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  1. Clawtooth

    Rev up those novels!!



    It's that time of year again folks! The month of November is quickly approaching and it's almost time for National Novel Writing Month.

    For those unaware, National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo to use a portmanteau, is a celebration of hard graft at the art of story-writing. The challenge is to write a 50,000 work novel in the space of the 30 days of November, with the spirit being to get away from the habit of drafting and redrafting multiple times and to just write it all down and (possibly) edit it later.

    I know that quite a number of or members have done this in the past 3 or 4 years, so I'm really looking forward to seeing who steps up to the challenge this year.

    I myself am not taking part in the novel writing challenge, but I will be (once I have the two essays I have due for school) using the month of November to plan and write some things of my own - using the momentum of the occasion.

    Feel free to post here if you are taking part and once the month starts, offer words of encouragement to others - or as the case may be frustration at yourself - over the challenge!

    Good luck guys!
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Oct 13, 2013, 4 replies, in forum: Archives
  2. Clawtooth

    KH-Vids in Final Fantasy XIV – A Realm Reborn



    Hey guys! I hope that you’re having a fantastic time back at school/work/whatever.

    About a month ago, Square Enix’s re-vamped version of Final Fantasy XIV was released into the public. I know that both Misty and I have been playing it a lot and we’re really enjoying it.

    So, for a while now, we’ve been thinking about how much we'd like to enjoy it with all of you!

    What I would like to propose for anyone playing the game is that we start community of our own members on there so we can play, bond and have fun together as the MMORPG experience should be enjoyed.

    Server Information



    We are currently housed on the Ultros server in the US/EU cluster.

    This is because both Misty and I’s main characters are on this server and for reasons stated below, it would be better if we can have access to our higher levelled characters.

    This is not to say that you have to jump ship to join us – if you already have a group of friends on another server then we totally understand.

    What we can do?



    Well here’s the thing:

    In FFXIV there are two main ways of forming communities. There are Linkshells which are kind of like chatrooms which you can talk to other players in, and there are Free Companies, which - if you know anything about MMORPGs – are like Guilds.

    Linkshells are formed by any group of people who can be added to them. If I recall correctly you can have as many as Eight at a time, so you can be part of eight communities essentially. You can use these to ask for advice, help with quests, dungeons, crafting etc, and generally have a nice chat at the same time.

    Free Companies on the other had are a one-of. You can only be a member of one at a time and they will make a small tag (e.g. <KHV>) appear underneath your name. Free Companies have a lot of the same benefits as Linkshells because they allow the Guild chat option where anyone in the guild can chat to each other. In addition though, the Free Companies give their members certain bonuses depending on how many members they have and other factors. These things can allow members in a free company to gain more experience from battles/crafting – so they can really benefit your gameplay in general!

    What will we be doing?



    Well, my proposal is this:

    1. Create a Linkshell. Linkshells are easy to make , can since you only need two people to have the chat it’s very easy. We will use this to gauge how many people are interested in the game.
    2. If the demand and activity in the Linkshell is high enough then we can talk about forming a Free Company. To form a Free Company you need four members with at least one class over level 25 (which is why we are using the server with Misty and I’s pre-existing characters), and it needs to be affiliated with a Grand Company (you’ll know what these are if you play the game). Which Grand Company you’re affiliated with doesn’t actually change anything.
    3. Have fun!
    The system of Final Fantasy XIV and MMORPGs in general is really co-operation based. We would be able to get people together to run dungeons or fight bosses, grind to level up classes, even make gear and weapons for each other. It would just be another fun way to interact with fellow members on the site.

    Words of Caution and Advice



    Since this will be a KHV official group, there will be moderation and such as part of it.

    The Administrators of both the Linkshell and, hopefully eventually, the Free Company, will be moderating the chats and interactions within the group according to KHV rules and guidelines, with a few exceptions determined by the context of the online game.

    Obviously, interactions between members who are not part of the group or site are out of our control and therefore you should access the proper channels within the game to resolve any issues.

    In addition, the content of the game is a little over the recommended age range for the site, and so we take no responsibility for that either.

    These rules are subject to change at any time, so pay attention!

    In short, be sensible and have fun!

    Conclusion



    If you would like to be part of this group please send me a tell or a friend request in-game. My character's name is Lux Felix. If I am not available at the time because I am offline, please send me a message on here and we'll arrange a time when we are both online.

    Alternatively, you can attempt to contact Misty - her name in game is Eda Lefchild.

    Reminder: We are on the Ultros server/world in the NA/EU cluster.

    I hope to see a few of you (at least) in game so we can have loads of fun together.

    May you ever walk in the light of the Crystal.

    Clawtooth~
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Sep 30, 2013, 4 replies, in forum: Community News & Projects
  3. Clawtooth
    So, I know it isn't really my custom to post in discussion, or at all of late (trying to get back into the swing of things lol), but we were discussing something in my linguistics class the other day and I thought it would be an interesting point of discussion.

    The discussion concerned the debate between Precriptivism and Descriptivism in grammar. Before I move on I should gloss these two terms:

    Prescriptivism: When one bases their grammar of a language on prescribed rules set down by a "higher authority".​

    Descriptivism: When one records the grammar of a language by documenting rules which describe what speakers of a language do instinctively.​

    Now, the majority of you will not, perhaps, have been aware of descriptivism up until this point, but I am certain you will have encountered prescriptivism, perhaps even on this very forum.

    An good example of the marked difference a precriptivist and descriptivist standpoint can be seen in the common structure used when refering to yourself and someone else:

    Let's have some examples-

    Julia and I went to the park. [A]​
    Julia and me went to the park.​
    Me and Julia went to the park. [C]​
    I and Julia went to the park. [D]​

    Now, those of you with a knowledge of prescriptivist rules will tell you that from that standpoint, [A] is the only validly grammatical sentance out of these four. This is because there is a precribed rule which states that "I" must be used if the first person singular is the subject, or part of the subject of a sentance. There is also another rule which states that one should always place oneself after others in subject constructions involving oneself and other people.

    However, as a natice speaker of the English language, I find saying "Julia and I" slightly unnatural. If I were in a formal setting, then I would likely use that construction because of tone, I want to make a good impression or whatever. If, however, I was in a more relaxed setting with friends, I would likely use [C], or perhaps .

    It is interesting to note, however, that both find [D] slighlty unnatural.

    So why, one must ask, do people feel the need to impose such rules as these on people, even in relaxed settings? Surely those who are fluent in a language have some underlying, innate knowledge of its structure and what's acceptable? I can see a case for prescriptivism in a few places:

    - When teaching somone a language as a second language (i.e. not their native tongue), it can be usefult o use prescriptive rules to teach them the basic structure of a language. However, it should be careful when doing so that it is emphasised that native speakers will find it strange if you don't speak idiomatically, and that this is something which only comes from emmersion in a language amongst natice speakers.​

    - In formal writing, for example accademic essays, precriptivist rules are very much part of the academic style. It creates a certain tone which makes one's writing be taken more "seriously" perhaps be seen as more sophisticated.​

    However, this still doesn't clear up the question of why people still hold others to these rules. You see COUNTLESS examples of this on the internet, where people accuse others of "bad grammar", when really - in an informal setting which I HOPE the internet is seen as - it's not very appropriate for the tone of the setting.

    So, I suppose there are a few questions I'd like to discuss: what is your stance on grammar? where is it appropriate to enforce precriptivist rules and why, and where is inappropriate? Really anything at all to do with this subject, I'd be happy to hear your thoughs.

    How do I end posts?
    *shrug*.
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Nov 30, 2012, 4 replies, in forum: Discussion
  4. Clawtooth
    Most Improved Writer

    Welcome to Cycle 2 of this year’s KHV Awards!! Jayn and I shall be your guide for this week’s cycle in our awards celebrating the more creative among us, from role-playing to writing and poetry, to video editing and more!

    Please vote honestly and remember, if you sould have any queries about voting procedure, please read our voting rules here, and if your question isn’t answered there, don’t hesitate to contact Misty.

    Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour!!

    Nomination Samples:
    Guardian Soul

    From Disconnect (recent work):


    No old work available.


    Clawtooth

    From Cargo (older work):


    From Sunshower (recent work):


    Thread by: Clawtooth, Aug 4, 2012, 0 replies, in forum: 2012
  5. Clawtooth
    Best Poet

    Welcome to Cycle 2 of this year’s KHV Awards!! Jayn and I shall be your guide for this week’s cycle in our awards celebrating the more creative among us, from role-playing to writing and poetry, to video editing and more!

    Please vote honestly and remember, if you sould have any queries about voting procedure, please read our voting rules here, and if your question isn’t answered there, don’t hesitate to contact Misty.

    Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour!!

