How to Draw Heads

 Three videos.

Good News

Good news includes all the things which make us happy or otherwise feel good. It can be personal or public. We never know when something wonderful will happen, and when it does, most people want to share it with someone. It's disappointing when nobody is there to appreciate it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our joys and pat each other on the back.

What good news have you had recently? Are you anticipating any more? Have you found a cute picture or a video that makes you smile? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your life a little happier?

Read "Returning to Normal" by Dialecticdreamer

dialecticdreamer has posted the story "Returning to Normal" (Part 1, Part 2).  Tolli and Drew help Shiv pack up to return to Blues Moon on Boxing Day.  This takes place the day after my poem "In the Warm Circle of Family and Friends."

Wish

 A most excellent list of wishes for the coming year.  So mote it be.

#joinin

ruuger ported this idea from Twitter:

In case you haven't heard about it before, #joinin is a campaign created by the comedian Sarah Millican to help lonely people make connections during the holidays. It started on Twitter, where you can use the hashtag #joinin to let people know that you're feeling lonely or that you would be happy to talk to someone who needs company.

If you are lonely in the holidays or want to reach out to people who are, this is a space for that.  Some possible topics:

* Tell us a little about yourself.
* A hobby you enjoy.
* Something you like doing with friends.
* A favorite holiday memory.
* A family tradition.
* What your local wildlife is up to.
* Your favorite nonsexual intimacies.
* That idea you had for fixing something that nobody seems interested in.

Here are some icebreaker questions for more ideas. 

Loneliness can cause serious problems.  Learn how to cope with loneliness and stop feeling lonely.  There are tips about making friends online.  Individuals can't solve the problem alone; we need to cultivate connections in community.  Urban design can support social health too.  Great places support human interaction.  And of course, my fans' favorite example: how to make your town more like Bluehill and how to build community.

Charitable Gifts

 Awesome gifts that benefit others.

Story: "Coming in from the Cold: Friday: Bug Hunt" Part 2 of 4

This story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Hairpins," "Blended," "Am I Not," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Querencia," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," "Green Eggs and Hulk,""kintsukuroi," "Little and Broken, but Still Good," "Byzantine Perplexities," "Up the Water Spout," "The Life of the Dead," "If They Could Just Stay Little," "Anahata," "When the Wheels Come Off," "Against His Own Shield," "Coming in from the Cold: Saturday: Building Towers," "Coming in from the Cold: Sunday: Shaking Foundations," "Coming in from the Cold: Monday: Memorial Day," "Coming in from the Cold: Tuesday: Facing Fears," "Coming in from the Cold: Wednesday: Coping Techniques," "Coming in from the Cold: Thursday: Digging for Answers," "What Little Boys Are Made Of," "Rotten Fruit," "Trying to Find Prui," "Life in Quicktime," "Keep the Homefires Burning," "Their Old Familiar Carols Play," "Fluffy," "A Leg Up," and "Wabbit Season."

Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Betty Ross, JARVIS.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Drug Dealing, Canon-Typical Violence, Dexterity Impairment, Missions, Missions Gone Wrong, Bugs & Insects, Major Character Injury, Injury Recovery, Itching, Hurt/Comfort, Sleepiness.
Summary: A mission to shut down drugrunners in Brazil goes wrong. The Avengers fare pretty well against the drugrunners, but less well against the swarms of insects guarding the compound.
Notes: Food, Bathing/Washing, No Sex, Intimacy, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Herbalism, Massage, Friendship, Team as Family, Avengers Family, #coulsonlives.

Read Part 1.

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Review: "Into the Spider-Verse"

We watched "Into the Spider-Verse" today. The storytelling was great. The characterization was very interesting. I loved the movie. But it gave me a headache to watch. The art kept doing a red-blue split like for 3D, but it wasn't supposed to be a 3D show. >_< I couldn't tell that from the trailers. Sadly, it's not a movie accessible to people with vision issues, and not one I can watch again.

EDIT 10/27/18: capri0mni adds this accessibility patch:
But I've been warned about the visuals in this movie, thanks to the Disability community on Tumblr, so I'm waiting until I can watch it streaming on my computer -- a smaller screen, in a brightly lit room, where I turn off the screen, if I have to, and just listen to the dialog during the worst of it.

That should help, but it won't substitute for a genuine description track. A lot happens in the visuals that is not audible, but based on comic book tropes, such as thought bubbles.

Irresponsible Storytelling

I say "Tell all the stories" a lot. In general I'm in favor of telling as many stories as possible. But among the range of stories that are possible to tell, some do more harm than good. We saw a trailer for one today, a movie about a boy who drowned and revived after 20 minutes underwater. There was the usual talk about God, overlooking all the people who are prayed over and die anyway, which happens all the time, in favor of that one time the victim pulled through. I see the temptation -- everybody loves a rescue story -- but this kind can get people killed. Or worse than killed. As a storyteller, that bothers me.

EDIT: Thanks to gingicat for identifying the movie as Breakthrough.  As a reviewer, I dis-recommend it, EXCEPT for use in classes about medical ethics, writing/filming ethics, water/ice rescue or other first responder training, or other cases where its discussion value exceeds its damage quotient and can be presented with appropriate warnings beforehand.

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HTML and Screenreaders

 peoriapeoriawhereart has an interesting post on the topic of HTML and screenreaders.

Bushfire Safety

Here's an interesting article on bushfire safety. It makes some very interesting observations, but I think more interesting ones are overlooked.

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