#Calendar 2019 November To 2020 April

[rivalsforlife]

pardon me if you’re tired of discussing this but. we know aa7 is on capcom’s radar on some level. and now they’ve rereleased every game right?? they’ve finally run out of backlog material after almost yearly releases since 2019…. Not to put the clown wig and nose back on too early but do you think we’ll actually get news about, or get to see, aa7 next year?

Never tired of discussing this!! This is right around the time of year where I'd be preparing to make my yearly AA7 Speculation Post anyway so this is great timing. (TGS, my enemy, is approaching.)

So just to make sure everyone's on the same page, here's a quick recap of where we're currently at:

In November 2020 we got internal Capcom leaks which included a calendar from 2019 with the roadmap for the AA series the next couple of years. This included:

DGS1&2 collection, which I did not think was going to happen ever, releasing April-June 2021

AA7, releasing around October-December 2021, right around the 20th anniversary.

Through late 2019-mid 2022, reconsider porting 456

We got DGS1&2 (a bit later than in the plan, but by like a month), we got the 456 ports, we got bonus AAI ports, we have nothing for AA7 nearly three years after it was supposed to come out. The pandemic is an obvious feature that could contribute to its delay, but at this point with 456 ports out I think we can safely say that this was not the only cause.

Some other things that may or may not be contributing to AA7's delay include:

Yamazaki, the previous main writer for 5&6 and the AAIs, left Capcom in 2020. If he was involved in AA7 at all, that could throw a wrench into things, but I recall hearing he intended AA6 to be his last AA game (I AM STRUGGLING TO FIND THE SOURCE THOUGH SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME), so I don't think this contributed very much. It does, however, mean that we're unsure about who the next main writer is - depending on what Takumi's up to or if they had to bring someone new on, there could be complications related to that.

I think TGAA did way better than anyone expected, which I covered in this post. It's possible that this could have shifted Capcom's priorities to porting more old games / porting to all modern consoles. It may have made people at Capcom think "damn everyone loves Takumi" so they tried to lure him back to AA7, and I have no idea how well that would have gone or if Takumi is even interested in continuing mainline AA right now. (I do think this at least contributed to the Ghost Trick ports.)

In my first ever AA7 speculation post I talked about how the ending of AA6 kind of wrote them into a corner re: how to continue with the series and which protagonist to use. I still stand by that argument even if a lot of that post aged badly.

Console ports! Previously new AA games were for whichever Nintendo handheld is out now (GBA, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS). But now that the series is doing really well on all consoles, they may have decided to try to make their next mainline entry on all consoles, which would take more development time. Adding to this is that the Switch is near the end of its lifecycle with the Switch 2 (or whatever the successor will be) being announced soon - meaning that, if AA7 is coming out soon, Capcom is in the position of "do we try to squeeze this into the end of the Switch's lifecycle" (which, I'll need to find sources for this, is speculated to be some of the reasons behind why AAI2 and DGS2 sold badly when they were first released, and they can't make the same mistake thrice... right...?) or "do we try to time it with the release of the Switch 2"?

Also, a lot of this depends on how far AA7 was into development whenever it was derailed. If it was derailed from the pandemic, then according to the calendar, it would likely have still been in the prototype stage. It may be early enough that they would have had to start from scratch whenever they picked it up again. I don't work in the gaming industry so I have no idea how long it takes them to make a game or how easy it would be from what stage they're in.

One thing we can compare to is some of the comments about the recent AAI ports: in this interview, Shunsuke Nishida, the producer of the AAI collection, says that development on the collection began in 2022. He also mentions that this began once development on 456 was concluded. This leads me to believe that (contrary to my previous assumptions) 456 and AAIC were not developed concurrently (or if so, had very minimal overlap), and that the process of upscaling graphics, porting, and localization took them... about a year, maybe? So that takes time, even without taking into consideration how long it would take to come up with a new idea + write the script + the bulk of the programming that would have to be done that isn't considered with porting + probably way more than I can think of because again I do not work in the gaming industry.

There's also the question of why 456 and AAIC weren't developed concurrently. The calendar from 2020 shows that TGAA and AA7 were meant to be developed at least somewhat concurrently, and the staff from TGAA would eventually merge into working on AA7. Once again, we don't know what happened to the staff that were supposed to be working on AA7. It's possible pandemic complications meant they got shuffled onto other projects. It's possible the AA-related team is smaller now than it was in 2020, so they only have enough people to work on one project at a time. It's also possible that there's a team that was working on ports, and a team that was working on a new game, and now the "port team" is freed up to work on the "new game team".

Either way though, pretty much every interview with the staff for the 456 or AAI ports are all saying "look forward to the future of the series", which is definitely Corporate Speak, but unless they're bringing the ports of the Layton crossover (fingers crossed) that can only mean one thing. (AAI anime?) Plus, like I've discussed in this post, AA is having fantastic sales in general. They've seemingly either hired a new social media manager or changed the strategy so there is much more engagement on twitter. And AA is getting on bigger and bigger announcements - though AA trilogy ports were announced at TGS (at an AA-specific panel), TGAA duology ports were announced unceremoniously on twitter. Afterwards, 456 ports got announced at the Capcom Showcase during Summer Game Fest. And now AAI collection got announced at a Nintendo Direct, which I imagine is even more expensive, so the series must be going in a good direction for them to think that's worth it!

That's a lot of rambling for me to say I definitely think it's coming.

When are we going to see it though!!

Coming up in September is my eternal enemy Tokyo Game Show. Since AAI collection is being released at the beginning of September... it might be a bit too soon to announce a new game, but who knows. They might think it's profitable to ride the hype they're building now for AAI collection to announce a new game. Or they might let it sit for a while.

With AAIC getting announced at a Direct, I'm thinking they'll want to make AA7's announcement a) big and b) global. AA6 was announced in Famitsu, but the problem with that is that it's a mostly Japanese audience, and some interviews have been talking about how AA's global audience is particularly contributing to how big it is right now. So I'm expecting AA's next announcement to be at something major and something that will get attention from overseas audiences.

If they have been working on AA7 concurrently -- and honestly I do think there has at least been some progress on it since 2019 -- we could definitely see an announcement within the next year. I was also saying this in 2020, though, so don't take my word for it. There's been two year gaps between ports up until the AAI collection, and they seemed pretty proud about releasing 456 and AAI in the same year, so... maybe they'll want to keep it going and announce AA7 within the next year, especially if they'll have a longer announcement -> release period than they normally would for ports.

Potential candidates include:

Tokyo Game Show: As previously stated, it's very close to the AAIC release, so I don't think it's the best timing for it. I would not want my favorite AA game overshadowed by whatever the hell they're going to do with AA7. Likelihood: depends on how fast they want to follow up on the hype.

The Game Awards: is the next major gaming event, but that's already massive in terms of the type of games that get announced there, and it's expensive! Nintendo Direct is one thing since AA has always been a Nintendo-first series, but I don't think it's big enough to justify putting in a Game Awards ad. and I already have my clown wig on for persona 6 there. Likelihood: pretty low tbh

Next Year's Summer Game Fest-related Shows: I think this is the most likely, considering both the 456 collection and the AAI collection were announced around this time. For AA7 I'd say a Nintendo Direct to get lots of eyes on it, especially if AAIC sales pay off. Likelihood: pretty high!

Which leads me into my wildcard answer:

Switch 2 Announcement Stream: If Capcom decides to go in and make AA7 one of the first games for whatever the switch successor would be, it could be announced here. I regret to admit that I am a very bad gamer and only like two things, and therefore have not ever been present for one of these things to know how many games get announced as launch games for a new console, but, like, it's possible.

In the above scenario, I'm not necessarily saying that AA7 would be a Switch 2 exclusive - because I think that would be stupid after so much of the support they've gotten from the ports has been from playstation and steam - but I am definitely the kind of person who would buy a console for one video game. Shoutout to me buying a switch in part anticipating that aa7 would come out on it and that is not looking likely

Anyways, that's my speculation!! Reminder that this is mostly uninformed and that I have no knowledge of anything related to sales or marketing or video game development, and as a result of that, I have been wrong (aside from the one time I accurately predicted AAI ports as a joke) for four consecutive years.

[starburstmlp]

Luz is actually 13 at the start of the Owl House and here's why (Owl House timeline analysis).

Please read!!! 👉👈

Ok, so I've been rewatching the owl house recently through Danny Motta's videos on YouTube, and it got me to thinking about the years the owl house takes place in and the logistics of the BI and Earth time zones. So, I made an analysis:

*SPOILERS BELOW*

First off, let's talk about Luz.

