#(also good content from Zoran)

[morgana-lefay]

"....jouer avec toi était une douce folie!" (Zaz).

[fandoms-of-a-random-existence]

I posted 11,108 times in 2022

That's 6,733 more posts than 2021!

41 posts created (0%)

11,067 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@primeministerofantarctica

@gender-snatched

@thisisnotjuli

@cipher-fresh

@kaweeella

I tagged 1,042 of my posts in 2022

#ofmd - 84 posts

#twisted wonderland - 70 posts

#kitc - 64 posts

#kings in the corner - 58 posts

#<3 - 57 posts

#ofmd spoilers - 36 posts

#a3! - 20 posts

#otterson kitc - 18 posts

#yeah - 15 posts

#zoran kitc - 10 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#you might be a genius in one area but you fail hard in other things. you try to apply your knowledge of one thing to something you aren't g

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

can't believe kitc has a canon roleswap!au universe sitting pretty right next door and all of the alternates with any sort of dream/veil/joker related powers have just decided "you know what time to come poke around" /pos

7 notes - Posted October 15, 2022

#4

actively cannot stop thinking about Otterson telling Zoran she'd fuck his mom and then ae going "I don't know how to respond to that! Enjoy the nightmare dimension! Good luck not going insane!"

9 notes - Posted October 6, 2022

#3

it's been a long while since I did art but Raevyn KitC lives in my brain rent free. I should do some Raeran art sometime those two drive me insane /pos

11 notes - Posted October 2, 2022

#2

Yeah I kitc:

Kiss gayly

Inflict horrors

Traumatize

Crime

11 notes - Posted November 12, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Is this that thing that you like? (/j but also where would I be able to find it it looks interesting)

FSJFHSKFJSKHH I-

okay I will admit i was not expecting anyone to ask but holy shit/pos

Okay, so confession time, Kings in the Corner is actually a closed discord ARG that is actually on hiatus right now because of IRL things, however the mods decided to leave it as a sandbox for the players and we have steadily been descending into madness and brainrot (dreamscapes arc my beloved)

And so, I don't actually remember how we got on the topic but eventually a bunch of us came to the conclusion "being insane about the blorbos on the discord isn't enough, we need to subject the rest of the world to our brainrot, what if we posted on tumblr like it was an actual fandom with no context" and well I am giving context now but shhh don't worry about it sorry I took so long to reply, I just. there's so much...this is gonna be long- anyways since there really isn't any way to get kitc content besides the players brainrot spilling over, here~! (apologies for the way this is. not likely all that comprehensible)

The basic plot is you/your character has been invited to the Kingdom in the Four Corners where we have a King, Queen, and Jack for each card suit, and each player is/was assigned a suit based off of your vibes, and later on, just got shunted into diamonds due to the uh. tragedies. Anyways! Because of the way the invitation works, all the characters have the potential to be from different worlds and universes which has led to the colorful cast of characters including [looks at notes]

-Fallen London OC

-Twisted Wonderland OC

-An actual Warriorcat

-Doctor Who x the Beatles OC

-Charas from players own original worlds <3

-The personification of healing from grief who is also from pathologic now

-AND FUCKING HOMESTUCKED

All I really have to say about the last one is don't take any orange pills the Jokers give you. (The Jokers are... actually I should preface this with the information none of us take drugs irl, but they are the closest thing to medical doctors we've got so uh, if you want to take some joker drugs to get a funky hallucination to learn more details about the rebellion/experience the previous Ace's executions for yourself as a side effect for your stomach ache, well are they they guys you wanna see! Apparently Jokers start their training at age 10 and it's very fucked up and also there are domestic and feral jokers??? I am concerned.)

Honestly so much has happened in a relatively short period of time I don't think I could summarize all the important bits but some of the highlights so far include: -The Bitchless Allegations: King Dani of Diamonds (Incredibly Bitchless, the Universe told me-) accosted a group of candidates (Ash, Hugo(ne), Raevyn, and Riyo iirc) who proceeded to get his ass. He stabbed Hugo in retaliation with his fancy magic sword that he shouldn't have even really had, Hugo was spitting up red jewels for a while, and almost died. All Spades got free access to Diamonds tower though so uh,,, winning I guess??

-There was a bit more lore in the interim and some puzzled solved but to be honest I don't remember much-

-The Bear.

-Also the Hearts' resident gays Salem and Luci (Saluci beloved <3) (admittedly not together yet) hatched a plot to fake a fight so the could befriend everyone despite the wild and horrific state of relationships between the candidates. They fucked it up. Luci and Riyo's friendship will never return. Esp after the Hugone incident-

(And oh yeah, Riyo punched Luci at one point, breaking her face revealing the fact she's an artificial being made of porcelain and some sort of magical energy and I may be getting the lore wrong but she's so cool-)(Salem helped patch up the hole in her face with a pretty glass mosaic and waaaaa)

-At one point the 8 year old Diamond, and 11 year old Club stood on each others shoulders wearing a trench coat and called themselves "Painsley" (Paeden-Ainsley) to try and get joker drugs. They failed and only got glitter, and it was hilarious

-Olive the scientists experiments with almond water, I genuinely have no recollection of the details alas, but i have been told it was very neat and was unknowable by science. Also he got an entire almond out of it.

-One of the Most Days Ever: our small 8 year old boy made of clay had been recently possessed by a 45 yr old catholic man, who, while he was cooperative at first in helping getting Paeden back, soon realized if this went through he'd die, and so he ran off into the woods after burning the notes, and so candidates were sent to chase after him. It. Did not go well. (while the chasing him down and catching him went quite well, after the catching... not so good)

See the full post

25 notes - Posted October 4, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[grayintogreen]

Extra Credit? Hope this all fits

1 My favorite fic of yours-This Question is so hard to answer, but I do have a special place in my heart for the king lies bleeding, It was an expansion on a prompt I had given and I definitely stalked it's creation. Super great and soft and I love all of EQ and where it has gone!

2. My favorite chapter in my favorite fic of I feel like this is the time to address Creedemption, It's Amazing, my favorite chapter(so far!) Is 31 Lucien and the Somnovem insight Zoran and Ophelia was hilarious, Molly and Caleb cuddles, and then VAX, This chapter was a treat!

3. The best characters you've written for

Lucien and Cree! I love how you've expanded greatly on their stories while still keeping then in character

4. The best ships you've written for

Lucigast Lucreegast Widomauk. I am incredibly biased but I love them

5. A fic I haven't read yet from you, but I

want to- Started Shattered Stage, forgot about it, still haven't finished it.

6. Something I remember vividly flrom

reading one of your fics- from #1 "It’s a little spark that might light the pyre that consumes them or its the breaking point they need to start healing. Caleb sleeps and dares to believe for a moment that there’s a chance they won’t completely ruin each other." I've been thinking of those lines for months both in anticipation of the next EQ and just because they are written very well.

7 What made me the most emotional after reading- Creedemption has made me feel so many emotions, good and bad :)

8. What I like the most about your writing

Where do I begin, the actual writing is gorgeous, the characters are perfection and the way it can be dark but never pointlessly or irredeemably dark.

9. A fic i'm excited for you updating/posting Creedemption and EQ!

10. A character/ship l didn't enjoy/think about as much before you wrote about-them Cree! and Lucreegast, she didn't mean half as much to me before your writing, and now I love her so much.

11. Something I wish/hope you write-I have heard whispers of Pirates. Also more of the Threeleafs and Caleb!

12. A fic of yours that i've re-read See#1 but also Turning Wine Back into Water it's such a cute comfort fic for me:)

13. If i've ever shared/talked about your fic to someone else, -kinda, I've never directly shared it's content, but I have been asked what I have been excited about or made a weird noise reading before.

14. A fic l didn't expect to like so much- Surprisingly, Turning Wine Back into Water; I've read some horrible kidfics before and was Wary, Needlessly as it was Beautiful;)

15. A question I have about one of your fics Has it surprised you the direction where EQ is seemingly going. Redemption instead of Destruction;)

ALL OF THE EXTRA CREDIT. HOLY COW. You got me right in the heartmeat with this.

Platonic BDSM. Violence inflicted on Lucien and him stubbornly having to accept help. All VERY GOOD THINGS. I'm SO SO glad that I expanded on such a good prompt.

Ahhhh. I really love all of the Somnovem and Lucien stuff in that fic so the more I get to drop it, the happier I am and it delights me to hear that people are loving what I'm doing there. And god that Vax reveal was very important to me. That line he says at the very end has been sitting in a document since the conception of this fic. It was always going to be one of his first spoken lines.

MY UNLOVED CHILDREN. There's so little of them and yet SO MUCH SUBTEXT. And I will make other people love them through exposure. :}

Those are all very good ships. [sage nod] The gamut of FUCKED UP, FUCKED UP BUT AT LEAST THERE'S ONE SENSIBLE PERSON IN THERE (sort of), and OH NO THEY'RE CUTE (but also fucked up).

ONE DAY. I have a soft spot for that fic, but it's a biggun... Not as big as Creedemption, but I mean.. You've been on that one since the start.

THANK YOU. <333 God, I have like four EQ fics I need to write, some of which are GUT-WRENCHING, but a couple are cute. The Nein coming back into the "narrative" is, uh, sure a thing.

kdsfjslk I am sorry but also not. It's a chunky soup of emotions, that fic.

"DARK BUT NEVER POINTLESSLY OR IRREDEEMABLY DARK" oh thank you, that is what I strive for. I love writing dark stuff and beating up on characters, but I believe in soft epilogues. I have written some miserable endings and love reading them too, but man I usually WANT a happy ending, even when I know it ain't gonna happen.... But then sometimes it does. STARES AT EQ.

SOON!! come on brain be so smart.

I have no excuse for loving Cree so much beyond an unhinged love of fealty and black cats, but I am committed to her now and I'm glad to drag people with me.

I have... so many pirate fics in planning stages!! One of which is Threeleaf and Caleb!! That prompt has been sitting in my askbox for a year...

I think that fic is a comfort fic for many people and that makes me so happy. It's so silly but I'm so glad such a weird idea took off.

That is very sweet. I hope to continue making you make weird noises.mndjfldsk

I DO... NOT LIKE KIDFICS, MYSELF?? it's a very hard concept to get right, and I still don't even know where it came from except that I know I had recently rewatched Liam's Quest and the vibe of it has always struck me. That one-shot is a big comfort to me even if it involves Liam MURDERING HIS FRIENDS GLEEFULLY. The damn ending gets me every time.

YES??? I think the original idea was gonna be Caleb going full dark and Lucien drawing back a little, while still not being wholly redeemable so much as he's just going uh so this guy is making me look sane by comparison, and the end goal was mutually assured destruction, and now it's... This. I like this better.

[komatsunana]

The Chronicles of Exandria: The Mighty Nein I

And so I do what I did the last 2 times for the Vox Machina Chronicles of Exandria books, which you can read [here] and [here].

