Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

I ran across some artwork commissioned by one of the old gang of Usual Suspects that used to troll my Livejournal. Same old parallel set of kinks, but they seem to have dropped most of the Lifestyle Hater act. And it got me thinking.

You know, they say people change, and I think that's true. And they say people never change, and I think that's true.

One of the nastiest habits of human cognition is to try to unify everything into a single semantic unit of truth. Someone's gotta be either the same or different, good or bad, friendly or hostile.

(That's why I used to be such a cheerleader for postmodernism—because if you're still fixated on the models, truth is just gonna elude you. And we're ALL fixated on our models. You can eat the menu and tell me you feel full, but I don't think you're getting a balanced diet.)

Anyway. I think it's at least closer to the truth to talk about people like they've got sedimentary layers. More and more stuff builds up over time, and that stuff isn't necessarily just a façade. It's as real as any other part.

But the stuff buried underneath is there too, and the fact it's hidden away doesn't make *it* any less real. It's like petroleum, or lava: can pressurize, transmute, bubble up, or even explode at any time and radically transform the landscape, for "better" or "worse." And it never really goes away.

See also my semi-official break-up song, which I'll always associate with @acetone_kitten and I guess now with Kristy and Jessie too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88icyGGUSKA

@anthracite Ooo where?

@Sig A couple teasers for ya:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KtvAV3m6_U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nedqn8TrBQ8

@Sig It basically aired at nothin' AM on IFC, so... there ya go. Not a lot of people got exposed to it, tragically.

Dis mah job. 😽​

@Sig Not by that point! They had three bandleaders, Reggie, Kid Cudi, and some guy I've never heard of named Alfred Matthew Yankovic, I think he used to play accordion or something. :)

But yeah, Reggie's in the first 3-4 seasons and he's predictably awesome. He left enough of an impression that Weird Al actually picked up a loop pedal and learned to use it just so he could carry on Reggie's legacy when he took over...

@lediva As one of the only people around here I can probably trust to get this at first glance...

@Leucrotta @anthracite Wasn't there an actual comic named DNAgents or something? I wanna say it was Marvel New Universe? I might be getting it confused with DP7, though.

@Sig Heh. You don't watch Comedy Bang Bang!, do ya my bro...

Sadly my full media drive is at home, so I'll have to post (cough) DEFINITIVE PROOF of two coexisting Al's later on...

(Memo to self: it's Episode 99, "Kristen Schaal Wears Strawberry Colored Pants and a Multicolored Shirt.")

@Sig Peg and I were just talking about what a good polka that would make. Everybody do the Urpolka! 🎵​Lanke krr gll, ooka ooka ooka ooka!🎵 :D

@anthracite Enmerkar is rooting through his toy trunk for his head harness, gag, and leash. Someone's asking to spend the day spreadeagled to his four-poster, nice and quiet except for a muffled buzz...

#MyLairMyGrammar

Oh, and... um... this is embarrassing but it turns out we had a Birdsite account for Parallax all along, for any of you who are still over there!

https://twitter.com/parallaxworking

We just got our first rave review from a total stranger. ^____^ I traded crits with a writer on a Reddit comic review community.

They said they were blown away by Peg's art and it was like nothing they'd ever seen in a comic before. They did also say the plot was a little confusing—but in a *good* way that made them desperately curious for answers. And they loved the dual-narrative schtick.

Fuck, yes. I wouldn't say *all* my worried have been banished, but I think we're headed for a Rank A performance here, and Rank S might now be within our grasp...

If you've ever bitched, even once, about "ATM machine" and "PIN number," you're also morally obliged to start saying "CI agent" instead of "CIA agent."

#RASSyndrome

I watched a video called "Deep Dish Apocalypse," and 'cause it's kinda late and I'm not real bright, I expected it to be about, like Minnesotas and cream-of-chicken potluck casseroles, not Chicago-style pizza that turned people into zombies (which it actually was).

And now I wanna write a script treatment for Hot Dish Apocalypse. "Gosh, Evie, I dunno bout you, but sure could go for some brains right about now, dontcha know!" "Yah, yer darn tootin! Ya wanna go stalk the Nicollet Mall?" "Nah, it's a little spendy. How 'bout we just go next door and eat the Jonsons?" "You betcha!"

Oh my god, why is nobody talking about this show? I'm all over this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ8g2XKndaQ

(Context: Looks like an absurdist Soul Train parody/mockumentary. And Tiffany Hadish EATS SOUP!)

That's right, buddy. Gonna getcha. Gonna getcha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4pnQ3zBU9M (cw: real-life actual tiger playing Hey They're Gonna Eat That Guy; SPOILER: zero blood/gore)

#OnlyRealMuthafuckaInTheJungle

@chandra *snerk!*

That sounds exactly like something I would do, from the self-defeating cheapness to the insistence on something I had totally wrong. :)

Me: "Hey, Dawn. What do I need to be doing about Parallax? Are we basically screwed because I burned all my social capital years ago and everybody hates me? And publishing success is almost entirely based on who you know and how much attention people are willing to give you?"

Dawn: "Well... um... yeah, actually, that's a distinct possibility. Do it anyhow, 'cause I don't think you have much choice at this point, and it might be good for you, but... Yup, pretty much!"

@Austin_Dern

>> You quietly morph to 'female amoebic cat'.

→ l me
Hmm, looks like Rez must have come down with something nasty... and decided 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.' Now she's gone and signed up for the prokaryotic lifestyle, existing as nothing but a single gigantic cell. Her membrane is bright translucent orange, full of squiggling organelles and gooey plasm.

She's kept her distinctive physique as part of the bargain, more or less still resembling a tigress. Her features have become a bit blobbier, though in some ways this rather flatters her. Without the benefit of X chromosomes, the curves of her breasts and hips must be maintained by a wall of rigid corset-proteins. She even got to keep her stripes, though they're really just daubs of gentian violet dye.

Her tail is now a bundle of cilia, though she seems to walk quite well on on her surprisingly shapely pseudopods, so she mostly uses her flagella just
to flog people she likes. A few of her vacuoles contain bits of undigestible material, suspicious things like zippers, buttons, jingle bells, glass beads...

@Austin_Dern (Rezy's DONE that, you know...)