When you look up Luz's age online, it says that Luz is canonically 14 years old in the show. But when you look at the events of the show (*Spoilers sorry*), we see that Luz is celebrating her birthday on the BI, and we see Eda say this line:

Ok, no big deal, right? Well, if we look at the events of the show, we know that the kids were in the Human realm for a while. It was fall in the human realm when the kids arrived after the day of Unity. After the montage of them in the Human realm, it is shown to be Halloween. This means that they would have been in the Human realm for a little under a year, meaning it doesn't make sense that Eda would say that line because Luz would have already turned 15 during that year in the Human realm while the collector was controlling the BI.

So, for this timeline, I'm gonna reference @drachenfalter's calendar analysis (check it out, it's great). In this analysis, they use this picture of a BI calendar.

We see here that the calendar has 42 days in a month, and so their analysis shows that the BI would have 9 months in a year instead of 12, meaning the time zones don't change, but the calendar is longer (hence, why Luz can text her mom in the same time zone).

For Luz's birthday, there is no specific birthday stated for her, but for the sake of the post, I'm gonna head cannon it to be April 8th because that is the day Watching and dreaming came out. Watching and dreaming came out in 2023, and there is a 3-year timeskip at the end, with Luz having graduated High school already in the human realm and preparing to start college in the BI. If we assume that the timeskip takes place in that modern day in 2023, then that would mean that Belos's final defeat takes place in 2020, and the start of the show would have taken place not in 2020, when the show came out, but in 2019, 1 year prior, explaining Luz's narration at the end.

With that in mind, here is my timeline Headcannon.

Luz- 13 years old at the start of the show finishing 8th grade.

Time: Mid-May or beginning of June 2019.

Luz birthday: April 8th (H.C.)

Luz turns 13, finished 8th grade, Camilla sends luz to camp; Luz leaves for BI in Mid-May (March for BI), 2019.

Luz learns magic, attends Hexside, dates Amity in the span of 5 BI months, 7 Earth Months. (It is fall when Luz finds Vee and returns home after the day of Unity).

Luz fights Belos and goes back to the Human realm in November 2019 (September for BI).

The Hexsquad go live in human realm for 1 calendar year, give or take.

- Luz goes back to school, the gang experiences the different seasons in the Human realm montage in Thanks to Them, time jump ends at Halloween.

Luz turns 14 during this time in 2020, and is a sophomore in high school in Thanks to Them (reminder: there is no pandemic in the Owl house universe)

The Hexsquad fights Belos again and goes back to the BI on Halloween in 2020 (End of August/Beg. of September for BI).

The Hexsquad saves the BI in November 2020 (September for BI).

*Timeskip 3 years later*

Luz turns 15 in 2021, spends it rebuilding the Isles.

Luz turns 16 in 2022

Luz turns 17 in 2023, reaches the end of senior year, graduates' high school in the human realm with Vee.

The finale takes place on April 8th, 2023 (February for BI).

- Luz turns 17, celebrates her "King-ceañera".

Luz goes to magic university in the BI in 2023.

- Luz's move in date for school is shown to be August 21st in "Watching and Dreaming", which would be June for the BI, meaning that Luz will have left for school 3-4 months early since she is also shown to be packing in the episode.

Ok, so one last thing to note, with this timeline, the finale would take place in 2023, and Luz would be celebrating her 17th birthday in the BI. This means that Luz would have still been a legal minor when starting college. My head cannon is that Camilla allowed Luz to stay with Eda and Raine for the 3-4 months before starting school, and constantly checked in on Luz during her time in the dorms before turning 18 (as well as long after, of course:)). Eda and Raine would likely also coparent to make sure that Luz was keeping up with her move in process and magic studies.

Anyway, that's my timeline analysis for the Owl house! Hope y'all like it! (I also have other Head cannons for the ages of the other Hexsquad members that go with this timeline if y'all wanna know).

[arofili]

Tolkien Fandom Event Calendar

Recently I’ve received some asks about events/weeks in the Tolkien fandom, so I thought I’d compile a list of those that I know about. This is not exhaustive, and dates are subject to change by the organizers of these events!

Other blogs you can check out are @tolkieneventsblog and @tolkienfandomevents, though I’m not sure how active those are. The @silmarillionwritersguild Discord also has a channel dedicated to signal boosts for all sorts of Tolkien-related & general fandom happenings, which is another excellent way to keep up with fandom goings-on.

Want to run your own event? Here’s some of my tips!

If your event is not on here and you’d like it to be, let me know and I can add it :) Note: I will only add events that have announced dates!

~

JANUARY Screw Yule My Slashy Valentine @myslashyvalentine — work time Lord of the Rings Secret Santa @lotr-sesa — reveals Thorin’s Spring Forge @thorinsspringforge — signups Second Age Week @secondageweek

FEBRUARY Hidden Paths My Slashy Valentine — reveals Thorin’s Spring Forge — claims Maedhros and Maglor Week @maedhrosmaglorweek

MARCH Back to Middle-earth Month @spring-into-arda Thorin’s Spring Forge — work time Fëanorian Week Fun with Fanon Fest Round 1 @funwithfanon

APRIL Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang @tolkienrsb — signups Silm Remix @tolkienremix — signups & assignments Thorin’s Spring Forge — reveals  Aralas Week @aralas-week Barduil Month @bi-widower-dads All of Arda is Autistic @all-of-arda-is-autistic F3: Focus on Friendship & Family, Phase I @spring-into-arda

MAY Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang — claims Silm Remix — reveals Aspec Arda Week @aspecardaweek Angbang Week @angbangweek Gondolin Week @gondolinweek F3: Focus on Friendship & Family, Phase II

JUNE Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang — work time Scribbles and Drabbles @fall-for-tolkien — signups Tolkien Ekphrasis Week @tolkienekphrasisweek F3: Focus on Friendship & Family, Phase III

JULY Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang — work time Scribbles and Drabbles — claims Tolkien Gen Week @tolkiengenweek LotR Ladies Week @lotrladiessource Tolkien Appreciation Week @tolkienweek Tolkien Latin American & Caribbean Week @tolkienlatamandcaribbeanweek

AUGUST Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang — deadlines Scribbles and Drabbles — art reveals Innumerable Stars Exchange @innumerable-stars — nominations & signups Tolkien of Colour Week @tolkienofcolourweek Silvergifting Week @silvergiftingweek Tolkien OC Week @tolkienocweek

SEPTEMBER Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang — reveals Scribbles and Drabbles — work time Innumerable Stars Exchange — signups & assignments Sindar Week @sindarweek Dor Cúarthol Week @dorcuartholweek Finwëan Ladies Week @finweanladiesweek

OCTOBER Innumerable Stars Exchange — reveals Scribbles and Drabbles — work time Half-elven Week @halfelvenweek

NOVEMBER Tolkien Secret Santa @officialtolkiensecretsanta — signups & assignments Scribbles and Drabbles — fic reveals Nolofinwean Week @nolofinweanweek

DECEMBER Tolkien Secret Santa — advent calendar & reveals My Slashy Valentine @myslashyvalentine — signups & assignments Lord of the Rings Secret Santa — claims Khazad Week @khazadweek

MONTHLY EVENTS: These events have prompts/challenges occurring every month. Teitho Contest Tolkien Short Fanworks Silmarillion Writers’ Guild @silmarillionwritersguild

(this list was last updated 5/4/23)

LEGACY EVENTS: These events used to occur, but have not happened within the last year. Arda Needs More Pride @ardaneedsmorepride (bimonthly; last run 2020) Kiliel Week @kilielweek (timing variable; last run 2021) @oneringnet monthly events (last run 2021) Atani Week @ataniweek (January; last run 2021) Legendarium Ladies April @legendariumladiesapril (April; last run 2020) Gates of Summer Exchange @gatesofsummerexchange (May-June, last run 2022) Tolkien South Asian Week, run by @arwenindomiel (June; last run 2022) Arafinwëan Week @arafinweanweek (July; last run 2019) Fëanturi Week (August; last run 2019; no official blog and the creator has deactivated) Imladrim Week @imladrimweek (November; last run 2019) Doriath Week @doriathweek (November; last run 2020) Tolkien Family Week @tolkienfamilyweek (November; last run 2021)

[frozen10fanzine]

Frozen Through the Years

Yearly Spotlight: 2018

Written by @secretsofthestorymakers

For the Frozen Fandom, 2018 was mostly a year of looking forward to Frozen II. From casting announcements to character leaks, 2018 was the first time fans were actually given more information about the long-awaited sequel!

To name a few examples...

