snowflake challenge 2024 #4-10: catchin up!

[serpentinemalign]

Challenge #4

IceBreaker Challenge! Tell us about yourself. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

i always hate talking about myself, but there was a random question generator, so i'm going to go with that. fun fact: i actually got uncomfortable halfway through the first set of questions and reset it!

1. What is your favorite spice?

sumac is the BEST. it improves everything (or, at least, most of the things i eat on a regular basis). it's like... sweet salt. does that make any sense???

i also love smoked paprika <3

2. What is something you thought would be a great idea but was terrible when you actually did it?

recently my partner and i tried a steam room and it SUCKED we couldnt spend even 30 seconds in there... we felt like we were inhaling water :( we didnt realise that saunas were NOT the same thing. f.

3. Who have you met only one time that left a huge impression on you?

as a child, i think the first celebrity i ever met was benjamin zephaniah who was doing a book tour. he died recently, so he's the first person who came to mind. but he was absolutely lovely to every kid, spent ages with all of us, and i remember he gave me encouraging words as i had said that i wanted to write too!

4. What's the worst accident you ever had?

i fell over and broke my arm as a teenager... my teacher thought i was faking to get out of gym class. i felt SOOOO vindicated when the x-ray came back lol

5. What is the strangest way you met one of your friends?

i didn't meet the friend there, we knew each other from uni, but we bonded when my partner and i were regulars at a local bdsm munch. we actually found the munches... uncomfortable and poorly managed/organised, so we ended up just catching up away from the munches lol

6. What's the worst piece of advice you ever got from someone?

i'm debating between the ineffectual and patronising ("have you tried a calendar?") or the genuinely harmful ("fake it till you make it!").

7. What has been your 15 minutes of fame up to this point?

my writing has been academically cited! but nothing under this handle. it will forever be a mystery 🤔

8. How much money would you need in the bank to feel comfortable to retire today?

this is a slightly sad question because i am just inches from being financially comfortable, but not quite enough to like. buy a house or anything. a million would give me about 22k a year until 70, which i think would be comfortable, provided the economy doesnt explode or they outlaw breathing for free. honestly, i would probably just use the 'retirement' trying out professions that i would love to try but wouldn't ordinarily have the stability to do for a living. god, capitalism dreams are so depressing huh lol

9. What's the best part of rain?

the smell!!!! rain smell is the BEST. rainy summers under an awning sipping on an iced coffee <3

10. What's your favorite room in your house and why? i love our living room. we have a sofa each (they came with the house) and i have gradually upgraded the surrounding furniture and cultivated a little goblin nook with film posters and pretty decorations, and all my gadgets and gizmos within easy reach.

Challenge #5: Search in your current space, whether brick-and-mortar or digital. Post a picture (a link to a picture will be fine!) or description of something that is or represents:

1. Something your favorite character would like

hugo would be delighted, i think, to have several comic books that are dedicated to him. perhaps not so much when he finds out he is a sad wet cat in all of them.

1. Something that makes you laugh

i recently tried katamari for the first time via the switch ports. it is... a delight. the absurdity of it makes me giggle. i talk about it more below.

1. A fandom place you would like to visit

recently i was making plans to visit [redacted] which is from a very old fandom too identifiable to discuss. it's shockingly reachable, especially if i get my licence this year.

1. A fandom creator (pro or not) you'd like to meet

honestly too many to count. <3 i wish that my online friends were closer by.

1. Something you find comforting

i have a jellycat snake in my lap as i write this... his name is lucifer and he is my friend

1. Something from a favorite TV series or movie from your childhood

a while back i discovered they had made miniature replicas of old bratz sets, as blind boxes. so i got some and they now live on our mantelpiece :3c

1. A piece of clothing you love

my big chunky knit sweater that i am wearing right now!

1. A book or song with a color in the title

oranges are not the only fruit

1. Something only someone in your fandom would understand

sometimes i think about how convoluted the plot of gotham is and how i lose track of it unless i think really hard about where hugo is during all of it. you just have to find your side blorbo to anchor you, i guess.

