#Excluding Rudolph in that count

[bluewolfangel01]

How cute would it be if Mc was feeling home/realm sick during the winter holidays, and the brothers surprise Mc by wearing reindeer outfits and gifting them a Santa outfit (Or a reindeer one)

[laytonnpcbracket]

Welcome to the Layton NPC Showdown!

This is a bracket to determine which of the many memorable NPCs from across the Professor Layton games are the greatest.

GAMES INCLUDED: Every game except LBMR. Eternal Diva characters are also not included here.

WHAT COUNTS AS AN NPC?: Anyone who doesn't have a puzzle animation. Characters excluded are Layton, Luke, Flora, Clive, Emmy, Randall, Aurora, Des, Espella, Phoenix, Maya, Katrielle, Ernest, Sherl, Hastings, and Emiliana.

WILL THERE BE NOMINATIONS?: Nope! Every NPC will be included.

WHAT ABOUT THE LAYTONMOBILE/MOLENTARY EXPRESS?: No vehicles. Not characters.

WHAT ABOUT THE PUZZLE LADS/LASSES?: I only plan on including characters that we can speak to in-game, so no Puzzle Lads or Lasses. Sorry to the people who like them 😔

WHICH CHARACTERS ARE INCLUDED, THEN?: Anyone who isn't an exception listed above that is in the profiles of the game! A full list is enclosed below.

WHEN WILL THE TOURNAMENT START?: More information forthcoming on that! I have to seed the bracket first :)

WHY IS NAIYA YOUR ICON?: In my opinion, she's one of the more underrated NPCs of the series. I'll probably cycle through some of the ones I have available to me right now.

WHAT CRITERIA SHOULD I VOTE ON?: Whatever makes you happy :)

ARE ALTER EGOS SEPERATE CHARACTERS?: No. For instance, Ratman is not included because his secret identity is in the tournament.

US OR UK NAMES?: I will try to make available as many names for the NPCs as possible! Which includes their Japanese names and as many names in the localizations as I am able to obtain from the wiki and my own sources. I'll probably reliably have the English (both versions where applicable), Japanese, and French names for every character when I do the bracket rounds. The list below however is entirely in English.

And now for a list of the entries! I didn't check all of these for inconsistencies, but I attempted to ascertain that I used the US versions. Some of them might be UK versions though because that's the version of the game I have (specifically Diabolical Box NPCs and Last Specter NPCs -- I know some of their US names but not all).

Franco

Stachenscarfen

Ingrid

Percy

Marco

Ramon

Matthew

Lady Dahlia Reinhold

Gordon Reinhold

Simon Reinhold

Claudia

Beatrice

Deke

Agnes

Pauly

Crouton

Flick

Rodney

Chelmey

Lucy

Zappone

Gerard

Jarvis

Adrea

Pavel

Crumm

Prosciutto

Archibald

Sylvain

Martha

Giuseppe

Augustus Reinhold

Granny Riddleton

Don Paolo

Bruno

Andrew Schrader

Anton Herzen

Katia Anderson

Sophia

Mr. Anderson

Beluga

Sammy Thunder

Macaroon

Chester

Babette

Tom

Ilyana

Geoff

Garland

Nigel

Jacques

Barton

Grousley

Steve

Capone

Mitzi

Lili

Sally

Marjorie

Conrad

Karla

Romie

Dorothea

Clabber

Oscar

Nick

Gabe

Balsa

Wurtzer

Lopez

Laurel

Parcelle

Lulu

Albert

Madeline

Remy

Angus

Kostya

Dylan

Joseph

Rory

Lila

Damon

Felix

Niles

Duke

Hopper

Olson

Derby

Dawson

Joanie

Krantz

Grinko

Marina

Opal

Ray

Gregorio

Narice

Gertie

Hamster

Precious

Winston

Claire

Dimitri Allen

Bill Hawks

Spring

Cogg

Dean Delmona

Shipley

Puzzlette

Beasley

Parrot

Subject 3

Bostro

Family Goon

Lockjaw

Splinters

Marzano

Layman

Fisheye

Silky

Shmelmey

Shmarton

Ward

Smith

Florence

Vito

Art

Niklaus

Anita

Alfie

Hazel (UF)

Adeline

Max

Becky

Margaret

Pallard

Dupree

Natalia

Harold

Horace

Hardy

Cuthbert

Segal

Catanova

Rosetta

Colby

Rudolph

Misha

Dylan

Viv

Pepper

Checker

Avogadro

Maya (UF)

Myrtle

Belle

Graham

Slate

Ernest (UF)

Berta

Minnie

Paige

Raleigh

Beacon

Mark

Rosa

Grosky

Keats

Clark Triton

Brenda Triton

Arianna Barde

Tony Barde

Doland Noble

Levin Jakes

Loosha

Toppy

Crow

Marilyn

Roddy

Scraps

Tweeds

Wren

Socket

Louis

Badger

Aldus

Charlie

Jasmine

Bucky

Fische

Beth

Mido

Clarence

Joe

Molly

Marion

Browne

Hugo

Dominica

Paddy

Brock

Aunt Taffy

Shackwell

Greppe

Goosey

Mimi

Hans Jakes

Maggie

Yamada

Sean

Olga

Finch

Sebastian

Cornelius

Chappy

Hannah

Mick

Colby

Monica

Thomas

Nate

Ewan

Chief Engineer

Naiya

Chippe

Bram

Ghent

Nordic

Gilbert

Roland Layton

Lucille Layton

Henry Ledore

Angela Ledore

Alphonse Dalston

Leonard Bloom

Sheffield

Billson

Mrs Ascot

Pascal

Guy

Lapushka

Gustav

Gonzales

Drake

Tyrone

Sterling

Mordy

Collette

Maurice

Juggles

Puck

Yukkles

Murphy

Cookie

Tanya

Firth

Madelaine

Stumble

Artie

Michelle

Nils

Frankie

Conner

Humbert

Policeman (MM)

Yuming

Esther

Lionel

Doug

Mr. Collins

Leon Bronev

Raymond

Prima

Harald

Donna

Mascha

Georg

Mackintosh

Solveig

Erik

Hazel (AL)

Igor

Sonya

Moos

Larisa

Karpin

Boris

Dariya

Pavlova

Carmichael

Amelie Chelmey

Policeman (AL)

Tommy

Morel

Chestnut

Amanita

Blewitt

Chanterelle

Button

Lepidella

Bud

Javier

Benny

Miranda

Martine

Barbara

Ruby

Scarlett

Flint

Old Red

Jesse

Derringer

Julien

Romilda

Sheppard

Piet

Felicia

Rik

Beatrix

Umid

Banu

Dana

Temir

Mehri

Nassir

Adler

Robin

Macaw

Plover

Grouse

Gannet

Swift

Carmine Accidenti

Olivia Aldente

Allan

Bardly

Zacharias Barnham

Newton Belduke

Birdly

Boistrum

Cecil

Cinderellia

Constantine

Cracker

Cutter

Darklaw

Dewey

Dzibilchaltunchunchucmil

Patty Eclaire

Eve (cat)