~There were several announcements of new cast members that excited fans as they tried to work out who the new actors would play. ~On Instagram, one of the animators announced that the character designs for Frozen II were finalized. ~In an interview with Variety, Jennifer Lee said that Frozen II would focus on Elsa and Anna again, but would be “bigger (and) more epic,” as they were “going to go far out of Arendelle.” ~There was the appearance of a new image on Instagram that showed Elsa and Anna in new outfits in front of an autumnal forest along with text that translated from Russian to “Frozen Heart II.” This particularly excited fans, but many people also dismissed it as fanart at first. Luckily, it was eventually revealed to be a leak from a Russian 2019 calendar where each month featured a Disney film that was scheduled to be released that month.

In addition to all the Frozen II excitement, Frozen: The Broadway Musical premiered in March! It featured 21 songs, 13 of which were not in the original film. The show ran for 26 previews and 825 regular shows on Broadway before closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Several new books and comics came out throughout this year as well. They expanded the lore of the Frozen universe, particularly with stories about the kingdoms surrounding Arendelle.

Lastly, in November, Ralph Breaks the Internet was released in theaters. It featured Elsa and Anna in modern attire along with all of the Disney Princesses! After the credits of the movie, there was a screen that promised a sneak peek of Frozen II. It played a second of footage from the beginning of Frozen before Ralph took over the screen again, singing Rick Astley’s "Never Gonna Give You Up," effectively Rickrolling the viewers.

Overall 2018 was a big year for the Frozen fandom as fans looked forward to 2019 and the release of Frozen II.

Stay Tuned For More

👆🏻 Click above if you want to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Frozen. The due date is April 12, 2024.

We look forward to seeing your memories ❄️

[rnmevents]

2024 RNM Fandom Events Calendar

Below, you’ll find an always-being-updated list of events going on in the RNM fandom throughout the year as they are announced:

RNM Big Bang

Signups open: April 3rd

Sign ups CLOSED

RNM After Dark

Dates to be announced

RNM Secret Santa Exchange

Sign Ups Close Nov. 15th

2019 calendar || 2020 calendar || 2021 calendar || 2022 calendar || 2023 calendar

Questions? Concerns? See an event missing? Send us a message!

past 2024 events:

Sunrise on CrashDown

January 13th-15th

Kyle Valenti Weekend

February 9th-11th

Liz Week

May 13th-19th

Hatch Day Party

June 14th-16th

RNM Femslash Exchange

June 24th-30th

Isobel Evans Weekend

July 26th-28th

Max Evans Weekend

September 27th-29th

RIP Roswell

October 31st-November 3rd

[horsesarecreatures]

"The FEI has apparently rowed back on its own proposal to sanction national equestrian federations with a “prevalence” of doping. If the measure had gone forward it would most likely have penalised the sport’s wealthiest benefactors; Middle Eastern endurance racing still returns more positives than any other region or any other FEI discipline.

New sanctions were suggested last year following a significant spike in positives in Saudi Arabia.  But despite enquiries by HorseSport.com over the past seven weeks, the FEI has declined to confirm if new sanctions are in the draft EADCMP (anti-doping) rules for 2025, slated for debate at the FEI Sport Forum on April 29-30.

The FEI already stands accused of succumbing to “sportswashing” through allocating this week’s World Cup jumping and dressage finals to Saudi Arabia. Three leading equestrian news organisations, The Horse Magazine, Reiten St Georg and WorldofShowjumping.com  announced a boycott, largely citing Saudi Arabia’s attitude to human rights.

The FEI is, however, is challenged in finding hosts for their major events which is a topic of discussion at their Sports Forum next week. As of now, the FEI has not yet received an application to host next year’s European Jumping, Eventing, or Senior Para Championships. The announcement about Saudi Arabia hosting these Finals was announced at the end of 2019 (four and half years ahead of the event) and it’s not clear whether any bidding took place. Typically, the FEI offers the chance to bid on hosting the World Cup Finals three years in advance.

Simultaneously, HorseSport.com has pressed the FEI on the contradiction of allocating “big-ticket” championships to countries with known equine doping and cheating problems at a time when the FEI is focussed on public concern about sport horse welfare and the Social Licence to Operate (SLO).

Since 2019, FEI endurance racing has been heavily promoted at Al Ula in Saudi Arabia. It has staged the world’s richest annual race ever since the Al Wathba venue in UAE pulled the Presidents Cup from the FEI calendar in reaction to the stricter FEI endurance rules effective from 2020.

There have always been multiple doping positives from Al Ula, involving cocktails of up to seven different drugs, highlighting the ease with which routinely doped horses progress to top level endurance sport. In 2020, the FEI disciplined three senior officials for “failing in their duty” after a large number of field-of-play violations at Al Ula were not not acted upon.

Last November Al Ula was allocated the 2026 FEI World Endurance Championships, despite having recently returned the greatest number of positives (14 Saudi owned and trained horses out of the 33 sampled) at any single show or event in equestrian anti-doping history. One rider-trainer received a record seven-and-a-half-year ban. Sampling returns from the big 2024 Al Ula fixture are notably better, but could not have been predicted last November.

Not surprisingly, the FEI seems reluctant to answer the question actually asked regarding Saudi Arabia by any media organisation."

[gumnut-logic]

Hi! I’m getting into Thunderbirds fics and was thinking about writing some myself. I saw that you ran a challenge at one point and was wondering if there was any event calendar the fandom is using. Or are there any events at all? I wasn’t sure where to find any.

Hi and welcome to the Thunderfam! :D

There is no strict calendar, but a few events do recur at will.

At the moment we are in the middle of Fanart Appreciation Month, which has occurred in January the previous two years as well. The idea being to reblog lots of artworks to give our artists some recognition.

February has been Fab Five Feb in 2019 and 2020, but was missed last year. I haven't done the call out as to whether the Thunderfam want that one this year yet. It is usually a six week challenge with a focus on the five brothers plus another character which changes each year.

Some time in March/April there might be a Easter gift fic event.

Somewhere between April and August there is sometimes a random challenge event. There was nothing last year, but in previous years there has been Sensory Sunday , Earth & Sky Week and an Olympics challenge.

We also celebrate each of the Tracy boys' birthdays - Gordon 14 Feb, Alan 12 March, Scott 4 July (?), Virgil 15 August (always a big one for me :D ) and John in October. Other cast members also get birthday celebrations at various times of the year.

September and October are usually taken up by external challenges like Sicktember and Whumptober.

We did have a Thunderfam November event - Fluffember - but last year an external event was picked up so Fluffember didn't run, but it did run 2019, 2020 and 2021.

December is left to Tag Team Secret Santa.

There have also been random other events over the past few years and I have no doubt there were others before I joined the fandom in 2018. Due to the sudden rise of Covid in 2020 we started International Rescue & Relief, a fluff prompt challenge which is technically still going, but I haven't mentioned it for ages.

Plus there are always writing prompts or question lists flying around that get picked up by whoever wants to play.

Thunderfam, if I have forgotten anything, please chime in. It is late here and my brain is usually pretty unreliable.

Anyways, welcome, thank you for asking. I hope you have fun in thunderfam :D

Nutty

(so do you have a favourite Tracy brother? :D )

[0carkki0]

The In-game Mouvelian calendar has four seasons: the season of Zephyr (days 1-90) covering January, February, and March. The season of Phoenix (days 91-180) covers April, May, and June. The season of Scion (days 181-270) covers July, August, and September. And finally, the season of Colossus (days 271-365) covers October, November, and December. Every season has about 90 days, except Colossus which has 95 days.

Personal Story: August 28th, 2012. - 241st day of the year, 24th of Scion 1325 in the game (Mouvelian) calendar. (Vividatt 19 years old. Taimi 12)

Season 1: The Lost Shores: November 15th, 2012. - 320th day of the year, 50th of Colossus 1325. (Vivs 19. Taimi 12)

Flame and Frost: January 28th, 2013. - 28th day of the year, 28th of Zephyr 1326. (Vivs 20. Taimi 12.)