These posts by no means contain all of the information in these books, but plenty of what would most interest other fans.  This is by no means a replacement for actually seeing the book.

My best guess on up to where this book spoils is episode 46.  Anyone who has not watched passed 46 can read this without spoilers outside of vague references that don’t really matter.

First and foremost, as usual, the artistry is the most important part of the book. All of the lovely fan-created art work is even more beautiful in ink than on screen. This I promise you.

As has been noted by other people who have received the book, it is written as though it was transcribed by Beau’s journals by the Cobalt Soul.  Some unnamed writer(s) from the Cobalt Reserve from Tal’Dorei have written all parts that are not excerpts from Beau’s journals.  There are edits by Zeenoth, which indicate that the book is not a final draft.  Zeenoth is not impressed by their work.

The books’ foreword is a dedication to critters.  I won’t transcribe all of it but it ends, “As always, we are richer for your company.  For truly, what good are stories unless they can be shared?”

Unlike the Vox Machina ones, which started with pages dedicated to Vox Machina and their adventures first before branching out for guest and NPCs, this one’s table of contents shows that everything is scattered.

The first section is dedicated to the Storyteller - accompanied by art of Matt as “The Storyteller.”   An excerpt follows below:

“A story walks the land through the songs and tales of those who are touched by its heart.  And then one day, long after all the players within have met the Matron, a story will be told for the very last time.  Unless, by the Grace of the Storyteller, we are let to it. [...]  Through Ioun’s blessing we make his favorite children immortal.  You hold one of them in your hands even now.  Wake it carefully.”

Thoreau contacted the Cobalt Soul immediately after Beau’s first arrest - presumably the one with Tori.  As the monks took Beau away, Thoreau referred to her as “his misfortune.”  It is also noted in the margins that Thoreau is a good friend to the Archive.

Unlike the rest of the M9 and characters, there are no excerpts about Beau herself from her journal... Because obviously she doesn’t need to take notes in herself.  However the Cobalt Soul write their own notes about her and her reputation in the Cobalt Soul and note... more than a few times that Zeenoth thinks she is aggressive, stubborn, and quick to judge and anger and as a result they can’t put a lot of stock into her notes on other people.  However, Dairon was right to put their trust in her because her insight in invaluable and is quick to call out injustice.

Beau’s note taking is exceptional - and color-coded.

Beau’s first notes about Molly is that he is “not that bright, definitely drunk, completely full of shit, and not nearly as good of a liar as he thinks he is.  His outfit is loud, far louder than the man himself.”  His coat contains iconography from at least half a dozen gods.  Beau also noted that Molly’s swords were interesting to which the footnotes immediately made note that Molly’s swords were just swords.  Beau thought, in her first impression of him, that he might be on the run from a family of Warlocks.

The librarians decided to omit all of Molly’s earlier lies that he told Beau and the group about his background, and instead only described the climbing out of the grave and only able to say “Empty” story.  He had scars and 9 red eye tattoos on him at the time.  

There are sketches of the tattoo in full, after Molly had added to it, but it’s noted by Beau that part of the tattoo is covered by Molly’s hair.  Looking at the sketch, it is implied there are more tattoos on his scalp, rather than just the length covering it.

For Molly’s story of climbing out of the grave to be true, it means that Molly relearned to speak both Common and Infernal, learned to perform his skills and duties with the Carnival, covered his eye tattoos with additional, elaborate tattoos, befriended Yasha, and discovered his innate magic ability to use his blood to infuse his weapons with magic.

Beau had made a list of every book she knew Caleb had on his person or expressed interest in.  This includes the erotic books and the 2 spellbooks. 

On the spellbooks, Beau says she isn’t sure about them. One she knows is a spellbook, but she’s not sure on the other as he never opens it.  She wonders if it is a journal of some kind.

There is a page on Beau’s notes in the first arc with the Fletching and Moondrop Carnival - notes about the victim and all her possible suspects of which it is everyone that is part of the carnival.  All of them have a strike through their name, indicating she had eliminated each of them as a suspect at one point, including Kylre.  

Among the notes she has, my favorites are that Beau thinks that everyone in the circus hates each other, never trust a clown (about Desmond), and that everyone has a title such as Molly “The Ice-Spinner” and Yasha “The Brute.”  Beau also notes Yasha as being human.

Outside of Beau’s notes, the best information to be found about Shakästa “Hush” is from an anonymous book from Deastock titled “Heroic Deeds of the Golden Grin.”  It is because of Beau’s notes that Hush is confirmed to be real, not a myth, once and for all.

Because of how cool Shakästa was with his cool bird, Beau notes “I gotta get a bird.”  So we have him to thank for Professor Thaddeus.

Unknown what deity Shakästa draws power from.

Known members of the Tombtakers:

Lucien Nonagon (Molly)

Cree: currently employed by the Gentleman.  Blood powers like Molly’s.

[A name which as been severely crossed out but looks like it says Tyffinl]:  Currently said to be in Nogvurot.

Otis and Zoran:  Still at large, whereabouts unknown

Jurrell:  Deceased

Some lady spellcaster from Rexxentrum 

The Myriad is currently gaining footholds in Tal’dorei as well.  There is also a written notation by Zeenoth to cross reference the Myriad activity with the Tombtakers, indicating that he believes that the Tombtakers and the Myriad might be connected.

Cobalt Soul theorizes that the blood Cree claims the Gentleman took from the M9 to track them might be a new form of blood-based mutagenetic tracking.

Beau’s first impression of Nott and Caleb’s relationship was that Nott heaped praise on him and that there might be some sort of blood debt or magic going on.

Beau’s early theory on Caleb was that he was hiding from a criminal employer and had done a high-level theft.  She made note to watch if he attempted to side-step certain kinds of work.

Everything about Caleb sounded like bad news to Beau, but because he stuck around to get her out of jail Beau comes to the conclusion that that’s endearing.

Beau has made an observation that Caleb was searching for some kind of information in a book, related to transmutation.  She wonders if bartering to get him into the Cobalt Soul library will get her into his good graces, though she hopes he won’t find out that the library is technically open to all if you ask nicely.

There is an entry (in Beau’s second journal, it should be noted) were several pages were ripped out about Caleb.  This indicates that Beau had written down Caleb’s backstory of killing his parents but she, Caleb, or someone else had ripped it out before it got into the hands of the Cobalt Soul.  The Cobalt Soul draws the conclusion that Caleb is connected to organized crime.  They are also unable to find anyone born with the name Caleb Widogast in the Empire and they believe it to be an alias.

There are written notations that say that at least one of the ripped out pages were recovered, in which Beau describes the night Caleb told her and Nott about killing his parents.  Both mentions of Trent Ikathon’s name were crossed out until illegible.  Beau was unconvinced that Caleb’s memories after killing his parents aren’t still jumbled (rather than missing).

Fun fact!  All of the Caleb illustrations in his art section all either have fire or Frumpkin in them.  Because when you boil down Caleb to his essentials that’s all I’m saying.

The strangest thing about the M9, as far as the Cobalt Soul is concerned,  is that they have a goblin among their party.

Beau also wonders if Nott’s relationship with Caleb isn’t also out of love or blind loyalty.  Upon finding out that Nott feels like the parental figure (rather than the other way around, as Beau had assumed) Beau wonders what it is that Nott wants Caleb to be stronger for... Revenge? Or to change herself.

Beau notes that while Nott might have named herself so to call herself not brave, Beau thinks she is pretty brave.  She describes Nott diving into the water for Fjord’s arc twice (even if she complained the entire time) and Nott saving Jester from the blue dragon which “absolutely saved Jester’s life.”  Nott is very focused on everyone remaining together as a team.  Beau believes that while Nott’s loyalty to Caleb has not lessened, her loyalty to the rest of the party has extended to them all.

“I think we might all be her kids now.  It’s kind of sweet, in a really weird way.”

Zeenoth is extremely salty their junior drew lots of buttons instead of researching the crossbow Nott got from Hupperdook.

A list of all phrases that Beau noted in her journals that Kiri had learned in her time with them.

Welcome to the Mighty Nein!

I am Kiri!

Yes, I am very sweet.

It’s sharp.

Ooh, I’m a captain.

Where do babies come from?

Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!

If it bleeds, we can kill it.

I killed people!

Get into trouble!

She’s probably a good egg.

Go fuck yourself.

Zeenoth is VERY upset about the word fuck and wants that entry removed.

Beau thinks Calianna is too polite.

Cobalt Soul believes there is at least one other bowl like the one Calianna destroyed with the M9.

Beau hopes they don’t pick up any more stragglers, as she thinks it is getting crowded.

Cobalt Soul theorizes about why Keg had a four o’clock shadow rather than a proper Dwarven beard, wondering if she wasn’t forced to shave.  This indicates that beards are normal on female dwarves.

Beau thinks Shady Creek Run is so called because it’s full of shady criminals, but the Cobalt Soul notes that Shady Creek Run has a creek that is in near constant shade in the abundant pine trees.

On Molly’s death Beau says:

“Fuck.   That went horribly.  We lost Molly, and I don’t know what to do. [This part is crossed out: Maybe if I had-] I’m trying my best to stay objective.”

Beau also crosses out “I’m starting to like her” about Keg, and replaces it with “She’s fine, I guess.”

On Nila Beau says: “She said something really nice about Molly.  How in her clan, someones spirit never leave you.  They return to nature, and are forever by your side.  I don’t know if I believe it, but I like the thought.”

Beau wants her own “lucky smell bag” that’ll make decisions for her.

The Blooming Grove was built post-Calamity.

Beau’s first impressions of Caduceus is that he is both grounded and flighty.

Because Caduceus hasn’t eaten meat or alcohol in the time she’s known him, she thinks he’s got to have some sort of vice.

Because of Beau’s talk with Caduceus after killing the blue dragon, Beau remarks that she likes her edge and doesn’t want to lose it and go soft. But maybe it is a better, more efficient way of doing things by being there for the M9. “Gross.”

There is a note in the margins telling the editor to contact Archivist Demid (AKA the guy studying the moons) for information on the Dust family.  This indicates that he may have some special information.

Because of Jester’s defacing every town she visits, the Cobalt Soul has been able to track the M9′s movements.

The Cobalt Soul’s 2 working theories on the Traveler is that he’s a smaller/younger deity either from folk tales about a cloaked figure that either rewards or punishes heroes with a ironic twist OR a god of vandalism.

Zeenoth notes that if the Traveler IS a god of vandalism... they may have a secret follower in their ranks because of all the smut doodles in their books lately. Which of course Jester probably drew.

Beau says that as Jester told the group about her prank causing her to have to flee from Nicodranas she was full of her usual bubbliness... But was starting to see that there was underlying sadness in Jester.

Beau has known Jester has had a thing for Fjord since they first met, but after she got Tusk Love it became full-blown infatuation.

“Fjord seems super oblivious, though, which isn’t surprising for a man who occasionally wakes up covered in seawater and confusion.”