Challenge #6: In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a show, a specific TV episode, a storyline, a book or series, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

honestly, i was quite stumped by this, but i've been mulling over my the office us robert/ryan erotic thriller au. so lets talk about my favourite episode of the office not for humour but for feverish theorising, which is 'pool party'. it is situated in one of the worst seasons of the show, with the worst cast and side stories, but the setting was just delightful (i am so obsessed with that style of architecture - sleazy, excessive), and it planted the seed in my head that made me certain that gabe, robert and ryan should exist in a different show and i would have to write it. robert is the obvious case for belonging in the wrong show, but it's the way gabe and ryan schmooze him during the party and follow him so devotedly, living a life so empty they are hopeful he will bathe them in his light. they each have their respective darknesses. sorry if i already discussed this before. im getting deja vu. memory issues are so fun lol. and nothing has really given me huge brainrot yet this year, so this is what i've got for you. :')

Challenge #7: Make a list of fannish and/or creative resources. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

for my comic that i talk about below, because i love pulpy styles and wanted that visual language to be in the back of my mind while i made thumbnails, i made a brief list of interesting blogs about pulp illustration, and discovered the names of some cover illustrators i recognised but never knew.

https://killercoversoftheweek.blogspot.com/ https://pulpcovers.com/ https://www.pulpinternational.com/

most of these sources came from this big masterpost: https://americanpulps.com/american-pulp-artists/

Challenge #8: Talk about a current fannish project (fic, art, vid, crochet, funko pop village) (that you are creating or enjoying)

so, my big project right now is my first multipage comic!!! it is the origin of hugo and my self-insert, finally solidified (at least in that universe). i'm doing a new thing which i should, really, have been doing all along, which is going to EACH STAGE OF DRAWING before continuing. like. starting with thumbnails and a script for the entire comic, then rough sketch every page, then clean sketch every page. it is going to be a while because it's a long project! and that's okay. i'm going at my own pace and i'm excited!

Challenge #9: Rec Us Your Newest Thing. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

it seems tremendously silly to rec katamari damacy, a game that has been out for literally 20 years. however, i have been playing the remakes soooo much and im so obsessed with it. the king especially feels like a character who speaks to me for some ungodly reason. he is gender, he is huge, and i'd fuck him, i think. i love games that are kind of horrifying if you think about them for 5 seconds. despite being such a different vibe, it kind of hits the same spot as saints row for having a degree of existential horror and senseless violence, but with a comedic and absurd tone where there are absolutely no consequences for. any of it, and people masochistically seem to fling themselves into harm's way, so the horror ceases to have meaning. i loveeeee love love games that are unafraid to be both fun BUT THEN SIT IN THE TONAL DISSONANCE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING. i think games used to do so much better at this, where now games try to have ethical commentary and fumble it because it's just guilting the player for. things the game told them to do. yknow? i have strong opinions about this.

also the music is just. holy shit man. it's serotonin. i am gonna go download the soundtracks brb

Challenge #10: Five Things! The five things are totally up to you. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. 5 recipes that are the ultimate in depression, low effort high return cuisine (i adore them): 1) pizza toppings (tomato purée mozzarella etc) but on a supermarket naan (nigella lawson thank u) 2) supermarket vegetable quiche with nandos hot sauce 3) bake premade puff pastry squares topped with mustard and the jarred antipasti of your choice. top with feta after taking out of the oven, shovel into mouth for the rest of the week, hot or cold 4) its just chilli but you cook it in the oven because watching a pot sucks. if you fry the onions and garlic its better but you can also just. shove it all in there and leave it for an hour and itll be fine. black beans + chopped tomatoes + onions + garlic + herbs and spices of your choice (cayenne, chipotle, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano etc) + any veg you have in the house and never cooked + honey + dark chocolate. but put the chocolate in quite late 5) this is barely a recipe but just a common factor i have found since trying many recipes. frying a 'cheese' (literally cheese like halloumi or paneer, or something else substantial with some protein like tofu, veg burgers/sausages) + one or more greens (broccoli, green beans, mangetout, carrots... well i guess most carrots aren't green) + a sauce (mustard, harissa, soy sauce). usually a decent amount of salt and a teaspoon of something sweet, too - sugar, honey, balsamic. lemon juice is good on top at the end but is definitely not essential. it will usually turn out quite crunchy and go well with pittas or rice. if you are fancy you could fry in stages to avoid the cheesy/protein/fatty component burning and fusing with the pan. i usually just throw everything in, fry on a low heat, stir a lot, and hope for the best lol.