The Secret of Shouthsun: May 14th, 2013. - 134th day of the year, 44th of Phoenix 1326. (Vivs 20. Taimi 12/13)

Last Stand at Southsun: May 28th, 2013. - 148th day of the year, 58th of Phoenix 1326. (Vivs 20. Taimi 12/13)

Sky Pirates of Tyria: June 25th, 2013. - 176th day of the year, 86th of Phoenix 1326. (Vivs 20. Taimi 13)

Cutthroat Politics: July 23rd, 2013. - 204th of the year, 24th of Scion 1326. (Vivs 20. Taimi 13)

Clockwork Chaos: August 20th, 2013. - 232nd of the year, 52nd of Scion 1326. (Vivs 20. Taimi 13)

Twilight Assault: October 1st, 2013. - 274th of the year, 4th of Colossus 1326. (Vivs 20. Taimi 13)

Tower of Nightmares: October 29th, 2013. - 302nd of the year, 32nd of Colossus 1326. (Vivs 20. Taimi 13)

The Nightmares Within: November 12th, 2013. - 316th of the year, 46th of Colossus 1326. (Vivs 20. Taimi 13)

The Origins of Madness: January 21st, 2014. - 21st of the year, 21st of Zephyr 1327. (Vivs 21. Taimi 13)

The Edge of the Mists: February 4th, 2014. - 35th of the year, 35th of Zephyr 1327. (Vivs 21. Taimi 13)

Escape from Lion's Arch: February 18th, 2014. - 49th of the year, 49th of Zephyr 1327. (Vivs 21. Taimi 13)

Battle for Lion's Arch: March 4th, 2014. - 63rd of the year, 63rd of Zephyr 1327. (Vivs 21. Taimi 13)

Season 2: Gates of Maguuma: July 1st, 2014. - 182nd of the year, 2nd of Scion 1327. (VIvs 21. Taimi 13/14)

Entanglement: July 15th, 2014. - 196th of the year, 16th of Scion 1327. (Vivs 21. Taimi 13/14)

The Drago's Reach Part 1: July 29th, 2014. - 210th day of the year, 30th of Scion. (Vivs 21. Taimi 13/14)

The Draon's Reach Part 2: August 12th, 2014. - 224th day of the year, 44th day of the Scion. (I guess you get the point...) (Vivs 21. Taimi 14)

Echoes of the Past: November 4th, 2014. (Vivs 21. Taimi 14)

Tangled Paths: November 18th, 2014. (Vivs 21. Taimi 14)

Seeds of Truth: December 2nd, 2014. (Vivs 21. Taimi 14)

Point of No Return: January 13th, 2015. 1328. (Vivs 21. Taimi 14)

Heart of Thorns: October 23rd, 2015. (Vivs 22. Taimi 15)

Season 3: Out of the Shadows: July 26th, 2016. 1329. (Vivs 23. Taimi 15/16)

Rising Flames: September 20th, 2016. (Vivs 23. Taimi 16)

A Crack in the Eyes Ice: November 21st, 2016. (Vivs 23. Taimi 16)

The Head of the Snake: February 8th, 2017. 1330. (Vivs 24. Taimi 16)

Flashpoint: May 2nd, 2017. (Vivs 24. Taimi 16/17)

One Path Ends: July 25th, 2017. (Vivs 24. Taimi 16/17)

Path of Fire: September 22nd, 2017. (Vivs 24. Taimi 17)

Season 4: Daybreak: November 28th, 2017. (Vivs 24. Taimi 17)

A Bug in the System: March 6th, 2018. 1331. (Vivs 25. Taimi 17)

Long Live the Lich: June 26th, 2018. (Vivs 25. Taimi 17/18)

A Star to Guide Us: September 18th, 2018. (Vivs 25. Taimi 18)

All or Nothing: January 8th, 2019. 1332. (Vivs 25. Taimi 18)

War Eternal: May 14th, 2019. (Vivs 26. Taimi 18/19)

Icebrood Saga: Prologue: Bound by Blood: September 17th, 2019. (Vivs 26. Taimi 19)

Whisper in the Dark: November 19th, 2019. (Vivs 26. Taimi 19)

Shadow in the Ice: January 28th, 2020. 1333. (Vivs 27. Taimi 19)

Visions of the Past: Steel and Fire: March 17th, 2020. (Vivs 27. Timi 19)

No Quarter: May 26th, 2020. (Vivs 27. Taimi 19/20)

Jormag Rising: July 28th, 2020. (Vivs 27. Taimi 19/20)

Champions: Chapter 1: Truce: November 17th, 2020. (Vivs 27. Taimi 20)

Chapter 2: Power: January 19th, 2021. 1334. (Vivs 27. Taimi 20)

Chapter 3: Balance: March 9th, 2021. (Vivs 28. Taimi 20)

Chapter 4: Judgement: April 27th, 2021. (Vivs 28. Taimi 20)

End of Dragons: February 28th, 2022. 1335. (Vivs 29. Taimi 21)

Now February 1st, 2023. 1336. (Vivs 30. Taimi 22)

Have you decided on a birthday for your character? Vividatt's birthday is the 20th of the season Zephyr. He met Taimi the day after his birthday. He fought Ryland with Kas and Braham in Icebrood Saga Episode Champions: Power: Jormag's World, where the Owl's spirit sacrificed herself for the others, and this happened the day before his birthday. He was about to be 28.

Taimi is said to have been born in late spring or early summer. I just wish they'd give them actual birthdays.

[auxiliarydetective]

Evie's OC Birthday Calendar

Have you ever wondered when my OCs' birthdays are? No? Well, you're getting a birthday calendar anyways. Under the cut, you'll find calendar pages, the template for which was made by this lovely person - for free! Thank you so much ^^

If, for some reason, you can't read what's written on the images, either because they won't load or because you can't read my sorry attempt at writing in cursive for the first time since fifth grade, don't worry – I've put a list of all the birthdays underneath the images for you!

List, in case the images don't load:

Also bonus reasons for the birthdays if there are any :)

January:

05. - Philomel (rough estimate of what "just after The Beginning" means) 10. - Kan-chan (goroawase for ma-ma-i-do: 0-0-1-10) 21. - Bára (Squirrel Appreciation Day, assigned by Larry Daley) 29. - Diana ("The Raven" is published on January 29th 1845)

February:

02. - Dotty (I honestly can't remember) 08. - Jelena (Release date of the Musik des Teufels audio drama) 15. - Honey (National Gumdrop Day + I needed a February birthday) 26. - Denri (Wii VC release of LOZ: OOT in the US)

March:

09. - Sonoko (goroawase for san-o-ko: 3-0-9) 10. - Lindewen (goroawase for surin-da: 3-10) 26. - K'Rala (Live Long and Prosper Day) 29. - Helena (Mermaid Day) 30. - Lily (World Bipolar Day)

April:

06. - Holly (goroawase for ho-ri: 4-6) 10. - Jamie (I honestly can't remember. But the Titanic sets sail April 10th!) 26. - Anita (World Burlesque Day)

May:

02. - Penny | Agent 0 (goroawase, probably, but I can't remember for what) 04. - Lani (Star Wars Day, May the Fourth be with you) 31. - Claire (Pretty sure it's a reference to Sappho but I don't remember how)

June:

01. - Vicky (Marilyn Monroe's birthday) 05. - Cora (National Tailors Day) 08. - Reina (Name Your Poison Day) 25. - Inari (Pudding's birthday - they're twins, so...)

July:

01. - Lux (07/01; Amber Lead Syndrome is introduced in ep. 701 of the anime) 09. - Eva (Argentina Independence Day) 16. - Varsha (World Snake Day; assigned by Tom Sawyer)

August:

01. - Kit (movie & 80s version) (Spider-Man Day) 08. - Fernip (I can't remember) 15. - Noura (Flooding/Fidelity of The Nile) 30. - Raevyn (picked it in 2019; wanted her to be a summer girl and a virgo)

September:

02. - Circe (goroawase for kyu-ki-tsu-ki = vampire: 9-2) 04. - Kaede (goroawase for mu-sa-sa-bi: 6-3-3-1; 6+3, 3+1 -> 9-4) 12. - Sonata (Hans Zimmer's birthday) 14. - Chalice (release of the animated Disney's Alice in Wonderland in the US) 25. - Aurelia (Maybe I wanted her to be a libra? Maybe it's a festival of Hera?)