Beau stands by her and Jester’s purchase of the owl and blink dog, but she wonders how long the weasel is going to last in their line of work.

Beau wonders if it’s weird to be attracted to your friend’s mom and comes to the conclusion it is so she’ll back off... But the Ruby is smoking hot.

Beau can also see why people who want to release and evil god for Avantika. Not that she would. “She’s hot, but come on.”

No really new information on The Plank King is revealed in his section, but quite a bit is crossed out until illegible.  This could detail what connection to the Cobalt Soul he has, but was redacted.

The Cobalt claims that while the M9 titled a leader, Fjord often took that position.

Beau is making direct reports on Fjord to the Cobalt Soul and his connection to Uk’otoa.  In her latest report, she says that they’ve bought some time until their next trip to the sea............

Waiting for the rest of the M9 to come out of the Happy Fun Ball, after fighting the blue dragon, are among the rest worst few minutes of Beau’s life.

Beau believed Twiggy that she killed the blue dragon, in part because Caduceus believed her.

Beau accidentally writes “cute and dry” instead of “cut and dried” about Yasha’s background.

“For someone dressed in greys, who carries herself like a dark cloud, Yasha sure seems drawn to color and light. I wonder where it stems from.”

On Yasha being tested by the Stormlord by the “man made of lightning” the Cobalt Soul says it is not uncommon for the Stormlord to test his disciples through acts of physical, mental, or spiritual exertion.

The final notes by Zeenoth indicates that whoever wrote the book (outside of edits from Zeenoth himself and excerpts from Beau’s journals) were by someone from Tal’dorei.  Who might it be? Someone we know?

[theelliottsmiths]

Tbh I’ve been kind of uncomfortable lately with all the content till’s put out lately about the mistreatment of women (the poem that was about drugging and assaulting a woman, some of the lindemann videos) and wondered if you had any thoughts because it’s weighing on me and I want to believe he’s a good person and treats women well, but it’s stressful to see/hear about the controversy.

My question for you is: how is this any different to the rest of his work?

This is long, it's been building up for a while and may stray from the ask in places. If I sound pissy I promise that's not directed at you.

So just, first off I honestly think a lot of people were so upset about the poem because it's much closer to something that could potentially happen to them and therefore it's harder to think about from the angles he favours; If it was the poem itself not a single one of them would be a Rammstein fan because the only difference between it and Tier, or Hallomann, or Weißes Fleisch is the likelihood of them or someone they know experiencing it.

Any of us could have out drinks spiked: in the past year I know one guy whose date slipped ketamine into his drink so she could take him home (he managed to escape) and a woman who was given something that ended up setting off her seizures in a club. It's more likely to happen than Wiener Blut Part 2 is and for some people they haven't had to process his texts, or anything similar, in that way before. Its scary and gross and disturbing to slip inside the mind of an abuser, which is why he does it and brings us with him.

There's also the fact that its reminding people that they could potentially be that person. It would be easy to do it if you decided you wanted to do it and it's hard to stomach if you're not Empathy Till who puts himself in thousands of peoples shoes a day and should not be counted.

Arguably, this is all his reaction to learning more about how women are treated through things like the me too movement and examining his own behaviour (re: Till the End, not WDS). He uses current events as inspiration all the time. We talk more about date rape, he writes a poem about date rape. He uses the dehumanisation of the women in Platz Eins to show the dehumanisation and oversexualisation of women in other aspects of life. Maybe he's even using it to explore attitudes towards women that he didn't realise he had because of when and where he grew up and the rockstar lifestyle in general, Schneiders quote seems relevant right now

His art is exploring, as it always has, the darkest parts of humanity. He didn't write Wenn du schläfst as an ode to date rape, it's him exploring the phenomenon the same way Akwaeke Emezi kind of does in Freshwater, just from the other side. He's addressing how awful and common mistreatment of women (along with all the other stuff) is, but any woman who is asked will tell you that he's a very gentleman, and even his exes barely have a bad word to say. How many people can say that?

The reason he usually writes from the perpetrators perspective is that he thinks it's cowardly to try and separate himself from the dark shit that all of us could potentially be capable of. He isn't that man any more than he is Bernd Brandes in Mein Teil or Grenouille from Perfume, the inspiration behind Du Riechst so Gut.

If you look at it that way, a lot of this stuff is incredibly respectful and understanding of the victims experiences. He doesn't say the villain isn't bad, he just highlights their potential reasoning.

For the record, I don't like the degree of sexualisation of women in Rammstein and Lindemann videos, it's just that it's about the same as it is in... Most media, actually, so it's hard to be that mad about it. I do think a couple of them have issues that a lot of men their age do where they seem to think women are a completely different species but again, not unique to them and Till does actually listen intently to women when they're talking (fans and coworkers have said so, see the Ausländer making of for Till being engaged and trying so so hard not to get distracted by actors breasts as she's talking about her culture).

Also I'm not trying to start a fight but Zoran is to blame for a lot of the Lindemann stuff, by his own admission.

But yeah no I totally see why you might feel icky about it, I still feel a little icky about PE and TTE and will fistfight Zoran specifically for Ach so fucking Gern. It's healthy to criticise and question your faves and decide for yourself if you support what they're up to

A non-exhaustive list of works that must be thrown out if Tills work really is such a problem:

Polly by Nirvana because it's about kidnapping and torture from the kidnappers perspective

The Collector by John Fowles because of the stalking and kidnapping from the kidnappers perspective

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess for the glorification of violence and accompanying misogyny

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov because it's about paedophilia from the paedophiles perspective

Perfume by Patrick Süskind because of the stalking and murder

The Wasp Factory by lain Banks because of things that would be spoilers but the main character, jesus christ.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy because of the Everything About It

Don't Stand So Close to Me by the Police. It's about a teacher and a student. Yuck.

See my point?

[anchanted-one]

Eternal War. 26. Battle of Asylum II

Read on AO3

Lana watched Arro recuperating in his Kolto Tank. It was such a good thing that Koth had insisted on getting these installed first! The wound Arcann gave him would have been fatal under ordinary circumstances. Arro would have died right there if not for Valkorion.

That realization shattered Lana’s heart. She better than most had known that Arro was not the unstoppable whirlwind popular tales made him out to be; that behind his accomplishments, he was only mortal, that he could be beaten. Or she thought she had known. She should have known. Instead, she had so strongly believed in his strength to save them all— just as he had before, so many times— that she saddled him with the entire burden of fighting Arcann by himself, even though he had been so sick; so vulnerable. He ought to have been in bed for at least another three weeks and she’d had him running around meeting his new allies and attending meetings. If he had been better rested, just a little, then today would have turned out differently. Arcann might have even been defeated!

Instead, Arro was barely alive and only just hanging on. Seeing him like this made her— for what felt like the first time— see Arro not as a Jedi, not as a hero, but as Arro . A man. Her man. It made her sick to think that she might have failed to make that basic distinction. Of course he was just an ordinary man, still in recovery, and she had asked far too much of him. If not for the unknown whims of a ghost, Lana would have lost the Love of her life today.

“Valkorion,” Lana whispered. “I don’t know if you are listening, or if you will choose to respond, but thank you. If not for you—” She shuddered. “If not for you, my husband would be—he would be dead.” She swallowed. “But the destruction you caused today will haunt him, forever.”

She waited for a response. But none came. The Emperor only spoke to her that one time because He had deemed it necessary. She was nothing to Him. Arro was all that mattered for some reason.

“But I don’t understand; why Arro? Why have You chosen to take up residence in his mind? If You don’t need him to survive, why take such a direct role in keeping him alive? Aiding him the way You did is different from sitting back and enjoying the show.”

She fancied she heard mocking laughter in response. The hours ticked by in silence, and she was content to wait. To wait and watch. For once, she didn’t care about her responsibilities, even responsibilities on both hers and Arro’s behalf. She wanted to know that Arro was recovering, not just through their bond, or through the Force, or through reports, but by watching over him. When Senya had tried to take her to the bridge for a quick recap of events, she had given such a snarl a rancor would have shirked from, before apologizing for her response.

Arro stirred in his tank, and his eyes opened slightly. “Hey you!” She smiled, heart soaring. The breathing mask made it difficult to be sure, but the bond was more than enough for her to know that he had smiled back weakly in response. She felt a powerful and warm emotion flowing from his heart, and the words formed: I love you so much!

She laughed giddily. Seeing him open his eyes after such an injury made her feel so jubilant!

Don’t tell me it’s been another five years? “Two days, give or take. I wasn’t sure you’d ever wake up.”

She removed her gauntlets and placed a pale hand on the transparisteel. Arro reached out and placed his on the opposite side. Lana giggled uncontrollably—this was straight out of the cheesiest romance stories! But it certainly held such magnificent significance when living the scene. “Arro, my Heart: I am so sorry. I don’t know if we will have a moment to talk when we arrive, so I need to say this now. Seeing the damage you suffered at Arcann’s hand; it shook me to my very core. It should have killed you. I got you working as soon as you were out of Carbonite when I should have given you longer to recover. I told you about how bad things were before you had even been free a day. I forced you to start thinking like a warrior even though you needed to focus on recovery. When we reached Asylum I shouldn’t have made you run around and meet allies like we did. I shouldn’t have placed the burden of fighting Arcann on your shoulders alone. Please forgive me. I will never take you or your sacrifices for granted ever again.”

Arro blinked in his tank, and Lana felt his arms wrap around her. You did what you had to do, and none of this is your fault. If you hadn’t gotten me in the frame of mind in time, I’d never have been able to run from Vaylin, or I’d have had to face Arcann while in a recovery tank, and then where would I be? There were no right calls, but you made the best ones available to you. Thank you. She Felt his kiss on her cheek. You have no idea how amazed I am that someone as incredible as you loves me!

Sighing, Lana leaned against the glass, hand still opposite Arro’s, and settled in to just… be with him. This was a day for cliches!

*

“How many?”

“My Love—”

“Please?”

Lana swallowed hard, tears forming around the corners of her eyes. “We might never get an accurate count, it was that chaotic. But SCORPIO witnessed it, and she estimates anywhere between twelve and twenty standard capacity vessels being destroyed. That could mean as many as 50000 casualties. The Lightning also struck thirty two Eternal Warships, opening up a massive hole in the formation that allowed hundreds of other ships to escape.”

But it came as no surprise that her Jedi found that poor consolation. “I should never have believed Valkorion,” He whispered, his face contorted in horror.

“He saved your life,” Lana said, just as softly. “Even I couldn’t have done anything for you. Even I had lost hope when I saw Arcann strike you. You were fading fast, moments from death, until He intervened.”

His gaze still empty, he nodded.

He had been released from the tank an hour ago, and was in the Common Lounge, where he had requested to meet his friends. And Ranking Officers. That meant Lana, Koth, Senya, Lem, and the Zakuul Knights, but also included Theron and Major Jorgan of Havoc Squad. There was also a Rattataki woman who he recognized as one of Doctor Archibahn Kimble’s many exes, but one who thought him beneath her. She introduced herself as Kaliyo, and she made Koth and the Zakuulans bristle in barely contained anger.