Flynch

Foxy

Jean Greyerl

Hoot

Judge

Kira

Knight Captain

Knightle

Lottalance

Lyewood

Lettie Mailer

Balmung

Mary

Muffet

Muggs

Ridelle Mystere

Nozey

Petal

Petter

Ms Primstone

Emeer Punchenbaug

Robbs

Old Rootie

Rouge

Servius

Shakey

Johnny Smiles

Snowy

Storyteller

Tuggit

Price

Wordsmith

Pipper Lowonida

Phineas Barnone

Madame Doublée

Liza Wight

Grant Sloans

Cesar Chance

Mustafa Fulhold

Hans Lipski

Aleks Lipski

Maverick D. Rector

Seymore Fraymes

The Major

Eddie Torre

Hayes

Maid

Wooooster

Bianca Teller

Security Guard

Shadee

Taboras Lloyd

Douglas Dert

Ratboy

Mo Heecan

Mrs Slow the Tailor

Midas Pullman

Declan Swabber

Abel Seamon

Felicity Hastings

Gene Ohm

Billy Kidd

Royall Britannias

Clover Pryce

PC Beate

DC Booker

Waiter

Séan Butchin

Bo Bells

Hessie Tate

Benjy

Bess

Keane Fisher

Bob Bracket

Stripey

Patch

Cat

Yapper

Gudrun Weldon

[kickmuncher3]

What's with these reindeer, dissing Rudolph?

Why do they gotta play?

What did he ever do to these guys

To get excluded from the reindeer games?

Woo-hoo

But I trimmed the tree

Woo-hoo

And you know it’s pine

Woo-hoo

(And that's for Christmas time)

Ooh-wee-hoo, deck the halls with boughs of holly

Oh-oh, and you fa la la la la

I don't care what I get for Christmas anyway

It’s the thought that counts

[sserpente]

A/N: Request from two anons. Let us pretend that for this Imagine, Loki likes to read what Tom likes to read because why not? Also, my Christmas Imagines are a little sadder this year... it’s gonna get more cheerful soon, promise! Enjoy, my lovelies!

Words: 1286 Warnings: fluff

Nodding in a satisfied manner, you eyed the pile of presents on your bed. You had spent the last hour wrapping each and every one neatly—and you were now ready for Christmas morning. Well, almost. The only one you still hadn’t bought a present for was Loki. And perhaps you were simply overthinking it. You wanted Loki’s gift to be special, something he’d really like. But what should you get an actual god? With Thor, it was easy. He loved poptarts, so you had bought him a basket full of them, including a voucher for his favourite café. You doubted Loki would fancy poptarts though. You had to come up with something else.

Encouraged, you threw on your winter coat and hurried out of the compound, taking one of Tony’s cars to rush to the mall. You had to get Loki a present. For some depressing reason, you had the feeling that no one else would.

“Merry Christmas, (Y/N)!” Thor bellowed when you entered the vast living room of the Avengers compound on Christmas morning. You were still wearing your comfy snowman pyjamas but you figured to snatch a cup of coffee before getting dressed for the day, it would suffice.

You giggled to yourself, amused by the outright priceless picture right in front of you. Natasha was munching on a popcorn chain, Clint was wearing a Santa hat, Tony was toying with that new little trinket that was supposed to project Christmas stars onto the wall and Thor was wearing this ridiculous reindeer pullover with a blinking Rudolph nose. Your eyes wandered through the room… and you then spotted Loki in a corner, seemingly uninterested in the events unfolding before him. He merely glanced up when you entered the room, nodding courtly as to acknowledge and respect your presence.

A sigh escaped your lips. He hadn’t found his present yet, then. It was rather small, wrapped in green paper with a golden bow.

Tony clapped his hands when Bruce, Steve and Wanda entered with a cup of coffee in hand.

“Well, now that everyone’s here… merry Christmas everybody! I’m gonna say what we’re all thinking… let’s skip the merry ‘We all love each other’ talk and get to the presents.” You grinned. And that was when chaos erupted. Christmas with the Avengers… there was nothing else like it.

Grinning, you approached the massive Christmas tree towering to the ceiling, careful not to rip any baubles off the branches as you crouched down and began reading name tags. There was only one person who excluded themselves from this gift madness—it was Loki. You were convinced he wouldn’t even bother to look.

Tony had made it very clear, after all. He was a criminal and the only reason he was tolerated around here was because of Thor’s request. But then again, not even his own brother had thought about putting something under the tree for him.

Your own presents remained packed when you reached for Loki’s. You stood to approach him all the while diving through the sea of wrappers, bows and happy faces until you came to a halt right in front of him.

His gaze was longing. Not that he would ever admit that he wanted to be part of this joyful moment when all the others did was ignore him… but you could tell he was sad. Your heart broke in two. Christmas was not the time for loneliness.

Loki frowned as he stared at the little package in your hands before looking up at you, seemingly irritated.

“Merry Christmas!” You mumbled with a shy smile as you handed it to him. Hesitatingly, the God of Mischief took it as if it was going to explode if he touched it. For once in his life, so it appeared, he was speechless.

“I remembered you were rather enamoured by the collection of English poetry in Tony’s library.” You explained as he slowly ripped the packaging open to reveal a small, leather-bound book. You had roamed eight stores to get hold of it. It was rare, special and unique. Just like Loki. “It’s one of the first prints of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Only a few copies still exist. I thought since all your books turned to dust when Asgard… you know… I thought you would want to start a new collection.”

Holding your breath, you awaited his reaction, hoping you had made the right choice with your gift. You smiled when his slim fingers lovingly stroked over the binding. Only Loki would be able to appreciate the beauty and significance of a book like this. Finally, his blue eyes met yours again. There was still disbelief sparkling in them.

“Thank you.” He said quietly, nodding in the process. Nothing more happened. Perhaps he didn’t want to attract any attention… perhaps he was still speechless. Either way you knew you had made him happy with this gift. And that was all you had wanted, really.

“You’re welcome, Loki.”

You eventually turned to your own presents, hugging everyone in the room to thank them for their sweet ideas and in turn, received hugs for your presents. Almost an hour passed until you could excuse yourself and return to your room to finally get dressed, the idea of getting a cup of coffee entirely forgotten.

It was then you suddenly heard a quiet movement behind you. You nearly jumped out of your skin when Loki appeared in the threshold, his expression almost… hostile.

“Why?” He growled.

“W-why what?”

“What do you want from me? What is your motive? Surely, it cannot be from the kindness of your heart?” He snapped, holding up the book you had gotten him. Your heart skipped a beat. Was he really this broken that he would think no one would possibly do something selfless for him? You bit your lower lip when you noticed tears threatening to spill from your eyes.

“W-what? I don’t want anything from you, Loki… it’s a Christmas present. I wanted to make you happy, is all.”

