#I actually have a whole massive collection of screenshots of stuff that made me think of them

[thoughtsofahouseplant]

spuffy + tiktok comments that made me think of them

[accio-victuuri]

cpn : clothes, double standard and details. 🍭🍬

The whole clothes/accessories etc CPN is so massive and it will be such a big post to list everything. Plus not all of it have a “story” so this one is just a mini post cause I’ve been seeing stuff floating around that I haven’t shared on this blog. same disclaimer applies. It’s all speculation/interpretation/cpn. ✌🏼I can’t stress this enough, CPN/Candy are for BXG circles only. It’s not some propaganda given out to brainwash people or something. if you don’t like it then leave.

• This New Era ♥️ hat. It’s so special. Allegedly given to them by a CP fan ( see screenshot. the fan took photos before it was ever given. ) , this was in 2018 okay? They were not as popular as they are. The turtle community was very small. No talk of SZD yet and these are just people who were excited with the pairing of XZ/WYB. The boys were then photographed using it on multiple occasions. People are also pointing out that this style is not Bobo’s usual but he still used it. I can just them probably talking about receiving a similar hat and don’t give af about wearing what would seem to be a “couple hat”. It’s some kind of fate cause from that time to now, the symbol of a heart between them is important to bxgs ( ex: heart with a mole ).

• Martine Rose Brand, which is something that made the rounds a few weeks ago. It’s because of GG wore it @ Douyin video and people were 👀 cause it’s a brand he doesn’t wear. His team even had to blur it in the later videos cause usually his clothes are Li-ning or Gucci. His endorsements. So why would he wear something personal to film a bunch of content? Including a bunch of interviews? It’s one of those brands that we think he started getting familiar with because of Yibo. I would love to come up with some deep meaning on why Yibo is partial to this brand but tbh, It’s because ASAP Rocky wore this alot before. That’s all. Lol.

• A recent item of clothing GG is wearing is one I mentioned earlier. The black Li-ning jacket. It’s part of the “Way of Wade” ( Dwayne Wade ) collection. I wanna talk about the logo cause I bet the designer in GG is loving it! It looks so simple but it actually spells out WADE. Reminds me of how he likes to make his logos, the way he uses strokes to spell things out but you won’t see it immediately. Also a fun coincidence is Dwayne Wade’s jersey # is 3. and we know who loves the number 3. 🦁

• same shoes for their ads. 🤍 fyi, Bobo wore a black version of this too for a fanmeet.

• A new detail brought up by BXGs with GG’s drawing. I mean. Are you kidding me? How many things does GG hide in his art? It’s so clear now that someone pointed it out.

• I found this GG double standard video and it’s hilarious. While I don’t like to go on debates about him treating Yibo differently ( even if it’s true lol ) than other people— this one is too good to not share. No translations needed cause you can clearly see the difference.

BONUS: look at them with similar pose 🤍

sources:

https://m.weibo.cn/status/4760448143986904?

https://m.weibo.cn/status/4760435321997721?

https://m.weibo.cn/status/4754042548650048?

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

The Search for the “Bluest Quintessence” and S6 - The Most Unnecessary Conspiracy In VLD?

Can somebody riddle me this? I’m rewatching Voltron: Legendary Defender, and I just…hm. Am confusion.

I’ve been thinking about the types of quintessence throughout the show, and how the show’s plots always revolve around energy harvesting. According to season 1, totally raw quintessence mined from worlds is yellow, and Haggar’s druids are the ones who filter it into its purple state: 

(Screenshots from Season 1, Episode 10: Collection and Extraction)

I feel safe in assuming that the filtering of raw, mined quintessence into its purple form is what turns it into a usable source of energy. But it also seems that this purple quintessence was still never “as good” as the enriched, concentrated blue quintessence that Alfor and Honerva originally discovered with the comet. Because if the purple version were so perfect, then no one would be desperately trying to get a better grade of quintessence, right?

Which sets the stage for Lotor’s whole arc:

(Screenshot from season 3, episode 7: The Legend Begins)

So here’s where I get confused: How does the need for specifically concentrated quintessence in any way result in the plot twist we got in s6 with the Altean colony? 

Please help me out here. So s6 was about Lotor having this totally secret and horrifying operation to harvest concentrated quintessence from “a few” Alteans, in order to specifically break into the rift. In season 4, Lotor himself even confirms Pidge’s s3 suspicions regarding the purpose of his agenda, that it’s all about getting to the rift using this special quintessence:

(Screenshots from season 4, episode 5: Begin the Blitz)

Lotor also admits to the goals he wants to achieve by piercing the barrier:

(Screenshots from season 5, episode 5: Bloodlines)

And throughout these endeavors, the purest, most concentrated quintessence always and specifically appears as blue:

(Screenshot from season 6, episode 2: Razor’s Edge)

In season 6, we see the show building up to this wild connection between Lotor and where he’s getting this secret, concentrated quintessence. Krolia and Keith confirm they’ve been trying to track it down in different ways:

(Screenshots from season 6, episode 2: Razor’s Edge)

And in this episode, Krolia builds this blue, enriched quintessence as being very scarce and from a totally unknown source:

But in rewatching earlier seasons, I get really confused as to why literally anyone was

so amazed

by this blue quintessence as a mystery energy source. Because...it seems to me like the show itself...didn’t even need an all-new secret source via the Alteans? It already had multiple potential sources? Like, everywhere?

So I guess, let’s talk Komar because it heavily affects the potential plot of the show.

Season 4 details Keith and Kolivan’s initial discovery of enriched quintessence. And the enriched quintessence they found wasn’t scarce or from a mysterious ship like Krolia’s experience in season 6. Instead, the Blades found massive vats of it in a major, well-known, and old but active Galra stronghold—with several Galran soldiers still guarding it and even moving the supply around:

(Screenshots from season 4, episode 1: Code of Honor)

Canon tries to excuse Komar tech from being the answer to the existence of this enriched quintessence, given that Voltron destroyed Haggar’s Komar Experiment in season 2. And it has to explain this away, because Komar tech is very, very good at harvesting vast amounts of that precious blue stuff, and we just can’t have a simple answer, can we:

(Screenshots from season 1, episode 6 – Take Flight)

But whether Komar had been destroyed or not, its very existence...never actually goes away in the larger show’s story. For example, Coran describes the Komar in a way that hauntingly reflects exactly what Lotor’s tech in the Altean colony does:

(Screenshots from season 2, episode 13: Blackout)

(Screenshot from season 6, episode 4: The Colony)

Idk if this is a “chicken or the egg” type of situation, but the technology for the Komar and the technology for harvesting Alteans seem to have the same result of procuring concentrated quintessence. Not just the yellow raw stuff or the somewhat better purple. But the enriched, blue quintessence that Lotor coveted so desperately for breaking into the rift.

So, conspiracies aside that Haggar stole Komar tech from Lotor or vice versa, I find it pretty wild that Lotor’s automatic go-to for harvesting energy was the Alteans. Because with the technology he had, he literally could have linked it up to....just about any other form of life on the universe. 

What the Komar, totally destroyed or not, ultimately suggests is that the pure, concentrated quintessence is not actually unique to special Alteans--but that the trick is simply being able to more purely harvest any given life force.

In which case, it makes turning survivors of omnicide of one’s own heritage into cattle and breeding them for more “special” victims seem so...utterly pointless on so many levels. Lotor could have just pointed said tech at plants and fish, and received a similar result. Haggar and Zarkon confirmed within season 1 that it could canonically be done. The show even depicts them taking pure, concentrated quintessence from specifically animals and a large body of water.

I suppose prior to this rewatch of earlier seasons, I did think that, in response to this, VLD was arguing for Alteans as the only beings in the universe who had the “bluest” quintessence. Which would maybe better explain Lotor’s exploitation of them despite the squicky master race/species vibes that such a concept gives off. But this concept also can’t explain the s6 plot twist to me anymore after my rewatch.

In looking back at previous seasons, Alteans originally were dependent on Balmeras for quintessence-based energy:

(Screenshots from season 1, episode 8: Rebirth)

Notice how Coran talks of the Balmera giving of the crystals as a gift, but yet Alteans repaid their “sacrifice” (same language Lotor used for the Alteans) by providing a token of their own pure life force. This episode reveals that Balmera ultimately function as concentrated quintessence generators and storages.

But even then, Alteans were also dependent on the people of the Balmera to complete this transfer of pure, concentrated quintessence, as they could manipulate the Balmera’s energy for symbiotic purposes:

In which case, if Balmeras were the original™ self-replenishing stores of pure, concentrated quintessence, and also so readily found across the universe with entire groups of people capable of transferring its energy, why even need to harvest Alteans? And since Balmeras can be convinced to willingly give of themselves for a good cause, would it not have made sense for Lotor to work alongside these gentle giants and their people, perhaps finding a way to extract its quintessence in a form other than a crystal? Perhaps even using his smaller-scale version of harvesting tech? Because clearly, he had an issue with just wiping out an entire planet or culture:

(Screenshots from season 5, episode 1: The Prisoner)

And Lotor is shown as canonically very interested in wanting to work alongside other cultures:

(Screenshots from season 5, episode 6: The While Lion)

I think it very likely that Balmera would have worked out some way for him to extract concentrated quintessence in the form he needed—and even better, this would have presented the opportunity to re-initiate the culture and repayment ceremonies of old sacred Alteans.

Because...why wouldn’t he have known about this Altean practice?

(Screenshot from season 5, episode 6: White Lion)

(Screenshot from season 6, episode 4: The Colony)

So despite Balmera being prevalent concentrated quintessence stores throughout the universe, and despite their people still knowing how to enact an Altean repayment ceremony, and despite Lotor having “deep knowledge,” he somehow missed this opportunity??

Lotor would have happily nerded out over being like his Altean ancestors and sustainably and respectfully extracting pure, concentrated energy while also achieving his end goals. And if he’d connected to a Balmera even once, just to try it, he would have discovered that he was a “sacred Altean” as well. Because canon confirms it:

(Screenshots from season 5, episode 6: White Lion)

So Lotor is, canonically, a magical “sacred Altean” with deep cultural knowledge that not even Allura or Coran were aware of. He had generally pretty immediate access to or the ability to find Balmeras across the universe, which are also canonically storages of pure, concentrated life force. And Balmera have canonically deep and respectful relationships with the Alteans who harvest their energy for their own purposes.

Through Balmera and perhaps a simple redesign of his own harvesting tech he was working on, Lotor had an easy way to secretly siphon blue concentrated quintessence in the form he needed, from a willing, self-sustainable source—and afterward, to also give back in thanks in the ways of his mother’s people, without having to actually “sacrifice” anyone.

And yet...malicious Altean harvesting was the only explainable option and the answer this show went with...??

I’m really tempted to just conclude that blue, concentrated quintessence is not as scarce in other life forms as the latter half of the show makes it out to be, that more forms of life can actually interface with it and manipulate it beyond Alteans, and that Lotor had very simple ways to hide and run a sustainable and culturally meaningful quintessence experiment. 

So to me, it seems that the search for the “bluest quintessence” represents just another example of VLD inconsistently manipulating its own inconsistent worldbuilding to arrive at outrageous, universe-contradicting and pointlessly evil plot twists like the s6 colony plot.

But I’m curious what you all think and if I’m just...missing something? 

(Also apologies if someone else has already brought this up somewhere and I’m just lagging behind, haha.)

[ziracona]

Pretty sure your sudden spike in Fate content is gonna be like the third time I check something out bc you started posting it (I know next to nothing about Fate. In fact, I think I now know less than before you started). I'm rly not sure what the best starting point to get into it is, though. Any recommendation? (also I got Moriarty on your quiz and now I want to know why he's so beloved)

Oh sick! Awesome! I hope you enjoy it! 

Uhm, so, Fate notoriously swaps out like their whole creative team from work to work, so some of it is really good, and some is really bad, and some in the middle, because it’s made by very different people. The things I am most into are UBW, and Fate Go. Fate Go is a little gatcha phone game, that suffers from the fate of the whole fate franchise but as a single unit. They swap out writers from arc and event to arc and event, so sometimes you’re living and thriving, and sometimes you’re like *thousand yard glazed, pained stare* ‘why the fuck did I download this game?’ Very mixed bag. I enjoy it because I just kinda blow through any arc I don’t like and skim, and then go hella into the good ones, but it’s very much an individual matter of taste one. It’s very fun to collect spirits and get to know them though, and some of the arcs are fantastic. Also, they have made/are making some of the Fate Go arcs into shows, and I expect the ones that are of good game arcs are good? But I haven’t actually checked any out myself yet--I really need to watch E Pluribus Unum, because it was an easy top 3 arc for me in the game.

I’m big into Fate, but I actually have approximate knowledge of many things? And have not consumed as much media as you’d think. I tend to hear people really like Fate Zero, and very mixed reviews of Apocrypha, but I would wholeheartedly recommend the Fandom Classic(tm) and my personal fave as where to start, which is Unlimited Blade Works.

Sorry this is so long. Okay, so. Originally, Fate Stay/Night was a visual novel with three paths/routes: Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heaven’s Feel. All of these are shows now. Unlimited Blade Works was made twice. Do not watch the early one; it’s bad. Watch the 2014 TV series--it’s on Netflix right now. Don’t watch the English dub--the VAs are...not great. 110% recommend watching it in Japanese/original dub, with subtitles. (This one)

My usual pitch is that if you’re a normal person, you’ll probably go “This was a little confusing, but I really got into it: 8.3/10″, and if you’re like me and you never really gave up on wanting to become a superhero and save the world some day, you’ll go: “It was fantastic, 18/10, but it also ripped out my soul and left me wounded but somehow in an okay way.” Either way very worth watching. Since it’s not the first route, there are some things they don’t explain about the world because they kind of assume the viewer will know, but that’s pretty minimal--it’s def coherent enough that the more confusing bits are more of a “Uh, okay. I think.” than a “W-What the fuck is going on?”

It’s really good. Two seasons, the most beautiful fighting in almost anything I’ve ever seen, phenomenal soundtrack, and one of the best show opens (Season 2′s) of any show I ever saw. All around a just big blanket rec from me. It’s a long-time fan favorite for a reason. It’s one of my fave shows ever :’-] It was. Very personal to me.

Uhhhh what else--okay so, on Netflix if you watch it there, and a lot of streaming sites, they list “Episode 0″ or “Prologue” as the first episode? This was originally bonus content, not the first episode. It’s basically the first episode from not the MC’s point of view, but a different major character. It’s got some really great character moments and insight into Rin and Archer, and it’s fun, but since it was originally bonus, the pacing is super weird? So I would recommend you start with actual episode 1/Winter Days, A Fateful Night instead? Unless you just want to. Like it won’t mess up the show, but it might give you a weird idea of what the pacing is. So you can watch it first if you want, or later whenever you’re curious about those two, just like, if you start on it, don’t get overwhelmed by the stuff they’re not explaining, or the weird pacing. It’s supposed to be bonus content haha.

Very happy you’re interested! I really love UBW so I hope you enjoy it! If there’s anything else you want to ask feel totally free! I just don’t want to ramble for eight years about my special interest and fall into a black hole unprompted haha. : D Very happy you’ve been intrigued by my weird spike of fate content WAIT YOU ASKED ABOUT CRIME GRANDPA HOW COULD I FORGET.

Woof this is gonna be a long ask answer. Uhhhh, so Moriarty is from Fate Grand Order/Fate Go, the phone game. The game has three major arc sets so far: Grand Order, Epic of Remnant, and Cosmos in the Lostbelts. He’s from Epic of Remnant, and he’s universally beloved because he’s amazing. The MC in Fate Go is like 16, but he or she (you get to pick) is constantly having to risk their life and be hurt and traumatized and watch people die to save the world because there’s no one else to do it, and usually people are...not super nice to them. Moriarty shows up in the first of the second set of arcs and is like ‘Haha that’s a wholeass human child tho. Guys. Guys, a-are you sure about this?’ and he’s really there to pull of a massive evil culmination-of-my-life’s-entire-work-and-value scheme, but this kid is nice to him, and has nobody who looks out for them, and Evil Has Standards, so (Arc End Spoilers for that one ahead) he ends up giving up basically at the last minute. He had a plan that was totally working and could have won, but can’t really pull the trigger, because winning would mean this kid who has been nice to him and is already a massive pile of trauma and pressure and mental illness would die, and he cares more about them than his life’s goal. In Go usually boss fights are progressively harder, but his is super easy because he throws it, and chooses to lose, and basically throws away his life’s work for this one kid because nobody else is taking care of them, and lets himself get killed. This is a pattern with him. Other high points include later being 5 seconds into a scheme when Frankenstein (the girl one, who in fgo is like 14) stops him to call him Papa and asks for help, so he adopts her on the spot and just is her dad forever after that. He’s very goofy and I love him; he’s evil, but I’d trust him with my life, because he’s more good than he is evil, even though he’s both. Basically he’s just a very interesting and well written villain, but he’s also like, the /best/ dad in the game at the same time, and his dialogue is amazing. Evil Has Standards team dad poster man. He’s like the only adult in Fate Go who actually is responsible, which is fuckin wild. I’ll try to find some good screenshots of his dialogue. Anyway he’s incredible and I’m so happy you got him; Crime Papa is life.

Here have some Moriarty junk: (Shinjuku arc you have 3 partners, and the other two are adults but harass the MC constantly, and this was the dynamic. Bless Moriarty) 

And here’s some him roasting Sherlock memes and being good dad to the MC

[heyheyitsstillgay]

I'm literally begging you to spill the tea on b*tch h*rtman why does everyone hate him

Me?? You're leaving this responsibility to Me?? Oof.

Aight.

Season 3 bad

Butch is very much an ideas person. After Steve Marmel left the show just went downhill. There was one writer that wanted it to go the grey ghost angle and another who wanted amethyst ocean and it just didn't work and then it got cancelled so the end relationship was so rushed it was terrible.

Changed the lore of his show half way through

So this is mostly Nick's fault, they thought the show being about ghosts was too gritty and they agreed to change it from being about real dead people who were once alive to monsters from another dimension. This is the change that Steve marmel was fired over iirc. Now we have ghost tornados. You can't just change lore like that half way through. Some people think that because he was born again midway through dp that he wanted this change to the lore so the dp universe wouldn't go against the bible's teachings. We don't know that for sure though.

Like JK Rowling returning with needless headcanons except they're not even an attempt at rep it's just "Jazz replaced her life and ambitions with being a lonely woman in a chair, while Maddie becomes a ghost pimp and Jack replaced half his body with robotics."

Remember how he destroyed Vlads character in PP? He still does it. It's like he doesn't remember his own show. In a 10 years later video, Jazz is completely out of character and the family is just okay with Maddie walking around with ghost slaves on leashes. The Fentons are genius' in their own right. And he's reduced them to Danny's sidekicks.

Doesn't appreciate his employees

See these quote tweets when fop was given a reboot he toasted to himself and God while surrounded by the artists that massively helped him to make the show.

Voted trump

He apparently regrets it but still follows trumps family and a collection of far right people

Transphobic

In 107 facts about Danny Phantom fact 94 at 17:00 sticks out like a sore thumb. At the time, trans Danny theories were making the rounds on Tumblr. He'd already denied it was true. A lot of the theories draw Danny in his swimwear because his vest looks a lot like a full length binder and he's the only guy at the pool not showing his chest. The fact states he's said before that it's because of sunburns. It was in an audio interview a while ago where the interviewer suggested that that could be the reason and he decided it was canon then and there. It wasn't true while the show was being made. It's a question of if it's a coincidence that this video was released around peak trans Danny theory time.

There's also this screenshot of a deleted tweet that he never apologised for.

And the episode of fop with reversed gender roles treats men doing traditionally feminine things as a big joke.

Evoked ship wars that made fandom a space for arguements and anger

To summarise, he had a blog platform where people would post art. Most ship stuff was amethyst ocean and then p*mpus p*p existed, he scolded people not because it's an underage ship but because it made him look bad. People responded saying he was just homophobic. It split the phandom in half.

This shows recounts of the war

And this is a summary

Oaxis scam

Oaxis was a family friendly streaming service that he started a Kickstarter for. Here's a good post that went around at the time that talks about it. In the end he surpassed his goal last minute thanks to thousands of dollars donated suddenly by Christians and Churches.

People who didn't realise what they invested in were unable to get their money back and are still waiting for their promised cameos in original shows according to high tier rewards.

The 'family friendly network' (that was all the info given) was actually going to be a Christian streaming service combining Netflix and YouTube. You can upload your own content or stream original content. If the content you upload isn't Christian Approved(tm) then real people would take down the video.

Here's a video of when he went around speaking to churches and actually explaining his thoughts and goals with Oaxis. Hes also disrespectful of mental illness in this video, claiming that violent media is to blame.

Big headed

He's just so full of himself, I watched 1 of his shows, that wasn't my whole childhood. Most animators draw themselves jokingly and then he is very flattering towards himself. He changed his name from Elmer to Butch I mean what more do you need. He thinks God put him on Earth to spread the Lords message via his media following.

He made some of those racist Ugandan knuckles memes

He did edit a video of people doing a racist Ugandan impression, I can't find it I think he deleted it without an apology. I did find this though.

He steals tweets from people

A dp meme page he follows

This even has the exact same tv photo

Then this was followed by this

Refuses to take criticism

He thinks that people call him out because they're trying to take him down.

He only accepts critique from people who have similar accomplishments to himself

'Jokingly' blamed Tara Strong for her best friends suicide

Tara was friends with Mary who previously voiced Timmy Turner, here Elmer says that Mary killed herself because Tara replaced her.

Supports the idea that autism can be cured

He and his wife held a seminar with a collection of people who had mental or physical illnesses that they believed were cured by God. One of them was someone who apparently used to be autistic but is all better now thanks to the Lord. Stuff like this supports the idea that autism is awful and needs to be cured, this is harmful to autistic people.

Doesn't pay his artists and uses friendship to get cheap labour

KurotheArtist collaborated with butch for a while, animating some of his videos and providing ideas and helping with scripts for ones like the draw my life story. Butch is in breach of contract and owes Kuro $1400 for his work on the ImagiNathan project that was later cancelled. Kuro made a video about this which also mentions the whole "curing autism with prayer" as his reason for finally talking about it publicly.

Was caught tracing someone else's art for a $200 commission

His commissions are a minimum of $100. Which is a lot, most of its just for the price of his signature at the bottom tbh. It's $200 for full colour. This video came out, overlaying a picture of the character he was payed to draw over the commission image. Even using an image reference, it lines up far too well.

[breadknight-likes-things]

Bread’s Game Journal 06/01/20: Wrath In The Frozen North: A Northrend Retrospective, Part 3: Dragonblight

I remember the early buzz around Wrath Of The Lich King, and the worry that any expansion pack set in Northrend would just be a collection of snow covered zones with little to no variety.  Dragonblight serves as both a confirmation of those early fears, alongside a complete and utter refutation of those same worries.  Is this a zone covered in snow?  Yes.  Does that define it?  No.  Nor does snow cover define the other zones it’s present in around the rest of the continent.  The snow covered wastes of Dragonblight also served as the first time in the leveling experience of Wrath of The Lich King that everyone was crowding into one zone, as opposed to having the choice between two.  What followed is such an abundance of content there’s absolutely no way i’ll be able to cover it all in this post.

I think that aforementioned convergence explains why this zone is so unbelievably massive.  Even among the bigger than normal zones present in WotLK, Dragonblight is really big.  I honestly think the breadth of content, story-lines, and sheer landmass in this zone would comprise something more akin to three zones in a modern expansion pack.  The design is just as varied as well, though most of the zone is indeed covered in snow, the various dragon sanctums scattered around the area give us everything from a thick green forest, a peaceful glade (albeit, kind of on fire at the moment), lava flow caves and even a sandy desert.  Even on top of that variety there’s the coastal woodlands, the (literally) haunted seashores and the large, flat tundra plains where, in this universe, Dragons to go die.

Dragon bones litter much of the area north of Wyrmrest Temple, and given that we know full well the scourge can bring back to life....it’s something to worry about.

Dragons, are of course, the biggest story line present here.  Much of the questing revolves around visiting the various sanctums and completing tasks there, and while nobody really thinks about the dragon storylines in Wrath at this point, all of them were extremely engaging.  From the central hub of Wyrmrest Temple you were given all sorts of hands on experience dealing with these hugely powerful immortal beings.  There’s some standard “Horde Vs. Alliance” stuff off to the side, and a couple of Scourge storylines, but the vast majority of the focus in this zone was on the dragons and it lent a lot of weight to the, frankly distressingly undeveloped as a whole, blue dragon storyline that always seemed to get shunted off to the side during this expansion.

Just seeing this old thing brings back some good memories...

I mentioned before some Scourge storylines though, and hoo-boy did Dragonblight have one of the biggest ones, and one that absolutely blew my mind in 2008.  I’m talking of course about The Wrathgate, the disastrous assault on Icecrown Citadel, and subsequent attack on the Undercity that followed.  At the time this whole quest chain felt like the single most epic thing World of Warcraft had ever done.  Helped along quite a bit by the presence of the first in-game cutscene, the Wrathgate told the story of the Horde and Alliance briefly teaming up to tear down the front gate of the Lich King’s fortress, only to both be betrayed by Grand Apothecary Putress launching a chemical attack on all three parties to gain his revenge.  This was huge because, at the time, it was the culmination of quite a few different story threads that a lot of people had long since assumed had stalled out.

Finally, we had some solid information for what exactly the Apothecaries of the Undercity had been doing,  We finally understood what Varimathras had been plotting this entire time, instead of just standing next to Sylvanas acting casual, and this was the first time we actually saw a lot of the bigger characters in the lore suffer an actual loss.  The Wrathgate is still thought of, in fiction, as one of the greatest failures in the history of both The Horde and Alliance, and set back relations between the two factions almost to zero.  It was a huge moment at the time, I remember a lot of forum debate over the whole thing, some people loved it like me, others hated it and thought it made no sense (they were wrong).  In the sixteen year history of World of Warcraft, it still stands out as one of the coolest moments they ever put in the game, and it’s still a damn shame you can’t actually do the questline anymore.  I hope maybe, one day they add it back in and we get to re-live it, if only because it’s a piece of Warcraft History that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Bread’s Coveted Best Town Award: Wyrmrest Temple

It was always gonna be Wyrmrest Temple, while the Horde and Alliance settlements in this part of the game don’t do much of note, this huge imposing structure has been so enduring with the game and the lore that it’s constantly brought up and re-used and nobody even complains about it!

Random Screenshot Of The Day:

Just as a little lore treat, Dragonblight is also where you can find this iconic sight to all the people who had played and loved Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos as much as I had.

Stray Notes:

- Can you even believe how much I didn’t even write about in this long as hell post?  Naxxramas?  The Venomspite questlines?  The re-introduction of the Scarlet Crusade?  Dragonblight is ridiculously stacked with content and it would take multiple posts just to talk about half of it.

- I didn’t even mention the Azjol Nerub dungeons either!  Those are some of the absolute best in Wrath of the Lich King, and, imo, WoW as a whole!  Help, I can’t hold all this extremely good content!

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

SO idk fellas and felladies and those of you who know better, u know i don’t do too hot unless im constantly working on something so i decided i was gonna work off the stuff from the japanese descriptions of the calypso twins about you know... the whole ‘brainwashing’ thing

which is all well and good and then i was thinking about TFTBL while i was doing it and realized mmm you knooow only 2 sets of people have ever really “gone inside” a vault, being the TPS VHs and the TFTBL VHs and we know these two games were made within super close time frames to one another. SO i have a proposition for you, post readers: im here to suggest that Eleseer IS the Vault of TPS

tl;dr: i did actually do some talking about Eleseer being the ACTUAL Vault of Elpis (not the giant eridium crystal we see inside Eleseer) and that Tycho’s ribs was actually a generator/bigass key keeping the entrance opened. because that starry-background thing was also shown in the Vault of the Traveler and it made me go OH! those are the same thing. then eleseer must be inside a vault. because that actually makes sense. also the giant eridium crystal thing was just the Eridians’ version of the Claptastic Voyage turing the VHs into code.

and then i went, well im on the subject of TPS, might as well update my “the twins are going to use the chemical filth of elpis’s Vault to turn their followers into pseudo-Sirens like the Lost Legion Eternal” theory. so i did. and it was cool. there’s some concept art of the twins statues hanging out on a DAHL pumping station. and dahl did have a presence on pandora, but they were mining iridium, which is a metal. on Elpis, they actually did have pumping stations for the methane. which would make a lot more sense

also i go over the rakk-winged dude from the mask of mayhem again, because i mean... rakk wings... angel wings... i still can’t believe nobody else is talking about that. 

oh also possibly the idea that the Commander Lilith DLC ties into the Lost Legion Eternal ties into the ‘creating Sirens’ thing that’s going around right now. As in, all 3 things would be: it’s latent in person -> some outside thing activates it -> now they have their abilities/physical change. bonus points for the Commander Lily dlc tying in this plant monster thing to Eridian ruins (the mine) and the gas to the Vault Key/Map (hector uses the key/map to mass produce the gas). and that possibly tannis wanting to create a plant monster army is just foreshadowing for her creating an artificial siren army in 3 to help us defeat the twins. because i mean... why wouldn’t she. plsdon’tlettannisbeevil

so hear me out for a second

you guys know im 100% unconvinced that eleseer is actually inside Elpis. We see that giant hole in the ground, we see those eridian ruins, we see tycho’s ribs. and that, sure that is believable to me, because Tycho’s ribs is built into the ground. we see parts where the ruins are sticking out of the cryo rocks (methane rocks? hm.)

from the giant pit in the center of tycho’s ribs

the entrance to eleseer from tycho’s ribs:

and we know that Vaults only open with a key, and that key only automatically charges once every 200 years (OR according to the Vault of the Traveler, be anchored somewhere and held open by the key) and/or the key must be charged with eridium through a Siren

and i think you might see where I’m going with this.

do you remember that easter egg? Moon = Key. yeah? yeah.

Remember, every other Vault that is opened in the series requires a Vault Key (artificial or no) to be opened, and it’s not open forever.

im going to pause here and show some pictures of Eleseer for reference. compare them to those pictures of the inside of the TFTBL Vault, if you could :)

i noclipped out of the normal area to get a full shot of the platform

suspended in this weird starry night sky

which should look familiar to you now

because this is the same kind of area the Vault of the Traveler leads to

both these games were in development around the same time and i don’t think this is coincidence in the slightest

in bl1 and bl2 we don’t enter the vaults, instead whatever is inside comes to meet us, so we don’t have a frame of reference for those two vaults.

however

these two vaults look nothing like tycho’s ribs/eleseer.

not even the outside of the Vault of the Traveler looks like Tycho’s Ribs. in fact all three of these Vaults look identical. unlike eleseer and its ‘vault’

u might be saying to urself, but cruddy there IS a vault that looks like this in eleseer.

im getting to that >0>

my theory is that the Eridian buildings/ruins on Elpis (Tycho’s ribs, that big shaft/hole) 

is actually keeping the Vault of the Sentinel open at all times

and that

well that must take a LOT of power and eridium, right?

i think that’s exactly the purpose of tycho’s ribs

now im not a physics major but i would bet this is some sort of power generator

because of these pulses

and would it be so hard to reason that the eridians decided to build it in the cryo rocks/methane reserves of elpis in order to keep it cooler?

in fact i could not shake this feeling so i looked around on the wikia for tycho’s ribs

here’s a list of the areas in tycho’s ribs

compression chamber

exhaust port

maintenance access 42 (which im certain is a HGTTG reference)

observation deck

particle collection chamber

the most important of these areas i would say is 

maintenance access 42, mostly because it’s explicitly stated to be “lined up with a number of energy generators” that then leads to the exhaust port (and from there, eleseer)

sooooo break here because im about to switch gears 180%

----------------------

guess who just realized eleseer might mean ele-seer as in [Extinction Level Event]-seer [where seer is a person who is supposed to be able, through supernatural insight, to see what the future holds]- because everything in tps is named after seeing/watching. we got the Watcher, the Sentinel, even the Vault treasure is being able to see the future. considering most things are named after mythos in borderlands, eleseer is actually not a single word in mythos and uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh “ele” and “seer” both actually mean something.

that is, Eleseer should mean something like ‘prophet of the extinction’

That’s pretty metal

also no good, i guess

am i about to rewrite my entire zarpedon and the lost legion eternal theory? oh i guess i am. wheeeeeeee

oh, and given that this was the story summary of the game before the website was updated all those weeks ago, i think we know exactly what sort of extinction was being prophesied

cool? cool

doesn’t help that tannis hints at this, too

with her ‘mass extinction’ reference in Commander Lilith

“... mass extinction. i figured we had at minimum six or seven years before something like that”

(sorry for the cruddy screenshot i took it my first time through, am not up for playing the entire dlc again for that one line right now)

okay i might pull this back later on in this post, because i think i have a good idea of where to go, but just keep this in the back of ur mind. sorry u gotta deal with my dumb ass jumping between topics so often lol

---------------------------------

anyway, tycho’s ribs being the opening to the real Vault of Elpis. Yeah. I refuse to believe there’s a giant space place in the middle of the moon just hanging out. i’ve discussed in an earlier post about whether or not it was a pocket dimension fueled by Eridium, but i mean what is a Vault but that?

i mean if they need eridium to power the opening to the vault, they’ve certainly got that covered, there’s eridium EVERYWHERE in tycho’s ribs. that plus all those (apparent) power generators... yeah i think they’re covered

also somewhat off topic but have you guys noticed in TPS how rocks surrounding cryo get white/blue lines, rocks surrounding lava get red/orange lines, and rocks surrounding eridian ruins get purple lines? 

probably from all that FUCKIN ERIDIUM

sorry i get off topic so much

anyway

i think that the entirety of Eleseer is the Vault of Elpis. That the entrance is being held open by Tycho’s ribs/Elpis through massive amounts of power/eridium

and it could be possible that using all that eridium to keep the Vault from closing is what’s causing all that ‘chemical sludge’ that mutated the Lost Legion Eternal into the pseudo-Sirens they are.

and remember that the center of eleseer is a giant eridium crystal? and apparently entering it teleports you inside and then you fight the sentinel and see the future?

i think that’s all an illusion. I wouldn’t argue that you go into the Eridium. sure. But i think that the whole thing in there is actually a program/hologram/illusion, or the eridian equivalent of it.

You remember in the claptastic DLC where the Vault Hunters are ‘turned into code’ and injected into Claptrap?

don’t you think that was like... really weird concept despite being canon? it’s possibly that was gearbox’s way (because gearbox did take over for that dlc) of introducing that idea as something that IS possible in canon, as to explain that the Vault of the Sentinel actually isn’t magic

and you might be thinking

what the fuck is cruddy on, this is super far-fetched

but it’s not!

think about it, the skybox is the EXACT SAME as Eleseer. which should already be ur first clue that something isn’t right, considering you can’t see eleseer anywhere around you. Even the map is the same. If you had a side quest open, you can see that the game still thinks you’re in the correct area. even though this area is LEAGUES bigger than the actual crystal. shit, you can even seen the enemies around you still

and what animation plays when you teleport inside the crystal? the same one as the lilith teleportation

all those circuit looking things. the same exact things that are everywhere on eridian tech, including the Vault Key from bl2

but you haven’t GONE anywhere

you’re still where you were before, the map confirms this, even the skybox confirms this and yet there’s no hint of eleseer actually around you

there’s more hang on lemme get the ~pictures~

okay you see that pink 2d fire effect on the ‘walls’?

if you actually walk up to it, you’re greeted with this grid effect locking you on the platform

and this effect on the floor

which you know, screams projection/hologram to me. i mean the fire is legitimately 2d. it’s flat.

also the Vault pieces that form the Vault of the Sentinel (ignoring that we’re already inside the Vault of the Sentinel

you know...)

they’re formed out of the floor. just materialized

which again... is really weird. and i don’t think this is a real Vault for obvious reasons (we’re already inside the Vault of the Sentinel, Eleseer is the Vault, etc etc) but also just look at the Vault in general

it looks weird

again, calling back the other Vaults we’ve seen in this series

they’re all made of stone/rock

the Vault of the Sentinel is... not? if it is, it’s shiny asf obsidian or something

either way, it’s entirely different compared to the other Vaults we’ve seen in the borderlands series, it’s entirely smooth with no markings and, while it’s broken into pieces to hold that aesthetic, it’s not cracked or anything. the broken look was likely intentional

too shiny

not a real Vault

~everything in this area is fake~

even the steps appearing as the sentinel walks down is just... not real to me

like the sentinel is the one controlling this tiny pocket dimension/hologram/program/whatever you get the idea

further proof by him summoning more structures as the fight goes on, from stuff to hop onto to avoid his attacks and barriers to hide behind

hell, he even crawls out of the ground himself at one point, as a bigger version of himself, which is probably the real version of him considering that one actually dies when we kill it, while the tiny one just keeps getting brought back to life and laughs at us

i mean cracks even appear around the floor when the big boy comes in, unlike every other thing that’s summoned from this floor cracks appear only when the Empyrean Sentinel comes in. the real sentinel

like this rock (iunno lol it’s the first screenshot i found) im saying the tiny sentinel and the vault he walks out of are both fake

the big sentinel is the real one come to kill us after getting frustrated we keep destroying his avatar

he’s feeling the gamer rage lol

and you know how when you kill a Vault Monster and the Vault closes, it drags it back inside? referencing the warrior here, because idk wtf the canonical thing is for the Destroyer given when Hyperion does

instead of being dragged into the Vault we see him walk out of, the one that’s right there in front of us, he’s dragged back into the floor

there he go

oh speaking of that Vault

yeah it’s not like any other Vault we’ve seen for another reason

check out the edges on this bad boy

it’s like a bubble in a bubble wand

good shit

meanwhile the Vault of the Sentinel is all crinkly and shit

like hmmmm i don’t THINK so

and when you actually walk into that structure? you’re just teleported to the back of the crystal you walked into

which should be another indication that maybe something isn’t right here

also the Vault Treasure, while inside that weird hologram/pocket dimension/program/seriously whatever you wanna call it, is probably an illusion, too. personally, i can see the entirely of this Vault being like a huge computer, that can compute the future of whoever touches the key and show it to them

We know Vault Monsters are tied into their Vaults, like the Traveler being able to teleport just like the Vault it came out of, the Warrior being the giant living weapon, the Sentinel is probably the guardian of the timeline or whatever. He probably has 3 faces to see the Past, Present, and Future. that’s my theory, anyway. i also noticed the one on the furthest left doesn’t have eyes, while the one furthest to the right doesn’t have a mouth.

which i thought was a cool detail to tie into that theory

anyway

i was going to regale you the tale of my lost legion eternal/Calypso twins theory

but like BETTER this time with MORE evidence

cuz i can and tbh that post is getting harder and harder to find every day

lemme just copy and paste the tl;dr for everyone who doesn’t wanna read the whole thing (i meaaan maybe do because it goes pretty in depth and im gonna summarize a lot of stuff plus im about to add more stuff here so)

“The whole Tl;Dr is that I think the events of BL3 are a chain reaction from Jack opening the Vault in TPS and that Zarpedon saw even further beyond into the future than Jack did with the 2nd Vault on Pandora. Bonus, the Lost Legion Eternal and the Vault on Elpis is the key to giving the Children of the Vault superpowers because the twins kept failing. Yes, that’s a reference to the cover art easter egg.”

So for those of you who don’t know, basically the twins claim to be giving their followers “special powers”

‘Learn special powers!’

and i’ve been thinking a lot about how they’re going to do that, exactly.

because Siren powers, well, there’s only 6 (supposedly), and you can be sure Tyreen isn’t going to give up her own. Now she could just be handing out Siren powers to high-ranking cultists after she steals them (like Liliths), but we see she (or Troy) is using Lilith’s powers on the cultists to teleport them on Promethea. so that can’t be the case.

But we do know about something that’s really, REALLY similar.

We know about the Lost Legion Eternal. and i’ve been thinking about them a lot. 

in the post I go over some ties to Sirens, notably how Magus ones can fling slag balls at you, just like Maya’s melee override capstone, how Tempests have the same elemental wings Sirens get and can sling elements, one is literally called a phasewalker, etc, etc.

but they’re not Sirens. they’re super imperfect and just weird. like the slag balls aren’t perfect orbs like maya’s is, they’re weird and wobbly. the tempests wings aren’t fully formed, they don’t even have, as far as i can tell, actual tattoos

and how did these Eternals get these weird Siren powers exactly?

it’s explained that these ‘rashes’ and shit started appearing after Zarpdeon’s dig team was exposed to the Eridian ruins, specifically some vapors in the air

[callback to the ventilation shaft in tycho’s ribs, anyone?]

during her boss fight, zarpedon even mentions that the Vault is buried underneath a ‘tangle of chemical filth’

so it’s obvious this ‘chemical filth’ is what’s mutating her team and turning them into Eternals.

but they’re not like... always using Siren powers.

they’re not always ascended

they actually have a trigger to ascend. for one, they gotta be low enough health. but two... im pretty sure they gotta have Eridium on them

a lot of the LLE models have Eridium on their belts

like so. which is fair, you know? lots of eridium on elpis apparently because of tycho’s ribs.

but then there’s this

when the eternals ascend

when they come back down, they have eridium growing out of their chests/shoulders

take this tempest for example

im also not 100% sure what their ascending animation even is? it looks almost like they're throwing eridium powder on top of themselves? or stabbing themselves with the crystals? idek

maybe they’re just saluting/grabbing at their bodies as they change

there’s gotta be something there involved with eridium cause they certainly don’t have those crystals growing out of them beforehand

i almost want to say their blood has crystallized/hardened into those crystals cause if you look at Zarpedon’s death scene, she’s bleeding neon purple

just like Guardians do

which is fun

im also curious if this, in any way, ties into the Commander Lilith DLC. Like we know the plant stuff in the mine was more than likely mutated by the eridian ruins and that they’ve already gotten into everyone on earth

and Hector is using the Vault Key/Map to synthesize the gas to ‘activate’ the particles that are already inside of everyone

which ties into the Lost Legion Eternal in that they’re also not always ‘ascended’ (mutated), but they need Eridium (Vault Key gas) to become their second state. given these are both caused by Eridian stuff, I 100% can see them being tied together in some way. probably worded a helluve a lot better than i just did, too.

OH

OHHHHH YOU KNOW I JUST HAD AN IDEA

okay maybe this ties not only into the Lost Legion Eternal, like you know what i was actually getting at, but Sirenhood as a whole. in that everyone is inherently a Siren, but only 6 are ever “active” at a time

and maybe Tannis can figure out a way to force this/induce Sirenhood in people. We know she’s the one who’s been studying both Sirens and the Vault Key (and Eridium) for the longest time. and now she has experience with this sort of deal with Hector and the gas. Maybe that’s why there’s cut content of Tannis going “oh is that why... nevermind” when talking about Angel’s powers appearing at 5 instead of birth.

s o oh man okay so the twins are going to use Elpis (moon is key) to create their army of pseudo-sirens

okay

okay oh man okay

and then tannis is going to reveal that she’s figured out a way to induce sirenhood in people like officially, none of that cheap rip-off shit and there’s gonna be an all out WAR of real Sirens vs fake Sirens

im just saying you know the game devs were all like “mmm we might introduce new skill trees instead of new VHs as dlc” and IM JUST SAYING maybe those new skill trees are already in the game and they’re gonna appear when the VHs get their own Siren powers (Amara gets an upgraded version of her own, like Lilith) and that’s why Guardian ranks are unlocked until the end of the story because then we’ll be able to buff ourselves with 

alright yeah sorry i got a little too excited there

let’s ground ourselves back in reality

we know the twins are planning to somehow give their cultists powers, and we know that the Lost Legion Eternal are basically pseudo-Sirens without the need to steal and gift anyone Siren powers (which you know we don’t even know if Tyreen or Troy CAN gift the powers they steal. I’m still holding onto the theory that Tyreen passes them to Troy with the arm shake and Troy is the output and Ty is the input, but now isn’t the time to discuss this).

it wouldn’t be viable to give all their followers Siren powers ANYWAY, unless they find a way to multiply them (possibly a part of Tyreen’s/Troy’s powers? like being the main holder, but being able to gift it to others so long as you keep yours- could explain the ‘knighting’ looking thing Troy does with a cultist)

UGH I KEEP GETTING OFF TOPIC OKAY I HAVE STUFF I WANNA SAY

THEY’RE GIVING THE CULTISTS POWERS

YES

OKAY

we know in the mask of mayhem, Siren powers are indicated by Angel Wings.

What if the fake Sirens are indicated by something that’s not Angel wings. something that’s still wings- still holding Siren powers- but maybe indicative of a corrupted angel wing

like uhhhhhhhh

rakk wings?

yeah

yeah let’s go with that

you know like how bat wings are supposed to be demon wings and bird wings are angel wings okay yeah we get the tie-in

im just saying! directly below this dude (who is the cover art psycho, just you know, putting that out there, probably some sort of tie in to the gold weapons (high standing in the cult) and the robes and stuff. you knoooow you only get powers when you’re loyal enough or whatever, you know)

we have lilith with her angel wings, indicating her Siren-ness. which i don’t think is a coincidence

i got more though, because of the museum of mayhem

we know on pandora, there are hyperion pumping stations for slag and eridium, right? so if the twins were controlling some pumping stations on pandora, it’s a given that they’d be, you know, hyperion-brand

so in this concept art we see something like a pumping station, with a waterfall of purple goop, which you know, i immediately associate with those darn eridians annnnd

this isn’t Hyperion.

this is DAHL baby

and where did dahl have such a big presence and huge pumping stations all over the surface? (with bandits already everywhere, no less?)

elpis!! 

originally dahl was there mining and pumping methane all across the planet, and, while they also had a mining presence on pandora before bl1, there weren’t any pumping stations there. they were mining for iridium (not to be confused with eridium), which really wouldn’t require pumps of any kind cause its a metal

so why is this pumping station considered holy holy holy? because it’s the source of their fake Siren powers

we even see, on the mask of mayhem, giant pumps with scaffolding and ladders all around them, they even have valves and shit

which, you know, are spewing vapor which could also tie into the gas that transformed the LLE

orrrr the purple stuff is just slag runoff from the eridium refinement process and cultists are fucking weird cause it could also just be a way for the twins to charge all the vault keys they’re collecting but damn it please let me have this lmao

i mean, why wouldn’t the twins go to elpis in search for the Vault that lets you see the future? that seems like a HUGE deal to me. especially for the two who seem to have this huge, grand plan in place. “you’re my most loyal follower vault thief, you just don’t know it yet” yeah i sure don’t let’s go to elpis and see what you guys have in store for us vault hunters!

man how fucked up would it be if us vault hunters had been brainwashed from the start to think the cult was the crimson raiders and the crimson raiders were the cult

now that’d be one hell of a twist

could explain why sanctuary-iii goes from orange/gray to blue/yellow with red graffiti on it

but uhhhhhhhh that’s a theory for another time because it is 2:07 in the am and im tired as FUCK

[noescapevg]

“Politics? In MY Video Games? It’s more likely than you think.”

Welcome to No Escape, a video game writing blog by me, Trevor Hultner. I’m a 27-year-old human person on the internet who thinks writing about video games will somehow bring me joy still, in 2019. I should definitely know better, but here I am!

Earlier this week, video game media Twitter started buzzing about an op-ed by Russ Pitts, the Editor-in-Chief over at the “New” Escapist Magazine, which was relaunched late last year. In this op-ed, Pitts took the “branching paths” approach to essay-writing, going down many different avenues of conversation regarding “ethics in games journalism” toward an overall point of... and I quote: 

“To be honest, I don’t know [where this leaves us]. The last time we all tried to have this conversation it … didn’t go well. But the industry, the media, and you all deserve more, and the only way we’ll get there is if we can try again.”

Pitts has taken the old post down (a copy of which you better believe I’ve saved) and put an apology up in its place. He apologizes for potentially instigating remnants of GamerGate to go after their old targets yet again, but... 

I think I’m getting too far ahead of myself. There’s a time and place to critique Pitts’ post and his apology, and that time is coming soon, but why are we here to start with? 

Entertainment is not exempt from politics

There seems to be a widespread belief among people who are not outwardly far-right ideologues that the things we enjoy - music, movies, books, video games - are not inherently political. A book is just a book, a game is just a game, and so on. And these things we enjoy should be convergence points: places where people from everywhere on the socio-cultural-political spectrum can come together and share in the enjoyment. 

The thing is, games - as well as books, movies, music, etc. - are made by people, and people can’t help but be shaped by the world around them. Our influences are most of the time very expressly political, even if we’re not picking up on the messages right away. 

Here’s an example. Destiny and Destiny 2 are two highly popular post-Halo FPS games from Bungie. The franchise’s overarching story is exceedingly simple: You play a reborn and functionally immortal “Guardian” of the remnants of humanity. Your franchise-long mission, given to you by your Ghost, is to defend humanity and something called the Traveler, which is also the source of your new supernatural powers, from the forces of the Darkness. The easiest way to carry out your mission is to defeat hordes of enemies by shooting, punching and superpowering your way to victory. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy. No politics at all, right? 

Well.

As you play the games, and especially the campaign for Destiny 2, you catch glimpses of a heavily-stratified class society, with the essentially-divinely-chosen Guardians on top and mortal humanity below them. The Guardians have built a massive wall around the Last Safe City on Earth with the functional purpose of keeping humanity’s enemies at bay, but we hear from one character how the walls also serve to keep humanity in, essentially forming a prison state. 

Then there’s the moral quandary of your stated mission: kill everything that wants to kill the Light. While there are at least two very evil alien factions in the game (the Vex and the Hive/Taken), two more exist with more ambiguous motives, or at the very least, a much less well-defined alignment with the Darkness. The Fallen (whose actual species is called the Eliksni) and the Cabal are two alien armies the Guardians face off against where our acts of killing them seem more... genocidal than with the former, more markedly “evil” enemies. 

The Eliksni in particular sits in a tragic position: their mission is to simply reclaim the techno- and morphological blessings the Traveler bestowed upon them, and to rebuild their society after their own collapse (known in the lore as The Whirlwind). The Cabal don’t seem super interested in the Traveler, at least not at first, and their incursion on Earth doesn’t actually take place until Dominus Ghaul brings the Red Legion planetside. Why couldn’t we negotiate with them instead of fighting? It’s questionable. 

“Okay, fine, Destiny is political. But not every game has to be!” You might be muttering to yourself. And that’s true! Not every game has to be political. But that doesn’t stop many games from being expressly political, and that doesn’t stop developers from having political views that shape the way they do business, at the very least.

And for that matter, that doesn’t stop the game’s audience from being political, even if they think they’re not. Misogyny, transphobia and homophobia, racism, ableism and other bigotries have expressly political and ideological roots. And I hate to break it to you, but when people who share ideologies group together to collectively organize around those ideologies, a la GamerGate, that’s a definitively political act. When “gamers” decried the gleeful Nazi-punching in the latest Wolfenstein edition, that was a political act. 

There is No Escape

I always find myself at a disadvantage when I decide to start talking about politics, because of the deep ideological gap between myself and my interlocutors most of the time. I’m an anarchist with roots in punk rock music, which has deeply effected the lens in which I view the entire world. I’m used to the idea that everything is political. You might not be. That’s okay. Be open to new possibilities. Just realize that there is no escape. 

I’m starting this blog partly out of spite for folks like Pitts at the Escapist, but also because I think it actually is possible to spark conversations about the nature of ethics in video games as a whole, and that these conversations don’t need to be led by the same tired media voices. By embracing politics the way politics has embraced us, there might actually come a day where people don’t have to rehash the same six tired discussions over and over again.

The image at the top of this post is a screenshot from HBomberguy’s massive Donkey Kong 64 marathon livestream. He raised $340,000 out of spite for transphobic washed up comedy writers, and in the process, got Chelsea Manning and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the same chatroom for a little bit. He got John Romero to say “Trans Rights” on stream. That’s some wild stuff, and it was absolutely expressly political.

There is no other kind of situation where something like that could happen.

So what is there to do?

Well, that’s a broad question. This blog will examine video games through a political lens, that much is for sure. Ideally, like really “pie in the sky” stuff here, this blog would be a resource for people wanting to know more about issues in the video game industry as a whole and wanting something to “do” about those issues. But as for you? 

Get used to the idea of politics in your games, and get acclimated with the problems facing the people in the industry who aren’t collecting fat checks from their labor. Support efforts to unionize games workers, and support indie devs when you can. Hopefully, over time, we can all be organized for a better games future.

Thanks for reading!

[bloojayoolie]

Being Alone, Anaconda, and Arguing: 4 points 11 hours ago Then complete it and come back and show us. You haven't even come close and I doubt you can even solo a single level on Legendary. Let alone with all skulls on permalink save parent report give gold reply 个㈠ g y .1 points 11 hours ago I can't believe you seriously think the achievements in MCC are hard. There's guys with over 150k Gamerscore who finished them in mere days. How do you know I haven't done LASO? There's a dozen guides for all sorts of stuff like "Like A Fine Wine" I think you're just trying to tell me that you're bad. So ok. Also I like how you have your score in your flair. Is that so everyone can easily identify that you try very hard in games and have little else to do? Achievements are fun. None are particularly hard. Only repetitive. The sad thing is that you think you're better than others for spending more time attempting something that anyone can do, if they are bored enough and don't have anything else better to do. I'm sorry that I find your score the opposite of impressive bro. But there's maybe some 9 year olds on a sub somewhere I could refer you to if you need some fans. permalink save parent edit disable inbox replies delete reply 5 points 11 hoursago Prove you done it. If laso isn't hard then you should have no trouble doing it. Wait here's all the proof we need. https://imgur.com/a/ROh you had the achievements given to you by someone who did it legit. All you had to do was permve parent report give gold reply Stepped in to call OP out on his hypocrisy 4 hours ago Stop being a fucking hypocrite dude. Why don't YOU prove you did the lasos legit? Because your post here tells me Hi I was put in a group about a week ago but my friend had my game. If anyone can get me the checkpoints I'd really d.aspx?tid= wise. anchor 5498863 If your doing it "legit" like you claim, why tha fuck are you even in or looking at checkpoint threads??? I have screenshots if you delete that post on TA like your doing here permalink save parent report give gold reply 个[-] guy .5 points 11 hours ago that I can do an achievement to win an 'internet argument' so he Prove to a very triggered guy who doesn't feel like he wasted hours of his life attempting something that others can do more easily than him. Whilst I I value my time and dignity a bit more than that sorry and there's nothing in it for me, not even gamer points. Maybe if you were someone important I'd consider it. Try not to lose too much sleep over points that no one who's anyone, cares about. I'l do you a favour and stop replying so you can make the "Yeah didn't think so". If that helps. Good luck with LASO man. YouTube really help:s btw [+1 [deleted] 13 hours ago (3 children) He deleted his posts +) Idalated) 10 hours ago" (5 childran) 2 points 11 hours ago Alright. I'll bite. Seeing as you made this personal. I'll PM you my Gamertag. Check for yourself I've done it. After that you can shut up and go back to crying that you having been playing Xbox long enough or whatever excuse you want to If that shuts up one annoying guy who thinks that points are so important because he has insecurity issues. Fine with me. permalink save parent edit disable inbox replies delete reply I-1 Of course you don't think laso is hard. You had the achlevements glitched for you. https://ift.tt/1R01gec https://imgur.com/a/ROl What's even funnier if you actually completed Hannah Montana. You played a little girls game for gamerscore. Pathetic. permalink embed save parent report give gold replied guy The hypocrisy here is fucking brilliant. Here you are asking for checkpoints A WEEK AGO: https://.imgur.com Halo MCC ALL LASO + Saga achievement distribution #2 https://ift.tt/2KpxJlL It's hypocritical fucks like you that give me the most amount of entertainment here. The absolute shit storm of PMs that you sent me after you were so 100% convinced I didn't have LASO Master, and then when I had it. You bitched at me because you think that I glitched it, even when I have proof in my DVR I did it legit. But what about you, you 27 year old manchild? Begging for checkpoints ONLY ONE WEEK AGO for the SAME FUCKING ACHIEVEMENT You played fucking Hannah Montanah for Gamerscore Right and the whole fucking LEGO series for kids that you played to try and pad your score https://ift.tt/2Mw4lYz Yeah that's totally okay huh? This is why I love reddit, because I didn't come here to swing my 300k sized dick around. But as soon as someone made you feel insecure by saying "Who cares" you raced in to show everyone what a piece of shit you are. P.S. Good job at deleting your comments. I take that as "Oh fuck, I forgot that I asked A WEEK AGO for a checkpoint to try and complete this achievement and no one gave a fuck! P.P.S. You wanna know something really funny? I didn't even find this info because I have better things to do tharn argue with you or cop more vitriolic shit via PMs from you. Another user stepped in after he saw what a piece of crap you were being and he sent me evidence after digging through your TA account. That's how much of a cockslap you are that someone else had to step in to help put you in your place. https://ift.tt/2KdKals permalink save parent edit disable inbox replies delete reply [deleted]-0 points submitted 10 hours ago he started deleting comments... 1 points submitted 10 hours ago Bitches about boosting but you've also been in boosting groups yourself on TA and the run is in my DVR. Yeah real awkward dude. For sure/facepalm Have fun playing. Man some people take this shit seriously. I guess that's what happens when you got nothing better to do with your time. deleted] points submitted 30 hours ago 4 points submitted 10 hours ago 200k. you got my tag and you don't know how DVR works? Ok then I'm out. There's no helping this guy. P.S. Thanks for the massive wall of abuse in the PMs. I'm sure the admins will appreciate the extra work. And you my friend need a break from the internet. Enjoy your ban. Game Discussion: Halo: The Master Chief Collection Forum -BONUS DMs!- Halo MCC ALL LASO + Saga achievement distribution #2 op sent 10 hours ago You're a fucking liar. Fuck off you pathetic piece of shit. You got called on your bullshit now run along bitch permalink delete report block user mark unread reply lfrom Op sent 10 hours ago You cheated for the achievements. You didn't even do it yourself. You watched a fucking cutscene. You leech off of others hard work. You're a parasite was put in a group about a week ago out my friend had my game. If anyone can get me the checkpoints I'd really appreciate it. like There's a difference between playing for achievements and permalink delete report block user mark unread reply -1 from op sent 10 hours ago permalink delete report block user mark unread reply I-1 from op sent 14 hours ago Lol I love how I proved your bullshit. You sat there claiming you actually did it. "It's not hard I did it no problem Why lie about it if you don't care about achievements? [still messaging 4 more hours later...] permalink delete report block user mark unread reply The great thing about the Qi 40 isn't beatingthe games, that I dhid e or OP claims guy doesn't have rare Xbox achievement. Guy confirms but OP claims he cheated. Another Redditor steps in prove OP's a hypocrite. OP deletes posts.

[id-omega-blog]

My first jrpg: Phantasy Star IV

This is the amazingly spectacular cover the amazing megadrive/genesis rpg, Phantasy Star IV. I believe it retailed new in the neighborhood of 100$, maybe a bit less. I think Chrono Trigger was 70$, maybe more.  I never got to buy Phantasy Star IV so it had to be rented from our old Blockbuster. Of course if I hadn’t seen the sprawing, multi-page long review/mini walkthrough of the first part of the game in an issue of Gamefan that I got for Christmas I never would have bothered with this game. I was young, obviously, and mostly played stuff like Sonic, Ristar, Mortal Kombat 2 and Street Fighter Super/Turbo..whatever. I really digged the genesis Aladdin game too and actually owned it. I was starting to get into anime because Sailormoon would air at 2:30 EST on Fox Kids so i would get to sneak a watch if I was sick from school, it was a holiday or we’d gotten out early. I LOVED the show even though I had no idea what was going on. I wanted more things that looked like that. So, I see PS4 in Gamefan along with all the screenshots and ingame cutscenes of characters like Zio, who reminded me of one of Queen Beryl’s lackies but also was super evil and scary looking to me. The monsters looked awesome and way more detailed than the typical badnik mooks I spent my weekends bopping to release cute little flickies. So, its friday during June, I think I’d just gotten out of school and mom took me to Blockbuster. I searched the shelves for Phantasy Star IV and couldn’t find it so I asked mom for help. When I was really little and wanted to find a game I would sometimes get her to help me search the massive shelves. Mom quickly found it and asked “Is this the game?

Yeah...I believe the Shining Force games got a similar treatment at least on the sega genesis. For the record I don’t hate western style fantasy art and love collecting musty old AD&D books for the art and like Warhammer but yea..as a kid that cover art made nauseous. Its not quite Megaman 2 nes bad but its just so....WRONG. At least they still kept Chaz’s original color scheme and design I guess..but what they did to Rune was unforgivable. I won’t comment on Rika. My biggest problem with this style of art is that it makes you think Phantasy Star IV is some kind of medieval D&D inspired game. The core Phantasy Star games are best described as fantasy sci-fi, sort of like Star Wars. You have interplanetary travel, cyborgs,ecosystems controlled by AI sometimes prone to turning evil but but people fight with swords,axes and use magic. It really is a lot like Star Wars setting wise since the first planet you start on, Motavia, looks and feels a whole like Tatooine.  It was a very fun but confusing game to me. I loved the music and anime stills used for cutscenes but I would explore certain locations and BOOM the music abruptly switches to fast paced battle music and I’m now on a different screen with more detailed versions of my party facing detailed sprites of bad guys. I eventually figured out what I was suppose to do by selecting attack with everybody, but I’d see certain people would do a lot more damage when I did this. After several more battles I discovered techs/magic but the only ones I understood were those that did direct damage and made cool explosions. If I selected a spell that did something besides direct damage I just assumed it was completely worthless. Its been so long but I think the farthest I got was to Zio’s castle but I never got past the first boss and had to return the game. I rented it again a few weeks to discover my file had been written over(I think) or there was someone else’s file. I clicked that one and was confused even more because I was on this snowy planet with melancholy music and my party had different members and some were missing. I left the town and saw I had a swanky spaceship so I went back to Motavia, the first planet. I wandered around and for the life of me I could not figure out where Alys was. What happened to Zio? I played a bit more and some snooping around one town made me realize what had happened to Alys and then I just got into more random battles for fun because I had Wren the cyborg now and I thought all his moves were badass. I played a bit more but then got tired of all the aimless wandering and went outside to play. Really dating myself there... So that’s the story of my first rpg. I never did buy the game but i later discovered the wonderful world of emulation in the 7th grade and was finally able to play stuff like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 4,5,6. Yes, I am one of those many Final Fantasy posers who’s first game was 7. I could exaggerate and say it was FF1 because my sister had an nes and played it but she rarely let me touch her console ever. I just knew her frustration about where to go after she got some flute. But back to the topic, I also downloaded Gens (obviously a genesis/megadrive emulator) and the first game I downloaded was....Sonic 3! THEN I downloaded Phantasy Star IV, got super far and was able to truly appreciate this wonderful and mostly forgotten jrpg. But..I didn't beat it. I got to sky castle, to the ::SPOILERS:: fight against a certain someone from PS1 and my game would always freeze when I was about to defeat him. I fruitlessly searched for a solution to my problem but alas I could never find a method to bypass the bug.  We have way better emulators now and PS4 has been ported to steam and other consoles, always bundled together with other classic genesis games such as Shining Force 1 and 2, Landstalker, Streets of Rage etc. I’m going to beat PS4 one day, probably very soon. I have played and beaten so many rpgs, both western and Japanese(mostly Japanese) and they are my favorite genre of video game by far.  So, thanks Phantasy Star IV, for introducing me to rpgs and making me into the lifelong weeb scum I am today.

[batterymonster2021]

??Should I Invest in Bitcoin ICOs? |Bitcoin Price 2380 JULY 11| Initial Coin Offering Token Sale

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/%f0%9f%a4%94%f0%9f%92%b0should-i-invest-in-bitcoin-icos-bitcoin-price-2380-july-11-initial-coin-offering-token-sale/

??Should I Invest in Bitcoin ICOs? |Bitcoin Price 2380 JULY 11| Initial Coin Offering Token Sale

Like a boss. That is right everybody you are now rocking with the high-quality that is the boasts of a bitcoin the cristo of Cristo is your boy bk And when you do not like me you have got to now not like money at present is july eleven 2017 Bitcoin continues to be floating trending above water i am sorry, correct below the surface at 2375 it hasn’t pulled the plug yet, however I feel it’s coming lovely quickly So unless then you know we’ll keep it moving and i will try to help you guys make some money put you in a position to be victorious And in these days we will be able to be speakme about I see oh’s should you invest in an IC o—-? Numerous persons quite a lot of men and women asked me every single day should you should actual quick if you’re not a part of our facebook we’ve the quantity one bitcoin fruit on the earth that is what the name is on fb.Style it in there. Come join us we received about three,000 men and women each hour in these days anyone’s hanging up a new chart if you are simply now tuning in Congratulations, child. You rocking with the quality. I’m the boss of bitcoin. We have 64 hundred subscribers as soon as we’ve reached specific milestones so that it will accept bitcoin away one of the matters I desired to take action make sure you subscribe now turn your notifications on i am trying to do a video everyday of the week you realize to hold persons engaged maintain folks informed and also maintain humans empowered out there So one of the matters I desired to do real quick.I do know every day-to-day I provide you with a few half hour you already know to uh to get on the channel to get within the chat and to you understand 2 min. We’ve got like a bit countdown, however you know some of these people have been right here the entire time And we was once speakme with us have a excellent little chat you understand be aware of what hol be hold’em it and it and keep on for pricey existence.I realized anything today I failed to be aware of oh, I notion it meant like hosted or you understand from some sport thrown stuff I think y’all be aware of by my i’m a bit of intro screenshot i admire game thrown, so I proposal it intended like on the door, but here we go preserve on or do your existence? So I learned that at present, but one of the matters I advised my persons should you get right here early, you understand inside of 5 minutes at five minutes i’m cut it off, however in case you get here what i am doing any more is i am gifting away some bitcoin So without extra ado, I just wanted to select an individual that contributed to the conversation and that person looks like it’s going to be What do you guys suppose what do you guys feel? My man up here, Tucson, Arizona jumping with the boss Congratulations, child.You simply need your self some bitcoin what i am gonna do proper now. I am screenshotting your name Do me a favor go on YouTube and remark on this video and We bought to figure out how to do that soar on fb Um bounce on facebook and add me within the staff simply say simply say clearly you know what i’m gonna do i am a posted in the workforce correct now So whilst you see this publish simply remark that’s me that’s me, and all people’s gonna vote it up to the top and then that means you already know you ship me your bitcoin wallet I say you some bitcoin, and we can hold it moving i am what y’all know about that, that’s what i’m speakme about little one serving to folks receives a commission people learn jump in with the boss Congratulations, man. That is extremely good the deal Movin all right bitcoin.I ceo should you invest? In an IC o—- initially let’s ask a greater query what is Ico Ico is practically Crypto currencies manner of fundraising, correct coin supplying in the event you don’t forget large stocks on wall street when they go public they have an iPo that’s an preliminary public delivering So you know a variety of entrepreneurs? You realize i do know today in the business college when they would you know train us find out how to begin a industry They stated with the ending in intellect and continuously have an exit process That basically meant be ready to get purchased out by an individual else or be all set to move public and have wall street buy you out Which I didn’t I under no circumstances definitely agreed with however ipo used to be a public supplying the place you make your shares and your organization make equity in your corporation available to the public you present it to the general public Ip o an preliminary public supplying so Ic o—- is very nearly the identical factor for all these new Crypto poins that do not relatively have cash that you would be able to feel of it as crowd fund raising similar like Kickstarter gofundme Indiegogo, you understand quite a few these guys just have a quality idea might be one or two program cool Coders put together a white paper they usually’re providing fairness or tokens or forex.You realize some type of trade for people to take a position and a variety of times this is a based out of aetherium on account that aetherium has the api is that you simply would construct on And uh you understand layer into the blockchain so quite a lot of these things are more moderen opportunities to spend money on start-up Cryptocurrency platforms, however the whole lot comes at a fee then that you realize some of these crypto cash are searching for money They haven’t clearly made a product To get cash on their own, so that is one main factor to maintain keep within the front of your intellect like if if I just came up to you on the road or if I just walked into a Starbucks and say hello each person has Starbucks I received an inspiration I need to make Starbucks coin where you understand you you go get your coffee and rather of paying swiping your bank card you paying Starbucks going and that is how that is how we do it. Extra Starbucks cash You ought to extra persons purchase Starbucks the more cash each Starbucks factor is worth you realize, but it surely does not exist but, so I take some time I write out two or three pages i’ll put together just a little internet site. You know I make slightly page on Reddit steam. It can be like something get somewhat neighborhood collectively and go on the web and Have Ico for product that does not exist yet so worst Case scenario all of your cash disappears that guy that offered you Starbuck coin by no means planned on making something and Disappears Cosmo Mexico goes retire and also you never see him once more excellent-case situation Starbucks coin is the subsequent google and you are filthy rich And you are retired that’s a large big huge spectrum right that is a that could be a significant bounce and so my recommendation to you when the range is that tremendous the danger is that massive and the Uncertainty is that big is to restrict it altogether? Another purpose that I suggest this to you.Is that you understand one of the crucial matters you are going to to find you’ll study is that after foremost Media systems start speaking about something Sorry, you do not want to be concerned in it you already know once these guys begin speakme about anything that you heard about and possibly you were fascinated about hanging cash so as doubtless the cash is already that was imagined to be made has already made so that you quite don’t wish to be the final man or woman on the money instruct when these big foremost Publications start hyping it up there goes another one proper there, you realize i do not say their names Intentional on the grounds that I don’t need this out flag, however it’s real effortless to look you recognize there may be a further one there is an extra one so so that is a pink flag in itself the last thing i will show you is that the crisis with many of these coins is that after they do without a doubt come out? High example. I in reality was looking at this point He received launched on Polonia it went from zero point three three inside in the future to zero.05 that is significant after which ever due to the fact that then it’s basically been putting on for dear lifestyles you know barely having a heartbeat? So that is why i don’t propose moving into I seos considering that you cannot predict the Market’s response to it What I realized in speakme with Randy middleton sitting on this man’s couch this guy No, joke essentially the most effective Ico of all time however a number of times These more recent iCL’s they are saying they bought out in twenty minutes.They offered out in 5 minutes well no, they didn’t they sold out in two or three months broaden sales they have distribution organizations to the place you already know one agency could have 20 million greenbacks that you recognize they’ll put up but they want your coin, you understand at 50% worth proper? So they’ll say ok you are popping out with a coin you realize you are promoting it at 1 aetherium 1 for 1 we would like we will do a million greenbacks however we wanted at half of of an etherium, so that you say adequate, that’s assured cash you realize provide me that million bucks and bam there you go however the crisis is most of these coins are offered out by folks who get them at a discount So they don’t care that this market is down right here given that they already paid half of that nearly and So you might have whales that quite do not care in regards to the trade they do not care in regards to the present fee so long as it is greater two and 3 times higher to what they pay for it they usually Flip their money in a couple of weeks, they’re nice, and it crashes into the ground ninety% at a time when you have a coin that was once generated on an IC o—- and it without a doubt it’s too illegitimate trade and the actual market can buy it that is what occurs considering that the whales are cashing out all of their money and The relaxation of us are combating just to get pieces and just to get crumbs.So what i’m saying is don’t proper now it can be now not worth it. It is too much, chance. It is too much uncertainty i would much alternatively see you guys center of attention on The chart and you know catching strikes within the chart when a free market does exist And it’s now not so much inside corruption and trading And and we definitely have a fair shot although here. It can be still slightly skewed I believe on this next pullback a variety of that whale money has acquired to float away. You realize swim away, and can sincerely be reasonably virtually a true market as shut as we’re gonna be in bitcoin anyway For in most cases about the next month or in order a lot of their cash leaves, you know And it is just us left down 30 forty 60 70 percent will absolutely be able to see how this factor truely lives and from that we are able to learn a lot more relocating into the longer term so it is surely excellent that we’re going into this pullback due to the fact that As you will discover this isn’t reflective of you realize and a healthy market find it irresistible’s no method that should be viable gnosis you realize for what what they talk what you already know? What what they talk about gnosis is ordinarily one of you already know as a lot of expertise, but for that to be the fact when it can be launched on the issues change one of the vital high exchanges on the earth that indicates you and And Reggie middleton told me.He used to be like numerous these folks are becoming a coin eighty ninety percentage off you already know simply given that the people who are promoting a coin want their money So once we’re paying full rate Even at the Ico when it when a internet site is up, and that timer is strolling down, and you’re like oh my God it can be only four extra days, and you are paying you know thirty three to one you are basically paying full fee it can be probably about fifty million dollars that came in before you that bought it ninety percentage off you understand so even when you do get to an alternate you wait two or three months? Perhaps it could take two or three years depending on what you already know forex you are investing in and also you ultimately get to an trade and and that’s that happens, correct? In view that it was a lot extra money that got here in earlier than you that you under no circumstances noticed and so they’re casting out. They do not care So that’s my recommendation to you don’t put money into I cos additionally to that. It is a variety of Em magnificence that goes into into these token income no person quite knows precisely what’s gonna happen proper like I mentioned that man would the Starbucks coin guy would Disappear and go to Mexico, and you’d not ever see him once more.You might be additionally In cancun on spring break and you run across him on the seashore drinking ingesting a margarita And he looked at you in the face and approach omit a thank you. You supported me thanks, and so that is you recognize a notice of humor. I wanted to finish on useless etherium Token and that is what I desired you to peer The quantity one I co2 gear you need to grasp why cause it’s the primary one hundred percentage honest I see oh, they are saying if you are going to offer some random individual on the net money they may be gonna purchase stuff with it more commonly electronics. Maybe even a tremendous-monitor tv and also you go by means of this thing they said, it is the first of its form. It’s so sincere and Bester’s Can see the value of their coins and so they say it’s obvious no features approach few investors few traders approach few transactions few Transactions mean no network lag, so they are without a doubt helping the etherium community by taking your money off of it It probably at ease, nevertheless it’s obviously now not audited assured Token price they usually’re known as vain aetherium tokens for a purpose so apparently you already know quite a lot of persons have Contributed it is icea Fifty nine thousand greenbacks valued at so this is what I say you need to be very weary but when you are Gonna Throw cash into an Ico at the least do it into some thing like this the place you know you get most likely nothing And this guy’s Gonna go out and purchase you already know forty nine televisions together with your cash you realize I believe I think as a rule asked questions in case you look on the bottom energy How do I get money back for the token? I purchased you’re kidding right? So this man And on at number one I ceo of the 12 months he means that you can be aware of what you are getting earlier than you get it, and that’s obviously Nothing with that being stated it’s an excessive amount of danger in ICL’s don’t waste your cash it’s too many unknowns and a variety of the big cash got here in to the table earlier than you ever received there So with that being mentioned I desired to provide my people in a chat, you know i am saying i’m showing my men and women some love today.So what I wanted to do one time. I advised you earlier shout your country out it is a global group in the event you appreciate this time to do me a want hit that thumbs up button what that does that makes it possible for every body in our group all over the place the sector to understand that this video was once just right content understand that it helps you it with a bit of luck bought you within the right path with that I co did bid unless reggie instructed me that I used to be like wow i didn’t even know that but they actually have 1000’s of hundreds of thousands of greenbacks set up you know for presale on I see L is at eighty ninety percentage reduction and So when we sooner or later get to it when that website subsequently goes are living and we will switch our little aetherium from that wallet Oh, we’re just the icing on the cake.They already funded the entire factor And that’s why it sells out in three minutes 5 minutes thirty seconds, whatever it can be now not our money trust me That we do not have that much cash dust cash within the building Nyc Nyc Nyc. Oh The king of latest York proper now. You understand says Chicago shot tile was once good if you happen to within the chest shot to country out Arizona Az Kansas Germany two occasions Spain England brazil terrible to go Cardio Egypt Canada is attractive man, it’s a attractive community Ecuador i’m telling you South American nations man i’m just go take a go back and forth for approximately a month through South the us, and simply train bitcoin wake up on the seashore and drink wine. That’s what I’ma try this. I’m gonna do this i am do this for like a month watch So is gorgeous guys should you admire this content if you want to join this neighborhood if you happen to like the best way I instruct i try to hold it enjoyable. I attempt to keep it enjoyable, and i attempt to support you make some cash you recognize a number of mistakes.I made fee me a lot of money typically misplaced when it can be all said and carried out typically about 10 $20,000 you recognize this yr Between the final two years about 10 20 grand in the market um so I misplaced a lot of money however by shedding a lot of money. I learned to make a lot more and that’s my job is to try to empower you to be able to do it as well. You don’t ought to lose 20 grand i am displaying you from the bottom up, so in case you like that baby come back rock out what is daily this is the boats of bitcoin reporting? Verify it off it is that point of the day irrespective of where you keep from Brazil to the Bay, California A midway via port to return up via Germany just right night. Just right morning, and hiya. Y’all take it handy. I trap all on the flipside keep Cryptic y’all please .

[airoasis]

??Should I Invest in Bitcoin ICOs? |Bitcoin Price 2380 JULY 11| Initial Coin Offering Token Sale

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/%f0%9f%a4%94%f0%9f%92%b0should-i-invest-in-bitcoin-icos-bitcoin-price-2380-july-11-initial-coin-offering-token-sale/

??Should I Invest in Bitcoin ICOs? |Bitcoin Price 2380 JULY 11| Initial Coin Offering Token Sale

Like a boss. That is right everybody you are now rocking with the high-quality that is the boasts of a bitcoin the cristo of Cristo is your boy bk And when you do not like me you have got to now not like money at present is july eleven 2017 Bitcoin continues to be floating trending above water i am sorry, correct below the surface at 2375 it hasn’t pulled the plug yet, however I feel it’s coming lovely quickly So unless then you know we’ll keep it moving and i will try to help you guys make some money put you in a position to be victorious And in these days we will be able to be speakme about I see oh’s should you invest in an IC o—-? Numerous persons quite a lot of men and women asked me every single day should you should actual quick if you’re not a part of our facebook we’ve the quantity one bitcoin fruit on the earth that is what the name is on fb.Style it in there. Come join us we received about three,000 men and women each hour in these days anyone’s hanging up a new chart if you are simply now tuning in Congratulations, child. You rocking with the quality. I’m the boss of bitcoin. We have 64 hundred subscribers as soon as we’ve reached specific milestones so that it will accept bitcoin away one of the matters I desired to take action make sure you subscribe now turn your notifications on i am trying to do a video everyday of the week you realize to hold persons engaged maintain folks informed and also maintain humans empowered out there So one of the matters I desired to do real quick.I do know every day-to-day I provide you with a few half hour you already know to uh to get on the channel to get within the chat and to you understand 2 min. We’ve got like a bit countdown, however you know some of these people have been right here the entire time And we was once speakme with us have a excellent little chat you understand be aware of what hol be hold’em it and it and keep on for pricey existence.I realized anything today I failed to be aware of oh, I notion it meant like hosted or you understand from some sport thrown stuff I think y’all be aware of by my i’m a bit of intro screenshot i admire game thrown, so I proposal it intended like on the door, but here we go preserve on or do your existence? So I learned that at present, but one of the matters I advised my persons should you get right here early, you understand inside of 5 minutes at five minutes i’m cut it off, however in case you get here what i am doing any more is i am gifting away some bitcoin So without extra ado, I just wanted to select an individual that contributed to the conversation and that person looks like it’s going to be What do you guys suppose what do you guys feel? My man up here, Tucson, Arizona jumping with the boss Congratulations, child.You simply need your self some bitcoin what i am gonna do proper now. I am screenshotting your name Do me a favor go on YouTube and remark on this video and We bought to figure out how to do that soar on fb Um bounce on facebook and add me within the staff simply say simply say clearly you know what i’m gonna do i am a posted in the workforce correct now So whilst you see this publish simply remark that’s me that’s me, and all people’s gonna vote it up to the top and then that means you already know you ship me your bitcoin wallet I say you some bitcoin, and we can hold it moving i am what y’all know about that, that’s what i’m speakme about little one serving to folks receives a commission people learn jump in with the boss Congratulations, man. That is extremely good the deal Movin all right bitcoin.I ceo should you invest? In an IC o—- initially let’s ask a greater query what is Ico Ico is practically Crypto currencies manner of fundraising, correct coin supplying in the event you don’t forget large stocks on wall street when they go public they have an iPo that’s an preliminary public delivering So you know a variety of entrepreneurs? You realize i do know today in the business college when they would you know train us find out how to begin a industry They stated with the ending in intellect and continuously have an exit process That basically meant be ready to get purchased out by an individual else or be all set to move public and have wall street buy you out Which I didn’t I under no circumstances definitely agreed with however ipo used to be a public supplying the place you make your shares and your organization make equity in your corporation available to the public you present it to the general public Ip o an preliminary public supplying so Ic o—- is very nearly the identical factor for all these new Crypto poins that do not relatively have cash that you would be able to feel of it as crowd fund raising similar like Kickstarter gofundme Indiegogo, you understand quite a few these guys just have a quality idea might be one or two program cool Coders put together a white paper they usually’re providing fairness or tokens or forex.You realize some type of trade for people to take a position and a variety of times this is a based out of aetherium on account that aetherium has the api is that you simply would construct on And uh you understand layer into the blockchain so quite a lot of these things are more moderen opportunities to spend money on start-up Cryptocurrency platforms, however the whole lot comes at a fee then that you realize some of these crypto cash are searching for money They haven’t clearly made a product To get cash on their own, so that is one main factor to maintain keep within the front of your intellect like if if I just came up to you on the road or if I just walked into a Starbucks and say hello each person has Starbucks I received an inspiration I need to make Starbucks coin where you understand you you go get your coffee and rather of paying swiping your bank card you paying Starbucks going and that is how that is how we do it. Extra Starbucks cash You ought to extra persons purchase Starbucks the more cash each Starbucks factor is worth you realize, but it surely does not exist but, so I take some time I write out two or three pages i’ll put together just a little internet site. You know I make slightly page on Reddit steam. It can be like something get somewhat neighborhood collectively and go on the web and Have Ico for product that does not exist yet so worst Case scenario all of your cash disappears that guy that offered you Starbuck coin by no means planned on making something and Disappears Cosmo Mexico goes retire and also you never see him once more excellent-case situation Starbucks coin is the subsequent google and you are filthy rich And you are retired that’s a large big huge spectrum right that is a that could be a significant bounce and so my recommendation to you when the range is that tremendous the danger is that massive and the Uncertainty is that big is to restrict it altogether? Another purpose that I suggest this to you.Is that you understand one of the crucial matters you are going to to find you’ll study is that after foremost Media systems start speaking about something Sorry, you do not want to be concerned in it you already know once these guys begin speakme about anything that you heard about and possibly you were fascinated about hanging cash so as doubtless the cash is already that was imagined to be made has already made so that you quite don’t wish to be the final man or woman on the money instruct when these big foremost Publications start hyping it up there goes another one proper there, you realize i do not say their names Intentional on the grounds that I don’t need this out flag, however it’s real effortless to look you recognize there may be a further one there is an extra one so so that is a pink flag in itself the last thing i will show you is that the crisis with many of these coins is that after they do without a doubt come out? High example. I in reality was looking at this point He received launched on Polonia it went from zero point three three inside in the future to zero.05 that is significant after which ever due to the fact that then it’s basically been putting on for dear lifestyles you know barely having a heartbeat? So that is why i don’t propose moving into I seos considering that you cannot predict the Market’s response to it What I realized in speakme with Randy middleton sitting on this man’s couch this guy No, joke essentially the most effective Ico of all time however a number of times These more recent iCL’s they are saying they bought out in twenty minutes.They offered out in 5 minutes well no, they didn’t they sold out in two or three months broaden sales they have distribution organizations to the place you already know one agency could have 20 million greenbacks that you recognize they’ll put up but they want your coin, you understand at 50% worth proper? So they’ll say ok you are popping out with a coin you realize you are promoting it at 1 aetherium 1 for 1 we would like we will do a million greenbacks however we wanted at half of of an etherium, so that you say adequate, that’s assured cash you realize provide me that million bucks and bam there you go however the crisis is most of these coins are offered out by folks who get them at a discount So they don’t care that this market is down right here given that they already paid half of that nearly and So you might have whales that quite do not care in regards to the trade they do not care in regards to the present fee so long as it is greater two and 3 times higher to what they pay for it they usually Flip their money in a couple of weeks, they’re nice, and it crashes into the ground ninety% at a time when you have a coin that was once generated on an IC o—- and it without a doubt it’s too illegitimate trade and the actual market can buy it that is what occurs considering that the whales are cashing out all of their money and The relaxation of us are combating just to get pieces and just to get crumbs.So what i’m saying is don’t proper now it can be now not worth it. It is too much, chance. It is too much uncertainty i would much alternatively see you guys center of attention on The chart and you know catching strikes within the chart when a free market does exist And it’s now not so much inside corruption and trading And and we definitely have a fair shot although here. It can be still slightly skewed I believe on this next pullback a variety of that whale money has acquired to float away. You realize swim away, and can sincerely be reasonably virtually a true market as shut as we’re gonna be in bitcoin anyway For in most cases about the next month or in order a lot of their cash leaves, you know And it is just us left down 30 forty 60 70 percent will absolutely be able to see how this factor truely lives and from that we are able to learn a lot more relocating into the longer term so it is surely excellent that we’re going into this pullback due to the fact that As you will discover this isn’t reflective of you realize and a healthy market find it irresistible’s no method that should be viable gnosis you realize for what what they talk what you already know? What what they talk about gnosis is ordinarily one of you already know as a lot of expertise, but for that to be the fact when it can be launched on the issues change one of the vital high exchanges on the earth that indicates you and And Reggie middleton told me.He used to be like numerous these folks are becoming a coin eighty ninety percentage off you already know simply given that the people who are promoting a coin want their money So once we’re paying full rate Even at the Ico when it when a internet site is up, and that timer is strolling down, and you’re like oh my God it can be only four extra days, and you are paying you know thirty three to one you are basically paying full fee it can be probably about fifty million dollars that came in before you that bought it ninety percentage off you understand so even when you do get to an alternate you wait two or three months? Perhaps it could take two or three years depending on what you already know forex you are investing in and also you ultimately get to an trade and and that’s that happens, correct? In view that it was a lot extra money that got here in earlier than you that you under no circumstances noticed and so they’re casting out. They do not care So that’s my recommendation to you don’t put money into I cos additionally to that. It is a variety of Em magnificence that goes into into these token income no person quite knows precisely what’s gonna happen proper like I mentioned that man would the Starbucks coin guy would Disappear and go to Mexico, and you’d not ever see him once more.You might be additionally In cancun on spring break and you run across him on the seashore drinking ingesting a margarita And he looked at you in the face and approach omit a thank you. You supported me thanks, and so that is you recognize a notice of humor. I wanted to finish on useless etherium Token and that is what I desired you to peer The quantity one I co2 gear you need to grasp why cause it’s the primary one hundred percentage honest I see oh, they are saying if you are going to offer some random individual on the net money they may be gonna purchase stuff with it more commonly electronics. Maybe even a tremendous-monitor tv and also you go by means of this thing they said, it is the first of its form. It’s so sincere and Bester’s Can see the value of their coins and so they say it’s obvious no features approach few investors few traders approach few transactions few Transactions mean no network lag, so they are without a doubt helping the etherium community by taking your money off of it It probably at ease, nevertheless it’s obviously now not audited assured Token price they usually’re known as vain aetherium tokens for a purpose so apparently you already know quite a lot of persons have Contributed it is icea Fifty nine thousand greenbacks valued at so this is what I say you need to be very weary but when you are Gonna Throw cash into an Ico at the least do it into some thing like this the place you know you get most likely nothing And this guy’s Gonna go out and purchase you already know forty nine televisions together with your cash you realize I believe I think as a rule asked questions in case you look on the bottom energy How do I get money back for the token? I purchased you’re kidding right? So this man And on at number one I ceo of the 12 months he means that you can be aware of what you are getting earlier than you get it, and that’s obviously Nothing with that being stated it’s an excessive amount of danger in ICL’s don’t waste your cash it’s too many unknowns and a variety of the big cash got here in to the table earlier than you ever received there So with that being mentioned I desired to provide my people in a chat, you know i am saying i’m showing my men and women some love today.So what I wanted to do one time. I advised you earlier shout your country out it is a global group in the event you appreciate this time to do me a want hit that thumbs up button what that does that makes it possible for every body in our group all over the place the sector to understand that this video was once just right content understand that it helps you it with a bit of luck bought you within the right path with that I co did bid unless reggie instructed me that I used to be like wow i didn’t even know that but they actually have 1000’s of hundreds of thousands of greenbacks set up you know for presale on I see L is at eighty ninety percentage reduction and So when we sooner or later get to it when that website subsequently goes are living and we will switch our little aetherium from that wallet Oh, we’re just the icing on the cake.They already funded the entire factor And that’s why it sells out in three minutes 5 minutes thirty seconds, whatever it can be now not our money trust me That we do not have that much cash dust cash within the building Nyc Nyc Nyc. Oh The king of latest York proper now. You understand says Chicago shot tile was once good if you happen to within the chest shot to country out Arizona Az Kansas Germany two occasions Spain England brazil terrible to go Cardio Egypt Canada is attractive man, it’s a attractive community Ecuador i’m telling you South American nations man i’m just go take a go back and forth for approximately a month through South the us, and simply train bitcoin wake up on the seashore and drink wine. That’s what I’ma try this. I’m gonna do this i am do this for like a month watch So is gorgeous guys should you admire this content if you want to join this neighborhood if you happen to like the best way I instruct i try to hold it enjoyable. I attempt to keep it enjoyable, and i attempt to support you make some cash you recognize a number of mistakes.I made fee me a lot of money typically misplaced when it can be all said and carried out typically about 10 $20,000 you recognize this yr Between the final two years about 10 20 grand in the market um so I misplaced a lot of money however by shedding a lot of money. I learned to make a lot more and that’s my job is to try to empower you to be able to do it as well. You don’t ought to lose 20 grand i am displaying you from the bottom up, so in case you like that baby come back rock out what is daily this is the boats of bitcoin reporting? Verify it off it is that point of the day irrespective of where you keep from Brazil to the Bay, California A midway via port to return up via Germany just right night. Just right morning, and hiya. Y’all take it handy. I trap all on the flipside keep Cryptic y’all please .