“This is exactly how he killed Darth Prowle,” Theron said. “He got lucky, and he seized the moment. He got lucky with his Father too, when he captured you. And now he almost killed you the same way. He is an opportunist. But that gives us an opportunity too. Internal security captured your duel with Arcann and his Knights. Every last second. Just like with Prowle, we get to show the Galaxy that Arcann isn’t the implacable but honorable Conqueror he pretends to be. Every last bit of doubt we can throw at his image, the better it’ll be for us.”

“What happened?” Senya asked. “This all began when Heskal invited you over for Scion Tea.”

“Arcann said that he betrayed us,” Arro said. “That he was the one that told Arcann where to find us.”

“But that makes no sense!” Senya said. “He hated Arcann! Loathed him deeply! Do you think he was lying?”

“Well, you received a recorded message from him shortly after the battle,” Koth spoke up. “I haven’t seen it yet. I mean it wasn’t addressed to me.”

“TeeSeven, can you play it for us?” Arro asked, and the little Astromech complied.

A small blue hologram of Heskal appeared in the air. “And so it begins, just as I foresaw. You will regroup and your leg will heal. It is a wonder you escaped with something as simple as this. After that you will kill Arcann, and Vaylin, and her Dark Sith Shadow… many innocents will also die but this is what must be so. Know that this was necessary to hasten his fall. Without this you and your allies would have remained a small band of rebels rather than a determined army. Now you will seek battles and weapons capable of hurting him, rather than spending the next ten months debating. The Scions are still with you, and they will return when it is their turn to die.” And then it went blank.

*

Koth broke the silence that followed. “What did he mean about your injured leg?”

It was Farya who answered, with a look of profound shock. “He Saw it all wrong!” She looked at all of her fellow Knights in disbelief. “He thought that the Jedi would emerge with only an injured leg! He didn’t foresee the stab wound!”

“And what did he mean by ‘ Seeking ’ weapons?” Khoarad questioned, dark face uneasy. “We’ve already found the Gravestone! This alone is a gamechanger if we use it right. We don’t need to hide.”

“He didn’t know about the Gravestone either,” Senya guessed. “We didn’t tell them, we assumed we didn’t have to, they already knew! They certainly knew when to expect us.”

“Their spies on Zakuul would have told them when we had escaped,” Lana answered. “Though the spies probably didn’t hear anything about the Gravestone . Arcann has tried to keep it under wraps after all.”

“Spies?”

“Yes, a lot of the Scion’s knowledge came from spies, or bugs. I ran into some of them while I was on Zakuul. Having a listening device in the right place is far more valuable than relying on a power  we can barely control.”

“But…” Senya sputtered. “Spies? They relied on spies?”

“The Force is vast and vastly unknowable,” Arro said. “Even Master Zoran, or Darth Nox—both masters of lore and secrets—didn’t presume to understand it perfectly. The Voss don’t either—they acknowledge that even if visions are never wrong—and that’s a big if—interpreting them accurately is tricky.”

“The Scions relied on electronic and physical eavesdropping to get a hold of information they couldn’t divine through the Force.,” Lana continued. “They wanted to appear more all-knowing than they were. Their supposed clairvoyance is a sham.” Just like so many other things on Zakuul , she added to herself and to Arro. “With allies like them, we don’t need enemies.”

They stood around gloomily, except for Kaliyo who stood playing some holo game on her pad.

“If we’re done depressing each other, can we share the good news?” Jorgan grumbled. Yes, he looked brimming with optimism. “The Battle of Asylum showed the Galaxy that Arcann is invincible, and once Theron shows off the footage of you whooping his Guards’ collective asses they’ll be even more convinced.”

Lana nodded. “Every one of my contacts in the Core Worlds and Empire have thrown in their support behind us. We had some forces before, but now we can really call it an army. I am having them directed to a world named Odessen, which we have chosen as a base of operations. We should be landing soon, but this time I’m going to insist you get some proper rest between all meetings!” No one looked ready to argue.

“Let’s not keep them waiting.” Arro said.

“Here we go again,” Koth cheered.

*

[actualkomodo]

Four Temperaments

Your temperament is phlegmatic. The phlegmatic temperament is fundamentally relaxed and quiet, ranging from warmly attentive to lazily sluggish. Phlegmatics tend to be content with themselves and are kind. They are accepting and affectionate. They may be receptive and shy and often prefer stability to uncertainty and change. They are consistent, relaxed, calm, rational, curious, and observant, qualities that make them good administrators. They can also be passive-aggressive.

Fair, but imagine Cuinn as an administrator? It would all go to hell. He also isn’t shy or consistent, and he is definitely not passive-aggressive. If he means to be aggressive in any respect, you can bet it’s gonna be an outright threat.

I swear I did this test last year but I can’t find it anywhere. I suspect I just never posted the results.

Quiz here.

Tagged by @grumpy-limsan-customs-cat and @red-dawnbringer thanks!

Tagging: @pearlescent-scales @zoran-taela @onceahocat @veils-and-hearts @the-original-rel @talechaser-ffxiv @therealmtraversed

[heartofhryule]

Breath of the Wild: Captured Memories - Chapter 4

First and foremost; SPOILER WARNINGS. If you have not played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, or completed the Captured Memories Quest and want to stay un-spoiler-ed for it, DO NOT READ.

So I am writing these as I play through BotW for the first time - which means they probably won’t be ‘one-a-day’ consistent as its taking me forEVER to get to all of them, AND they probably won't be in any respectable order - just what I get to as I find them. My intent is to find them all, and summarize once I have found and have a story for each of the 18 memories required to get the bonus ending for the game. Once that's done, I will wrap it all up with a final chapter after I beat the game.

I will post them as I can though! Promise! I also plan to include links to the cutscene for you to watch at the bottom, if so desired - at least for the ones I can find. Any other warnings that become necessary, I will add for content as I go. For now, enjoy!

Chapter 4 - Mipha’s Grace

Straight from the Ancient Ruins to the moat of Hyrule Castle he’d gone, with every intention of looking for something familiar - The parapet in his album, remnants of the castle one hundred years ago… maybe even the princess herself to ask questions, see if she was still alive. 

Something burned deep within his chest that prayed she was still alive. He didn’t fully understand it, but the closer he got to the castle, the less he cared about the whys. They were not as important as the feelings he was experiencing every time he allowed himself to wonder if she was dead. She couldn’t be. If she was, despite recalling very little, he knew all was lost. 

At the time, skirting the edges of the cliffs surrounding the deep moat of the castle, he’d decided to put analyzing these feelings off until he had time to deal with it. The castle was a fortress, covered with the blight of Ganon and from what he could see through his scope, many Guardians. 

Realizing, after hours of reconnaissance, that there was only one way into the castle and it was traversing up the series of waterfalls at the back side of the palace, he’d concluded that despite his drive and desire to infiltrate, he was not currently equipped to do so. 

The castle, would have to wait.

That had been a few days ago. He’d summoned his horse, frustrated and driven, riding away from the castle as his heart filled with longing and anger. That was when he decided perhaps taking a closer look at his thoughts would be a good idea. He’d heard that the Zora to the southeast were able to swim up waterfalls. They were merfolk, so maybe there was nothing they could teach him. Or, maybe there was. He would have to go and find out. 

He had not been met with a warm welcome upon his arrival at the Zora kingdom. The Young ones found him a commodity traveler. But the older of the long lived race knew him - and despised him. They blamed him for failing, for destroying the life of their princess, Mipha. Mipha was the Zora Champion he’d seen in his vision, and all spoke of her kindness and loving heart.

The old steward Muzu was droning on about how unworthy Link was, and Sidon, the king’s son (and Mipha’s younger brother) was debating the old cod on Link’s behalf, but Link wasn’t listening. His eyes were focused on the statue of the beloved, lost princess, and something stirred within him. 

***

High in the sky, Link sat atop a stone platform looking out over Hyrule - from the trunk of Vah Ruta. His arm hurt, but he knew it was about to not somehow. And then, he heard her voice. 

“I was thinking… this reminds me of the first time we met.”

Looking up, sitting next to him was a beautiful Zoran girl. Her scales were the color of the most precious rubies in Hyrule, eyes the golden-green of new spring leaves. But it was her soft smile that drew a pang from his heart. “You were just a reckless child,” she smiled, “Always getting yourself hurt at every turn. Everytime, I would heal you. Just as I am doing right now.”

In the memory, there was great affection for Mipha. Even vague recollections of his childhood cam to mind, and how he and Mipha were the best of friends. He’d not always known she was a princess. She’d hidden that from him, later explaining it was for fear he’d not want to play with her if he knew. But it had changed nothing. She was his best friend from those times.

“I always thought it was funny how, being a Hylian… you looked grown-up so much faster than I did.” She paused, and Link could see the memory and truth of her words brought a touch of emotion to her voice. “I was always willing to heal your wounds, even back then.”

Before his eyes, her soothing touch and magic knit and healed his wound, leaving his skin unblemished, as if it had never been. Marvelling for a moment both in the dream and as he watched the vision, Mipha turned to look out to the horizon.

“So if this Calamity Ganon does, in fact, return, what can we really do?” Her pause was laden with concern, the tilt if her head indicating there was more to her thoughts than she let on. “We just don’t seem to know much about what we will be up against.”

Her gaze dropped from the horizon to her lap, and Link watched, keeping quiet to let her finish but urging her silently to go on. Mipha had always been sweet, reserved. It was sometimes difficult to get her to open up about wheat went on inside that keen and caring mind of hers. He was not about to stop her now.

“But know this: that no matter how difficult this battle might get… If you-- If anyone ever tries to do you harm… Then I will heal you. No matter when, nor how bad the wound… I hope you know… that I will always protect you. Once this whole thing is over, maybe things can go back to the way they used to be when we were young. You know…”

Link watched as she looked up at him, and there was a sadness that tinged his affection for her now. They way she looked at him, he knew. 

“Perhaps we can spend some time together.”

“I’d like that,” he said genuinely, despite knowing it was not precisely what she meant. “Once upon a time, you were my dearest friend, Mipha.” His words made her smile again. “I’d like to keep it that way, should we all survive.”

***

As the vision faded, Link was taken with a sadness, a true sadness for the first time since this had all begun -again- for him. Mipha. Sweet, kind, generous Mipha… had loved him. Not just the love of a dear childhood friend and lifetime companion, but loved him as he loved another. And now, Mipha was gone. He remembered more, more than just that vision - everything to do with Mipha. Childhood playing knights and monsters in the streams around the Zora domain, how Mipha helped him practice and train to be a knight before he’d gone off with his father to Hyrule Castle. How upon seeing she was the Champion of the Zora when they had been called to the Castle had thrilled him… how the day Calamity Ganon had taken the machines, he’d heard her screaming. 