Loki scoffed. “You always play innocent. I wonder just what mischief lays hidden deep within your mind.”

Furrowing your brows, you crossed your hands before your chest. Very well, now you were actually getting pissed.

“Take it or leave it, Loki. All I wanted was to be nice because quite frankly, I like you and I think it’s terrible how the others always treat you a-and especially now that it’s Christmas, I guess I just wanted you to b-belong.”

With a start, the God of Mischief’s expression softened. “Why are you… crying?”

What? Shit. Frantically, you wiped your tears away, allowing yourself to step a little closer and wrap your arms around him. For a moment, Loki tensed. You sighed when he relaxed and reciprocated your hug, still both surprised and hesitant.

“I am sorry. I… did not expect anyone to get me a Christmas present. In fact, I did not expect to be around today in the first place.”

Sniffing, you looked up at him, still amazed by how close you were to each other. You didn’t blame him for being suspicious. It made you hurt… for his sake.

“But you are. And I want to celebrate Christmas with you, okay?” Loki pushed you an arm-length away from him. Your heart started pounding like a steam hammer when his hand came up to caress your cheek to wipe away the remnants of your tears. Perhaps it was in this very moment that he decided that he could trust you.

“Why do you care so much, little mortal?” He purred almost cherishingly.

“I… I just do.” And you would make sure that Loki spent the merriest and most wonderful Christmas this year.

A/N: Guys, YOU can help me publish my first novel! It’s easy, it’s anonymous, you can do it from all over the world and it’s just 3€! Your help counts too, I’d appreciate it so much if you helped me fulfil my dream! ♥ ko-fi.com/sserpente

[midnight-synth-blog]

Please, just please support this SU game, even if you don’t play Roblox! ❤︎

It’s very important that this gets the appreciation it deserves as, not just a game, a piece for the SU community in terms of roleplaying and fanon content. 

The amount of people participating in this game is extremely underwhelming because of how much effort the developers have taken out of their lives to make it happen. And the fact that nobody is even paying attention or supporting the work they have put is really unsatisfying.

And i’m not exaggerating this, on a casual day there will only be 5-25 users playing this SU roleplay which is a beyond underrated turnout for the development put into this.

Take a look at just a small compilation of the beautiful locations, some of which haven’t been added to the game yet at the time of this post.

The communication hub, an unreleased location!

Delta 7′s moon, known as the geode moon 

Delta 7, also known as Carnival City

Peridots at Upsilon 9, which is an unreleased location.

The gem in the background here is Paraiba Tourmaline, an aristocrat being previewed at the in-game aristocratic city, which the location hasn’t been released yet.

Don’t just scroll by this tumblr post doing nothing to give the attention and love it deserves.

Do anything, draw fan art of their morphs and post it on Tumblr or other forms of social media (There’s many adorable characters you can draw from a range of gem types!)

From agates..

and to jaspers..

These Jaspers are apart of a special gamepass you can get that unlocks all of them to roleplay with.

From rutiles

..and to pearls!

Maybe even some unique gem cuts you haven’t ever seen before canonically.

Gems available to be brought by the holiday gamepass, unlocks Santa Quartz, Mint rudolph pearl, Golden Bell Pearl, and Winter Sapphire,! The round gems here are known as Nambulites, tinkering gems that work at a facility location which isn’t released in the game atm.

^^ Rhodolite, an imperial officer gem. 

One of our wonderful commanders, Serpentine! 

The gems here in this image, from left to right (excluding the pearl) are Sodalite and silica who are both elites..

If you can’t read the nametag clearly, it spells out “Nacre”, also another elite.

You can tell already our game has so many gem types for you to draw and to interact with.

If you love roleplaying, roleplay on the game, which is very interactive so you don’t need to type detailed paragraphs. it makes everything more efficient that way to get in character.

A lot of these gems shown are uncommon to encounter and are played by specific people or group ranks, so don’t expect to meet or get your hands on everything!

Tell people across social media to get into this roleplay, or draw art of it, and help boost the amount of people to participate. Such as on Instagram, Youtube (highly appreciated, there hasn’t been a video posted of gameplay footage since last year, which shows extremely outdated stuff), Twitter, etc.

Here’s a screenshot of everyone (which is a small amount of people playing) thanking the lead developer, @decahedroid! (He goes by Tetra/oppo in the discord)

It needs all the support it gets, as I said before, it’s criminally underrated, so do something to boost it’s popularity!

We would love to see some beautiful fan art drawn of one of the gems shown here.

Here’s the game if you ever think about roleplaying here, which we recommend you to do in order to boost it’s player count. Don’t forget to join the group and the server posted on there, too. 

And here is the tumblr, where you can see more of these amazing morphs/locations:  @diamondauthorityrblx​!

Edit: Please reblog if you can,  a like won’t get this the popularity it needs. Reblogs help this post get accessed to more people in the end, which is required for this.

I forgot to mention there’s a day limit that may or may not be removed, so you might have to wait awhile once you create your account. 

In the meantime, feel free to draw art or hang out on the discord server which is linked in the group

See you there! ❤️

[bloomingtrenz]

Science Behind Weight Gain and How to Lose Weight Permanently

While devising Rati Beauty Diet for weight loss, we did not adhere to any of the famous diet regimens. We did not keep our diet a low carb diet as Atkins, or a low fat one as Dean Ornish, or a low-carb high-fat diet as keto, or one excluding grains and dairy as paleo, or a high protein diet. We did not want to exclude any food group completely, which would put restrictions on our lifestyle and eating habits. All we excluded was processed foods in any category. And then we decided to take a balanced middle-of-the-road path for the macros and watch our calories. That’s it. Eat healthy food from all categories, count calories, and have balanced macros.

And the diet worked beautifully. Rati lost 27kg. Many others lost more than 10, 20, or even 30 kg. And seeing the success stories every day for the past one year has given us the confidence that we’re on the right path. In fact, while researching medical papers on dietary recommendation we found the research that validated our middle-of-the-road-healthy-eating approach. Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) researchers Ingerid Arbo and Hans-Richard Brattbakk fed slightly overweight people different diets, and studied the effect of this on gene expression. The answer researchers have come up with may surprise you: the best diet, from a gene’s standpoint, is one-third protein, one-third fat and one-third carbohydrates. That’s what the research shows is the best recipe to limit your risk of most lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity, diabetes etc. The second point which this experiment (and many others) makes is that your diet affects your gene expression. We will come back to this point later. For now, understand that a simple balanced meal without processed foods is your best bet for weight loss, specially because this is the best diet you can adhere to. Excluding one food group or the other from your diet is not going to work in the long run. Another recent study done on 15,400 adults in the US and another 432,000 people in more than 20 countries around the world found that low-carb or high-fat diets may actually be harmful in the long run. And ideal diet would be to get 50-55% of calories from carbohydrates. In short, it is no wonder that Rati Beauty Diet worked.