October:

01. - Kassandra ("On the twelfth hour of the first day of October 1989...") 13. - Evelynn (picked it in 2020, yes it's a reference to Friday 13th) 25. - Byeong-ho (Nevada Day; because of his gambling addiction) 31. Charlie (Halloween for demon boi; read the fic for the canonical reason 🙃 )

November:

04. - Soles (Colombian All Saints' Day) 17. - Sherry (first release day of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga) 22. - Eve (release date of her first appearance in the series if she were canon)

December:

05. - Celine (probably Who Killed Markiplier-related) 11. - Luna (I picked it about eight years ago as a reference to Zoro's birthday) 21. - Iris (World Poetry Day but make it sagittarius)

[ailtrahq]

The bears are gaining strength for both crypto and stock markets, as the major US indexes now confirming downtrends. Furthermore, October is usually a red month for markets, so there may be more pains before gains.  US stock markets have been in decline for the past two months, and the move is likely to continue into October.  Will Crypto Markets Follow? The Nasdaq has fallen below its previous low in August, forming a new lower low this week. The downtrend, which has been confirmed according to crypto analyst “Cold Blooded Shiller,” began in mid-July.  Since then, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index has dropped 9% to 13,063, where it settled at the close of trading on September 26.  Nasdaq 2023 performance. Source: X/@ColdBloodShill Additionally, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen by 5.6% since the beginning of August.  Furthermore, the broader S&P 500 Index has mirrored the moves. It has fallen almost 7% since the downtrend began at the beginning of July to 4,273 after the bell on Tuesday. Moreover, the S&P 500 is now down 340 points since the Fed removed “recession” from their forecast, according to the Kobeissi Letter. It added that the Fed marked the exact high in the S&P 500, which just hit its lowest level since June: “Since then, rate cut expectations were pushed out by a year and corporate bankruptcies hit their highest levels since the pandemic.” S&P 500 3 months. Source: X/@KobeissiLetter  A number of high-profile banks aped the Fed in dropping their recession predictions, yet the markets appear to be defiant.  Crypto markets have been slightly correlated with tech stocks this year but have remained in consolidation for most of it.  Following an initial spurt of growth in the first quarter, crypto markets have been flat since mid-March. Moreover, they have dropped 19% since their 2023 high in mid-April, also exhibiting a downtrend. A Red October?  October is historically the most volatile month of the year for US and global markets. With a downtrend already confirmed, things will likely slide deeper into the red next month, including crypto.  October’s record of market crashes makes it the most feared month on the financial calendar. The Bank Panic of 1907, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and Black Monday 1987 all happened during the month of October. In the 2022 bear market, crypto markets were flat for most of October, gaining marginally towards the end of the month. The bull market of 2021 saw large gains for crypto in October, but 2020 was similar to 2022.  2019 saw a brief pump at the end of October, but all gains were lost the following month. The bear market of 2018 was another flat October.  If history rhymes, crypto markets will remain flat next month, but be aware that November is usually much more volatile for this asset class.  Source

[rivalsforlife]

The Yearly AA Series Future Speculation Post

I've given up on calling it aa7 speculation because that has never worked out for me. anyways [apollo justice voice] hiya!

It's been a while since I made one of these little posts where I try to predict things and end up horribly embarrassing myself. BUT this year has actually been very exciting for Ace Attorney. We have Ghost Trick! We have 456 ports! Could there be more? Who knows. Tokyo Game Show is coming up and that's always a bad time of year for my self-esteem.

In this post I will do the following:

-Go over the November 2020 leaks again, to compare that to where we're at now

-Talk a bit about the 456 port and what I think that means for the series and its future

-Talk a bit about how well TGAA is doing, I think

-Brief Tokyo Game Show speculations (there's not much to speculate about)

I'll reference my previous posts and sources where necessary. It'll get long and rambly again so I'll put the rest under a keep reading.

FIRST:

Revisiting the Calendar (Again)

For those who aren't aware, back in November 2020, Capcom got hacked (this was overall bad) and from that hack came a leak of a roadmap for the future of the AA series.

For this post, please keep in mind that this calendar is using the Japanese fiscal year, which starts in in April. Therefore Q1 is roughly April-June, Q2 July-September, Q3 October-December, Q4 January-March of the next year.

This calendar was likely made in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, which inevitably ended up throwing everything off quite a bit.

Some of these things came true. This leak was where we first heard about the official TGAA ports, and while they were delayed by about a quarter, they still came out pretty close to on time with all things pandemic to consider. What's especially interesting is that now with confirmation of the 456 ports, we now have no idea what is up with AA7.

We know that AA7 was in development at one point. We know that, if things were on track prior to the pandemic, they might have started the main production. However, the plan seemed to be to release it for the 20th anniversary and use those sales and the sales from TGAA to judge whether 456 would be ported; now that we have 456 confirmed before AA7, we can assume that AA7's delay is so severe we have no way of predicting if or when it will come out.

The thing is, though, AA has been doing really well the last few years, despite the lack of a new game. The 2019 ports of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy have sold around 2.3 million copies, when previously no other Ace Attorney game broke a million. The trilogy hit a million copies around December 2020, for reference. Ace Attorney itself as a whole broke ten million copies sold recently. In this post I covered how TGAA seemingly has sold way more than Capcom expected, and sold pretty quickly, and is confirmed to be somewhere between 500k-1 million copies sold.

I don't see any reason to believe that AA is in dire financial straits. We've gotten more official merchandise in the last year or so than we got for a while, AA is featured heavily on Capcom's Captown website, the Tokyo Game Show merchandise store has been selling out of AA merch faster than any of their other IPs... I don't see why they wouldn't want to milk that. And 456 is probably a part of it.

What Do The 456 Ports Mean

Back in March 2022, in an event I almost completely forgot about, Capcom updated their trademark for Apollo Justice. I covered my thoughts on that here, and speculated it might indicate a 456 port. ... Which it apparently did. I'll quote exactly what I said in that post, since I still feel this way:

Presumably, previously, the decision to port or not to port 456 would be dependent both on how well TGAA does and how well AA7 would do. With no AA7, they might be making this decision solely based on TGAA. And they… might actually decide it’s worth the port?

This tells us a couple of things.

1.Capcom is aware that there is a decent market and profit to be made porting the Ace Attorney games to all consoles.

2.This heavily implies that TGAA sold fantastically.

I also said in my post about TGAA's success that the 456 ports would be the best indicator of whether Capcom would find it more profitable to continue along with mainline or stick to writing more things about TGAA. Because TGAA is actually doing... pretty great? It's always seemed to have a pretty good fan reception, but it came at the end of the 3DS life cycle and seemed to do poorly enough that Capcom didn't try to localize it for several years. But now it's big enough that Ryunosuke made it onto the 20th anniversary logo, and Ryunosuke and Kazuma are featured in some of the Ace Attorney merchandise for TGS's merch store.

456 doing well would probably reinvigorate Capcom's desire to continue making stories set in mainline. It also might inspire them to finally give an official translation to my favorite game, Ace Attorney Investigations 2, who is Capcom's poor unloved child these days. I'm not expecting Investigations Ports for a few more years, since they seem to be spacing out the ports by about two years, but... it's more likely now than I felt it was about three years ago.

The Great Ace Attorney Sweep

Also, the last few years have had a heavy focus on Great Ace Attorney, even now a couple of years after the ports came out. Takarazuka made their first AA musical in a decade based on TGAA, and, if you ask me, it sounds pretty heavily like they were teasing for a sequel someday. There also has been a reading theater based on TGAA, with an original episode written by Takumi.

Of particular relevance is this source of dubious credibility I linked to in one of my other posts talking about TGAA's expected success. I've assumed it came from the data in the November 2020 Capcom Leak but I can't be certain, so take this next part with a grain of salt.

Here are the original sales projections from 2019(?): FY21: 195K (originally supposed to launch in Q1) FY22: 55K FY23: 8K FY24: 41K (with 32K being in Q3)

This sudden increase in FY24 has always been interesting. Again, as a reminder, Japan's FY24 Q3 would be equivalent to October-December 2024.

It would make sense to say that the 456 ports coming out would likely lead to an increase in sales for all AA games, and it could be that Capcom initially intended for a 456 port to come out about half a year later than the current projection of early 2024. At the same time... I can't deny the possibility that this could be hinting at a new game in the TGAA setting. And something coming out in late 2024 could be a reasonable candidate for an announcement at some major gaming show that Ace Attorney fans already have an interest in tuning into. These are all completely neutral things I am saying that I have no expectations or hope for whatsoever.

What IS Happening At Tokyo Game Show?

TGS is always the part of the year where I say "This is the most likely place for a new AA game announcement leading up to or during it" and it never happens. This year, though, will be different! We have a CONFIRMED feature of the 456 ports. This is the first time we'll have AA content at TGS since 2018, when I first got into the series, so I think it's a pretty big deal. (2018 was when the trilogy ports were first announced; TGAA ports had an announcement-release window of April-July, so they didn't get a chance to feature at TGS.)

Since all we have for a release date is early 2024, I wouldn't be surprised if there will be an official confirmation of the release date, probably a showcase of port features, maybe in-person gameplay? That could be all, and it would be more than we've had since 2018.

I want to say "because there's going to be 456 advertising there, it would be ridiculous for them to announce some new AA content to detract from that". But I said the same things about the capcom showcase where Ghost Trick was featured and the 456 collection was announced, so. Capcom's decisions on when to announce things can be counterintuitive, it seems, so maybe the least likely time is actually the most likely...?

Anyways, we have no idea what the state of New Ace Attorney Content is like in Capcom. From the calendar from the Nov 2020 leaks, the staff that had been working on the DGS ports would join the main staff for AA7, suggesting to me that there would be part of the staff working on ports and part of the staff working on new things. We have no idea what happened to these people who were supposed to be working on AA7. We *can* assume that at least part of the staff transferred over to 456 ports now, but we don't know when that would have been, or if they'd really need all hands on deck for a remaster.

It's been a few years now since Yamazaki left Capcom. We know absolutely nothing about what Takumi has been doing, outside of whatever contributions he may or may not have made to the Ghost Trick remaster, and only recently contributing to various stage content. (We know he advised at least somewhat on the Takarazuka play, and wrote that original episode for the reading theater, so I'd assume he's not in the middle of a big project right when those were taking place.)

This is all to say, there's reason to believe Something's Been Happening Behind The Scenes. And Therefore -- [clown wig descends onto my head again] Maybe TGS 2023 Will Be The Year Of New Ace Attorney Content. Since 456 will be taking the spotlight, I wouldn't expect anymore than a teaser, if it's happening at all.

And now that I've said it, it won't happen.

OVERALL

-TGS confirmed 456 port feature, which should be interesting to see what kind of quality of life features they'll add. Slight possibility there could be something else AA related teased there, solely because Capcom.

-I think TGAA is doing better than Capcom expected and I wouldn't be shocked if they tried to make a new game of it, or at least more extracanonical content like stage plays taking place in that timeline

-AA7 has seemingly vanished but I am sure it will come back when I least expect it.

-AAI ports someday. please. please. please.

[shumailach-blog]

Australian Visitor Visa Wait Times Have Blown Out With Some Nationalities in Limbo for Months

Tourists have been waiting three times longer to get their visas approved for travel to Australia this year compared to pre-COVID-19 times, with a new report showing specific impacts on visitors from one country.

Visa processing times for tourists and business travellers blew out this year. Source: SBS News

Travellers eager to visit Australia this year waited months to get their visas approved, with most Chinese citizens left in limbo for four months, a new report shows.The Department of Home Affairs' report on visitor visas paints a stark picture of the delays in the system after Australia's international borders were re-opened on 1 November 2021. It also shows significant changes in the numbers of tourists and business visitors applying to come to Australia - and where they are coming from - compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest report details processing times between 1 April and 30 June 2022 and has only recently been released. It shows that 75 per cent of requests for tourist visas (subclass 600 and 676) were processed within 59 calendar days, 269 per cent longer than the 16 calendar days it took in 2019.

The processing of business visas (short stay, subclass 456) and (business visitor, subclass 600) also grew to 15 days, compared to a processing time of seven days before the emergence of COVID-19 and the shutdown of Australia's international borders on 20 March 2020.

The blowout in processing times has happened despite the number of visa applications being much lower.

Around 75 per cent of tourist visas were processed in 59 calendar days. Source: SBS News

In 2019, around 1.3 million visitor visa applications (including both tourist and business visas) were lodged between April-June, compared to just 695,343 in the same period this year.

Why Have the Wait Times Increased?

The report reveals data from April-June, mostly covering the period prior to the Albanese Government winning the federal election on 21 May.

A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson told SBS News in a statement that "processing times will take some time to improve as we work through older applications in the backlog".

The spokesperson said the department was implementing policy changes to allow more streamlined processing of visas.

"The department is managing risks carefully, targeting applicants who warrant it, while efficiently deciding applications for everyone else."

They said almost 2.8 million temporary and migration visas had been processed since 1 June, including more than 1.5 million visitor, 199,000 student and 43,000 temporary skilled applications.

The Albanese Government has announced it would provide an 

extra $36.1 million to hire up to 500 people for nine months to help address wait times. About 20 per cent of those positions had been filled by the end of September.

The department also recruited an additional 260 staff into roles supporting temporary and migration visa processing from the start of May, and officers previously focused on travel exemptions have been redirected to visa processing. But it's unclear whether staffing levels have returned to pre-COVID levels.

Some travellers wanting to visit Australia have waited months to get their visas approved.

Former Department of Immigration secretary Abul Rizvi said he didn't think there would be a recovery in processing times until the next report covering July-September, at the earliest.

"They should be being processed faster now, but I suspect the improvement will be gradual, it won't be sudden," he said.

Information on the Home Affairs website, which was last updated in August, advises travellers that processing of the tourist subclass 600 visa is taking around 63 days for 75 per cent of applicants - even longer than the average wait times seen earlier this year.

Certain countries experiencing longer delays

Processing times have been even longer for citizens of certain countries, with around 75 per cent of tourist visas from China taking 120 days to finalise in April-June this year. During the same period in 2019 most were processed in nine days.

The department did not address questions about why these visas were taking so much longer to get through the system.

Mr Rizvi said China's strict COVID-19 restrictions, including widespread lockdowns, could be making the processing of visas more difficult. Officials could also be taking a more cautious attitude towards processing visas from China, he said, pointing to a recent Nine investigation that exposed alleged visa rorting linked to criminal syndicates.

Mr Rizvi said it was likely the Australian government was aware of scams operating out of China, as well as other countries, and was scrutinising visitor visas more carefully.

The Australian Government may be scrutinising Chinese travellers more carefully. Source: AAP

When it comes to business visas, about 75 per cent of US citizens have been waiting 52 days for them to be processed, much longer than the average of 15 days.

But processing times have improved compared to April-June last year when most tourism visas took 160 days to process, and business visas were taking 342 days.

Arrivals Are Still a Long Way From Pre-pandemic Levels

The number of visitors arriving in Australia, including both tourists and business travellers, are still well down on pre-COVID-19 levels. Around 699,725 people visited Australia in 2021/22, more than nine times lower than the 6.5 million people in 2018/19.

Around 17 per cent of those travellers were from India, 15 per cent from the UK and 12 per cent from Singapore.

Back in 2018/19, 17 per cent were from China, 11 per cent from the US and 10 per cent from the UK. China now only makes up 2.3 per cent of arrivals in Australia, with just 15,855 travelling to the country in 2021/22 compared to one million travellers three years ago.

The number of visitors to Australia has dropped dramatically. Source: SBS News

However, more recent numbers show tourism could be starting to improve. In June this year, there were 219,607 visitor visa holders in Australia, only around 100,000 less than the 316,469 travellers in the country on the same date in 2019.

The number of visitor holders in Australia has increased by 396 per cent in the period from 17 December 2021, the week the borders opened to some fully vaccinated travellers, until 14 October this year.

Change in the Origin of Tourists

When it comes to visa approvals for tourists, there has also been a significant change in the source countries.

In 2018/19, before the emergence of COVID-19, the top source country was China, with 856,110 tourist visa applications granted, making up 17 per cent of the 5.2 million approvals. It was followed by the US, UK, Japan and Malaysia. India came in sixth with 250,874 visas approved.

China's numbers have since seen a dramatic drop of 95 per cent, to just 36,150 visas granted in 2021/22. India's numbers have remained fairly steady on 190,605 visas, making it the top country of origin. It made up 19 per cent of the one million tourist visas granted, followed by the UK, Singapore, US, Malaysia and China.

China was once the top country for the lodgement of visitor visas to Australia, but demand has dropped dramatically from tourists and business travellers. Source: SBS News

Singapore has risen from eighth position to third, despite approved visas dropping by 59 per cent, from 208,480 in 2018/19, to 84,792 in 2021/22.

Mr Rivzi said Australia may have remained a popular destination for Singaporeans compared to China, Hong Kong and Japan due to their strict COVID-19 restrictions.

"Singaporeans have got to spend their money holidaying somewhere and I think we're benefiting because we're seen as a relatively safe destination from a COVID perspective," he said.

The number of subclass 600 tourist visa applications granted under the Approved Destination Status from China also dropped to zero in 2020/21 and 2021/22, after being at 200,038 in 2018/19. Mr Rivzi said those visas were generally used by trusted tour groups and so may have been impacted by the lack of travel from China during the pandemic.

Business Visa Approvals Drop By 320 per Cent

The report also shows a significant shift in approvals for business visas. Back in 2018/19, around 504,782 business visas were granted. The top country was China, which had 82,026 visas approved (making up 16 per cent of the total) followed by US, UK, Japan and India.

Three years later, China has dropped to sixth on the list, with just 8,198 business visas granted. Overall 120,103 visas were approved in 2021/22.

The top country is now the US, making up 11 per cent of business visas approved in 2021/22, despite the number being four times lower than in 2018/19. The number of visas granted to the US dropped from 65,325 in 2018/19, to 13,444. The US is followed by Singapore, UK, India and South Korea.