 “I remember,” he said softly, staring no longer at the statue of Mipha in front of him, but the pool of water at his feet. His heart ached. He could not bear to be under her forgiving gaze just now. 

 Though his words were soft, they stopped Sidon mid sentence. “What is the matter Link?” the prince asked kindly. “Are you unwell?”

“I remember,” Link said again, looking up to Mipha’s litter brother, the guilt and shame that came with the hundred year old knowledge of what had once been weighting his gaze. “I remember Mipha. Everything.”

The next bit of time, Link was reserved, polite, respectful, and hearing nothing of what the elder Zora clansmen were saying of him. The King was kind, and gave him a gift that Mipha had made a century ago, ‘for her beloved’. It was no surprise to the knight that it fit perfectly. It also weighed heavily on his heart. 

Now he and Sidon were going to purify Vah Ruta, in Mipha’s memory and save the Zroa domain. After that, he could go back to Hyrule Castle, searching for answers. But none of it brought him joy, or excitement.. Or even anger. His heart was too heavy for any of that just now. But as it seemed might become a recurring theme in his life, Link was not allowed time to mourn the dead.

---

Standing over the activation panel in Vah Ruta, Link stared at it blankly for a moment. Having activated all other terminals and defeating the Waterblight beast poisoning the Divine Beast, this was the last thing to do before leaving. 

The last thing to do before he would never hear Mipha’s voice again. 

 It was bittersweet - she would be free, but it would truly be an ending… However she’d waited long enough on him to get his life together. No need to keep her waiting longer.

Touching the tablet to the panel, it lit up, and he took a step back in case something moved. Yet a sound behind him drew his attention. 

 “Hello, Link.” He startled to hear it so bright and clearly, looking around to see if he could find a source. “Because of your courage, my spirit is now free.” To his right, a greenish-blue light began to grow, and no sooner had he seen it, than the spirit flames took on the form of Mipha. 

“And Ruta as well,” she added with her gentle smile. “Thank you. For I am now allowed by that freedom, to be with you once again.” 

 Too stunned to speak, Link has a thousand things he wanted to say - that he was sorry, for failing… for everything. Sorry that he’d not been able to come sooner. Sorry that he’d failed her above all other champions… Sorry that he could not love her the way she had him. 

“Since I am now a spirit,” she said and began moving towards him, “My healing power would be wasted on me. I have no need of it. So therefore, I would like you to have it.” Link watched, his heart wrenching in his chest for the gentle kindness and generosity she had even in death. Sidon had not been able to join him inside Vah Ruta, so no one but Mipha’s spirit was there to see the dampness in his eyes as his heart broke a little for his once dear friend. 

“Please accept, Mipha’s Grace.” With her words, magic entered him, not unlike the spirit orbs to which he had become accustomed accepting inside the Trial Shrines. Vitality and soothing healing magics coursed through him, but his eyes were locked to Mipha’s spirit still. 

“Yesterday, I was awash in a pool of tears. I had nearly given up hope and resigned myself to being trapped here, as a spirit, for the rest of eternity. But now you’re here,” she said an looked up to him. He remembered well to let sweet, soft spoken Mipha finish her thoughts, even if his heart was breaking. “All this time, my hope… was to see you once more. Promise me that you will not hesitate to call upon my power if you ever find yourself in need. Knowing that… will let my spirit rest in peace.” He wanted to promise her, to swear it, and tell her how sorry he was, but his voice was lost to the lump in his throat. Instead, he gave her a firm nod. She would know. She already knew. “I must go. Ruta and I have our roles to fulfill. We are both honored to be able to play the role of support,” she said, and clutched her hands to her chest. “We will annihilate Ganon together. Farewell…” Magic glowing around him, he knew Mipha was sending him outside of the Divine Beast for some purpose… and he looked up to force words to her as a last chance, but it was Mipha that spoke. “Save her, Link. Save the princess… Save Princess Zelda.” And in a flash of warm, golden light, he was gone.

Mipha’s Touch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KPczUNIKw4 Freeing Vah Ruta - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEn1umKCQOA

[babypaulchen]

Rammstein fan ask: 30 to 40! 😁🤗

OH GOSH THANK U sdfgkjdg

30. Favorite member?

first it was flake….then richard, aaaand now it’s become paul!! but richard is right behind him

31. Have you listened to any covers of their songs that you liked? If so, which ones? 

i have not!!

32. Did you gain an interest in Germany after discovering Rammstein? 

not particularly kdjfghkdj but i also wouldn’t mind visiting berlin? i guess that counts

33. Has the band inspired you to learn German?

nah im not actively trying to learn, but i would really like to understand the lyrics to the songs as i listen

34. Have you ever met any members of the band? If so, who and when?

CRIES NO BUT I WOULD LOVE TO…. im hoping that will change when i go to a concert with @engelsscharen!!

35. Favorite song from each album?

OH GOOD QUESTION 

herzeleid: du riechst so gut (also my #1 fav song by them)

sehnsucht: sehnsucht

mutter: mein herz brennt

reise, reise: mein teil

rosenrot: benzin

lifad: waidmanns heil, but haifisch is a close 2nd

made in germany: mein land

36. If you’re involved in the fandom, do you have any favorite content creators (YouTubers, Tumblrs, etc.)?

@engelsscharen‘s rammstein art is amazing and i adore their work, but i also do like @thecultoftill‘s posts, as well as @freches-fruechtchen‘s and @blondetill‘s!!

37. If you could get any one piece of merch from their store for free, which one would you pick?

either the paris deluxe box edition, or rammstein in amerika!

38. Which version of the Mein Herz Brennt video do you prefer: Eugenio’s (top middle video) or Zoran’s?

eugenio’s, absolutely. i think they made a mistake by cutting out practically ALL of the parts with each individual band member in zoran’s. i do love the cello parts and till attacking the old woman in zoran’s, but i prefer eugenio’s because it shows more of the band lol

39. Do you know any Rammstein fans in real life?

yes!! @engelsscharen had actually introduced them to me when i visited them in september

40. Has anyone ever become a Rammstein fan because of you?

not yet!

thank you so much for the ask

feel free to send me any numbers, if you want!

[khalilhumam]

Serbian parliamentary vote campaign taps Greek beaches, Chinese robots

Register at https://mignation.com The Only Social Network for Migrants. #Immigration, #Migration, #Mignation ---

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/serbian-parliamentary-vote-campaign-taps-greek-beaches-chinese-robots/

Serbian parliamentary vote campaign taps Greek beaches, Chinese robots

She opened her pendant, and there was President Vučić

Photo: Screencap from video clip ‘First online rally of the campaign 1. Aleksandar Vučić – For our children’ published on Facebook by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučič.

This story is based on reporting by Global Voices’ content partner Meta.mk News Agency, a project of Metamorphosis Foundation. Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19. After a COVID-19-imposed hiatus, Serbia announced that it will hold its postponed parliamentary elections on June 21. The biggest opposition parties will boycott the elections, blaming the government for failing to provide fair conditions. The ruling parties on the other hand, have started the campaign in earnest — and continued their tradition of controversial campaign ads. Prior to the electoral announcement, the country relaxed anti-pandemic measures, which included a general lockdown. Data provided by the country to the WHO indicates that by June 18 Serbia had recorded 12,522 confirmed cases and 257 deaths. In a controversial move, Belgrade declared 4,000 persons who had previously tested positive to COVID-19 as ‘healed’ on June 7, reducing the offical number of active infections by about 10 times. Epidemiologist Zoran Radovanović complained that the patients had been “written off by an act of the quill, it was an administrative decision.” The move reduced the ratio of infected persons per 100,000 inhabitants and therefore placed Serbian citizens in a category of countries eligible for cross-border travel at regional level. Since being able to afford a holiday in Greece is an important symbol of status in Serbia, this achievement has been presented as major win for the government.

Kicking off with a dash of dystopia

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, the head of the Serbian Progressive Party, a right-wing populist political party, started the campaign with an May 16 online rally while lockdown measures were still in force.

The President of Serbia just held a virtual rally with his supporters clapping via video stream. Looks very dystopian and creepy. pic.twitter.com/3O7yuvm9r2 — Sergej Dojcinovic (@Serdjosega) May 16, 2020

The event invited comparisons with characters and scenes from dystopian science fiction works, from the Big Brother in 1984 to the Architect from the Matrix.

A weekend in Greece

One of the most talked-about pre-election clips was the Serbian Progressive Party's “Weekend in Greece? Yes, it's possible!” The video was released before opening of the borders in Europe, which were closed to limit the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The video addressed the frustrations of people locked down due to quarantine measures while crediting Vučić for recently built stretches of highways connecting Serbia with North Macedonia and Bulgaria. These new roads are how Serbians drive to Greece. In the video, a Serbian family decides to take a weekend in Greece on the spur of the moment, implying both affluence and freedom of movement. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8yIopg-btE]

ТВ спикер: Пред нама је још један викенд рекордно високих температура. Мајка: Куку, ће поцркамо сви. Отац: Идемо у Грчку, одма'! Синови: Јес. Мајка: Па ти ниси нормалан. Толики пут за два дана на мору! Отац: А б'е как'и пут?! Само гас и за четири сата смо тамо. Мајка: Па ајде. Мени треба дупло више да се спакујем. Отац: И што је најбоље – све ће си путујемо по ауто-пут. Мајка: Ела, ела! Ајмо, ајмо! Спикер: Александар Вучић. За нашу децу. Отац: Калимера. Мајка: Сагапо.

TV announcer: Another weekend with record high temperatures is ahead of us… Mother: Oh my, we'll all drop dead! Father: Let's go to Greece, right away! Sons: Yes! Mother: You are out of your mind. Such a long road trip for two days at the sea! Father: What road trip?! Just pedal to the metal and we'll be there in four hours. Mother: So let's go. I need twice that time to pack. Father: The best of all is that all the way we'll travel via [modern] highway. Mother: Ela, ela! [“Let's go” in Greek] Let's go, let's go! Voice over: Aleksandar Vučić. For our children. [Changed scene, indicating they've arrived a the Greek seaside.] Father: Kalimera. [“Good day” in Greek]. Mother: Sagapo. [“I love you” in Greek, while looking at a pendant with the image of Aleksandar Vučić.]

In May, President Vučić and Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačić announced that Greece was planning to open its borders for Serbian visitors from June 15. In fact, Greece only planned to open its borders for Serbian tourists from July 1, so Serbian tourists who actually rushed towards Greek beaches via Bulgaria got stuck at the Bulgarian-Greek border. At one point, the line was over 15 kilometres long, and many of the blocked families flooded social media with complaints about the hellish conditions affecting children and senior travelers. Serbian diplomats pleaded with Greece, which conceded to opening its Bulgarian border for incoming Serbian citizens ahead of schedule.