[jillmckenzie1]

We All Suck at Dating

A common lead question in the world of online dating is: “What are you looking for?”

Aside from being a grammatical nightmare, this question poses its own set of anxiety-ridden answers. Because how hard in the paint do you really go in response to this question when you’re on the third line of a burgeoning digital transaction? The words that your thumbs manage to string together will inevitably become the foundation for any further communication (or lack thereof).

Sidebar. Dude, didn’t you read my bio? It clearly states, “Looking for a real life human with whom to do rad things. Sucker for good teeth, nice calves, and witty banter. Here for the shirtless gym selfies (you guys, it’s a joke).” Seems pretty self-explanatory to me.

My typical response to the aforementioned question goes something like this: “Surely not looking to get laid off an app. And absolutely not interested in receiving dick pics. Would be great to find a real-life male with whom to do cool shit who also believes in hand-holding, ass-grabbing, Netflix binge-watching, and tag-team Whole Foods shopping.”

Once upon a time, I had a younger guy respond to this answer: “But does our age difference bother you?”

Cough. Cough. He clearly wasn’t aware of my subconscious bias towards younger men.

I replied, “Age is a number. Maturity is a barometer for compatibility. Why? Were you simply trying to send dick pics?”

*unmatch*

I’m sorry, WUT?! Respectable people say goodbye, or they’re not interested, or that they don’t find my humor to be as amusing as I do; they do not just act like [insert desired superlative here] and vanish into thin air (as if I wrote the book on this stuff or something).

Here’s the point. By all means, unmatch me. I don’t give any number of fucks about our premature termination of conversation. The guy I choose is going to choose me in return. He’s going to laugh at the fact that I attempt to turn him on by mentioning that I always return my shopping carts. He’s going to send me memes and screenshots of tiny houses. He’s going to share my affinity towards Mexican food and ask me for my LinkedIn profile instead of my SnapChat handle, and he’ll really mean it when he says that he’s not in search of a booty call.

At the end of the day, I have zero interest in entertaining a guilt-free ghoster. The issue here is the action. Because dammit, it’s hard enough out there. Can’t we all just play by some unstated rules that, at the very least, are governed by the premise of honesty?

I know. It’s asking a lot.

 But that brings me to my next point. About dating. We all suck at it. Yes, all of us. I’m actually quite amazed by how many of us seek to individually claim this title from every rooftop, blog post, and digital message warehouse. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I just don’t think there’s anything unique about it.

We. All. Suck.

A small bit of evidence exists in our mutual affection towards Netflix and chill. I’ve seen enough dating profiles in these last few years to make one overarching and absolutely assertive statement: when given the choice, we’ll all opt for a night spent on the couch in sweatpants eating ice cream with our dog over any nightclub and party scenario. Seriously, I have yet to encounter any male in the digital stratosphere who prefers the latter.

Because, in my humble opinion, no one wants to find his or her significant other in a bar. Absolutely not. For some, sure, the bar provides a perfect backdrop for the infamous one-night stand; I’m quasi-drunk and you’re quasi-cute (could be up for debate in the morning), so in the words of Marvin Gaye, “Let’s get it on.”

But a match–someone who challenges us and makes our lives a whole hell of a lot better (even on the worst days)–yeah, we’re not walking into any bars with the expectation of finding a soulmate.

And, despite our current aversion to commitment that is fueled by our unrelenting fear of missing out alongside our limitless access to infinite information and individuals, we do want a soulmate. Not because we believe in this antiquated ideology that only one person was made for us. No, millennials don’t walk into this world with the Shakespearian belief that compatibility is reserved for a single Romeo and his Juliet.

We more appropriately approach the definition of “soulmates” as two people who show up to participate in a revolutionized companionship. We are a generation that fully understands the power of choice, and we want to exercise this right romantically as much as we want to frequent farmer’s markets in lieu of spending our dollars at chain grocery stores. We believe in making ourselves whole, as individuals, in order to more powerfully stand beside someone who is doing the same. So, we choose ourselves as the catalyst to choose our other.

And yet, even inside of this space of a beautiful and raw and authentic desire to find a forever partner-in-crime, we’re still ghosting and we’re still sending dick pics. I’m sorry, rescind. We’re still sending dick videos. Yes, apparently, I graduated into some upper echelon of male debauchery.

Let me expand. A guy who I sparingly chatted with months ago decided to Snap me one lonely night in February (if you don’t know what “Snapping” is, keep it that way). I opened the video (which is the extent of my SnapChat proficiencies), and bam, hello, hi. My brain immediately hit overdrive as I considered throwing my phone 23 feet across the entirety of my Airstream.

I’m sorry, I haven’t spoken to you since November – neither did any previous conversation incite such ridiculous swapping of privates – and I’m now supposed to be the proud recipient of your amateur x-rated video?! Please, no. PLEASE NO.

Of course, I fired back something saucy (as if I’m going to save the world one indecent digital exposure at a time). And in the spirit of true chivalry (insert massive eyeroll here), he said that it was a mistake: “Wrong Stephanie.”

I actually can’t even (read: bull-fucking-shit).

But my potential diatribe inside an app that was literally designed to delete user history wouldn’t be saving anyone. My only hope at such a stage is the block feature because, at the end of the day, I simply don’t have time for this nonsense. Much like I don’t have time for the old flame (think college) who thought it was cute to slide into my DMs with questions about the kind of underwear I happened to be wearing. Or, the fact that exhibit B continues to patronize me with pet names (even after we established, months ago, that a romantic relationship between us would simply be settling).

Newsflash: y’all aren’t cute. YOU ALL ARE NOT CUTE.

And around we go, hiding behind our phone screens because we want the one (or at least one of the viable ones) to drop into our lives with the same level of excitement experienced by teenagers across America when Usher finally released his third studio album, 8701.

If you ask me, the going around is getting quite old. In fact, my motion sickness is at an all-time high. In the metaphor, I’m projectile vomiting out the back passenger-side window. Don’t ask me who’s driving. I don’t know.

What I do know is that I’m not puking alone.

Fact one. We’re drowning in our individual and collective nausea without any idea of how to stop the damn car. Or, at very least, slow it down. And we sure as hell don’t know where it’s going.

Fact two. Together, we are more powerful than the driver. But I’m not sure if we believe that (yet), and if we do believe it, I’m not sure that we know how to take control of the wheel (yet).

Because I would hate for us to resign ourselves to the fact that this whole dating thing is out of our control. I would hate for our desire of depth to become clouded by our habitual superficiality. I would hate for us to throw away our integrity in the name of conformity.

And I write this to us because I write this to myself. Plot twist, people. I, too, suck at dating. My judgment of those without an inkling of digital wit is embarrassingly high. It is standard issue for me to ghost anyone who resorts to asking me about my day within the first 24 hours of communication.

We just met. It’s fine. My day was fine. Am I supposed to tell you what I ate for lunch? Or about the conversation that I had with my mom? Or the hours I spent browsing Amazon for a new duvet cover?

Seriously, ask me anything else. And, please, I beg you, be funny. And charming (but not too charming). Our future depends on it.

Case in point. In a land far, far away, some guy asked me if I’d ever seen a movie titled La Strada. Clearly, not English. My answer was (and still is) no.

He wrote, “It’s foreign, so you have to be okay with subtitles.”

Well, no shit.

Me: “Great, I learned to read at a young age and quickly surpassed all of my peers, so this is promising.”

*crosses fingers and begs for a witty response*

His reply: “I like that answer. I need someone confident in what sets them apart.”

No dice.

*waves white flag*

I surrender. I absolutely surrender.

And by “surrender,” I mean that I simply fell off the face of the planet, never to associate with this poor guy (who probably had zero interest in sending a dick pic, let alone a dick video) ever again.

I just didn’t have it in me to push through in hopes of unearthing my very own Steve Carrell.

I’ll give you ten minutes. Make ‘em count. Effortlessly get me to laugh out loud, and I’ll strongly consider fraternizing as real-life people.

Hold up. Real. Life. People.

Yes, let’s be very clear, any digital union that transpires in human-to-human interaction is call for a good old-fashioned golf clap. Because it’s an anomaly by anyone’s standards.

So here we are. Together. Meandering through the airwaves and the land mines. Motion sick beyond measure. And I’d like to believe that we’re not helpless here, so my challenge is that we take control of the car. My challenge is that we align our actions and our words. Because there is nothing sexier than honesty. And honesty–honesty will save us. Also, humor. But mostly honesty.

We must be able to articulate for who or what we are looking. It is a common lead question because it is the question. It provides the foundation for action and expectation so, to revisit my initial commentary, we should go as hard in the paint as humanly possible (think Zion Williamson type shenanigans) in our responses. Because this answer allows us to proceed in a space where vulnerability is safe–whether we both swiped right in a sea of digital profiles or, quite literally, ran into each other in the singles line of our favorite chairlift.

You do not have to be in the search for serious. But you do owe the community your truth. The power is in your voice. And please, for the love of all things beautiful, let’s commit to considerate farewells that make “ghosting” so 2018 (as in, bye).

Speaking of bye and the singles line and chairlifts, I had to text my ex-boyfriend the other day to get back my second key fob for the entrance to my RV park

I refuse to pay the $20 for a replacement, okay. Judge me.

It had been nearly a month of not communicating, so you can surmise that it was a conversation that I’d been consciously avoiding. To be honest, I had stubbornly supported the idea that he should contact me first.

Obviously, unsuccessful.

So I spent hours typing and re-typing and then re-re-typing some ridiculous message that started with a Nugget update and ended with, “Oh yea, I need that key fob back.” I then spent hours deciphering and re-deciphering and then re-re-deciphering his response: “No problem. I’ll bring it to work and you can swing by one day and grab it when you’re done riding.” Please note, there is nothing cryptic here.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit nervous to, once again, look our honesty in the eye. Our ease had existed in our shared interest of doing the work. We had used our voices. And we both believed in the power of a considerate farewell. Also, laughing, there was lots of laughing.

For all intents and purposes, we were great. Apparently, our timing was not.

I’m reminding myself that, at the very least, this relationship taught me that there is hope for our collective whole to be better. It was the catalyst for me to shed an intense layer of distasteful cynicism. And for that, I can willingly embrace the uncomfortable.

It’s just two minutes. It’s just a key fob.

 Dating. It’s still a game of numbers. And we simply need to, in all of our honesty, keep showing up.

Together, we can stop the suck.

from Blog https://ondenver.com/we-all-suck-at-dating/

[tweetadvise]

4 Tips to Make Your SEO Analysis More Effective

Chances are if you read this, SEO evaluation belongs to your life in some capability, whether it is bookkeeping for a customer, developing a project approach, or reporting efficiency to the higher-ups. Ways to hone the SEO evaluation sword is something that I've really been desiring to discuss for a while because wonderful evaluation and reporting underlies effective issue solving and unbiased choice making that belongs to many fantastic campaigns.

1) Use tools as a filter for considering sites, not the other way around

This could seem on the face of it, so apparent that you're probably gon na intend to jump from this article, huh? You may think that this is so self noticeable that it need to not even be on this list - well, it is and allow me inform you why: taking a look at a site while running tools on it provides a third measurement to the information. There is a large distinction in between eying an internet site and also absolutely examining it. I discover that many individuals simply peek at a website promptly before diving right into tools and looking at the website through the devices, this is patently inaccurate. The genuine essential lens is looking at the website as well as utilizing devices as filters to highlight particular features of the internet site. I am not also visiting exist, early when I began SEOing I certainly spent a couple cycles every when in a while questioning why 'the numbers' looked so off, only to have a DUH! minute as quickly as I viewed on the site.

Putting it into practice

Start to recognize exactly how the devices you use everyday work. Exactly how are they grabbing data? Exactly how total is the information? This will certainly provide you an idea of how seriously you should take the data.

Anytime, essentially ANYTIME, you're looking at device outcome you ought to have a 2nd home window open with the actual site - no minimizing!

Don' t relocation too quickly with the data, examine. I was guilty of this one also when I was starting. Take your time, really check out traits and always drill down.

2) Consider multiple information sources because a various information collection or a different view can provide you a whole new picture

I'm a massive tool omnivore. I will certainly try anything and everything as well as locate the beauty in it - I also device search in my spare time! Fiendish, I realise but not without cause. I think that if you're taking a look at one information source, you're not getting the full image. I never make use of simply one key phrase tool (or also just 3). I never make use of just one backlink tool ... and also so on for other Search Engine Optimization experience. I integrate in redundancies into everything I do. I attempt to be smart about it however, to save myself time. I ask myself a couple inquiries when choosing on just what tools from my toolbox to utilize. Is this a quick and also unclean look under the hood? There are some tools that are fantastic for just the down and filthy. Am I attempting to be extensive in my evaluation? In this situation, I begin running tools that I realise have different data sets to get a complete picture, this is particularly true for link devices for backlink analysis.

Putting it into practice

Try great deals of free tools and also attempt totally free trials of great deals of paid tools. There is so much fantastic stuff available and also if you have you have the moment to tinker, it is well worth your time. Take a look at the adhering to posts by several of my fellow ninjas to obtain suggestions for some attractive wonderful tools worth testing.

Browser Plugins

Data Visualizing Tools

Bing Webmaster Tools

Pinterest Tools pinterest very cool, I could not stand up to

Give devices that don't offer you understandings the boot swiftly. It is actually simple to get into the practice of running the same tools just due to the fact that you're in the routine of doing it. Don't come under this habit.

Don' t obtain too comfy with the devices or approaches you're making use of. Commit to always attempt new methods of addressing troubles. One way to do this now is to dig with your bookmarked how you can Search Engine Optimization post and attempt one of the 'amazing points' you found, conserved, and also forgot

3) Bring inadequate data or presenting excessive Information

Proper information event as well as details discussion are the two unrecognized heroes of SEO analysis. You 'd be surprised exactly how usually people grab a screenshot of the chart from Google Analytics for organic search and made use of that in outside reports. Fail. Particularly when you have a riches of data, such as what Google Analytics supplies, you can not obtain away with offering unsegmented screenshots and pie charts as total data. Boring down right into information is something that is important to the success of any kind of analysis you do. Directly, I assume it is constantly worth taking the additional time to verify the efficiency of your research study. On the other side of the coin, there exists excessive data and way too much research study. The huge rule here is that you never ever intend to present a big gigantic information surge spreadsheet to anyone. You desire to ensure that you have a well manicured as well as well formatted record certainly yet as an expert, it is your work to do the actual analytical legwork as well as to present only the creme off of the top, so choices could easily be made based upon the paper you developed or troubles solved.

Putting it into practice

Starting now, commit to taking the additional time to pierce down further and also segmenting even more then you ever before have right into the information that you have readily available to you for the issue you're aim to resolve for or the phenomena you're analyzing.

Critically revisit the last item of analysis that you did as well as review the discussion of the document. Is the file formatted in a specialist issue? Is information provided in a goal as well as non-misleading method (i.e. are proportions and portions described with all the essential raw numbers to offer them correct context)? Are referrals and also final thoughts activity oriented? A thought experiment that I prefer to utilize to test exactly how actionable a specific item of logical coverage is, is: could I hand this off for someone to act on and also can they compose 'done' on everything I advised. If I am doing analysis for something to aid in decision making the though experiment I use is: if I was the decision maker, would certainly I have all the essential as well as adequate information to make an objective and also maximally advantageous choice based upon evaluation provided?

4) Do not miss out on the woodland for the trees

When doing evaluation, it is typically simple to get also concentrated in one location as well as miss the total image. All to typically, evaluation is slowed down to just, claim, onpage key words approach as well as inner linking, failing on off page strategy or content strategy. It is actually easy to miss out on the boat the other method around as well. It is so crucial to keep an international perspective when doing analysis, even more especially, all your analysis should somehow lead back to important KPI's and also therefore, the bottom line for your firm or your customers business. To genuinely meet the specific company demands, you should be prepared to evaluate extensively to see patterns and chances, in addition to being able to drill down.

Putting it into practice

Try to in some way document your clients/ your firm's vital business objectives and KPI's fore the campaign being evaluated - this is so vital since this is the weight through which you gauge success or failure. Having a clear idea of what these are will certainly additionally help you not much less your evaluation digress. In a word, make your clients business, yours as well.

Make sure you have a clear meaning of exactly what certifies as a trouble worth further analysis. I have a little thought experiment that I make use of: Does what I am taking a look at have the potential to move the needle up or down? I likewise ask myself, does addressing this question/solving this problem involve more job as well as opportunity cost, then the potential value that solving it will bring? By maintaining these little questions on my mind, I fall under Alice's information wonderland a lot less often.

To wrap up, I wonder if you all have some common analytical risks that I might have missed or suggestions on the best ways to make a SEO analysis sharper.

[kbbeautyblog]

I have to say, I have been going through some blog, review, writing and beauty transformations this month. It has just turned Spring in Australia, and the weather is warming up and you can feel it in the air. I am a Sagittarius, and I prosper around this time of the year, so I honestly didn’t find it surprising at all that September was a productive month for me with lots of changes. It can be VERY HARD to change your patterns and ways because personally, for me, I get anxious I am going to mess thing’s up, and somehow, not be able to go back (I know, weird). However, this month everything has just gone the way it has, and once I let go of that control, fear and sense of normalcy and routine, I started to try different things, and different ways of doing things, which just lead to more and more changes. I feel like I now have a completely new outlook, and in the future, I am going to be more open to change.

First thing’s first… I upgraded my plan to wordpress business class, and my god, it’s SOOOOOO GOOD. I can get any plug-ins or themes I want, which was my main reason for wanting to change. I wanted more flexibility and freedom, and the ability to present my content in a neater, informative way.  The best part about upgrading to business is that I am still on the wordpress.com platform, meaning I don’t have to self host and can stay on the platform that I have came to know, and love.  I am used to navigating wordpress.com, and the thing I have adored about it from the start is how simple and easy it is. The whole concept of wordpress.org and self hosting has confused the absolute hell out of me ever since I knew it existed, and when I looked into it for the fifth time, I was still as confused as the first time I researched it. I was JUST ABOUT to pay someone to help me migrate, when I decided to check out information on the wordpress.com Business Plan that I have had my eyes on for a while. After reading about it, and analysing and deciding if I wanted to pay the price, I made the decision to choose to stick to wordpress.com and to pay to upgrade, and let me tell you, I AM SOOOO GLAD I did!! If I chose to migrate, I know I would of regretted it, and would of probably then had to migrate back here, which would of cost me a lot of money in the end. When it comes to website technology,  I am really bad. I don’t want the fuss, I don’t want to do everything myself, and quite frankly, I don’t want to mess with anything too complex when it comes to IT. It is a nightmare to me. Another thing that made me hesitant to move to self hosting is the fact that when you move to wordpress.org and self host, it’s all on you.  Sure, you do have the support of whatever hosting site you choose, but you still have to manually update stuff, manually protect your site, etc.  I have enough trouble getting content out in time, and this coupled with my difficulties with IT, I knew I just didn’t have the capacity, or patience, to do it alone.

The plan does cost extra, around $350.00 AUD a year, but to me it’s so worth it. I have a whole year to save up $350.00 AUD to pay the plan, and it’s amazing. WordPress Business Class is pretty much the equivalent of wordpress.org, except you get to stay on this platform. Anything that you can do when you self-host, you can do with wordpress.com business, meaning you get all the benefits of self hosting but still have the ease of having everything done for you, and support at your fingertips. I have been premium for a long time, and whenever I have had trouble all I do is instant message an engineer on here, and I have a response within a minute. It’s just so easy, so convenient and as I said, I am just so in-love with wordpress.com . I am still learning about plugins, etc, but I am finally starting to get the hang of it. One of my favourite plug-ins are table plug-ins. I have one by Supsystic, and I can create beautiful tables with data content which allows me to present everything more neatly. There are a million other plug-in’s too, but I am taking it one step at a time and focusing on content at the same time.

Here are some screenshots of the differences in admin/dashboard with the WordPress.com Business Plan

A big motivation for all the changes I have made is that I have FINALLY…. FINALLY……. GOT A PHOTOGRAPHY SET-UP that works for me! Let me tell you, It has been a massive, journey that has taken me years. The thing is, you can get advice from others, watch youtubers who show you their set up and how they do it, but everyone has a different house, different space and it’s a learning process. Everything in the beauty world in terms of blogging and photography is a journey that you have to do alone. No one is going to tell you exactly what they do, which is why I always failed when it came to trying to copy other people’s set up. This and I wasn’t taking into consideration my personal space and the room I have to dedicate to this space. I have also started to use a magnification mirror, which before I would of been scared petrified off (yeah, they go right into an inch of your face and show every pore), but they show you what’s going on. I can’t do my makeup without one now, and my review’s are way more accurate because I look in multiple mirrors from different lighting, including through a magnification mirror (these cost $10.00 off ebay btw). My Cannon Powershot SX510 HS is soooo old, and doesn’t have a view finder, so I use my magnification mirror to see what my camera is focusing on. If anyone want’s to know more about my set-up, let me know.

I have obviously slightly changed my method of writing, I am reviewing and testing products for longer periods of time to produce more thorough, informative reviews. I am not going to lie that in the past, I have got a product, tried it for a day and then made up my opinions on it. This doesn’t mean that I have ever not been honest, it just means that I have rushed through things in order to get post’s published and out on time. I’m having a hard time getting post’s out now, and I do feel anxiety and pressure, but I am no longer rushing the process. I am now treating products like I would treat a science project. I want to analyse every aspect of it. As a result, I have started doing products individually. For example, if a collection comes with 2 liquid lipstick’s and 2 highlighters, I am most likely going to do the highlighters and liquid lipstick’s in seperate posts, whereas before I would of put the whole collection in one post. I do have products backed up, and I am so slow now that some products I had planned on doing, I am no longer going to do (aka, I got the Kylie Cosmetics Birthday Collection Lip Products, but I have had so much to do, and so many other products to do, that I have decided to pass on it now as it’s not relevant when half the collection is sold out). I hope soon that I find a perfect balance and can get posts out quicker, but I am not going to skip over anything in order to do that.

As a result of all these changes, I have stopped obsessing over every SINGLE new release that comes out, which will be relevant when I post my newest anti-haul post, which is in the works. I have hardly been checking Trendmood’s instagram lately, and I will probably miss out on something I do want soon, lol! I have to say…. I used to just buy so much new stuff all the time… Even if I hated it, because I thought, oh-well, if I don’t like it, at least I can talk about it on my blog. At this point,  I am sick of acquiring products that I never even touch after the first go, and my work-load is so big now and I have such a back-load of products to work on, that I simply dont have the time to buy stuff I know I hate!

There isn’t going to be many disruptions or changes in the type of content I post, just how I do it. One thing I do know is that I am probably not going to be able to get as many Beauty News Posts out anymore. I just have so many actual products to work on that it’s getting hard for me to keep up with beauty news, and as you probably know, Trendmood on Instagram is literally the queen of updates, and is the only one you need to follow to get updated!!!

That’s about it for this post babes, I usually don’t write personally posts like this because I don’t want to bore ya’ll, but I was in the  middle of writing my Anti-Haul Post for September 2017, and I got on a massive tangent about all the changes I have made that it just made sense to make this it’s own post so I didn’t hijack that post completely lol!!

Thing’s that I am in the process of doing/ Ideas I have include……

I am going to make a seperate page for all types of products – highlighters, liquid lipstick’s, etc- that will compare prices, formula’s etc, in a more simple, informative way. I have to actually create a page template to have it formatted the way I want, which I can do through a million Plug-In’s, but this takes time to do and I am trying to do it in between of everything else. I also have to manually plug everything in, but once I get it up, it will be up so I am just trotting along at the pace I am.

A Lip Swatch Page that will contain all my lip swatches formatted in a way that you can compare more easily.

I would also like to create a better, more interactive community. I can actually get a plug-in that allows me to have members, and I am thinking of doing product give-away’s like this.

A massive thing I want to do is make a page where I can write about cosmetic chemistry and compare formula’s of different products. If you have tuned in to my previous posts, you will know that I like to chemically analyse products, and I want to create a page where you can click to formula’s and a comparison of the list will come up, with shared ingredients highlighted, etc. This will take me a while to get together, but it will come.

Normal posts- Fenty Beauty (Trophy Wife + Metal Moon Highlighters + one of the duo’s and 3 shimmer sticks) , Tarte Blush Book Swatches (and a review to follow), Kylie Cosmetic’s Matte Lip Kit Review + Re-Swatch , MAC X Nicki Minaj Lipstick’s, Spectrum X Mean Girls Collection + September 2017 Anti Haul, Nars Powermatte Liquid Lipstick First Impressions + More).

+ Other thing’s like that to make my site better to navigate for you all. I might eventually change my theme, but as I mentioned above, change can be scary and it’s one thing that I am a bit on the fence about because I like how everything is lol!!

P.S, I just want to show you how many DRAFTS I have. I work on soooooo many post’s 24/7 and it get’s a little crazy!!

Updates on My Blog, WordPress Business Plan, Photography Set Up + New Writing Style!!! (Personal) I have to say, I have been going through some blog, review, writing and beauty transformations this month.