But is our solution complete? That women lose pounds successfully on the Rati Beauty diet, reach their target weight, and now their weight worries are over? Unfortunately not.

Here are the results of a 6-years study of tracking the 14 contestants on ‘the biggest loser’ reality show, where overweight contestants attempt to lose the most weight for a 250,000 dollar grand prize-

The average weight of the contestant prior to the show was 328 pounds (approx. 149 kg).

After the 30-weeks show, their average weight was 200 pounds (approx. 91 kg).

Six years after their initial weight loss, six men and eight women from the Biggest Loser agreed to follow-up measurements at the National Institutes of Health. The results were astonishing. The average weight of the Biggest Loser contestants was back up to 290 pounds (approx. 132 kg).

There was only one contestant who didn’t regain any weight.

There are two harsh truths about weight loss. First, weight loss can be achieved to a great degree through diets only. Second, it is very hard to maintain the reduced weight over a long period of time if one is not careful. It requires adherence to healthy eating habits, exercising, and monitoring the calorie intake. Not only that it also requires an understanding about what makes us gain weight in the first place, and how we can fix it so that we never gain weight again.

What Makes Us Gain Weight?

Short answer, our brain. Long answer, Genetics, processed foods, stress, bad sleep cycle etc.

Jules Hirsch, along with his colleagues Rudolph Leibel and Michael Rosenbaum, published a landmark study in 1995 after ten years of studying human subjects in the Rockefeller Hospital. Hirsch carefully monitored food intake, energy expenditure, and weight changes in 41 subjects, 18 obese men and women, and 23 people who had never been obese. During the months that these research subjects stayed in the Rockefeller Hospital, they were fed a precisely defined liquid formula diet. First the number of calories each person needed to maintain their normal weight was established. Then some subjects consumed more calories, and others fewer, in order to gain or lose ten percent of their initial weight. Those who gained weight then went on a restricted-calorie diet in order to return to baseline. Throughout the study, the researchers tracked energy expended through normal body processes at rest, through the digestion of food, and through physical activity. Both obese people and those who had never been obese reduced their energy expenditure when their weight was lower than normal, and burned calories faster when their weight was higher than normal. The study was quickly cited as a classic for showing, in humans, one of the ways in which body weight is regulated.

In essence, your body has a set determined weight. If you lose too much weight, it reduces your basal metabolic rate and tries to bring your weigh up. If you increase your weight (through overfeeding) it will increase your basal metabolic rate and try to bring your weight down.

So those who increase their weight and want to keep it so will have to constantly keep their calories intake more than what the set point body weight requires, and those who have lost their body weight and want to keep it so will constantly keep their calories intake lower than what their set point body weight requires.

How does your body try to bring you to your set point weight besides energy expenditure? By trying to make you hungry in order to make you eat and increase the weight or by telling you that you are full and making you eat less and lose weight.

Our weight is controlled by hypothalamus, a small area at the base of the brain. Within the hypothalamus are nerve cells that, when activated, produce the sensation of hunger. In close proximity to these cells is another set of nerves that, when activated, take our hunger away. There appear to be at least 10 circulating hormones that influence our desire to eat.

Hunger hormone- ghrelin Satiety hormones- leptin, insulin, amylin, PP, CCK, PYY, GLP-1, oxyntomodulin and uroguanylin.

The nerves in the hypothalamus respond to these circulating hormones and our desire to eat is determined by which of these two types of nerves dominate at a particular time.

In short, whether you are feeling a desire to eat or feeling that you are full is modulated by your hypothalamus and the set point weight that your body has determined.

And how is the set point weight determined? Genetics, processed foods, stress, bad sleep cycle etc.

Genetics Contribution to Obesity

Let’s go back to our overfeeding experiment. If I asked you whether the responses to overfeeding were different or same in those 41 participants what would be your answer? Of course, it would be different. Different people have different metabolic rate and therefore they would response differently to overfeeding. But how about twins? They are different people but share the same DNA. So how would overfeeding responses amongst twins be?

Poehlman and Bouchard recruited six pairs (12 participants) of male monozygotic twins and overfed them by 1,000 kcal for 22 days and kept them under 24-hour supervision. Individual differences in fat mass and fat-free mass gains were observed in response to overfeeding but they were not randomly distributed. Indeed, the within-pair resemblance in the response was striking when compared to the heterogeneity found among the pairs in adiposity and fat-free mass gains. The intrapair resemblance in the response to overfeeding as assessed by the intraclass coefficient computed with the individual changes, reached 0.88 for total fat mass and 0.76 for fat-free mass. So twins, having the same DNA, had close response to overfeeding which was different from other twin pairs. So response to food was ingrained in their genes.

How about adopted children? If a kid is adopted in early childhood will he/she grow up to resemble the parents who adopted him/her or will he/she resemble the biological parents?

Denmark maintains a comprehensive adoption register with listing of both adoptive and biological parents. Stunkard and Sorensen studied 840 adult Danish adoptees (adopted kids) and found that the BMI was closer to their biological parents than the adoptive parents who reared them. The study showed that the resemblance of adult family members in body mass index (BMI) is due more to shared genes than to shared rearing environment.

A new assessment, based on a path analysis approach, concludes that the heritability of BMI reaches 34%. The level of heritability is simply the fraction of the population variation in a BMI that can be explained by genetic transmission.

Not only that, all these single-gene mutations in humans that lead to severe obesity influence how the brain regulates body fatness, suggesting that body fatness is normally regulated by the brain. As stated by 2009 review paper–

There are now at least 20 single gene disorders that clearly result in an autosomal form of human obesity. Notably, so far all these disorders affect the central [i.e., brain] sensing and control of energy balance.

Genome-wide association studies look for common genetic variants that associate with higher or lower body mass index (BMI) in the general population. Of the numerous common gene variants that have been found to associate with BMI variability, and whose function is known, the large majority are expressed in the brain, particularly the hypothalamus, and some are in the leptin signaling pathway. Leptin signals to the hypothalamus which produces a feeling of satiety. Moreover, leptin signals may make it easier for people to resist the temptation of foods high in calories.

Meaning what? That if you are overweight or obese, chances are that your brain has been genetically programmed for you to overeat and gain weight.

But don’t blame it on your parents yet. Because even if you are genetically programed your bad food habits have given rise to the weight gain.

Processed Foods and Obesity

A very recent small-scale study of 20 adult volunteers, conducted by researchers at the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, people eating ultra-processed foods ate more calories and gained more weight than when they ate a minimally processed diet. The ultra-processed and unprocessed meals had the same amounts of calories, sugars, fiber, fat, and carbohydrates, and participants could eat as much or as little as they wanted. On the ultra-processed diet, people ate about 500 calories more per day than they did on the unprocessed diet. They also ate faster on the ultra-processed diet and gained weight, whereas they lost weight on the unprocessed diet. Participants, on average, gained 0.9 kilograms, or 2 pounds, while they were on the ultra-processed diet and lost an equivalent amount on the unprocessed diet.

In short processed foods reduce your satiety and make you eat more. In the above experiment processed foods contained hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, flavoring agents, and emulsifiers. How does this happen?

Sabrina Diano, from Yale School of Medicine, has been studying the role of the brain in regulating food intake, body weight and metabolism for almost 25 years. She says that her team was “intrigued by the fact that exposure to food rich in fats and carbohydrates induces a fast inflammatory response in the brain way before changes in body weight occur.”

The brain plays an important role in the process by helping us to know when and how much to eat, and by guiding the response of our metabolism. Food intake and energy expenditure are controlled by specialized neurons of the hypothalamus that respond to adipostatic and satiety factors present in the circulation. Leptin provides the most robust adipostatic signals, whereas insulin, cholecystokinin, ghrelin, GLP-1, act as modulators of the activity of such neurons. However, studies (1, 2, 3) have shown that the increased dietary consumption of saturated fats and fructose can disturb this system, leading to a progressive increase in leptin resistance, which results in obesity.

In short, consuming a diet that includes high amounts of fats and carbohydrates stimulates hypothalamic inflammation and produces leptin resistance that reduces satiety and increases hunger, and subsequently obesity. Processed foods are messing with your brain about the hunger signals.

Stress and Sleep Deprivation and Obesity

Cortisol, produced by the Adrenal glands, is body’s main stress hormone. It works with hypothalamus and pituitary gland to control your mood, motivation, and fear. Chronic stress or sleep deprivation alter cortisol levels, causing dysregulation in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and has been associated with upper body obesity. Stress can be caused by external stressors such as employment or social strains or by intrinsic stressors such as sleep deprivation. In the past 30 years, numerous studies have shown that obesity and other metabolic risk factors are associated with lower socioeconomic status, job strain, sleep deprivation, and depression. (1, 2, 3, 4)

Above weight gain factors cause leptin and insulin resistance in the body, make you eat more and slowly make you gain weight. A slow, gradual weight gain will fool your body into thinking that your set point should be higher -and in fact, that does reset your set point. Then, when you try to lose weight, your body defends that higher weight, making weight loss more difficult.

How to Lose Weight Effectively?

Just as it’s possible to reset your set point to a higher point, it’s also possible to lower it. The secret is to work with, not against, your body’s natural tendencies and lose weight slowly, one drop at a time.

Here are some things you need to do in order to lose weight-

Avoid Processed Foods and Refined Carbs- sausage, pepperoni bacon, cookies, pastries, icecream, french fries, fruit juices, processed cheese, pizza, agave nectar, industry-produced vegetable oils, fast food meals, candy bar, margarine, sweetened coffee drinks, white bread, breakfast cereals, bagels, cakes, white rice, waffles, noodles, flavored yogurt, granola bars, store-bought smoothies, baked potato chips, sports drinks and sugar.

Follow a wholesome nutritious diet, such as Rati Beauty diet– full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, dairy, white meat, eggs, seafood, and poultry.

Be Active and Exercise Regularly- walk at least 10k steps everyday, go to gym regularly.

Have at least 8 hours of sleep daily

Release your stress through meditation, listening to music, long walks etc.

Avoid drinking alcohol- alcohol fires up certain neurons, called AgRP, located in the hypothalamus, which not only increases appetite, but also decreases metabolism and energy levels.

Avoid saturated and trans fat- diets high in saturated and trans fats caused most hypothalamic inflammation as studies showed (1, 2). Avoid butter, margarine, shortening, beef, lamb or pork fat, dark chicken fat and poultry skin, coconut oil, palm oil, cocoa butter, lard, high-fat dairy foods

Do not give up when you encounter a weight loss plateau- A weight loss plateau means that you have probably hit a new set point. Once you hit your set point, your body likely needs about four to eight weeks to adjust to your new weight. Then you’ll establish a new set point, and your body will respond like that’s your new normal.

Count Calories- Maintain a Food journal recording food and drinks you have, along with quantity and time. A food journal will keep you accountable.

Find support- talk to family members, friends or colleagues who encourage and support you in your weight loss journey and seek their help whenever needed.

Weight loss is long and slow process, just like weight gain. However, it is doable and you will find it easier if you adopt to your healthy eating patterns as soon as possible. However, the next step of maintaining you weight is still more challenging.

How to Maintain Weight After You’ve Reached Your Target Weight

Throughout your weight loss journey and even after you have reached your target weight, you have to consistently try and reverse your hypothalamic inflammation, leptin resistance, and insulin resistance. As your leptin and insulin sensitivity improves it will be easier for your body to shift your weight set point and maintain the new set point. Study shows that inhibiting hypothalamic inflammation reverses insulin resistance

Here are some steps you can follow to decrease hypothalamic inflammation, leptin and insulin resistance-

Try alternate day fasting or Intermittent Fasting with Rati Beauty Diet- Alternate-day fasting has been shown to produce anti-inflammatory effect on neuroimmune system. In another study, which was based on the fasting practices of Ramadan, a spiritual practice for Muslims, fasting from dawn to sunset for 30 days played a crucial role in improving insulin resistance and protecting against the risks from a high-fat, high-sugar diet.

Increase Intake of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (omega-3 and omega-6)- salmon, fish oil, flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts, flaxseed oil, sunflower oil, etc. Studies show that polyunsaturated fatty acids reduce insulin resistance and improve insulin sensitivity.

Eliminate Sugar, Refined Carbs, Processed Foods from your Diet

Continue with healthy balanced diet such as Rati Beauty Diet- a long-term adherence to our meals and recipes will slowly solidify your healthy eating habits.

Exercise at least 30 min daily

Weight loss does not end just after losing weight. There are two steps to weight loss, losing the weight and successfully maintaining it. Both the steps require dietary intervention to fix body’s homeostasis in the brain. A successful weight loss strategy involves a long-term change in lifestyle. That is why we have been promoting Rati Beauty Diet as a lifestyle change and not just a short-term diet program. While food corporations push more processed foods in our face to make profits and change our perception through slick advertising (white rice is an example), it pays to be aware of what we should put in our body and take control of our food.

Stay Healthy!

[hela-of-ren]

You’re Too Sexy, Beautiful

Request: How about one where you’re the one who’s jealous? Like, jealous reader with triplet!Kylo. I don’t think he’s especially flirty like Ben, but he sure is a looker like his brothers and that’ll get him a shit ton of attention. Plus…I mean…I wish I looked like Miss Universe but I don’t. So putting myself in reader’s shoes…I’m sure she’d feel especially jealous and insecure. BUT. She tries her best to hide it. Coz she has a lot of pride and arrogance in that way.

Ooooooooo I love the turn around with this. I definitely feel like if reader ever got jealous with Kylo and Matt, they wouldn’t understand why because those boys have low self esteem of their beauty inside/out in general. And yah know what? To Hades with Miss Universe, you are beautiful. It took a while for me to understand there wasn’t one kind of beauty, but I’m the wiser for it now. You are all beautiful galaxies of power and glitter. <3

Warning: Angst and SMUT ON A PIANO. I REPEAT SMUT ON A PIANO.

This wasn’t a good idea.

Nope, this was an extremely BAD idea.

Kylo had invited you to come to his office’s yearly Christmas party, an event that was always extravagant and over the top. You’d heard many stories from Kylo and his brothers about the past incidents that had taken place many times over.

Like that one time Dopheld Mitaka got too drunk for his drawers and was found making out in a closet with Jareth “Jar Jar” Binks. Or that other incident where Hux’s date at that time had made a snide comment about Phasma’s long term girlfriend; it was safe to say that she was found locked in the bathroom with the fear of God in her eyes a few hours later.

Phasma really knew how to instill that in a person.

Besides the frivolity that occurred, you knew that First Order Corp never spared any expense. Always shelling out the most delicious food and buying the most lavish of venues for the night. You weren’t use to all the glitz and glamour that came with Kylo’s life, though he deny the two words should ever be associated with him.

The two of you had begun to date at the beginning of the previous year, you being the first serious relationship Kylo had been in for quite a long time. To keep matters short, you were seriously smitten with each other.

While Kylo’s line of work afforded he and his family a lavish lifestyle with wonderful results, he was the exact opposite of the stereotypical rich boy turned business owner. He was private, quiet, and always second guessing himself or everything he did.

But he was also caring, sweet, sensitive, and utterly romantic when he wanted to be.

And gods he was handsome.

Kylo, of course, was utterly oblivious to how stunning he was inside and out. Which led to your current predicament. You’d been standing with Kylo while a few of his employees and fellow CEO’s conversed about all the latest stats and successes. Kylo’s hand remained firmly on your lower back the entire time, a comfort while he forced a smile during the tedious talks.

Amidst all of the gab you noticed more than a few women giving Kylo an exaggerated once over and even more of them attempting to gain his attention through a flirtatious stare or a jut of their chests. If you could take a pin and press it to their boobs you were pretty sure more than few of them would pop and fly away.

Also if they blinked any faster their false eye lashes would fall into their over priced champagne.

Okay, you were done.

While these instances were annoying, they were nothing compared to the comments and remarks they threw his way.

“You look particularly handsome tonight, Mr. Ren.”

“That suit does wonders, Mr. Ren.”

“Won’t you save me a dance, Mr. Ren?”

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you, Mr. Ren.”

They flirted so shamelessly with Kylo in front of you and he had absolutely no clue. On top of being reserved, he was rather awkward when it came to social interactions with others. Especially women.

This, however, didn’t mean that it didn’t bother you when women threw themselves at Kylo.

“Excuse me, Mr. Ren?” Aaaaaaaand here we go again.

Kylo turned from his previous conversation to greet the new voice and- oh great, she had to be drop dead gorgeous. The woman wore an emerald green dress that hugged her every curve and cascaded down to the floor, her luxurious red hair was styled in elegant Jessica Rabbit waves and her makeup was done to perfection.

Kylo forced a polite smile and gave a quick nod of his head in her direction.

“Miss. Van Drake, what can I do for you?” Professional as always.

“I couldn’t help but notice how wonderful you looked tonight, is that suit from the Amidala collection?”

“Erm yes, thank you.” His arm slipped off your waist as her finely manicured hand came to caress the material of his suit jacket.

“Excellent taste, but that’s not surprising coming from someone as…exhilarating as yourself.” Your eyes nearly bugged out of their head as she flirted with him so shamelessly, her body lightly pressed against his. Kylo cleared his throat and looked away from her towards the punch bowl.

“Honestly, you’re too kind.” He made no moves to extract himself from her clutches excluding a small tick to his jaw. Why wasn’t he moving? Why?

“Not at all, I simply know something good when I see it.” She purred, her fingers caressing his jacket. You wanted to do something, you really did, but you were frozen in shock at how Kylo wasn’t doing a god damn thing.

“It’s too bad that you’re single, a man like you…”

Your eyes burned with on coming tears of frustration and jealousy, you couldn’t do this or else you’d slap the bitch and embarrass Kylo at his own party; not that anyone seemed to care that you were dating.

“….you could have anything or anyone you wanted, better for me I suppose.” You quickly turned on your heel and bolted for an escape, you couldn’t breathe, the jealousy was overwhelming and felt terrible in your stomach.

Kylo grasped Van Drake’s wrist firmly, trying to crush the need to throw her off of him. The sheer audacity of some people really disgusted and frustrated him. He moved her a good few inches away form his body before responding.

“Miss Van Drake, this is entirely inappropriate. I don’t appreciate these advances, as I’ve told you before, and I’d be more than grateful if you could keep your distance.” His voice was firm and held no room for arguments. “Besides, I’m happily taken by my girlfriend. Y/N, why don’t we…” He trailed off as he reached his arm back only to feel empty air.

Kylo turned in confusion to see that you were gone, no where in sight and immediately felt a hollow feeling at the loss of your presence. He immediately made a bee line through the crowd trying to get a glimpse of your beautiful face, but to no avail.

Why had you left? More importantly, why had you left without saying anything to him?

Just as he was about to start panicking, he spotted his mother coming towards him with a stern look on her face.

“Kylo, would you like to explain to me why your girlfriend fled to the parlor with thoughts that she’s not good enough for you?” Her voice was stone cold and her small stature seemed almost titan like in the moment.

Wait, fled to the parlor? Not good enough? For him?

“From the look on your face I can guess what happened. Like I said, she’s in the parlor.” She moved to go around him before turning around again, “Be mindful, Kylo. That’s all I ask.” With that, she glided away like the queen she was.

You dabbed at your eyes with the tissues Leia had provided you with, sitting on the piano seat and counting the sparkles on your dress to distract yourself. God, you felt like a baby.

You knew Kylo didn’t do any of that on purpose, the boy was blissfully ignorant to how appealing he was in every way.

But dammit, would it kill him to rebuff a few flirting attempts every now and then? You blew your nose and rubbed under your eyes until the moisture disappeared.

Great, you probably looked like Rudolph’s raccoon cousin now.

Hasty foot steps sounded behind you, coming closer and closer until large and warm hands fell on your shoulders.

“Y/N? What’s wrong? Baby, look at me. What happened?” His hands moved up to your face to remove any left over tears and makeup, his heart breaking at the sight of your sad face.

“It’s- I just…Kylo you know I love you, right?” His brow scrunched lightly before he responded.

“Of course…but, what does that have to do with-”

“Do you know how amazing you are? Like, really know?” Your eyes bore into his, “Because I do and i love you for everything you are. A lot of other people do too…” You trailed off.

“Y/N, what-”

“Why didn’t you just reject her?” You finally cracked and cast your eyes down. Kylo opened his mouth to respond with more questions until it dawned on him.

Van Drake, her fingers caressing his jacket, clenching his jaw to contain his rage.

