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animatedminds · 3 years ago

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Star Wars: Visions - Episode 9: Akakiri

And here we make it to the end of the set: the last episode of Star Wars: Visions. It’s been a wonderful ride, and a fine addition to the recent influx of great Star Wars content: really making me itch for more. But all things must be released in The Force in time - which is to say, all things must come to an end, so we reach that finale together, with...

Episode 9: Akakiri Developed By: Science SARU Directed By: Eunyoung Choi This film makes for a fine bookend with The Duel. Like the Duel, the plot of this one is somber and straightforward. And like The Duel, the like entire story is a slow build up to a striking conclusion... this time, due to a terrible twist.

The plot of this one regards a Jedi in an indeterminate time period - perhaps best presumed as during the Sith Wars - returning to his home planet in order to aid the princess of his land, who seeks to reclaim her throne after her aunt joined the Sith and murdered her way into power. The short is mostly a small scale, tightly focused set of traveling scenes as they approach the castle: just the two of them, along with two more comedic but loyal traveling companions. The two muse over their lots in life, reaffirm their resolve, and deal with their feelings for one another, all before the final battle... in which things do not go quite as one might expect.

This, like The Twins, comes across as an abstraction of a story we all know, but unlike The Twins rather than a referential cavalcade this film proceeds like a retelling: a unexpected story that descends tragically into something familiar. I won’t go into all the details of what that story is, but let us just say that it seems no accident that over the course of the story the princess slowly comes to physically resemble the traits of a certain Padme Amidala, and the Jedi a certain Anakin Skywalker.

Like The Duel, this short is another where the straightforward nature of the plot means there isn’t much to say about - at least if is not going too deeply into the spoilers. Visually, this one is stylized towards action: simpler character designs which move with an increased fluidity. Another one that puts a lot of design into its settings and backgrounds: the locations go from rural to increasingly urbanized over the course of the short, with the final locales being rigid, cold and imposing. Thematically, this transition works well for the destinies the characters increasingly wrangle with, a visual progression of peace falling to oppression.

For this review’s obligatory digression, we both start and finish with an awesome fight with a female Sith, something that’s woefully underdone in Star Wars proper. The fight itself was very surprising: there’s a significant size advantage, and I’m always used to bigger opponents in anime being portrayed as less competent than smaller. Size is typically an indicator of brutishness rather than strength in Eastern storytelling, but the short plays with this: our antagonist is not only larger in strength in stature, but larger in control - smarter, and more cunning than the heroes are wholly prepared for. And so it all leads up to the darkest hour: the moment where heroes are made or broken by their decisions. And the decision made may surprise you - or may not, depending on your genre savvy. Though it had the slight misfortune to follow the short I believe to be the best of the bunch - or at least close to the best of the bunch - it is a very good short to end the set on, a similar feel and experience to start and to finish. And so we conclude with the final look at canon potential. None of these shorts have been canon. We all know this, but we all love them regardless. However, in a series like Star Wars, becoming incorporated - or even simply followed up on - is a matter of support: if some of these shorts get enough pull behind them from the audience, you can bet that the studio will at least consider doing more with those particular characters. But it also depends on whether the short fits into the setting - or what the studio wants to do with the setting - as well.

And does this Akakiri fit? I’d give it Good Chances. Not great chances, but decent ones. As I mentioned before in an earlier one of these, Lucasfilm seems fairly hesitant to canonically depict the earliest days of the Republic and the Sith Wars: which is my presumption for why they have been evasive and frankly less than positive about whether upcoming KOTOR remake will be canon. This short taking place in a time where the Sith are a large enough organization that individual defecting to them is a real possibility, there are few other eras where it can fit. But also, the nature of this short as a more overt - if only partial - retelling of a familiar story does give it a bit less of an identity of its own. However, despite that, the characters, the setting and the concept still work very well within the framework of Star Wars: and if they did choose to do so, it wouldn’t take much work at all to give this concept its very own significant niche. And that, in the end, is that. Nine episodes, nine different anime from a slew of different studios. All with their own unique takes on a franchise that’s loved around the world. Would I like to see more of this? You bet: more of certain specific ideas we’ve seen here, and perhaps another season of this with nine more shorts and another entirely new slew of developers

This has been Star Wars: Visions, with an Animated Mind for an Animated Time. May the force be with you: it’s a good time to be a Star Wars fan, so embrace it. Don’t let the hate get you down, and look forward to more Visions like this.

#Star Wars: Visions #Akakiri #Science SARU #Eunyoung Choi #Tsubaki #Misa #Senshu #Kamahachi #Masago #non canon #good episode #good chances #anime #sci fi anime #star wars anime #disney+#visions was a phenomenal series #here's to a second set someday #Animated Minds for Animated Times

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bloodyshadow1 · 4 years ago

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just finished Alanna’s route and I gotta say, I’d give it a C, it wasn’t bad, but I didn’t see a lot of good either. There was so much crammed in as much as possible between the Society (that we barely get to see anything of), Time travel (which is fine but done pretty poorly with little buildup or fanfare or explanation), Immortals (like time travel, a decent story enough on it’s own, but only mentioned in the final 3rd of the story and barely talked about afterward), and Magic power stones (pretty vague power system that no one seems interested in telling the MC about) it feels like they accidently threw 4 darts at the idea board this time and never bothered to throw again. It’s such a mess that the MC has to take on faith without ever being given a real reason to side with the Circle over anyone else other than her ex girlfriend is part of it and they hate her dad. It’s so quick and it doesn’t ever feel like the right decision at least to me since you spend so little time with the Circle even as background characters to Alanna’s story.

Alanna as a character is kind of meh for me overall. Physically her design is fine, seems cute more than hot or sexy, but sort of bland and generic. there are other cute love interests that never felt this generic, she feels like she should be the sister or best friend character instead of the love interest of the MC. It doesn’t help that by making her the MC’s ex returned, we know little to nothing about her, so much of a romance arc is missing because even if the MC knows, we the player don’t know what’s so great about Alanna. All of Alanna’s character feels told instead of shown, the MC seems to worship the ground she walks on, but the actual story leaves much to be desired because we don’t really see her do anything super charming or amazingly skilled. She’s pretty, but she’s not even the most beautiful woman in her route much less London or the world. I could understand why the MC would love her since she’s still hung up on her, so I could believe it if I took the story with a grain of salt, but the fact that her personality seems to be she’s so charming and everyone loves her without every truly delivering on such claims makes her whole route fall even flatter than it’s plot led to. The fact that the MC slept with her right away as a ‘palette cleanser’ was sort of interesting, but it still felt like being told about her, nothing about what she and the MC had gone through felt like she was so irresistible that the MC would need to get her out of her system, because we don’t know anything really about her relationship with Alanna. And that’s a big problem to her selling points as a love interest

We don’t know all the stories the MC has with Alanna, especially if they only dated for 2 months, the audience/player/readers, need to understand why the MC is in love with their love interest besides the route being named after them, by making their entire relationship when they first fell in love we miss all of that and are left with empty feelings and gestures between the two of them. The little back and forths between them about their past are okay to start with, but nothing about Alanna as a character from her 12 chapters makes me believe that she’s so lovely the MC can overlook her massive flaws and go along with her very unpersuasive desire to have the MC join them to help the world. Her depression and feelings of helplessness after 200 years was interesting, but it felt like it came too late. I’m actually really glad the MC called her out on her bullshit, by the end of her first chapter, I get a bit of where she’s coming from, but what Alanna did to the MC was fucked up and she doesn’t get to just pretend it never happened.

Plot wise, the story is a mess, like Alanna, so much of the story is told to the MC and she’s supposed to take it on faith that the Circle is somehow more morally right than the rest of the Society. It fails because the Circle has barely any real character, they have interesting traits that if they were around more to make me care about them as something other than the vehicle to do the time travel and nothing more. In so many routes, you’re introduced to all your love interests at the same time and they’re already a group, while you spend the most time with your love interest, you get to know most of the characters as people outside of their routes, but the rest of the Circle is pretty bland. Not to mention that the Society is built up as this big maybe evil maybe just powerful and in the wrong hands thing..., but you barely interact with them at all. The only people tell the MC and her brother that the Society is bad is the Circle who are actively members of it and nothing about what they say or do makes me feel like they’re any more trust worthy than the rest of the society except most of them are going to be future love interests. In Alanna’s route, the only member of the Society not in the Circle that has a unique character portrait is Arabella and she’s kind of a more interesting character with a more sympathetic story than the Circle. We hear about how corrupt and morally bankrupt the higher ups in the Society are, and we know the MC hates her dad, who seems to be considered the worst, but aside from being a bit stuff and arrogant, (much like the wealthy elite of our world) we don’t see much evil, and it confuses me if the Circle wants to bring down the Society or try and take control of it for the greater good without much of a reason to trust them.

The Immortal plot point fell flat to me, like the story basically skipped over the time travel plot device by making it literally a this happens and barely talk about it, but adding the Immortality plot felt unneeded in a narrative that needed a lot more structure, not irons in the fire. I feel like if Alanna/your love interest was the only one of the Circle that was immortal other than the Elites of the Society it would have made a better route to go. Having an immortal character in your romantic story is fertile ground, they could be a tragic figure, a figure who is hedonistic and loving their immortality, etc, there are plenty of ways to go, an immortal character with a bunch of their pals who are already incredibly powerful and have a vague sense of goodness about them, makes it feel far from a curse or whatever they’re trying to portray it here. It could have also been introduced better to the MC by say meeting Arabella in the present day and being shocked by seeing her and needing confirmation from the Circle or Alanna, instead of Alanna dropping it in a mood to the MC.

Overall, it felt to complicated of a story to tell with all the moving pieces that didn’t deliver on any of them sadly. the whole story felt like it was a mix between Queen of Thieves and Astoria Fates Kiss, without the charms of either the story or the characters, replacing Greek Mythology with time travel. I will also say, it the plot made me kind of uncomfortable with how a bunch of mostly white young adults have decided to be judge and jury throughout time with the first antagonist being a powerful black lesbian in london 200 years ago, and we only have their word that something is afoot. I know that she actually was doing bad stuff, but the Circle is just a vigilante group with no actual authority and using time travel as their own means of policing people and if it wasn’t a simplistic romance story disguised as a scifi fantasy story, I feel like more nuance would have saved it.

The good parts: Alanna’s route for Immortal Hearts Society wasn’t all bad, I I will admit I am probably overly harsh since I just finished it. I actually really enjoyed the both the Female and Male MC character designs, they both were surprisingly interesting compared to a lot of MC’s. I really did enjoy the MC for the most part and I liked her relationship with her brother, most of the time I’ve seen sibling relationships in Lovestruck they’re fine but don’t tend to have much actual conflict, just superficial. But I like that the MC loves her brother, but burned her bridges with him to keep him safe, she regrets what she had to do but not what happened which is a pretty interesting take. Alanna was enjoyable as a love interest in the beginning, but as the story got more and more convoluted, it felt like she didn’t have much actual character. I do have a soft spot for the Circle characters, except for the two current love interests, I’m more annoyed that we didn’t get to see and interact with them more, especially since it looks like they’ll be future love interests if the pattern holds. It was a fine story and I know I’m being overly harsh, but it just felt underdone instead of bad, which tends to make it worse in my mind because the lost potential is frustrating.

I wouldn’t mind continuing if the writing got tighter next season, I’ll still give it a try. I would very much like an Arabella route before anyone else, she has such a gorgeous design and despite not seeing a huge amount of her character being a warm genuinely kind person stuck between a rock and a hard place for her family was an interesting take instead of making her one of the many false sweethearts in Queen of Thieves that stab you in the back. I also think that if she still is around in modern day she would have fit the story as a love interest better than Alanna.

Not sure if anyone is going to bother to read this but it feels good to get it out. Maybe you think I’m full of shit and I’m fine with that, maybe you love Alanna and she’s your favorite love interest. I’m sorry you read this because I don’t want anyone to feel bad, this is simply how I feel after reading the first chapter

#immortal heart society #ihm #lovestruck #alanna mckenna #immortal hearts society spoilers #alanna mckenna route #alanna mckenna route spoilers #ihm spoilers

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semper-legens · 3 years ago

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128. The Bookweaver’s Daughter, by Malavika Kannan

Owned: No, library Page count: 2467 My summary: Raya Khandari is the Bookweaver’s daughter - one of a long line of mages who wield power through words. They live in secret, disguised as peasants, under the tyrannical anti-magic regime of Jahan Zakir. But Zakir is looking for her, and it won’t be long before she is found... My rating: 3/5 My commentary:

Into the world of YA, and on paper, this book is 100% my thing. I love fantasy, I love stories of plucky young women with the power to save the world, I love everything this story is or should be. But...when I started writing this up, I was seriously considering giving it a 2.5, my rating usually reserved for books I found bland or boring. That’s not fair, and I’m going to go into the reasons why it’s not fair under the cut, but my in-a-nutshell review of this book is basically this - so much potential, but could have used a lot more time to develop it.

Our main character is Raya, the Bookweaver’s daughter and heir to a legacy of power and magic. She’s joined by Nina, her friend from her life as a peasant, and a rotating cast of rebels and outcasts on her path to realising her powers and bringing down the tyrannical Zakir. She’s a good character, with a lot of personality and a solid arc, going from struggling to keep her head above water to a realistically traumatised kid trapped in a deadly court to coming into her own as the Bookweaver.

I did, however, feel like a lot of these points and beats were rushed - much of this book could have done with more time to slow down, develop characters and emotions, and establish a new status quo before the next Big Thing happened. In an early example, Raya and Nina get picked up by a rebel group, who we barely spend any time with before they’re overrun and the rebels are scattered or captured. It really could have done with a lot more time with them, getting to know them, establishing Raya and Nina learning from them or otherwise getting close to them before the bad guys swept in. And this was consistent through the book - the pace was ridiculously fast, with barely any breathing space.

The world of this book is interesting, with a lot of background lore alluded to but never exposited, leaving the impression of a deeper universe without bogging the narrative down. It’s based heavily on Indian culture, too, which is cool to see in YA. There’s clearly a lot of thought and creativity and passion put into it, that much is so obvious just from reading. Still, I did encounter some things that raised an eyebrow. Raya’s vocabulary is very much that of a modern American teenager, as are some of the other characters - like a character using ‘take two’ in a world that presumably doesn’t have films. It’s nothing that couldn’t have been solved with a discerning editorial eye, but it kept sticking out to me as I read.

And here’s the reason I’m not being way more harsh on this book. The author is mentioned in the back as being eighteen years old. With that in mind, I can totally see the reasons why this book and story is the way that it is - with a few more years of maturity, practise, and experience, this book could have been so much more polished, and something that I unequivocally loved. Something in the vein of Children of Blood and Bone, you know? And that’s not to say that Kannan’s achievements at being a published novellist at 18 isn’t damn impressive - I’m 25, I haven’t published anything - but I really feel like this book needed more time in the proverbial oven. It’s underdone as-is, but I’d be really interested to see what kind of work Kannan’s producing in a few years, when she has more time to hone the passion and talent she obviously has.

Next up, back to Animorphs, as we’re going to...Atlantis?

#The Bookweaver's Daughter #Malavika Kannan #bookblr #book blog #book blogger #3

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kanna-ophelia · 5 years ago

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Hear the Serpent’s Hiss

31 Day of Ineffables Day 6, Sleigh Bells.

And my very first Radio!Good Omens fic. i.e. Crowley has a sexy voice and Aziraphale is at his most waspish queen-ish. baby!Warlock era.

On AO3

On Wattpad

* * *

Aziraphale could hear a voice like melted chocolate, a deep rich dark sweet voice designed for temptation, coming from behind the yew hedge. He could catch the words "sin", "destruction" and "evil".

Ah. That would be the new nanny, then.

He padded on quiet feet, much more padded than gumboots should really be, around the corner, and listened to the temptations of Hell.

"You're a booful Prince of darkness, aren't you? You're the prettiest, cutest, most booful devilspawn ever! Oh, you like that, don't you precious? You like a big raspberry on your adorable ickle tumtummy, my prince? Yes, you do, yes you do, you lovely gigglepot Lord of destruction you. Do you like kisses too, dragonlet? Does oo like kissy-kissies?"

Aziraphale stood quietly, just long enough to store up a lifetime's worth of mockery material in his memory. It was unfortunate that his lifetime was probably going to last just over ten years. Then he cleared his throat.

Crowley stopped tickling the giggling Antichrist and sat up.

"I see you and Warlock are getting along," Aziraphale said mildly, sitting down on the blanket beside him and holding his arms out for the baby.

"I can't help it," Crowley said, handing Warlock over. "He's the son of my Dark Lord. I'm probably genetically predisposed to bow down and worship him."

"I thought the whole point of this project is that, if we have genes at all, he's genetically an angel. Just like you." Crowley ignored that, and Aziraphale contemplated the child in his arms. Over the last few months Warlock had started to look less like an underdone poached egg, and more like a human being. Aziraphale still didn't really understand the appeal. "What dark liturgy is I am going to eat your darling wicked tummy all up from, again?"

"Plenty of cannibal cults in the old days," Crowley said defensively.

"Well, you would know." Aziraphale tickled the baby under his chin. "You are a very, ah, nice baby," he hazarded doubtfully.

Warlock spat up all over him.

"Sorry," Crowley drawled. "I shouldn't have thrown him about so much." He drew a sigil in the air, and the sweet smelling vomit vanished. "You just wait until he starts solids properly."

"Thank you." Aziraphale continued to cuddle the child, but turned him to face away, snuggling him in his arms. He looked up to see Crowley watching him with a curious expression, glasses shoved up, on his head.

"Should you expose your eyes like that?"

"Probably not." Crowley didn't lower them. "Don't you ever come to the house?"

"No real reason to come in."

"I'll have to come to the garden more often. So you can counterbalance me a bit."

"Crowley, Warlock's not even a year old. He can't understand a word of the nonsense you're babbling."

"You never know. When did you last meet an Antichrist? He might be thinking even now, When I'm Lord of all I survey, that prissy queen is going to be crushed under my hooves for refusing to come to see me and Nanny. Hey, angel, something has has been bothering me."

Aziraphale tensed. "Hell has noticed my presence?"

"No, not that I know of. It's just that irritating nun said she wanted to count the Antichrist's little toesy-woesys. Stupid, huh?"

"Unwise, possibly. Why are you thinking about it now?"

"I counted them three times yesterday."

"Were you expecting the number to have changed? I should think your side would make sure he had nothing to make him stand out."

"It's worse than that." For once, Crowley was looking nervous and ashamed. "Once I counted them, I kissed them. Do you think Warlock really is hypnotising me?"

Aziraphale bounced the baby, gently, so as not to set off another stream of vomit. Crowley was looking genuinely terrified. Funny, how after six thousand years someone could still surprise you.

"That skirt really does suit you."

"Thanksss. I like it." Crowley shifted uncomfortably. "Look, I'm serious. If he brainwashed me, our plan is doomed."

Warlock was gripping Aziraphale's finger with the tiny strength of a six month old baby, and Aziraphale was aware of a stirring of warmth that was to do with the devil's child, with Crowley's worried frown and expensive stockings, with ten years stretching ahead. Even if they were the last ten years, they might be quite pleasurable. "I don't think we need to worry about that."

"Right. Well, Christmas."

"Why? It's a busy season for us both, but I think we could be forgiven for focusing on Warlock instead, under the circumstances."

"That's exactly what I mean. It's Warlock's first Christmas. It's crucially important."

"Crowley, he's a baby. He has no idea what Christmas is."

"We don't know that. We have to start right." The dark, honeyed drawl was back in Crowley's voice as he sprawled back on the rug and looked speculatively at Aziraphale. "You'd make a far better Father Christmas than me. I'm hardly a saint."

"Neither were most saints if I recall. In any case, I'm not sure I approve of the tradition. It seems to foster greed, deception and teaching rich children that they are morally superior to poor children and therefore deserve more material goods."

"Exactly," said Crowley, with so much pride in his voice that Aziraphale glared suspiciously at him. "That's my side, anyway. You, on the other hand, get to foster joy and give him good, improving presents. Picture books about the joys of giving and kindness. Come on, you love books."

I love--Aziraphale looked down at the Saturnine dark face, the wickedly gleaming yellow eyes and, as usual, put the thought away for another time. Some unspecified point in the future when he would feel like examining it.

"You can never start an improving library too young," Aziraphale mused.

"Come on. Let yoursssself be tempted," Crowley hissed.

Aziraphale swatted him lightly but, in the end, he always gave in.

"Besides," Crowley went on, "Warlock deserves the bestest Christmas in the entire world, don't you, my gorgeous prince of darkness you." He tickled Warlock's tummy, and the Antichrist squealed with delight.

* * *

So it was that Aziraphale, dying internally from mortification, found himself materialised in Warlock Dowling's room.

"I'm not putting the guillotine in a baby's reach, whatever Crowley thinks," he grumbled to himself. "Let alone the books."

He carefully lined up next to the cot the books, dolls (to encourage nurturing) and classical music CDs he had chosen for his godson, as well as the variety of toy guns, weapons and monsters Crowley had chosen. Then he peeked on the Antichrist, who gurgled in his sleep.

"Sleep well, little Warlock. May you be at least in part the angel you have the potential to be." It wasn't a blessing, exactly. He wasn't quite sure what effect blessing the Son of Satan might have. "And be good for my demon. I think he loves you. Which means I will try to love you as well."

Crowley, on a camping bed in the corner, muttered in his sleep as if in response. Aziraphale walked over to him, seeing his face in the moonlight. A quite ordinary face really, handsome in a foreboding way--well, pretty, Aziraphale supposed, at the moment, although "pretty" was an odd word to fit Crowley, so perhaps not--but not too much so. A face which, apart from the eyes, was designed to fit in. To look ordinary, when he was anything but.

And always, always, the first and greatest tempter.

So it wasn't, Aziraphale reasoned, entirely his fault if he cradled the sharp jaw in his hand for just a moment, and pressed a feather-light kiss on his forehead.

Crowley's eyes opened, luminous yellow in the dark.

"Well, this is new," he drawled.

Aziraphale had too much dignity to panic. "Yes, it is."

"C'mere." Crowley pulled his face down and kissed him, long and hard and deep, as if it was something he had always wanted as well. It felt strange and unthinkable and natural and familiar to have those lips and tongue on his, those dear hands holding his face, and oh Aziraphale loved him. Ridiculous to pretend otherwise, now that Crowley was kissing him and bells were ringing in his head.

He pulled up eventually, and Crowley smiled up at him.

"Sssatan, I never thought I'd be kissing Father Christmas. That beard is the least sexy thing I can imagine. Don't wear it next time I kiss you."

"Who said there is going to be a next time?"

Crowley actually looked alarmed, and Aziraphale kissed his forehead again. "Go back to sleep, dear. Don't want the Dowlings wondering why their Nanny is snogging Father Christmas in their son's room."

Crowley flashed sharp teeth but turned over to settle back to sleep. "Don't forget to ring the sleigh bells."

"Crowley, really--"

"You promised. You're an angel. Keep your promises. It's in the rules."

"All right, then."

Aziraphale went over to the cot and leaned down. Warlock opened big eyes that Aziraphale knew were blue, and smiled at him. Aziraphale felt a stirring of tenderness. "You're lucky I have a weakness for Hellspawn," Aziraphale told him, "although it probably won't count in my favour in the final reckoning if we fail at this."

There was a sound between a snort and a chuckle from the bed. "We won't fail. I'm not letting a little thing like Armageddon ruin our partnership."

"I'll hold you to it. Good night, Crowley."

"Night, angel."

With a martyred sigh, Aziraphale clambered out of the window and rang his bells. "Hope it makes you happy, you serpent," he muttered, then softened.

"Good night, my demons," he said. "I will protect you if I can. I will protect all the world, but especially you two."

Then he went back to the gardener's cottage alone and oddly content, the bells jingling in his pocket.

* * *

Notes:

Title and quote from Blue Öyster Cult , Demon's Kiss:

So children, you'll hear the serpent's hiss At the moment you feel A demon's kiss

I didn't end up using much of the prompt in the end--but I suppose that's just what it was, a prompt. @drawlight

#31 days of ineffables #day 6 #sleigh bells #radio good omens #AziCrow #Aziraphale/Crowley #Ineffable Husbands #ineffable husbands fanfic #air conditioning #holiday fic

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spnfanficpond · 6 years ago

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April Angel Fish Awards

Every month all of you fantastic writers work your asses off to post some truly incredible stories. Our Angel Fish Awards are the way for all of us, as a community of writers and readers, to lift each other up and give praise to those who have captured our attention and deserve a few kind words.

The monthly Angel Fish Awards are peer-nominated, meaning ANYONE IN THE POND CAN NOMINATE ANY POND MEMBER’S FIC. While the Pond was founded to support the Guppies, everyone in this community deserves to be showered with love and feedback, and we hope that by opening this up as a Pond wide system, we’ll be able to share the love as far as it can go.

NOTE: WE’VE BEEN HAVING OCCASIONAL PROBLEMS WITH ASKS GOING MISSING. Please use the Submit button when submitting your nominations and make sure you’re signed into Tumblr or your URL won’t show. (If the form asks for your name and email address, then you’re not signed in.) If you like, you can also send a message to Michelle or Mana to check and make sure we got your submission.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, HERE ARE APRIL’S ANGEL FISH AWARDS!

Nominated by @kittenofdoomage

Known by @stusbunker

I haven’t finished reading it yet but it’s a really unique story, very dark and gritty. It’s brilliant so far and I can’t wait to read the rest. I’m not usually one to read OC’s either but the mix of OC and reader is so well done… anyway, I love it lol

As I Live and Breathe by @katehuntington

This is an awesome Dean x reader. Her writing style is really good, she’s got so much potential, everyone should check out her masterlist.

Nominated by @slytherkins

Hell and Apathy by @risingphoenix761

Oh. My. Glob. I do not even have words to adequately describe how much I love this fic. It’s like dying and going to fanfic heaven. This. This is what they would serve there. It’s so well written. So in character. For something so short, it’s breathtakingly dark and angsty. There is instant mood. BAM. MOOD. It’s the perfect length, too. It could have easily been overdone or underdone, but it is just right. It brings up all the right questions. It. Is. Hawt. Like, not a little bit. Like, all the way. It is surface-of-the-sun scorching. This fic…this fic is perfection.

St. Fergus by @risingphoenix761

This fix-it fic is amazeballs. Part crack, part existential reflection. There be banter, and it’s all marvelously In Character. (Pre-s14 finale In Character, that is. *shakes fist at Chuck*) It’s funny. It’s heartwarming. It better have a sequel or I’m going to die.

Nominated by @mrswhozeewhatsis

His Princess (series) by @georgialouisea

At first, I thought I’d like this just because I do love a good royal AU, but in the most recent part, the story took a turn that I truly wasn’t expecting!! I always love me some protective Winchesters, and bodyguard!Dean is wonderful, but this story has a few extra elements to it that I can’t help but wonder if they’re going to play into the story. I can’t wait to find out!!

Sweet Reunion by @wi-deangirl77

This is the part of the 300th episode that the Show forgot to show us. What exactly did John and Mary get up to while the boys were in town picking up groceries and discovering TEDTalk!Sam was a thing? Heh heh heh. You know. *wink*Wink*nudge*nudge* This is sweet and romantic without getting NSFW and it gave me all the John and Mary feels!!!

House of the Rising Sun (series) by @kittenofdoomage

I mean, of course, everything Rhi writes is fabulous, and her smut is top shelf, but this series is making me ask questions about Stockholm Syndrome and consent and other issues presented in this story. There’s a million directions this story could go and I can’t wait to see which one Rhi picks!!

Bed of Roses (series) by @crispychrissy

This is a mobster AU where the first thing Dean does is torture our heroine for information. The second thing he does is fall for her. Things just go downhill from there, with twists and turns you might not expect. I can’t wait to find out if she can ever get past everything and love Dean! I literally grin every time I see an update!

Control and Release (series) by @thecleverdame

HOLY HOTNESS, BATMAN!! TEDTalk!Sam has some control issues and likes to exert most of them over the reader. In public. I don’t know if this will ever take a turn for the soft and romantic, but even if it doesn’t, this story is STEAMING!!

Dear Dean (series) by @purpleskiesandcherrypies

I wasn’t sure if I could really get into a WWII AU since I’m not much of a history buff, then I read the first chapter and nearly busted! Jamie Blum, only sister in a family of brothers, parents long since dead, decides to follow her brothers when they all go off to war. But instead of becoming a nurse, she cuts off her hair, puts on her brother’s clothes, and goes to fight under the command of Lt. Dean Winchester. POV switches between the two, AND I LOVE IT. This is a must read!!

Splintered Flames, Burning Dreamer by @thedevilinthedetails

Part 1 of this is your typical ABO fuck-or-die scenario, with a good amount of angst layered into it. Part 2, however, takes that angst, multiplies it, and stabs you right in the heart with it. Then, just when you think you’re done, it rips your heart right out and stomps on it. A lot. SO GOOD!!!!

Nominated by @thelittleredwhocould

Crazy Love by @saxxxology

This series is hot AF. Saxxy fucking killed it. Plus, as someone who’s part-Native American, this fic is extra awesome to me.

Take the Edge Off by @saxxxology

For all your TED!Sam needs. Delicious.

Bitten (series) by @saxxxology

I haven’t seen many monster!Winchester fics and this is one of my favs. I absolutely love the spin Saxxy puts on A/B/O in this verse. Plus, smut. Sexy sexy smut.

Faith and Amazing Grace by @mrswhozeewhatsis

I absolutely love this revisiting of a s1 episode. So angsty. So good.

I Know Your Wife (She Wouldn’t Mind) (series) by @teamfreewill-imagine

This is a fic that will never get old, imo. I don’t read RPF (like, ever), but Jamie has created such beautiful dynamics between all the characters and this fic gives me life.

Forever by @bamby0304

Feelings. Aaaaaaallllll the feeliings. So many feelings. I might have cried a little.

Her Saviours (series) by @bamby0304

I am adoring this rewrite. The relationships between the reader and the boys are such a mess, and watching them work through familiar cases together is so much fun. The very sexy sex is a nice bonus ;D

Spanner in the Works (series) by @bamby0304

This is probably one of my favorite series I’ve read so far this year. This is also the fic that first really introduced me to Amber’s writing and I can’t wait to see how it goes.

Nominated by @manawhaat

We Kill and We Fuck (oneshot) by @jayankles

Well, fuck me! I am a sucker for serial killer kink, through and through, and this fun twist of A/B/O, AND Alpha Ruby with the two of them... hot damn!

I Have A Dream (oneshot) by @idreamofplaid

It’s so fluffy!!! I absolutely love tattoo artist Jared, love the tattoos you described on his body, love the sea shells and that he does it on you in the comfort of your own place. It’s soft and warm and ugh, just so Jared.

Thank you all for the awesome work and great feedback!

As with the BFAs, these are not actual awards! This system is set up so everyone in the pond has a chance to share the love and promote a fic/author that has grabbed your attention. The more people that participate, and the more everyone remembers to submit their own fics after posting, the better this will be :D

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN, KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK, AND AS ALWAYS, HAPPY WRITING!

#spn fic rec #afas #afa masterlist #angel fish awards #fic rec #spn #supernatural #spn fanfic #supernatural fanfiction #spn fanfiction #Supernatural fanfic #spn fan fiction #supernatural fan fiction

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amplesalty · 5 years ago

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Christmas 2019: Day 7 - A Christmas Carol: The Musical (2004)

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Seven dancing bankers!

This has always stood out as something of a sore thumb amongst the prospective Christmas Carol choices I could watch and, given some of other films on this year’s list, this is as good a time as any to look at it.

Directly comparing it to those, it doesn’t get close to that same feeling of a total tonal shift. But, it’s perhaps not massively out of place anyway given that there are moments of song and dance in a traditional Christmas Carol, be it Fezziwigg’s Christmas Ball or the fun and games at Fred’s house.

For a story all about instilling the Christmas spirit in one person in particular, it’s not just Scrooge lacking in it as the film begins; street urchins are pickpocketing the wealthy, kids are stealing from the cart of the rag and bone man and blind beggars are wilfully ignored.

Well, the joys of Christmas might be lost on the filthy but at least the filthy rich at the exchange are celebrating and enjoying the season. That is until that miserly old Scrooge turns up.

Whilst the casting of Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge is a good one, especially when it comes to the singing parts, it almost feels like his performance early on is bordering on parody. He just has this permanent sneer and eyes that seem to be welded nearly completely shut like this is Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol. Yeah, that’s still on the list somewhere...

Still, that sneer lends an extra layer to his interaction with the charity collectors who catch up with him much earlier in this version. Rather than just talk to him normally, they sing their intentions to collect for the needy and it makes me interpret his contemptuous look less as him not wanting to be philanthropic and more that he’s confused as to why these weirdoes are singing to him. No one in musicals ever seems aware that all their conversations seem to take place melodically.

It does take a bit of the sting out of some of Scrooge’s wicked remarks to hear him speak in rhyme. “I abhor how they whine, how they want whatever’s mine. Why should I give a thing for free? Let them beg til they’re blue, it has nothing to do with me. I say, let them die and decrease the surplus population.”

On the reverse though, the Marley scene is really strange and takes what is usually dramatic and adds some humour, mostly from the casting of Jason Alexander who brings comedic tone to the whole thing through his delivery and physical performance. There’s a degree of comic mischief going on as he summons these other spirits to scare Scrooge and the odd lyric that seem to poke fun at his fettered situation:

Stacking up my silver and my bits of gold, filling up my vault when day was done! Well, vaults are made of lead and cash is very cold! And around your neck they weigh a bloody ton!

Still, there’s some sense of humanity to it I’ve not seen in other versions. For instance, I think it’s the first time I think I’ve seen Marley actually hug Scrooge even if Scrooge isn’t receptive to it. It speaks to the friendship they had before and the relief that Marley must feel now that he’s been able to finally appear to Scrooge after his many attempts before.

It’s a fun song and perhaps one of the few standouts throughout the whole film. Maybe that’s just my tastes or maybe it’s that most of the other songs feel really generic talking about your standard happiness and festive cheer type of stuff.

Or, in the case of the Cratchit’s, a number about how Bob doesn’t need a fortune, all he needs is his family. Looking at Tiny Tim makes him feel as rich as a king and he means more to him than anything. And he sings this in front of his whole family! It’s like Bob Cratchit is just destined to say well intentioned things but ultimately demean the rest of his family.

I didn’t think it was possible to make Tiny Tim any more sympathetic but adding a leg brace manages to do the job.

They show him and his father head out to buy the bird for Christmas dinner, not the prize turkey in the poulterer’s window and not the traditional goose. Just a chicken, a small one. There’s something amusing about the fact that they actually took the time to foreshadow the turkey as if it’s not surprising enough just that Scrooge buys it for the Cratchit family come the end of the movie. They have to be teased by it first, shown what they could have had if only things were different before having to settle.

Jane Krakowski shows up as the Ghost of Christmas Past, I didn’t touch on this but she played the teacher in the Christmas Story musical so that’s just another link.

She’s really good and looks very glamorous here but is it weird that I find her more attractive in the newsie look she has when she shows up earlier in the movie, filling in for her sick husband in his job lighting all the street lamps in town? Maybe it’s the sense of coyness with her slightly obscured behind the brim of the cap or that whole women in men’s shirts sorta thing.

The gimmick here is that Scrooge runs into the spirits at the start of the movie in the everyday world, Present is advertising a show and Yet to Come is a blind beggar woman. To me, this throws in this shade of grey element to proceedings. It’s a very fantastical idea for some other worldly power to send these three spirits to help Scrooge redeem himself but having the three spirits be entirely different actors locks them into being that. But, Scrooge has always talked about how his run in with Marley might just be a trick of the mind; a crumb of mouldy cheese or an underdone turnip. Maybe the negative run ins Scrooge had with these three earlier in the day triggered something in his mind and it’s projecting their images in order to help him process these feelings of wanting to better himself.

For all the sweetness and light on the exterior of Past, she really goes in on showing Scrooge the trauma of his earlier life. It’s like an origin story of his miserly ways as we go all the way back to his childhood and a day in court as his father is sentenced to prison for failing to pay his debts. As he’s ushered away, he urges Scrooge to learn from his mistakes, to earn his fortune and to keep it.

Plus we actually get to see the death of Marley who complains of feeling faint and needing to retire early for the day but not even managing to make it to the front door of their offices before collapsing. Again, even in this morbid way, it brings some tenderness to see Scrooge’s sadness at having to relive the passing of who he describes as his only friend. Plus we can’t forget the one constant of these flashbacks, his fiancé calls off their impeding nuptuals due to him becoming obsessed only with money, a fiancé played by Jennifer Love Hewitt no less. Combine all these together and maybe Scrooge isn’t the way he is because he thinks only of himself and his own wealth, maybe he’s just scared to let anyone is because everyone he ever loves seems to leave him. Father in prison, Mother dies shortly after, separated from his sister and she dies too, fiancé ditches him and his only friend dies as well.

I always saw Present as the more uncharacteristically mean spirited one but Past is pretty cold here to show him all these things. But, as she points out as Scrooge extinguishes her light, these are only the shadows of things that once were, they are what they are, don’t blame her. Aside from his usual rant at the end, Present is a little more mischevious here, his links with the Christmas show coming into play as she shoves a hapless Scrooge on stage amongst a bunch of dancing nutcrackers.

Casting a black actor in this role is a bit of a departure from the norm though. Part of me kept thought it was someone in blackface at first.

Yet to Come is a strange one as well, seemingly playing against the usual shadowy, cloaked figure you normally see. If anything, that’s what she looks like normally before she transforms into some sort of white, raggedy affair. It’s like if you were dressing someone as a snowflake or something.

We go into a graveyard scene where a number of grave diggers are singing a warning of Scrooge’s future; the sounds of hammers on his coffin, the voices of the people he never tried to save and the footsteps of them dancing on his grave. Quite chilling lyrics combined with an almost ritualistic scene of all these gravediggers working in rhythm and hooded figures leading the coffin procession. Along with Marley’s song, it’s a highlight of the soundtrack but they’re both well staged as well with lots of interesting imagery.

That whole shared misery thing at the start comes back with a vengeance when Old Joe shows up to buy Scrooge’s bed curtains. Scrooge’s house keeper promptly has her earnings wrenched from her hand, truly there is no honour amongst thieves.

Not quite as miserable as seeing the whole Cratchit family around Tiny Tim’s freshly made grave. The Muppets version with Piggy and Kermit mourning their dead son is pretty grim but this might potentially top it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this portrayed in any of the other versions, you normally get Bob returning from visiting the grave himself.

Poor family can’t even afford the T on the cross marking his grave. Or is that just the name of the impeding Christmas Carol shared universe origin story of Bob Cratchit; I’m Cratchit.

And whilst it lacks the out of body experiences what Patrick Stewart and Alistair Sim went through upon awaking back in the real world, the lack of dancing can perhaps be forgiven in the face of what has been an hour and a half of singing and dancing. Instead, we reflect back on the start of the movie as Scrooge has now learned to keep Christmas in his heart and that ‘it all has to do with me!’. Having experienced similar in the Christmas Story musical, I guess this is traditional to reprise certain songs throughout the show but at times it gets a little tedious to me. That might just be some bad examples here though because in Christmas Story it was just adding to the feeling of it dragging and here it’s using songs that aren’t the best. This specific example I liked though, it wraps up the arc that Scrooge has gone through and underlines the change in his character.

With the musical aspect being it’s selling point and most of its musical numbers not being very entertaining, this probably ranks amongst the weaker of the Christmas Carol adaptations I’ve seen but as these things often do, it’s added its own little elements to the story that have made me look at Scrooge in a different way.

#Christmas 2019 #A Christmas Carol #A Christmas Carol: The Musical

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meliecho · 7 years ago

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Hearts and Heroes: One Shot - chpt 7: Lifeline - part 2

Summary: Two alpha Somni face off, but there’s a catch that triggers the boss fight. Is this the end?

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Previously on Hearts and Heroes: One shot...

The six footsteps it took to cross the room to the pedestal lasted an eternity on their own. He got within an arms reach of the Somni-Demonling.

“No,” The words caught in Sun's throat. Her limbs were heavy. She couldn't move to stop him. “Mark, don't.”

Mark's eyes slid halfway closed as he let out a long breath in concentration.

When he looked up, he clasped his hands at the nape of his back, and tilted his head slightly to each side. “Finally. I’ve waited a long time to be in control again. Watching the world through his pathetic eyes is tiresome.”

Shadow’s pleasure at facing down the other powerful entity glinted in her blackened eyes. “Welcome back,” she purred his name like a venomous spell, “Dark.”

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And now, the conclusion...

He kept his hands behind his back in an air of superiority. “You wanted to see me. Well, here I am. Shadow, was it?”

“Yes,” pride filled her answer. “It’s an honor to meet the one who brought the great and annoying King of the Nerds to his knees,” she regarded him with caution, but confidence as one Alpha to another. “To be honest, I didn’t think he’d let you out so willingly. I’m surprised he’d put himself at risk just for this worthless girl.”

“He has a bleeding heart. It sickens me.”

She eyed his posture, and frowned slightly. “You’re…less than what I’d thought you’d be. What happened to your power? Where's that strength I sensed before?”

“Did you call me out just to insult me, or is there a point to this?” He slid his foot back, making her follow him one very slow step at a time. “Either tell me what you want, or get out of my sight.”

Shadow wouldn’t allow him to gain any distance. “Getting right to it. I like that. There is a point, actually. I wanted to look into the eyes of the one who suppressed him and see if you measured up to the hype. If you truly are my equal, or simply a poser lucky enough to catch that insufferable bastard on a bad day.”

“Satisfied?”

She made her call like someone judging an underdone steak. “You're weak, but not entirely disappointing.”

“I wish I could say the same about you.”

She chuckled. “A lesser being insulting me. Hilarious. You can't even leave your host. He still has control over you. Right now, you wouldn't stand a chance against me.”

His lips formed a thin line. “Right now, maybe. But my full potential will crush you.”

“I’ve kept her in a coma for a year. Do you really want to test me?” Her eyes narrowed.

“Gladly. But now’s not the time or place. Only a little bitch baby makes that challenge knowing they have the upper hand. Where’s the fun in that?” He stopped moving, dropping his voice to a sinister growl. “It goes to show how inconsequential you really are.”

“Spoken like a true asshole.”

“You expected anything less?”

She stepped up inches away from his face—two vipers facing off. A spark of rivalry crackled the air between them. “I don’t like you.”

“The feeling is mutual,” He paused. “Still, I am personally thrilled to meet one of my biggest fans; the colossal ice queen.”

Shadow’s expression morphed from confusion, to annoyance, to ‘pissed off.’

“Ah fuck it.” Mark dropped the act, hauled off and landed a right hook shot across its face.

Shadow reeled from the hit.

Its surprise provided the perfect chance for his next attack. “Zapdos! Go!” The explosive sound of an Ultra Ball burst to life at its feet.

He sprinted past it and tackled Sun to get her out of the way.

The light bulb jarred from her hands when she hit the ground and bounced along the surface, letting out a hollow ‘ping’ as it wobbled into the obtuse angle of the wall. Without her touch, the light faded down to a pale pinprick of yellow in the center –less than when she found it in the Barrens.

The Demonling shrieked within a flurry of electrical strikes. Bolt after bolt speared through to the ground, igniting the room in rapid strobe light pulses like a basement rave.

It slumped once the onslaught ended. Rivulets of steam drifted upward from its body, and haggard breaths rasped from its gaping mouth.

The room plunged into a blanket of night.

Sun stared wide-eyed at him. The warm light from the heart on his sleeve dyed the left side of his face and upper body pink. The pathetic color from hers was feeble in comparison. She’d noticed it before, but only without the light bulb present.

“Are you ok?”

The need to escape crashed through her. Thinking that monster she’d sensed still controlled him terrified her enough to blur her vision—a trauma trigger. She scrambled back on her hands, frightened of him. “Get away!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, whoa, hey whoa. Whoa. Easy. It’s me, I swear.”

“M-Mark...? ” that act was perfect. She’d believed it. “But…Dark… I thought you’d really caved.”

“I wouldn’t let that asshole out for its own birthday party.” He gave her a reassuring smile and touched her shoulder gently. “I’ve got it under lock and key, so don’t worry.”

Her normal reply to his performance—or what she thinks is normal—would have been ‘Damn, Skippy,’ but all her voice would produce was a small ‘meep’ of confirmation. This whole situation had her on edge.

“You,” Shadow’s voice heaved in rage in the darkness. “You bastard!”

Mark took up a defensive position in front of Sun, holding his right arm out in protection as he faced the darkened room.

“How dare you play me for a fool,” it growled low. “You’ll pay for that.” Shadow melted into the darkness.

“Oh boy,” His eyes darted in every direction, straining to use the illumination from their arms to see. He needed to get the light bulb back, but he couldn’t let Sun go yet, not when he’d finally coaxed the Somni-Demonling out of her body. He needed to weaken it before he could let it near her again.

Suspense creeped up his spine, brought to life by one of the few things he absolutely hated about horror games: Random chance. Being stalked in a dark enclosed space with no exit by a powerful enemy that will kill you if it attacks and your HP is low.

This scared him more now than any time so far on their entire journey. Her life was at stake if he failed.

The sound of it drifting through the room mirrored the flutter of silk in the wind.

He stood gradually, bringing Sun up with him. “Stay behind me.”

She gripped his shoulders, though he could feel her trembling.

Shadow’s cold, sadistic laugh bounced around the room, hiding its location and sending needles of fear through the two spirits.

His eyes and ears strained to track it, jolting toward each sound to keep it in front of him. This is what prey felt like being hunted by a predator. “Uh, I hate this,” he mumbled. “I hate this. I hate this. I hate this…”

A ripple of motion caught in his left peripheral within the halo of pink. He spun to meet it. It darted to his right. And then… silence.

He grit his teeth, his heart pounding, and his palms layered in cold sweat. His and Sun’s breathing sounded too loud. He swallowed.

Shadow lunged at him from the blackness. The ring of pink light cast a ghostly shade over its features and ignited the darklight in its eyes.

They screamed in surprised and lurched to the side.

Its cold hands clenched around his neck.

Air hitched in his throat. He snared its scarf, yanked it toward him, and plowed his fist into its gut. He thrust both hands between its arms, striking outward at its wrists to loosen its grip, and landed a sharp punch to its jaw.

Shadow disappeared into the darkness again.

Freed, he worried at his sore neck, breathing hard. Thank god he spent time in the training room to learn break-away tactics.

It circled them like a shark, craving revenge before returning to its host body. Its voice hummed in the void. “Two can play the deception game, Mark. I made sure she felt everything when I reached out to Dark. She had no choice. She knows the evil you hide, now.”

He sensed its eyes bore holes into him, and felt Sun’s grip tighten in shame.

“Your secret's out.”

“Five people already know. What's one more? Besides, now she knows I’m not lying when I say I understand. Good job, Shadow. You actually did me a favor.”

Shadow dove at him again.

He backpedaled, forcing Sun to do the same. An obvious idea hit him so hard he felt like he needed to go back to elementary school. “Sun, get the bulb,” he ordered.

She let go of his shirt.

“Go! Now!”

She dashed across the hexagonal room to the front angled walls where the bulb rested. The pinpoint light inside was almost imperceptible.

At a thought—like a feeling—he flicked his finger down in the air at chest level and called up his menu window.

The room burst into white screen-glare brightness. He jumped back in terror as it lit up Shadow’s face merely three feet from his own. “Ah! Fuckin’! Fuck!”

It shrank back from the light in an animalistic howl.

Stealing his chance, he hastily removed the slice of toast from his item list, closed it, and shoved it in his pocket.

Sun pulled the bulb into the circle of her arms, and stood. Its glow grew once more until the room was again filled with its golden hue.

Shadow’s hands curled into claws as it drew itself up.

Mark balled up his fists, and charged.

It avoided his first punch, but not his second, third, and uppercut. It staggered, whipping its head to the left from the impact. It didn’t use any skills on him, or even the shield. It might be strong enough to leave Sun for a modicum of time, but it still needed to manipulate her body to use her power.

He kept himself between her and Shadow as much as possible. He couldn’t let it retreat back into her. Not yet.

It swung at him, catching him in the gut, and grabbed a hold of his collar.

He pulled the silver dagger Wilford 'sold' to him before this mission from a hidden sheath at the nape of his back – Fate Sealer. Shadow’s previous distraction before his Oscar winning performance gave him the time he needed to pull it and the ultra ball from his inventory and hide them behind his back. He swept the dagger upward, across, down, up, and back.

Thick miasma poured from each cut like blood vapor.

Shadow shrieked at the last strike up its chest. It wavered drunkenly; stunned and gripping its own form as if to hold itself together.

Time to end this.

Mark devoured the toast. Its strength boost ability spread through him in a heartbeat, and before Shadow could retaliate with another attack, he launched his fist like a battering ram into its chest.

The Terrorling exploded in a burst of dense smoke. The Somni faded back to Sun. On its tail, the weakened Demonling converged in a spiral of dark energy back to the protection of her body to merge with the Somni again.

The force of the intrusion almost caused her to drop the light bulb. However, for now, she remained in control. Mark managed to severely damage the Demonling so much that it lost its ability to exist outside her. It was now fully dependent on her.

He knew there was precious time left before it would take control again. He sheathed the dagger, rushed over and gripped her shoulder. “You need to fight it. Look at me,” he cupped her small face in both hands. “Sun, look at me!”

Her gaze moved to meet his. She was already resisting the Demonling’s attempts to take over. “Mark,” her whisper quivered, “I’m scared.”

“I know,” he hushed, keeping the urgency, but draping a layer of empathy over his words. “Believe me. I know better than anyone what’s happening to you right now. I’ve felt that thing crawling through my head, too, and it’s scary as fuck. It becomes so loud that it’s the only thing you can hear, and it’s painful. I hear that same voice every day. Some days it’s louder than others, but it’s a voice that only you can control. You have the power to tell it to fuck off.”

“What it says, it—“

“Is wrong.” He covered the heart on her sleeve with his left hand. Faint pink light bled between his fingers and around the edge of his palm. “This is the mark of the hero. You have it because it’s proof that you are strong enough. Your heart is not dead. Wounded and torn, but not dead.”

Her eyes flicked to his left shoulder and the bright illumination on his own sleeve.

“You have something inside your heart that can’t be killed. It allows you to reach out to others and that’s what everyone sees. That power belongs to you and no one else. You’re stronger than that Terrorling is, and it knows that. That’s why it wants you to give up. You are the only one who can give the darkness power. You’ve made it this far, Sun. You’ve survived in the dream world for a year, and that alone proves you are more than what you think. I believe in you. You can do this.”

She heard him. Even though at this point, her control disappeared to the will of the Terrorling, his words still reached through to her. They echoed around her so clearly, she felt she could reach out and grab them if she tried. She looked up in the void, her knees pulled up to her chest.

I believe in you. You can do this.

In her mind, she reached out to the darkness.

Shadow gripped Mark’s wrist and twisted it tightly. “Nice try, Hero. Points for effort.” Using Sun’s skill, she summoned the shield again in a final arc blast that sent him careening across the room into the wall.

That toast gave him the strength to deal incredible damage and take that wraith down where it needed to be, but it also diminished his defenses. If he could see an HP bar, a good chunk of it would slide down into the red. Adding that might not be a bad idea.

His wrist throbbed in pain too real to be a dream.

“You don’t give two shits about her, so stop pretending that you care!” Shadow snarled. “You can't save her! Get that through your fucknormous head! Your only value lies in sustaining the existence of one of my kind that you allowed to form. You, like her, are just a Host. So, shut up and remember your true role.” She turned her back on him with as much attention as one gives a dying insect and approached the pedestal again. “You're not a hero. You never were. You're just a guy who got good at playing the game.”

That stung. But, like the rest of her words, he knew it was crafted to get under his skin. To hell with her, and her bitchery. He groaned, getting to his knees and clutching his ribs, “I won't abandon you to this thing, Sun, I swear it. I’m not going anywhere. I know you can hear me,” His teams’ voices got through to him when he was in her position, so he knew the same to be true with her.

“Funny you should say that,” Shadow spoke. “Yours was the last voice she heard before she fell asleep.” She turned Sun’s head slightly to face him. “And it’ll be the last one she hears for good. Ironic, isn't it.”

“Sun...”

The teleporter suddenly activated in a column of light shooting up from the floor by the back wall. Five damaged and weary people materialized within its core.

Red lay on his back with his head in Peach’s lap, knocked out.

Purple was out of magic energy, and had given Jade the last half heart in her inventory.

They were all out of assist items and ultra balls.

“Mark!” Blue scrambled over to her friend and knelt by his side to help him up.

His heart soared at the sight of them. They were all right. He had confidence in his team to be able to not die. “What took you guys so long?” He pulled up his menu and removed the half and full hearts he had left, along with a bottle of hot sauce. He pushed a full heart against her collarbone, then gave her the rest. “Give these to the team.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Here.” Blue pressed one of the full hearts against his chest and let it melt through to work to heal his injuries before he could object. He was part of her team, after all, and the leader, she had just as much responsibility to him as to the others. She hurried back to help her friends.

Red coughed from the hot sauce. “Fuck me. I hate this stuff.”

“How are we alive?” Jade looked around.

Blue spotted the girl in the center of the room. “Sun...” She raised her voice, “Sun, we’re here! We’re not going to let you fight alone!”

Mark got back to his feet and joined his team, who all struggled to get back up. They’d fought an intense battle, and it showed.

“Those black squares started appearing everywhere. Thanks to Purple’s light, we avoided them, and we figured it out,” Peach softly said to Mark. She helped Jade to their feet. “This world is falling apart because it’s connected to Sun, and she’s losing the fight. That light bulb is her life. If she shatters it--”

“She’ll die,” He'd already put it together, but he didn't want to voice it. She'll succumb to the darkness for good, and Shadow will be in complete control. What's left of Sun will live in the void. If Sun wakes up from her coma, then what will exist in the waking world will be the darkest part of her soul. If she couldn't wake up, then Shadow will be free to do as she pleases in the dream world.

If taken literally, she'll loose her will to stay alive in this coma and her body will die.

His gaze fell on the long-haired figure at the pedestal. “I’ve done everything I can. I know I got through to her. It’s up to her, now.”

Shadow raised the light bulb. It ignored the newcomers. They were damaged, and wouldn’t last against it in a fight with Sun’s energy powering the only skill that girl learned in the dream world to protect herself –her shield.

It gave back enough control for her to make the decision on her own. Break it, the lambent tone of Shadow's whisper licked her mind. She felt the Somni-Demonling hybrid shift in eager anticipation. End your suffering.

These thoughts she'd heard all of her life were given a voice—her own ice-cold heartless voice.

“Sun!” Blue shouted. “Don't do it, please! We’re here for you!”

You smile, and laugh, and goof around, but inside you know it's all fake. You've been acting for so long, you don't know what being 'real' is anymore. Because you're not pretty enough. You're not talented enough. You're not passionate enough. You're not dedicated enough. You. Are not. Enough. So keep smiling. Keep faking it. Because the real you isn’t worth anyone’s time. You will forever be alone.

Black tears streamed down Sun's pale cheeks. She held the fragile light bulb high even as the glow from the heart on her sleeve faded.

This Demonling—a collection of her thoughts whispering to her for years—relished in the inner turmoil of its host. You are weak, but I am everything you could never be. I will give you the power you desire.

She thought of the beings she’d met in this world, and the other humans she’d come across in her year running from the darkness.

Do it. Shatter the bulb. Let me in and you won’t have to feel this pain ever again.

Her heart thundered in her chest. She had to do this. She had to finish it. Her frustration, anger, sorrow, fear, and the last shreds of bravery she owned boiled up into a scream from her soul that drowned out Shadow. The only thing she heard was Mark's powerful yet simple phrase rising above the rest.

'I believe in you. You can do this.'

She held onto that for every ounce her life was worth, and plunged the light bulb downward.

“No!” Blue rushed forward, arm outstretched. Tears pooled at her eyes. She couldn’t lose another one. Not again.

The light bulb clicked perfectly into the slot on top of the plinth. Sun quickly locked it down a half second before Shadow took control of her body again, slamming her to the back of her mind.

The bulb brightened, flooding the room with light.

Everyone shielded their eyes from the brilliance. They cringed, waiting to be forced back to consciousness if this dream ended.

Shadow’s wail of defeat deafened her. Sun sobbed within the void, terrified that her decision had killed her.

Rays of sunlight shot upward, amplified by the reflective surfaces of the hexagon room, and poured across the black sky.

The robots of the Barrens regained their power.

Flecks of daylight glistened off the vast ocean, and lines of crepuscular rays split through the phosphor trees of the Glen. The city was bathed in the breathtaking glow of the most powerful source of yellow phosphor in this world: Life.

Every black square it touched dissolved like sugar in water, restoring anything caught in them.

The world repaired itself within the first sunrise it had seen in a year.

It's purpose complete, the light bulb settled down to a less blinding level.

The dream travelers risked opening their eyes.

“No matter what you do, you’ll never be rid of me!” Shadow screamed with Sun's voice. “I am the only strength you have! You’re worthless without me!”

Sun stood within the void of her mind. “Shut up! I am not worthless! He believes in me, and I'll do everything I can to prove him right! Get out! Get out!”

Her force of will ripped the Demonling away from the Somni. Thick black ink oozed from her eyes to pool on the floor at her feet.

The weakened Terrorling writhed in the sunlight as a puddle of congealed goop. It screeched in rage and defeat. It bubbled and popped, evaporating into a thick miasma that swirled around her, too weak to break past her defense, and escaped through the open roof back into the dream world.

The Somni known as ‘Shadow’ suppressed in the back of Sun’s mind.

Sun exhaled, put back into control and her vision cleared. Her hands slipped from the light bulb wearily to the pedestal's surface.

“Sun,” Mark's voice filled the room despite its softness.

She dropped to her knees, exhausted, but lighter than she’d felt in forever…at least forever in the dream world. Her body felt full of adrenaline, and she was coming down off the fight-or-flight high. But if this was the dream world, she didn't have a body. In that case, what was it?

She wiped the residual gunk from her eyes with trembling hands. “Uch. Gross.”

Jade pumped their fist in victory. “Yes! F to pay respects.”

Purple side-eyed them. “Really.”

Blue knelt next to her. Scratches and bruises marred her exposed skin, and her dress was torn. “You did it.”

She lifted her head to look at Blue and the group of people behind her. They’d traversed this world in search of her, put themselves at risk, and fought the Terrorlings, but they didn’t give up on her. She was worth saving after all. New, clear tears traced the tracks of the dark influence. “I’m sorry. You guys got hurt because of me. You got dragged into this, and it's all my fault. I'm sorry.”

Blue wrapped her arm around her shoulders. “No, it's not your fault. You were crying out for help. We heard you, Sun. And we came to find you.”

Sun brushed long strands of hair out of her eyes and sniffled. “I don't deserve this.”

“Yes, you do,” Red said. “You deserve to have someone there for you. Everyone does.”

“But I'm a horrible person,” she sniffled.

“It's not wrong to want validation for who you are,” Purple added softly. “It doesn't make you a bad person. It's normal. It feels good when people appreciate you and let you know.”

“Yeah,” Red continued. “It's when you become obsessed with being defined by numbers that makes someone fucking shallow. I hate that.”

Sun shook her head. “I never wanted fame. That wasn't the point of any of it. I don't remember why, but I know that fame only takes the best part of someone and destroys it. I think...I think I've seen it happen, but I don't remember who it was. I just know I don't want it. I just wanted to be heard. I wanted to feel again, I wanted to be...”

“To be loved?” Blue offered gently.

Sun nodded, wiping at her eyes.

“I get that,” Mark's voice held understanding and empathy. “I really do.”

She pressed her palm to her forehead and slumped. “Damn. My head is killing me. I feel like someone ripped my spine out and shoved it back in with staples.”

Mark moved over to crouch down next to her. “Yeah, that's part of it. You're going to feel raw and tenderize for a while. You have to let yourself rest.”

“What about Shadow?” She whispered, looking him in the eye for a truth she knew he held.

He frowned. “It'll always be there.”

Her head drooped.

“But you have the tools to fight it now. And you're not alone anymore.”

“Yeah,” Jade smiled. “You've got us, now, and we're like herpes: once you get us, you can't get rid of us.”

“Gross,” Peach wrinkled up her nose.

“Kinda accurate, really,” Red shrugged.

“Enabler,” Purple poked him in the arm.

“He's not wrong,” Mark gestured lightly.

“We're like glitter. Better analogy, same end result,” Blue chuckled.

Sun watched this exchange that came so easily to them. They played off of each other, trusted each other, and could read each other even in simple moments like this. If one person suffered, the others empathized. If one of them felt joy, the others picked up on it, too. Through times of discord and happiness, they were connected—like a family. They were there for each other, and knew that even when they were by themselves, they were never alone. It was a phenomenon of connection she never knew existed in reality. She didn't know who any of these people were, but they accepted her. They welcomed her and assured her she wouldn't be alone anymore. They wanted her. She...her existence...finally held value.

Her chest burned from a well of emotions rising like a tidal wave that spilled out in a waterfall of tears. Overcome from her ordeal, and from the shock of having six people accept her, she did the first thing that came naturally; she threw her arms around the nearest person--Blue--and sobbed shamelessly into her clothes.

Blue wrapped her arms around her and let her cry. She sighed in relief. They'd done it. They'd rescued Sun.

Finally, this nightmare was over.

She felt the other girl's grip on her dress loosen and her body became heavy. The sobbing turned into uneven breathing. A knot tightened in her chest. “Sun? Sun!?” She noticed the heart on her sleeve dimmed so much even a nightlight could overpower it. It flickered. “What's happening to her?”

“Her heart's going out?” Jade bit their lip. “That's a thing?”

Mark's heart dropped into his stomach. He'd seen this before. It was something he would never forget, and never wanted to witness again. “Yeah, and it's bad. Very, very bad. We have to get her back to the Hub, now.” He called up his menu window, prayed, and tapped the 'Go Home' option.

A phosphorescent blue portal swirled to life next to the pedestal, adding its watercolor shade into the mix. Thank God it worked.

He lifted her across both arms and shifted so her right arm draped around his neck and her head rested against his shoulder. Her weight didn't matter. “Stay with me, Sun. You'll be ok. We're going home.”

“Home?” she whispered. She didn't think she had a home, but it sounded wonderful.

“Do whatever you can to stay awake.”

Sun closed her eyes and focused on the strong pink glow from his left arm that bled through her lids. It was warm and comforting. A new ache pulsed in her heart. She didn’t want to leave them. She didn't really know them, but because her mission was over, and she couldn't remember anything but this world, they were all she had. Blue, Red, Jade, Peach, Purple, and Mark—she treasured them so much it hurt. Yet even so, the painful feeling of letting people in and opening her heart warmed her core. It was frightening and amazing.

She needed to live for them and for herself.

Blue lead her team through the portal and let it close on the final decision of its dreamer, forever left to shine in the dream world.

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

TBC

Prologue: A Light in the Darkness

Chapter 1: Weekend Warriors

Chapter 2: Something’s Suspishy

Chapter 3: Chasing the Sun

Chapter 4: The Nightmare’s Truth

Chapter 5: Light and Shadow

Chapter 6: Lifeline - part 1

Chapter 7: Lifeline - part 2

Chapter 8: Phantom Power

Chapter 9: Mark’s Past

Chapter 10: A Second Chance

Chapter 11: Learning to Breathe

Epilogue: Ad Infinitum

#hearts and heroes #markiplier #darkiplier #fanfic #fanfiction #sun #shadow #boss fight #one shot ending #Mark has to face a boss on his own #and face his fears #The team is getting their asses handed to them by a horde of terrorlings #will they make it to the summit in time? dramatic music plays

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apricjty · 7 years ago

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Unpopular opinion/review from fan on the “Death Cure”movie.

I saw Death Cure. Didn’t like it.

Acting was great but it couldn’t save it.

They butchered books. WTF.

Putting aside the books, the movie was quite boring, slow and frustrating in certain parts. It had it’s good moments, and also tried to be humours in places but nothing held any weight.

The movie runs off of action sequences then into incredibly, slow scenes. It has action for the sake of action (much pointless and just filler(everyone can tell when you do that btw). It also spews this ‘love story’ which was not needed(didnt happen in books, so why?).

It tries to be there for fans of the books, but its hard to when you completely change the whole plot and premise of the book. It has word drops from the book like “flare” “shank” “crank” along with others, but it never gets explained, feels out of place due to it never really been developed.

So, Characters’ arcs??? where are they? I cant find them.

[SPOILER from now on]

Newt’s death is a total disrespect to the actual death scene of the book that actually held weight and had a real effect on Thomas’s character. The ‘please, Tommy please’ is used earlier on. The desperation and pleading from Newt and the heartbreaking of Thomas is no near the level of the book’s. Thomas ends up killing him with a knife ‘accidentally’. It was so underdone, i wished they used the quote from the book in its rightful place. The fact that Newt could have been saved in this (shitty AU, im sorry but its true) makes it just sooo much worse, if only they didnt stand around waiting all the time or ya know brenda got cured but no sure we wont make it a priority to save newt :)))))). I wish it took the fanbase seriously, its the only reason it got this anyway.

Admittedly the Newt’s letter made me tear up, only as it did hit home as a book fan.

Yeah so basically with this whole of their actually been a ‘cure’. WHOLE PLOT out the window.

No correlation to its title once again. [sigh] Death Cure, meaning the only cure was death since no cury, also irony. But u know movie is why not make it actually have a cure for this, totally not gonna mess up the plot. *sarcasm*

As one review I saw on youtube said it “felt as though the ‘cure’ was a subplot” which yes it was in the movie. Feels weird given the title though, doesn’t it. Also that the main plot was about just getting their buddy minho back from WCKD.

YEAH.

The whole mystery aspect was sucked out of this movie. The cool plot twists parts of the book, that made it into the film the only I remember being that Gally was alive.

SO many parts of the film had useless, filler parts; minho’s dream sequence/flashback, that guy with weird face even when they made a ‘deal’ with him(pointless he dies he gives no fucks), all the WCKD scenes about the virus, and so on.

Literally just an action/zombie movie with a title of a best selling book, why is the title even there though? my aswell have not been.

Lack of Minho for final movie was sad, such a waste of potential with an amazing character.

The plot, I just- WHy

They made it into this rebellion against WCKD, SUCH A CLICHE. Seriously they take everything that made this series special against the rest of the YA dystopians and made it into a knock off, mess with zombie and sci fi. It was supposed to be an escape from WCKD while also saving others.

IT HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL. I dont know whether I’m mad about the movie as a whole or just downright disappointed.

Brenda? her storyline, her character and relationship with Thomas? where is it?

I know it wasn’t going to be he same as the books, the first movie wasn’t, But BY GOD did that movie do the first book justice(could have still been better but shines against the other 2). The standard didn’t hold. It was such a mess, with it being from plot holes to pacing issues to having a boring storyline.

The directing, acting, cgi was good but its not enough to carry a movie, it crumbled because of the underwhelming plot.

Theres SO MUCH wrong with this movie I could spend all day talking about, like Thomas and Teresa kissed at the end(WTF, EW JUST NO romance was complete backseat to the books, like subplot of a subplot but just no) then she just died when she so clearly had time to be saved. Also, Rat man just never seemed to die.

I have no idea how non book readers understood any of it, I was confused by it.

NOT seeing it again, not going to put myself through that torture. Even though I am a big fan of Dylan O’ Brien, through no fault of his own or any other great actors.

I feel like this is a lot hate, also a rant from me might do a proper review sometime later.

#deathcure #deathcure review #the maze runner #dylan o'brien #thomas sangster #ki hong lee #tmr #the maze runner movie #deathcure movie #the maze runner book #death cure book #tmr book

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thisdaynews · 5 years ago

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Rugby World Cup: New Zealand v Ireland - radio & text

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/rugby-world-cup-new-zealand-v-ireland-radio-text/

Rugby World Cup: New Zealand v Ireland - radio & text

Related Video and Audio

Got a TV Licence?

You need one to watch live TV on any channel or device, and BBC programmes on iPlayer. It’s the law.

Find out more

Live Reporting

By Alex Bysouth

All times stated are UK

Posted at 10:0710:07

No time for goodbyes

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Lose, and this will be Joe Schmidt’s final game in charge of the Irish team and Rory Best’s last match as a professional player.

Both have said they will retire after the World Cup.

Posted at 10:0510:05

‘Can’t be second fiddle’

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt:“You can’t go out against an All Blacks side and accept you are second fiddle.

“There are a number of players within the side that have contributed to a fair bit of history for us.

“The first win over the All Blacks, the first time we won at home against the All Blacks, but a few other milestones along the way.”

Posted at 10:0510:05

Post update

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Looks like the All Blacks’ social media squad are just as nifty as their rugby-playing companions…

Posted at 10:0510:05

Post update

Denis Hickie

Former Ireland winger

The win over New Zealand 12 months ago feels a long time ago considering where Ireland are now. They weren’t able to kick on from that game and the Six Nations really didn’t go well for them.

The performances in the warm-ups were mixed and they’ve taken that into the World Cup.

Posted at 10:0410:04

Ashton predicts…

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Video content

Video caption: Rugby Union Weekly’s Chris Ashton makes his predictions for the World Cup quarter-finalsRugby Union Weekly’s Chris Ashton makes his predictions for the World Cup quarter-finals

Posted at 10:0210:02

Lowry to bring magic touch?

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The Ireland squad were visited this week by a man who knows a thing or two about pulling off a sporting shock…

Golfer Shane Lowry, who won his first major at The Open at Portrush earlier this year, will also be in the stands to follow the quarter-final clash in Tokyo.

Joe Schmidt’s side will be hoping he can lend them a touch of that Claret Jug magic…

Posted at 10:0010:00

Post update

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

BBC Radio 5 Live are across this one – tune in to follow all the build-up with just 15 minutes now to go until kick-off…

Click the link at the top of this page to listen, stick on t’wireless or use the BBC Sounds app.

Posted at 9:589:58

Post update

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Ireland may have won two of their past three meetings with the All Blacks, but this is a very different New Zealand side to the won they felled 11 months ago.

Centre Jack Goodhue and scrum-half Aaron Smith are the only starting backs who played in that defeat in Dublin last year, which is also the last time the All Blacks failed to score a try.

Twelve players who began Ireland’s victory last November keep their place with Robbie Henshaw, Conor Murray and Iain Henderson replacing Bundee Aki, Kieran Marmion and Devin Toner.

Posted at 9:569:56

All Blacks trust in youth

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

New Zealand have trusted Jack Goodhue and Anton Leinert-Brown, both 24, to solve their midfield conundrum, while the experienced Brodie Retallick is named at lock despite little game time in Japan.

Retallick, capped 78 times, was restricted to just 30 minutes of action, against Namibia, in the group stages as he returned from a dislocated shoulder but will renew his vastly experienced partnership with Sam Whitelock in the second row.

Beauden Barrett will once again operate at full-back with Richie Mo’unga at fly-half while Cody Taylor is preferred to Dane Coles at hooker.

Experienced duo Ryan Crotty and Ben Smith are not included in Steve Hansen’s matchday 23 with Sonny Bill Williams only among the replacements.

Posted at 9:529:52

Post update

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The Ireland fans are out in force in Tokyo.

Going through their line-out routines with a boot… there’ll be one chilly-footed fan at the stadium.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Posted at 9:519:51

On the market…

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Video content

Video caption: Hottest ticket in town – Irish and Japanese fans face quarter-final swapHottest ticket in town – Irish and Japanese fans face quarter-final swap

Posted at 9:519:51

Ticket troubles

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Michael Morrow

BBC Sport NI at Tokyo Stadium

Ireland fans are once again here in numbers, with many of them leaving it late to secure their ticket for Saturday’s second quarter-final.

Last night there was a hastily arranged but by all accounts immensely successful ticket swap held near Tokyo’s Asakusa Station for fans who had jumped the gun in booking their quarter-final tickets.

When planning their trip a fair few Irish fans predicted, not unreasonably, that their side would top Pool A and therefore feature on Sunday night.

Of course, Ireland didn’t finish top of their pool, leaving many an Irish fan with a ticket for Japan v South Africa as opposed to their team’s meeting with the All Blacks.

Despite the drama, there’s no shortage of green inside the stadium, noise shouldn’t be an issue either.

Posted at 9:509:50

Rested? Or undercooked?

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

With their final pool match against Italy being called off, New Zealand head into the knockout stages well rested – but is there a danger they could be underdone, having not played for 13 days?

“Having a week off is not a bad thing. It’s allowed us to work really hard last Friday,” said coach Steve Hansen.

“Our GPS numbers were equivalent or just above what a normal Test match would be so we don’t feel like we’ve lost any opportunity to get ourselves where we need to be.”

Posted at 9:489:48

All Blacks hit their straps

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

New Zealand topped Pool B despite their final group game with Italy being cancelled because of Typhoon Hagibis.

Steve Hansen’s side remain on course for a third consecutive World Cup after passing their biggest test on the opening weekend with a 23-13 win over South Africa in Yokohama, before breezing past Namibia and Canada.

Despite their scheduled encounter with the Italians being called off, the All Blacks qualified for the knockout stages with the highest average points (52) of any side in the competition.

Posted at 9:459:45

Post update

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Don’t want to sway your opinion, but this is what Opta reckons…

Posted at 9:449:44

comments

Get Involved – pick your World Cup winner…

#bbcrugby

After England swatted aside Australia earlier, and with two-time defending champions New Zealand about to get under way, we want to know who is best placed to win the World Cup, and why?

Can Ireland halt the All Blacks? Will hosts Japan spring another surprise against South Africa? Will Wales maintain their title hopes against France?

Let us know using #bbcrugby

Posted at 9:419:41

Post update

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Posted at 9:419:41

Hansen to ‘set-up’ Schmidt?

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen hinted earlier in the week he could “set-up” Ireland boss Joe Schmidt with his approach for the quarter-final.

Schmidt is renowned for his detailed analytical approach, with the New Zealander has guided Ireland to two victories over the All Blacks in their past three meetings.

“We’ve got weaknesses like everybody else, so you’ve got to look at your own weaknesses as much as anybody else’s,” said Hansen.

“You know that Joe does a lot of studies, so that can be a strength and a weakness. I might be able to set him up.”

Posted at 9:399:39

‘Surreal’ moment for Sexton

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton will become Ireland’s most-capped starting half-back duo as they line up together for the 56th time.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Ireland fly-half Sexton said it is “a little bit surreal”.

“It’s been a long time in the back of our minds, this quarter-final,” Sexton said. “We’re here now. It’s a little bit ‘I can’t believe it’s finally here’.”

Posted at 9:379:37

Sexton takes the lead

Ireland v New Zealand (11:15 BST)

Michael Morrow

BBC Sport NI at Tokyo Stadium

This week the Irish press corps were treated to two media conference masterclasses from Johnny Sexton.

The first was the morning after Ireland’s win over Samoa in Fukuoka and Sexton made sure the media were well aware of the buoyant, confident mood running through the camp as he fielded every question in a jovial manner.

The second, at yesterday’s ‘captain’s run’ during which Sexton was the only Irish player to make the trip across Tokyo to the stadium from the team base near Disneyland, was all about quiet confidence and focus.

He had a kind word about his younger team-mates, batted away questions about the potential for this to be Joe Schmidt’s last game and told us that his team were excited, not nervous.

Off the pitch he’s pretty impressive, but he’s better and much more crucial still on it. If Ireland are to get a win today, their best player is going to need to be firing on all cylinders from the first minute.

#Ireland #radio

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reallylonglies · 5 years ago

Text

Taylor Swift - Demon Hunter: Part Three

Just a normal dinner, she was relieved. She’d spent the summer stalking a particularly malevolent sea spirit. Sea spirits can only be evicted with the help of actual ocean spray, which had meant luring him to the coast which hadn’t been easy. Concealing the bruises she’d gained from fighting him on a clifftop wasn’t easy either. Fighting a violent spirit was hard, she had to avoid injuring the host while landing the right blows to the spirit. Rome has excellent healers though.

This night would just be a straightforward dinner with friends. She’d known this couple for years, it would be fun, relaxing.

But as soon as they arrived she sensed that something was wrong. Maybe it was exhaustion that slowed her down. It wasn’t until they were half way through dessert that she took the opportunity to casually take a look at him through the bowl of her wine glass. Pretending to be checking for faults, she caught a quick glance at his refracted image. She almost groaned aloud with frustration, but she caught Blake’s eye across the table. They exchanged much more in one look than they could have in a half-hour’s conversation.

Of course, Taylor thought, I should have known.

The invite had been very sudden and Blake had been insistent.

They finished their dessert. As casually as possible, she suggested that she help her friend with the dishes.

“How bad is it?” Blake asked as soon as they were alone.

“Can we start with how you know what we’re dealing with here?” Taylor asked, stacking the dishwasher with precision. Just because you’re a demon hunter doesn’t mean you can’t be damn good at household chores.

“I… I trained for a while…” Blake looked guilty. They methodically stacked the machine and, without conferring, began removing all sharp objects from the room, “I retired early. I fell in love and I couldn’t keep chasing all those guys, it didn’t feel right.”

“I get it,” Taylor sighed, it really was exhausting. She’d tried to keep relationships going, but some guys just get funny about you consorting with beings from other dimensions. Even the most understanding eventually grew tired of her aggressive training routine. It was always “How do I know he’s possessed, what if you’re just using that as an excuse?”

It made sense that Blake had been a rod, her hair was perfect for luring out a satyr or a fire demon. You can fill it full of perfume and then just waft until the demon shows itself. They just can’t resist the scent/texture combination.

Blake’s husband shouted something inane from the dining room, they remembered the task at hand.

“Alright, what do we do? I can’t take him home like this,” Blake was urgent but not panicked. Taylor sensed that this wasn’t her first rodeo.

“It looks like a basic level three demon, nothing too complicated. Do you know how long it’s been like this?” she took a series of silver charms from her pocket and wrapped them around her fingers. Blake removed her earrings and placed them on the counter.

“About three months, I tried to ignore it at first but then I caught sight of him in a mirror and…”

“Say no more. You were right to bring him here.”

There was a big mirror in the dining room. A level three, the Jack-Of-All-Trades of the demon world. Common as headlice in the right places… Taylor was almost impressed that it had managed to take hold of such an influential host.

He was a big man, but they were very strong women.

He entered the kitchen and immediately the demon knew it had made a mistake. Taylor caught him in a headlock and forced him to the floor, trying to do as little damage as possible to Blake’s husband’s body in the process. She was thoughtful like that.

“What’s happening? Why are you doing this to me? Is it because I said I didn’t like the potatoes? I just thought they were a little underdone!” he was a talker, and there are some things that even demons can’t change.

Taylor pressed her be-charmed hand into his forehead.

“Oh god, that burns what are you doing? Did Blake tell you what I said about your last single? It was just below par compared to your previous work I’m sorry…”

“Blake, we need a reflector, can you grab that tea tray?” Blake pulled a silver tea tray from the worktop and held it above her husband’s flailing head.

“This is like the worst trip to the dentist ever, what have I done to deserve this,” he caught sight of himself in the reflection, spotting the demon for the first time as it railed against Taylor’s silver covered hand, “Oh. That… What is that? Blake honey what’s living inside me?”

“Just a level three demon, we’re gonna pop it right out for you. You won’t feel a thing.”

“He might feel something,” Taylor asked, trying to listen for the demon’s tune through the grunting and wailing.

“Ok, you might feel something but it’ll just be a slight pinch,” Blake smiled, she was a terrible liar.

“It’ll be more like pulling a tooth,” Taylor was using her full bodyweight to keep him restrained.

“Yeah, just like that,” Blake’s reassuring voice was not at all reassuring.

“Except where the tooth is a demon and your whole body is the bleeding gum,” Taylor finally caught the sound of the tune. Wrenching his face towards the mirror, she sang five notes and the demon split from the host with a deafening scream. Stuck in the tea tray, it growled at them impotently.

She let the host slip down to the floor, he was whimpering.

“Would anyone like a coffee?” Blake asked, casually popping her earrings back in, “Ryan stop whining, it wasn’t even that big of a demon.”

*********

I didn’t agree that Blake should be allowed to enter the circle of trust. It was a very tight circle. Me, Taylor and nobody else. Of course I felt threatened by Blake. With hair like that who wouldn’t. I wanted to live in it and cut it all off at the same time. Demons can be weird about hair.

“She knows her stuff and it would be nice to have a friend who understood… you know… this?”

“You make a compelling point, allow me to repost: I don’t like her.”

I beg that you don’t judge me on my debating skills. I’m a demon, I’m good at possessing and haunting and showing up at halloween parties to upset teens. I’m also great at making passion fruit and white chocolate swiss rolls, but that’s not a demon thing that’s just because I’m awesome.

“You are only saying that because you don’t want to share me,” she said. Perceptively. I hated it when she was perceptive. It was all “You’re just saying that because you don’t want to go out” or “that’s based on your personal bias, not fact” or “you only claim to like CSI: Miami to be controversial.”

“Fine. But don’t blame me if this goes horribly wrong.”

“It will not go horribly wrong, why are demons so pessimistic?”

“Because we literally live in hell.”

At least that was an argument she couldn’t contradict.

*******

I will consent that letting her have a team mate did have it’s benefits. Blake did information gathering and operational support, Taylor did the hands on exorcising and I did the clean-up and paperwork.

Have I mentioned how much paperwork there is? The audit trail on an exorcism is no small thing, and it’s a pretty thankless task.

Mentally I referred to them as Taylor Swift and Blake Deadly because I thought it was hilarious. I didn’t share this with them because I couldn’t handle all the eye-rolling. I just occasionally laughed to myself about it. The demon who sits next to me didn’t find it funny, he just seethed at me in his gross brimstone cloud.

Everything was going well until she met him.

It wasn’t that I was jealous. She’ll claim that I was jealous. I wasn’t. Look how well I’d coped with sharing her with Blake. We were a team now! I was not jealous.

My complaint was that she was spending a whole lot of time with him and he wasn’t even possessed. He wasn’t even an attractive prospect for a level four wind spirit, you know - the kind that spend autumn days making people’s coffee cool down too quickly, or causing people to get their hair caught in their lipstick. These are minor players, we wouldn’t even send a high ranking rod like Taylor in to combat. For a level four you send in a trainee, someone like Zendaya: she’s got potential but needs to hone her craft with a lot of practice. (Her work with Zac Efron was flawless though, a lot of conversations went on about that back at HQ.)

This guy wasn’t powerful enough to interest low level demons, I didn’t see the attraction.

Blake tried to explain to me it was something something work life balance. I wasn’t really listening, I was looking at her hair.

Anyway, I think my actions were perfectly justified.

It wasn’t like I was trying to get her attention anyway.

I just wanted to make a point.

I think she overreacted.

Definitely.

*****

She thought she understood what betrayal felt like.

When she came home that day and found her boyfriend possessed, she almost shrugged: it was inevitable that he’d become a target one day.

It didn’t seem like a big problem, just a small infestation. She locked the doors, sat him down. Tried to be gentle.

The shock came when she pressed her charm against his forehead and heard a familiar song. The face she saw in the mirror, straining against the face of her lover was one she’d known for fifteen years. The demon that had changed her life forever.

She didn’t need to sing the tune, he floated gently away from the host.

“I was just making a point,” he said.

“I never want to see you again,” she replied to his floating form in the mirror.

“I was just reminding you that you have an important job to do,” he didn’t even have the common decency look guilty.

“Get out,” she said, standing up, clenching her fingers around a throwing star in her pocket.

“Oh come on, it was only a little bit of possession, if anything it will be good for him!”

She threw the star at him and it passed through his spectral form and smashed a vase on the other side of the room.

“Oh see, this is why we can’t have nice things,” he began. She didn’t have time for his stupid sarcastic tone.

“I swear if you don’t get out right now, I will trap you in a song forever and you can spend eternity alone.”

Her voice was stern, he looked honestly confused. It was as if he didn’t understand what he could possibly have done wrong.

“Ugh, fine,” he said, dissolving.

He didn’t know what he’d started.

#spooky #taylor swift #t swizzle #fanfic #fan fiction #blake lively #buffy #new writing

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kansascityhappenings · 6 years ago

Text

Joe’s Weather World: Near record highs and weekend storm threats (THU-5/16)

It’s Thursday and there is a feel of summer in the air out there with temperatures today soaring and the winds blowing…it’s going to feel more like the dead of summer out there, except that everything is lush and green right now…that probably won’t be the case over the summer months…at least not to this extent. The main focus of the blog is on the nebulous severe weather risks over the next 5 days or so…the Saturday situation is rather murky…I’m more interested really in early next week…and that’s been the case now for the last few days. Interestingly…a lot of chasers have gone rather quiet from all the hyperbole that was out there earlier in the week regarding the next few days…not hearing those “historic” and “epic” words right now in describing the set-up coming for the next 3 days at least.

Forecast:

Today: Mostly sunny, windy and warm with highs near 90°. The record today is 94° set in 1931…we won’t get there but it will feel like it perhaps with the dew points being well into the 60s. Winds will gust to 30 MPH or so.

Tonight: Breezy and warm with lows closer to 70°

Friday: Partly cloudy and remaining hot with highs well into the 80s. Winds gusting to near 30 MPH

Saturday: Variable clouds with showers/storms, especially in the PM hours. Highs well into the 70s

Sunday: Morning showers end with cooler temperatures and highs only near 70°…perhaps only in the 60s. Windy as well.

Discussion:

A hot one come this way today with a lot of wind out there. Here are the hottest 5/16 days going back over the past 130 years or so.

Considering we had a record low less than a week ago…pretty decent turnaround. Not that uncommon…for the Spring at least.

Nothing of note through tomorrow weatherwise aside from the heat…and this pales in comparison to the really warm weather we endured LAST May which has been written about in previous blogs this week…plus this is temporary with cooler weather returning on Sunday.

Onto Saturday.

So there are many reasons why Saturday has murky severe weather risks of significance. I want to quantify that because storms that are minimally severe…the near 60 MPH winds and the quarter sized hail…are by definition severe but I really don’t get fired up about those anymore in reality…they’re warnings have been a sore point for me for years and I suspect that that may be the cast again Saturday.

The set-up locally though is just not overwhelming to me. The SPC has us in a “slight” risk…and in reading the discussion there really doesn’t seem to be a lot of focus on our part of the region…the focus was up towards IA and down towards AR and TX.

So there’s that.

The chances of storms/rain is 100% I think at about this point. There will be rain out there at some point during the day…whether it be in the AM or PM…there will probably be rain/storms out there in the afternoon/evening as well. The winds above us will be going pretty good on Saturday so would I be shocked if there are random warnings issued…no. What activity we have before 6PM or so might be minimum criteria type stuff…and that isn’t set in stone right now either.

IF there is going to be anything more nasty…it would be in the evening and overnight…and this has been what I’ve said now for days and days I think. Could things change…sure…will we be watching for changes…sure…but sometimes, and this year the severe weather risks have been a bit “wonky” locally (so far at least), things are murky for bigger than minimum criteria storms and that is what I’m looking at right now.

Even IF we don’t have the AM activity…and even IF we get into the 80° range in the PM…we start losing the better atmospheric winds for the stronger storms…the better shear…during the later afternoon at least…so there just seems to be a few factors not coming together correctly for anything of significance. Again to stress there may well be severe thunderstorm warnings somewhere out there…but just how bad the storms really will be is a question in my mind.

The atmosphere overall looks to be a chaotic mess in the evening on Saturday and those situations are not exactly known for big severe weather issues. Again another factor to tap on the breaks to whatever social media messages/posts that you may see from others.

Again IF this was me and I had a big party planned for Saturday (and there are a ton of those this weekend) I would be getting a tent for rain protection…and I wouldn’t be comfortable planning a perfectly dry day/night…I do think it will rain…I’m really questioning the severity of the storms overall…and that is my point of all this.

The storm itself will move up towards IA Sunday and we’ll see a return to west and NW winds locally…that will tug down cooler air again…so after the showers end well before lunch Sunday…we should be in pretty good shape to finish the weekend…and it will be cooler.

The set-up that I’m a more interested in is Monday night into Tuesday AM…as the front that brings us the cooler air to finish the weekend starts retreating northwards later Monday. Now that could be a recipe for bigger storms…bigger winds and bigger hail…and IF you’ve read the blog that’s been the time period I’ve been more interested in since earlier this week. There are some negatives to that though too…including too many storms fighting with each other for potentially limited surface instability. More on that over the weekend.

So I mentioned the “wonky” severe weather season thus far. Yesterday I talked about how MO has had 44 reports of tornadoes (mostly southern MO) while KS has had 20 and OK has had only 24. Meanwhile in IA…0. That is an artifact of the colder April/May thus far…especially up in IA.

The one thing though that needs to be mentioned…is the rain…and the potential for another 2-5″ worth from Saturday though next weekend. We’ve had 3.6″ of rain (some more) since the 1st of May…and the 2nd part will be just as wet…if not wetter.

So flooding may again become the overall bigger issue before Memorial Day…

This is A LOT of moisture and since the ensemble averages smooths things out…it’s probably underdone since we’re dealing with so much convection…

That’s a lot of water entering the MO River basin…again. The reality is that some areas (maybe not us but then again…) will see over 10″ of rain…

Then again…

A couple of storm systems will bring moderate to heavy snowfall to the Sierra Cascade range over the next several days. Travel impacts over the passes are likely. If traveling through the mountains, check the latest road and weather reports before departure. #cawx pic.twitter.com/71nhSKCy0H

— NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) May 16, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Our feature photo comes from Tedd Scofield of last nights waxing Moon in our skies.

Joe

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/05/16/joes-weather-world-near-record-highs-and-weekend-storm-threats-thu-5-16/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/05/16/joes-weather-world-near-record-highs-and-weekend-storm-threats-thu-5-16/

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thesinglesjukebox · 6 years ago

Video

youtube

H.E.R. - AS I AM

[6.14]

Following her (H.E.R.'s?) Grammy win, W.E. take another look and listen.

Camille Nibungco: H.E.R.'s voice surrounds me like a silk blanket, delicate to the touch, yet effusive and unrestrained, swiftly fleeing my grasp. The deep bass and simmering hi-hats only accentuate the gravity of her talent and caresses my nostalgic soft spot for late 90s to Y2K classic R&B. [8]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: The verses sound fussy, but what wouldn't compared to such a succinct chorus? H.E.R. spends four lines detailing a quick mental reframing: "Tell me I'm the best (I am)" becomes "I'll be feeling like 'Yes, I am'" becomes "You'd be a fool to not take me as I am." A need for approval soon becomes confidence that someone else needs her approval. It's slyly presented in how "I am" switches from a term of personal affirmation to something more neutral, placing the ball in a potential lover's court. Even when you're sure you can turn heads, it feels nice when you're not the one making moves, when you're the one feeling wanted. [6]

Thomas Inskeep: She does the soft & airy R&B but with a sturdy boom-bap beat: next-gen Erykah Badu? Maybe. Her songs, like "As I Am," are good, too. [7]

Alfred Soto: The harshness of H.E.R.'s strumming -- she plays her guitar like a drum -- adds muscle and atonality to this manifesto, more understated than manifestos need to be. [5]

Stephen Eisermann: H.E.R has an incredibly expressive voice, and while there is a comfort in the way she sings about how she's the best fit for her partner, the melody and production do little to match her excellence. Did the producers not realize the talent they were working with? Because this, this is a little too dull to make much of an impact, even with H.E.R doing the heavy lifting with her vocals. [5]

Iris Xie: Clicks, trills, starts, stops, and metallic strums float around H.E.R.'s easy, unhurried, and confident sentiments about how she is the best lover her partner would ever have. I find it cute how her vocals ease into "You're like the sweetest thing I know/Like my favorite Lauryn song" with "Lauryn" having the same cadence of "morning." With these details, the production spills out warmth, and that ether matches the imagery of the lyrics of waking up in the morning next to your partner. Additionally, there is enough breathing space and energy to create a pull for the line "You'll be a fool to not take me as I am" -- a self-confident statement that matches the weighted buoyancy of the track. [6]

Katherine St Asaph: H.E.R.'s music leaves me a little cold, not so much because of her generally solid music, but how I didn't see the music industry (as opposed the critical) establishment rallying this fast around SZA or Dawn or Kelela, as if this is somehow more "authentic." When she played the Grammys I half-expected Neil Portnow to brag about her being custom-smelted at the Grammy factory. "As I Am" is as good an illustration as anything. There is so much going on here: snaps and boom-bap drums and drill percussion, a faint DJ Mustard-ish loop, synth feints, guitars played like clawing something, mix so humid with backing vocals it lowers the atmospheric pressure in a two-foot radius. And yet it all stays in the same register, H.E.R.'s vocals juuuust on the wrong side of understated vs. underdone. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#H.E.R.#R&B #music #music review #writing

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henryatkinsfmp2 · 7 years ago

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FMP Evaluation

Quite a conventional title right?

I suppose I should start with the beginning. The idea around everything I did was just one I came up with on the bus. The problem was I didn’t deviate much off of it. I wrote a story around a person with a real-life plasma weapon arm and I did my research but the most deviation I made in the end was not showing the character with the weapon at the end and the kind of hologram I used. Mostly because of time limitations.

The idea also included development process on how the wielder of what I thought at the time to be a potentially heavy weapon was given more modifications to help carry, let alone use the weapon.

Before I had to decide on the format I was going to take this is. I always do this because I always want to either try something new or develop a skill I hadn’t before. This time I appropriately followed in the footsteps of my last FMP with animated 3D models. It failed last time because I stretched myself too thin with multiple ideas to have live action clips inter-spliced with these animated models in the real world. It came out short, only 3D animated and ugly although I did manage to throw in a computer segment that apparently caught my tutors attention more than the animation. So this time I wanted to keep it simple and keep it all in a computer simulation narrative with a log in sequence, very reminiscent of my last FMP, and models rotating and animating simply on a black background.

One more thing came to mind. Holograms, I was told during the last project how easy holograms are so I decided on using that as the presentation format.

The research I did was deeply rooted in how Plasma science actually works because I wanted an accurate model of both the outside and inside. Although my model did end up looking silly and

Sci-Fi on the outside I did make the insides actually look like a machine which I am very proud of. I think it might have been the most successful part of this entire Project because of the detail in the model!

What I would have done differently though is have more Pinterest boards. Or any. I included plenty of Harvard referencing, videos explaining the science and even forum boards and Emails discussing little elements like the recoil of a plasma weapon and the gun laws application to a prosthetic weapon as well as the recognition of a new kind of weapon but I definitely could have benefited more with even a mood board.

The designing of the weapon came a little later on the account of the research into machines that create plasma. What came first however were the character models that would wield the weapon. I tried a soldier type face, a dumb face which accurately reflects how the Americans put lost hopes into the military, as well as a child just because of the convention of giving children super powers in comics and cartoons like Astroboy. It was a distant concept for a character from the more realistic approach I was coming from so the child design isn’t exactly overly original compared to the others.

The design I evolved from was the dumb looking one. I could have gone with the soldier type but in order to have a stage-by-stage display of the development of this weapon I preferred someone more inexperienced.

I drew up some variations. Although I liked the first too much I did end up with a new design I liked better. I guess that says a lot about the development stage.

My tutors enjoyed the original and one of the variations respectively however I realised I needed a compromise between them. One was too short and the other (which was the original) just had too dumb a face. Overtime I became less accustomed to it and made a combination of the two designs to create a midway point that looked more normal. In the long-run it became incredibly helpful when designing the model. Imagine a man with legs shorter than their arms. It’s chaos and exactly what one of the original designs was like!

What I’m saying is that this is one of the better differences I made to my process on a project that came out even better than usual and something I definitely wouldn’t change.

The plasma weapon design was straight forward enough. Note down the designs of the equipment used of both a Plasma torch and the Plasma weapon in Missouri University and then design a casing for it and ammunition.

I few different designs were floating around but none but the simplistic tube, which I ended up using, were good enough. I either looking over complicated or like a bunch of random 3D shapes were thrown together excluding the Helix ammunition and the Revolver chamber designs which, although my favourite, appeared to me to be impractical.

Unfortunately there was something quite large that never made it to my blog but was mentioned in my reflective Vlog multiple times.

The New York trip.

Although we went to so many different places, I had my own spots to visit for research purposes. They were some Prosthetics centres which I hoped to get interviews with. When it came to contacting them they either dismissed me, said they were booked or didn’t bother picking up the phone. Many quarters wasted.

Even worse was I did record the whole experience in New York on my camera in video and had planned to edit all the clips together into a super video. This has proven to be quite a monumental task since I’m still half way through as I have been trying to juggle FMP work with it.

I regret nothing more on this project than not being able to include it in my work outside of merely hinting at it.

The Prosthetic research and designing got as developed as real-world examples, a Harvard reference of a Cyborg comic from DC (which I got from NYC) and two designs in total. One sketch without looking at any research (which was a terrible idea and a terrible drawing) and a finished design which were copies of real technology. This element of the project just wasn’t as important to me as the plasma weapon and, although I could have done immensely more on this designs development, they already existed as real world technology and I feel that I needn’t reinvent the wheel.

The modelling process was pretty straight forward and I either learnt new techniques or rediscovered old ones like splines. I got as far as designing the final design or the plasma weapon and the character model but I did one more for presentation purposes.

Again, this takes second to the plasma weapon part but I made a 3D logo as a sort of screensaver to animate for some context that this is all taking place in a computer simulation.

I had a stray old file of a logo I was going to use at my leisure in video games which was a decent filler for this position.

Now, the problem was animating the character. I did start with my own technique using groups to align anchor points for each hinge of the body and putting every other limb of the body into each group in the same way until the finger tip from the torso. Imagine hinges screwed onto hinges.

The problem was how complex this appeared to be. I never got a moment to animate it before my tutor introduced my to Mixamo which is an Adobe website that provides stock models, stock animation and can add skeletons to animate to any model I upload.

It was going smoothly until I wanted to add the Plasma weapon and that’s where it all fell apart.

Mixamo decided it didn’t like the new model I was giving it and that’s where animating the character model came to a grinding halt.

I got as far as an idle animation.

What was good was that I at least had the highlight of my FMP work done. The Plasma weapon animation of it rotating and then being cut in half exposing the insides.

The logo was done as well but that wasn’t as important.

Besides this I needed a story. A reason for this all to exist.

I thought of an Iron man kind of story except Tony Stark is building these weapons for the military like he used to. The next was a communist or zombie space war but that seemed to Call of Duty Black Ops to me and has been done to death.

What I decided on was just the mere implications of a weapon firing something hotter than the surface of the sun on the battlefield which, in narrative, is being offered to the military for use in the field. It did occur to me that it seems useless if you could just use bullets which are faster (I did the maths based on the Missouri devices speed of 2Ft in a tenth of a second). My excuse was terrorists with stolen military armour that’s impervious to bullets and thus melting through them seems more practical than missiles which may miss the target or sheltered enemies.

A dash of multiple industrial companies building this together to appear more realistic than one overpowered company like Stark industries and I’m done!

Personally, I think this story development wasn’t overdone or underdone and I wouldn’t change anything. I could still easily change everything else but this story.

Editing was also straight forward. Some cutting up, some added sounds and the voice-over clips I recorded with my parents were layered on top as well.

I used them nothing more but because of their adult voices.

The lines weren’t much to talk about either. My mum voiced a generic A.I. that described what was happening potentially off screen like hacking and playing videos while my dad voiced the unnamed engineer character whose just explaining the plasma weapon.

It was still vastly disappointing that I couldn’t get the character model animated but there’s little I could have done if Mixamo hates my guts.

With the digital stuff done I’m just left with the Holographic projector and everything else I would use for the presentation. To get it out of the way I have a black curtain from the drama prop shed to go around the door to the closet I’ve shotgunned and I’ve spray painted black a plinth to put everything on. My tutors hate my spray paint job and don’t want me near another can of spray paint for the rest of my mortal life.

The science of the holographic projector has technically been available to us for years. It’s just reflections. Originally I was planning of building a four sided one to make it look especially 3D. Unfortunately I both ran out of time to render different angles of the models I’d made (because of ridiculous rendering times) and that the building of the four sided projector was the most fiddly thing I’ve ever attempted to do.

First I tried wood, no, metal, no. I ended up just downgrading to a single sided hologram and then building it out of metal and wood glue which I was convinced by a friend would come out clear.

You can imagine how annoyed my tutors were when they saw the copper skeleton lathered in white glue.

One of my tutors luckily remembers how to build one and did it himself.

For the record he agrees completely with me that workshop stuff is not my strong suit and is better left with him.

A few tries later (because the tutor was busy and left specific instructions with the workshop tutors who apparently handled it poorly) and we have it!

A test and a coat of black (non-spray) paint later and I’m pretty much done.

Originally I had a much, much more complicated design for the projector since I understood that tailoring it to work with the college computers meant I couldn’t use it at home with anything else but in order to get anything done at all I dismissed my overcomplicated yet versatile idea.

The conclusion was… surprisingly better than I thought. I cut back a lot more than expected since I assumed I wasn’t overworking myself because I planned so little models and designs compared to my FMP in 2017 but I’m happy that I got something done. Frankly I think this takes a joint second with my previous favourite work which was a minute and a half long chalk board animation.

If I could have done anything differently it would of course be what I planned to do. I think I’m done with animating in 3D unless I’m keeping it simple. Next time I do any animating I want to keep it 2D and drawn by hand.

Holograms were fun too and I’ll probably end up using the projector I now have again in the future. Probably as a regular computer screen.

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wopcalmetacritic · 7 years ago

Text

Rolling Stone Review: Bare by Britney Spears

90/100

It's Britney bitch! After what feels like an eternity, the Princess of Pop has returned with her new album Bare. Preceded by an intense promotional tour and two massively successful singles, the hype for the album reached fever pitch. Britney is known for making tight albums that feature outstanding production work. This album had a lot to live up to. Does it reach that level of hype?

Bare 8/10

Though it acts an introduction to the album, it's an insanely strong track. It is very modern and maybe even a little groundbreaking in it's production style. It blends electronic elements with more standard pop elements to create a hair raising introduction to the album. However it is an intro therefore is limited in it's content but it sets up the album well.

Welcome to Me 8/10

The first proper track is goosebump inducing. The production on the track is glorious. It sounds so clean and crisp. When it hits you, it delivers a big punch. Lyrically the song is very strong. Britney sets up her new style perfectly here and these lyrics show a lot of growth in her songwriting. The only down to hand this song is an inconsistent vocal performance from Britney. She isn't bad on the track, but it is a bit rough in places.

Strangest Love 10/10

Wow. This track is an absolute stunner from start to finish. The sound is sharp and very unique. It manages to sound clear and present but not overly produced. The atmosphere of the song is almost beyond description. There is something about how this song feels and oozes sexiness that cannot be put into words. The vocals on the song are also spot on and show off the strengths of Britney's voice.

Baby Boy 7/10

This is a misstep for the album. The song isn't bad by any means but it's just not very exciting. There's nothing that really begs you to listen on. Britney's vocals are not very strong on this track which hurts it. However, the production work, while sparse and maybe a little underdone, still features some interesting style choices. It's an alright song but not one that becomes a classic.

Peepshow 10/10

It's another track that's treated like an interlude, but it functions as a track and it is simply stunning. This track features some slick work on the guitar and it almost reminds you of Justin Timberlake's "Like I Love You" which is absolutely genius. It's no secret that Britney came out of that relationship with a better music career and this shows that, even if it wasn't intentional. The vocals are fantastic and follow a very unique flow. Truly a standout track!

Money, Love & Happiness 10/10

Take not Miranda. This is how you do a track about being an icon. This track is a lot of fun and it has a beat that's impossible to not bop along to. It's laid out so well and every portion of the track, from the instrumentation to the vocals, is given room to breathe and show off. A real winner!

Look Who's Talking 10/10

The simply stunning lead single from the album still packs as much of a punch as it did upon it's original release. The production work on the song is nothing short of pop genius. The lyrics are strong and Britney's delivery really drives that woman in charge style the song follows. This is a clear and undeniable win of a track.

Ouch 8/10

The second single from the album is not as strong as the first but this song still is very well made. Britney's vocals are very good on this track. She sounds really connected with this song and it makes the listening experience all that much more entertaining. Production wise there are a couple of misses but not to the point where they derail the track.

Perfume 10/10

A little slice of brilliance here. This song is simply beautiful. The lyrics are a new and unique take on an old topic and really make you feel totally moved to Britney's narration. The vocals are haunting and matches the tone of the music perfectly. The production is clear and vivid. This is yet another stand out and perfect track.

Just Yesterday 8/10

This song is well put together and is very chill and relaxed. It's not demanding and it's a song that is easy to dig into. The vocals and production are both well managed. However, the song lacks lyrical depth due to a stunning lack of actual lyrics. It's imperfect, but still a very enjoyable track.

How to Disappear Completely 8/10

A cover of one of the best Radiohead songs, this is one of the last things that was expected to be present on the album. However, unlike some covers Britney has done in the past, this cover is very beautiful and simple. She doesn't try to hit the same marks Radiohead did which is a very good thing, no one can do Radiohead better than Radiohead. She made this her own. The downside is that the production is a little hollow and doesn't really add too much punch behind the haunting vocal but this is still another stunner.

Generous Palmstroke 7/10

Another and final interlude, this one is the weakest of them. It's not bad in any way, it's just very hollow. It's not supposed to be something big and bombastic but it still feels like there is more that could have come from this one.

Sugarfall (feat. Pharrell) 8/10

This song is stronger than thought (anything with Pharrell's name on it is a potential red flag). The production work is once more simply stunning. The lyrics are inventive and take on some new meanings to what could have been a retread of previous ground. Vocally the song is strong as well. The downside is that the song doesn't really move beyond it's initial sound and style, but it's a small price to pay.

Remembrance of Who I Am 6/10

This is no doubt the weakest song on the album. It's a very challenging listen and features a lot of excess noise that really distracts. This track has production laid on incredibly thick and it gets buried underneath it's own weight. This is the song that could have been left off with no arguments.

Rockstar 10/10

This is quite honestly the most fun track on the album. It's got a rocking style to it but still blends in some of that iconic pop that Britney has been a trailblazer in. This song is a fantastic one from top to bottom. Amazing production, fun and playful lyrics, and a strong vocal performance make this totally incredible!

911 8/10

This track is a really interesting one. It's got some really cool and unique elements that make it a song that's different from anything that's out right now. However, the song does falter a bit due to that. There are some production choices that don't add anything to the song but it's still an enjoyable track.

Let Go 7/10

This is a weaker song to end on. The song isn't bad but it's one of the few on the album that you can call boring. There's not much here to latch on to. But it's not awful.

This album is without a doubt Britney's absolute best. It's produced with mastery, executed with style and flair, and is unquestionably one of the freshest sounding albums that has been released as of late. There is not much on this album that can be called bad. It shows a lot of growth on Britney's part. Gone are those more cookie cutter pop tunes that she has attempted to hang onto through her career. No, here we have a strong and confident Britney who is here to prove why she wears the crown of Princess of Pop. This is, so far, the best album of the year!

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