The reality, for me, is that I would have been disappointed no matter what the outcome was. One movie-length episode feels disappointing the same way that a full season would have felt disappointing. The way getting nothing would have felt disappointing. Because nothing about this has felt good since July, when the news about NG started coming out.

Everybody is going to have their own mileage in separating art from artist. Anybody who follows me knows I still intermittently draw for the fandom. I love the characters. I've made friends with so many wonderful creators. It's hard to pull all the way back. But there's always a bad taste in the back of my mouth about it. I can't feel the same joy anymore.

So yes, I'm disappointed, but I'm disappointed in the because. This is the outcome because of NG's actions. And for me any outcome--ANY outcome--would have been disappointing because of NG's actions. I can't summon any rage about the format.

I'm going to go ahead and pin this, and then link to my previous pin about the situation from back in July. Because I think about this every time I create or share GO fanwork in this space, and every time people reblog the pieces that I made when I was so excited with everybody else about the S3 announcement. That bad taste, y'know. It's sticky.

Hi everyone! I just launched my Good Omens inspired shark charms and stickers sheet! If you want to adopt one, check out my kofi! Possibility to choose the shark you want... or to be surprised ;)

So I had a hysterectomy today (hooray!) and I brought along my stuffed orca, Shamu, as a comfort object. And everyone i interacted with during my pre-op was like "Oh! Who's this?" so I was telling them all about him, how he's been with me since I was 9 and gone on every single vacation and road trip, and they were telling me about their own stuffed buddies (one lady said she still has hers after 40 years!) and all of this while I was signing consent forms and providing a list of the things I'd brought with me, you know, small talk.

So then a nurse comes over and goes "Okay, I've got some stickers I'll put on your things so we know they're yours" and I'm like "OK cool" so she puts a sticker on my coat and stickers on my bags of clothes and then she turns to Shamu and I'm like "oh I guess he gets a sticker too"

But no. She pulls out a hospital bracelet that's an exact copy of mine and slaps it on his tail, like so:

And i was delighted by this, so I took a picture to send to my friends, who were equally delighted, and were cracking me up with their reactions (like so:)

Anyway, they take me back and put me under, and when I awake groggily a few hours later it takes me a minute to get my bearings, so I don't notice Shamu at first. But then I realize he's tucked up next to me in the gurney, so I grab him, and my hand touches gauze.

And I'm like "huh?" so I look at him and I realize

They gave my fucking orca a hysterectomy

you have to understand the glass shattering over my head i felt when THIS was the first message i saw from noa after his surgery

this was a historical moment in television

Apparently the rights to do this set back the budget for the rest of the season to like $5 and a peanut butter sandwich but it was abso-fucking-lutely worth every red cent

So, just curious how many writers and creators will have to be forcibly outed by relentless harassment before we acknowledge that "This queer characters was written by a cishet person and that's why they're bad" is not good criticism.

Also I cannot overstate how much "We should scrutinize out queer authors MORE" was not the point of this post, or my tags on it. Queer creators already cannot fucking win. If they're not out loud and clear, they get ripped to pieces. If they're out and proud and make art that doesn't rise to the impossible standard of perfectly representing all queer people everywhere they get ripped to pieces.

There isn't a way forward from this without being willing to admit that what is good representation is subjective. There isn't a way forward from this without admitting that we aren't all looking for the same thing in queer media and queer characters, that something not being for me doesn't make it necessarily bad and harmful, and that what we need is more and a greater variety of queer characters, not to force them all into one arbitrary formula.

Less than a day after I posted this, the notes were already filling up with testimonials from creators afraid to represent themselves in their own work because they are aware of the unforgiving scrutiny applied to all marginalized characters and they know their characters will be seen as imperfect representation.

You have to realize that the rigid view of what constitutes "good representation" is not just hurting the privileged creators you deem acceptable targets. It is hurting marginalized creators who want to represent themselves and share their stories in their voices.

dinner

There’s a fun little thing going on over at @goodomensafterdark that we’re calling the Pillow Fight. Unabashed, utter fluff in fics, art, podfic, music and more!

Somehow, inconceivably, I’ve gotten a reputation for writing angst! So, for January, I’ve teamed up with three fabulous artists to write three short one-shots that are full of fluffy feelings and domestic bliss.