“I’m not the only one who notices how great you are, Kylo…and that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” You gulped lightly, “It just sucks when I know I’m not half of what you deserve.” You felt the tears start up again. Kylo’s eyes bugged in horror before he swept you off the bench until you were sitting atop the piano, his hands caging your body on either side and his face close to yours.

“Don’t you ever say that again. EVER.” His voice was firm without having to yell, “You are more than what I deserve, so much more.” He stopped and seemed to struggle with his words before gently dropping his forehead to yours.

“Y/N, you are everything to me and I can’t imagine doing nay of this without you.” His hands came up to cup your face again as more tears spilled from your eyes, “All I wanted to do was fling her to the farthest reach of Naboo the second her fingers came in contact with my suit.” His words made you let loose a watery chuckle, “But that might be considered as grounds for assault and I really don’t want that.” Your eyes came up to meet his gentle smile.

Damn, you loved his smile.

“You know it’s hard for me to see what you see in me so…I’m a bit slow on the uptake that someone else would even want to flirt with me,” His thumbs rubbed your cheeks, “I’ll try to be more conscious from now on,” He promised, “And if I’m not, you have permission to kick my ass back to my mother.” You chuckled again as his nose nuzzled into yours.

“Okay.” You responded softly.

His smile faded as his eyes wandered down to your lips, the heat from your core radiating into his own. His hands dropped to the slit in your dress and bunched it up as his lips took yours passionately. You let out a muffled moan as his fingers skimmed the skin of your thighs, your hands clawing off his suit jacket until it fell to the floor.

One hand held onto your thigh as the other impatiently ripped his fine cotton shirt off, buttons flying to the polished floor as he went to work on his belt. Your hands mapped out the muscles of his chest and abs as your lips sucked and kissed the skin of his neck.

Being with Kylo was like being in the midst of a meteor shower, an entrancing burst of power that left you breathless with every motion. His belt was shucked to the floor as your hand drifted down his abdomen to unbutton his pants, his hands coming to pull your lower body into his.

His luscious lips kissed from your sternum, up your neck, sucking wet kisses to your cheek before his lips danced with your own once more. Your arms encircled his neck as his lips glided over yours, his tongue demanding entrance with vicious swipes until you relented with a whimper.

His hand slipped and made contact with the keys of the piano, creating a frenzied sound that had you moaning as the same hand found it’s way to your clit. His fingers stroked and probed, his tongue mimicking the motions inside your mouth.

Your legs came up to wrap around his waist and pull him into you as an affirmative to speed things up. You felt him smile against your mouth as he nipped your bottom lip, teeth dragging it out until you felt it stretch the slightest bit.

He let your lip go with a gentle lick as he placed one knee up onto the piano, more frenzied notes sounding off into the empty room. Kylo’s hands grasped onto your ass and hauled up onto his dick, your head falling back at the feeling of being suspended by his body.

Kylo’s knee repeatedly rammed into the keys of the piano as his dick made long strokes in and out of your core. His lips were glued to the sweet spot on your neck, his tongue laving it with utter adoration as his hands bounced you up and down on his cock.

“You feel that, baby? That’s all for you, Y/N.” His voice rasped into your ear as your legs tightened around his strong waist. “Fuck it, the next time someone even touches my suit they’re fucking fired.” He growled and took your lips in his again, his tongue swiping against yours passionately until you didn’t know where his ended and yours began.

His cock began a brutal pace as your moans became more heightened, nails raking down his back. His fingers dug into the flesh of your ass as he rammed his cock into you until stars began to appear in your vision.

“K-Kylo, fuck Kylo! I’m close…” Your breathy moans made him grin, one hand holding you against him as the other reached down to find your clit and rub. Your forehead fell back onto his in ecstasy.

“Fucking come for me, let them hear you, let them know you’re the only one who can take this dick!” His breath mingled with your own, your lips brushing as he surged up to swallow your moans.

His knee left the piano, notes fading off into the room as he stood in the middle of the parlor with your body still impaled on his dick. The fact that he could still keep you bouncing and grinding on his dick with the pure strength of his body was mind blowing and only served to heighten your pleasure.

One hand clutched your ass tighter as the other buried itself in your hair, his hips now sensuously grinding into yours. Your arms tightened as you felt it rising and rising and-

“OH FUCK!” You threw your head back and climaxed in mid air, Kylo’s release flooding into you like a tsunami as he bit into your neck, a deep groan rumbling form his chest. His hips gave a few light pumps before stilling, his arms tightening around you as your body began to give way.

You chucked tiredly into his neck and gently pressed a kiss there before bringing your forehead to his temple, your fingers coming up to stroke the sweat from his forehead.

“You’re too sexy beautiful and everybody wants a taste, that’s why…” Your voice rasped out a tired tune as he smiled in return, his eyes closing in contentment and his body gently swaying the two of you.

“You think the piano still works?” He asked against your throat.

You lifted your head to glance lazily behind you at the white buttons that littered the piano and a dented spot where Kylo’s knee had rammed into before turning back to his temple.

“We can always climb out the window…” You answered and tightened your legs back around his waist when his deep laugh filled the room, your heart lightening at the warmth flowing through both your bodies.

[shervonfakhimi]

The James Conner Post-Hype Fantasy Sleeper Season

It is funny how the cycle works of fantasy players and analysts get hot and bothered about certain actual football players, then shun the exact player the next season. I am no exception to this phenomenon. I was not exactly enthused to buy this certain player at his price tag last season, but I am all about it for where he’s going next year. Because of this, let’s see if I can convince you all about a favorite post-hype sleeper of mine for 2020: James Conner of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Last year, many were eager to buy Conner coming off of his 2018 breakout season where he ran for 973 yards in 13 games at a 4.5 yards-per-carry clip, racked up 497 yards through the air and found paydirt 13 times in those 13 games, finishing with 19.1 half PPR points per game, good for RB7 on the season on a per-game basis. To make matters even better, Conner was targeted 71 times and hauled in 55 of those targets, proving he can play on all three downs. That led to Conner’s ADP soaring up to 6.6 per Sleeper in the summer of 2019 after finishing at 150.1 in 2018 amidst Le’Veon Bell’s holdout. However, Conner’s constant injury struggles and the devolution at quarterback from Ben Roethlisberger to what Joe Budden would call ‘a two-pack of ass (Mason Rudolph and Devlin ‘Duck’ Hodges)’ did not allow the Steelers’ offense to flourish in 2019 as we have become accustomed to in previous seasons. In Conner’s breakout 2018 season, Pittsburgh boasted the sixth-best offense according to Football Outsider’s DVOA metric. In 2019? Pittsburgh ranked dead last. Using more simplistic counting stats, the Steelers offense in 2018 ranked fourth in yards per game and sixth in points per game. In 2019, the Steelers fell to 30th and 27th in those statistics, respectively. Yes, ass indeed.