    Nomination Samples:


    Sumi


    Plums

    Styx

    Nights
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Aug 4, 2012, 9 replies, in forum: 2012
  6. Clawtooth
    Best Video Editor

    Welcome to Cycle 2 of this year’s KHV Awards!! Jayn and I shall be your guide for this week’s cycle in our awards celebrating the more creative among us, from role-playing to writing and poetry, to video editing and more!

    Please vote honestly and remember, if you sould have any queries about voting procedure, please read our voting rules here, and if your question isn’t answered there, don’t hesitate to contact Misty.

    Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour!!

    Nomination Samples:



    Thread by: Clawtooth, Aug 4, 2012, 2 replies, in forum: 2012
  7. Clawtooth
    Best Traditional Artist

    Welcome to Cycle 2 of this year’s KHV Awards!! Jayn and I shall be your guide for this week’s cycle in our awards celebrating the more creative among us, from role-playing to writing and poetry, to video editing and more!

    Please vote honestly and remember, if you sould have any queries about voting procedure, please read our voting rules here, and if your question isn’t answered there, don’t hesitate to contact Misty.

    Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour!!

    Nomination Samples:








    Thread by: Clawtooth, Aug 4, 2012, 12 replies, in forum: 2012
  8. Clawtooth
    Best Photographer

    Welcome to Cycle 2 of this year’s KHV Awards!! Jayn and I shall be your guide for this week’s cycle in our awards celebrating the more creative among us, from role-playing to writing and poetry, to video editing and more!

    Please vote honestly and remember, if you sould have any queries about voting procedure, please read our voting rules here, and if your question isn’t answered there, don’t hesitate to contact Misty.

    Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour!!

    Nomination Samples:

    DPWolf

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Jade

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Aug 4, 2012, 0 replies, in forum: 2012
  9. Clawtooth
    Best Overall Writer

    Welcome to Cycle 2 of this year’s KHV Awards!! Jayn and I shall be your guide for this week’s cycle in our awards celebrating the more creative among us, from role-playing to writing and poetry, to video editing and more!

    Please vote honestly and remember, if you sould have any queries about voting procedure, please read our voting rules here, and if your question isn’t answered there, don’t hesitate to contact Misty.

    Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour!!

    Nomination Samples:

    Plums

    From They Live on the Beach:


    Saxima

    From The Hunger Games roleplay prologue:

    Sforzato

    From To Know Terror:

    Thread by: Clawtooth, Aug 4, 2012, 4 replies, in forum: 2012
  10. Clawtooth
    Best Original Story

    Welcome to Cycle 2 of this year’s KHV Awards!! Jayn and I shall be your guide for this week’s cycle in our awards celebrating the more creative among us, from role-playing to writing and poetry, to video editing and more!

    Please vote honestly and remember, if you sould have any queries about voting procedure, please read our voting rules here, and if your question isn’t answered there, don’t hesitate to contact Misty.

    Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour!!

    Nomination Samples:

    Darunter by Jiku Neon

    Cargo by Clawtooth

    Thread by: Clawtooth, Aug 4, 2012, 21 replies, in forum: 2012
  11. Clawtooth
    Best KHV Fanfiction

    Welcome to Cycle 2 of this year’s KHV Awards!! Jayn and I shall be your guide for this week’s cycle in our awards celebrating the more creative among us, from role-playing to writing and poetry, to video editing and more!

    Please vote honestly and remember, if you sould have any queries about voting procedure, please read our voting rules here, and if your question isn’t answered there, don’t hesitate to contact Misty.

    Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour!!

    Nomination Samples:

    KHV: Cascadia

    KHV: Continuum

    KHV: Carnival
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Aug 4, 2012, 2 replies, in forum: 2012
  12. Clawtooth
    Best Graphic Artist

    Welcome to Cycle 2 of this year’s KHV Awards!! Jayn and I shall be your guide for this week’s cycle in our awards celebrating the more creative among us, from role-playing to writing and poetry, to video editing and more!

    Please vote honestly and remember, if you sould have any queries about voting procedure, please read our voting rules here, and if your question isn’t answered there, don’t hesitate to contact Misty.

    Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour!!

    Nomination Samples:

    Misty
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Chevalier
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Jayn
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Plums
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Axis
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    beezygee
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Valium
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Amethyst
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    What?
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Sacredlith
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]


    Thread by: Clawtooth, Aug 4, 2012, 9 replies, in forum: 2012
  13. Clawtooth
    Best Fanfiction

    Welcome to Cycle 2 of this year’s KHV Awards!! Jayn and I shall be your guide for this week’s cycle in our awards celebrating the more creative among us, from role-playing to writing and poetry, to video editing and more!

    Please vote honestly and remember, if you sould have any queries about voting procedure, please read our voting rules here, and if your question isn’t answered there, don’t hesitate to contact Misty.

    Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour!!

    Nomination Samples:

    Infra by Misty

    A Voice in the Dark - Namine's Awakening by sunheart


    Disconnect by Guardian Soul & What?

    Thread by: Clawtooth, Aug 4, 2012, 2 replies, in forum: 2012
  14. Clawtooth
    ***

    Hey guys! I decided that I really wanted to actually use some of my (limited) graphical know-how and make a graphics shop! After making my current avatar (at time of posting). I decided I really liked this sort of different style of avatar making, and so I thought I would open a small shop to make them for people.

    How it works: Unlike most shops here, if you read my pretentious blurb, I don’t ask for a render or text, I ask for ideas. For example, in the one I made for myself, I wanted to portray my love of literature and music. I decided to use paper as a background texture as both mediums use paper in some form. Then I thought that layering the written word (Jane Austen no less) with music was a nice way to inter-weave my interests. And I then did some photoshop magic and made what you see here!!

    Giving me a few ideas like this will allow me to make an avatar which is personal to you – which is cool I guess ^^. If you do want a more traditional avatar, then there are pleanty of fine people who will be more than glad to make you one I am sure.

    I do have a small form, and I only accept 5 requests at a time. I’ll also be displaying them in this first post so I can create a more accurate orchive of things for people to expect.

    Note: the reason I don’t do signatures is because there’s just SO MUCH SPACE ERMAHGERD ... and I’ve never been very good at them lol.
    So, without further ado, let’s get to work!!

    Form:

    Username:

    Size: Normal members up to 100x100, Premiums is 150x150, and Staff should message me privately ;3 is 200x200 – of course I can make them smaller than your max size if you so desire :D.

    General Ideas: This is where you give me a general idea of the content for your avatar. Please limit your choice to between 1 and 3 things. For example, my above avatar has two, Music and Literature. Of course, you can elaborate a bit more if you like, for example for mine I specified Jane Austen for the literature section. I’ll try to encorporate as much as I can into your avatar, the more information you give me the closer your finished graphic will eb to what you want, but obviously don't give me too much to work with. It's a kinda balancing act I guess ^^;;.

    Colour Scheme (optional if you want to leave it up to me):
    I went with a very sepia style scheme for mine because it fits with paper and old books (I love old books). If you want your avatar to have shades of pink though, I can try to encorporate it in as much as I can.

    Current Projects:

    [1]: Llave de Espada
    [2]: Myst
    [3]: Tequila

    Past Projects Gallery:

    [​IMG]

    Thanks for reading everyone, and I looks forward to your requests ^_^.
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Jul 3, 2012, 3 replies, in forum: Art Shop
  15. Clawtooth
    [​IMG]

    Source: Leaknews.com


    EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

    I'm so excited, it's not what I was expecting AT ALL, but I'm glad it's got humour in it because JK ROwlings is amazing at it. Not really much else one can say at this point, other than September o.o ...
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Apr 12, 2012, 23 replies, in forum: Literature
  16. Clawtooth
    I know it's not normally my custom to post here, btu I wrote this post on tumblr and I though I should share ti here too, because even though ti was a blog entry, I still feel it deserves relevant discussion... so here you go.

    Thread by: Clawtooth, Apr 8, 2012, 3 replies, in forum: Discussion
  17. Clawtooth
    Using firefox right click on the background. Then click "Inspect element". After all the stuff appears at the bottom, click "3D".

    Result:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    My face during all of this:
    [​IMG]
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Apr 3, 2012, 18 replies, in forum: The Spam Zone
  18. Clawtooth
    I know that it's not really my custom to post news, but I just wanted to let everyone know. Square Enix Europe members today were sent an email regarding pre-orders for Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance.

    Preorders are available from:

    -Play.com
    -Amazon.com
    -Shopto.net
    -Thehut.com

    Now, this clearly means that we'll get a release date soon, more importantly than the actual news of the pre-orders themselves. The prices are also really, really good. £25 is like ... $40 which is good for a new game. So I think yeah, this is really exciting.
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Mar 16, 2012, 15 replies, in forum: Kingdom Hearts News & Updates
  19. Clawtooth
    So ... I've never been very good at writing Poetry ... but I thought I should start, maybe. So I wrote a little thing ...

    Thanks for reading ... and if you enjoyed it, or even in you hated it, I hope you can give me some feedback on how to make it not suck *sweatdrops*.
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Mar 14, 2012, 4 replies, in forum: Archives
  20. Clawtooth
    I touhgt I would do somehting a little different. Instead of just posting the final result of my music, I thought I'd do a like diary type thing, showing you my process wehn I write or arrange music. So here we go.

    The piece I am currently working on is a fantasy for Violin and Piano (possibly orchestrated later) on a theme by composer Samuel Sim from the 2009 BBC adaption of "Emma" by Jane Austen. Throughout the series of 4 episodes, and the co-responding soundtrack, Sim uses the same theme in many various ways ... somehting that I've always found it amazing that composers can do ... and somehting I've yet to perfect. This inspired me to write my own piece, similarly using the same theme in various ways and developing it further.

    I had a little play around with the theme on my violin, somehting I will only upload if I am payed loads of mo- *shot*. Seriously though, if you want to hear 4 minutes of my improvising badly and making loads of mistakes, that's fine ... Anyways, it gave me a little bit of an idea of what I would be able to do when I developed the theme, and an idea of where to start, sort of.

    So without further ado, I opened up Sibelius, my music notation software. As a classical musician, I find it very essy to work in sibelius to make Midi or Wav files for later editing, because I can read sheet music fluently. This also makes it easire, because due to me not being very confident in my playing to play midi directly in using a midi keyboard, I can write whatever I like, regardless of difficulty.

    First though, I looked up the theme I am going to be using on the youtubes:

    [video=youtube;59H8wXqqld0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59H8wXqqld0[/video]

    So, after this, I opened up my new Sibelius document:

    [​IMG]

    This is always so daunting the first time around ... but I've become used to it ... *sweatdrop*.

    I decided that I wanted a slow start, with a statement of the theme, but I didn't want the violin to come in with the melody right away, so I thought it best to do it in the right hand of the piano.

    [​IMG]

    After this, I thought a bit about dynamic markings ... beacause I like to do them as I am writing, so else it gets really tedious when I'f finished the melody to go back and write them all in. I also added some phrasing marks for the performer, to give a little direction.

    [​IMG]

    After this I thought about bassline. I thought having flowing quavers (8th notes to you Americans out there (they're called quavers (I don't care what you say))) in the bassline would be a nice accompaniment to the fairly slow notes of the melody, and would be easier on the ear than a chordal sequence.

    [​IMG]

    After this I thought: this seems a little bare ... let's add some more texture all up in here and put the violin on an inverted pedal! A pedal, for the uninitiated, is when there is a held or repeated note in the bassline of a piece, and an inverted pedal is when instead of it being low, on say a 'cella or bassoon, it's on a higher instrument, above the melody line, like on a flute or in this case, a violin.

    [​IMG]

    You may be wondering a couple of things. 1. The tempo marking was always there, just due to me cropping out the violin part for easier progression, you couldn't see it. Lento means slowly with a connotation of gentleness by whe way. 2. "Claw, oh why oh why did you use two minums tied together in that last bar? Surely you should have used a semibreave, you should be shot for improper notation!" I had a cunning plan. to break up the last bar, I wanted the violin to play a small trill. The trill might not necessarily sound how I want it, but I can always mess around with it in my sequencer once I sequence the midi file (if I plan to do so).

    Also, as an introduction into the the next section - which is going to be faster like the Opening Titles iteration of the theme - I wanted to build some tension by having a slowdown or ritardando/rallentando (yes, that is where the infamous word comes from, the root word "ritard" litterally means to slow or become late - lovely linguistics fact for you there). Don't ask me the difference between a rit. and a rall. because honestly I don't know if there is one.

    [​IMG]

    And then I was done with this section, for the moment.

    Here's what it sounds like at the moment:

    [​IMG]

    That's all for now, and next time I'm going to show you my work on the next section, which is faster and will show you that classical music can have awesome basslines too ^^

    Thanks for reading, and any and all questions, comments etc. are welcome.

    EDIT: Oh dear ... there are many, many spelling mistakes here ...
    Thread by: Clawtooth, Mar 7, 2012, 0 replies, in forum: Production Studio