Look for the first one, Sage & Rose, on 09-Jan with @cobeeli:

“Of all the things to grow in this rich soil, Aziraphale will proclaim Crowley is the most beautiful. Of all the lives rooted in this garden, theirs is the most precious to draw nourishment from the Earth.”

Coriander & Mint the week of 13-Jan with @daneecastle :

“Crowley lopes about the kitchen, fetching a pan or slicing some veg while Aziraphale pesters him about proper knife technique and minding his fingertips. Essentially, despite his insistence that he is assisting, Crowley is an absolute, adorable nuisance whenever Aziraphale is cooking.

And Aziraphale would have it no other way.”

Lavender & Thyme the week of 20-Jan with @and-his-hands-were-24-crows :

“Crowley sits at the piano, an old upright tucked in a nook in the hall that leads from their sitting room to the kitchen. As the late afternoon sun creeps through the windowpanes and the October breeze ruffles the grass, Crowley plays.”

Eyyyyyyy it's a collab I worked on. ✨

All the torso animated studies.

reminder that 30 isn’t old, it’s very normal to not accomplish everything in your 20s, and that it is never too late to learn that thing you’ve always wanted to learn. you’re always growing. that’s a good thing. 

Who the hell accomplishes everything in their 20s? Who made that a thing?

I was 48 when I started my apprenticeship to become a tattoo artist. I was 50 when I married the love of my life.

You’ve got time.

I needed this right now. I’ve got time!!!

To anyone who needs to hear this, my aunt called my mom last year in tears and, as she talked about how things are going, she admitted that she didn’t know she could be so happy, and she didn’t know how good life could be.

She is 72. After a very rough go of things, she is now with someone who cherishes her (met him three years ago!), goes on bucket-list road trips multiple times a year, founded two nonprofits to help people who have been through similar struggles, and feels fulfilled.

30 isn’t too late. Neither is 40, nor 50, nor even 70.

Let’s start the year in style - an Arrow Collar Man special.

A lil painting to try to wind down...........

This has been driving me insane.

I used to be *good* at search. It was a whole thing - I found people's "lost songs" or their unknown-source childhood stuffed toy or whatever from Google.

Now, you can't search for the exact brand/design name of something and get accurate answers. It drives me spare on Amazon - if I search for XYZ and you don't have any, or you only have 2, tell me that.

I wouldn't mind if it said "Here are 2 XYZ. Shoppers also searched for..." Instead it'll just throw a random, barely-linked pile of results and you have to wade through every single one to see if the thing you want exists.

THIS. For ages I used to say that I had "high Google-Fu". I could find *anything* because I knew how to use strings to enhance searches. The string commands haven't even worked for well over a year or more, far before they put in this infernal (and often wrong!) AI BS on top.

I used to be able to search for recipes and easily eliminate unwanted ingredients with a -. For example I'd look for low-carb desserts but without the zillions that use peanut butter simply by searching for something like:

low carb chocolate dessert recipe -peanut

And I'd get a slew of on-point suggestions. For some time now if you do -peanut Google ignores the - and assumes you want recipes stuffed with peanuts.

Where it's even worse now is now you get directed to sites full of bogus AI recipes that don't even make sense. But they have peanuts in them.

I used to be able to use reverse image searches to find out who made that awesome art so I could give credit in my share. They've removed that ability entirely and replaced it with Lens, which is AI BS just showing you more like what you looked for. (Rebecca Watson complained about this in her recent video about JD Vance jizz cup rumours and I apologise for that sentence but...yeah. Watson is great, go find her on Youtube and subscribe because she went into detail about how Google has become less and less useful for debunking.)

This isn't just about Google inserting shopping ads instead of what you wanted to learn about. That's bad. But the results now are just *broken*. The tools we used to have to make searches better have been removed. Google no longer wants us to find the answers we seek, but the answers they want us to have, and that's super creepy and dangerous.

And the alternatives are either using Google in the back end or have other significant barriers to use.

This sucks.

Duckduckgo and all the other alternatives work this way too, now.

Verbatim search, guys!! Go to "Tools," and enable "Verbatim."

It's a pain in the ass, but it still works!

1) yay, thank you

2) WHAT THE FUCK WHY DID THEY HIDE IT

For all you Firefox users, here's an addon that forces verbatim mode to always be on: