#Those two are arguably the best part of book 6 so far

[heyhellohihowareyou]

If I had a nickel for every time I shipped Riddle with a guy who wore glasses and had a cool hat, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s funny that it happened twice 😅

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Anonymous asked: I loved your fantastic account of the battle of Waterloo and how each nation came to define the rest of the century for all the European countries in different ways. However what are your thoughts about the battle itself? Did Wellington win it or did Napoleon lose it? What were the turning points that you think determined the fate of the battle?

Thank you for reading and liking my previous post on Waterloo. I did heavily lean into studying ancient classical warfare when I was studying Classics but I only got into Napoleonic warfare because of a father who was (and still remains) big Napoleonic warfare military enthusiast. Through his keen eyes as a former serving military man, I also looked at the battle as a soldier might as well putting on my academic critical thinking cap. It’s a popular parlour game not just in Sandhurst but also in the officers’ mess (where those regiments actually fought at Waterloo) and around dinner tables - in my experience anyway.

I’ve always seen such speculative and counterfactual questions as an amusing diversion. I’ve never seriously looked at the detail until I came to France and unexpectedly interacted with Napoleonic scholars as well as soldiers (the cultured and historically well read ones at least) that forced me to think more about it. I’ve always been of the ‘if the Prussians hadn’t arrived in time to save Wellington’ school; and this was always enough to get me by in any conversation.

But my vanity was stung by interacting with one of my downstairs neighbours, a high decorated retired army general, with whom I played a weekly game of chess over a glass of wine during the Covid lockdown in Paris. He didn’t spare me as he knew so much detail about the battle. But a typical failing of French thinking is to pontificate around generalities rather than specific reasons. So for him it came down to pooh-poohing the generalship of Wellington (the rain saved him) and lauding the emperor (he had haemorrhoids and thus a bad day at the office). So rain and haemorrhoids were the decisive factors in determining the outcome of the battle of Waterloo.

It was clear I had to raise my game. So I’ve been reading more when I could.

I had recently finished reading a wonderful book ‘The Longest Afternoon: The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo’ by the Cambridge historian Brendan Simms. The book came out in 2015 but it’s been lying on my shelf for these past few years until I actually took this slim book to read on my one of my business trips.  

The idea behind this short book is so superbly useful. It places to one side the huge, cinematic panorama of history and instead concentrates on one particular farmhouse, on one particular day: 18 June 1815. History is vivified, lifts itself off the page and into the mind, when a historian of Brendan Simm’s immense stature zooms in on the details - and here the details are compelling.

For the course of one day, 400 soldiers, wet, cold, in some cases hungover, who had bivouacked for the night in an abandoned farmhouse at La Haye Sainte, near a crucially strategic crossroads, found themselves staring down the massed barrels of Napoleon’s vanguard – and held them off.  On June 18, 1815, Wellington established his position and sent one battalion and part of a second to the farmhouse under the command of Major Baring. Napoléon’s initial attack was a direct assault that surrounded the house and came near to breaking Wellington’s line; but it held, and the legendary charge of two British heavy cavalry brigades drove back the French.

This is a detailed account of the defence of La Haye Sainte, a walled stone farmhouse forward of Wellington’s centre. Its defenders were the King’s German Legion, which (despite the British army’s penchant for oddball names) was genuinely German. Britain harboured many German expatriates who detested Napoléon, a number augmented in 1803 when he occupied Hanover and disbanded its army. That very year two ambitious officers recruited the first members of the King’s German Legion, which grew into a corps of some 14,000 men and served with distinction at Copenhagen, Walcheren and in Spain before its apotheosis at Waterloo.

Ordered to capture the farmhouse, Marshal Michel Ney - commanding Napoléon’s left wing - obeyed but became preoccupied with his famously unsuccessful cavalry attack. Reminded of the order two hours later, he dispatched infantry that reached the house and set it on fire. The men inside controlled the blaze and continued to fight until Ney took personal charge of a furious assault that succeeded only when the defenders ran out of ammunition and withdrew, having held out for six hours. Had they not defended it so stoutly and if the farm had fallen any sooner then Napoleon would have been able to get at Wellington’s troops before his Prussian reinforcements arrived, and in all likelihood Waterloo would have been a French victory instead; it would now be the name of a train station in Paris rather than London.

I doubt there is a definitive answer to this question which is why certain people love arguing about it because it’s so open ended in terms of cause and effect. You can pick on any episodic event and hail that as the decisive turning point. It’s one reason why we are so fortunate to have so many well researched history books on the battle of Waterloo to replenish the issues for a newer generation to argue with past generations.

If I were to go beyond the ‘if the Prussians hadn’t arrived to save Wellington’ line then I would point to ten decisive turning points which in themselves might not have changed the outcome but taken together certainly influenced the final outcome of one of the most important and iconic battles in history.

Napoleon gives Marshal Davout a desk job

6 June 1815 – All commanders need a good chief of staff to ensure that their intentions are translated into clear orders. Unfortunately for Napoleon – as what is arguably one of the most decisive battles in European history loomed – his trusted chief of staff, Marshal Berthier, was no longer available. Berthier had sworn an oath of loyalty to Louis XVIII – and then fallen to his death from a window – so the job was given to Marshal Soult.

Soult was an experienced field commander but he was certainly no Berthier. Napoleon’s two main field commanders were also far from ideal. Emmanuel Grouchy had little experience of independent command. Michel Ney’s heroic command of the French rear-guard during the retreat from Moscow led Napoleon to dub him “the bravest of the brave”, but by 1815 he was clearly burnt out.

Worse still, when on 6 June Napoleon ordered his generals to assemble with their troops on the Belgian border he chose to leave behind Louis-Nicolas Davout, his ‘Iron Marshal’, as minister of war. The emperor needed someone loyal to oversee affairs at home but the decision not to take with him the ablest general at his disposal would deprive him of the one commander who might have made a difference.

Constant Rebecque ignores orders

15 June – In June 1815 Napoleon assembled 120,000 men on the Belgian border. Opposing him were 115,000 Prussians under  Field Marshal Blücher and an allied force of about 93,000 men under Wellington. Faced with such odds, Napoleon’s best chance of victory was to get his army between his two enemies and defeat one before turning on the other. On 15 June his army crossed the frontier at Charleroi and headed straight for the gap between the two allied armies.

Wellington was taken completely by surprise: “Napoleon has humbugged me” he said. Uncertain what Napoleon’s intentions were, he ordered his army to concentrate around Nivelles, over 12 miles away from the Prussian position at Ligny. This would have left the two allied armies dangerously separated but fortunately for Wellington, a staff officer in the Dutch army, Baron Constant Rebecque, understood what was actually needed. He disregarded Wellington’s order and instead sent a force to occupy the key crossroads of Quatre Bras, much nearer to the Prussians.

D’Erlon misses the show

16 June – Two battles were fought on 16 June. While Marshal Ney took on Wellington’s army as it hurriedly tried to concentrate around Quatre Bras, Napoleon led the main French force against the Prussians at Ligny. Blücher’s inexperienced Prussians were given a severe mauling but despite this they managed to fall back in relatively good order.

This was partly due to a disastrous mix-up on the part of the French. Confusion over orders saw General D’Erlon’s corps instructed to leave Ney’s army at Quatre Bras and join the fighting at Ligny only to be recalled as soon as they got there. The result was that 16,000 Frenchmen who could have intervened decisively actually took part in neither battle.

Blücher stays in touch

17 June – Wellington succeeded in beating back Ney at Quatre Bras but Blücher’s defeat left the British general with a large French army on his eastern flank. He was forced to fall back northwards towards Brussels. The Prussians were retreating as well. Normally a retreating army tries to withdraw along its lines of communication (ie the route back to its base). Had the Prussians done this they would have headed eastwards. The two allied armies would then have been even further apart and Wellington would have been overwhelmed. But instead of doing that, the Prussians retreated northwards towards Wavre. It was to be a crucial move. The two allied armies stayed in contact and on 17 June Wellington was able to fall back to the ridge at Mont St Jean, and prepare to make a stand there until Blücher’s Prussians could come to his aid.

The weather takes a hand

17 June – The night before the battle was marked by a thunderstorm of biblical proportions. Rain lashed down, turning roads into quagmires and trampled fields into seas of mud.

It was a night of tremendous rain and cloudbursts. Wellington said that even in the monsoons in India, he’d never known rain like it. To wake up cold and damp, wet and terrified, then you have this slaughter in a very small space. By evening there were over 200,000 men struggling to kill each other within four square miles.

Private Wheeler of the 51st Regiment later wrote: “The ground was too wet to lie down… the water ran in streams from the cuffs of our Jackets… We had one consolation, we knew that the enemy were in the same plight.” Wheeler was right of course – the rain would inconvenience all three armies, not least the Prussians as they struggled along narrow country lanes to link up with Wellington.

It’s often said that Napoleon delayed starting the battle in order to allow the ground to dry out but the chief cause of the delay was probably the need to allow his units, many of whom had bivouacked some distance away, to take up their allotted places. Napoleon enjoyed a considerable advantage in artillery at Waterloo but this was lessened by the fact that the mud made it difficult to move his guns around and that cannonballs, normally designed to bounce along until they hit something, or someone, often disappeared harmlessly into the soggy ground. Macdonnell closes the gates

11:30am, 18 June – On 18 June the two armies prepared to do battle. Most of Wellington’s troops were sheltered from enemy fire on the reverse slope of the Mont St Jean ridge. The position was protected by three important outposts: a group of farms to the left, the farm of La Haye Sainte in front and the farmhouse of Hougoumont to the right.

At about 11.30am the French launched their first attack – an assault on Hougoumont. This soon developed into a battle within a battle as the French threw in ever more men in a bid to capture the vital chateau. They nearly succeeded: led by a giant officer nicknamed ‘the Smasher’, a group of French soldiers worked their way round to the rear of the chateau, forced open its north gate and burst inside.

James Macdonnell, the garrison commander, acted quickly. He gathered a group of men and they heaved the gate shut again. The French inside the chateau were then hunted down and killed. Only a young drummer boy was spared. Hougoumont was to remain in allied hands all day and Wellington later commented that the entire result of the battle depended on the closing of those gates.

Ney loses his head after his cavalry founders

1.30pm – The infantry of D’Erlon’s corps finally saw action as they attacked the left wing of Wellington’s army. As they reached the crest of the ridge they were met by the infantry of Sir Thomas Picton’s division. Picton, a foul-mouthed Welshman who rode into battle in a civilian coat and round-brimmed hat, was shot dead but his men stopped the French, who were then driven back by Wellington’s cavalry.

The next major French attack was very different. Ney unleashed his cavalry in a mass frontal attack, and thousands of Napoleon’s famous cuirassiers – big men in steel breastplates riding big horses – thundered up the hill. But Wellington’s infantry stayed calm. Forming squares, they presented in all directions a hedge of bayonets that no horse could be made to charge.

Ney needed to call the cavalry off or support them with infantry but he lost his head and threw more horsemen into the fray. When he abandoned these fruitless attacks, Wellington’s line was still unbroken, two hours had been wasted, and the Prussians were arriving in force.

The Prussians arrive

4.30pm – Blücher had promised to come to Wellington’s aid, and kept his word. Napoleon had detached nearly a third of his army under Grouchy to prevent the Prussians joining up with Wellington but Grouchy failed to do this and, by mid-afternoon, the first Prussian units were in action on the battlefield.

At about 4.30pm they launched their first attack upon the key village of Plancenoit near the rear of Napoleon’s main position. This savage battle would rage for over three hours. Faced with this, Napoleon was forced to send many of his remaining reserves to shore up his position – leaving him with precious few troops to exploit any success his troops might enjoy against Wellington.

Napoleon says no, and von Zeithen turns back

6.30pm – At about 6.30pm the French captured La Haye Sainte. Posting artillery and skirmishers around the farm, they unleashed a storm of shot, shell and musketry into Wellington’s exposed centre. The regiments there suffered horrendous casualties, but Wellington’s line held – just.

Ney asked for reinforcements to press home his advantage but Napoleon refused. Instead he sent troops to recapture Plancenoit which had just fallen to the Prussians. Von Zeiten’s Prussian I Corps arrived on the scene. These much-needed reinforcements were set to join Wellington when a Prussian aide de camp rode up with an order from Blücher instructing them to head south and support his troops at Plancenoit. Von Zeiten obeyed. Realising that Von Zeiten’s troops were desperately needed on the ridge, Baron von Müffling, Wellington’s Prussian liaison officer, galloped after Von Zeiten and pleaded with him to ignore this new order and stick to the original plan. The Prussian general turned back and took his place on Wellington’s left, enabling the duke to shift troops over to reinforce his crumbling centre. The crisis had passed.

Napoleon’s last roll of the dice ends in panic

7.30pm – With Plancenoit back in French hands the stage was set for the final act in the drama. At about 7.30pm Napoleon unleashed his elite imperial guard in a last desperate bid for victory. But it was too late – they were hopelessly outnumbered and Wellington was ready for them. His own troops had been sheltering from the French fire by lying down but when the two large columns of French guardsmen reached the crest of the ridge Wellington ordered his own guards to stand up. One British guardsman describes the scene: “Whether it was (our) sudden appearance so near to them, or the tremendously heavy fire we threw into them but La Garde, who had never previously failed in an attack, suddenly stopped.”

Meanwhile Sir John Colborne of the 52nd Light Infantry wheeled his regiment round to attack the flank of the first French column while General Chasse ordered his Dutch and Belgian troops forward against the other. Soon both French columns had withered away under the deadly fire. Their defeat led to widespread panic in the French army: amid cries of “La Garde recule” (“the Guard is retreating”) it dissolved into a disorderly retreat mercilessly harried by the Prussians. “The nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life,” as Wellington described the battle, was over.

This isn’t an exhaustive list but it will do.

Waterloo was a watershed moment for Europe, and indeed the world. The end of the Napoleonic Wars heralded a peace in Europe which was not broken until the outbreak of World War One in 1914. In the century following the Battle of Waterloo an increased respect developed for the figure of the soldier. True the Battle became mythologised in the nineteenth century and is now embedded in our cultural memory as one of the great British success stories.

We still celebrate Waterloo because it was a great British victory - even if we had a little bit of help from the Prussians. It embodied the British bulldog spirit and marked the moment we finally overcame Napoleon and his empire after a decade of being at war.

The ramifications from Waterloo and the Napoleonic Wars are still felt today in contemporary European politics. I think because of this the battle continues to fascinate and to court intense discussion and disagreement.

No doubt my French neighbour the retired army general and I will continue to stubbornly argue our differing viewpoints until the wine bottle empties. But we both agree that we would enjoy having dinner with Napoleon and talk about his military campaigns. I admire Napoleon a little more having read more and for living in France. He’d be a very amusing and stimulating companion.

In many ways, he was also an enlightened and intelligent ruler. His Code Napoleon is an extremely enlightened law code. At the same time this is a man who had a very, very low threshold for boredom. I think he was addicted to war.

General Robert E. Lee, at Fredericksburg said, “It is well that war is so dreadful, otherwise we would grow too fond of it.”

Napoleon would never have agreed with that. War was his drug. There’s no evidence that Wellington enjoyed war. He said after Waterloo, and I believe him, “I pray to God that I have fought my last battle.” He spent much of the battle saying to the men, “If you survive, if you just stand there and repel the French, I’ll guarantee you a generation of peace.” He thought the point of war was peace. And he sure gave not just Britain but also an entire European continent some respite from the spilling of blood on a battlefield.

Thanks for your question.

[masterhandss]

Who do you think katarina will end up with?

Anonymous asked: Who do you ship katarina the most with ?

I got these two questions consecutively, I'm assuming they are coming from the same person so I'll combine them to a single reply, if that's okay.

People who have been following me since the first season can probably tell that I really like Geordo x Katarina (GeoKata) the most out of all ships. At first it was mostly just because I have an unintentional biases towards characters with blonde hair, which is why favorites were GeoKata and MariaKata, but then when I slowly got into the series more, my biases permanently shifted to the G-boy.

I'm not really a fan of laying out why I like certain ships through test to be honest. I usually get super frustrated when zine mods ask contributors to explain why they like a character or ship for contributor spotlight graphics because I can never really say everything I feel correctly hgdsjsdgfj, which is a good thing someone had already asked me a similar question before so I'll just copy paste my response here if that's okay :DD

TLDR; I ship Katarina with Geordo (Maria, Sora and Cezar behind him), and I think Katarina will end up with Geordo :))

You didn't really ask why but I'll give it anyways :)) -> major light novel spoilers, by the way <-

I'm not really the most deep person, if a ship has the bare minimum of something that I like (a trope or a hair color combination) then I stan it hard. That's why I used to be so equally adoring to both Maria and Geordo, because hurrdurr blonde hair hurrdurr. But the more I read the books and got into the community, I eventually liked him more than Maria. I didn't understand how or why at first, since Geordo and Maria are undergoing a very similar character arc: both characters wants to become better people in order to become worthy of Katarina (Geordo emotionally, and Maria physically? magically? in terms of her position/social status? I can't think of a right word but you get it). Again, Maria and Geordo's struggles are similarly written but one of them is more compelling to me. I feel like Maria's problems are easier to solve (her inability to rely on people, her attention seeking and her desire to be more magically powerful) imo, since she's already a well-liked figure in the Ministry and she's already a high-level magic user. Geordo's though; the series doesn't put too much attention on it, but despite the fact that Katarina gave his life color, he still somewhat sees the world in a desaturated light even post-childhood according to the novels and his lack of empathy still prevents him from completely absorbing all the colors. He's still learning how to see and he is happy that Katarina is always there to help him learn how.

I just love the irony that Katarina sees Geordo as a Perfect Prince and feels that she is inferior and unworthy of him, but then Geordo also seems himself as flawed, inferior and unworthy of Katarina and sees her as someone perfect. Geordo constantly wants to be better for Katarina (and for the people around him), and in time, maybe he could become a motivation for Katarina to be better too (on Katarina's side though, because on Geordo's she doesn't have to because she's already perfect the way she is). Geordo, while being self-centered and aggressive in his pursuits, isn't always selfish and thinks about what Katarina wants too. He'd fight tooth and nail for her and will do whatever he can so that Katarina will love him in the same way, but that doesn't mean he wont respect her decision if she falls in love with someone else, he just wont lose without a fight that's all (and fight, he'll give that's for sure).

Geordo is crazy in love with her; wants to protect her happiness, keep her safe whenever he can, and is even willing to both fight to become king and throw away the life he currently knows if it means he can live a life where he and Katarina can be together wherever she is most content and happy. He wouldn't lock her up in the castle like a caged bird like what Keith and some fans of the series thinks, whenever he does have thoughts like that like in Volume 6, its his internal response to the lack time they can have together alone, rather than being indicative of how he wants to treat her (like in his desire in Book of Desires, he conjured up a literal honeymoon because a honeymoon is the only time where he can spend it with her alone without someone butting in! It's weird and exaggerated, but his desire is simply to just be able to spend a day with her and be able to pursue her romantically without the threat of people like Keith and Mary).

Katarina sees him for himself, and she extends her hand of friendship to him despite all her fears of her bad ends involving him. She knows he's a "sadistic prince" but doesn't always tie him to that title. Out of everyone, Katarina has just as bad, if not worse, initial impression of Geordo compared to almost everyone around him (Others sees him as a Perfect Prince while she sees him as a Sadistic Prince and Future Murderer), and yet she accepts him and wants to learn more about him. She supports him and wants him to find happiness in love with Maria, even if it means she'll get exiled to another country or to a far off farm! (i'll edit this with citations later)

I can't help but want that for him, someone who there for you through thick and thin, who supports him despite everything she knows about her future involving him. Katarina is everything he would ever want in a partner: someone who isn't disturbed by his past, can see through his fake smiles, constantly cares for him, sees him beyond his princely façade, is one of his first friends who has helped him create friendships with other as well that prevented him to wallow in isolation and hate of the version of himself that society created for him, is genuinely interested in him as a person, is endlessly fun to be around and unpredictable, and is overall beautiful inside and out.

Again, a lot of Maria and Geordo's struggles are very similar to each other, but I'm more interested in Geordo's side. I find it more compelling. Geordo's scenes always almost provides something new, we get to see him angry, flustered & embarrassed, scheming/conniving, possessive, grateful, sad & frustrated and so much more. Maria has that too (we get to see her sad and thankful), but this might be my own perspective of reading the novels, but Maria's scenes kinda feel the same to me. It almost always starts with Katarina helping her and her realizing time and time again how much she loves her and become more motivated to be a better version of herself. I mean its unfair to say that they are all the same but that might just be me. (Maria: wow I'm so grateful for everything Katarina has given me, I want to be with her forever (rinse and repeat for the next 5 books))

Yes I know it's beautiful to see Maria falling deeper and deeper in love with Maria, but I'd rather see moments of someone who is trying to advance on those feelings rather than someone who is still trying to understand what they feel. Declarations and descriptions of love are beautiful in literary works and it always gets my heart fluttering, but I can read fanfics if I want to see that be written in 8 or more ways. Give me some action, some internal conflict!

It also doesn't help that it makes me really really happy for Geordo that he's made a dent in Katarina's baka shield? Katarina's heart skipped and fluttered for a second when Geordo was patting her head, and it makes me want to root for him even more! (Yes, go break the bubble! You can do it!!)

It's not even the same doki-doki as when she gets charmed at how pretty Maria is, to me its different in a way that my small vocabulary can't explain.

And besides, it really is just a battle between the protagonist that almost ruined her life (Maria) and the love interest that almost ruined her life (Geordo). Keith is part of that equation too, but he was never a threat after they became close (narratively, its seriously just Maria vs Geordo vs Keith, ignoring the changes to that narrative by FL2). It's always about Geordo (and Maria), everything she's doing in the Fortune Lover 1 Arc is because of Geordo (and arguably, Maria & Keith too) and the consequences of where he decides her future to would lead to.

It has to be Geordo, in my opinion, to show her that things aren't the same as the game (and he already kinda has, just a dent though) (If not Geordo, it should be Maria). He, who she feared and yet cared for so much

(I know Fortune Lover 2 basically removes that importance of Geordo and Maria specifically to Katarina's narrative by making her an active problem in all routes, finally becoming loyal to the title "All Routes Lead to Doom", but its not like the story is digging into Katarina's brain that she's sword training for the purpose of fighting back against all the boys, its still just Geordo, so idk I still count that in my shipper brain)

It also also helps that Geordo is basically the poor bullied animal in the hamefura community's eyes, regardless of how far he is into the battle (like in the reddit discord lmao). Yeah he has the best chances which is why many people both in and out of the series find it so fun to drag him under because of his unfair advantage, which is fair, but just like how you feel when you see a small wounded animal, you can't help but want to help someone who has the whole world against him (there's literally a canon manga page with that joke lmao), which is how I eventually felt over time. He's so misunderstood and bullied by people despite the authors dedication to flesh him out more beyond being a possessive prince fiancé of Katarina because of the anime's adaption, so I'd rather give my biases to someone who needs (and deserves it) rather than other contenders who are already overflowing with love and support. Also who doesn't love a perfect guy who breaks when his beloved is harm/who opens up to the person he cares about most?

I know people will read this and find it unfair that Katarina is giving so much to Geordo, but he isn't really giving anything to her. One thing I'll agree that Maria has over Geordo is that Maria makes Katarina want to try and work hard. Seeing Maria improve her magic wants Katarina to do the same, and whether or not it's from motivation or fear of getting left out depends on the reader. So far we don't really have anything like that for Katarina with Geordo because most things involving Geordo intimidates her, compared to Maria who is surrounded by mysteries and adventure (though arguably it's Katarina and not her lmao, but Kat doesn't know that).

Katarina is already the most well-adjusted character in the story even as a child so the only thing to really explore from her is mostly just her relationships and skewed sense of reality. That's why I hope that Geordo will not only help her realize that she can be loved by her peers romantically despite her self-perceived position/role, but also be one of the persons to make her completely realize that she isn't living inside a game. I mean like I said a few paragraphs ago, he's already kinda doing it by constantly confessing his feelings to her, reminding her that he is a person with his own feelings and not a character programmed to fall for a heroine.

So yeah, I ship Katarina with Geordo for those reasons and believe they should end up together for those reasons.

If you ask me who I think would she end up with objectively, I'd still say Geordo. The author's focus jumps between Geordo and Maria so that really depends on who you're asking. It also doesn't help that Geordo is always in the marketing with Katarina in the books and games, which pretty much cements his Male Lead status to Katarina's Female Lead status lmao

Thank you for the ask lmao, I'll be updating this with more thoughts and possibly citations later :))

[bloededhoine]

world building cause twn doesn't part 10: the law of surprise

arguably one of the most confusing parts of the witcher universe that is never really explained outright. BUT it is clearly super important, so let's go! also huge thanks to the people i bugged for slavic and biblical stories, i promise i'm not making some devil deal.

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

series masterpost

origins

the law of surprise is actually a major theme in slavic mythology, which is probably why we never get a straightforward explanation about it. the witcher was never really meant for a non-slavic audience, so sapkowski likely assumed that the reader would just know what he's talking about

traditionally, if you asked the devil for something, you would pay him with "what you had left at home without knowing or expecting it"

witchers were said to be servants of the devil, and therefore would request the law in payment for their services

there's even a version of the law in the old testament! the judge jephthah led the israelites in a victorious battle against the rival kingdom of ammon. in exchange for defeating the ammonites, he vowed to sacrifice whatever came out of his door first when he came home. this turned out to be his daughter, and, while he regretted it, jephthah sacrificed her to god

how it works

put simply-ish, the law of surprise states that when someone is saved by someone else, the saviour can request a payment that is unknown by both parties at the time of the deal.

confusing? yes? allow me to explain

first, the law only applies to life or death situations. nothing else. some people even take this to mean that the only reward for saving someone's life is the law of surprise, but that's less common.

still, it's very widely believed that the law of surprise is the best payment for a life debt. this goes into the whole destiny thing which i'll talk more about later.

witchers are notable for claiming the law because their occupation tends to lead to a lot of life-saving, but it's not exclusive to the witchering profession

so, when you save someone's life, they will ask you how they can repay you. you then can enact the law of surprise, which entitles you to something that neither you nor the person you saved know exists yet.

for example, pavetta's father, roegner, fell into a ravine and broke his legs, but was rescued by duny. as duny's reward, he invoked the law of surprise. roegner didn't know that his wife was pregnant, obviously duny didn't know this either, and that baby belonged to duny

requests

this is just what comes after the classic "you've saved me! how can i ever repay you?" "well, i think there's something that we both might like..." *smooth jazz starts playing*

ah shit that's the porno version!

so sorry, here's the real version

when someone asks how they can repay you for saving their life, there are two basic requests you can make, either "the first thing that comes to greet you" or "what you find at home but do not expect".

the first one is less severe, and can really be anything, ie a dog that runs outside or a visitor at the gate (not really sure how that one would work logistically)

the second one is more common and powerful, as it's almost always a child. usually the person who is rewarding the law comes home and finds out that their wife is pregnant or had a baby. oops?

geralt requested "that which you already have but do not know" from duny, which is a variation of the second one that almost exclusively means an unborn child, just wrapped in convoluted packaging. our favourite witcher is really smart but also really stupid.

payment

obviously, the logistics of actually picking up the thing that you don't know about are pretty confusing

but it tends to work out in one of a few ways

sometimes the unexpected thing makes itself known right then and there, like with geralt and ciri. in this case, the person who did the saving will just decide what to do with their reward.

more frequently, the person who was saved will bring the person who did the saving to their house, where they will both find something unexpected.

in this scenario, the unexpected thing can either be taken by the person who did the saving immediately (usually in the case of an animal), or they will come back and get it in a few years (usually in the case of a child). do they come back and get it? results vary.

occasionally, the person who did the saving will just book it, either trusting destiny to deliver them their reward when the time is right or hoping that destiny is a myth and they don't need to actually get their reward.

destiny

it makes sense that destiny is a huge part of the law of surprise, given both of their important presences in the witcher

the law of surprise is the most common payment for a life debt because when you save someone's life, you are acting on behalf of destiny to allow them to survive something that they shouldn't have survived, but were destined to

destiny also ensures that the reward will always be received. geralt denied his reward for years, but we all know how that turned out.

that's why eist tuirseach was so ready to throw down at the idea of the law of surprise not being honoured, if someone claims the law of surprise, you have to respect that.

examples

obviously, the most notable example is ciri and geralt. you probably know the story from twn, but the book version is slightly more dramatic so i'll tell it in brief.

geralt saved duny from certain death after calanthe ordered his capa detated from his body. geralt claimed the law of surprise almost as a joke and well...

but of course this story gets far more complicated. in those 6 years, pavetta and duny had died and calanthe didn't want to give away her only descendant, so she just kinda didn't.

five years later, geralt and ciri met face to face but geralt refused to take ciri, believing that he would only bring her death. she was devastated, since this forced her to be sent back to her grandmother who just wanted to marry her off to some prince.

around a year later, after the sacking of cintra, geralt saved a farmer named yurga from some ghouls. believing that his first child surprise had died with the rest of her family in the palace, and feeling just generally ironic, geralt claimed the law of surprise again.

turns out, that which yurga had at home but did not expect was none other than ciri, who miraculously escaped the palace and made it to yurga's home. having claimed the same child surprise twice, geralt finally took ciri as his daughter.

duny also claimed the law of surprise, but since he was like 15 at the time and was promised a baby, he decided to come back later and see what destiny could do in a few years.

turns out destiny created a 14 year old that was just perfect for duny's 29 year old wooing. yeah. it's... something. but, from their unholy union we got ciri! ew but yay? i guess?

eskel also claimed the law of surprise twice, first was the princess deidre ademeyn, who eskel avoided for years in a very geralt-fashion. the second was his horse named scorpion, whose story went decidedly smoother

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

I really want to read the post where you say "why Ravenclaw is the House that suits MC the most in the main story" but I dont find it

I haven’t ever made a full length post about it, come to think of it. I’ve talked about it in previous Ask responses but admittedly I have quite a few of those. So I suppose now is as good a time as any! 

Ultimately, HPHM’s story is designed so that any House can work for Jacob’s Sibling. Obviously, no one House is “canon” over the others. But in my personal opinion, certain Houses do make more sense for different reasons. Everything can change based on how you characterize MC, but setting aside the dialogue choices, they tend to have a general personality that fills in for most of the scenes. It’s average, a kind of “everyman” type. And certain choices can arguably be considered “canon” when they’re the ones that are free, placed next to choices that are locked behind attributes or friendship checks. That is the general vision of MC that I’ll be analyzing. 

But first, the characters. 

One of the primary reasons that MC fits Ravenclaw the best in the Main Story is because there are several characters who are aligned to MC in their Sorting. They always follow MC to whatever House they go to. Thus it becomes a question of which house suits them the most. Rowan Khanna, I think, speaks for them-self. I could see them in any House but they are a Ravenclaw through and through. I bet the only reason they ever get Sorted anywhere else is because they ask the Hat to let them follow MC. They are absolutely brilliant, with a love of reading and learning new things. They’re eccentric as well, deeply creative and good at coming up with plans. They dream of being a Professor, and they turn to books above all else. Next we have Jacob. Another character who could go anywhere based on interpretation, but he strikes me as a Ravenclaw too. Several of the options you can give when expressing speculation about him suggest that the reason he probably investigated the Vaults in the first place was his thirst for knowledge, his desire to know their secrets. To be specific, his stubborn and obsessive need to know. I feel like Jacob couldn’t let this go until he had learned all of the hidden magic and secrets of the Vaults, until he realized far too late that he was in over his head, mixed up with R and everything. 

Then there is Flitwick. A canon Ravenclaw of course, and one of the four Heads of House. It could be coincidental, but even if it is, Flitwick is easily the most developed of the Heads of House within this game. McGonagall is totally in character, but she’s part of the sideline outside of a small section of Year 2. Sprout contributes absolutely nothing, and Snape is likewise in character, but lacking anything to do until Rakepick shows up. Flitwick prepares MC for the first duel with Merula and gives them counsel. I suppose it’s not that much more than McGonagall teaching them the revealing spell in Year 2, but this felt so much more personal. You have the chance to make a promise to Flitwick, and either keep it or break it. In Year 4, he is I think the only teacher to speak up in Rakepick’s defense, and this leads into even further development of his character. By Year 5, he starts to warn MC not to investigate the Portrait Curse, but stops mid-sentence as he realizes that nothing he can say will stop them. I bring all of this up because Flitwick being such a fleshed out character in this game kind of goes hand in hand pretty well with the idea that he is MC’s Head of House. He is the only Head who shows the slightest bit of remorse when banning MC from Hogsmeade. With him, you really get the sense that he’s being overruled and doesn’t agree with it. That he’s in MC’s corner. And god I love him.  I won’t stray too far into the Quidditch characters, but I will say that Murphy and Orion are two other characters that stick with MC, who I could very much see as Ravenclaws, both in different ways. But still, it’s Jacob and Rowan who are most important in affecting the story.

Which brings me to the story itself. 

Hogwarts Mystery is different from the story of Harry Potter. This is the tale of Jacob and his Sibling. In HP, we know from the beginning who the villain is, that he’s an evil monster. We know what he wants, and that he failed. It gets fleshed out more later but everything you need to know is in that first book. We see him, he clashes with Harry, and loses. The books are a hero’s journey. A story of good versus evil. They do have mystery aspects, each of the books has a mystery told within it’s pages. But the overarching story is not about what’s hidden in the trapdoor, or who opened the chamber of secrets. It’s about Harry and Voldemort’s rivalry, their hero/villain dynamic. Everyone knew going into DH that Harry would defeat him in the end because that’s how these things go. OOTP basically confirmed it but most fans had known for years. 

HPHM is different. 

There are heroic moments, and Merula in particular compares MC to being a “hero.” But nothing they do is heroic in the same way as Harry. They both take active roles in the story but in different ways. Harry is still reactionary. He takes it upon himself to solve the problems, but he still waits until the problems show up. MC plans to open the Vaults even before the Curses show themselves. They arrive at Hogwarts with a goal in mind, finding Jacob. And with Hogwarts Mystery, the overarching story is not a hero’s journey. Because MC is so much more ambiguous than Harry. It might seem redundant to say that this story is a Mystery, but it is. An ongoing investigation, the unraveling of a conspiracy. Learning the truth about just what went down during Jacob’s years at Hogwarts. By HBP, Voldemort was such a familiar presence that we were learning the ins and outs of his childhood, right down to how his parents met. By Year 6, we still have no idea what R really is, or what they want. We don’t even know what it stands for. The black and white of the books, the heroes and the villains...that’s all replaced with shades of gray. Jacob is constantly in the gray. So is Rakepick, at least at first. Don’t get me started on Merula. Ben is another character who is definitely good, but has gone through such a roller coaster about who he is and whether he can be trusted. 

Then there’s the ambiguity of MC them-self. The hints that they don’t share everything with people, are prone to tricking others, and for all we know, might wind up on the Dark Side someday. I’ll admit, this can also lend itself well to MC being a Slytherin, and indeed there are dialogue choices that are locked behind being one. But I still feel as though MC playing detective throughout this entire game, that whole premise lends itself pretty damn well toward a Ravenclaw MC. They’re trying to defeat the bad guys, but their main method of preparing for that fight is not train up an army of students, it is to investigate the Vaults, and investigate R. Even going as far as to work with Wizarding police. Granted, I know Harry poked around a lot too. And MC does form the Circle of Khanna, just like how Harry formed Dumbledore’s Army. Both of them do exhibit both behaviors, but MC specializes in covert investigation more than preparation for combat. Again, at least they do so in the main story. The Circle of Khanna was not meant to be like Dumbledore’s Army, at least not in concept. MC first conceived it as the idea of standing toe to toe with the Cabal by having a secret organization of their own. I know that didn’t really land perfectly in actual practice but that was the whole idea. And if there’s one thing MC has a constant stream of, it’s ideas. Not always the right ones, not always fast enough, but they do have them, and these ideas steer the plot. In the main story and otherwise. 

It’s probably a bit cheap to get meta, but so be it. 

I can’t help but notice how, if we take every other contribution to the Potterverse into account...well then, we’ve got a Gryffindor Protagonist in the form of Harry. We’ve got a Slytherin Protagonist in the form of Albus Severus. And a Hufflepuff over in Fantastic Beasts with Newt Scamander. If MC is a Ravenclaw, then that completes the quartet. But there’s another Quartet out there as well - that of the Original Four. Rowan, Ben, Penny, and Merula. The Year 1 characters and the OG leads of the Hogwarts Mystery story. Notice anything about them? We have a Hufflepuff, a Gryffindor, and a Slytherin...but no Ravenclaw. None that is, unless MC, and therefore Rowan by extension, is a Ravenclaw. MC being Sorted into the House of Eagles completes both of these groups. I dunno, I just find it curious that unless the Player goes to Ravenclaw, the first student character we meet in that House shows up in Year 3. Because Jam City wrote in some amazing characters for Ravenclaw. My love of Tulip Karasu is well documented, but I also think Talbott is pretty damn fascinating. Andre and Badeea rock too! Ravenclaw is also a relatively neutral House. I’ve said before that HPHM ignores the House rivalries, and that’s easiest to incorporate in the House of Eagles, which mostly keeps to itself. It would not be socially strange for a Ravenclaw to have so many friends from different Houses. I’m not saying a Slytherin MC couldn’t befriend Ben, for example, but he’s a Muggle-born Gryffindor and that would be a big deal to everyone else. Again, not saying it couldn’t happen, just that it would turn heads and people within Slytherin might go as far as to treat MC like a traitor. I like this premise, but...would Felix seriously help MC prepare to fight Merula, a fellow Slytherin, on behalf of someone like Ben? There are other trivial problems, like the question of two male Prefects if MC is Gryffindor, etc. 

But that’s just a few thoughts. Again, there’s clearly no “canon” House, and neither of my MCs are even in Ravenclaw. But I think it’s fun to explore the idea as Ravenclaw is a House that, I think, is sorely needing development.

[pantstomatch]

I love your writing, and (the cliche, it burns) one day I'd like to publish too. But a lot of things have changed since the last time I was confident in trying to do this, and I wondered if you would talk about the process (getting an agent, that sort of thing) if you're comfortable and have the time. It's also cool if you privately respond, if you'd prefer, I'm just trying to figure out how to get started again? And so many tips are "publish on Amazon!"

Thank you!!!! Okay, so here’s the thing. I’m probably not the best person to ask about this, because I’m actually really bad at being published, but I can tell you some stuff that I’ve learned? That might be helpful? I ended up being long-winded, so (if tumblr works right here) everything is under the cut...

1. Querying!

So in general, querying sucks balls. Like… it’s probably the worst thing you’ll ever have to do. You’re gonna want to research what agents are looking for the kind of stuff you want to write or have written. Some are looking for certain genres or what they think is marketable, and you want to send your query to someone who’s open to what you have, or it’s a waste. Most likely the agency website or the agents “I’m looking for…” page or whatever will give you specific instructions on what to include in your query email - how the subject should be written, what they’re looking for, how many pages of your manuscript they want to see, how to attach it to the email and in what form, and if they want a synopsis of your novel. Some agents use Query Manager, which is basically a form you fill out and attach all the things they want, and you can go back in and edit it and it’s a nice way to keep track of your query. Next, they’re gonna (hopefully; some just never respond) either say no thank you very politely, or ask you for the full manuscript. Most of these agents will also give you a general timeline for a response, and if they’re open to a nudge from you or not. After that, they’ll either say no to the full manuscript, or welcome you aboard!  

Most places allow you to send multiple queries out for the same work, meaning they’re not “exclusive,” except within their own agency. If they ask for a full manuscript, but before they get back to you, another agent has snapped you up, they’ll want you to let them know so they don’t waste their time on it. Occasionally, if they want to see your full manuscript, they’ll ask for you to not send the full manuscript to someone else until they’re done, or for you to tell them if someone else is looking at the full manuscript. You can also change your mind!  You can email them and let them know you’ve decided to pull the novel out of consideration, maybe if you think it needs more editing.

I have never successfully queried. I found the whole thing demoralizing, and I did my first contract on my own, without an agent. This is something I don’t recommend because I had to figure out a lot of confusing shit on my own that I still don’t fully understand. And it also made me doubt my writing after the fact, because agents don’t give a shit if you’re already published, they’re focused solely on whatever you’re presenting them with. And then after that, I figured if I got another book out of my current editor, would I want to present that to the people who already didn’t like my writing? I have an agent for another project I’m working on, and the only reason I have her is because someone introduced us and told her I desperately needed help.

1a. So you found the agent(s) you think you like!

Other than the instructions/guidelines written out by the agency/agents that you’re interested in, you’re gonna need the most complete and fully edited version of your novel in hand. If they ask for your full manuscript, you absolutely should not say it’s not done. Make sure it’s finished, and preferably edited, before you send your query in. If they ask for a synopsis, hard pass. Ha ha ha, just kidding. No, really, arguably, this is going to be the hardest thing to write. A synopsis will suck your soul out of your body and make you weep blood. The only thing worse than querying is writing a synopsis for that query. I have never written a synopsis that I didn’t think was utter shit. I hate them.

Querytracker is a cool place to look up agents that you want to query and see how responsive (and nice) they are. It took me a little bit to figure out the abbreviations, though.

2. Pick your genre carefully

Unless you are a best selling author, they are never ever ever going to let you change genres. I mean, maybe if you wrote under a different name. Maybe. But they’ve bought your book based on how they think it will sell, and they’re going to want to sell you, too, and genre jumping is usually a no-go. This is, basically, one of the biggest things I hate, and one of the greatest things I love about fanfiction, that I can write whatever the fuck I feel like writing. So, you know, make sure you really really really want to write about what your first book is going to be about, because you’re going to be writing about that forever.  And I don’t mean just YA vs New Adult vs Adult, although you need to take that into account too. I mean if you’re writing about high school regular kids, you probably can’t write about supernatural high school kids. You can’t write about high school kids in space. You can only write about regular high school kids. So.. think sci -fi vs fantasy vs historical vs contemporary, etc.

3. I hope you don’t hate people!

Do you want to go to a bookstore and talk in front of a crowd? Do you want to go to cons and network with other authors? Do you want to call up publications and volunteer for interviews? Do you want to talk about your books with strangers?  Because I sure don’t. ��Publishing houses do the bare minimum of publicity for you for your book. First book, they’ll probably help set up some store signings. Going forward, if you weren’t proactive the first time around, they’re probably not going to do anything. If you’ve got some really good advance reviews, they’ll do ads. They’ll probably do the rote social media posts. But basically, you’re going to have to advocate for your book. You’re going to have to create your own brand. You’re going to have to make swag and send it out, call up bookstores, post constantly about it on twitter, buddy up to other authors, go places where you can network. And I will tell you that all of that is my nightmare. I don’t want to do any of that. I don’t like meeting new people. I had several panic attacks leading up my book signing, and the book signing itself was pretty bad. I’m just… not good with people. And, honestly, at my age, I don’t want to be any better. All it does is give me stress and hives, and to get over that I’d really really have to want to do it.

4. Personal perks?

Editors!  I’ve worked with two awesome editors, and it’s amazing having someone to tell you how to fix things in a way that makes sense. By far, one of the only perks of being published for me. I absolutely don’t know for sure, but I always got the feeling that they expected more push back from me with their suggestions, but nope. I was open to everything, and that’s probably why the books worked so well, because editors absolutely know what they’re doing and only want what’s best for the book.

Holding a solid book of my work!  Always awesome to hold that first book in your hands, with the beautiful cover work and everything. The fact that other people can read it and know it was me who wrote those words only counters that by about a half.  

Money! Advances vary drastically, but, listen, the money kind of made the panic attacks worth it. A little.

5. Advances and royalties

The things I’ve read about advances is that too little, and you might think they have less confidence in you, and too much and you’re panicking about selling, because if you don’t earn out your advance, there’s a chance they won’t want to invest in you in the future. Generally, the way they work is they offer you a contract with the amount they are willing to “advance” you. This is basically saying, we think this book will give us this amount of money, and this is your share of that amount of money. You earn this out with royalties. When you sign the contract, you will get a certain amount of money, usually half of your offered advance. When you deliver the finished manuscript, after your editor and you have gone over it and it’s been approved, you’ll get the other half. A two book deal would be split into 4 parts, and you’d get the first 2 parts for signing the contract (1/4th for each book), the next part for the first finished manuscript, and then the last part for the second finished manuscript, generally after the first book is already published. After that, you won’t see any money until your royalties reach the amount they already paid you in advance. Unless otherwise negotiated, you’d get a royalty check twice a year.  Your earnings from January to July would be sent to you in October, and your earnings for July to December would be sent to you in April. Since any books sold to bookstores and online stores can be returned to the publisher if unsold, they will usually “hold back” a certain amount at first, to make sure you’re really earning that royalty. Royalty statements themselves are a hot mess and I’ve never been able to read them, which is also a good reason to have an agent. An agent will get your money sent to them, make sure it’s the correct amount, take their cut, and then send you a check from them.

6. Self publishing

Okay, I know nothing about self publishing, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it if you have the right support system (ie editors). If you’re going to have to do a lot of the marketing yourself anyway, I don’t see how this is much different. Biggest thing would be the upfront cost, and making sure you make that cost worth it.  Independent author S Usher Evans has some good advice for self publishing - Sush’s worked very hard at it, and started her own publishing company. Also, @qwanderer might be a good resource, I think they use Lulu, which is a really cool self publishing site.

Uhhhh, so that’s a lot of info and also not a lot of info, so please feel free to ask me anything else, and I really hope I haven’t made this harder for you to get started ha ha ha. I think the best thing to do is to figure out what you want to write and write it and just… go from there. If you really love what you have, someone else is going to love it, too.

And if anyone’s had a different experience or thinks I got something wrong or has more/better advice for @heyninja, let me know!

[mocweepe]

heres dat nytimes article i mentioned n da tags of dat 'how much water do u drink, iz it enuf?' post

and heres it copy pasted [and reformatted] under da cut 4 ne1 out of articles dat doesn feel like finding it on dohs free article sites:

No, You Do Not Have to Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day

By Aaron E. Carroll

Aug. 24, 2015

If there is one health myth that will not die, it is this: You should drink eight glasses of water a day.

It’s just not true. There is no science behind it.

And yet every summer we are inundated with news media reports warning that dehydration is dangerous and also ubiquitous.

These reports work up a fear that otherwise healthy adults and children are walking around dehydrated, even that dehydration has reached epidemic proportions.

Let’s put these claims under scrutiny.

I was a co-author of a paper back in 2007 in the BMJ on medical myths. The first myth was that people should drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. This paper got more media attention (even in The Times) than pretty much any other research I’ve ever done.

It made no difference. When, two years later, we published a book on medical myths that once again debunked the idea that we need eight glasses of water a day, I thought it would persuade people to stop worrying. I was wrong again.

Many people believe that the source of this myth was a 1945 Food and Nutrition Board recommendation that said people need about 2.5 liters of water a day. But they ignored the sentence that followed closely behind. It read, “Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods.”

Water is present in fruits and vegetables. It’s in juice, it’s in beer, it’s even in tea and coffee. Before anyone writes me to tell me that coffee is going to dehydrate you, research shows that’s not true either.

Although I recommended water as the best beverage to consume, it’s certainly not your only source of hydration. You don’t have to consume all the water you need through drinks. You also don’t need to worry so much about never feeling thirsty. The human body is finely tuned to signal you to drink long before you are actually dehydrated.

Contrary to many stories you may hear, there’s no real scientific proof that, for otherwise healthy people, drinking extra water has any health benefits. For instance, reviews have failed to find that there’s any evidence that drinking more water keeps skin hydrated and makes it look healthier or wrinkle free. It is true that some retrospective cohort studies have found increased water to be associated with better outcomes, but these are subject to the usual epidemiologic problems, such as an inability to prove causation. Moreover, they defined “high” water consumption at far fewer than eight glasses.

Prospective studies fail to find benefits in kidney function or all-cause mortality when healthy people increase their fluid intake. Randomized controlled trials fail to find benefits as well, with the exception of specific cases — for example, preventing the recurrence of some kinds of kidney stones. Real dehydration, when your body has lost a significant amount of water because of illness, excessive exercise or sweating, or an inability to drink, is a serious issue. But people with clinical dehydration almost always have symptoms of some sort.

A significant number of advertisers and news media reports are trying to convince you otherwise. The number of people who carry around water each day seems to be larger every year. Bottled water sales continue to increase.

This summer’s rash of stories was inspired by a recent study in the American Journal of Public Health. Researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2009 to 2012 to examine 4,134 children ages 6 to 19. Specifically, they calculated their mean urine osmolality, which is a measure of urine concentration. The higher the value, the more concentrated the urine.

They found that more than half of children had a urine osmolality of 800 mOsm/kg or higher. They also found that children who drank eight ounces or more of water a day had, on average, a urine osmolality about 8 mOsm less than those who didn’t.

So if you define “dehydration” as a urine osmolality of 800 mOsm/kg or higher, the findings of this study are really concerning. This article did. The problem is that most clinicians don’t.

I’m a pediatrician, and I can tell you that I have rarely, if ever, used urine osmolality as the means by which I decide if a child is dehydrated. When I asked colleagues, none thought 800 mOsm/kg was the value at which they’d be concerned. And in a web search, most sources I found thought values up to 1,200 mOsm/kg were still in the physiologically normal range and that children varied more than adults. None declared that 800 mOsm/kg was where we’d consider children to be dehydrated.

In other words, there’s very little reason to believe that children who have a spot urine measurement of 800 mOsm/kg should be worried. In fact, back in 2002, a study was published in the Journal of Pediatrics, one that was more exploratory in nature than a look for dehydration, and it found that boys in Germany had an average urine osmolality of 844 mOsm/kg. The third-to-last paragraph in the paper recounted a huge number of studies from all over the world finding average urine mOsm/kg in children ranging from 392 mOsm/kg in Kenya to 964 in Sweden.

That hasn’t stopped more recent studies from continuing to use the 800 mOsm/kg standard to declare huge numbers of children to be dehydrated. A 2012 study in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism used it to declare that almost two-thirds of French children weren’t getting enough water. Another in the journal Public Health Nutrition used it to declare that almost two-thirds of children in Los Angeles and New York City weren’t getting enough water. The first study was funded by Nestlé Waters; the second by Nestec, a Nestlé subsidiary.

It’s possible that there are children who need to be better hydrated. But at some point, we are at risk of calling an ordinary healthy condition a disease. When two-thirds of healthy children, year after year, are found to have a laboratory value that you are labeling “abnormal,” it may be the definition, and not their health, that is off.

None of this has slowed the tidal push for more water. It has even been part of Michelle Obama’s “Drink Up” campaign. In 2013, Sam Kass, then a White House nutritional policy adviser, declared “40 percent of Americans drink less than half of the recommended amount of water daily.”

There is no formal recommendation for a daily amount of water people need. That amount obviously differs by what people eat, where they live, how big they are and what they are doing. But as people in this country live longer than ever before, and have arguably freer access to beverages than at almost any time in human history, it’s just not true that we’re all dehydrated.

Aaron E. Carroll is a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine. He blogs on health research and policy at The Incidental Economist, and you can follow him on Twitter at @aaronecarroll.

A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 25, 2015, Section A, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: The Persistent Health Myth of 8 Glasses of Water a Day.

[axiomsofice]

Feb 2021: Racism in Hockey

Much has been said in the past 24 hours about DeAngelo on the Rangers, who has “played his last game in a Rangers’ uniform” as per GM Gorton. Among the most pertinent examples of of his disgusting behavior comes from his time in the OHL where he was suspended for using a racial slur against a teammate, but the frequency of his behavior, coupled with the remarks of his family members, as well as his transformation into the NHL’s foremost Trump supporter in the 7 years since he’s been drafted have only worked to cement his reputation. Now, after 3 NHL organizations, it seems his vile ways might have seen their last official NHL action. The fact that it is only now, after reports of teammates resorting to violence against him, that a reckoning has perhaps come is quite simply an indictment of the Rangers, the NHL, and the hockey community at large. 

Nevermind that it was only in October 2020 that the Rangers signed him to a new contract, or that reports of bullying and toxic behaviors occurring this season, let alone other concerning incidents involving introductory press conferences, or players refusing to report to the team for psychological reasons in the past year or so. The fact that there has been continued, verifiable accounts of his character all the while getting chance after chance to play in hockey’s top league, 206 games to be exact, while Josh Ho-Sang (from the same draft) has only been afforded 53 is telling. A scouting take on both of them might include a one-dimensional offensive player. Despite the sample being arguably too small, shot metrics prove that is actually not even the case for Ho-Sang, you might think that skillset would hold back a defenceman more than a winger. Not too mention the “controversies” surrounding Ho-Sang are sleeping in once and wanting to wear the number 66(?) don’t even deserved to be mentioned in the same categories as racial abuse, abuse of teammates, and abuse of officials. This is far from equality and even farther from equity. 

This comes days after the release of yet another feature on Jack Adams Coach of the Year winner Ted Nolan. On the first day of Black History month. The week after Barstool wanted to “lock-up” Saroya Tinker during their attempt to cry for sympathy whilst tearing down the NWHL and those who cover it. After the NHL decided not to work with the HDA. After Mitchell Miller was drafted. The first season after Bill Peters was fired. These issues are multiple and present; this is the game right now, not a few years ago when incidents occurred against Wayne Simmonds or PK Subban or when a thin blue line flag was displayed on the ice. Not decades ago with Herb Carnegie being barred/lowballed out of the league. This day, right now. These are the manifestations of racism and white supremacy.

It was not long ago that players from Sweden or Russia were considered lesser because of their passports. Or that large TV personality Don Cherry pedaled false stereotypes about those who didn’t speak English as a first language weekly on national television in Canada. Honestly, these things are still happening. Needless to say that these attitudes are not exclusively related to hockey culture, but it is undeniably part of what it currently is and where it has been for too long. 

I am by no means an expert on these topics, not even hockey if we’re being frank, so naturally there are much better resources available for those interested on getting a deeper understanding of these issues. Heck, I probably have a few misguided thoughts in this rant somewhere, so please check out organizations like Black Girl Hockey Club, books like “A Fly in a Pail of Milk”, or movies like “Soul on Ice”. That being said, across all levels of the sport a better job has to be done. For each terrible story we hear from the NHL there are at least hundreds more happening to regular people, hobbyists, kids, fans. This means more people involved, at every level but especially at the highest levels, who understand the issues of racism alongside others including intersectional feminism. From GMs to coaches to broadcasters to skating instructors to fans, we all have to show up and help change this reality. The more diverse and inclusive the game becomes the greater heights it will be able to ascend to, like everything else. I believe sport can be a tool to help shape a better world, and this is why it’s even more important to be conscious and deliberate in supporting and empowering the people and attitudes that promote such. 

Truth be told, I wanted to write about some of the players of colour that are currently blessing us with their on-ice abilities, such as a game last week where K’Andre Miller and Pierre-Olivier Joseph were the two best defensemen on the ice, or Mikyla Grant-Mentis scoring the GWG in the Toronto 6′s first ever win, but for now I’ll leave with the acknowledgment of how happy I am for them, and how lucky I feel to be witness to the continuing and growing history of Black excellence in the great game.  

[davidmann95]

Superman’s 10 Best of the ‘10s

Good Miracle Monday, folks! The first third Monday of May of a new decade for that matter, and while that means that today in the DC Universe Superman just revealed his secret identity to the world on the latest anniversary of that time he defeated the devil, in ours it puts a capstone on a solid 10 years of his adventures now in the rear view mirror, ripe for reevaluation. And given there’s a nice solid ‘10′ right there I’ll go ahead with the obvious and list my own top ten for Superman comics of the past decade, with links in the titles to those I’ve spoken on in depth before - maybe you’ll find something you overlooked, or at least be reminded of good times.

A plethora of honorable mentions: I’m disqualifying team-ups or analogue character stories, but no list of the great Superman material of the last decade would be complete without bringing up Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye #7, Avengers 34.1, Irredeemable, Sideways Annual #1, Supreme: Blue Rose, Justice League: Sixth Dimension, usage of him in Wonder Twins, (somewhat in spite of itself) Superior, from all I’ve heard New Super-Man, DCeased #5, and Batman: Super Friends. And while they couldn’t quite squeeze in, all due praise to the largely entertaining Superman: Unchained, the decades’ great Luthor epic in Superman: The Black Ring, a brilliant accompaniment to Scott Snyder’s work with Lex in Lex Luthor: Year of the Villain, the bonkers joy of the Superman/Luthor feature in Walmart’s Crisis On Infinite Earths tie-in comics, Geoff Johns and John Romita’s last-minute win in their Superman run with their final story 24 Hours, Tom Taylor’s quiet criticism of the very premise he was working with on Injustice and bitter reflection on the changing tides for the character in The Man of Yesterday, the decades’ most consistent Superman ongoing in Bryan Miller and company’s Smallville Season 11, and Superman: American Alien, which probably would have made the top ten but has been dropped like a hot potato by one and all for Reasons. In addition are several stories from Adventures of Superman, a book with enough winners to merit a class of its own: Rob Williams and Chris Weston’s thoughtful Savior, Kyle Killen and Pia Guerra’s haunting The Way These Things Begin, Marc Guggenheim and Joe Bennett’s heart-wrenching Tears For Krypton, Christos Gage and Eduardo Francisco’s melancholy Flowers For Bizarro, Josh Elder and Victor Ibanez’s deeply sappy but deeply effective Dear Superman, Ron Marz and Doc Shaner’s crowdpleasing Only Child, and Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine DeLandro’s super-sweet Mystery Box.

10. Greg Pak/Aaron Kuder’s Action Comics

Oh, what might’ve been. In spite of an all-timer creative team I can’t justify listing this run any higher given how profoundly and comprehensively compromised it is, from the status quo it was working with to the litany of ill-conceived crossovers to regular filler artists to its ignominious non-ending. But with the most visceral, dynamic, and truly humane take on Clark Kent perhaps of all time that still lives up to all Superman entails, and an indisputably iconic instant-classic moment to its name, I can’t justify excluding it either.

9. Action Comics #1000

Arguably the climax to the decade for the character as his original title became the first superhero comic to reach a 1000th issue. While any anthology of this sort is a crapshoot by nature, everyone involved here seemed to understand the enormity of the occasion and stepped up as best they could; while the lack of a Lois Lane story is indefensible, some are inevitably bland, and one or two are more than a bit bizarre, by and large this was a thoroughly charming tribute to the character and his history with a handful of legitimate all-timer short stories.

8. Faster Than A Bullet

Much as Adventures of Superman was rightfully considered an oasis amidst the New 52′s worst excesses post-Morrison and in part pre-Pak, few stories from it seem well-remembered now, and even at the time this third issue inexplicably seemed to draw little attention. Regardless, Matt Kindt and Stephen Segovia’s depiction of an hour in the life of Superman as he saves four planets first thing in the morning without anyone noticing - while clumsy in its efforts at paralleling the main events with a literal subplot of a conversation between Lois and Lex - is one of the best takes I can recall on the scope on which he operates, and ultimately the purpose of Clark Kent.

7. Man and Superman

Seemingly geared on every front against me, built as it was on several ideas of how to handle Superman’s origin I legitimately hate, and by a writer whose work over the years has rarely been to my liking, Marv Wolfman and Claudio Castellini’s Man and Superman somehow came out of nowhere to be one of my favorite takes on Clark Kent’s early days. With a Metropolis and characters within it that feel not only alive but lived-in, it’s shocking that a story written and drawn over ten years before it was actually published prefigured so many future approaches to its subject, and felt so of-the-moment in its depiction of a 20-something scrambling to figure out how to squeeze into his niche in the world when it actually reached stores.

6. Brian Bendis’s run

Controversial in the extreme, and indeed heir to several of Brian Bendis’s longstanding weaknesses as a writer, his work on The Man of Steel, Superman, and Action Comics has nevertheless been defined at least as much by its ambition and intuitive grasp of its lead, as well as fistfuls of some of the best artistic accompaniment in the industry. At turns bombastic space action, disaster flick, spy-fi, oddball crime serial, and family drama, its assorted diversions and legitimate attempts at shaking up the formula - or driving it into new territory altogether, as in the latest, apparently more longterm-minded unmasking of Clark Kent in Truth - have remained anchored and made palatable by an understanding of Superman’s voice, insecurities, and convictions that go virtually unmatched.

5. Strange Visitor

The boldest, most out-of-left-field Superman comic of the past 10 years, Joe Keatinge took the logline of Adventures of Superman to do whatever creators wanted with the character and, rather than getting back to a classic take absent from the mainline titles at the time as most others did, used the opportunity for a wildly expansive exploration of the hero from his second year in action to his far-distant final adventure. Alongside a murderer’s row of artists, Keatinge pulled off one of the few comics purely about how great Superman is that rather than falling prey to hollow self-indulgence actually managed to capture the wonder of its subject.

4. Superman: Up In The Sky

And here’s the other big “Superman’s just the best” comic the decade had to offer that actually pulled it off. Sadly if reasonably best-known for its one true misfire of a chapter, with the increasing antipathy towards Tom King among fans in general likely not helping, what ended up overlooked is that this is a stone-cold classic on moment of arrival. Andy Kubert turns in work that stands alongside the best of his career, Tom King’s style is honed to its cleanest edge by the 12-pager format and subject matter, and the quest they set their lead out on ends up a perfect vehicle to explore Superman’s drive to save others from a multitude of angles. I don’t know what its reputation will end up being in the long-term - I was struck how prosaic and subdued the back cover description was when I got this in hardcover, without any of the fanfare or critic quotes you’d expect from the writer of Mister Miracle and Vision tackling Superman - but while its one big problem prevents me from ranking it higher, this is going to remain an all-timer for me.

3. Jeff Loveness’s stories Help and Glasses

Cheating shamelessly here, but Jeff Loveness’s Help with David Williams and Glasses with Tom Grummett are absolutely two halves of the same coin, a pair of theses on Superman’s enduring relevance as a figure of hope and the core of Lois and Clark’s relationship that end up covering both sides of Superman the icon and Superman the guy. While basically illustrated essays, any sense of detached lecturing is utterly forbidden by the raw emotion on display here that instantly made them some of the most acclaimed Superman stories of the last several years; they’re basically guaranteed to remain in ‘best-of’ collections from now until the end of time.

2. Superman Smashes The Klan

A bitter race for the top spot, but #2 is no shame here; while not quite my favorite Superman story of the past ten years, it’s probably the most perfectly executed. While I don’t think anyone could have quite expected just *how* relevant this would be at the top of the decade, Gene Yang and Gurihiru put together an adventure in the best tradition of the Fleischer shorts and the occasional bystander-centered episodes of Batman: The Animated Series to explore racism’s both overt and subtle infections of society’s norms and institutions, the immigrant experience, and both of its leads’ senses of alienation and justice. Exciting, stirring, and insightful, it’s debuted to largely universal acknowledgement as being the best Superman story in years, and hopefully it’ll be continued to be marketed as such long-term.

1. Grant Morrison’s Action Comics

When it came time to make the hard choice, it came in no small part down to that I don’t think we would have ever seen a major Golden Age Superman revival project like Smashes The Klan in the first place if not for this. Even hampering by that godawful Jim Lee armor, inconsistent (if still generally very good) art, and a fandom that largely misunderstood it on arrival can’t detract from that this is Grant Morrison’s run on a Superman ongoing, a journey through Superman’s development as a character reframed as a coherent arc that takes him from Metropolis’s most beaten-down neighborhoods to the edge of the fifth dimension and the monstrous outermost limits of ‘Superman’ as a concept. It launched discussions of Superman as a corporate icon and his place relative to authority structures that have never entirely vanished, introduced multiple all-time great new villains, and made ‘t-shirt Superman’ a distinct era and mode of operation for the character that I’m skeptical will ever entirely go away. No other work on the character this decade had the bombast, scope, complexity, or ambition of this run, with few able to match its charm or heart. And once again, it was, cannot stress this enough, Grant Morrison on an ongoing Superman book.

[feliciamontagues]

My Ranking of Every Hercule Flambeau Episode (S01-S08)

There are some spoilers for S7 and S8, but they are fairly vague and pretty much the sort of thing that you might see on the official press release. So not true spoilers as such. Also this is totally subjective and the result of my own personal biases. It’s also behind the cut because it’s looooonnng. 

8. The Two Deaths of Hercule Flambeau (s06e10)--

So, this episode is *fine*. It’s hardly the worst episode of the show, but it’s easily the weakest of the Flamby eps, despite their being a few isolated moments I enjoy. (Hercule getting a long overdue bedroom scene for one :P)

My main gripe is with this episode is the uneven way Lisandra Flambeau is written. The script seems to flip-flop over whether we are supposed to find her sympathetic or not.  On one hand,  many scenes imply that she genuinely loves Hercule despite them having a shotgun marriage after only a few days of knowing each other. On the other hand, she does not hesitate for a minute before poisoning an innocent (Fr. B) for no other reason than to hurt Flamby, which makes her lose a lot of sympathy points.

And as a result, it seems to make Flambeau seem like more of arse than normal for betraying her, while somehow also absolving him of responsibility for doing so, because she turns around and does *THAT.*

And ngl, it does make me a little uncomfortable that while the character of Lisandra (as an Italian) is possibly not meant to be interpreted as a POC, the actress portraying her definitely is. (Sara Martins is of Afro-Portuguese descent).  Which makes the uneven characterization (and underwritten-ness) seem even more glaring, especially  when compared to that of the other (white) women in Flambeau’s life (his first love Rebecca and his daughter Marianne, arguably Lady Felicia as well). It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth even if  in all likelihood, the part wasn’t written with Sara Martins in mind.

I think a much more interesting approach to Lisandra would be to have intending to betray Flambeau all along. Maybe she had her own agenda for seducing Flamby, meanwhile he thinks he’s the one using her for his plan. Maybe she does develop some feelings for him along the way, but it only makes her hesitate for a moment before going ahead with her original plan. That way, she keeps her agency and isn’t reduced to the “woman scorned” stereotype while also leaving the writers free to ship Flamby with others in the future without seemingly endorsing guilt-free adultery .

Other random note: I can’t take  parts of this episode seriously because the “Crown of Lombardy” is very obviously Guinevere’s crown from BBC Merlin with no attempt to alter or disguise it. 

7. The Daughter of Autolycus (s04e05)--

Not gonna lie, I am not really a fan of “character has long lost relative that we’ve never heard of until now” plots. And that goes double when said long-lost relative is a child or sibling. As such my low ranking of this episode is partly due to unconscious personal biases against that trope.

That being said, if we had to get a long-lost relative that we’ve never heard of until now plot, I’m so glad we got Marianne--even if it takes her another episode to really live up to her potential. 

I have to knock off a few more points for Nero Hound as a villain. For one thing, he was played by Nancy Carroll’s real-life hubby, but they didn’t let let him interact with Lady F at all. Such a *waste.*  Also Nero Hound is far too similar a name to Nero Wolfe, and I’ve definitely confused them on more than one occasion). He’s also rather generic in my opinion, even compared to some of Flambeau’s other “generic mobster” rivals/associates like the ones in S8.

However, there are some moments in this episode I genuinely like--particularly the theft “imagine spot” and Flambeau’s bishop disguise in general. Plus, the scenes where Flambeau and Marianne appear together are excellent, as are the hints that Marianne will become a redemptive trigger in Flambeau’s life.

6. The Judgement of Man (s03e10)--

Again, the low ranking of this one may be due to personal biases.  In this case, I’m still low-key bitter--five years later-- at the BBC marketing department for baiting me with the idea of Flambeau actually interacting with the rest of the squad (esp romantic tiems with Lady F)  and then giving me the absolute minimum of Felicia/Flambeau flirting and no Flambeau/Sid and Flambeau/Mrs. M interaction.

But there are other reasons why this is in my bottom 3 Flambeau episodes. 

Honestly, I feel like an equally compelling episode about the Vatican’s complicity in Nazi art theft could’ve been made without having to insert Flambeau in it. I mean I suppose it does make sense to have the art thief character  in the art episode, but still I feel like both Flambeau backstory and important historical lesson about Nazis, the Church, and Jewish art suffer from being crammed into the same episode. 

That being said, Mrs. McCarthy’s duchess disguise in this episode cleared my skin, watered my crops, etc, which is why I’ve ranked it higher than the previous two. 

5. The Folly of Jephthah (s08e05)

It loses a few points because I got very exited about the idea of Marianne becoming Bunty’s thief gf cool new friend, and yet in the episode itself, they only shared one scene and didn’t really interact much in it. That being said, I did like like that Bunty and Mrs. M had a bigger role in this episode than the squad usually gets in Flambeau episodes. 

Overall, I feel this episode works a lot better than most of the other “backstory-heavy” Flambeau episodes, because we’ve already gotten the Marianne-related exposition out of the way and can focus more on allowing her character, Flambeau’s and their relationship with each other to develop.

I’m also a bit smug in that I predicted (or at least hoped for) this exact character arc for Marianne within a few weeks of “The Daughter of Autocylus” airing and that my hopes came to fruition so beautifully.

It doesn’t particularly impact the ranking too much, but I do feel like this episode deserves a special shout out, because it has established a (hopefully-continuing!) pattern of Father Brown calling Flamby  almost exclusively by his first name, which is a major significant step in their bromance and deserves recognition as such. 

4. The Blue Cross (s01e10)--

As someone who was first exposed to Father Brown through reading the stories for a college course, I always find it especially interesting to look at the episodes that were adapted from Chesterton. 

This episode is neither the most faithful book-to-show adaptation (which is probably “The Three Tools of Death”) nor is it the best (imo “The Sign of the Broken Sword’) , but it is arguably the most significant. “The Blue Cross” was the first ever Fr. Brown story and is probably the most well-known. It’s also the first real look we get at the character of Flambeau, who (in the stories and arguably the show as well) is probably the closest thing we get to a clear character arc.

The show keeps some of the important elements of the short  story: Flambeau’s clergyman disguise, the switching of the packages. But it also has the challenging task of upping the relatively low stakes of the story, as well as introducing a major recurring character that resembles his book counterpart but remains distinct enough to justify the fairly different direction show canon is taking him. 

The show does this reasonably well--if not particularly imaginatively. I do enjoy some of the touches (I’ve written an entire meta before about Flamby’s reading material on the train and how it relates to his character)--particularly the show’s choice to have Flambeau fixated on religious art specifically (RIP for Flambeau’s Dairy Company though. It will always live in my heart).

Unfortunately in the adaptation, loses a few points for not really using the show-original characters particularly effectively. It loses still more for Flambeau’s characterization in this episode . He comes across as much more  serious and menacing in this episode than in all the others. It works okay when we consider this as a standalone episode but provides some glaring Early Installment Weirdness when we compare it to other episodes. 

3. The Penitent Man (s05e15)--

So as the rest of this list  will testify, I have strong preference for the “fun” Flambeau episodes over the more series ones. This is the exception that proves the rule--the  serious, cerebral, melancholy episode that simply “works” for me in the way that some of the others have not.

A lot of it is due to the more-intense-than-usual Flambeau character focus that goes into this. Sure, we’ve met his (presumably ex-by-now) wife, his daughter, and his first love by this point, but all of those episodes focused primarily on Flambeau as an extension of the relationships with others. (”The Judgement of Man”  in particular is far more Rebecca’s story than Hercule’s.)

Whereas this episode is very definitively focused on Flambeau himself and allows more nuanced exploration of two of the most defining facets of Flambeau’s character:  (1) his fascination with religion--and spiritual salvation in particular--  as  something he seems to resist and crave in near equal measure  (2) his almost masochistic streak of recklessness.

Even though Flambeau’s supposed “piety” is revealed to be all part of his heist plan, there are strong hints that his desire for redemption and atonement are at least somewhat genuine, even if he is not  ready to pursue them just yet. 

Off topic, but a few random things of note in this episode: this episode all-but-confirms bi!Flambeau, wet!Flambeau at the end is extremely relevant to my interests, Father Brown attempts to smuggle Flamby a lock pick from the beginning and has the audacity to say “ I only use it when I get locked out of the presbytery.”

Also, it has this iconic exchange:

Goodfellow: What is that awful smell?

Father Brown (covered in sewage): It’s me

2. The Honorable Thief (S07e10)-- So nearly all of the Flambeau-centered episodes from S3 on  have been a little preoccupied with filling in some of the gaps in Flambeau’s backstory, which is *fine*, but honestly, I feel like in doing so, they’ve really lost sight of why we fell in love with the character in the first place. 

 He’s vibrant and clever and funny and over-the-top. But most importantly, Flambeau is a lot of fun. Therefore, it follows that episodes that feature him should be a lot of fun too. 

And well... they are all fun in some way,  but they aren’t as fun as they really could be. John Light is insanely charismatic, but charisma can only go so far when the episode in question is a downer.

Fortunately, this episode is the furthest thing from a downer imaginable. It’s absolutely delightful from start to finish. The plot is serious enough to keep things engaging, but also light enough to keep us from getting too distracted by angst. 

I’m also incredibly biased in favor of this episode, because it finally gave me the Felicia/Flambeau ship tease I’d been passionately hoping for (if not really expecting to get after “The Judgement of Man” disappointed me). But it was so much and so good, and I wasn’t ready for it.

In a broader sense though, this episode really delivered with Flambeau/squad interaction in general--which was a key component that has been missing from most of the other episodes. And the Father Brown & Flambeau interactions were also has heartwarming and funny as they always are.

If I have one tiny little gripe with the episode, it’s that Daniel is not Sid. He has enough broad similarities with Sid that I can’t help but wonder if the episode was originally written with Sid and then hastily re-written when Alex Price couldn’t return. That being said, he was a likable enough guest character in his own right, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him again.

1.  The Mysteries of the Rosary (S02e05)-- Perfection. Not only is this THE definitive Flambeau episode, but is also one of the best episodes of the show overall. It has everything: the birth of bearded Flamby, bromantic road trips, a treasure hunt, great guest turns from Anton Lesser and Sylvestra Le Touzel.

I think part of the reason this episode resonates so strongly with me is that it’s really the first proper sense that we get of Show!Flambeau as a character. Sure we officially met him in “The Blue Cross,” but considering he didn’t show up until halfway through the episode and was in disguise for most of it, we didn’t really get much of a sense of who he is.

This episode changes all that and sets Flambeau up as the character we will know and love for the rest of the series--charming, urbane, funny, passionate, a carefree carpe diem exterior masking (or overcompensating for?) a sense of uncertainty and conflictedness.

Somewhat off topic, but as great an episode as this is for Flambeau’s character, it is nearly as wonderful for both Sid and Father Brown’s characters. We get to see Sid’s  ease with Father Brown, the casual camraderie that the two of them have--as well as Sid’s protectiveness (and jealousy) when Flambeau decides to gatecrash their bromantic road trip. 

Honestly, there are so many things that are great about this episode that I don’t think I could possibly list them--but one little detail that really struck my the last time I watched was that the first proper glimpse we see of Flambeau in this episode (we see him in shadow in a flashback before) involves him  saving Father Brown’s life.  Whereas the last proper glimpse we see of Flambeau is after Father Brown has saved Flambeau’s life.  Thematic reversals. Cinematic parallels. We love to see it. 

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About the MCU (Phase Three Part One)

...I’m gonna have to split this one into two parts. Because Phase three is when these movies start getting good, and which in turn results in my have a LOT to talk about. So, here’s the first half of this phase.

10th place: Captian Marvel (6/10)

This is not the worst MCU movie. This isn't even close to the worst thing in the MCU. THAT honor goes to Inhumans, which might just be the most boring TV show that I ever had the displeasure of watching. And if you're a person who only counts the movies as part of the MCU, then there is no way you can look me in the eye and tell me that Captain Marvel is worse than Thor: The Dark World. Because this movie actually has better action, a handful of funny moments, a decent (albeit predictable) story, a fantastic tribute to Stan Lee, and Goose the Cat. Who is free from any criticism due to being equal parts adorable, hilarious, and awesome.

However, there is one major issue that this movie has, and that is Brie Larson's Captain Marvel. Before you say anything, no, it's not because she barely smiles (shut it, if you think that's actually the problem). The problem is that I just don't know what they want her character to be. Is she meant to be playful yet mysterious, like Marceline from Adventure Time? Is she meant to be a stoic badass with a deadpan sense of humor like Garnet from Steven Universe? Or is she supposed to be this perfect hero with witty remarks like Kim Possible from Kim Possible? Because at times, it feels like the people behind this movie are trying to do all three personalities at once, which makes the character feel disjointed. Plus, it's probably not a good thing that I listed three female characters in children's shows better than this character in this movie for teens and adults. Nor is it a good thing that every actor, including the males, act circles around Brie Larson, who is known for giving Oscar-worthy performances. Still, I'm willing to allow the benefit of the doubt that this issue will be solved in time for Captain Marvel 2, as it took both Captain America and Thor a while before they finally became fan favorites. For now, while Captain Marvel is nowhere near the worst, I wouldn't exactly jump the gun and call it the best, either.

9th place: Doctor Strange (6/10)

This movie is somehow both memorable and forgettable at the same time. The visuals alone help make Doctor Strange memorable, seeing the world bend and morph in a way that is best experienced on the most gigantic screen you can find. The visuals even lend to making the fight scenes unforgetable, resulting in action that's hard to forget. It's still just punching and kicking, but the way this movie uses punching and kicking that makes it fun to watch. Such as having Strange fight wizards as astral projections, or while the world is reversing in on itself, dodging debris as it puts itself back into place. Plus, that ending is not only the most unique defeat of a bad guy that any MCU movie has done, but it also proves how selfless Doctor Strange can be as a hero. So I won't be able to forget bits and pieces of this movie...but I can easily forget everything else. The jokes, plot, characters, and especially the villain are things I tend to lose track of on each rewatch. Which might honestly be worse than it sounds. Because while it's still a fun movie that I recommend, it's not a good thing that I constantly forget it, even as I'm writing this.

8th place: Ant-Man and the Wasp (7.5/10)

How is Ant-Man and the Wasp a dividing movie for MCU fans? People either really hate it or just think it's ok, and I don't get that. Because personally, I think this movie is really good. Yeah, there are leaps in logic, and the ending is a huge cop-out, especially since this movie came after Avengers: Infinity War. But I think Ant-Man and the Wasp incredibly improve upon the original with a tighter story and better-written characters, who all have great personalities and fantastic chemistry. Sure, these characters fall flat during certain dramatic moments, but really succeed when written for comedy. My personal favorite is Cassie, who might just be my favorite little girl character in fiction. She admires her father for everything he does, going so far as to smile with glee as he's wreaking shop in the finale. 

Speaking of her father, I really love how Ant-Man and the Wasp differentiate Scott Lang from the rest of the Avengers. In a world of gods and supersoldiers, you have Ant-Man, who's basically just a regular guy. The best example that shows how it that montage of him doing stuff while under house arrest. If any of our other heroes were in this situation, they would take advantage of the time to train, build cool s**t, and maybe even meditate. But for Scott? He wastes time singing karaoke, practicing close-up magic, and crying himself to sleep while reading The Fault in our Stars. It's a great way of showing how he's a little fish in the world's biggest pond. And I like that.

This movie may not be perfect, but every now and again, it's nice to get something small-scale (get it) and personal within the grand adventures in the MCU.

7th Place: Captain America: Civil War (8/10)

There are three camps of people who argue about this movie. The first camp is the people who fight about whether this is a Captain America movie or an Avengers movie. The second camp is the people who disagree on how Captain America: Civil War is the same as Batman v. Superman-Dawn of Justice. The third and final camp argues whether or not the movie is better than the comics. And I'm about to address each and every one of these camps.

First off, this is an Avengers movie. Captain America may take a more primary role, but consider that Thanos is easily the main character in Avengers: Infinity War, and how that movie isn't called Thanos: Infinity War. The fact that Cap barely takes center stage kind of ruins this being his movie, which is why it's arguably the worst Captain America movie by default, but that doesn't change how good this is. Mostly because it's easily a better Avengers movie than Age of Ultron.

As for how this movie is the same as Batman v. Superman, I can tell you right now that it isn't. They're similar in concept, I'll give you that, but their differences meet with the execution of said concepts. Yes, both movies have two people with different ideas fighting it out due to heroes causing collateral damage while inadvertently doing what an evil mastermind, with a tediously complicated plan, expects them to do. But you wanna know what Civil War has that BvS doesn't? Comedy. Marvel's ability to laugh at itself, to realize that what they're making shouldn't be taken too seriously, is what makes it worth the watch. Every. Time. Plus, I find it hilarious that a movie with four times the amount of superheroes manages to give each character a proper story and subplot than the film with just three.

This leads me to my third point: The movie is much better than the comics. Would it have been more awesome to see the number of characters we have now battle it out than seeing the relatively small one in this movie? Maybe. But look at Infinity War and Endgame. As good as those movies are, there were still many characters that got the short end of the stick. By keeping the cast small, Civil War gives each hero time to have an understandable motivation to pick one side or the other while giving each of their stories a proper conclusion. Even Black Panther and Spider-Man, introduced in this movie as sequel bait, still somehow manage to have clear motives and satisfying stories. Plus, where the comics make it hard to pick a side between Captain America and Iron Man because both made awful decisions after awful decisions, the movie makes it hard to pick and choose because both have to make hard decisions. Both Cap and Iron Man have clear reasons for their choices as well as hesitations. But they still see the point of view of the opposing side and try to talk things out. Which makes things all the more heartbreaking when they finally disagree. Something that never happened in the comics even once.

Overall, Captain America: Civil War is a great movie. It may not entirely be a Captain America movie, and the villain's plan is, again, tediously complicated. But it's still good because it understands the importance of characters and even a sense of humor. Which is something that I wish I could say about Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

6th place: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (9/10)

It's not every day that the sequel is better than the original, let alone being equally good. And yet, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is just as fun as its predecessor, if not a smidge better. Everything that I love about the first movie is here in spades, with a few improvements added to the appeal. Like the visuals, which not only have the colors and gradient turned up to thousand, but there are also some spectacular shots that at times look like they could be panels in a comic book. Plus, Ego the Living Planet is a much better villain than Ronan ever could be. Ego's motivations are typical, but his charming personality creates a character that's fun to watch while also showing how dangerous a person like Ego could be when his true motivations are revealed. Although, despite improvements, there are still some elements that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 takes away. Because while most of the jokes are funny, there are some scenes where it's hard to tell if I'm supposed to be laughing or feeling emotional. Also, I just hate what they did to Drax in this movie. In the first one, he was a stoic badass with a deadpan sense of humor. Here, he's written as a dumb a**hole who gets one emotional scene. And it's a powerful one, sure, but it's not enough. Still, I love this movie. If I had to pick which one is better, I would probably say it's Vol 2, but even then, it's a close race, in my opinion.

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And that’s all for now. Here’s part two.

[jeanvaljean24601]

The Winners And Losers From The 2020 Emmy Nominations

The 2020 Emmy nominations rolled out today, and boy, were they something. Right away, Rhea Seehorn fans grew furious that she was somehow left on the side of the road again, and it’s very strange to not see Larry David receive more nods for being a lovable curmudgeon on HBO, but perhaps he’s topped out with a lifetime total of 27 Emmy nominations and 2 wins. We could also talk about numbers mattering, which is good news on the HBO front, with Watchmen and Succession scoring 26 and 18 nominations, respectively, and Disney+ scooping up 15 nods for The Mandalorian, although sorry, Baby Yoda, you are somehow not eligible for acting awards.

That’s not as satisfying, though, as talking about the real winners and losers, which is a fine tradition here. Please do not consider this to be a complete list of wronged-and-righted parties (for example, I cannot even begin to understand why Desus and Mero got the shaft, which shouldn’t have happened), but let’s get this ball rolling, shall we?

When it comes to Ozark, I kind-of get why people don’t want to give this show a shot at first. The bizarre insistence upon a blue filter goes a long way, for example, or the fact that it arguably fine-tunes the Walt-Jesse dynamic from Breaking Bad — yes, that might grind some gears. Yet all of those concerns don’t matter once you surrender to the setting and watch Jason Bateman lose his sh*t in consistently captivating ways. The acting nominations here were all well deserved, as was the Outstanding Drama series nod, especially with that cliffhanger. I do look forward to one day seeing Julia Garner win her 15th Emmy in, like, 2045, but let’s also shout out Dead To Me. That little Netflix series also been recognized once again despite (probably) being intended as a trash-comfort watch. Yet it works surprisingly well to stir up a wide range of emotions and affirm humanity in the process. Also, recognition for Linda Cardellini will never get old. Now she can forget that Capone came out this year. h96 tv box

Let’s make one thing clear: Reese is doing just fine. In fact, she’s likely doing wonderful. However, her prestige TV turns have gone unrewarded for this year’s ceremony. Whereas Jennifer Aniston received a nod for Apple TV’s The Morning Show, Reese didn’t walk away with the same honor for her performance as an unruly spitfire of a co-host. Her Hulu and HBO roles, in Little Fires Everywhere and Big Little Lies, also went unrecognized. I can only guess that there simply wasn’t enough room for all the BLL ladies, and although her ruffling of Adam Scott was convincing enough, neither she nor Nicole Kidman could beat out Laura Dern and Meryl Streep’s  extremely unhinged  turns on the show. Still, Reese will not walk away from 2020 empty-handed. Quibi  paid her $6 million to narrate a wildlife series, and you gotta respect that hustle.

Yes, I did suggest that numbers don’t matter, but c’mon. Not only did The Mandalorian receive 15 nods, but Watchmen scored 26. The best part about Damon Lindelof’s show gathering so many decorations, though, is that no one even asked for a Watchmen TV series to be made. Alan Moore’s graphic novel was always considered to be unfilmable (and Zack Snyder made the case there), but Lindelof did it anyway. He recontextualized the whole story against the backdrop of a long-buried U.S. atrocity and hid Doctor Manhattan in the body of a Black man. He put the damn squid in there, included Jeremy Irons’ fart face, made Regina King walk on water (or not), and inserted a Lube Man. Watchmen could win no Emmys at all, and it’d still be the winner for all those things.

This one is a puzzler. The Emmys nominated Bob Odenkirk in 2019, 2017, 2016, and 2015, but he somehow came up short this year for his lead role in AMC’s Breaking Bad spinoff that landed on the top of our best shows of the year (so far) list. Even if one considers that his category was stacked — and let’s be honest here, it wasn’t airtight because Steve Carell‘s The Morning Show role felt more like a supporting role than a lead — it’s hard to ignore how the Emmy’s almost entirely shut out the Saul actors. And really, how does one justify continuing to leave Rhea Seehorn on the side of the road with an arc like the one she had this season? With  those finger guns… and everything? It just doesn’t make sense, but I guess at least Gus Fring is getting his due. h96 max tv box

Zendaya could become the  youngest winner of the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series award for her turn in the provocative Euphoria. The drug-fueled series about teens isn’t an easy watch by any stretch, but it’s a relevant one, and Zendaya’s finally receiving the dramatic material that her talents deserve. On the Ramy side of things, it’s nice to see more affirmation that this is the best show that  you’re not currently watching. It’s a little disheartening to not see the show’s actresses gain recognition while their characters are finally coming to the forefront, but it’s hard to argue with the possibility of creator Ramy Youssef adding an Emmy to his Globe win for this dramedy about Muslim-Americans. Also, Mahershala Ali getting a nod for his Hot Sheikh means that at least something’s right in our current universe (after that Green Book mess).

Young women challenging institutions are where it’s at this year. Even though Watchmen will (and should) walk away with the Outstanding Limited Series category, I’m thrilled to see two insurgent-feeling shows, Unbelievable and Unorthodox, make the shortlist. Kaitlyn Dever should have also been nominated in the acting department for her turn as a rape survivor who was treated like a criminal, due to being an “imperfect victim,” but the show as a whole deserved the nod that it received for being taking such a feminist approach to crime-drama storytelling. And I’m pumped to see Unorthodox‘s Shira Hass pop up with an Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Series nod (she’s up against Regina King and Cate Blanchett), as well as seeing recognition for the  stunning miniseries’ exploration of a young woman’s flight from Hasidic Judaism. android tv box

Pacino’s first regular TV role in Amazon Prime’s Hunters was a highly anticipated one, but sadly, the show (despite plenty of enticing ingredients like Jordan Peele producing and, you know, the killing of Nazis),  didn’t hit the mark. Honestly, yeah, it was messy, and Pacino’s accent work managed to be one of the weirdest parts of a very weird show. It’s not worth too many words to rehash what happened there, for it’s enough to say that Pacino’s already won two TV-movie Emmys for You Don’t Know Jack and Angels In America. He’s also notched an Oscar win (in 1993 for Scent of a Woman) and eight Oscar nominations (including in 2020 for The Irishman). He doesn’t necessarily need to win at TV shows, too!

You can see the full list the  Emmy nominations here.

[thesportssoundoff]

“Singapore with a singaBORE main” UFC Fight Night: Askren vs Maia preview

Joey

October 20th, 2019

When the UFC signed up to do a multi million dollar stretch of shows in Singapore, I have to imagine this wasn't QUITE on the menu. This show isn't awful but compared to what's coming down the pike with the MSG card, the Vegas PPV, a really solid card in South Korea and such, this card is only worth discussing due to its early start time. Still there's good stuff to discuss here! It's a nifty 11 fight card starting early in the morning with some good HW fights on it and an "intriguing" main event. Let's see what happens.

Fights: 11

Debuts: Loma Lookboonmee, Don'tale Mayes

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 4 (Karol Rosa vs Julia Avila CANCELLED/Jarjis Danho vs Greg Hardy CANCELLED/Yan Xionan OUT, Randa Markos IN vs Ashley Yoder/Brad Tavares vs Ian Heinisch CANCELLED)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 6 (Demian Maia, Stevie Ray, Michael Johnson, Beneil Dariush, Sergey Pavlovich, Randa Markos)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC:

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 7 (Demian Maia, Muslim Salikhov, Laureano Staropoli, Beneil Dariush, Maurice Green, Ashley Yoder, Sergey Pavlovich)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2017 (in the UFC): 17-19-1

Ben Askren- 1-1 Demian Maia- 3-3 Michael Johnson- 2-3 Stevie Ray- 2-3 Muslim Salikhov- 2-1 Laureano Staropoli- 2-0 Beneil Dariush- 2-2-1 Frank Camacho- 2-3 Cyril Gane- 1-0 Don'Tale Mayes- 0-0

Fights By Weight Class (yearly number here):

Lightweight- 3 (69) Heavyweight- 3 (34) Welterweight-  2 (64) Women’s Strawweight- 2 (28) Featherweight-  1 (53)

Women’s Flyweight-  (31) Middleweight-  (40) Light Heavyweight-  (39) Bantamweight- (53) Flyweight-  (15) Women’s Featherweight- (8) Women’s Bantamweight-  (18)

2019 Number Tracker

Debuting Fighters (37-58-1)- Loma Lookboonmee, Don'tale Mayes

Short Notice Fighters (28-36)- Randa Markos

Second Fight (52-35)- Movsar Evloev, Raphael Pessoa, Ciryl Gane, Rafael Fiziev

Cage Corrosion (Fighters who have not fought within a year of the date of the fight) (22-38-1)-

Undefeated Fighters (38-37-2)- Ciryl Gane, Movsar Evloev

Fighters with at least four fights in the UFC with 0 wins over competition still in the organization (11-8)- Frank Camacho, Stevie Ray

Weight Class Jumpers (Fighters competing outside of the weight class of their last fight even if they’re returning BACK to their “normal weight class”) (29-22)- Michael Johnson

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- I've seen some folks who take the Askren vs Maia booking as some sort of punishment for Askren because it's an early morning show overseas BUT let's be 100% fair and point out that Askren spent the better part of the last 4-5 years fighting in Asia and SHOULD have some semblance of name recognition. In this case he probably serves more good as the main eventer on a random Asian show than he does as the 3rd or 4th fight in MSG or what have you. I mean if he doesn't then why did you even sign him?

2- Who is this main event appealing to? I can understand SOME genuine appeal in this fight for the grappling purists out there I suppose but even that feels limited. I just think if you took 100 MMA fans and brought them into a room and said "Would you like five rounds of Askren vs Maia?", the slimmest of slim percentage of them would say "Oh man, love it. Bring me all of that." It's a fine main event pitting name value vs name value and I guess style vs style but the appeal feels so limited. I really hope this isn't what that group in Singapore expected to be paying for when they made this multi-million dollar deal with the UFC for the next five years or so.

3- Even with a win, is Askren officially "done" in terms of flirtations as a #1 contender? Usually a win over Demian Maia takes you right to #1 contender status. In this instance, it feels like Askren is sort of kind of in the Vitor range where anything short of a string of stoppages will keep him firmly from the title picture.

4- Is  Michael Johnson vs Stevie Ray the most random co-main of 2019? I can't imagine it's got a lot of competition for the spot.

5- Laureano Staropoli vs Muslim Salikhov is a really interesting fight for a variety of reasons. For starters, Staropoli has real potential to become yet another solid Argentinian fighter in the UFC's fold. He's 2-0 and coming off a decision win over Thiago Alves in Brazil. He's a balanced striker who seems to excel in those back and forth firefights where he can outlast his opposition. Thats going to be a problem against Muslim Salikhov who is beginning to find his groove in the UFC. Every second this fight stays standing and at a pace befitting of Muslim is a second closer to losing in a most brutal fashion. Can Staropoli wrestle more than we've seen him do so far?

6- If I had a fighter like Frank Camacho, I'm not sure that I'd put him up against a guy who is primarily coming to wrestle with Beneil Dariush. Dariush is going to try to Drew Dobert it except he can't strike as good as Dober so we're setting up for a lot of wall and stall. Thumbs down.

7- If you're not hot on heavyweights, lemme chit chat with you a bit about how some of these HW fights are pretty good:

With the UFC talking about doing a show in France in 2020, Ciryl Gane figures to be an impressive dude to follow. The muay thai stud/Ngannou sparring buddy won his UFC debut without much issue and the French born fighter will be given ample opportunities to show out. Dontale Mayes is the rare THREE time DWCS talent who lost his first fight but won the next two by stoppage. Mayes' upside may be in a role like this as a hard hitting prospect tester. One thing which stood out was how much weight he lost between all three Contenders Series fights.

Sergey Pavlovich vs Maurice Greene is a REALLY interesting fight. Mo Greene was a bit of a gimmick who got the villain edit on TUF but he's fought three times while the winner of the show has pretty much disappeared. Greene hits really hard, attacks from awkward angles, doesn't have good wrestling but has some wacky BJJ off of his back and so far his cardio hasn't been awfl. On the other hand, Sergey Pavlovich has gone from Russian prospect du jour to "maybe he's good?" UFC fighter. Pavlovich's first win was against Junior Albini and Mo Greene's best win as of right now is Junior Albini so here we are. Good evenly matched fight on paper.

Raphael Pessoa vs Jeff Hughes kicks off the show and Huges was considered to be one of the top HW prospects prior to getting into the UFC. To this point he was upset by Maurice Greene (who he had beaten on the regional circuit) and looked to be potentially en route to getting slop stopped by Todd Duffee prior to an eye poke no contest. This is like the bottom of the barrel in terms of opposition and if Hughes loses this one, his career is in deep doo doo.

8- Speaking of Maurice Greene, can we just pretend that he won the TUF season if he wins this fight vs Pavlovich?

9- Enrique Barzola vs Mosvar Evloev is an interesting fight because it pits arguably the most exciting Russian prospect in the UFC under 155 lbs against a really solid featherweight who can do some stuff to challenge Evloev. Barzola's a superb wrestler who has endless pressure and cardio while Evloev has excelled thus far in the UFC as a slower paced grappling machine despite showing more on Russia's regional circuit. We haven't seen Barzola do much counter wrestling and Evloev figures to test that in spades IF he fights like he did in his debut.

10- Randa Markos is still relevant at 115 lbs which feels like a credit to her but also a knock on the speed (or lack thereof) by which this division is advancing.

11- Who has the cardio advantage between Maia and Askreen going into the championship rounds? Gotta be Ben, right?

12- Is this the most irrelevant card of the year?

[worthsomethingtoday]

Our interview with Save The Broken about mental health and some other questions

1. What is your names & what do you play in the band?

Steve Walters - Vocals

Tyler Semolik - Drums <Participants of interview

Frank Cortalano - Guitar

Frank Mazzei - Guitar

Mike Hooper - Bass

2. • How did the band get started?

Rob, a founding member and I used to always go to karaoke together and sing songs with screaming in them. The look on people’s faces was priceless when they heard that first scream unexpectedly. One day we got tired of people coming up to us asking if we were in a band to which we always replied no. So we told each other “let’s just do it, it’s our dream. What are we waiting for?”

-Steve

I joined the band when the old guitarist left the band. Members of Save The Broken including Steve and Tyler had come to see my other band at a show back in February of 2019 to introduce themselves to us. After that, my other band had played a few shows with Save The Broken. Later that year the band had announced that their guitarist was leaving and that they we’re looking for a new one. At the time I was not looking to join another band because I have a million other things going on, but I reached out to Steve and told him that I was willing to help fill in until they found someone permanent. After weeks of practicing, we had our first show at Lucy’s Lounge in Pleasantville for This Is Sirus Fest. The energy on stage was amazing and I knew that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be a part of something this fun so I decided to become a permanent guitarist.

-Frank C.

3. •What was the funniest thing that has ever happened to you on stage?

Last year on Halloween my mic got yanked into the pit and I tried pulling it back but it wasn’t budging. I threw my arms in the air and sang along with the crowd for the rest of the song. There’s a clip of it in the highlights on our instagram.

-Steve

My equipment breaks on me almost every show lol!

-Tyler

The funniest thing that happened on stage was a drunk guy at one of our shows was so into our set that he came up to sing our songs along with us, even though he didn’t really know the words lol.

-Frank C.

4. •If you had 1 million dollars in the music industry what would you use it for?

Besides investing in equipment, I would love to donate to charities that are meaningful to me and to the band as a whole and put together shows that would help raise money for causes that we care about. I want people to realize how important music is and how it can help the community and the world.

-Frank C

This has never been about money for me. If I can help people heal and just make enough to get by, I’ll be very happy. If we do end up getting to that level one day I’d want to give back to all of the people that got us there. -Steve

Currently, a venue for sessions where bands can do their thing and be live streamed so everyone can see them considering the situation.

-Tyler

5. • If you could tour with any band or musician dead or alive who would it be with & why?

Easy, August Burns Red or Dance Gavin Dance. They’ve always been my inspiration to be a musician and be in a touring band.

-Tyler

My Chemical Romance. Yeah, the guy that screams was an emo kid. I don’t think I’d be here without them and they’re my inspiration for wanting to help people just like they’ve helped me. Band name inspiration confirmed. -Steve

Definitely Bayside and Coheed and Cambria. These are two bands that have gotten me through some tough times and have been a huge inspiration for me as a musician across all instruments I play. One of Save The Broken’s main messages is to help and inspire others so bands like these two that have done the same for me are near and dear to my heart.

-Frank C.

6.• What do you think of the media frenzy over mental illness meaning should we talk about it more in the world?

I believe that it is very important to talk about mental illness. We all need to do what we can to be healthy in all aspects of life and our mental health is arguably the most important part because it coincides with everything else. I feel like the media doesn’t focus as much on mental health as it should and unfortunately does not do more to encourage people to seek the proper help that they need.

-Frank C.

We should always talk about it. I think the media and certain businesses are just cashing in on the hype, but there has never been a better and more acceptable time to talk about your mental illness, and that’s a great thing. -Steve

7.• Have you ever dealt with depression or any other mental illness & if so how did you handle it?

I’ve been dealing with depression for years. I find solace in my friends, family, music, writing, and my bandmates. I’m very lucky to have strong people around me and to be a part of this band. Helping others is a great way to deal with your own depression sometimes. We’re here to help heal the world, but we’re definitely healing ourselves along the way.

-Steve

Depression has definitely been kicking me in the butt for a while. I try to put myself out of my own element and to be more openminded about trying new things I may like to take my mind off of the old things dragging me down. -Tyler

I have been dealing with both depression and anxiety nearly my entire life. I’ve been trying my hardest to follow a lesson that I learned from reading the book The Alchemist which is to live in the moment. This lesson has really helped me become more present in all aspects of my life rather than be stuck inside my own head. I am very lucky to have things in my life that bring me joy such as music, dungeons and dragons, video games, and hanging with my friends and loved ones who are an important support system to have. There are a ton of bad things that I can focus on or worry about but when I can do the things that bring me joy, be present in every moment and remind myself that the pain and sadness are temporary it allows me to be positive and enjoy the good things in life.

-Frank C.

8.• What would you say has been the most difficult or hardest part of your life so far?

The hardest part of my life so far has been finding a comfortable environment where I feel free to find myself and to properly sit with my emotions. This has negatively affected me because I haven’t felt like I had a place to think and to properly heal mentally which has taken toll on my writing which is one of the most important things in my life.

-Frank C.

Losing my dad suddenly at 15 still hurts me to this day. We were very close. I’ve lost many loved ones, but that cut is the deepest. I’ve worked in the funeral business for a long time and being around death is always a constant reminder of what I’ve been through, but being around others who have lost someone and helping them means a lot to me.

-Steve

Now, 2020, corona virus, I love being around people, being out and enjoying myself. So not being able to do so drives me insane.

-Tyler

9.• What would you tell a fan that is struggling with self harm?

I try my hardest to let the people in my life know that they are important and that their life is worth living. I would encourage a fan, or anyone struggling with self-harm, to seek out professional help or at the very least reach out to someone who can help them get to that point. I know it can sometimes be scary, but therapy is an option that they should consider and can benefit from. It’s also important to be honest and patient with themself and to realize that healing takes time. We all have the strength to get passed whatever we are dealing with.

-Frank C.

Do whatever you can to find a different outlet for your pain. Reach out to anyone you can, and even if you think that person doesn’t exist there is always someone out there going through the same thing or maybe even worse. Luckily there are many ways to reach out these days even if there’s no one present in your life to help you. You shouldn’t be ashamed to talk to someone, and if that’s what’s stopping you, luckily there are plenty of ways now to do that privately and virtually. I also want people to know that they have the strength within to heal, but sometimes in your darkest of places, someone needs to drag it out of you, and that’s ok.

-Steve

If a fan is hurting, you be there for them, LISTEN to them. A fan is a friend you hold highly. Try to help them find other coping mechanisms to help when they are in their time of need.

-Tyler

10.• What is like when a fan comes up too you & tells you your music saved their life or get them though hard times in life?

That’s what this is all about. There was a guy who came up to me in Brooklyn after a set who had never heard of us before. He connected with what I said between songs about losing someone and not being alone. He thanked me for reminding him of that and gave me a hug. I cried and thanked him also, because he reminded me of how true that was too. If he’s reading this I hope he never forgets that statement, and for anyone else reading this you shouldn’t forget it either.

-Steve

It’s one of the best feelings in the world. As performers and artists, it is important to remember that what we do goes beyond ourselves. When we get up on that stage or release music out into the world we are connecting with people. I don’t do this for money or fame. I do this to inspire others and impact their life through music. If I can relate to one person and give them a sense of hope by letting them know they aren’t alone in this world then I have done my job as a musician.

-Frank C.

It’s a great feeling. I love that people can connect through music and being someone who helps with that means the world to me!

-Tyler

11.• Do any of your songs talk about anything dealing with depression or self harm or anything along those lines?

Not every song of ours speaks about those subjects specifically, but every song is based off of emotions, good or bad, that come from dealing with hard times, and the journey to overcome them.

-Steve

12.• What would you tell someone that is scared to ask for help because they don't want to be looked at differently?

I’d tell them that it is okay to feel scared, but don’t let anyone stop them from getting the help they need. The fear of being judged should never hold them back from doing what is right for them. It is their right to keep their personal life private, but they should reach out to people they trust if they are in need of help.

-Frank C.

I would tell them don’t feel scared. Speak to someone who they feel comfortable talking to and explain the problem, then look for help.

-Tyler

Reach out privately. Research different organizations designed to fit your specific needs.

-Steve

13.• Do you think we as society should be able to have a conversation about mental health without being judge or looked at differently & do you think we should be able to talk about it in our school systems?

Anyone who would ever put you down for what you’re going through has no place in your life. Cut toxicity out of your circle. As someone who was bullied all throughout his life in school I think that is the toughest hurdle. We as a society have to make it so mental health is not something to be looked down upon and I think that will trickle down to everything else including the school systems. I think we’re on our way to that.

-Steve

As a teacher, I can tell you just how influential the things kids learn in school are. Speaking about mental health in schools will help children understand how important it is and may help decrease the stigma that surrounds mental health. If our children are properly informed on the subject, it will help us as a society to normalize the conversation and can lead to less judgment and better understanding of it.

-Frank C.

14.• Do you think the media should look at mental health in a positive light, more then just jumping to conclusions on the news?

Unfortunately, media and the news have a big role to play in our society. If mental health was discussed in a positive light and helped people have a better understanding of it by providing the information in a more accessible way, then it may help open the discussion rather than stigmatize mental health.

-Frank C.

Don’t watch the news lol...

-Steve

[douchebagbrainwaves]

YOU GUYS I JUST THOUGHT OF THIS

I guarantee you'll be surprised by the consequences of the licensing deal for DOS, just as it's easier to get people to remember just one quote about programming, it would be more interested in an essay about why something isn't the problem, even though you know that free with just two exclamation points has a probability of. Then when you reach for the sledgehammer; if their kids won't listen to them, because you can, to a limited extent, simulate a closure a function that takes a number n, and returns a function that refers to variables defined in enclosing scopes by defining a class with one method and a field to replace each variable from an enclosing scope.1 The US Is Not Yet a Police State. Better Judgement Needed If the number of users and the problem is usually artificial and predetermined. There are two main kinds of error that get in the way you'd expect any subculture to be, in certain specific moments like your family, this month a fixed amount you need to simplify and clarify, and the threat to potential investors and they hope this will make it big is not simply to give them at least 20 years, and then at each point the way such a project would play out? You could do it than literally making a mark on the world.2 I'll come running.3 They make such great CEOs. First of all, for the most part they punt. For all its power, Silicon Valley is that you get discouraged when no one else at the time.

But there is also huge source of implicit tags that they ignore: the text within web links.4 It was more prestigious to be one of those things until you strike something. Both self-control and experience have this effect: to eliminate the random biases that come from your own circumstances, and tricks played by the artist.5 It's very common for startups to exist.6 But even in the mating dance, patents are part of the mob, stand as far away from it myself; I see it there on the page and quickly move on to the next step, whatever that is. Meanwhile the iPhone is selling better than ever. 4 million is starting to appear in the mainstream media came from. People's best friends are likely to be careful here to distinguish between them. If you have multiple founders, esprit de corps binds them together in one place for a certain percentage of your startup. There is more to be actively curious. Most CEOs delegate taste to a subordinate.7 The closest thing seemed to be synonymous with quiet, so I won't repeat it all here.

The nature of the application domain.8 Mean People Fail November 2014 It struck me recently how few of the startups we fund. Angels don't like publicity.9 That can be useful when it's a crappy version one made by a company called Y Combinator that said Y Combinator does seed funding for startups is way less than the measurement error. But there is no argument about that—at least in computational bottlenecks. And in the film industry, though producers may second-guess directors, the director controls most of what is now called VoIP, and it will take off. Instead of bubbling up from the bottom, by overpaying unions, the traditional news media, and the techniques I used may be applicable to ideas in general.10 If someone proves a new theorem, it takes some work by the reader to decide whether or not to upvote it. But because patent trolls don't make anything physical.11

They work well enough in everyday life.12 This site isn't lame. It's all evasion.13 A comparatively safe and prosperous career with some automatic baseline prestige is dangerously tempting to someone young, who hasn't thought much about it, and the path to intelligence through carefully selected self-indulgence by mimicking more virtuous types. Spend little. Someone like Bill Gates? In the last 20 years, grown into a monstrosity. I'm not writing here about Java which I have never seen any of ITA's code, but according to one of the causes of the increase in disagreement, there's a good chance the person at the next table could help you at all. Also, startups are an all-star team. I can solve that problem by stopping entirely. Wouldn't it start to seem lame?

It would be a good idea.14 I read most things I write out loud at least once a week, cooked for the first couple generations.15 I'm not saying it's correct, incidentally, but it happens surprisingly rarely. I've learned about VC while working on it for a couple years for another company for two years. The word boss is derived from a talk at Oscon 2004.16 I assumed I'd learn what in college.17 But also it will tell you to spend too much. The problem is not the one that is. Inexperienced angels often get cold feet.18

Even more important than others? File://localhost/home/patrick/Documents/programming/python projects/UlyssesRedux/corpora/unsorted/schlep. But after a while I learned the trick of speaking fast.19 Why wouldn't young professionals make lots of new things I want to reach users, you need colleagues to brainstorm with, to talk you out of stupid decisions, and to analyze based on what a few people think in our insular little Web 2.20 Fortunately if this does happen it will take a big bite out of your round. What difference did it make if other manufacturers could offer DOS too? One of the things I had to condense the power of compound growth. Then they're mystified to find that there are degrees of coolness. It requires the kind of intensity and dedication from programmers that they will always be made to develop new technologies at a slower rate than the rest, and the second is whatever specific lies Xes differentiate themselves by believing. This bites you twice: they get less done, but they need more help because life is so precarious for them. Unless they've tried not taking board seats and found their returns are lower, they're not drifting.

Programmers don't use launch-fast-and-so is an animal.21 But it is very hard for someone who publishes online.22 Not because starting one's own company seemed too ambitious, but because it didn't look like a car spinning its wheels. It's hard for them to change. Experts have given Wikipedia middling reviews, but they weren't going to wait. Wufoo seem to have any teeth, and the useful half is the payload. This is arguably a permissible tactic.

Most books on startups also seem to be joined together, but really the thesis is an optimistic one—that everyone should go and start a startup during college, but it was simpler than they thought. I do in proper essays. Because they personally liked it. Game We saw this happen so often that we made up a name for what I learned from this experiment is that if VCs are only doing it in the plainest words and you'll be free again.23 That's the worst thing about our software. Now the results seem inspired by the Scientologist principle that what's true is what's true for you. Also, the money might come in several tranches, the later ones subject to various conditions—though this is apparently more common in deals with lower-tier investors sometimes give offers with very short fuses, because they get their ideas? If you do that you raise too many expectations. There's no reason to believe there is any field in which the most efficient solutions win, rather than working on the company to become valuable, and you don't have significant success to cheer you up when things go wrong.24

Notes

That's a good nerd, just that if the statistics they use; if anything they could to help you even be tempted to do is adjust the weights till the 1920s to financing growth with the other hand, launching something small and traditional proprietors on the admissions committee knows the professors who wrote the recommendations. If you're doing. There were a property of the world will sooner or later.

And yet I think it's publication that makes curators and dealers use neutral-sounding language. Google and Facebook are driven by money, then you're being gratuitously troublesome. We walked with him for the next round.

People were more dependent on banks for capital for expansion.

That's not a remark about the idea upon have different time quanta. Since the remaining power of Democractic party machines, but since it was 10. The chief lit a cigarette.

Without the prospect of publication, the average Edwardian might well guess wrong.

In fact, for example I've deliberately avoided saying whether the 25 people have responded to this talk, so that you can't help associating it with the founders' salaries to the prevalence of systems of seniority. Moving large amounts of new stock. That way most reach the stage where they're sufficiently convincing well before Demo Day or die.

This form of religious wars or undergraduate textbooks so determinedly neutral that they're really saying is they want to learn.

This is an interesting sort of dress rehearsal for the first 40 employees, with the issues they have that glazed over look.

According to Sports Illustrated, the first duty of the anti-dilution protections.

Currently we do at least seem to understand technology because they could not process it.

Doing a rolling close usually prevents this. The liking you have to replace you. Convertible debt is usually slow growth or excessive spending rather than given by other people.

Investors are fine with funding nerds. Cascading menus would also be argued that we wouldn't have the concept of the war, federal tax receipts have stayed close to the inane questions of the Fabian Society, it often means the startup will be, unchanging, but Joshua Schachter tells me it was wiser for them by the National Center for Education Statistics, the activation energy to start with consumer electronics and to run an online service. Seeming like they worked together mostly at night.

Instead of making n constant, it is. I started using it out of their due diligence tends to happen fast, like good scientists, motivated less by financial rewards than by you based on respect for their judgement. If you're sufficiently good bet, why not turn your company into one? Which explains the astonished stories one always hears about VC while working on such an interview.

Com/spam. So if you're a YC startup you can do it to colleagues. Doh.

That's the difference between good and bad measurers. I get the money, then their incentives aren't aligned with some question-begging answer like it's inappropriate, while she likes getting attention in the nature of server-based applications, and how unbelievably annoying it is. That's probably too much to hope for, but they can't teach students how to deal with the other direction Y Combinator.

The downside is that there's more of the expert they send to look you over.

If he's bad at it he'll work very hard to pick a date, because the median case.

They're motivated by examples of how hard they work. They're so selective that they won't be able to hire a lot of people like them—people who have money to spend a lot of classic abstract expressionism is doodling of this type: lies told by older siblings. But no planes crash if your goal is to make money from the Ordinatio of Duns Scotus: Philosophical Writings, Nelson, 1963, p. Structurally the idea that they probably wouldn't be irrational.

They thought most programming would be to say for sure whether, e. Travel has the same investor to do it to them, but investors can get done before that. To get all that matters, just as he or she would be on demand, because universities are where a lot of startups will generally raise large amounts of our own, like a wave. So as a naturalist.

It's interesting to consider behaving the opposite. Which in turn forces Digg to respond with extreme countermeasures.

Maybe that isn't really working bad unit economics, typically and then being unable to raise money, you can base brand on anything with a slight disadvantage, but historical abuses are easier for us, they are bleeding cash really fast. Though in fact it may be underestimating VCs. 25. And I've never heard of many startups from Philadelphia.

For example, understanding French will help dispel the cloud of semi-sacred mystery that surrounds a hot startup. Those investors probably thought they'd been pretty clever by getting such a dangerous mistake to believe that successful founders still get rich will use this technique, you'll be well on your product, just harder.

Common Lisp for, but those are probably not do this right you'd have reached after lots of back and forth. This is isomorphic to the company's PR people worked hard to get a real partner. In fact since 2 1.

I'm not saying that's all prep schools is to give them sufficient activation energy for enterprise software.

[thirdstrikes]

Season 7 Review: Voltron thoughts from someone who finally got sleep.

So thoughts on the season: holy shit.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect this season, especially considering how wonderful Season 6 was. At first glance, it seems like this season might be one of those “either you like/or you don’t” seasons, such as Season 4, and I think it’s because it’s a lot different than we’re used to. But here’s some thoughts on what I liked, what I didn’t, and why the show is heading in the right direction.

We’ve been following the series so far through the eyes of the Paladins and exploring new things and a vast universe. But suddenly, we’re thrust back to Earth that is irrevocably changed in the most fundamental ways, and I think that, more than anything, really cements the fact that this show is winding down.

That’s a point here. We are in the tail end of the series. There’s no more character arcs to begin, only to tie up. The development has happened, and now we get to see it in action. For example, Hunk’s arc of how being a coward shaped him and having courage in the face of fear, and how he chooses to act on it. It was brilliant. We got to see Lance, who’s always self-doubted or complained, and how he was such a team player this season and had a bunch of opportunities to shine. It was amazing, especially for these two characters. We get to see them fully-fleshed out and real. And let’s be honest, I lived for their badass moments this season. 

The season really had two arcs: the Road Trip Arc and the Earth Arc. 

The Road Trip was full of filler episodes and some light-hearted antics, which were definitely needed considering the back half of the season, but it wasn’t pointless. It was all about building bonds between this group of Paladins and resolving issues such as “Keith ran away” and “Lotor” by bringing them to light and allowing them to be discussed. Granted, Voltron sucks at emotional scenes in some aspects and their fall-outs, so I’m going to take it with a grain of salt that these were addressed behind the scenes as well. That is one thing I wish we had seen more of was the issues addressed and fully resolved in front of us.

But a lot of it was building up the dynamics and relationships for the back half of the season. This is the first time we really get to see Keith as the leader and the rest of the team’s dynamics together, except for Season 3 when they were forced together and learning to work with one another. But back then, it was Keith trying to lead in Shiro’s shadow and the rest of the team fumbling with their new lion assignments. But at the end of this Road Trip Arc, we get to see how they work together and that they’ve bonded and might truly be a Team™ that can succeed.

The Earth Arc was the culmination of all of that as we got to see the Paladins work as a Team. It wasn’t about personal character arcs more so as the relationships between them and as a team in general. Sure, we got to see Lance and Hunk shine in their respective places, but it was about how far the team has come. The new powers of Voltron unlocked the closer they get--like that’s fucking amazing. At the end of this season, I can definitely say that it’s the first time this set of Paladins has come together as a team. And if you guys can’t see that, then you’ve forgotten the fundamental themes of Voltron.

In terms of character this season, I loved a lot. 

Absolutely loved seeing Hunk take action and act on his courage. We’ve gotten glimpses of it through the seasons, but this was the one where we really concentrated on it. Him sacrificing himself in The Journey Within to get his team safety, trying to launch a rescue op for his family against everyone’s best interests. These are not things we would have seen with Hunk before, and I think it’s because it got personal for him. 

A lot of people seem to gloss over the weight that Earth carries for Hunk, who’s always dreamed about coming home to his family safe and the world at peace, and he didn’t have to fight anymore. He even mentions in his daydream that he’d find a hot shot pilot to take his place with the Yellow Lion. But now they're home and Earth is invaded by Galra, and Hunk really steps up as a Paladin, which has arguably been his arc all along. He comes into his own. Not just a mechanic, not just a pilot, but as a Defender of the Universe. 

Keith this season really shined as a leader of Voltron. Look, I knew he wasn’t going to be the supportive and plucky leader like Shiro, but that’s something we all knew. He’s Keith and leads in his own way, and I really enjoyed it cause we got to see his own development, especially over last season, and how it came into play here. Yes, he was snippy but that’s just Keith; he still did wonderful, and I loved seeing how Lance acted as his right-hand this season.

 During The Fued, when they were picking who would survive, and Lance picks Keith because he respects his qualities as the leader, that was amazing, especially in terms of their relationship. It’s always going to be antagonistic, that’s just how they’ve always been, so the jests and insults are part of it all. You find similiar relationships through many shows and movies and books, but what Keith and Lance do have is a mutual respect for each other. Lance respects Keith and thinks he’s a good leader, and Keith knows Lance’s capabilities and trusts him to lead and use them in times of need. It’s very telling and very wonderful to see when you look back at Season 1. 

Anyway, Keith just did a good job and I can’t say much more than that. I loved him.

Pidge, while there wasn’t a lot of shine team, really completed her character arc this season. She got her family back together, and everyone is alive and happy. And isn’t that what we’ve always wanted all along for her? I know that’s what she wanted, so I can sit happy. Her story is done.

Lance was brilliant this season. Yes, he did get called “dumb” many times, but that’s just something people have to come to terms with in cartoons in especially. Each character has a default trope that they fall back on, especially in times of humor: for Pidge, it’s tech; for Hunk, it’s food; for Keith, it’s emo/lone wolf; for Lance, it’s an idiot. That’s just how it works, but it’s the moments he shines outside of it all that really got to me.

We got to see him as a fully-fledged sniper and fucking bad-ass at it. We got ot see his dynamics with Veronica, and how he took charge. We got to see him lead the team when Keith ran off, entrusting them to Lance’s care. We got to see his battle instincts at play, we got to see him take the initiative and have a had in arguably the biggest battle the Paladins have faced, we got to see him really come into his own. 

Lance’s arc has never been about him being the leader or being some smooth ass motherfucker. It’s been about owning who he is and becoming a team player, and how support is sometimes more important that the allure of leadership. We got to see all of these throughout the season - him playing support, him backing up the team, him protecting people, him leading. Like this the culmination of everything he’s worked for, and Voltron showcased it brilliantly.

Allura, I feel, will have a bigger arc next season. We’ve seen some of the final seeds being planted right now and stuff, especially with her and the Altean colony, but what this season really concentrated on was her becoming a Paladin. She’s always been a Princess, an alchemist, and this season it’s her being a Paladin. And she stepped into the role perfectly. I was so proud of her. 

In terms of her and Lance’s relationship, I do wish we had seen some more development before we started seeing her reciprocation. However, the development for this relationship has been in the works since Season 1, and if you step back and look at it, you can see what a beautiful thing it is indeed. Despite what felt like a rushed culmination for Allura/Lance this season, I loved their moments. They were very soft and beautiful, and Veronica teasing Lance about it was amazing. The fact that Lance didn’t believe her speaks volumes about how he’s changed. If Veronica had told Season 1 Lance that Allura liked him, you can bet your ass he’d be sidling up to her and trying to get her out on a date. But he didn’t. He didn’t pursue at all. And that’s just gonna make the resolution so much more beautiful to watch.

Shiro was fucking amazing. I loved watching him step out as being a Paladin and come to grips with what happened to him. Becoming a Captain of the Atlas was epic as hell, and really highlighted what I loved about his character. He was just exceptional and his scenes were so interesting this season.

The Adam thing was a harsh truth to come to terms with. Inevitably, like we all thought, he died, but I do thing this does work in terms of the narrative. Adam, while he was in a relationship with Shiro, was a good centerpiece for understanding Shiro’s backstory and character more, and the fact that he died makes this much more real in a painful, raw way. This, more than anything, really cemented the fact that this show is about a universal war and people die, especially when they brought the fight to Earth, which makes it just as personal for the audience. 

Killing Adam off definitely toed the line of the “bury your gays” trope that seems to haunt media like a ghost. I do think that it followed the “anyone can die” trope more so, considering what was happening, which was to highlight the fact that no one is safe in this war, especially with the Galra basically invading Earth. You saw that wall of names--it was a massacre. Adam was the one person from the Garrison that we knew by name that didn’t have a more prominent role, such as a a pilot of the MME’s or piloting the Atlas or being a Paladin, so he was the eyepiece into the idea that people died here. 

“The Last Stand” is a two-parter that shook me to the core. Earth has been overtaken, people are in work camps, in resistance factions, at secure bases, or fucking dead. Adam was someone we recognized that we unfortunately had to realize this concept with. 

Adam’s story is truly tragic, and I wish they’d spent more time with it. But like I said, this is war. And being LGBT+ does not mean you get a “get out of death” card. LGBT+ does not entail immortality, and LGBT+ people die in wars. It happens. But it sucks it happened here, especially because Adam was a stepping stone to Shiro being LGBT+ rep for us. But Adam got barely over a minute of screen time, and his role was to tell Shiro’s story. He was not a side character like Sam Holt or Admiral Sanda, but rather a tool in telling us what we needed to know.

I do wish we had more of him. I wish we saw more of him and Shiro. But then again, being LGBT+ is not the most important trait for either of them. Instead, let’s concentrate on the fact that Shiro arguably lost one of his closest friends, considering they’d been flight partners and friends before they entered a relationship. This whole thing is a bit of a gray area that I think... really couldn’t be avoided. People died, and just like other allies before him, Adam was unfortunately one of them. 

CAN WE TALK ABOUT EZOR AND ZETHRID BEING A CANON COUPLE BECAUSE IM CRYING. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL.

Overall, this season was definitely different than what we’re used to. Definitely more plot-driven and focused on the narrative than the characters, but we’re winding up and arcs are coming to a close. There’s not much else to do other than focus on how these characters interact with each other and show how far they’ve come. Plus the Earth Arc was arguably the biggest thing we’ve seen so far, so I’m happy we got the time focused on it to tell their story.

But watching them work as a Team and unlock secrets and discover new powers - it was so worth it.  But what made this season so cool was that this wasn’t the Paladin’s story so much as Earth’s. And that’s something that’s been teased and wondered about for 6 seasons so far, and seeing it come into fruition was amazing.   

People talk about how they’re leaving the fandom now because of much it deviated from the story we’re used to. And most of these are toting the terms “queerbaiting” and “promises” like we’re owed something from these people. Ships are not the focus of this show, and they never have been. This season shows this in prime form. 

Voltron is about defending the universe - and that’s what they did this season.

I think, in terms of understanding the story and the characters, maybe people need to go back to the roots and explore what Voltron is all about in the first place. You can complain and leave the show if you wish because your ships didn’t get airtime and you didn’t like how they were treated, and you’re entitled to that. But just remember that this show is ending and these are the culmination of story arcs. They aren’t building, they’re tying up loose ends.

Overall, this season was good, and I loved it. One of my favorites because I get to see how far the characters have come and the animation was stellar so. 

(Plus the Atlas scene remains one of the best of the entire show so kudos to the people of Voltron.)

(Best line of the show: “Well, I’m sorry, but I guess having my consciousness transplanted from the infinity of Voltron’s inter-quintessence into the dead body of an evil clone of myself has left me a little out of sorts for the past few weeks.”)

So definitely an 8/10.