Chinese robot expresses love for Serbian traditions

On Monday June 15, President Vučić visited the Center for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Education (CRVIO) in Belgrade, holding a public meeting with a humanoid robot made in China, called Ema. They held a conversation in Serbian. Vučić stressed that under his leadership the country promotes digital education and artificial intelligence as roads to the future, and has gained 800 million euros from software exports. Vučić asked Ema why she came to Serbia, and she replied that the country had rich traditions and that she came to improve education in Serbia with the help of modern Chinese technology. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF-FPdEnWHQ]

Vučić: Draga Ema, dali možete da nam kažete  zašto ste došli u Srbiju? Ema: Naravno. Ja volim Srbiju. S obzirom da sam oblik pametne tehnologije, očigledno je da biram da budem u Srbiji, ne samo zbog izuzetnih ljudi, bogate tradicije i prirode, već zato što je to zemlja koja pred sobom ima svetlu budućnost.

President Vučić: Dear Ema, could you tell us why you came to Serbia? Ema, the robot: Of course. I love Serbia. Considering the fact that I am a kind of smart technology, it is obvious why I choose to be in Serbia. It's not only because it has exceptional people, rich traditions and nature, but also because it's a country which has a bright future.

The present Serbian government cooperates deeply with China, particularly in the field of digital surveillance. It recently purchased over 1,000 cameras with face recognition technology from the Chinese company Huawei. The cameras will be placed in 800 locations throughout the capital Belgrade.

Stage diving in the southwest

Meanwhile, the politician Rasim Ljajić made the news on June 17 by performing a rock-star style stage dive into the crowd during a rally in the southwestern city of Novi Pazar. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijTex_GKDMk] Ljajić, 56, currently holds the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications in the Government of the Republic of Serbia. He is running as the leader of an electoral list “Evropski Novi Pazar – Rasim Ljajić” (meaning “European Novi Pazar – Rasim Ljajić”) composed of several smaller political parties whose voter base is Sanđak — an area mainly inhabited by ethnic Bosniaks. His Social Democratic Party of Serbia has been a fixture of almost all ruling coalitions in recent history. At the rally he praised his list as the only one which has the “majority of female candidates and the only one which would win the highest number of Bosniak and Serbian voices [together], which is impossible [for others] in this day and age.” According to Serbian Electoral Code, the country will enjoy an electoral silence starting on midnight on Thursday and ending at 21:00 hrs on Sunday. But the days are long, and there is still some time for eye-catching campaign stunts.

Written by Metamorphosis Foundation · comments (0) Donate · Share this: twitter facebook reddit

[t-baba]

Building an Image Gallery Blog with Symfony Flex: the Setup

This post begins our journey into Performance Month's zero-to-hero project. In this part, we'll set our project up so we can fine tune it throughout the next few posts, and bring it to a speedy perfection.

Now and then you have to create a new project repository, run that git init command locally and kick off a new awesome project. I have to admit I like the feeling of starting something new; it's like going on an adventure!

Lao Tzu said:

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step

We can think about the project setup as the very first step of our thousand miles (users!) journey. We aren't sure where exactly we are going to end up, but it will be fun!

We also should keep in mind the advice from prof. Donald Knuth:

Premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming.

Our journey towards a stable, robust, high-performance web app will start with the simple but functional application --- the so-called minimum viable product (MVP). We'll populate the database with random content, do some benchmarks and improve performance incrementally. Every article in this series will be a checkpoint on our journey!

This article will cover the basics of setting up the project and organizing files for our Symfony Flex project. I'll also show you some tips, tricks and helper scripts I'm using for speeding up the development.

What Are We Building?

Before starting any project, you should have a clear vision of the final destination. Where are you headed? Who will be using your app and how? What are the main features you're building? Once you have that knowledge, you can prepare your environment, third-party libraries, and dive into developing the next big thing.

In this series of articles, we'll be building a simple image gallery blog where users can register or log in, upload images, and create simple public image galleries with descriptions written in Markdown format.

We'll be using the new Symfony Flex and Homestead (make sure you've read tutorials on them, as we're not going to cover them here). We picked Flex because Symfony 4 is just about to come out (if it hasn't already, by the time you're reading this), because it's infinitely lighter than the older version and lends itself perfectly to step-by-step optimization, and it's also the natural step in the evolution of the most popular enterprise PHP framework out there.

All the code referenced in this article is available at the GitHub repo.

We're going to use the Twig templating engine, Symfony forms, and Doctrine ORM with UUIDs as primary keys.

Entities and routes will use annotations; we'll have simple email/password based authentication, and we'll prepare data fixtures to populate the database.

Getting Started with the app

To try out the example we've prepared, do the following:

Set up an empty database called "blog".

Clone the project repository from GitHub.

Run composer install.

If you now open the app in your browser, you should see an exception regarding missing database tables. That's fine, since we haven't created any tables so far.

Update the .env file in your project root directory with valid database connection string (i.e., update credentials).

Run the database init script ./bin/refreshDb.sh and wait until it generates some nice image galleries.

Open the app in your browser and enjoy!

After executing bin/refreshDb.sh you should be able to see the home page of our site:

You can log in to the app with credentials user1@mailinator.com and password 123456. See LoadUserData fixture class for more details regarding generated users.

Starting from scratch

In this section, we'll describe how to set up a new project from scratch. Feel free to take a look at the sample app codebase and see the details.

After creating a new project based on symfony/skeleton by executing the command

composer create-project "symfony/skeleton:^3.3" multi-user-gallery-blog

… we can first set minimum stability to "dev" because of some cutting edge packages:

composer config minimum-stability dev

… and then require additional packages (some of them are referenced by their aliases, the new feature brought by Flex):

composer req annotations security orm template asset validator ramsey/uuid-doctrine

Dependencies used only in the dev environment are required with the --dev flag:

composer req --dev fzaninotto/faker doctrine/Doctrine-Fixtures-Bundle

Flex is doing some serious work for us behind the scenes, and most of the libraries (or bundles) are already registered and configured with good-enough defaults! Check the config directory. You can check all the dependencies used in this project in the composer.json file.

Routes are defined by annotations, so the following will be automatically added into config/routes.yaml:

controllers: resource: ../src/Controller/ type: annotation

Database, Scripts and Fixtures

Configure the DATABASE_URL environment variable (for example, by editing the .env file) to set up a working DB connection. If you're using our own Homestead Improved (recommended), you've got a database set up called homestead with the user / pass homestead / secret. A DB schema can be generated from existing entities by executing:

./bin/console doctrine:schema:create

If this doesn't run, try executing the console by invoking the PHP binary, like so:

php bin/console doctrine:schema:create

If this step executed fine in the "Getting Started with the app" section above, you should be able to see newly created tables in the database (for Gallery, Image and User entities).

If you want to drop the database schema, you can run:

./bin/console doctrine:schema:drop --full-database --force

Fake it 'til you make it!

I can't imagine developing an app today without having data fixtures (i.e., scripts for seeding the DB). With a few simple scripts, you can populate your database with realistic content, which is useful when it comes to rapid app development and testing, but it's also a requirement for a healthy CI pipeline.

I find the Doctrine Fixtures Bundle to be an excellent tool for handling data fixtures as it supports ordered fixtures (i.e., you can control the order of execution), sharing objects (via references) between scripts, and accessing the service container.

Default Symfony services configuration doesn't allow public access to services, as best practice is to inject all dependencies. We'll need some services in our fixtures, so I'm going to make all services in App\Services publicly available by adding the following to config/services.yaml:

App\Service\: resource: '../src/Service/*' public: true

I'm also using Faker to get random but realistic data (names, sentences, texts, images, addresses, …).

Take a look at the script for seeding galleries with random images to get a feeling of how cool this combination is.

Usually, I combine commands for dropping the existing DB schema, creating the new DB schema, loading data fixtures, and other repetitive tasks into a single shell script --- for example, bin/refreshDb.sh --- so I can easily regenerate the schema and load dummy data:

# Drop schema ./bin/console doctrine:schema:drop --full-database --force # Create schema ./bin/console doctrine:schema:create # Load fixtures ./bin/console doctrine:fixtures:load -n --fixtures src/DataFixtures/ORM # Install assets ./bin/console assets:install --symlink # Clear cache ./bin/console cache:clear

Make sure you restrict execution of this script on production, or you're going to have some serious fun at one point.

One can argue that randomly generated data can't reproduce different edge cases, so your CI can sometimes fail or pass depending on the data generation. It's true, and you should make sure all edge cases are covered with your fixtures.

Every time you find an edge case causing a bug, make sure you add it to data fixtures. This will help you build a more robust system and prevent similar errors in the future.

The post Building an Image Gallery Blog with Symfony Flex: the Setup appeared first on SitePoint.

by Zoran Antolovic via SitePoint https://ift.tt/2ymuK8X

[emily-lowery-blog1]

Read Online You by Zoran Drvenkar Download PDF Epub

Simple Way to Read / Download Top Ebooks With Easy - Hello Fellow Readers, Sharing tips to download this book in PDF or EPub. Before I read this book, I had read some reviews which had me wondering if this one would be something I'd like, reviews from people whose opinions I trust. It's True, so the book stayed on my "TBR Someday". TIPS to Read / Download Book: 1.Visit: www.hirobook.club 2.Find your book and read the review. 3.Just create free account, then you'll receive access to entire library. 4.Wish you have good luck and ready to read online or download the book. The book format can easy access on PC,Mobile, Tablet or Iphone. So, you can read anywhere and anytime. (Visit the site written above and search your book in search menu) - Sometimes maybe your book is unavailable depend from the advertiser. - If you don't fully love your experience, don't worry -- you can cancel of being member at anytime. - Enjoy your time and happy reading.! ---------------------- Book Overviews: Top Book, Top Author, Top Genre. There's also other available format to download: PDF Kindle ePub Mobi Daisy Just Experience all the content you could possibly want from comprehensive library of timeless classics and new releases there. ======================================================================= B.O.O.K Ebook. Ebook Kindle. BEST! Rar. Best Zip. !BEST Mobi Online. Best! Audiobook Online. D.o.w.n.l.o.a.d Review Online. Best Read Online. B.e.s.t Download Online.

[chrissyrholmes]

The 10 Best Newsletters Web Designers & Developers Should Subscribe To

Newsletters offer a direct way to stay in touch with news and updates in the design world. They arrive right in your inbox and share only the best stuff.

1. Sidebar

Sidebar is really a design curation site where the creator Sacha Greif hand-picks 5 new links every day to promote. These are always design related posts covering tutorials, breaking news, or insights from industry thought leaders.

The Sidebar newsletter comes daily and it gives you these 5 links right into your inbox. It’s a super convenient way to stay on top of Sidebar without constantly visiting the site.

2. 1stWebDesigner

Here at 1stWebDesigner we also have a sweet newsletter geared towards design professionals. This heavily curated resource shares only the best news and articles from around the web targeted specifically at designers.

It offers a great way to satiate your design curiosity with top-quality content.

