Reading

Current Mood: celebratory

Entry tags:

m:tv: shezow

shezow's 13th anniversary !

december 15th , 2012 , mark first release of superhero cartoon shezow ...

this show overall was pretty silly - lots of stuff that can expect from any old kids' superhero fare but with silly gender-based twists , since main character is boy as hyperfeminine superhero .

but there was also episode ( link to tubi tv ) in which mother learn of son's identity as shezow , and feel so much pride and joy that want to reveal for sake of show pride , which would endanger - not only because secret identity is secret for reason , but particularly because father hate shezow .

show was not able to get all that deep into things , realistically - there was talk quite some time ago that even acceptance of identity as shezow was hard to get on air , let alone any kind of deeper thoughts and questions . but honestly still hold pretty fond place in memory , for nuggets like that .

so , happy anniversary , shezow !

SNOW

Posted by curiousquail

https://blog.curiousquail.com/snow/

FINALLY

Man I've been waiting for snow, like snow-ass SNOW for a loooong time; the forecast didn't have any on it (unlike last week when it said 2-3" and we got sleet) so I was pretty surprised to find a goddamn winter wonderland this morning when I got up with it still actively snowing for a few hours.

Please enjoy some snow photos and gifs.

(Sidenote: if anyone has good tips for gif filesize reduction that doesn't shrink to a postage stamp or turn all the colors into a Gameboy color palette they'd be much appreciated; I'm trying to keep file size down for loading purposes and it's been rough. I'm not sure if .apng is the way to go but it looks promising)

Photo of a brick outdoor oven / fireplace covered in snow

animated gif of a power line being snowed on

Photo of maple tree branches covered in snow with a red brick building beyond

animated gif of a snow-encrusted brick staircase being actively snowed upon

photo of a bird bath with a heavy layer of snow on it

Photo of a large evergreen tree dusted in snow

animated gif of snow falling on a tree that has a small cage feeder device attached to it

photo of a sheet of snow with a twig sticking out of it

animated gif of an outdoor floodlight on the side of a building being pelted with snow

another ice sheet with twigs sticking out

https://blog.curiousquail.com/snow/

Daily Dex - Hisuian Typhlosion, Venonat, Minun and Rookidee

Posted by curiousquail

https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-hisuian-typhlosion-venonat-minun-and-rookidee/

In which I challenge myself to draw a pokemon every day until I stop

It's been a few days since I got these posted and the thing that motivated me to get the photos edited and online is that it's FINALLY FUCKING SNOWING like REAL SNOW and I have a bunch of gifs and photos of it that I want to edit but the work must come first!!!

Enjoy:

Thurs 12/11/2025 - Hisuian Typhlosion

Drawing of pokemon 157, the Typhlosion but in the Hisuian variant where it is like a biped otter with ghostly fire coming out of its back

Loki requested both Cyndaquil and their Hisiuan evolutionary final form which I had to do because it like, objectively rules?? I don't think there's a single Hisuian variant that's bad? I mean shit have you seen Zoroark? Also them getting the added 'ghost' typing is fucking wild from a lore perspective.

(I tried making the pokeball in this entry one of the hisuian ones but the lighting was a bit off, not sure it's super visible)

Fri 12/12/2o025 - Venonat

Drawing of pokemon 48; a small fuzzy purple bug

Here's the thing. I know I've played Gen 1 games multiple times and I remember the moth this thing evolves into but I can't for the life of me remember ever seeing this thing before. I watched the Pokerap with my kids (they love groaning at cheesey 90's shit) and was like "what the fuck is that thing"

Sat 12/13/2025 - Minun

Drawing of pokemon 312, a small yellowish rabbit with blue ears

Ok seriously. How many times are we gonna have an electric type rodent pokemon that is distinctive in that it's not Pikachu. We can do better, man!! And like, this is from Gen III so it'd be forgivable but they're still doing it!!

Sun 12/14/2025 - Rookidee

Drawing of pokemon 821; a black and blue and yellow bird

My kid caught one of these in the Z-A DLC last night and I'd never heard of it so it went to the top of the list lmao

art
pokemon
daily-dex

https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-hisuian-typhlosion-venonat-minun-and-rookidee/

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: midsummer evening ~ patricia spero

Entry tags:

if kossai could write novels ...

just think about how kossai would handle fae romance novel ...

would make as gay as possible . while human might be confuse and initially put off by this , of course , faerie would have no thoughts on this as strange . fae like what fae like , and fae do what fae do , regardless of human perceptions of right and wrong , normal and abnormal . and no 6 page monologues to come out .

