What I wouldn't give to be able to travel Japan for a month or two.

Images of individual trees in black against a white background with the name of the tree under each, featured alphabetically

Irish artist, Katie Holten created a Tree Alphabet #womensart

please read witch hat

fuck sam altman forever for taking away the last places where we could engage in good faith: the creative arts, which should be a testament to human ingenuity. i am so mad that everything i read or listen to or admire is now tainted with doubt. do you understand? he is a thief of joy and i HATE HIM

AHHHHH!

*deep breath*

AHHHHHH!

My twisty summer gothic story When He Calls Your Name is a #HUGO FINALIST!

I am so beyond happy—I’m so proud of this story & so hoped it would find its people.

SEE YOU IN LA DARLINGS, IMMA WEAR A VAMPIRE GOWN

www.uncannymagazine.com/article/when...

Ōkami 20th Anniversary Special Site｜CAPCOM In April 2026, Ōkami will celebrate its 20th anniversary. Events, merchandise, and original anniversary projects will be announced in the future!

Happy 20th anniversary to Okami! Here's a short thread with resources on the game's English translation, starting with this old 1UP interview with the localization producer (may take a few tries to load): web.archive.org/web/20110629... (thread: 1/3)

I’m not telling you what to do, but many of us don’t use beta readers, so unless you have some you’d trust with your life, maybe right now is not a good time to start looking. I’ve seen dozens of angry/sad “My beta reader told me they fed my book to AI” posts, and fuck that.

A bunch of artists will lose work, the flow and immersion for the reader is ruined, the mangaka's vision is butchered...and they'll probably raise the price on consumers anyway.

but at least a corporation made more money 😀

【BOOKTALK🎬】個性や愛がたっぷりつまった文庫の魅力を語ろう｜個人的推し文庫BEST3👑 YouTube video by JIRIKO

Today's listening practice is this video about different styles of bunkobon (small print paperbacks).

She speaks really clearly, not too fast, uses naturally polite Japanese, and has Japanese subs.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=nVr-...

Japanese has words for extremely hot days. Now, the Meteorological Agency has announced a new one - 酷暑日 (kokushobi) for days 40C (104F) or greater. One jokester said it should have gone with 汗日暑日暑 (asebishobisho, "sweat-soaked day") instead.

The paperback version of my essay compilation is now available on Amazon. I'll put a link below for the US, but it should be available globally. Just search "Visibly Lost," maybe with my name, and you should be able to find it, wherever you are.

As always, shares appreciated!

men can’t understand what it’s like for women to see story after story after story of women being victims of sexual violence in a culture where it’s routine; what it’s like to live in a world that is fundamentally hostile to our existence. it’s a wonder we leave the fucking house, let alone thrive.

Nao-san dressed as a traditional bride (with kitsune mask).

Nao-san dressed as a traditional bride (with kitsune mask).

🦊THE FOX'S WEDDING❤️‍🔥
A kitsune bride on her special day.

Can you guess who's beneath the mask?🤔

Photos shared by the wonderful🙇‍♂️-https://instagram.com/aya.15aya?utm_medium=copy_link & instagram.com/hamnin1027ie...

#狐の嫁入り #Kyoto #京都 #Kodaiji #高台寺 #kitsunewedding #Japan

At least there's a new season of Taskmaster to distract me from the horrors.

Irasutoya, Japan's popular free clip art library, has released its latest creation in honor of the United States President, Donald Trump. It's a clever play on TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) and the Japanese word タコ for octopus, which also means "idiot."

Someone on X asks what the writing on these beautiful Shinto toriii gates means. A Japanese user, unwilling to kill the magic and inform them these are the names of individual & corporate shrine donors, replies, "There are things best left unknown."

sure didn't expect to see this on JP news.

Counting in Japanese is so difficult, they are quizzing us about it on TV. Do you know how to count gods? Squid? Butterflies?? These are tough questions in this terrible language.

freelancers should be able to bill the government for the money we lose in the time we spend stressing about World Events instead of doing client work

Suppose a Bluesky user does not want any of their public data to be used for generative AI training. They would go in to app settings, find the data reuse preferences section, and configure “Generative AI” 🤖 to “disallow” 🚫.

The app would create this public record in their repository:

Koda Fumika: Early Afternoon (2018) This 2018 painting, titled Hirusagari (Early Afternoon), is another masterful creation by Koda Fumika, whose work often explores the quiet, overlapping worlds of nature and domesticity. The composition is characterized by its soft, diffused light and a rich, earthy color palette. Two ginger-and-white cats are tucked into the lower half of the frame, their forms partially obscured by the intricate layers of vegetation, while a third cat—a tortoiseshell or dark-patterned variety—rests slightly above them, its eyes closed in a peaceful slumber. Koda's technique involves meticulous attention to the textures of the fur and the delicate, drying seed heads of the grass, creating a tactile quality that invites the viewer into this hidden sanctuary. The use of warm browns, ochres, and muted greens reinforces the seasonal feeling of late summer or early autumn, where the natural world begins to retreat into a golden, sun-drenched haze.

This 2018 painting, titled Hirusagari (Early Afternoon), is another masterful creation by Koda Fumika, whose work often explores the quiet, overlapping worlds of nature and domesticity.

The singular "they" has been around longer than English has had codified grammar, so really, anyone who fumes about it can go fuck themself

www.oed.com/discover/a-b...

just this week:

-- OpenAI killed Sora
-- Disney subsequently cancelled its investment in OpenAI
-- Wikipedia is now banning LLM-generated content

...tell me again how this is all "inevitable" and you have to "get on board or get left behind"?

“I love video games. They help me relax.”

*Plays most stressful games ever created.*

okay so AI is absolutely cratering imminently and I need all of you to PROMISE me you won't take the high road, and will laugh and rub it in their faces as much as possible. I need you to laugh and go 'WE TOLD YOU SO, BITCH" at every opportunity, PLEASE be extremely mean and ruthless

Archaeologists Found a 745-Year-Old Shipwreck from a Famous Failed Invasion The ship was sunk by the “divine wind” that saved Japan from the Mongol invasion of 1281.

A ship from the 1281 Mongol invasion of Japan has been found in Imari Bay.
www.yahoo.com/news/article...

#shipwreck #maritimehistory #navalhistory

I've really enjoyed having time away from freelancing to recover from years of burnout, but given recent day job drama and *gestures to everything*, I'm thinking it wouldn't hurt to put out some feelers for writing gigs. Time to dust off the portfolio~

Fuck anybody saying being anti-AI writing equates to being anti-working class, because AI means the working class can finally write their stories. Bullshit. Working class folks have always been writing and telling their stories.

It is easier and more fun to do your hobbies when you aren't slogging through extreme depression so don't forget to squeeze in a mental health walk too