Despite Pittsburgh’s offense falling into an abyss, Conner’s fantasy production was not affected all that much. Conner still put up 12.8 half PPR points per game, ranking 19th on a per-game basis. Sure, that is more than a touchdown-per-game dropoff from 2018, but a deeper look is worthwhile. Conner exited both Week 11 at Cleveland and Week 16 at the Jets in the second quarter. If you exclude those two games and look solely at games Conner played into the fourth quarter, Conner went on to average roughly 15.28 half PPR points per game, which would’ve squeezed Conner past Mark Ingram II and placed Conner as the RB8 on a per-game basis, despite a drop in Conner’s efficiency from 2018 (4.5 yards per carry; 9 yards per reception) to 2019 (4 yards per carry; 7.4 yards per reception), suggesting Conner has room to improve from an efficiency standpoint. On top of that, Conner has been consistent as the Steelers’ workhorse (more on this in a second). In 2018, Conner never finished outside of RB36 in a given week and only four of his 13 weeks were outside of the top 24 of the position (and two of those finishes were RB25 and RB26). Even in 2019, outside of the games Conner left early, just 1 of those 8 was outside of the top 36 and 3 were outside of the top 24 (but, again, there was an RB25 finish sprinkled in).

On top of all of this, Pittsburgh did not do much to bolster their running back group, only drafting Anthony McFarland Jr. out of Maryland, leading coach Mike Tomlin to proclaim that Conner will still be the featured runner out of the backfield. Asking if Conner will be able to hold up from the immense workload bestowed upon him (he’s had at least 15 touches in 14 of his 23 games since 2018) is another (fair) question, but this still seems like it’s Conner’s backfield. Even furthering Conner’s workload potential is the rise of the Steelers’ defense, which ranked third in DVOA last season. If the Steelers can get the lead and keep the lead, that allows Conner to gobble up more yards while churning down the clock. Oh, and Ben Roethlisberger will return this season, meaning the Pittsburgh offense can only go up compared to last season. 

To recap: James Conner was great and a league-winning runner in 2018, which led to him owning a hefty price tag that he was able to deliver upon when healthy in 2019, but couldn’t stay on the field. Now in 2020, I’d argue his injury risk is baked into his ADP, where he is going at RB18 (31.3 overall) on Sleeper and RB21 (56.2 overall) on ESPN.com. I’d expect Conner to be drafted in most drafts somewhere in the middle of those two spots, and if you can get him there, he’s a bargain. If (when?) he gets hurt, you should be able to find a replacement. Is he a must-draft? Not necessarily. But if he (and Ben Roethlisberger, admittedly quite a few dominoes) stays healthy, you get what was a top ten pick last season & the production that comes with said price in the third-fifth round. What more could you want?

[gossipnetwork-blog]

Peter Travers: 'Phantom Thread' Is a Pitch-Perfect Ode to Obsession

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Peter Travers: 'Phantom Thread' Is a Pitch-Perfect Ode to Obsession

Reynolds Woodcock, the 1950s-era British fashion titan played by the astounding Daniel Day Lewis in what he cruelly insists is his final film role, likes secrets. Specifically, he likes to sew them into his clothes, notes to himself in the lining of a garment that mark his art as indelibly his. Paul Thomas Anderson – who wrote, directed and served as uncredited camera operator on Phantom Thread – crafts films the exact same way, marking his territory and teasing us to discover the hidden gems inside. You don’t need to, of course. Since Anderson, 47, is the best, most provocative and eternally questing filmmaker of his generation, you can ride the surface of his richly imagined cinematic creations and still get the wind knocked out of you. But why settle for surface? From Hard Eight through Inherent Vice, this artist has always dared audiences to dig deeper.

The wildly inventive and perversely funny Phantom Thread, set to the hypnotic thrum of Jonny Greenwood’s orchestral score, concerns a workaholic narcissist and the women who fall into his orbit. Anderson has noted influences, including Hitchcock’s Rebecca and Vertigo. But aside from being about how we need love no matter how it fucks us up, those film influences are a slight misdirection. He uses the work of other artists as a springboard, not a blueprint – and besides, Woodcock is not Hitchcock, i.e. an artist looking for a muse created out of ghosts from his past. Not to mention that this film takes you places those earlier movies wouldn’t think of going.

Our man in London is a top designer, one who compartmentalizes his life so personal distractions can’t penetrate the bubble he builds around his art. “Marriage would make me deceitful, and I don’t ever want that,” he says. Woodcock’s world does not exclude sex – only commitment. In fact, a long line of models form in the hope of attracting his attention, usually muses he can exploit until he discards them. Or rather, his sister does. Her name is Cyril, and as played by the magnificent Lesley Manville with brittle efficiency and hints of a nurturing heart, she enables her brother. Then his eyes fall on Alma (Vicky Krieps), a waitress working at a seaside hotel. The young woman jumps into his bed but seems unprepared to spur his creativity. Their romance is totally lacking in an erotic charge until Woodcock sews a dress on Alma’s body … and his fantasy of her comes to life. (OK, maybe there’s a lot of Vertigo in that notion.)

Then he moves on. The fashion godhead is struggling to keep up with changes in haute couture, and there’s no place for Alma in his life except as a distraction. The trouble starts when she pushes her way into his work. Petty annoyances like biting loudly into her toast are nothing compared to criticizing his designs or choice of fabric. To re-establish their bond, Alma decides to dismiss the staff and surprise him with a home-cooked dinner for two. “Let me be unambiguous,” Cyril tells her. “Don’t do it.” She does do it. The result is a disaster. The muse has thrown the master off balance. She furthers the impact by goading him into a jealous fit at a New Year’s party. Then she starts taking more drastic measures to get his attention.

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Sick in bed with fever and near death, Woodcock lets Alma begin to nurse him back to health – at which point Anderson turns Phantom Thread into a dark comedy of relationships that thrive only after they’re broken and take a new form. Sexual politics, then and now, echo through the film. Is the filmmaker working out his own issues through his infirm screen counterpart? Maybe so, but don’t look here for gossipy details about the director’s 16-year relationship with actress-comedian Maya Rudolph, the mother of their four children. It’s what’s elemental that counts.

Day-Lewis traces the arc of his character from remote tyrant to willing slave with a majestic command – his immersion in the role, down to the pinpricks on Woodcock’s fingers, is total. The Luxembourg-born Krieps (pronounced creeps) has a harder go of it playing a woman who must be all things to one impossible man. But she stands her ground, riding the waves of Anderson’s artful, ardent writing and direction until Alma turns the tables. The film is gorgeous in every detail, with costumes by Mark Bridges and production design by Mark Tildesley that dazzle the senses. But the overriding theme is the agony and euphoria of creation. 

It’s endlessly fascinating to watch the actor and artist behind the camera (sharers in the same creative obsession) negotiate a hard truce between art and life. Anderson is deliberate and cunning about revealing the secrets he’s sewn into the fabric of his spellbinder of a film. Taking full measure of Phantom Thread may require more than one viewing – a challenge any genuine movie lover will be eager to accept. Our advice for now: just sit back and behold. 

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