never really fan of whole nobility thing . if did incorporate nobility , would be more for show , not legitimate social structure . fae just play pretend with these things sometimes - anyone can be prince or princess , duke or duchess , whatever . likewise , would write court dynamics as more personal reflection .

would incorporate personal biological cycles . acotar's " calanmai " thoroughly disappoint with how fucking straight this shit was , can do idea of faerie heat so much better from experience . not that heat cycle is inherent to faeries , and certainly not within folklore , but faerie sexuality can be very intense and hard to contain . still able to feel intensely at any time , but if most intense feelings bloom on predictable cycle , then become much easier to deal with than when entirely random .

not really keen on idea of one big evil faerie . would want conflicts to be more grounded and interpersonal as faerie struggle to understand how to woo human , and human struggle with navigate faerie realm . in other words , would basically play faerie thorns faerie roses :P

Current Mood: conflicted
Current Music: maka ~ mermaid splash! passion festival ost

Entry tags:

m:b: acotar

another minor acotar whinge

like to joke that acotar would be better if tamlin and lucien could be gay , but know reality of this is , would still personally find unbearable to read , just would be gay instead . actually watch through some videos about later series entries , in which there is 1 singular bisexual woman who spend 6 pages to monologue entire history and sexuality , and then never appear again . pretty sure if SJM try to write gay or bisexual men , would fall into all of worst tropes and stereotypes .

of course , some fans pick up slack with gay art and fanfiction , but ... lots of this seem to be pre-story or extreme fixer-upper AUs , in which just make nearly everything up , because fundamentally incompatible with actual stories and various counts of character assassination , most notably tamlin's . at that point , personally feel like would not be worth effort to work with source material at all , and might as well just rip off favourite parts to make something new . not sure how feel about engage with fandom in which main appeal is to literally ignore all of source material . sure , there is some stuff that personally ignore or write over in elder scrolls character stories , but at least genuinely enjoy elder scrolls games and concepts as is .

Entry tags:

Just Create - Ice Edition

What are you working on? What have you finished? What do you need encouragement on?

Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype?

What do you just want to talk about?

What have you been watching or reading?

Chores and other not-fun things count!

Remember to encourage other commenters and we have a discord where we can do work-alongs and chat, linked in the sticky.

Snowapple Says Good Morning

Posted by curiousquail

https://blog.curiousquail.com/snowapple-says-good-morning-12-11/

Photo of a black cat staring off into the distance

I realized it's been a while since I posted snoops so please, enjoy.

snowapple-says-good-morning

https://blog.curiousquail.com/snowapple-says-good-morning-12-11/

Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: peaceful forest of the elves ~ a. davis

Entry tags:

m:b: acotar

and done with ACOTAR ...

that . was . that was something . keep most of rambles to access list currently , as not yet finish and did not want to make public judgments too early . but no longer is this shackle !

some of faerie topics which handle , actually think alright . bogge , suriel , and attor do not represent particular faeries of old lore , but feel like fit in decently . faerie music is written as suitably magical , able to make feyre feel wonderful , free , and ready to dance . faerie food ruin feyre's sense of taste for human food . even final quarter's trials , tasks , and riddles kind of impress .

unfortunately , some of these really nice moments come at cost of feyre's character image - this woman is meant to be capable hunter who feed whole family and know dangers of faerie menace , yet blatantly rush into dangerous faerie-based situations far more than actually listen to warnings .

some parts amuse for entirely wrong reasons - that is to say , laugh at plenty of bad character choices , ridiculous interactions , and contradictions to faerie sensibilities . other parts annoy , because feel like author poorly set up - particularly in ways that take away agency and capability from feyre - or just get horny at worst moments like grief and moral quandary . pick literally any other time to get horny , pretty please ?

very glad that borrow this from library , rather than purchase . manage to satiate curiosity for this series , and safe to say will not continue .

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: fairy sleep ~ suan sidhe

Entry tags:

everyday: random thoughts

(no subject)

have to admit , there is funny irony in faeries tell humans how to spot generative AI fakes .

Daily Dex - Gengar and Cyndaquil

Posted by curiousquail

https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-gengar-and-cyndaquil/

In which I challenge myself to draw a pokemon every day until I stop

Tuesday 12/09/2025 - Gengar

Continuing off the last post, Gengar was a request and I'm doing my best!

I'm not gonna check but I think this is the first Ghost-type pokemon I've done for the project.

Weds 12/10/2025 - Cyndaquil

Another request! This one from Loki; I regretted not picking Cyndaquil in my (albeit brief) playthrough of Legends: Arceus, especially once I saw what the Hisuian version of its evolution looks like.

art
pokemon
daily-dex

https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-gengar-and-cyndaquil/

First Snow of the Season*

Posted by curiousquail

https://blog.curiousquail.com/first-snow-of-the-season-new/

It's not much but it's pretty

Growing up in California, (specifically in the bay area and then spending adult years in the Coachella Valley) most of my life has been framed with the old expression "Snow is a place you go, not a thing that happens".