3. Really Good Emails

It doesn’t get more meta than the Really Good Emails Newsletter. A site devoted to newsletters with their own newsletter? Yep, and it’s pretty awesome too!

Every major site needs a newsletter. But the toughest part can be designing one and understanding how to orient content. With this newsletter you’ll get inspiration and marketing tips sent directly to your inbox once a week.

4. The Web Designer

You may be surprised to learn The Web Designer isn’t a blog, community, or gallery. It’s solely a newsletter dedicated to web designers and the design industry.

It’s one of the fastest-growing newsletters online with over 23k subscribers and counting. These emails include a hodgepodge of design freebies, JS plugins, and awesome articles that deserve your attention.

5. The Smashing Newsletter

Smashing Magazine has built an empire of incredible content in the design & dev space. Their Smashing Newsletter has to be one of the most viewed in the design community with over 230k subscribers.

This newsletter covers a little bit of everything. You’ll find coding tutorials, UX design articles, WordPress articles, and everything relevant to a modern designer. If you’ve never read any newsletters before then this is a great place to start.

6. Responsive Design Newsletter

Every designer knows & loves responsive design. It’s the way of the future for web design and with Responsive Design Weekly you can keep up with all the latest news, tutorials, and top-quality inspiration dedicated to responsive design.

We’ve reached a point where non-responsive design is almost a strange relic of olden times. By staying on top of the responsive design community you’ll be at the forefront of the newest techniques and CSS/JS libraries.

7. Hacking UI

I’d say that Hacking UI is geared towards coders over designers. It covers a lot about startups, building quality interfaces, and front-end coding with the right tools.

The site also runs a podcast and offers dozens of amazing tutorials so you have a huge library to pick from. But their newsletter curates everything together into a nice little bundle delivered to you on a weekly basis.

8. Web Designer News

User-curated news was popularized by Digg and carried on through many other websites. One design-oriented site is Web Designer News and it’s quickly becoming the source for breaking design news online.

Their newsletter gets delivered daily with all the latest news over the past few days & weeks. If you don’t want daily updates then this may not be for you.

But it’s the best resource to get design news hand-delivered without any effort.

9. CSS Weekly

Frontend technology has so much room for modern CSS3 to grow into uncharted territory over the next few years. And CSS Weekly is sure to keep you updated on all the latest happenings as they occur.

The newsletter is only focused on CSS but can include tools/resources on Sass, Less, and other similar tools. Everything is hand-curated by Zoran Jambor and it’s the single best resource for staying on top of the latest CSS developments.

10. UX Design Weekly

Another weekly resource is UX Design Weekly which covers a broad scope of user experience and interaction design. Every issue of the newsletter can be seen on the website including all links from the prior week.

This newsletter is perfect for finding UX tutorials, case studies, opinion pieces and tools. This info is imperative for every skilled UX designer & aspiring designer.

Wrapping Up

Finding the right newsletter is all about matching your interests with a resource that can add value to your career.

Take another look at this collection and sign up for any newsletters that grab your attention. They are all completely free, and you can always unsubscribe, so there’s nothing to lose!

You might also like to take a look at the 30 best web design blogs worth following.

from Web Designing https://1stwebdesigner.com/best-newsletters-web-designers-developers/

[theshatteredrose]

What would be everyone's (From both ALE and CtS) favourite food?

CtS –Guardians

Lynus - enjoys light food. Honestly, though, a plain salad with a few pieces of chicken is his favourite. He’s very simple and doesn’t really like to cause too much of a fuss. He does tend to eat more if someone else prepares it rather than if he did himself ^^ His all-time favourite fruit is something he doesn’t get all that often; passionfruit. He also likes honey tea, anything with tea actually

Axel - likes his meat, any meat - pork, beef, chicken, whathaveyou. He’s definitely a meat man. Grilled venison topped with a tangy sauce with potatoes and he’s in heaven. He does like sweets, though, like milk chocolate. And, yes, he does eat vegetables, too XD Partial to a drink of ale every now and again, but he knows his limits

Jhon - likes his meat, too, but also enjoys his vegetables. He’s a good boy. He grew up with a poor adopted father, so was happy to eat whatever was given to him. He’s not extraordinarily fussy at all. He, however, will admit that there is nothing he enjoys more than a big ol bowel of spaghetti and meatballs in a tomato based sauce. An incredibly lightweight when it comes to alcohol though and will only ever drink in Axel and Tobyn’s company

Tobyn - surprisingly, though he prefers light food like Lynus, he likes anything with a dash of chili, especially if its shrimp. He also enjoys grilled fish, especially if he managed to catch it himself. Has a soft spot for red apples, the sweeter the better. Absolutely loathes sour food and hates the taste of alcohol

Shen - a very simple person with a simple diet. Will eat whatever is given to him, though he prefers food that isn’t a hassle to make and drinks green tea by the gallon. He likes his rice, though, which is probably unsurprising. Is also a heavy-weight when it comes to drinking alcohol. Sake is his secret favourite, but he’d rather drink alone (in fear he might do something embarrassing ^^)

Magnus - has a rather limited diet due to some of the foods causing him headaches. He’s not allergic to anything perse, but is sensitive. Anything with a high content of nuts, onions, or dairy causes him headaches. Loves sweet fruits like berries, especially strawberries. He also enjoys green tea and is happy to have a drink with Shen. Absolutely forbidden from drinking anything with alcohol in it.

Macerio - will literally eat whatever is placed in front of him. Surprisingly adventurous when it comes to his food. Though he’s not at all fond of sour food; the sweeter the better. Chocolate is his weakness; anything chocolate. Hot chocolate is his favourite beverage. He has absolute no interest in alcohol though; watching the drunkards is more interesting ^^

Lirit - has a limited diet as well, but one he chose for himself. He doesn’t drink something like orange-juice or dairy as it can interfere with his singing. So mostly salads and soups, anything light. He does have a soft spot for freshly baked bread, though, with loads of jam. He also enjoys ginger or mint tea

Hamza - doesn’t eat meat products, though does enjoy dairy. Hearty soups and vegetable casseroles or vegetable stir-fries. He eats a wide range of vegetables, though crispy baked pumpkin or stuffed potatoes with sour cream is his all-time favourite. Likes a good drink at the bar, allowing him to loosen up and either brag or complain about his guild’s exploits to a few selected people

Chi-hung - as you can probably guess; meat. But boar mostly. Wild boar roasted on a spit roast and glazed in a tangy bbq source he will literally fight anyone for. He also likes meaty sandwiches, especially if they were Macerio’s ^^

ALE – Phaedron

Varuna – really doesn’t have an absolute favourite. With his ability to sense poisons, anything that isn’t poisonous he can eat. He does like his peaches, though he can easily live off of bread and water (not that anyone would actually let him)

Nitish – really enjoys nothing more than a light vegetable soup and flower or herb based teas. Doesn’t like coffee or anything with caffeine. The fresher the vegetables the better he feels in the end. He has to be cautious with the food he eats, after all. He greatly enjoys the many different types of produce found in the four lands

Bryce – a good ol’ fashion hamburger with all the extras, the bigger the burger the better. Other than that, he’s not fussy. Anything with meat and potatoes and he’s good. Despite what a lot of people would assume, he doesn’t drink anything with alcohol, has no interest in the stuff

Blayden – despite his small, slender stature, he can eat like a horse. Anything edible is dangerous with him around. Isn’t afraid to be adventurous with his food, much to the chagrin to his brother and guild XD Though the person who invented pizza changed his entire world

Falkner – anything with poultry or eggs, surprisingly. Scrambled eggs with ham are his favourite meal at any time of the day. Has a surprising abhorrence toward alcohol and refuses to allow his brother anywhere near the stuff, though won’t say why. He’s a coffee man, though he doesn’t really need it as he’s a morning person anyway (which pisses Fletcher and Bryce off to no end)

Fletcher – the youngest of the guild and still doesn’t like his vegetables :I Likes his sweets and food that has no nutritional value whatsoever. He surprisingly likes his sour food, too, and can eat a lemon on its own, much to the revulsion of his guildmates. He does secretly like mushroom soup, though, especially since Nitish made one for him when he was ill

Roxbury – pretty simple with his food, and much like his personality, he doesn’t like to cause a fuss. He does enjoy a good a roast chicken with seasoned vegetables baked in the oven. He also likes hearty meals, anything wholesome and filling. Much like Falkner, he is strongly against alcohol in it’s entirely, and he won’t say why either. Herb infused teas are quickly becoming his favourite beverage ^^

Mahalah – is very fond of herbs and spices. Cover any kind of vegetable or meat in a light dusting of seasonings and he’ll eat anything. He doesn’t like overly complicated meals, though, the ones that take over fifteen different ingredients. In a guild as big as his, you need to keep things simple. He also greatly enjoys pasta, though he doesn’t make it often. Before he met the researchers, he preferred to drink simply water, but now is becoming fond of flower infused teas

Achyuta – has had a pretty strict and limited diet before he moved to Tharsis. Now he’s simply enjoying the many different types of food that can be found. He’s becoming quite fond of fish products, though, especially grilled with a hint of lime and chili. Honestly, though, he’s willing to try anything, especially in the company of Nitish or Varuna as he knows the food given to him won’t contain anything poisonous whatsoever

Zesiro – unlike his brother, he is still quite cautious with what he eats. He likes his food well prepared before he eats it to ensure that if there was anything toxic about it, it had been removed during the cooking process. So meat/poultry that is well done and mostly broth-based soups. Again, cook to beyond boiling point. And will only drink water after it has been boiled.

Isiah – anything that is easy to eat with one hand. Seriously, place a sandwich in his hand while he’s working and he’ll eat it. His brothers are constantly trying to get him to actually enjoy his food, but old habits die hard. Would live off tea if his brothers would let him. He knows that he should eat more nutritional foods, but he’s a workaholic and hypocrite. Though the smell of a side of pork roasting with mint and herbs in the oven is enough to entice him from his office.

Kalan – soups and broths, mostly, and is sometimes grateful that he can’t visibly see his food. If he doesn’t like the smell of it, he won’t eat it, and no one will make him. And he won’t eat cold or room temperature food. He eats surprisingly quickly as well, though with small bites. When he’s eating, he doesn’t do anything else. He eats only three times a day

Miach – despite his airy appearance, he enjoys overly hot and spicy food. The type that makes a passerbyer’s eyes water at a mere whiff. And he can eat it with a completely straight face. Blayden and Fletcher first wanted to see how hot the food could get before Miach stopped eating, but they had to stop because they were the ones getting scared XD

Zoran – had a pretty limited diet of fresh fruit and mints found in the labyrinth. But now he’s more inclined to eat whatever is offered to him, much like Achyuta. He still enjoys his fruit greatly, and a salad made up of many different types of fruits is his absolute favourite. However, he is becoming quite fond of the vegetable potato, especially the ones that are baked golden brown with a light sprinkle of herbs. He enjoys sitting in the garden with Nitish or Biast and drinking tea

Biast – actually enjoys the taste of turtle meat, like the ones found in Golden Lair, though he is becoming fond of wild boar as well. He’s a good boy, though, and likes his vegetables crisp and golden, either grilled or baked, it doesn’t matter. He, too, had a somewhat limited diet, but unlike Zoran and Achyuta, he doesn’t really have the desire to expand it. He’s quite happy eating what he has always eaten.

Telem – prefers food that he had gathered or cooked himself as he knows how it was harvested and prepared. He is starting to lighten up, though, allowing for others to prepare food for him. He’s still a little wary about root vegetables like potatoes or carrots, anything that was grown under the soil.

Durriken – terrified of food due to past experiences and what he had to endure before he was chosen as part of the Emperor’s fleet. He can’t bring himself to eat food if he doesn’t know where it came from or how it was prepared. The only person he trusts not to poison him is Telem. He is starting to slowly trust Mahalah, Biast and Zoran, though. And Isiah as well. He prefers simply food, something he can easily see. He hasn’t graduated into adding any flavouring or seasoning to his foods, yet. And can only drink water. He is getting better, though ^^

Whew, I think that’s everyone ^^

[retrorendum-blog]

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2 is the sequel I never thought I needed. I had heard great things about it, it being one of the top rated games of all time, but I was still content with the story and characters of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. When I got the Uncharted 4: A Thief's End PS4 bundle for christmas from my dad, I decided to buy the other sequels so I could work through the story until I could play the fourth installment.  After blasting through the game over President's Day weekend, I can successfully say that it has become one of my new favorite games and really excites me for what is coming in the next games.

Title: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Available On: Playstation 3, Playstation 4

Reviewed On: Playstation 3

Info: Naughty Dog, 2009

WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS FOR UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES

Story: Uncharted once again follows the marvelous misadventures of Nathan Drake, cocky-badass-treasure hunting-history nerd. Uncharted 2 follows his journey to continue Marco Polo's quest to find the Cintimani Stone and the mythical city of Shambhala. The game begins with Drake waking up bleeding profusely from his chest whilst in a train car dangling off the side of a mountain in the Himalayas. It then cuts to a flash back that is the first half of the game,  and Drake is now on a beach with his friend Harry Flynn and ex-lover Chloe Frazer, planning a museum heist to steal a lamp found by Marco Polo. After completing the heist, Drake is then betrayed by Flynn and sent to prison in Turkey. After 3 months, Drake is let out by Chloe and his old adventuring pal Victor "Goddamn" Sullivan. It then is revealed that Flynn is working for a Soviet Warlord Zoran Lazarevic, whose goal is to find the city of Shambhala and claim it for his own. Nathan and Sully go to Lazarevic's camp in Borneo, with Chloe acting as a mole on the inside for them. There they find a phurba dagger, which becomes intrinsic to the plot later on. With the dagger is a note saying that the dagger is the key to Shambhala through a temple in Nepal. The epic journey through the mountains of Tibet and a wartorn city in Nepal begins, and you feel the true scope of this incredible story as Nathan Drake travels across the world. The game also greatly improves on characters over the original, as Flynn and Lazarevic are both 10 times more memorable antagonists than Mr. British-rich-power hungry-guy from the first one. (That isn't to say that Lazarevic isn't a stereotypical bad guy as well, but at least he's more involved in the story.)

Visuals/ Music: Uncharted 2 is one of the best looking games, environmentally speaking, available on the PS3 or Xbox360. Every single part of the mountains, snow, villages, jungles, temples, and rubble is beautifully rendered in painstaking detail which lends an even greater sense of adventure to the whole game. You can spot rust marks on metal signs, cracks in every brick, and textured grit on the walls of the buildings. The water physics are great as well, and give an air of realism to the puddles and lakes you wouldn't expect to notice so much. The biggest complaint with the game's graphics are the character models, which at times really stick out of the world because they're so much less detailed. When comparing the original Uncharted 2 on PS3 to the remastered 1080p 60FPS version on PS4, you can notice the difference in the character models quite a bit, and the eyes of the characters are weirdly the best thing that was improved. (Am I the only one freaked out by Chloe's eyes and how shiny they are?) The music is the largest letdown of the game but still manages to be good, which says something about the overall quality of the game. The music isn't necessarily bad, it just isn't memorable at all. You get the classic horn-filled Uncharted theme when you boot up the game, but after that you become so engrossed in the puzzles and action the game provides, that the music just becomes background noise. Some of the more noticeable moments in the game come when there isn't music at all, when you're high in a mountain or sneaking around an enemy camp with only the ambiance of the wind and crunching of dirt to guide you.

Gameplay: The gameplay is the most incredible part of Uncharted 2, and is what (in my opinion) makes this game so incredible and memorable. Unlike Uncharted: Drake's Fortune which had a handful of distinct gameplay sections, (shootout, vehicle, puzzle, platforming) Uncharted 2 blends the sections together seamlessly into the story to make the whole experience more meaningful. You can now shoot and perform takedowns while climbing, and the game focuses on making you feel as if you're the underdog by constantly putting you in complex situations. The most memorable part of the game comes in the action gameplay sequences. If you're getting shot at by a helicopter, fighting yetis in a cave or narrowly dodging explosions set off by an enormous tank in a Tibetian village, you certainly will remember it. Another thing Uncharted 2 beats it's predecessor at is it's puzzle solving. You now have free reign over the notebook Nate carries while in puzzle sections, and although it's usage is scarce, you have to use your brain to figure out which pages you need to use to solve what is at hand. The final thing that makes this game better than the first is the combat you have to do throughout. You now have many more options to take out your enemies, including riot shields, handheld gatling guns and grenade launches. You can also throw propane tanks at the baddies and explode them, taking the idea of blowing up barrels to a whole new level. You are now no longer constricted to obvious fight areas while in combat, and foes can come at you at any time rather than just in a wide area with conveniently placed waist high boxes. (This is probably my favorite upgrade to the game) The difficulty also spikes about 2/3rds way through the game, as if the game is saying to you "you better know your stuff now punk, because it's about to get real". You start finding less ammo, the amount of enemies in an area just about doubles, and the platforming becomes a puzzle in itself, as you really need to start scoping out your environment before bounding off, lest you find a death pit or dead end.

Verdict: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a game you buy a console for. Seriously, its that memorable. The game provides you with constant crazy action and deep character interaction, but remains upbeat through witty dialogue and incredible open environments to explore. If you're a fan of action movies (especially Indiana Jones) or just cinematography in general, this is a game for you. The game ends up feeling like a true cinematic experience, and takes you into it's action with pride. The occasional frame rate drop and odd graphic glitches might bother some people, but the overall experience is so incredible you'll be willing to overlook the small issues it does have. This is one of the highest rated video games of all time, and rightfully so. If you own a PS3 or PS4, don't hesitate to pick this up as it is only 10-15$ at GameStop. Uncharted 2 changed the action adventure game genre, and rightfully deserves an amazing 9/10.

[noahdnicholus]

The 10 Best Newsletters Web Designers & Developers Should Subscribe To

Newsletters offer a direct way to stay in touch with news and updates in the design world. They arrive right in your inbox and share only the best stuff.

1. Sidebar

Sidebar is really a design curation site where the creator Sacha Greif hand-picks 5 new links every day to promote. These are always design related posts covering tutorials, breaking news, or insights from industry thought leaders.

The Sidebar newsletter comes daily and it gives you these 5 links right into your inbox. It’s a super convenient way to stay on top of Sidebar without constantly visiting the site.

2. 1stWebDesigner

Here at 1stWebDesigner we also have a sweet newsletter geared towards design professionals. This heavily curated resource shares only the best news and articles from around the web targeted specifically at designers.

It offers a great way to satiate your design curiosity with top-quality content.

3. Really Good Emails

It doesn’t get more meta than the Really Good Emails Newsletter. A site devoted to newsletters with their own newsletter? Yep, and it’s pretty awesome too!

Every major site needs a newsletter. But the toughest part can be designing one and understanding how to orient content. With this newsletter you’ll get inspiration and marketing tips sent directly to your inbox once a week.

4. The Web Designer

You may be surprised to learn The Web Designer isn’t a blog, community, or gallery. It’s solely a newsletter dedicated to web designers and the design industry.

It’s one of the fastest-growing newsletters online with over 23k subscribers and counting. These emails include a hodgepodge of design freebies, JS plugins, and awesome articles that deserve your attention.

5. The Smashing Newsletter

Smashing Magazine has built an empire of incredible content in the design & dev space. Their Smashing Newsletter has to be one of the most viewed in the design community with over 230k subscribers.

This newsletter covers a little bit of everything. You’ll find coding tutorials, UX design articles, WordPress articles, and everything relevant to a modern designer. If you’ve never read any newsletters before then this is a great place to start.

6. Responsive Design Newsletter

Every designer knows & loves responsive design. It’s the way of the future for web design and with Responsive Design Weekly you can keep up with all the latest news, tutorials, and top-quality inspiration dedicated to responsive design.

We’ve reached a point where non-responsive design is almost a strange relic of olden times. By staying on top of the responsive design community you’ll be at the forefront of the newest techniques and CSS/JS libraries.

7. Hacking UI

I’d say that Hacking UI is geared towards coders over designers. It covers a lot about startups, building quality interfaces, and front-end coding with the right tools.

The site also runs a podcast and offers dozens of amazing tutorials so you have a huge library to pick from. But their newsletter curates everything together into a nice little bundle delivered to you on a weekly basis.

8. Web Designer News

User-curated news was popularized by Digg and carried on through many other websites. One design-oriented site is Web Designer News and it’s quickly becoming the source for breaking design news online.

Their newsletter gets delivered daily with all the latest news over the past few days & weeks. If you don’t want daily updates then this may not be for you.

But it’s the best resource to get design news hand-delivered without any effort.

9. CSS Weekly

Frontend technology has so much room for modern CSS3 to grow into uncharted territory over the next few years. And CSS Weekly is sure to keep you updated on all the latest happenings as they occur.

The newsletter is only focused on CSS but can include tools/resources on Sass, Less, and other similar tools. Everything is hand-curated by Zoran Jambor and it’s the single best resource for staying on top of the latest CSS developments.

10. UX Design Weekly

Another weekly resource is UX Design Weekly which covers a broad scope of user experience and interaction design. Every issue of the newsletter can be seen on the website including all links from the prior week.

This newsletter is perfect for finding UX tutorials, case studies, opinion pieces and tools. This info is imperative for every skilled UX designer & aspiring designer.

Wrapping Up

Finding the right newsletter is all about matching your interests with a resource that can add value to your career.

Take another look at this collection and sign up for any newsletters that grab your attention. They are all completely free, and you can always unsubscribe, so there’s nothing to lose!

You might also like to take a look at the 30 best web design blogs worth following.

from Web Designing Tips https://1stwebdesigner.com/best-newsletters-web-designers-developers/