I finally got some of my talented "real life" friends to board the Steem train. Check 'em out and give them some love! I sure hope this is the first post of many similar posts as more of my friends figure out that they can share the awesome creative stuff they do here on Steem blockchain and it is 7027% cooler than the Book that shall not be Faced!

(trust me on this, I am an alien, we know this kind of stuff - I did the math - precisely 7027% cooler than Facebook. Don't ask to see my sources, I collected a lot of this data from the telepathic probe I conducted while still in Earth orbit)

In no particular order:

@jonnymondo

A fellow alien like me, albeit a totally different kind of organism altogether. We don't come from round here, but neither do we come from the same galaxy. It has been fun to welcome "him" to the intricacies of Steem in long comment exchanges - immortalized on the blockchain my friend! Mr. Mondo left me this gem in a comment exchange and I think it is a wonderful example of alien thought process:

consider our realm: where I hail from we have no face book. none of us has a face. we have no being as such. we're more an aggregation of concepts--or as my friend calls it, an aggravation of convicts. but then he considers existence itself a kind of imprisonment, so I indulge him--but anyway these conceptual clouds: it is only when enough energy is focused to manifest something physical that we have any existence. we are not what we are in our realm, we're only what we do.

@jonnymondo has been sharing some wild original video clips on @d-tube. A couple choice selections:

▶️ DTube ▶️ IPFS	"put you in the movies!" - @jonnymondo has cunningly inserted himself into *The Third Man*, replacing Anton Karas' distinctive zither soundtrack with a haunting alien melody. Stay tuned for the surprise twist!
▶️ DTube ▶️ IPFS	"even sorcerers get it wrong sometimes . . ." - original footage of a private commercial-grade licensed firework show at a local billionaire's estate gone wrong! This one is pretty spectacular :)

Welcome to the galaxy, Jonny!

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@lilycampbell

I am so excited my friend Lily just joined and posted her introduction post yesterday! From her personal website:

Lily Campbell is an award nominated director, producer, photographer and VR developer. She speaks, consults and writes about adult productions, sexuality and tech. She is an active proponent of integrity in the adult industry as well as a pioneer in high-quality adult VR.

Lily is in LA this week to speak at the XBIZ adult industry convention on the topic Ethical Porn in Practice, and is a pioneer in the field of adult VR. Reading the testimonials of models she has worked with on her website is a pretty powerful experience and something I would recommend for those who are opposed to pornography as a matter of course.

However, as her long time friend, I can attest there is a lot more to Lily than the adult industry! Knowing her to be an awesome person and creative spirit I am really looking forward to seeing her posting. Welcome aboard Lily!

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@alaynaclair

Alayna is actually a part of my real life family. My wife @dillemma has two sisters and a brother who also live in the same area, and Alayna is my brother-in-law's girlfriend.

I already knew Alayna was a talented artist when I told her about Steem, and I knew some about her troubled past, but to be honest I was not ready for some of the gut-wrenching posts that she has written. Beautifully written, brave and so sad and honest - if you need a good cry, read these two posts:

https://steemit.com/story/@alaynaclair/itchy-left-and-scratchy-the-cats-who-saved-my-life-trigger-warning-domestic-violence-and-suicide-warning-some-strong-language

https://steemit.com/story/@alaynaclair/my-scar-story-part-1-childhood

Love you Alayna! Welcome aboard!

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@cb111

Just a really creative person, an artist who works in all kinds of different mediums and chases inspiration in many directions - I am stoked I will get to see the next phases in @cb111's art experimentations from a Steem-side seat.
Check out this gif of @cb111 painting a portrait of a friend's cat to sell as a fundraiser for the cat's medical bills:

I 100% want a hobby dragon (think hobby horse but cooler) after reading this post , and sure hope @cb111 realizes her dream of creating another one with a flame thrower :)

Welcome aboard @cb111!

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"All Aboard" Gnash Boarding Pass Cover Image

This image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

I created the image using the Deep Dream Generator and PhotoShop on top of a photo of a train. This is the license the original train image was released with on WikiCommons so all derivative works, including this and anything you do with my derivative work above, must be released under the same license with attribution to the original author.

I am linking to the original Wiki Commons page so please follow that link for full attribution and I release this post cover image under the same license, meaning you can use it however you want as long as you attribute the original Wiki Commons author as well as myself and you release your new work under the same license.

I posted about the process I used to create an eyeball-less version of this image here and shared an earlier, unfinished version here.