Understanding that California is not a monolith and contains virtually every biome, for context I experienced active snow twice in my life during my time in the state; I distinctly remember watching the movie E.T. with my siblings when a neighbor knocked on the door shouting "IT'S SNOWING" and we all ran out to watch it fall. It was I wanna say the early 90's but it didn't stick on the ground so it wasn't like, record-worthy. (Historical archives of weather for San José show 1976 as the last time it snowed and stuck). The second time was going over the Grapevine driving to Palm Springs for Christmas from the Bay; messy, but pretty fucking magical.

That said, I've been to snowy places plenty - but it was basically never where I lived and never while it was actively snowing, until I moved to New England.

So here I am in Connecticut for the time being and honestly I've kinda been let down!! We get maybe 3-4 total snows per year (trending down since 2021) and this week marked our first snow of the...what do you even call it? Not "year" since it snowed in January but like, it's not officially winter yet? What's the 'fiscal year' equivalent of seasons? I hate that my brain went there.

Anyway - the weather forecast made a HUGE goddamn hubub about "heavy snow expected", "freezing temps", the whole thing - and then all we got was a tiny dusting of crystals that melted within 3 hours.

Don't get me wrong, it's still pretty but I'm feeling ripped off!! Our first year here we got not only snow on Thanksgiving day AND Christmas day, but new things I'd never heard of before like a 'Snow Squall' and 'Bomb Cyclone'. Look at this shit:

January 2022

State was love bombing us with weather!! Now it's burping and scratching its ass in front of us. Romance is dead, smdh

winter
photography

https://blog.curiousquail.com/first-snow-of-the-season-new/

Daily Dex - Maractus, Bewear and Charmeleon

Posted by curiousquail

https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-maractus-bewear-and-charmeleon/

In which I challenge myself to draw a pokemon every day until I stop

Day 12/06/2025 - Maractus

Drawing of pokemon 556; a cactus creature with pink flowered headstalks

The work continues!! Another random number generator find - I guess I'm not surprised there are cactus pokemon but I've never seen any before and it makes me happy. Lookit this little friend.

Day 12/07/2025 - Bewear

Drawing of pokemon 760 - a black and pink bear

It's hard for me to unwrap this creature from what episodes of the Sun and Moon anime I've seen; it's like this creature exists purely to harass Team Rocket and it's such a fun running gag.

Day 12/08/2025 - Charmeleon

Drawing of Pokemon 5 - Charmeleon (which is an orange biped reptilian with a flaming tail

I asked for suggestions for today and got two; Jamie and Angela tossed in Charmeleon and Gengar but I heard Charchar first, so Gengar tomorrow!

art
pokemon
daily-dex

https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-maractus-bewear-and-charmeleon/

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: wish upon the hawthorn tree ~ old man willow

Entry tags:

musings: media and audiences

media engagement thoughts ~ background engagement

or as people might more likely say , second screen - to keep media on in background , while pay attention to phone or otherwise . but would say also go for crafters to some extent , like crocheters and knitters .

on one hand , definitely understand need for something to fill background , especially if live with other people who make noises and distractions . on other hand , sometimes fail to see why music is not enough for that . do not think music should always be in background either , but at least serve role of filter out in interesting way , without take too much attention to tune back in and enjoy as is .

maybe just have wonky perspective because HOH - even when medium is audio only like podcast , will follow transcript , or if there is none , then will make sure to avoid all other distractions so as to hone in on comprehension . this is not to say that never play other things in background , but honestly ? this is almost always something that already know well enough to not lose track if tune out .

again , there is sort of ... on one hand , to use videos like this can give clear markers of how much time pass . just get through two 20 minute videos while crochet , so know 40 minutes , which means just about time to make lunch . on other hand ... surely all these music platforms can estimate playlist length and let user choose , right ...? but maybe give some of these platforms too much credit >.>

if really interest in something , then would like to watch that thing as is . even if that means , say for example , defunctland's latest nearly 4.5 hour video - which still only halfway finish , watch in bits over this past week . not because of video's failure to keep interest , but need breaks to do other things , to recuperate from listening fatigue , and sometimes to watch shorter things in between .

just feel that beyond personal accessibility needs for captions and transcripts , people use visual mediums when visual components important - otherwise would be audio podcasts , books , or whatever else . therefore , feel like make sense to give best attention possible .