Countries Finding It Harder to Get Visas Approved

Between April-June this year, Australia approved 91.9 per cent of visitor visa applications (including tourism and business visas) compared to 94.6 per cent during the same period in 2019.

It's understood the finalisation of visa applications lodged before or during the pandemic may have impacted the grant rate, as some applicants may have experienced a change in circumstances, and may no longer have wanted to travel to Australia.

COVID-19-related travel restrictions have also continued to impact the ability of Chinese nationals to travel internationally for tourism purposes.

Approval rates can vary widely between countries. Just 66 per cent of tourist visa 600 and 676 applications from Thailand were approved in April-June, compared to 95 per cent of those from the US.

Back in 2019, Thailand's grant rate for tourist visas was 82 per cent in the same period. Fiji had the lowest approval rate of 76 per cent while the highest rate was for Chile at 96 per cent.

This does not include figures for the 651 eVisitor visa, an electronic visa that only certain countries including the UK and other European countries, can apply for.

Australia approved around 83 per cent of tourist visas between April-June this year but grant rates for Thailand were much lower, at just 66 per cent. Source: SBS News

Meanwhile, approval rates for business visa 600 also dropped. Previously, most countries had high approval rates (of more than 90 per cent) for these visas in April-June 2019, and there was an overall approval rate of 94 per cent. This has now dropped to 91 per cent. In particular, China's approval rate for business visas dropped from 93 per cent in April-June 2019, to only 83 per cent this year.

By contrast, approval rates for sponsored tourist visa 600 improved from 81 per cent in April-June 2019, to 88 per cent this year. Indonesia boasted the highest grant rate of 94 per cent, a vast improvement from its 2019 approval rate of just 78 per cent.

Lebanon had the lowest approval rate of 71 per cent, although this was an improvement on its 2019 number of 55 per cent. Previously, the highest grant rate in 2019 was for Bangladesh citizens on 92 per cent.

Source: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australian-visitor-visa-wait-times-have-blown-out/g1m5rode7

[xthelastknownsurvivorx]

RWRB, A Comprehensive Timeline

I wanted to make an extremely detailed for rwrb since some of the ones currently floating around online are missing an event that I consider important or the dates of firstprince's texts/emails. But since it's comprehensive its also long as fuck so everything is below the cut. MAJOR SPOILER WARNING

All of the dates are either based on direct book information, the 2019-20 calendar, plus a couple of inferences on my part. The dates that are based more on speculation are marked with an asterisk*.

September 2019

Start of book

Flight to England

Royal wedding

The White House Trio and the HRH Prince Henry Fact Sheet

That weekend: Alex's solo trip to England

Saturday: Alex arrives and meets Henry at the stables, late night ice cream

Sunday: This Morning interview, Cancer Ward visit and the Medical Supply Closet

A Friday: Alex visits Rafael Luna

Alex forgets to meet June for dinner but they end up eating together for Family Pizza night

October 2019

Henry texts Alex for the first time

Over the next few weeks: back-and-forth banter over text, sharing snippets of their lives

Wed, Oct 30: extended texting about Henry's tie, "you are the thistle in the tender and sensitive arse crack of my life"

November 2019

Sun, Nov 17: Claremont campaign buttons, "tell shaan I said hi and I miss that sweet sweet ass"

Wed, Nov 27: The Great Turkey Calamity

December 2019

Sun, Dec 8: the bond marathon

A day or two prior to Christmas: Oscar arrives at the White House

Tues, Dec 24: Alex spends time with his dad, tense Christmas dinner, Alex calls Henry to spill about nutso family stuff, June teases Alex about making a new friend

A few days later: the White House Trio plans the New Year's Eve party

Tues, Dec 31: New Year's Eve party, Alex kisses Nora at midnight, first prince New Year's kiss outside in the garden

January 2020

Alex's sexuality crisis as he starts the final semester of college

Wed, Jan 8*: June forces Alex out on a run

Mon, Jan 13*: Alex starts his campaign job

Sat, Jan 18* or later: The Coming-Out Convo with Nora

Thurs, Jan 24* (night): Alex is late for his review session, he gets a little pissy over Henry kissing a mysterious blond then is sad when he realizes it's probably interference, then he calls Liam

Fri, Jan 25* or later: the state dinner, makeout session in the Red Room, then Alex invites Henry up to his room

February 2020

Sat, Feb 9*: The Charity Polo Match

March 2020

Mar 3-4: first emails about Paris fundraiser

Weekend of Mar 6-8: Paris shenanigans, "he forgets they don't spend the night so they do"

Weekend of Mar 27-29: New York birthday celebrations

April 2020

Alex learns about Henry's dark moods

The two of them talk about gay history

Zahra catches Alex with a hickey

Last names, Nixon, baby, Henry's family, Alex's high school experience, I miss you

The Texas binder and conversation with June

May 2020

Alex's final week of classes while Henry and Pez holiday in Wales and work on their philanthropy projects

Alex finishes his finals

Sat, May 16: Alex graduates summa cum laude from Georgetown, graduation party at the White House

Weekend of May 29-31: Super 6 karaoke night and after

June 2020

Sun, June 8: you are a dark sorcerer emails

Things get ugly with Richards leading the ticket

Alex misses DC Pride

Texas on the path to become a Battleground state

WASPy Hunter being an ass about flipping Texas

Mon, June 23: 3 Geniuses and Alex group chat

July 2020

Sun, July 6: Wimbledon and Henry's apartment

A few days prior to DNC: Richard's campaign rally at Vanderbilt

July 13-16: DNC

Tues, July 14: Zahra has a boyfriend, Luna is the independent that joined Richards, Henry visits Alex at the Berkman, "you are good"

Wed, July 15: Zahra discovers Alex and Henry in the hotel room

After the DNC: Alex comes out to his mom, Ellen makes a PowerPoint about it and kicks Alex off the campaign

August 2020

Sun, Aug 10: A Mass of Fools and Knaves email about Hamilton, "see attached bibliography" and "history huh", "shall I tell you that when we're apart your body comes back to me in dreams", they start to include quotes from the letters of gay historical figures, Henry's story about The Prince and the Sorcerer

Weekend of Aug 21-23: The Texas Lake House

Day 1: the White House Trio drives down and meet Henry, Oscar brings up Luna then Henry, "Alex is so in love he could die"

Day 2: Alex makes breakfast and reflects on loving Henry, they all go swimming, Alex thinks about roots, the I love you and the aftermath

Day 3: Henry is gone when Alex wakes up, the note in the kitchen the last message Henry sends him

Mon, Aug 30: Alex flies transatlantic and storms Kensington Palace

Tues, Aug 31: Alex and Henry talk it out, how long, "it had better be forever"

September 2020

Wed, Sep 1: (2 AM) The V&A night

Thurs, Sep 2: Henry gives Alex has signet ring, Alex returns home, Hometown stuff email

Sat, Sep 4: Henry comes out to Philip, metaphors about Buckingham Palace, list of things Alex loves about Henry

Mon, Sep 13*: Zahra is engaged, photos from the DNC of Alex and Henry leak, June offers to take the heat

Alex and Nora go on a date

Alex and Henry meet in a security car and kiss

Thurs, Sep 24: "Seria una mentira, porque no seria el"

Mon, Sep 27: Bad Metaphors about Maps email, THE SECRET IS OUT

Tues, Sep 28: Zahra takes Alex to London to see Henry and she reveals that Shaan is her fiance, Bea gives Alex some advice about Henry's grief

Wed, Sep 29: meeting with the queen, mural of Alex and Henry as Han and Leia

October 2020

Alex returns from London

Nora barrels in with the evidence against the Richards campaign

Bills, Bill's, Bills show transcript

Fri, Oct 2: Alex's Address from the White House

Alex and Luna talk

End of October: Alex and Henry's Royal photo Shoot, Bea spills the secret of the youth shelters

November 2020

Alex and Nora have a conversation about everything that happened and plans going forward, June gets her book deal

Tues, Nov 3: election night, Alex gives a speech, Texas goes blue and they win, Alex brings Henry to his childhood home

[brooklynmuseum]

Radical visionaries. Healing. Counterculture. And more.

Here's just a sampling of what you can expect to see at the Brooklyn Museum this year:

April 8 – Guadalupe Maravilla: Tierra Blanca Joven June 17 – DEATH TO THE LIVING, Long Live Trash July 1 – Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” September 2 – Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe November 11 – Jimmy DeSana: Submission

Mark your calendars and look for added information in the coming months. Don't forget: Members earn early-access to reservations for each of our special exhibitions. Find out more.

