
violin concerto in d minor (sibelius) (added by eternal-cadenza)
cello concerto in c (haydn)
piano concerto, mvt. 1 (pierne) (added by iwillsavemyworld)
harp concerto in E-flat major, mvt. 1 (added by iwillsavemyworld)
and if you really just hate classical music in general:
4′33″ (cage)
a lot of these pieces apply in multiple categories, but I sorted them by which I think they match the most. have fun exploring classical music!
also, thank you to viola-ology, iwillsavemyworld, shayshay526, eternal-cadenza, tropicalmunchakoopas, shadowraven45662, and thelonecomposer for adding on! if you would like to add on your own suggestions, please reblog and add on or message me so I can give you credit for the suggestion!
Axis + Spain & Austria As Electro Swing Songs
Italy:
Romano:
Japan:
Germany:
Prussia:
Or
Spain:
Or
Austria:
Or
Allies As Electro Swing Songs
[Highly recommend you listen to all of them]
America:
England:
France:
China: (not really electro swing, but still a bop)
Or
Russia:
Canada:
in what order do you think it’s best to read dostoyevsky’s novels?
hey so this is a question i get asked quite often, so you know what? i made yall a handy chart