Daily Dex - Xurkitree, Pyukumuku, Abra, Koffing, Patrat, and Gible

Posted by curiousquail

https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-sick-catchup/

In which I challenge myself to draw a pokemon every day until I stop

Previously On
As mentioned in the last Daily Dex post, I got VERY VERY sick and lost about a whole week of real life to it - but as I could, I continued the drawings from bed. Now that I'm better, I've photographed and am caught up:

Sun 11/30/2025 - Xurkitree

Drawing of pokemon 796, a star-headed being made seemingly out of wires

My older kid requested this one. Ultra ball for an Ultra beast. Felt fitting.

Mon 12/01/2025 - Pyukumuku

Drawing of pokemon 771 - a small black blob with pink protrusions, a star mouth and a fluffy white tail

Given my situation, I specifically looked up to see if there was a pokemon known for vomiting and man, there really is something for everything.

Tues 12/02/2025 - Abra

Drawing of Pokemon 63 - a yellow reptilian like alien creature that's asleep

Needed a tired / perpetually exhausted pokemon and I've already used Snorlax so onto the Abra line

Weds 12/03/2025 - Koffing

Drawing of pokemon 109; a sentient purple orb with the equivalent of a skull and crossbones on it, surrounded by smoke

MOOD

Thurs 12/04/2025 - Patrat

Drawing of pokemon 504, what appears to be a rat with a raccoon mask

This was an RNG one. I was feeling better by Thursday.

Fri 12/05/2025 - Gible

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Posted by curiousquail<a href="https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-sick-catchup/">https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-sick-catchup/</a>In which I challenge myself to <a href="https://blog.curiousquail.com/blog/?q=daily%20dex" target="new">draw a pokemon every day until I stop</a> <hr> Previously On As mentioned in the <a href="https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-snorlax-and-machamp/" target="new">last Daily Dex post</a>, I got VERY VERY sick and lost about a whole week of real life to it - but as I could, I continued the drawings from bed. Now that I'm better, I've photographed and am caught up: <h3> Sun 11/30/2025 - Xurkitree</h3> <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/j33a0jkpxwiu1bdibi81r/MK3_3619.jpg?rlkey=q3i45ugbxguoq2de7n8b2jltq&raw=1" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt="Drawing of pokemon 796, a star-headed being made seemingly out of wires" title="What even is this" src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/mk3_3619_web.jpg"></a> My older kid requested this one. Ultra ball for an Ultra beast. Felt fitting. <h3> Mon 12/01/2025 - Pyukumuku</h3> <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/m9pgirlthu72mxupj6e2x/MK3_3616.jpg?rlkey=vq2f7bhtzwddkuomy1c6kqx1t&raw=1" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt="Drawing of pokemon 771 - a small black blob with pink protrusions, a star mouth and a fluffy white tail" title="VOMIT PARTY" src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/mk3_3616_web.jpg"></a> Given my situation, I specifically looked up to see if there was a pokemon known for vomiting and man, there really is something for everything. <h3> Tues 12/02/2025 - Abra</h3> <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vs4mqq3ppttudslmrya92/MK3_3603.jpg?rlkey=monv6i1n89qoua8fl7fr92ll0&raw=1" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt="Drawing of Pokemon 63 - a yellow reptilian like alien creature that's asleep" title=" " src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/mk3_3603_web.jpg"></a> Needed a tired / perpetually exhausted pokemon and I've already used Snorlax so onto the Abra line <h3> Weds 12/03/2025 - Koffing</h3> <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/bqpj189wgwf4bmha3e91u/MK3_3596.jpg?rlkey=o6e0oisna1grpvw8fyhu8sos1&raw=1" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt="Drawing of pokemon 109; a sentient purple orb with the equivalent of a skull and crossbones on it, surrounded by smoke" title="KOFFING" src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/mk3_3596_web.jpg"></a> MOOD <h3> Thurs 12/04/2025 - Patrat</h3> <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/eed484jvgd27md3qmjmsf/MK3_3583.jpg?rlkey=xbov88xit9scw7hu0i1ucykgo&raw=1" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt="Drawing of pokemon 504, what appears to be a rat with a raccoon mask" title="Really don't like these fuckers in ZA" src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/mk3_3583_web.jpg"></a> This was an RNG one. I was feeling better by Thursday. <h3> Fri 12/05/2025 - Gible</h3> <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xud8es54e9w0q0l0eep8h/MK3_3574.jpg?rlkey=gtjciuqrt3eir3myk0y40kc6v&raw=1" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt=Drawing of pokemon 443; it's basically a small shark with legs and arms attached" title="Just a little guy" src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/mk3_3574_web.jpg"></a> Gible is such a weird little fucker. Dragon / Ground type, is literally a shark on legs, and evolves into a tokusatsu kaiju. Generation IV went wild. <script defer src="https://comments.friendsofeggbug.org/comentario.js"></script> <comentario-comments></comentario-comments> <octo-thorpe>art</octo-thorpe> <octo-thorpe>pokemon</octo-thorpe> <octo-thorpe>daily-dex</octo-thorpe> <a href="https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-sick-catchup/">https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-sick-catchup/</a>

Thoughts on the Final Bandcamp Friday of 2025

Posted by curiousquail

https://blog.curiousquail.com/the-final-bandcamp-friday-of-2025/

Hey two quick things if you're new here!

First - hi, I'm MSD: I front a chiptune/orchestral indie music band collective thing called Curious Quail and I'm bad at promoting our music so I'm gonna be doing that right here before the blog post proper. Skip below if you don't want to buy music I guess lmao (it may take a sec to load, bandcamp's slow today lol)

If you're into fuzzy guitars, Erin and I singing our asses off, and violins locked in a constant battle for sonic balance with nintendo gameboys, we got you

Secondly - I'm a photographer and I like how blog posts look with photos even if those photos aren't necessarily relevant to the post itself - so please enjoy some random shots of musicians I've played with and photographed over the years with links to their Bandcamps

It's been five years

What have we learned from Bandcamp Friday?

Photo of two nintento Gameboys rigged up to play music with on top of a container covered in stickers

Tools of the trade

Here we are again! It is a Friday and musicians everywhere scramble to get their Bandcamp links in front of as many eyes as possible in the hopes that their wares can be purchased and the capitalism will allow us to afford things like food and healthcare (yea right) so we can continue making art.

In theory that's us every day...or more realistically, every time we have a new release to promote because the attention industry of the world has shifted to a serious devaluation of anything that's more than a week old unless it's on a major label or a high profile Spotify playlist, but Bandcamp Friday is this unique moment in that it calls to action both artists and fans alike.

Black and white photo of Mike Ackman of Together We Are Robots belting out his fucking soul on stage; devil horns and people singing along in the crowd are prevalent

Together We Are Robots - Calgary, AB

Quick TLDR if you ended up on this blog post and don't know what Bandcamp friday is!

Bandcamp.com is an online music store where musicians can sell their work. Generally the platform takes a cut of each sale, but they waive this on designated 'Bandcamp Fridays' (Usually the first Friday of a given selected month), ergo more money goes to artists selling music on Bandcamp on these specific days than any other day.

This practice started when Bandcamp was independent, as a 'damn, touring is kind of fucked right now with this whole pandemic thing isn't it?' stop-gap; I think a lot of us thought it would end once the general population decided Covid wasn't a problem anymore (It still is. For fuck's sake it's 2025 and it still is!!) OR when the platform was

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Posted by curiousquail<a href="https://blog.curiousquail.com/the-final-bandcamp-friday-of-2025/">https://blog.curiousquail.com/the-final-bandcamp-friday-of-2025/</a>Hey two quick things if you're new here! First - hi, I'm MSD: I front a chiptune/orchestral indie music band collective thing called <a href="https://curiousquail.com/about" target="new">Curious Quail</a> and I'm bad at promoting our music so I'm gonna be doing that right here before the blog post proper. Skip below if you don't want to buy music I guess lmao (it may take a sec to load, bandcamp's slow today lol) <site-embed id="72"/> If you're into fuzzy guitars, Erin and I singing our asses off, and violins locked in a constant battle for sonic balance with nintendo gameboys, we got you Secondly - I'm a photographer and I like how blog posts look with photos even if those photos aren't necessarily relevant to the post itself - so please enjoy some random shots of musicians I've played with and photographed over the years with links to their Bandcamps <hr> <h3>It's been five years </h3> What have we learned from Bandcamp Friday? <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uwz9k9ghk5ep4aotcobkw/V98A6861.jpg?rlkey=r4lmwaw41wyjyywtz937su8hj&raw=1" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt="Photo of two nintento Gameboys rigged up to play music with on top of a container covered in stickers" title="the gamelads" src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/gameboys.jpg"></a> Tools of the trade Here we are again! It is a Friday and musicians everywhere scramble to get their Bandcamp links in front of as many eyes as possible in the hopes that their wares can be purchased and the capitalism will allow us to afford things like food and healthcare (yea right) so we can continue making art. In theory that's us every day...or more realistically, every time we have a new release to promote because the attention industry of the world has shifted to a serious devaluation of anything that's more than a week old unless it's on a major label or a high profile Spotify playlist, but Bandcamp Friday is this unique moment in that it calls to action both artists and fans alike. <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/fuh03ejt21j36jfcilruj/V98A4151_1.jpg?rlkey=8kiixjwi8txp93gd6cnxf1ozk&raw=1" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt="Black and white photo of Mike Ackman of Together We Are Robots belting out his fucking soul on stage; devil horns and people singing along in the crowd are prevalent" title="Together We Are Robots" src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/twar-1.jpg"></a> <a href="https://monobombrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ghost-stories" target="new">Together We Are Robots</a> - Calgary, AB <div class="infobox-frame"> <div class="infobox-icon"></div> <div class="infobox-text">Quick TLDR if you ended up on this blog post and don't know what Bandcamp friday is!</div> </div> <a href="https://bandcamp.com/" target="new">Bandcamp.com</a> is an online music store where musicians can sell their work. Generally the platform takes a cut of each sale, but they waive this on designated 'Bandcamp Fridays' (Usually the first Friday of a given selected month), ergo more money goes to artists selling music on Bandcamp on these specific days than any other day. This practice started when Bandcamp was independent, as a 'damn, touring is kind of fucked right now with this whole pandemic thing isn't it?' stop-gap; I think a lot of us thought it would end once the general population decided Covid wasn't a problem anymore (<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/11/nx-s1-5312100/covid-virus-mutation-evolution" target="new">It still is.</a> For fuck's sake it's 2025 and it still is!!) OR when the platform was <a href="https://blog.bandcamp.com/2022/03/02/bandcamp-is-joining-epic/ target=" new"="new"">sold to Epic Games in 2022</a>, OR when Epic <a href="https://www.songtradr.com/blog/posts/songtradr-bandcamp-acquisition" target="new">sold it to Songtradr</a> in 2023 - but it stayed! <a href="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/jeff_liu.gif" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt=" " title=" " src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/jeff_liu.gif"></a> <a href="https://jeffliujeffliu.bandcamp.com/album/anything-at-all" target="new">Jeff Liu</a> - Los Angeles, CA <h3>Bandcamp Friday trudged onward!</h3> I wanna be 100% clear that this started as a well-intentioned thing that has done SO much good for independent artists. I know it has helped us immensely over the years...but it's created an interesting series of problems as well that many of the artists I know and work with have started to express. Fans started waiting for Bandcamp Friday to buy things, release dates started shifting, singles started being held back - musicians did what they could to make sure their new, shiny thing (again, the moment you release it is the moment it has the most eyes, then it's a wilted up pile of ash that needs to be tossed) would release ON Bandcamp Friday to capitalize both on the hype of the day AND also bring in extra revenue. <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/299yppwzfi77bvq47a05c/V98A5944.jpg?rlkey=fuyweqpkhs3qw1gpdms09bcpe&raw=1" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt=" " title=" " src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/skybox.jpg"></a> <a href="https://skybox.bandcamp.com/music" target="new">skybox</a> - Seattle, WA I've written <a href="https://blog.curiousquail.com/bandcamp-friday-fatigue/" target="new">at length</a> about 'Bandcamp Friday Fatigue' and I don't want this to devolve too much into rehashing. You should read that blog! It's good I promise. But what that blog post doesn't take into account is just how long this has been going on. Again, Bandcamp Friday starting during 2020; it hasn't been EVERY month, there have been plenty of breaks and that unpredictability kind of adds to the weirdness. We don't know if the company is going to keep doing the program in 2026. We don't know if Bandcamp is going to be a viable platform at all moving forward because it's hard to tell what the parent company will / won't do at any given moment; hell, Bandcamp Friday started getting corporate 'sponsors' last year (Today's is bafflingly a Knoxville, TN based music festival founded by the guy who used to run Bonnaroo, but it's been megacorps like Roland in the past) and the slope does seem a bit slippery! <a href="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/y_axes_gloomy_june.gif" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt="Alexi from Gloomy June singing on stage and reaching out to the crowd" title="Gloomy June" src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/y_axes_gloomy_june.gif" target="new"></a> <a href="https://theyaxes.bandcamp.com/" target="new">Gloomy June</a> - San Francisco, CA Plus, with the ongoing puritanical takeover of the internet via pressure on payment processors, it becomes increasingly difficult to trust that any platform won't have their ability to accept payment summarily yanked away from them because they happen to host art that is deemed questionable, if not start to more severely vet what is 'acceptable' to allow on the platform in the first place. If you're unfamiliar with the situation that broke out with Steam or Itch.io earlier this year <a href="https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-payment-networks-control-the-definition-of-acceptable-sex-in-videogames" target="new">I can recommend a refresher</a> but more recently the situation with art-horror game <a href="https://www.gog.com/en/game/horses" target="new">Horses</a> is on a lot of creative people's minds. The game being preemptively banned by Steam based on content from an early 2023 demo build that didn't reflect the final work, which then caused other platforms to follow suit with effectively no investigation of their own. Humble admitted to developer Santa Ragione that <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/horses-the-upsetting-horror-game-previously-banned-on-steam-gets-last-minute-ban-from-epic-games-store-too" target="new">they took it down as a precautionary measure because of the other stores banning it</a> until they actually looked at it and then reinstated on their own. It's worth pointing out there there was a pseudo "we need to boycott itch.io for [checks notes] de-indexing adult-content games so they can continue to accept any payments" during the payment processor kerfuffle mentioned above, and a "we need to boycott Bandcamp for switching to Stripe" movement that had their heads so far up there asses I don't even know where to begin because, look: Bandcamp used Paypal pretty much since it launched until they switched to Stripe this fall. Both payment processors are equally evil in terms of their feelings about adult and queer content, and them going from bad option A to bad option B should frankly feel familiar to all of us on the internet as social media spaces get increasingly worsened by greed. Imagine being an artist in this ecosystem where your release schedule has effectively become dependent on Bandcamp Friday, only to find out people are boycotting the platform because of a payment processor switch that had nothing to do with you (and again, is functionally the same evil). If anything, it just goes to show how capital can ruin literally anything; we're five years into a program originally meant to financially help artists and here I am feeling kinda gross about its evolution, and I'm definitely not alone! Also it's pretty important to point out that on Bandcamp Friday, it's not 100% of each sale that goes to the artist; it's only the original share plus the cut Bandcamp would take; Bandcamp's payment processors (now mostly Stripe though some legacy Paypal probably exists) still take a cut during every online transaction. <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tmgqxg90pkvq7oaleov0g/V98A0222.jpg?rlkey=ihz6rdja9hmmr4svcoq7i6wm5&raw=1" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt=" " title=" " src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/mineral_kingdom_mjp.jpg"></a> <a href="https://themineralkingdom.bandcamp.com/album/the-mineral-kingdom" target="new">The Mineral Kingdom</a> - Oakland, CA <h3>So wait where are we again?</h3> I don’t know, man. We’ll keep participating in Bandcamp Friday until it or Bandcamp no longer exists, I guess!! There’s no way to deny it has helped artists and the pros outweigh it not having existed in the first place, but I’m so tired of needing to look over my internet shoulder all the time because a large corporation might ruin something I depend on, through buyouts or payment processing or country of origin law changes. We could <a href="https://blog.curiousquail.com/looking-for-bandcamp-alternatives/" target="new">once again</a> look at 'Are other platforms viable as an alternative to bandcamp?' but ultimately right now, I think the most important thing we can do as artists is support each other. Whatever social platforms you are on - repost your friends and colleagues' work! On bandcamp itself, give other musicians recommendations using your artist account, shout out other people's work when highlighting your own, curate your own "Bandcamp Friday Shopping List", if not for this month then maybe a nebulous future one. Here's some suggestions for you: <site-embed id="73"/> <site-embed id="74"/> <site-embed id="75"/> <site-embed id="76"/> <site-embed id="77"/> <site-embed id="78"/> <site-embed id="79"/> <site-embed id="80"/> <site-embed id="81"/> <site-embed id="82"/> <site-embed id="83"/> <site-embed id="84"/> <site-embed id="85"/> <site-embed id="86"/> <site-embed id="87"/> <site-embed id="88"/> <site-embed id="89"/> <site-embed id="90"/> Anyway, share your own in the comments! And please enjoy this gif that I'm super proud of but left at the end because flashing lights and I didn't know how to stop autoplay gifs in my current environment <a href="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/mega_ran.gif" target="new"> <img height="1400" width="2100" alt=" " title=" " src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/curiousquail/mega_ran.gif"></a> <a href="https://random.bandcamp.com/music" target="new">Mega Ran</a> - Phoenix, AZ <script defer="defer" src="https://comments.friendsofeggbug.org/comentario.js"></script> <comentario-comments></comentario-comments> <octo-thorpe>bandcamp</octo-thorpe><a href="https://blog.curiousquail.com/the-final-bandcamp-friday-of-2025/">https://blog.curiousquail.com/the-final-bandcamp-friday-of-2025/</a>

Current Mood: productive
Current Music: king of the faeries ~ mary stark

Entry tags:

everyday: random thoughts

(no subject)

downside to fix socks is that in order to ensure fit with non-elastic thread , have to actually sew while wear on body . already sew several leg hairs into stitches , but somehow not prick too hard yet .

think about other potential methods , just on first pair anyway .

Daily Dex - Snorlax and Machamp

Posted by curiousquail

https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-snorlax-and-machamp/

In which I challenge myself to draw a pokemon every day until I stop

Quick caveat up front; Saturday night I got incredibly INCREDIBLY sick (don’t wanna go into it but I’ve legitimately never thrown up that much in my life) and by the time I’m posting this (Thurs 12/4) I’m only now in “not dying” mode.

Once I’m well enough to get back to normal activities I’ll photograph the more recent entries I’ve drawn from bed. I’d prepped this post on Saturday and didn’t hit post because of the aforementioned plague.

Fri 11/28/25 - Snorlax

Drawing of a Snorlax, the large sleeping pokemon

I figured it was fitting that if Thanksgiving day got a hungry pokemon, the day after needed to be a fucking Snorlax. I was EXHAUSTED most of Friday.

[Note: This was most likely a result of the oncoming of the plague]

Sat 11/29/25 - Machamp

Pokemon 68; a drawing of the four armed muscly monster MACHAMP

About 1 (one) day into this project I realized that at some point, I was going to have to contend with a few pretty fucked up things:

I'm not great at drawing hands (ok but who is??)
I'm not great at drawing humanoid faces - which is why my primary artistic venture involves bird beaked people with single-color glowing eyes

So! when I hit the random number generator and it ended up on 68, a trip to bulbapedia showed me that my fears had sort of coalesced; not just hands....FOUR hands, and a goddamn humanoid-adjacent face

I could have re-rolled! I could hidden from my destiny! But nay; it was time to rip the goddamn [store brand medical adhesive strip] off and draw some fucking hands.

And goddamnit I think I did....ok!

(Also how did I never notice that Machamp is basically a biped frogman? And why does its evolution path involve a wrestler's belt? Is the belt....organic?? Do I want to know the answer to this question???)

art
pokemon
daily-dex

https://blog.curiousquail.com/daily-dex-snorlax-and-machamp/

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: silent snow ~ fred bouchal

Entry tags:

everyday: regression

agere & independence

there is another thing that frustrate about regression / kid-front spaces , and that is just , so much dependency on caregivers - ask for caregiver to help with this craft , let caregiver handle hot stove and sharp knives , just sit back worry-free . and of course can not fault anyone for find comfort in that , as often tie to frustration of guardians who neglect and refuse care . but other end of spectrum happen too - kids whose guardians overly shelter and refuse any independence , especially if disabled , such that never get to learn life skills until late in life , so important part of regression is to build independence . feel there is no real recognition of this among these spaces .

in addition , as other collectives will say - someone might have feelings and internal age that line up with childhood , but have 5 ,10 , 20+ years of experience within collective - everyday tasks of adulthood not necessarily problem in that case . tend to feel similarly here , because fae ages can be just as funky ... this is why split into 3 categories when relevant - chronological existence , external appearance , and internal feelings . that chronological existence can give wisdom , perspective , and life experiences that might not align with expectations of both external and internal ages .

so all in all , sprouts here actually prefer as much independence as possible . want to be able to ask for help without shame if help become necessary , but do not want to have watch over shoulder and supervise , nor fully take over experience . understand that is comfortable for others , but frustrate that this is so commonly accept as only way to be .

Current Mood: productive
Current Music: love note to the forest ~ alwyn oak

Entry tags:

everyday: random thoughts

less awful

when feel really just dogshit awful , any creative project is extremely bad idea - tend to cycle around in thoughts and just work into more emotional mess , and make mistakes due to lack of focus , which make emotional mess worse . love creativity , but this is never good time to harness . but can not just sit and do nothing either , because that is just rot and fester .

instead what do is simple utility projects . can still make mistakes , but with utility purpose , that force brain to hone in and be more careful . so . have these same 10 pairs of socks for almost 15 years now , and never find anything that quite replicate feeling . this is problem , because nothing else is wearable - but these ones also , one by one , become unwearable .

what happen is that over time threads at top become loose , tangle in decorative ribbons , so no longer able to fit over calves , and throw into procrastination pile . obviously need to remove said decorative ribbons - tangle so thoroughly there is no way to undo - and create new channel to fit elastic into , but this is not exactly fun task for even 1 pair , let alone 10 .

well , do not have elastic right now , but did at least finally remove ribbons from most unwearable socks , so 2 whole pairs become wearable again . still feel pretty awful , but at least did something with time and get one step closer to fix . will wear these things until very thread wear out , that is promise . which , actual structure still hold up very well - definitely some stretch and warp at top as gain weight , probably why threads there loosen , but no holes , no significant snags or pulls .