📷: Guadalupe Maravilla (born El Salvador, 1976). Disease Thrower #0, 2022. Gong, hammock, LCD TV, ceremonial ash, pyrite crystals, volcanic rock, steel, wood, cotton, glue mixture, plastic, loofah, objects collected from a ritual of retracing the artist's original migration route. Courtesy of the artist and P·P·O·W, New York. © Guadalupe Maravilla. (Photo: Stan Narten) ⇨ Duke Riley (American, born 1972). Untitled, 2020. Salvaged, painted plastic. Courtesy of the Poly S. Tyrene Memorial Maritime Museum. © Duke Riley. (Photo: Robert Bredvad) ⇨ Virgil Abloh preparing for his Autumn–Winter 2019 Off-White Womenswear Runway Show. (Photo: Bogdan Plakov) ⇨ Nellie Mae Rowe (American, 1900–1982). Untitled (Peace), 1978–82. Crayon and pen on paper. Courtesy of the Estate of Nellie Mae Rowe/High Museum of Art, Atlanta. © 2021 Estate of Nellie Mae Rowe/High Museum of Art, Atlanta. (Photo: Courtesy of the High Museum of Art) ⇨ Jimmy DeSana (American, 1949–1990). Marker Cones, 1982. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of the Estate of Jimmy DeSana.

[obscure-sentimentalist]

Merlyn Boys: The Old enough ‘verse Chronology

Here’s something I’ve been meaning to pull together for a while: to mark the two-year anniversary of completing Old enough to know (we’re never letting go) (or Oetk for short) and kicking off the Merlyn Boys multiverse, below is a chronology of the various entries in the flagship series. This is NOT meant as a recommended reading order, particularly for new readers (I would still advise reading Oetk in its entirety first); rather, it’s more of a reference or something fun to try for a reread, if you don’t mind toggling back-and-forth between fics and chapters to read the selections in timeline order.

Selections from Oetk are listed by chapter number and section subtitle, though each chapter is only linked the first time it’s listed--there may be separate ficlets set between scenes in the same chapter, so I’d recommend keeping the Oetk chapter open for ease of access to switch back. Entries posted in the sequel collection (We can) turn this world inside out are listed by ficlet title. All titles link directly to the AO3 versions, but Tumblr links are included where available.

2008

Late May: 

Oetk Ch. 1--”May 2008″

“Foundation” [Tumblr]

2009

February 1: Oetk Ch.1--”February 2009″

June: “In a Name” [Tumblr]

July: “The More You Learn” [Tumblr]

October: Oetk Ch. 1--”October 2009″

2010

April: “Talk all day (but it’s what you show)” [Tumblr]

[Unspecified]: Oetk Ch. 1--”2010″

2011

July: “Unamusement Park” [Tumblr]

September: Oetk Ch. 1--”September 2011″

2012

August: “Fort Kickass” [Tumblr]

September/October 2012-early May 2013: Oetk Ch.1--”2012-2013″

2013

Late January:

“A night of the bad dreams (sad things)” [Tumblr]

“(Making me feel) I’m not alone” [Tumblr]

May 15: Oetk Ch. 1--”May 2013″

2014

May 15: Oetk Ch. 1--”May 2014″

2015

November: Oetk Ch. 2--”November 2015″

2016

May: Oetk Ch. 2--”May 2016″

Late May: Oetk Ch. 2--”May 2016″

2017

February 1: Oetk Ch. 3--”February 2017″

2018

May 15: Oetk Ch. 3--”May 2018″

2019

February 1: Oetk Ch. 3--”February 2019″

November: Oetk Ch. 4, Epilogue V--”Reemergence”

2020

January: “drowning in water so deep (far from the shore and the safety)” [Tumblr]

January-December: “The 2020 Merlyn Boys Holiday Calendar”

June: “Slipping” [Tumblr]

[indigomusicdotcom]

Cardi B, American Rapper

Cardi B is an American rapper, songwriter, television personality, and actress. Born and raised in The Bronx, New York City, she first attracted attention for discussing her career as a stripper on social media. She released her debut single, "Bodak Yellow", in June 2017, which peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, making her the second female rapper to top the chart with a solo single (after Lauryn Hill in 1998), as well as the first artist of Dominican descent to do so. Cardi's debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy (2018), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, broke several streaming records, and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Cardi B has been nominated for 10 Grammy Awards, winning one for Best Rap Album for Invasion of Privacy. She has also won three American Music Awards, six BET Hip Hop Awards, and four Billboard Music Awards. Time magazine named Cardi B one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018. In 2019, Forbes magazine estimated her net worth at $8 million.

Early life

Belcalis Almanzar was born on October 11, 1992, in The Bronx borough of New York City. She is of Dominican and Trinidadian descent. Many sources report her birth year as 1993, but Cardi B has stated that she used a fake ID to sign up for Facebook when she was 16, and thus her birth year on the social networking site is 1992. She has an older sister, Hennessy Carolina. Almanzar attended Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology, a public school in the Castle Hill neighborhood of The Bronx.

Career

2010–2017: Career beginnings and Love & Hip Hop

In March 2015, Cardi B joined the cast of the sixth season of the reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York. That same year, she released two mixtapes—Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2—and made her commercial debut with the single "Cheap Ass Weed", which peaked at number 43 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In November 2016, she released the single "Red Barz", which peaked at number 90 on the same chart.

2017–present: Bodak Yellow and Invasion of Privacy

On June 16, 2017, Cardi B released her commercial debut single, "Bodak Yellow", which peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song's success made her the first female rapper to have a number-one single on the chart without any featured artists since Lauryn Hill in 1998, as well as the first artist of Dominican descent to do so. She became the fifth female rapper to top the Hot 100 with a solo output, following Lauryn Hill, Lil' Kim, Shawnna, and Iggy Azalea. "Bodak Yellow" was included on Cardi B's debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy (2018), which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album broke multiple streaming records and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

In January 2019, Cardi B co-hosted Saturday Night Live, becoming the first woman of color to solo-host the show. In April, she released the single "Money", which peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100. The following month, she released her second single, "Press". In June, she was featured on Maroon 5's single "Girls Like You", which peaked at number one on the Hot 100, making Cardi B the only woman with five top-ten singles in a calendar year.

In February 2020, Cardi B won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 62nd annual ceremony, making her the first female solo artist to win the award. In April, she released the single "WAP", featuring Megan Thee Stallion, which debuted at number one on the Hot 100, making her the only female rapper with two number-one singles on the chart as a lead artist. In September, she released the single "Bartier Cardi", featuring 21 Savage, which peaked at number 14 on the Hot 100.

In January 2021, Cardi B was featured on Megan Thee Stallion's single "Savage", which debuted at number one on the Hot 100, making Cardi B the only female rapper with three number-one singles on the chart as a lead artist.

Influences

Cardi B has cited Biggie Smalls, Lauryn Hill, Remy Ma, Missy Elliott, and Lil' Kim as her biggest influences.

Musical style

Cardi B's music is a mix of genres, including hip hop, Latin music, trap, and R&B. Her rapping is distinctive for its heavy use of New York City slang and African-American Vernacular English.

Personal life

In September 2017, Cardi B announced her engagement to American rapper Offset, member of the hip hop trio Migos. The couple married in secret in September 2017. In July 2018, Cardi B gave birth to their daughter, Kulture Kiari Cephus.

In December 2018, Cardi B plead guilty to two misdemeanor assault charges stemming from a fight at a New York strip club in August 2018. The charges were for reckless endangerment and assault, to which she agreed to a plea deal that would see her avoid jail time.

In April 2019, Cardi B announced that she and Offset had split up. The couple reunited in January 2020.

In May 2020, She filed for divorce from Offset, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was not finalized as of December 2020.

In September 2020, Cardi B announced that she and Offset were expecting their second child together.

In November 2020, Cardi B was sued by a former manager for $10 million.

In March 2021, Cardi B was sued by two fans for $1 million each, after they were injured by security guards at one of her concerts in 2018.

In popular culture

In October 2018, Cardi B and her sister Hennessy Carolina were featured in the music video for Bruno Mars' song "Finesse (Remix)", which pays homage to the American television series In Living Color.

In December 2018, Cardi B was featured on the cover of the fashion magazine Vogue.

In May 2019, Cardi B was featured in the music video for the remix of Lil Nas X's song "Old Town Road", which also features Billy Ray Cyrus.

In October 2019, Cardi B was featured in the music video for DJ Khaled's song "Higher", which also features Nipsey Hussle.

In November 2019, Cardi B was featured in the music video for Megan Thee Stallion's song "Hot Girl Summer", which also features Nicki Minaj.

In December 2020, Cardi B was featured in the music video for Megan Thee Stallion's song "Body", which also features Beyoncé.

In February 2021, Cardi B was featured on the cover of the fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar.