#again next year should hopefully be the year I start getting more ambitious with scene drawings and perspective

[chisatowo]

2022 art summary moments! While my general art style didn’t change as drastically this year as last, I definitely pushed myself a lot harder this year, and I think I’ve improved a LOT. Maybe next year will be the year I start drawing more props and scenery </3

[reidgraygubler]

peanut buttercup (matthew gray gubler/reader)

Title: Peanut Buttercup

Anon Requested: Hi so I been asking for this request for awhile but no one seems to do it. I was wondering if you could write a Matthew Gray Gubler x Fem! Reader. And they have a 5 year old kid. They both work together on Criminal minds and play each other’s love interest. One day their babysitter cancels and they have to bring their kid to set. They have a balance taking care of a kid and filming. And can you possibly add that Matthew is filming one of his unauthorize documentary and he includes his kid. I would really love to read this.

Couple: Dad!Matthew Gray Gubler/Fem!reader

Category: fluff

Content Warning: swearing, Dad!Mgg, mentions of being sick

Word Count: 5,076

Summary: When reader and Matthew’s babysitter cancels on them on a last minute notice, they’re forced to bring their 5-year-old daughter, Tallulah ‘Peanut’, to set. Matthew and Reader have to re-learn to balance filming, on set tomfoolery, and taking care of their daughter. 

A/N: i literally love this request so much, it’s so cute and makes me feel so soft. I really needed to write some cute fluff after everything im writing, especially for a different type of high… so thank you for sending this in. i think we need more dad!mgg fluff too, we stan dad!mgg. So, meet tallulah jane ‘peanut’ gubler, and reader ‘buttercup’ gubler :))) im so soft right now. thanks for all the love and support! check out my masterlist! 

{***}{***}{***}

It was… quiet. Quite possibly too quiet. Especially for a house that has 2 actors and a five-year-old daughter. I was getting the chance to sleep in a little later than normal, and there's no husband or little girl begging for breakfast. Maybe husband took her on a morning jaunt? No, that'd be too ambitious for him, and even for her. Or, maybe he put a movie on and she's actually watching. Or maybe- frick, nevermind. I clearly spoke too soon and had my hopes too high. The pitter-patter of little feet, followed by the louder footsteps of an adult man came running into the bedroom.

"Tallulah," Matthew's voice was soft, like he was whispering but knew it'd be useless. Because once she got up into the bed, I was starting to wake up more.

"Mommy, mommy! Wake up! Wake up!" A little girl's voice shouted as she jumped on the bed. I kept the blanket over my body and groaned as a small body jumped on top of mine.

"5 more minutes," I pretended to whine as I pulled my blanket over my head. I could hear Matthew's laughter as Tallulah jumped into my body. I groaned at the sudden weight on my still tired body. "Okay, okay I'm awake," I tiredly spoke as I sat up. Tallulah fell onto the bed beside me in a fit of laughter.

Matthew was already dressed and what seemed ready for the day. His glasses sitting on his nose, and his hair falling perfectly around his face. A bizarre patterned shirt, that I wouldn't be surprised if Tallulah picked it, hung off his frame, paired with a pair of jeans and his converse. How long had he been awake? 

"I tried telling her you wanted 5 more minutes," Matthew laughed as he looked at me. I looked back at him and smiled, before looking down at our daughter, who was still laughing. Her beautiful brown and curly locks of hair, though somewhat a ratty mess, covered her face just enough to show her toothy smile and brown/hazel eyes. "She just wouldn't listen. She wanted to know what you wanted for breakfast," Matthew smiled as he sat beside me on the edge of the bed.

"Breakfast!?" I exclaimed as I looked down at Tallulah. She looked up at me and smiled before rolling around on her back. "I guess that’s up to you, Peanut," I smiled as I placed a hand on her stomach.

"Pancakes!" She sat up and looked at me. I looked over at Matthew and smiled. The amusement he wore on his face made me feel happy. Of course, no matter what his daughter did, he was amused or happy. I don’t blame him though, she’s basically the mini-me version of him.

"Pancakes!? That sounds like a great idea!" I brushed her hair away from her face, "how about you and daddy get started in those while I take a quick shower and get ready for the day?" I asked with a smile. I glanced back at Matthew, silently telling him to help me out with this. “Maybe make me some chocolate chip pancakes? Oh! Or a few apple cinnamon?” I smiled at him. Matthew laughed at my enthusiasm for pancakes.

"Sounds like a solid plan to me," Matthew stood up and placed his fists in his hips. Tallulah looked between Matthew and me before falling off the bed in a sensible style. 

"Sounds like a plan," she copied Matthew's action and looked up at him with a smile. I smiled and watched as the pair marched out of the room. 

I sighed deeply before lying back again for a minute. I knew the second I left my bed, mommy mode would have to be fully turned on for the morning. Although mommy mode was way more preferable than actor mode, I just get to be around my favorite little girl and it makes me happy. 

Time, unfortunately, was not on my side. It was nearing the time Marianne (Tallulah’s nanny) would be here, and Matthew and I would have to leave for work. Which all meant I had about 15 minutes to shower, get dressed, and actually get ready for the day.

Once I was finished showering and getting dressed, I went to the kitchen where I knew I'd find Matthew and Tallulah. The sweet smell of apple cinnamon pancakes found its to my nose. 

“Those pancakes smell amazing!” I spoke as I entered the kitchen. Matthew was standing beside Tallulah, gently brushing out her knotty hair. “I can't wait to have one,” I looked down at Tallulah, “did you help make them, Tj?”

“Yeeeah!” She exclaimed as she put her fork in her mouth. 

“Did you also help make the mess?” I looked around the counter at the mess that suddenly appeared overnight. Matthew looked down at Tallulah, who was looking up at him with wide eyes. She was obviously whispering something to him, causing Matthew to laugh. 

“That was, uh… That was Rumple Buttercup,” Matthew nodded as he looked back up at me. I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. “He came up here just as you got into the shower and made the biggest mess? Isn’t that right, Peanut?” Matthew looked back down at her and wink.

“Yeah! It was Rumbellercup.” She looked at me with a cheesy smile. 

“Right,” I faked an amused smile before nodding. I quietly grabbed a sponge and began wiping up the sticky flour mess on the countertop. “Well, next time, Rumple Buttercup should stick around and clean up,” I smiled as I looked over at the two.  

“I’ll take care of it, don’t worry about the mess,” Matthew winked at me. I rolled my eyes before continuing my cleaning. Well, tried to continue before being stopped by my phone ringing. 

“Phone!” Tallulah shouted as she pointed towards me and my phone. I looked up at her and smiled.

“Looks like it’s Marianne,” I looked at the screen, noticing her name, “Wonder why she isn’t here yet,” I spoke before answering.

“Hey, Marianne! We were just talking about you!” I smiled as I tossed the icky sponge into the sink.

“I’m really sorry, Mrs. Gubler,” her voice was low as she spoke. I furrowed my eyebrows and cocked my head, “I’m afraid I have to cancel. I can’t babysit Tallulah today?”

“What do you mean you have to cancel?” I asked, I honestly had my answer the second she sneezed, then coughed, then sneezed again. “You know something, it’s okay,” “I’m really sorry, Mrs. Gubler,” she spoke through a cough. I cringed as I looked over at my husband and five-year-old. I could sense that she was talking about something, and he was doing his best to keep up and understand whatever it was she was saying. 

“It’s okay! It’s okay, really. I hope you feel much better. Take all the time you need,” I insisted as I rested my hand on the counter, “We’ll figure something out. I just hope you feel better,” I frowned as I kept my eyes on the two. 

“Again, I’m so sorry,” Marianne whispered. I bit my lips back and shook my head.

“Get some rest. Call if you need anything,” I replied before hanging up. I placed my phone on the counter before going to grab things for lunch for Tallulah. 

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Matthew looked up at me as he brushed Tallulah’s hair into two pigtails. He had a certain look of worry on his face as he looked at me. I looked up at him as I made a ham and cheese sandwich. Hopefully, she enjoys a sandwich with all the fruit snacks a five-year-old could consume (which, unfortunately, was a lot), and some actual fruit. I'm sure when on our way home we'll stop somewhere for dinner or late lunch. That's hope it usually works when Tallulah comes to set with us.

“Marianne is sick. Can’t babysit today,” I frowned as I looked between him and Tallulah. Tallulah was too busy eating her pancakes and rambling about Alvin and The Chipmunks (specifically about how Theodore was her favorite, not Simon) to actually care about our conversation. 

“Really,” Matthew looked at me and dropped his shoulders. He puffed his cheeks a little bit before frowning, “No one else?” 

“I mean, I could call Aj and see if her babysitter can watch Little Miss, but that’d be a lot for one lady,” I paused as I looked down at our daughter, “Or we could bring her. You know how much everyone on set loves seeing her,” I shrugged as I looked up at him. Even though it was a lot of work bringing a five-year-old to set, we both loved it. The balance between working and taking care of her was a bit rough, but we always made it work. 

“We could do that, we have a couple of scenes together, I’m sure we could get Kirsten or someone to be with her for that time,” he looked down at his daughter before adjusting her pigtails, “Maybe even convince the writers to give Spencer and Mollie a daughter,” he looked back at me and winked. I shook my head.

“You should finish getting her ready because we have to go soon,” I pointed out. Matthew looked down at Tallulah with a smile before shrugging.

“Alright, let’s go, Peanut!” Matthew spoke as he lifted Tallulah up and stood her up on the table. I looked at the two and smiled.

“You get to come to work with me and daddy today,” I walked over to them and readjusted her crocked pigtails, and carefully pinched her cheeks, “That means you get to see Auntie Kirsten, Auntie Aj, Auntie Pag, and everyone else,” I smiled and watched as Matthew lifted her up on to his hip. 

“Yay!” Tallulah shouted once she was clinging to Matthew’s side. The two of them closely resembled a Koala. She grabbed Matthew’s face, a hand on either side, to get his attention, “Daddy’s work,” she whispered. I smiled, already looking forward to the shenanigans that was about to happen during our day. Whenever we bring Tallulah to set for a visit, almost everyone wants to spend time with her. And she sucks up all the attention. She’s got everyone wrapped around her tiny little finger. 

“Go pick out some cool clothes with daddy while I finish making your lunch. Sounds good?” I looked at her. She smiled and nodded before looking at Matthew. 

“Let’s go get out of your jammies,” Matthew spoke, tugging on her Elsa nightgown. The two walked away and towards her bedroom. I  seriously hope he’ll help her pick out something nice to wear and not let her wear a princess dress. I love it, but not today. {***}{***}{***}

“You gotta be a good girl for mom and I, okay? You can watch us while we work, but you gotta be super quiet,” Matthew held a finger up to his lips, as if he was telling Tallulah to be quiet. She smiled before copying his action. “Can you do that?”

“I can do that,” she enthusiastically nodded once Matthew set her on the ground. I squatted beside her and gave her a few quiet toys and coloring books as Matthew went to talk to one of the assistants/interns nearby. 

“Look, we packed your favorite coloring book,” I smiled as I placed the coloring book on the ground beside her. She grabbed the crayons from me and poured them out. I looked at her for a moment before standing upright.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t just have her in the trailer? It’d be safer for, well, everyone. And if we check on her every so often,” I looked at Matthew once he was back beside me. We walked side by side back towards wardrobe and makeup. 

“Nah, it’s fine. One of the interns said they’d watch her. And then we can get one of the makeup artists to watch her. You know how much they love her,” Matthew smiled at me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I remembered the day we visited set after Tallulah was born. Other than Kirsten and AJ, the makeup artists were the ones to not leave our side because they loved her so much. I honestly didn’t blame them. “Don’t stress so much about this, Buttercup, this isn’t the first time she’s had to come to set with up. And you know for a fact it won’t be the last time,” he stopped right in front of the door to the makeup studio. “She’ll do a great job,” he smiled before hugging me. 

“I know, I know. She’s just a lot older than she was the last time she came with us. And I know something will happen,” I sighed, pressing my face into his shoulder. Matthew laughed as he squeezed me tightly. 

“And, if she does, we’ll take a break, bring to the trailer, and calm her down. C’mon, you know she’s a great kid,” he looked down at me as he rested his hands on my shoulders. I laughed as I looked up at him.

“That’s because she’s your kid,” I nodded before stepping away from and entering the makeup studio.

Of course, luck was not really on our side. We were a few hours left of filming, Tallulah had been doing a great job, staying quiet and playing with one of the make up artists. Until she bashed her head into a table, causing her to go into full hysterics. 

“I got it, I’m done for the day anyways,” Aj looked at me from her space on the ground, away fro the raised set, “She’ll be okay. I can make all little girl boo-boos go away,” she smiled before stepping up to me. I looked at her before looking over at Matthew, who was already over soothing our daughter. 

“I owe you big,” I walked up to her, “You know we have stuff in our trailer for her. I think it might be naptime,” I looked at her, feeling the worry in my brow.

“Got it, naptime,” Aj gave me a thumbs up before stepping off the set. I watched as she carefully approached Matthew and Tallulah. Tears were still fresh in her eyes, but she was laughing at whatever it was Matthew was telling her. I could feel a smile tugging on my lips as I watch Aj grasp Tallulah’s hand, leading her away from the studio. 

“She’ll be fine,” Matthew smiled at me before pressing a gentle kiss to my lips. I hummed before stepping away from him.

“Oh, I know that, I don’t doubt. I’m just tired, I suppose,” I rubbed the underside of my nose, “But, we’re almost done,” I nodded with a smile. I was just happy we were able to get back to work pretty quickly after the temper tantrum.

{***}{***}{***}

“I think we’ve got what we needed for today! That’s a wrap!” The director shouted to everyone on set. I allowed my shoulders to slump as a yawn worked its way through my mouth. Matthew laughed as he looked over at me.

“You definitely needed those extra five minutes,” he spoke as he shrugged off his ‘Spencer Reid’ blazer. I yawned, again, and nodded. 

“Suppose that’s life with a 5-year-old,” I stepped off the set with him and walked beside him towards our trailer, “Do you want to go get that girl in question, or should I?” I raised an eyebrow once we were both in the privacy of our small trailer. 

“You should. I want to do something real quick,” he pecked my lips real quick as he walked towards the backend of the trailer. I looked down at the few toys that were thrown around the floor, before grabbing Tallulah’s backpack and sweater. 

“You want to do something? What would that be?” I asked, throwing the strap of the backpack over my shoulder. A moment later, Matthew stepped back towards me, wearing a Babygirl hat that Shemar got for him, and a purple scarf that he totally stole from me. “You look like a douchebag,” I scoffed as I turned towards the door, “You’re lucky I love you, and that we’re married,” I turned back and looked at him for a moment. 

“I think you’re the lucky one, Buttercup,” Matthew spoke to me as I stepped off the trailer. I laughed and shook my head. “Not everyone can score this,” he spoke as he gestured towards his body. I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, are you going to let me go get our kid? Or are you going to pull me into whatever it is you have planned,” I asked with a sly smile on my lips. 

“Should probably go get Tallulah,” he shrugged as he followed beside me. I looked at him and allowed him to kiss me softly. “Good luck,” 

“I’ll need all the luck in the world,” I laughed before peeling away from him. I could hear him talking to someone as I walked away, and I could only imagine it was one of the cameramen. 

Usually Aj took her out of the studio the second the tantrum started, bringing somewhere quiet. Usually, it was our trailer, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were there for a bit, but I knew after naps it was always snack time. So, I went towards the cafeteria.

“Mommy!” A little voice shouted from across the room. My eyes scanned around, looking for my little girl and friend. Aj was sitting at one of the tables with Tallulah on her lap. Tallulah was busy, eating chicken nuggets that Aj must’ve gotten for her. So much better than a ham and cheese sandwich.

“Hey, Peanut!” I exclaimed as I sat across from them at the table. I glanced at Aj and smiled, silently telling her thank you. “Did you have a fun time with Auntie Aj?” I looked back down at Tallulah.

“Yeah!” She exclaimed before shoving a whole chicken nugget in her mouth. I raised my eyebrows and laughed.

“We took a nap, colored, played with some dolls, and then we were hungry,” Aj looked up at me as she listed their activities during the last few hours. I nodded and leaned over the table.

“That sounds like a great time. I wish I could take a nap,” I sighed before stealing one of her nuggets. Tallulah glared at me as I munched on the food. “I wanna see your drawings!” I smiled at her. Tallulah turned and looked up Aj, asking her to show the drawings she made.

“Tada!” she beamed as she showed me her drawings. I looked down at the 4 sheets of paper with a multitude of colors. One of them was easily imaged as a family portrait and I could easily point out Matthew and me, and Tallulah. Another one was just a tornado of colors, with animal stickers placed around them. And the last two pictures were coloring pages we had printed off, a Disney princess and a picture of Alvin and the Chipmunks (again, it’s her favorite movie… And not because her dad is in it).

“These are awesome, Peanut!” I looked back up at her with an excited smile, “I’m sure you had such a great time with Auntie AJ! I can’t wait to hear about it all! What do you say to her?” I looked at Tallulah as I brushed hair away from her face.

“Thank you, Auntie AJ,” Tallulah looked up at Aj with a bright, cheesy smile. Aj returned the smile as she looked at my daughter.

“Of course! I had a wonderful time with you! You be good for mom and dad, okay?” Aj asked before offering a hug. Tallulah squealed before throwing her arms around Aj. I smiled, watching the pair interact.

“Should we go find daddy? I’m sure he’d love to see your drawings!” I asked stood up. Aj helped Tallulah to the ground before standing up herself. Aj handed me Tallulah’s stuffed animal and a few of her other things. “Thank you so much, Aj,” I smiled at her.

“Of course, you know I love watching her,” she returned the smile, “Seriously, if you need help with you, you know I’m always available, even on set,” she hugged me.

“Of course, again thank you so much,” I returned the hug before letting her leave. Tallulah watched as Aj walked away, before looking up at me with a smile, “Let’s find dad,” I smiled before offering her my hand. She grabbed it before walking beside me. I handed her stuffed animal back to her as we left the cafeteria. 

“Are you going to show daddy your pictures?” I looked down at Tallulah. She was holding a small stack of papers in her hand as she skipped beside me. Her stuffed animal was now stuffed under her arm since her hands were too busy holding her drawings and she didn’t want me to hold it. “You did a good job with your family portrait,” I looked at the papers in her hand. She was looking down at that very picture with a big smile on her face. 

“Yeah!” She looked up at me and gushed. I chuckled as she hugged her pictures close to her chest. 

“Do you think he’ll like them?” I looked up and saw Matthew at a bit of a distance, someone standing beside him as he talked. He was moving around a lot, which told me he was up to something.  

“Yeah!” Tallulah exclaimed as she added a little bit of a skip to her step. And that skip in her step told me that she was excited. Well, it was more than the skip in her step. It was also the sweet-tooth, cheek-achingly, adorable smile she wore on her precious little face. 

“Do you think he’ll… Love it?” I looked down at her for a moment. She stopped walking for a second as she looked down at the picture she had drawn. Tallulah was definitely blessed with Matthew’s sense of style when it came to art (and clothing), which was lovely. She’ll be something of an artist when she grows up, I’m sure of it. Especially when her family portrait has three people and two of them have 2 heads and 4 arms, and the other one has a tail. But, that’s okay. Matthew will most definitely love her drawing. I know I do.

“Love it! Love it!” She looked up at me as she jumped. I laughed and shook my head. She looked down at the pictures again before holding them up to me. I raised an eyebrow before taking them from her to hold. 

“Well, I know I love them,” I looked back down at her. As we continued walking, she kept talking about what she got to do with Kirsten and Aj. Her babble was still a little bit incoherent, but I knew what she was saying. God bless Kirsten though. “I’m kinda hungry, do you think daddy will let us get McDonald’s on the way home?” I looked back down at her as she grabbed my hand.

“McDonald’s?” She looked at me with wide eyes. Let me just put that into my child’s mind so she can ask Matthew. Because everyone knows it’s hard to say no to the Gubler child. No one knows better than Matthew. 

Unfortunately, our conversations ended there. Because as we turned the corner, Matthew’s voice could be heard. I looked up and saw him standing beside our trailer. The second Tallulah would hear his voice, she would be off and glued to him, instead of me. What a little daddy’s girl.

“Who the fuck is that?” Matthew half-shouted to the cameraman beside him. Even though we were a good distance away from him, I could still hear the words he was saying. I was grateful that Tallulah couldn’t hear him. We both know she’d repeat any word she knows she’s not allowed to say. And since he was standing beside a cameraman, I knew he was filming one of his Unauthorized Documentaries. “Who the fuck is that,” he pulled the cameraman and pointed him towards Tallulah and I. This man and his swearing around his 5-year-old. I swear. 

“Daddy! Daddy!” Tallulah shouted once grew closer to him. She let go of my hand before sprinting away from me and towards Matthew. When she was close enough to him, she jumped into the air and Matthew caught her. “Guess what, Daddy!” She shouted into his ear. Matthew laughed as he looked over at me. 

“What, Peanut?” He asked, swinging her around so she was on his back. Sort of like a monkey with its baby. It was Tallulah’s favorite way to be carried. “You got to hang out with Kirsten and Aj while mommy and I worked, right?” He looked over his shoulder at his daughter. She laughed as she rested her head on his shoulder.

 “Yeah!” she looked over at me as I got closer to them. I shuffled the few pictures before flipping them around to show him. “Auntie Kirsten and Auntie Aj let me color!” Tallulah, again, shouted into his ear. Matthew looked at the pictures in my hands and smiled.

“Woah! Peanut, these are awesome! Are you going to be an artist like dad?” He looked over his shoulder and at Tallulah. I smiled as I shuffled the pictures to show more of them.

“Yeeeah,” she smiled before pressing her face into his shoulder, like she was hiding. I smiled before stepping up to him. Matthew smiled before pecking my lips. 

“Little Miss and I are starving,” I grabbed his hand and swung it beside me.

“Starving?!” Matthew spoke loud so Tallulah could hear him. A little giggle came from her as she readjusted her position, “Well, we can’t have that! Where do you want to eat, Peanut?” 

“McDonalds!” 

“McDonalds?” Matthew looked over at me with a raised eyebrow. I smiled and looked down at the ground, “Let’s fucking go then!” Matthew half shouted as he jumped. Tallulah giggled as she hugged her arms tighter around his neck, almost nearly suffocating him. 

“Matthew,” I looked at him with the signature mom glare I adopted from my own mother. He looked over at me as he placed a hand on his daughter’s arms. He knew exactly what the glare was meant for. Swearing in front of our 5-year-old. Of course, we both knew that wouldn’t be the first or last time he’d swear in front of her.

“Daddy said fuck!” Tallulah shouted before laughing. Matthew looked at me with an apologetic look in his eye before swinging Tallulah off his back and on to his hip. I cocked my head as I placed my hands on my hips. “Fuck!” She repeated, shouting the word at Matthew. And, again, this wouldn’t be the last time she repeated a swear word.

“Now, Tallulah, that is a mommy and daddy word. You know you shouldn’t say that. Just because mommy or daddy does, doesn’t mean you can,” he looked at her. She pouted before nodded. Thankfully, she actually understood when to not say swear words, she also understood what “mommy and daddy” words were. “Got it?” Matthew looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. She looked up at him and stuck up her thumb.

“Got it!” She smiled before throwing her arms around his neck. Matthew laughed before picking her back up.

“Now, let’s go get some happy meals,” Matthew spoke as he pointed towards the direction of our car. I sighed deeply, walking the opposite direction towards our trailer, knowing they’ll both know we need to stop by there before we leave.

{***}{***}{***}

“She asleep?” I asked, glancing away from my script as Matthew entered the room. He pulled his shirt off as he went towards his closet.

“She’s always insistent on Rumple Buttercup, but almost never makes it to the end,” he laughed as he put his pajamas on. I smiled as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“Maybe it’s time you wrote a second one… Give Rumple Buttercup a brother or sister,” I laughed as I rubbed a hand on his back. He looked over his shoulder with a smile before getting comfortable in the bed beside me.

“You know… I’ve been thinking,” Matthew started as he moved closer to me. I looked up from my script and over at him with a raised eyebrow. Something was telling me he wasn’t going to continue talking about a second Rumple Buttercup book… “What if Tallulah had a little brother or sister,” he asked as he looked up at me with puppy dog eyes. I couldn’t help but burst out with laughter. I felt bad for my laughter, mostly because I knew he wanted a second child. But, we were running slim on time with that.

“She is too much of a daddy’s girl to share with anyone, including me, Matthew,” I closed my script as I looked up at him. He looked genuinely hurt with my laughter and comment. “Besides, I thought we were good with the one,” I gestured towards her room.

“But, what if we had another one,” he shrugged. I dropped my shoulders and sighed, but kept a smile on my lips nonetheless. “C’mon, two! That’s a perfect number!” “Two is a perfect number,” I swallowed roughly as I looked down at the bedding in front of me. I couldn’t help but allow the smile on my lips to grow. “And she wouldn’t be alone on family trips,” I mused as I glanced over at him. Matthew was looking at me with the excitement of a kid in a candy store. “You don’t think we should talk about this first? I mean, Matthew, you’re almost 40, I’m nearly 35...” I let out a small laugh.

“I think we just talked about it! And to me it sounds like we both want it,” he smiled before pressing his lips to mine. I hummed before moving away from him. 

“Okay, okay, we can try. But not right now. I’m exhausted. Maybe once Marianne is better and we don’t have to take Tallulah to set. Because that was so exhausting,” I ran a hand through his hair and smiled, “Fair?” 

“Fair,” he smiled before kissing me softly, “Love you,”

“I love you too,” 

taglist: @itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto​, @thebluetint​

[not-the-teen-witch]

Daddy Issues Lucius Malfoy x Daughter! Reader

Tiktok has done its magic and my obsession with Lucius Malfoy has sparked. Or it might just be my daddy issues acting up again, who know lol. Anyways, reader is Draco’s twin, a Gryffindor, and is basically the Sirius Black of the Malfoy family. She/her pronouns used. No warnings. Though you should know this is my first fanfic after going MIA on Wattpad and Quotev for a few years whoopsies.

Takes place over the course of first year. Listen to “Daddy Issues” by the Neighbourhood while reading to set the mood. 

I might make this into a multiple part story. But not follow the scenes strictly, just random drabbles here and there?? Idk, hopefully this won’t flop lol.

Daddy Issues

You ask me what I'm thinking about I'll tell you that I'm thinking about Whatever you're thinking about Tell me something that I'll forget And you might have to tell me again It's crazy what you'll do for a friend

“Now, Y/N. Just like your brother did it. Just run straight through that brick wall, and you’ve made.” Your mother, Narcissa, says gently patting you on the back to motivate you.

You bit your lips to hide your nerves. Straight through it, huh? Oh, merlin. What if it decides I’m not good enough for it. I’ll surely make a fool out of myself. 

You grip tightly around your trolley, “Are you sur-”

“We don’t have all day now, darling. The train leaves at eleven, sharp. Enough twisting with your thumbs and get a move on.” Your father cuts you off. 

You grimace. Your relationship with your father, the oh so great Lucius Malfoy, wasn’t the best, at least at the moment. Don’t get it wrong, you’re his precious baby girl, the absolute apple of his eye, but you have a few, in his words, tweaks in your personality that his purist mindset just did not share.  

Go ahead and cry, little girl Nobody does it like you do I know how much it matters to you I know that you got daddy issues And if you were my little girl I'd do whatever I could do I'd run away and hide with you I love that you got daddy issues And I do too

It began when you received your Hogwarts letter on your 11th birthday earlier that summer.

“Dad! I got my letter!” You say, racing down the steps of the Malfoy Manner to see your father.

He replies from his study room with a, “Don’t run, you’ll fall, Y/N.”

You roll your eyes, always so overprotective. When you reach him you wave the letter in front of him, “Look! I finally got it!”

He stops reading his book and looks up, all while shifting from his area on the velvet green armchair to make room for you. You immediately take a seat in the small space. 

“Let’s see what we have here now, shall?” You nod your head at him as he opens the letter. “Ah yes, Hogwarts. Truly shocking how they want someone with the likes of you on their grounds.”

He has a twinkly in his eye when he says this. You know he’s joking though, that’s just the interactions between you two. 

You grab his face with your hands to get his attention, “Are you going to miss me?”

“Miss you? My own and only daughter who wakes up every morning with a mission to have my hair turn grey early. Miss you, you say?”

“Dad,” you groan.

He hides a smirk, “Happy birthday, my dear. You’ll make a wonderful Slytherin and teach those mudbloods who’s in charge.” 

About that..... “Dad, no.” 

“Pardon?” 

“Stop that, don’t call them mudbloods. And what makes you so sure I’ll be put in Slytherin?”

“Ha,” he lets out a bark of laughter. “There’s never been a Malfoy that fit in any other house. That’s absurd.” 

I tried to write your name in the rain But the rain never came So I made with the sun The shame always comes at the worst time

You look down.

“Y/N.” You look back at your father. 

His grey eyes that mirror yours perfectly, look at you coldly “Don’t bring shame to the Malfoy family. Remember that.” 

You ask me what I'm thinking about I'll tell you that I'm thinking about Whatever you're thinking about Tell me something that I'll forget And you might have to tell me again It's crazy what you'll do for a friend

“Make me proud.” Your father says, right before you enter the train. 

He flashes you one of his rare, genuine smiles and kisses you on the forehead. 

You heard him, Y/N. Make father proud. 

Go ahead and cry, little girl Nobody does it like you do I know how much it matters to you

You find the first empty compartment you see on the train. Your brother already went off with some of the other pureblood children. And you’re not exactly fond of them. 

There’s a boy with glasses and another with red hair when you enter. 

“Ehm, hi...” You awkwardly say. 

The boy with glasses smiles at you. “Hi there.” 

“Would it be alright if I sat here?” 

“Sure, take a seat.” 

I know that you got daddy issues And if you were my little girl I'd do whatever I could do I'd run away and hide with you I love that you got daddy issues

You learn the two boys you sat with were Harry Potter and a Weasley named Ron. They were charming, although you were sure your father would disagree. Luckily you didn’t tell them your last name. Who knows what outburst that’d cause from the redhead. 

You stand next to them as students get called up to get sorted.

Your stomach feels like it’s being shaken by mountain trolls and you try to control your breathing.

“GRYFFINDOR”

“RAVENCLAW” 

“HUFFLEPUFF” 

The sorting hat continues to call out the names of the houses as the students go up, one by one. 

Your twin gets called. 

Just as Draco takes a seat, the hat doesn’t even touch his head when it yells-

“SLYTHERIN” 

Draco has a look of pride on his face. Typical. 

“As expected,” mutters Ron to you and Harry. 

“Y/N Malfoy” 

Oh dear. Your turn.

“ -wait you’re his twin?” Harry look sat you confused.

You see your twin brother flash you a thumbs up.

You ignore them both and step forward. 

“Another Malfoy I see. But you’re more interesting than the rest. Unexpected. Ambitious? Yes, very much so but there’s also bravery. Lots of it too.” The sorting hat says.

No! You’re yelling in your head. Bravery? That’s Gryffindor. Please no. Father would disown me. 

“Slytherin then? No, no no. Tell daddy he’s in for a surprise because Slytherin not fit for you. You fit in-” 

“GRYFFINDOR!” The hat exclaims.

The whole hall murmurs. “A Malfoy? Not in Slytherin?” “Gryffindor? Merlin, someone alert the Daily Prophet.” 

You get nudged towards the Gryffindor table, slowly you make your way.

 You hear a voice, “Well Fred, you know what this means.”

“I sure do, George.”

“WE GOT A MALFOY! WE GOT A MALFOY!” They chant and slowly the rest of the table begins to cheer loudly. The Slytherin’s table watches in awe. 

Your brother refuses to make eye contact with you. Your stomach drop at that.

I keep on tryin' to let you go I'm dyin' to let you know How I'm getting on I didn't cry when you left at first But now that you're dead, it hurts This time, I gotta know Where did my daddy go?

“First years! Follow me!” 

You begin to line up with the other first years. You stand near Ron and Harry. Ron gives you a suspicious look.

“I’m sorry.” You blurt out. “I should have told you I’m a Malfoy.”

“You really shou-” Ron begins to say.

“No, it’s alright.” Says Harry. “You had your reasonings. Besides the point” he give Ron a sharp look, “You’re in Gryffindor now, that’s all that matters.”

“All that matters?” Uh oh, it’s your brother. “Wait until father hears about this. He’ll be mortified. You can kiss your spot on the family tree goodbye Y/N.” He looks disgusted at you.

“Leave her alone!” A first year girl with puffy hair and large teeth says. 

“And what are you going to do about it, mudblood.”

That sits off a rage off anger in you. 

“Oh shut it you prick!” Your brother looks at you, shocked. “I’ve had enough with your bigotry. Go ahead, tell father. We all know how much you want to be his favorite child, you kiss up!” You let out a angry sigh at that. 

“Well then, keep an eye out for a letter tomorrow morning by him. How does a Howler sound?” 

The girl with the puffy hair grabs your arm. “Come on”

“You know, I think you and I will get along just great.” 

I'm not entirely here Half of me has disappeared

It had been a few days since the sorting ceremony. Classes were already in full swing. 

You became very close friends with Hermione Granger, the girl who helped you out when your brother was acting like a complete, wild ferret. However, you and her got along quite well. You two had similar interests and were very dedicated in your classes. Granted you knew a bit more than her since you were taught were carefully by your father.

Speaking of father, you haven’t heard from him yet. But there’s no doubt in your mind that Draco hasn’t sent a letter yet. 

You shake out of your thought and make your way to the great hall. You spot the Weasleys and Harry and make a bee-line to them. 

“Hey there, mate!” One of the twins nod in your direction. 

“No mail yet?” You immediately ask the lot.

“Blimey, at least eat something first before you start interrogating us.” Ron mumbles, his cheeks filled with food. 

Harry shakes his head, “Not yet, expecting a letter?” 

“You could say that.” You groan.

You grab a piece of toast and spread butter over it when you hear the sounds of the owls flying into the great hall. You quickly scan them over, keeping your eyes peeled for any Malfoy family owls.

You look over to your twin, an owl drops a package of goodies. Must be from mother, you think bitterly in your head. You didn’t get a package. 

The thought makes your stomach drop. They must know then.

“Huh, would you look at that. It’s a howler!” Percy Weasley points out.

The twins glace at you.

“Y/N....” One of the twins begin to say.

The howler drops right in front of you. Oh grandfather Abraxas, please help me.

In fancy calligraphy that you recognize very well, the name Lucius Malfoy is written. 

“So... are you going to open that?” George asks with an eyebrow raised.

“The longer you wait, the louder it’ll be. But hey this is Lucius Malfoy so you don’t really have much luck any way.” Fred jokes, trying to lighten the mood. 

You hands shake as you hold it, “Should- should i open it?” 

“It’s going to burst any second, no need for that.” Harry look bewildered.

“Oh to hell with it.“ You open the letter. 

“Y/N NARCISSA MALFOY!” Your father’s voice booms, the great hall quiets down to listen in. “A GRYFFINDOR?? NEVER IN THE MALFOY FAMILY NAME HAS THIS HAPPENED BEFORE. A BLOOD TRAITOR IS WHAT YOU ARE. IT DISGUSTS ME TO CALL YOU A CHILD OF MINE.”

Your face turns an unnatural shade of red but the howler continues in a calmer voice. “My own child, my little girl. Tarnishing the family name like this. Absurd. Don’t even think about coming home this winter. And enjoying the company of Mudbloods and other blood traitors? Tsk, a shame. Such a great shame. Don’t bother sending any letters, they will immediately be discarded of.” 

The letter explodes and the only evidence that it even happened it the looks of pity you getting from the three other houses. The Slytherin table is bursting with laughter. 

“Ignore them Y/N. Not worth your time. The Slytherin gits and your father. If you could even call a man like that a dad.” Ron shakes his head.

You catch your brother’s eyes, he has a soft, sad look but quickly switches when he catches you looking. 

“Did you bloody hear that? I could never be such an embarrassment to the wizarding name.” Your brother boasts. 

Your friends try to divert your attention but all you can think of is your dad. 

No. Don’t be sad Y/N, you say to yourself. You’re meant to be a Gryffindor, and you’ll prove daddy wrong. Right? You’re a Malfoy after all. 

Go ahead and cry, little girl Nobody does it like you do I know how much it matters to you I know that you got daddy issues

[triforce-princess]

well, i finally 100% completed hyrule warriors age of calamity in its entirety, including post game content, so i’m finally going to write a full review. beware this review will contain every spoiler imaginable so please do not click the read more if you haven’t finished the game yet and don’t want to be spoiled!

tl,dr; this game is a lot of fun despite some of its shortcomings and it’s really nice to see characters get the development they needed in breath of the wild. also a huge improvement gameplay-wise from the first game. if you’re a fan of breath of the wild it’s worth a try, just don’t expect breath of the wild style of gameplay! and if you’re a fan of the original hyrule warriors, you are going to love this a lot. ok now to get into the details. this is extremely long;

about the gameplay; it took me a while to fully adjust to the new controls and mechanics, but once i finally understood it it was so much fun. i originally wasn’t crazy about the sheikah slate runes since it was difficult at first to remember that a. i had that ability, and b. when the proper time to use it was. but when it finally clicked for me it brought a whole new interesting layer to the gameplay that challenged my memory in a fun way. it took me even longer to learn what the use of the rods were but those were great in a pinch once i figured it out. i also loved the flurry rush mechanic since dodging is a pretty important aspect of the gameplay. all these new layers added to this gameplay makes me wonder how i ever put up with the original hyrule warriors gameplay lol. something i wasn’t entirely crazy about was the wall jumping and paraglider stuff? i never really found it useful and it always just became a problem when i was trying to dodge and i’d be confused about why my character was slowly flying around at critical moments.

the camera in this game was pretty frustrating. with the more organic map & lots of tight spaces (which i’ll get more into later), the camera would get stuck a lot and you’d be unable to really see what’s going on and it got pretty frustrating at times. i wish there were some way they could fix that but i’m not sure what they could do without having the camera go out of bounds & show the edges of the map. maybe they could’ve made some of the objects that are in the middle not be things the camera get stuck on though.

i also felt like there were too many special effects going on with some enemies and attacks, sometimes it would cover up large parts of the screen & you wouldn’t be able to see what you were fighting and that was pretty stressful (i found myself frequently yelling “i can’t see!!” when i’d defeat a guardian or something in a room with lots of other enemies. this only became an issue in the later parts of the game though.

now about the maps, i do love how much more organic and natural they are. it’s a big upgrade from the original which had a lot of wide corridors leading into square rooms which were allied/enemy basses. but unfortunately, this causes issues with navigation and the camera getting stuck (like i mentioned before). i had a lot of problems where the map was too natural and i was confused about why i was getting stuck on level geometry when it looked like i could walk through there. i think the breath of the wild style makes this confusing too because you can’t really undo a thousand hours of being able to walk through nearly everything. but also it was just really unclear what was a wall and what wasn’t sometimes. i was surprised i actually had to zoom in on the mini map and look at that to move around at times. definitely an ambitious aspect of the game & i appreciate the effort and detail, but i don’t know if it works that great for this style of gameplay. i also don’t know why they bothered putting so many small details on the ground if they’re just going to pop in so close to the camera. it was kind of awkward when you cleared out all the enemies & were traveling to another location and it was the only noticable thing on screen.

speaking of ambitious, we can’t ignore this game’s framerate issues. it’s the first thing on everyone’s minds when talking about this game. most of the time, it was pretty acceptable. but they definitely pushed this game farther than the switch can go and it shows. i really appreciate the love they put into making this game as detailed as they did, but i don’t know if it was worth it in the long run. there’s only a couple times i can think of where the framerates got absolutely unacceptable, and it always seemed to be when there was a lot of electricity and enemies on screen at the same time. it happened once during the final vah naboris mission and another time where there were a ton of electric lizalfos all shooting electricity at once at the same time you have to fight an electric lynel. but, i’m not the kind of gamer that loses my shit over dropped framerates, i grew up with the n64 & have had to put up with poor early emulation many times in my life so framerates don’t really phase me until it just gets unplayable.

wasn’t crazy about how many late game missions were just boss rushes, but that’s pretty standard hyrule warriors fare. at least it was more fair in this game where most of the time you only had to fight one boss at a time and the next boss wouldn’t spawn in until you beat the first one, so there was no risk of accidentally aggro-ing a boss in another part of the map & have an unfair fight on your hands like in the first game. it was pretty anti-climactic how the seemingly final mission which had the highest recommended level was just another boss rush, and not even the hardest one (it was just a bunch of regular malice bosses in a row).

bit of a side note but i didn’t like having to grind for materials and find koroks for 100%. the koroks weren’t nearly as bad as breath of the wild though, thank god.

i’m pretty disappointed that some content that’s clearly in the game isn’t unlocked in the base game, it’s looking pretty likely that they’ll add it as dlc later & pretend it’s new content to make the game relevant again...i’ve always firmly believed dlc should be extra content that’s added in later. hopefully they’ll add some really cool stuff as dlc alongside the stuff that’s in the game & it won’t be so disappointing. there’s two characters i was sure would be unlocked as playable characters (sooga and astor) but i found it weird that you don’t get them in the post game and instead you get to play as the egg guardian (terrako) and calamity ganon???? talk about subverting expectations. also really frustrated to learn that zelda’s royal dress isn’t available in the base game but its in the files & is just missing one body part?? really hope that’s just a free update and not like, paid dlc. kind of dumb that they didn’t give the devs one extra day to model feet on the character.

about the story; the story starts out really strong i feel, i loved seeing characters get the development they didn’t get in breath of the wild and this game’s story makes breath of the wild’s story feel even more incomplete than it did before this game came out. and actually seeing the story play out in chronological order in real time without link having amnesia gave the story so much more feeling and connection. this is probably my favorite aspect of this game because i was always so disappointed with how disconnected you feel in breath of the wild because of the way the story is told. and it does so much of a better job illustrating link and zelda’s feelings. i’m probably the single most difficult person to convince when it comes to link and zelda being in a relationship or having feelings for eachother and i thought this was quite possibly the best master sword scene in any zelda game;

in previous games link has always had to prove his courage in a variety of trials spread across the land and to me its really boring, especially after how many times its been done. the thing that gets me about this scene is the master sword deems him worthy because of his desire to protect zelda even when he’s been beaten down & disarmed. that was a really beautiful moment to me & i’m glad they wrote the scene this way.

speaking of being worthy of power because you want to protect someone, i wasn’t really that crazy of zelda unlocking her power just because she loves link but honestly this game illustrated it in a much better way & i’m more down with it now. i loved this shot how it really captured what she was feeling;

it’s also in general awesome to see the champions in action, both in gameplay and in cutscenes. i remember being in awe the first time i got to play as urbosa. it feels like we finally really got to know them and how powerful they really were, instead of breath of the wild just telling us they were cool & we just had to believe it.

now for the part i know people say this game is shit because of; the time travel aspect. yeah, it’s a little silly and nonsensical, but honestly, it was kind of fun. and i don’t get how a time travel plot is somehow weird for the zelda series. the most critically acclaimed game of this series, ocarina of time, is entirely revolved around a time travel plot & the heroes would not have won if it weren’t for time travel in that game. yeah, it’s goofy, but this series is known for its nonsensical aspects & plotholes. there’s always some kind of unexplainable magic in this series that solves problems. i don’t think that makes this game shit. plus i was kind of starstruck when i first got to play as sidon lol. i was thinking to myself, man, who would’ve known 3 years later we’d get to play as sidon! crazy! none of the champion descendants were really my favorite to play as but it was still cool to see them & play as them.

something i didn’t understand was why kohga and the yiga clan joined zelda’s cause? i feel like a vital scene got cut. i don’t get why he’d join even when astor betrayed him, considering his group’s ambitions and how many times they tried to kill zelda. and where’d sooga go? the scene of astor betraying them kind of implied he was going to die but we never got confirmation of that, and he even shows up in a post game mission as an ally (no cutscene, just one line of dialogue during gameplay)

as for the ending, i guess it was alright? astor was a really lazily written villain and i just did not care for him at all. kinda don’t even care that we don’t get to play as him (yet, probably). calamity ganon’s design in this game was terrible. and i guess it would’ve been hard to make it work, but no beast ganon? just felt a little to easy to wrap up. despite this i guess it was nice to see hyrule get a happier ending even if it was a bit nonsensical at times. also this is just a bit of a personal thing for me but i liked seeing  hyrule before it was destroyed. it always bums me out when you find a locaiton in game that’s been destroyed & you can only think about what it mightve looked like before. this is something that’s bummed me out since wind waker (was always disappointed you don’t get to see what greatfish isle is like!!) and breath of the wild gave me so much disappointment in that aspect lol.

one final thought but it was odd to me how many lines revali got & how often he interacted with link lol. was weird to see him slowly warm up to link a little towards the end (but of course he’s still a little mean...). no other character acknowledges link as much as revali. this scene confused me the most??

there were so many other people revali could’ve spoken to. he barely even acknowledges teba who was the one who specifically came to his aid!! and the way link looks at him with big puppy eyes?? link barely makes a facial expression at anyone else! and how revali expresses gratitude for the first time in his life after looking at link’s stupid cute anime face and smiles (but he turns around because he would be too ashamed to smile at link i guess)

anyway that’s it, i finally got out all my thoughts about this game. this went on way longer than i intended and i’m sorry if you read the whole thing & it took forever lol. this game is fun, get it.

[allwaswell16]

Annual Writing Self Evaluation

I was tagged by @louandhazaf <3 Thanks, Nic! 

1. List of works published this year: 

Faded From This Touch | 7k

 No Easy Love (Could Make Me Feel This Way) | 17k

Running Through a Cloud of Steam  | 5k

 And Follow the Sun | 100 words

 I Didn’t Fall For You (You Fucking Tripped Me)  | 20k

 Every Piece of You (It Just Fits Perfectly)  | 7k

 Maybe I’ve Been California Dreaming | 100 words

 Dive (Series)  | 21k 

 When the Sun Won’t Let You Sleep  | 30k

 Sit Next To Me  | 12k

 Falling Back | 100 words

 If I Loved You Less  | 36k

 Staring Across Barcelona  | 7k

 Charity Ficlets | 10k

 Pictures of You | Drarry | 2k

I saw someone add some stats here that I found interesting, so I’m going to include that here:

I published 15 works for a total of 199,784 words (not including some drabbles that are only published to tumblr.) Hmmm, I’m realizing my stats might be skewed because of an epilogue I wrote for a fic from last year. Oh well, I was told there would be no maths, so I’m not going to figure it out now. Oh for fuck’s sake, I’m realizing I have counted the Dive series as one work, but ao3 counts it as 5 or however many of them there are. Blah. No one check my maths please.

10 fics rated Explicit, 3 Mature, 3 Teen, 2 General and 1 Not Rated.  All were Larry except for one Drarry fic.

My most popular fic this year was I Didn’t Fall For You (You Fucking Tripped Me), which is also the most popular thing I’ve written ever. Why? I have no idea. You guys are weird. I’m not weird at all for writing about monitor lizards. My second most popular fic was If I Loved You Less, which is telling me you guys like a/b/o fics, maybe? idk.

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

Probably When the Sun Won’t Let You Sleep. That fic consumed me while I wrote it. I constantly thought about it, and the characters talked to me all the time in my head. I knew them inside and out. When I first came up with the idea of Antarctic research scientists, I had no idea what the story was really going to be about until I started researching the British Antarctic Survey. There are so many stories to be told from the absolute ends of the earth that I had no idea existed. The fic became a story of why Louis found himself in Antarctica, but he’s not an entirely reliable narrator of his story. The other characters help you figure out why he’s really come to the ends of the earth.

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

I wouldn’t say I’m not proud of anything I wrote this year, but I’m a bit mystified by the popularity of I Didn’t Fall For You (You Fucking Tripped Me). To me it was just some silly thing I wrote to fulfill a couple of prompts that I put together. I had fun writing it though! And it’s always fun to have lots of people talk to you about a fic, so that was nice, too! 

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

(From If I Loved You Less)

Louis’ heart pounded at the sudden intimacy of a darkened garden, although other couples strolled through the lantern lit pathway.

“I hope I was not interrupting you in the ballroom.”

Lord Styles’ voice sent a shiver through him that Louis could never quite control whilst in his presence. “No, you did not, and I thank you for coming to my aid.”

“Ah, I sensed you were in need of it,” he said simply as he offered Louis a sly smile. It seemed they were both in agreement on Baron Winston. The music of a waltz floated through the air, and Lord Styles hesitated on the stone path. “Shall we return for our dance?”

“If you’d like to,” Louis said, though a bit reluctant to leave this small oasis from the heated ballroom and if he were honest with himself, reluctant to sever this small moment of privacy with Lord Styles.

“I would rather walk and speak of nearly any topic rather than return to the ball,” Lord Styles declared.

“Is that right?” Louis ducked his head to hide his smile at Lord Styles’ honesty. He quite liked that he seemed always so forthright.

“Yes, and I’d dearly like to spend my time elsewhere.”

“Why don’t you?” Louis asked boldly as he looked back up at Lord Styles’ handsome profile, almost sure of the answer.

Lord Styles’ lips pursed a bit and he made a funny twitch of his nose as though to prevent a grin from spreading across his face.

“I think you know why,” he whispered into the darkness.

5. Share or describe a favorite review you received:

I had the opportunity to write a fic for @greatpemberly this year as part of @1dfanworksforcharity and when I discovered what her ao3 was, I was so so happy. I recognized her ao3 immediately as someone who has been reading and commenting on my fics for years. It was an honor to write for someone who has supported me for so long. 

I feel extremely lucky to have the response I’ve had to my fics in general and to get the comments I receive. I respond to every single comment, and I appreciate every single one. The long ones with people yelling about specific parts make me grin like an idiot, and the short ones letting me know they’ve read or reread something show up in my ao3 emails and bring a smile to my face, too. Whenever I get a comment from a writer I admire, I try not to make a fool of myself in the response but I don’t always succeed. lol. I mean, come on, if Dolce comments on your fic, you get to dance around your kitchen for a while, right? 

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

I had a meltdown in November. I was trying to do nanowrimo and I’d written 27k of my Big Bang for next year and was kicking ass really. However, my Big Bang is angsty, and it was way too intense for me to try and write that much difficult writing in that amount of time. It messed with my head in a way fic has never messed with it before. It scared me a little. So I quit nano halfway through, and it was definitely the right thing to do for my mental health.

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

Niall and Shawn in If I Loved You Less. When I started writing that fic, I had basically no notes on what Shawn was like and only a vague idea of what Niall was like, but as soon as I started writing it, they threatened constantly to just take over the fic. lol. My beta said when I started, if I was sure I wasn’t writing a Shiall fic. 

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

Just the act of writing so much last year and this year has helped me hone my skills a bit. There are things about how I write now that isn’t present in my earlier fics. And it’s simply from just writing so much that it gets easier to create a more well rounded story, I think. When I structure a story now, my outline isn’t just a series of points anymore. I’m much better I think at coming up with the story arc so that I can focus more on characters. Taggiecb really helped me with “inner monologue” and calling me out when I wasn’t doing it. lol. I also wrote a fic in past tense this year for the first time, which was a much bigger challenge than I ever thought it would be.

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

I just hope to keep writing and reading as much as possible! I think the fics I have planned are ambitious in different ways, so I hope to keep challenging myself. 

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

My answer is always @taggiecb. I don’t know if anyone understands that every single thing I write must first pass her initial test. I write first to entertain her and then I think about myself and everyone else. haha. We’re not co-dependent at all! But truly no one understands me like she does and no one loves my writing like she does, and it’s definitely mutual. <3

11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

Always. Every fic has something of me in it.

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

I hope to just encourage writers to seek out other writers for support if they need it. Writing doesn’t have to be something you do alone. If you’re having trouble getting people to read your stuff, I’d say to write for challenges and exchanges. I wrote for so many over the last few years, and I really think that’s where a lot of people found my fics. This certainly isn’t new wisdom, but I think it helps to write and read as often as possible. The more you write, the better you’ll become at the craft of writing. The more you read, the more inspired you’ll become. If you don’t read the other fics in your fandom, you will miss out on finding new and exciting things to write and reminding yourself on what you can work on to get better. The reading is nearly as important as the writing.

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

I’m in the middle of writing my Big Bang fic right now. So that’s what I’ll be working on until it’s done. It’s an intense amnesia au that has a twist to it. Hopefully, I can pull it off. It will likely be the longest thing I’ve written. 

@afirethatcannotdie and I are going to run another round of @larryabroad, so actually, Ellie, we need to get on organizing that again soon. haha. 

I have two other fics that I have plotted that I’d like to write in 2019. One is probably for the @1000feelingsfics challenge and is a soulmate au based on a drabble I wrote for the Fall Drabble Challenge. The other is a bucket list au that involves a lot of travel, so maybe that could be for Larry Abroad. Not for sure on that yet. 

14. Tag three writers whose answers you’d like to read.

@goodmorningtoyouuniverse @rosegoldhlfics @phd-mama   @becomeawendybird @taggiecb @helloamhere @hereforlou @2tiedships2 @humhalleloujah @dimpled-halo I tagged more than 3 because everyone should do this if they want! If you see this and want to do it, just say I tagged you! <3

*All answers should be about works published in 2018. Also, you can skip any questions you hate or don’t want to answer, but please leave them on the list so that others can do them if they want.

(also, here’re my responses from 2016, 2017)

[witch-of-letters]

Alliances don’t come cheap - Chapter 2

I won’t lie to you, my friends - writing IS hard. I know it’s been quite some time (3 weeks, I think) since I’ve updated this fic, but as promised, the next part of the series is posted tonight. This time, the hardest part to write was the dialogue between Ezio and Machiavelli (like mentioned in a previous chapter, all the dialogues are taken from the actual game scenes, with added descriptions of the actions taken by the two) since it literally took me three hours to write it down (scenes themselves didn’t last longer than 8 minutes altogether). But please, without any further ado, enjoy reading, my lovely assassins!

P.S. The feedback is always appreciated. Don’t only tell how much you’ve liked it, say how well the characters were written, what do you think of the main character (i.e. the Reader) and what do you think will happen next?

Prevously on ADCC:

For days now, Cesare has been gathering his forces near Castello Sant’Angelo. While his motives were somewhat unclear to you, you knew that nothing good would come out of this. If you were correct - and with those things you usually were - he would set his sight on Monteriggioni, since just earlier today, you heard of Ezio defeating Rodrigo in the Vault. And now his son would try to get the Apple back…If Mario doesn’t receive the letter you’re about to send him, you fear Ezio will experience a great tragedy once more. As if the man hasn’t gone through enough.

Rome, two days later

He has done it. Cesare has destroyed the home of the Auditore just to ‘teach’ Ezio a lesson. But as the fate decreed that you couldn’t go and defend them from the attack, you still had to be the bearer of the bad news not only to your closest allies, but to the numerous contacts of yours, since Mario frequently exchanged information with them. And now...the leader of the Italian Assassins is dead.

As painful as it was to learn of his untimely death, the duties had to be carried out as usual, with careful thinking and precision. The Templars have pulled out the rug from beneath the Assassins’ feet, but only temporarily...And they’ll soon see how difficult it is to manage the control over the city while ‘little mice’ are running about.

You arrived to the door of Margherita dei Campi, a woman who was currently taking care of Ezio. You were a bit reluctant to enter the house, as you did not want him to see your face prematurely. Less questions that way.

*Knock* *Knock*

“Oh, it is you, signorina Vergara! Just let me open the door for you.” The moment it opened, you entered the house, quickly finding your way to the unconscious and injured man. From your angle, he looked peaceful, without the mountain of worry upon his shoulders. But you knew that soon he’ll have to jump into the ocean of problems again (you had heard from Claudia that he wanted to finally retire from the life of an assassin after defeating Rodrigo in the Vatican).

“He hasn’t woken up yet, has he?” you quietly asked the hostess while brushing away some stray locks of hair from Ezio’s face. You couldn’t lie to yourself, he was handsome (even for a man of his age).

“No, he’s still without light in his eyes. But another man had come to visit him earlier today. He brought a pair of new robes to him,” she motioned to a pile of white clothing on the nightstand,” and told me to convey Ezio a message.” Now you were curious, but you had a feeling that you knew who that man was.

“What did it say?”

“To meet Machiavelli at Mausoleo di Augusto. As soon as he wakes up.”

“I see.” Indeed, your friend has become a very busy man lately. He arrived from Monteriggioni only a couple of days ago, and already was he making plans to liberate Rome from the Templars. But, of course, you knew that it wouldn’t be so easy. Their grip on the city was a very tight one.

Suddenly, you spotted Ezio’s eyebrows’ slight furrowing, and the twitching of his fingers. He was waking up. You had to take your leave.

“Don’t say a word about my visit here.” you took her hand in yours, “It’s best that he doesn’t know anything about me...for now.” The former noblewoman nodded firmly and squeezed your hand in reassurance.  

“I will keep it to myself, I promise.” Before you left her residence, you took one last look at Ezio’s sleeping form. ‘If you don’t help me liberate Roma as quickly as possible, I fear all of us will deeply regret the consequences. Best of luck to you, Ezio. Best of luck to us all.’ When Margherita turned around, it seemed like you vanished into thin air, like a ghost. Perhaps you were, perhaps not.

Ezio’s P.O.V.

His head felt heavy, as though it was filled with lead. The thoughts of Mario’s death, Monteriggioni’s besieging, and Cesare holding the Apple in his hands, were uncontrollably racing inside his head, making it hard for him to actually make sense of anything. Ezio abruptly woke up, startling the woman in a grey dress before him. He took a look at his surroundings. None of it was familiar to him, but where was he? Hopefully in a safe place, if the presence of that woman didn’t give him any other indications.

“Calmatevi (Calm down.). The pain will end soon.” Ezio didn’t mean to sound gruff, but the pain in his shoulder didn’t make it any easier.

“Where have you brought me?”

“Nowhere, Messere (Mister.). A man left you here.” He slowly put his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Did he say anything?”

“Only this. You are to meet Messer (Mister) Machiavelli in front of the Mausoleo di Augusto. Let me help you get dressed.” She handed him a pile of new white robes.

“The same man who brought me here gave me these clothes?”

“Si, Messere. (Yes, Mister.)” When he got finally dressed, Margherita handed him his gauntlet with Auditore crest. The only thing that was left of Altair’s armor…

While she gave him a genuinely happy smile, he brought his feet over to the front door, opening it and inhaling the fresh air.

“Ah, Roma.”

“Yes, or what is left of it since the Borgia came to power.”

“And the Mausoleo?”

“Unfortunately, you cannot see it from here.” Ezio pointed at the church in the distance. From there he’d be able to see his current destination.

“How about from the top of that church?”

“Yes, but the stairs up are closed.”

“That should not be a problem. Vi ringrazio di tutto quello che ayete fatto per me, buona donna. Addio.” (Thank you very much for everything you have done for me. Farewell, good woman.) She went back inside her house. Now, all that remained was to find Machiavelli, and learn what has happened while he remained unconscious.

Not long after he arrived at his destination, he spotted Niccoló standing near one of the old underground tunnel entrances, calmly looking around himself. He had to admit - the new outfit suited him more than that hideous tunic he last wore. Machiavelli’s ‘fashion sense’ had apparently reawakened not long after he left, but he didn’t have time to question him about it. Duty called.

“Ezio! What a surprise to see you here!” exclaimed Nic in a rather calm manner. Ezio was confused. Wasn’t he the one who left him the message?

“I thought you had sent for me.”

“Never! News of the Villa attack has spread across the city. We were certain that you were dead.” Dead? Did they really think he was unskilled enough to survive a besieging? Ezio swallowed down the urge to physically facepalm, and instead, did so only inside his head.

“Not yet. I am still very much alive!” Machiavelli pointed a finger at him.

“The Borgia must not discover that you escaped them! Follow me! Take care...not to draw any undue attention.”

“When do I ever?” Ezio spoke amusedly. Indeed, he was never the one to draw any attention on himself intentionally, but alas, trouble found him eventually, no matter what he did.

The streets were full of people who looked like they had to do a thousand tasks that day. Most of them walked calmly and unrushed around the pair, but a couple of young men, who stood just around the corner, seemed to be excited about starting a race around the narrow streets of the ancient city. Hopefully, they would be left unbothered.

“You would be wise to purchase missing equipment. You will not live long in Roma without supplies.”

“I have my blade-” Ezio was cut off.

“And the guards have their guns - courtesy of the Borgia. Fortunately, I can help you,” Niccolo handed him his money-bag.

“Grazie.”

“While you’re in my debt, perhaps you will listen to reason.”

“As soon as I hear some, I will let you know.” It didn’t take long to purchase some shoulder guards. Only leather ones were available - for what little money he had. They would have to do for the time being.

“Bene. Now you can survive the journey back to Firenze.”

“Perhaps, but I’m not going to Firenze.” The Borgia were in Rome, after all.

“Oh?” inquired Machiavelli.

“There will be no peace until we rise up against the entire Borgia family and the Templars who served them!”

“I do not recall such brave talk at Monteriggioni!” Ezio has become a more patient man during they years of serving the Creed but the way his current companion asked they questions...his patience was starting to wear thin.

“How could I have known they would find me so quickly, that they would kill Mario?!” The pain of loss stung in his heart, since only a handful of days had passed.

“Rodrigo surrounds himself with snakes and murderers! Even his daughter, Lucrezia, has been sharpened into one of his most artful weapons...but she pales in comparison to the man behind the Villa attack...He is ambitious, ruthless, and cruel beyond imagining. The laws of men mean nothing to him! He murdered his own brother to take power! He knows neither danger nor fatigue. Those, who do not fall by his sword, clamor to join his ranks,” he paused,”The powerful Orsini and Kolowna families have been brought to kneel at his feet, and the King of France stands at his side.”

“Give me his name,” asked Ezio.

“Cesare, head of the Papal Armies. What does he intend to do with his power? What drives the man? - That, I still do not know, but Ezio, Cesare has set his sights on all of Italia, and at this rate, he will have it!” The way Niccolo said it...there was barely any note of anger or disappointment. Ezio did not like it.

“Is that admiration I hear in your voice?”

“He knows how to exercise his will, a rare virtue in the world today.”

They finally arrived to the stables, but Ezio could see that they were boarded up with wooden planks, as if completely abandoned by its previous owners.

“Should we not travel by horse? Roma is quite large,” remarked Ezio.

“As Cesare’s conquests in Romagna continue to succeed, and the Borgia are growing power, they have taken desirable areas of the city for themselves. We cannot use the stables here.”

“Oh, the will of the Borgia is law now?!” spoke Ezio resentfully. Could things get any worse? Niccolo was quick to defend himself.

“What are you implying, Ezio?!”

“Do not play dumb with me, Machiavelli.”

“Do you have some kind of plan?”

“I am impovising.” Ezio took a look at his surroundings. Nothing there was telling him how to get out of their current predicament, but when he looked up, he saw a watchtower, bearing the Borgia banners. The only thing he’d have to do, would be killing one of the Guard Captains stationed at the said tower. It doesn’t take more than three minutes to put a hidden blade through his neck, silencing the man permanently. Now, he only hoped that his shoulder wouldn’t start hurting again.

When he returned back to his companion, the latter was quick to say how unoriginal and useless his idea was.

“Just because you kill a few guards does not mean the people who grant access to the stables.

“You are right, we need to send a signal. Wait here.”

Once he was up in the tower, he took a nearby torch and threw it on the scattered hay, which also surrounded the barrels with gunpowder. Before they could blow up, he took a leap of faith, swiftly diving into a haystack below. ‘At least that’s been dealt with…’

“It seems this stable is now available for purchase,” said Machiavelli sarcastically.

“After you.”

Together, they bought a pair of horses and wasted no time in riding on them further inside the city. Thankfully, people with equine companions were frequent visitors there, so everyone knew (as if by their gut feeling) when to step aside and let the riders through. The first ancient structure they passed was the Roman Pantheon, now covered with red tapestries, signalling, that they were under the Papal rule. How...wrong it felt.

“You excel at opening wounds, Ezio, but can you also close them?”

“I intend to heal the sickness or treat the symptoms,” Ezio wanted to close the matter as quickly as possible. He didn’t need anyone’s judgement right now - much less Machiavelli’s.

“Stop sparring with me!” was Nic’s aggravated response.

“Fine, let us talk openly then,” Ezio paused,” Rodrigo Borgia’s death would not have solved anything.”

“I am inclined to disagree.”

“Look at this city, the center of Borgia and Templar rule! Killing one man will not change things! You need to take away the source of their power!” For a moment there, Nic grimaced, shocked by how Ezio wanted to destroy the power of their enemies.

“Are you saying we appeal to the people?!”

“Maybe.”

“Relying on people is like building on the sand.” Ezio had to defend himself once more, since his friend was so quick to object to his suggestion.

“You are wrong. Our belief in humanity rests at the heart of the Assassin Broterhood-” the moment he said those words, a thief ran by, cutting off his coin purse. That amused Niccolo greatly judging by his next words:

“Ha! He must be from your inner circle! Go! Get back what he’s stolen.” It wouldn���t be hard to catch the thief, for he looked like he’s done it a handful of times only. Ezio had no time for this. He had to ‘draft’ the plans on how to liberate Roma, not chase after a foolish cutpurse.

“Give me back my money!” he shouted, but the thief didn’t slow down, only continued to run through the crowd. When an opening was presented to him, he tackled the thief to the ground, effectively putting an end to the chase. Ezio wasted no time in demanding his money-pouch back, looking at the young man with steely eyes. He rather nervously gave the pouch back to its owner, not wanting to face his wrath - after all, he was weaponless. ‘Now I don’t have to work hard to give Machiavelli his money back…’ Ezio thought.

Walking back to where the horses were, he once again thought in how bad shape the city was. If thieves were running rampant and stealing money from not only the commoners but assassins, he would have a stern talk with La Volpe ahead of him. If Rome was to be liberated from the Borgia and the corruption that House has spread, all of the Assassins’ allies had to be brought together under a single banner - courtesans, mercenaries, and thieves.

Machiavelli stood near the two stallions, patiently waiting for his friend to return. Even though it was already twilight, more things had to be accomplished by midnight, and they involved not only a deeper discussion about the state of the city, but showing the Master Assassin the new Headquarters in which future plans could be made without the Templars getting a whiff of those.

Soon enough, he spotted the white-robed assassin making his way towards him, gaze lowered to the ground but shoulders still squared.

“Did you liberate your money from our friend?” Niccolo calmly asked him, as if not knowing that the thief wasn’t their ‘friend’ at all (which he actually didn’t).

“I did.” Ezio wasn’t in the mood to discuss that. Not right now.

“A small victory.”

“They are up, and in time with work, we’ll have a few dozen more,” said Ezio, gesturing with his hand to give Machiavelli an idea about the amount they’d make if they put their minds to it.

“And in time Cesare’s gaze will return to us. He will be broken again.” Nic looked around,”Now, where is my contact, Vinicio?! He should have already intercepted the letter...Follow me!”

In the meanwhile, on a nearby rooftop

“They’re in sight. Proceeding to ride towards the Colosseum. Should we follow them?” A hand was waved through the air in a stopping motion.

“No need. I know where they’re going. Just continue monitoring the streets, I want no informant of Borgia to be on that road!” The man nodded.

“It will be done.”

Ezio’s P.O.V.

As they continued riding towards wherever Machiavelli was currently leading them to, Ezio felt as though there was a presence behind them, watching as they rode further and further away from the city and in the direction of the outskirts, where ancient structures were still scattered like tiny pieces of sand on the ground.

“Look at these facades masquerading as government. The Pope is very clever to keep this place in business. It fools your ‘friends’ - the people - quite easily,” said Machiavelli smugly, trying to prove his point about using the citizens being a foolish plan.

“When did you become so cynical?”

“I merely describe the reality of Roma today,” responded Niccolo innocently,”but all may not be lost,” he added in a lowered tone.”The good news is that we have allies, you see. How much longer this will last, however, I cannot say.” Before Ezio could respond, they saw a group of guards, talking to one of Volpe’s thieves, judging by the rags he was wearing. They didn’t look kind, but they haven’t lifted a finger upon him either.

“He was attempting to steal a fish of Vatican mayor.” the guard on the right pointed his finger at the visibly frightened thief.

“Perdonate, signore (Sorry, sir.) You must be mistaken!” the thief tried wiggle himself out of the mess he had caused, but it only resulted in a dagger being pressed to his throat.

“Who are you working for, ladro (thief)?”

“I am working for no one-” he was cut off.

“Then no one will care what we do to you…” The guards attacked the thief, quickly surrounding him in a tight circle. Ezio, being the good man he is, hopped off his horse, drawing his sword. The closest man to him was quickly impaled through his gut, falling down like a heavy stone to the ground. The thief could hold his own, but he was much slower than the assassin fighting at his side. Before he could even blink, all of the men were lying on the ground, their crimson blood pooling around them.

“Grazie!” thanked the thief, but Machiavelli was quick to get his mind back on track.

“Where is it?!”

“The courier still has the letter!”

“Ezio, stop him!” The Master Assassin ran inside the Colosseum, immediately spotting the Borgia courier in his telltale red garments. He jumped  up the wall, proceeding to track the man down by being a few meters above him. When the courier made a mistake by climbing up the adjacent stonewall, Ezio tackled him to the ground, practically ripping out the letter from the man’s hands. ‘It’s time to see what Machiavelli has in mind…’

Spanish Ambassadorial Palace

“It seems that they have caught the messenger, my lady,” spoke Zubair, your close assistant, to you quietly. You didn’t know whether to cringe or let out an amused chuckle.

“How many times have I told you to stop calling me ‘my lady’? My name would suit just fine.” The Arabian let out a quiet chuckle.

“A force of habit, I’m afraid.”

You thought back to what had transpired just half an hour earlier. Indeed, Ezio had managed to pluck the letter from one of your enemy’s long list of informants and messengers, safely handing it over to your at-times-very-cynical friend. You didn’t know, however, what the two had been talking about all the way to the Colosseum. In all honesty, you had no desire to pry into their private conversation, but if you had to take a guess, it all would come down to the current state of the once prospering city. Even a small child could notice how ‘foul’ the air around here was, what with all the corruption pulsing through the city’s ‘veins’.

“First, he’ll take him to one of the Followers of Romulus’ lairs. From there, he’ll proceed with introducing the new hideout on Isola Tiberina.”

“You’re afraid something will happen to the Assassin?” said Zubair teasingly, knowing how fascinated you were by the famous (or rather infamous) Italian Master Assassin, but you were in no mood for joking, so he immediately sobered up when he saw your hard look.

“I plan on meeting him today.”

“What?! Niccolo said nothing about arranging your mutual introduction!” You allowed yourself to smirk.

“Well, we do have to speed up the things a little. After all, we won’t have much time until Cesare decides to proceed forward with his plans.” Until he decides to turn whole Italy into a bloodbath...

Taglist (Sincere ‘Thank you’ to all the people who like my posts and/or follow me): @sassenach-on-the-rocks, @thebgassassin, @kisstheassassins, @iceboundstar, @sazula, @assassins--and--hidden--blades, @undertastic-dork, @ermergerd517, @tarjanisfrye, @kittitt, @mavrisfanfics, @imagines-of-the-creed, @creednight, @emzysimagines, @deejayers, @theswordofeden, @unreadpoppy, @forsubject4, @clara-oswhy, @thefryes, @lazy-kari202

[linestv]

Top 10 Returning Shows of 2019

Not only were the new shows of 2019 on a roll, the returning shows had arguably an even better run. Some old favourites and some new, they all made for a great selection of shows to choose from. In total, there were 45 shows eligible. These were the best of the best.

10. I’m Sorry - Season 2 (truTV)

I’m Sorry may not exactly be a very ambitious show, and the format it uses is one we’ve seen time and time again. What makes this one stand out so much though is Andrea Savage’s hilarious central performance and the writing she gets to bring to life. She’s surrounded by a fun supporting cast, and ever exciting guest stars to bring just that much more fun to the show. And that’s what it is. Fun, total bliss. I’m Sorry is easily one of the best excamples of shows in this genre.

9. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - Season 3 (Amazon Prime)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has been a consistent entry on these lists over the last few years, but its position seems to always be slipping. Season 3 was easily the worst season of the show so far, but that doesn’t necessarily say much when you start out on such a high. Unfocused storytelling and too much of a focus on the supporting cast of the show resulted in a lesser experience, but all the greatness that Maisel brings with it remains there. The performances are top notch, the writing is sharp and witty, the direction is some of the best in the comedy space and the jokes are funny. When you have that as your baseline, how can you be anything less than great?

8. Legion - Season 3 (FX)

The big mindfuck that is Legion finally came to an end with its third season. It marked the return of Aubrey Plaza being great, entered time travel storytelling and did it all with the usual style it oozes. Just so happens that those three things are my favourite things about Legion, and made this final season a perfect swan song for the show. All seasons of the show have popped up on my top 10 lists over the years, and it absolutely deserves that honour through and through. Not even it’s occasional confusion and overcomplicated storytelling could let it down entirely.

7. Pose - Season 2 (FX)

Pose is one hell of a show. It introduced me to the ballroom scene I’ve now come to love, and manages to always keep celebrating that even amongst its serious (but often also comedic) themes. It’s a show that knows how to walk the line between seriousness and light-hearted fun perfectly, and is one of the rare times where a Ryan Murphy show might have actually improved with its second season. MJ Rodriguez, Billy Porter and Dominique Jackson remain the standouts of the show, and especially the latter has more to do than ever. This is one of the shows that I’d like to just see keep going forever.

6. Counterpart - Season 2 (Starz)

The first season of Counterpart was a good dimension-bending spy story, and probably some of the best sci-fi on TV because of that. Even better, season 2 improved in every which way possible. The writing was stronger, the performances were refined, the look of the show ever more so evocative, and the highs... they were higher, alright. Twin Cities is easily one of the best episodes of the last few years, and it couldn’t have been done if not for the fantastic worldbuilding of this entire show. It’s a shame it got canceled, but at least we got left on a good note.

5. Succession - Season 2 (HBO)

Wow. Succession being #5 on a top 10 list of mine is not something I’d have ever expected. Season 1 was... well, trash. Somehow they pulled a complete 360 with this second season however, and made one of the best seasons of the entire year. They used the solid basis that they made with season 1 and ran with it here. The writing was actually funny, the performers had better material to work with, the storyline was more engaging and also Brian Cox. He’s really this show’s secret weapon, and he got a lot more to do this season. Let’s hope the show continues with this trend and maybe ends up at #1 next year.

4. Queen Sugar - Season 4 (OWN)

Queen Sugar made a big comeback after a not-so great third season. Season 4 easily rivals the second season as the best season of the show. The show returned to being a bit more light-hearted in nature instead of the constant drama of the third season. The drama in this season however was delicious, and so much better executed than whatever they tried to do in the third. Dawn-Lyen Gardner delivers a never better performance, and Rutina Wesley anchors a really emotional storyline that gives everyone a chance to act their asses off. Season 4 is lovely, soapy goodness, and I love it for it.

3. Veep - Season 7 (HBO)

I’ve never truly loved Veep. I’ve always acknowledged it was great. The jokes made me laugh, the pacing was fantastic... but it never quite clicked for me as a whole. Season 6 came closest when Selina finally got out of the White House and we got some refreshing material, but season 7 is where I finally clicked. What an amazing season of television. The pacing was excellent, the jokes were funnier than ever, the performances sharper than ever and the length of  the season was just right. Add one of the best series finales I’v ever seen, and you really can’t go wrong with this season. Also, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

2. You’re the Worst - Season 5 (FXX)

On the flip side, here’s a show I have always loved and clicked with. You’re the Worst came off its worst season yet, but it absolutely nailed its final hurray. Season 5 is the perfect mix of comedy and drama, and Aya Cash and Chris Geere play into it the best they ever have. The story finally has bigger stakes than ever, and they absolutely bloody nail the finale and the outcome of the series. You’re the Worst deserves its place as my second favourite show ever, and this season did nothing but cement that thought in my mind.

1. Wentworth - Season 7 (Showcase)

Wentworth was already on an uphill climb. Season 5 managed to not even get close to any lists, but season 6 just about managed to be mentioned last year. Season 7, however, is easily the peak of Wentworth. Not even the Bea seasons are comparable to the genius of this. The pacing is ridiculously good and makes you want to binge the season like you never have before. Fantastic twists and turns, and especially cliffhangers. They went all out for this (originally) final season and it has excellent results. The final two-parter of the season is probably some of the most intense TV I’ve ever watched and had me genuinely hyperventilating throughout. Wentworth is the women’s prison show you should be watching, because it’s... simply the best.

The top 10:

1. Wentworth (Showcase) 2. You’re the Worst (FXX) 3. Veep (HBO) 4. Queen Sugar (OWN) 5. Succession (HBO) 6. Counterpart (Starz) 7. Pose (FX) 8. Legion (FX) 9. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime) 10. I’m Sorry (truTV)

2019 was possibly the best year for any of my lists so far, which is probably a testament to me simply focusing on exclusively things I might love. I’m excited to continue doing this throughout 2020, and hopefully it will result in just as impressive of end of the year-lists are now. To a good 2020!

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

No, I did not forget to do this! ...exactly...

I am super late again this month—buuuut I wanted to wait until I’d posted the delayed Precipice chapter, so.

Fanfic:

Precipice:

Sorry, sorry, sorry for all the delays in the last couple of updates—the last two weekends were super-busy, and then last week ended up being slammed at work and my brain just went pfft. Anyway, there will be another update this week/weekend (probably Rex and Leia), and I’ll hopefully meander back on schedule after that.

And I finally finished Commander! \o/ It was a fun arc. I’m very fond of that arc. But…yeah, it’s a long one, particularly given that very little in-story time passes. (Seventeen chapters to cover one very eventful week…)

So, yeah. Lessons is going to be a much quieter arc, something along the lines of Homecoming in terms of content/pacing. Resetting ourselves, establishing our new patterns, etc. Leia starts getting trained, Luke starts helping Mamma at work more, and bonding with Lavinia/actively being the human ray of sunshine he is. Probably Winter will turn up, too. I’m going to try and focus more on the Coruscant/Imperial Center thread this arc, particularly since Commander was so heavily about our Jedi friends…anyway, I’m guessing this will be a relatively short arc (8 or 9 chapters), and not much Drama/not very Plot-heavy. Other than Infernalis introducing himself. (He’s a lot of fun—there’s a bit I have half written where he’s all “yeah, I know Sidious is using me, but a) that’s what sentients do; we use each other and b) I’m using him too and c) I get to do ALL THIS AWESOME SHIT. So I kinda feel like it’s worth it.” Like…I don’t write unapologetic/Always Chaotic Evil/for the LULZ villains very often, but Infernalis is in that mold.)

Also! As of this Thursday, I will have officially been posting this behemoth for a whole entire year. I’m going to do a bonus fic (I’ll probably put up a prompt call post later tonight or tomorrow), and I’m hoping to commission art as well, either a full cover or one or more arc covers (for completed arc(s)). [Eventually, I probably will want ALL of the covers (i.e., main title/all planned arcs); but that’s a long range project because lol budget.]

ANYWAY if you have any specific requests for bonus fic and/or are interested in getting paid to draw pretty things/know someone who does this kind of thing and is open for commissions (since I do not know how to draw pretty things), let me know!

Distaff:

I FINALLY CONQUERED THE OPERA HOUSE \o/ ::throws confetti::

...heh.

Anyway, yeah. So, that’s moving again! Next chapter should not take nearly five months to come out, as it’s a lot less…mmmm…I’m trying to figure out how to word it. The Opera House was hard, because—look, it’s kind of dumb; Anakin is being really really dumb, we make fun of that scene for a reason, but it’s also one of if not the most important scenes in this entire arc? In terms of what Palpatine’s trying to do, I would argue that it’s even more of a key moment than the final revelation in his office some indeterminate time later, after Grievous is killed. Or, at least, it’s a bigger risk—once he gets Anakin past this point, the next one will come much easier.

Plus, you know, having to figure out an alternative Sith Legend™ to throw at her, since Plagueis doesn’t really apply. And Palps’s hand, so to speak, isn’t quite as strong as it is in canon (but, I mean, we’re talking if canon was, like, a straight flush, in Distaff he’s playing four of a kind or a full house; so still almost certainly a win). So there’s all of those factors to consider, too. (Also, it was his POV, which is…a fun headspace to get in, let me tell you, internet. Although whining about that at my ever-patient roommates did lead to me nicknaming him Skeev Palpatine which honestly I’m surprised I hadn’t thought of sooner.)

Buuuuuuut anyway. I make no promises for exactly when the next chapter will be out, but it definitely won’t take quite so long. Should be sometime this month. Fingers crossed, anyhow.

Masks:

…blaaaaaaaaaaaah. I don’t want it to die. I really don’t. On the other hand, I’ve got a whole lot of other projects ongoing, plus RL and all, plus I’m still having trouble getting into ANH!Vader’s head, so…ehhh, IDK. Essentially, I’ve decided that this is really super back-burner for the time being. Possibly I’ll do it in AU Outline form at some point, if I don’t manage a proper update, but for now, it’s on a vaguely-defined “if my brain cooperates” hiatus. I am (probably) locking canon for it as of TFA (meaning it won’t be as much of an In Spite of a Nail AU past that; and more just an…AU AU, if that makes sense?), though, because I like the plot I have. Though I reserve the right to change my mind on that after TLJ. Anyway, I’ll probably stop talking about this one (unless I use one of the spinoff versions of it as an AU Outline or something) until I actually write/post more.

Auxiliaries:

Update will be up very soon! Not a direct continuation of the last bit I posted, because I’m still working on that, but still something! (Ahsoka is involved because I love her.)

AU Outline:

…yeah, I dropped the ball on this one again. It was going to be the Mask of Zorro/California Gold Rush AU No One One Person Asked For, but I need to sit down and watch Zorro again to put that together, and I haven’t gotten around to that. Also, Ventress and her Tiny Time-Travelling Conscience were speaking to me. …well, less them and another thread of that same AU, plus a couple unrelated AUs... Anyway, I’m going to try and put something up sometime in the next couple days. It’ll probably be the continuation of the Ventress and Luke one but we shall see.

Original fic:

…yeah, I didn’t actually write any this month, lol. I’ll do better in October.

Miscellaneous Other Things:

[In a generic list format because why not]

- Epic Crossover RP OF DOOM! I’ll keep posting snippets from time to time, because it entertains me. And my RP partner and I think we’re funny/clever.

- NaNo is coming up next month! I’m probably going to do the same thing I did last year—set myself an ambitious Total Word Count goal for the month, rather than focusing on a single project. Possibly give myself a list of projects to choose from; probably set a minimum amount that must be on original work/not fanfic. More on that when we actually get close, probably.

- I’ll probably do another Open Question Night sometime halfway through the month, because those are always fun.

- …should I do something Special for Halloween? (Like I did holiday bonus fics for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day?) If I did, what would y’all want to see?

Goal Lists:

September Recap:

1. Keep up with Precipice updates.--not so much

2. Opera House.--FINALLY \o/

3. Another Auxiliaries snippet--missed

4. Work on Masks--missed

5. Another crack outline--missed

6. Update Lux and Farglass Cycle archives--someday I will actually do this

7. At least 5k on projects that are not Precipice--not quite, but I think between half-finished snippets and 3k worth of Distaff text I churned out, I got to like 4k or so?

8. At least 15k total on any/all projects--Not quite, no.

9. At least two pieces to Rainbowfic.--Nope.

10. Put some text down on something publishable.--Nope.

October Goals:

1. Keep up with Precipice��updates.

2. Update Distaff.

3. Update <i>Auxiliaries.</i>

4. AU Outline--Mask of Zorro fusion and/or continuation of the Ventress one unless something New and Exciting comes up.

5. At least two pieces to RF.

6. Update the Lux and Feredar archives.

8. Write at least 15k total, at least 5k must not be Precipice

9. Write at least 10k on Precipice (bonus fic counts, meta/answered asks do not)

10. Put some text down on something publishable

[mfmagazine]

Hunting Club

Article by Monica Alvarez

Photo by Matt Mead

The Midwest.  I want it.  Whatever is in their water.  Or maybe it's something in the air.  Doesn't matter.  I want in.  From the music I hear coming out of their neck of the woods, to the people I meet who were born and raised out there, there is always something good to be said. Here is Minnesota's own Hunting Club. Is there a theme or concept for this album?  What was going on in your personal lives while the album was being written and recorded?  What are these songs about? Eric:  This album to me has classic man vs. self overtones.  The plaid album is apt because the crossing patterns and textured layers represent struggle.  The songs are about understanding, that understanding isn't absolute.  There are things that we'll probably never know and should be content in not knowing. Fortune Machine is an analogy for fatalism.  The "Raising Arizona" title came from our unhealthy love for Nicolas Cage. "Cactai" was nice imagery about finding happiness in the middle of desolation.  It's got some cool 6th chords which give it this island feel, being from Hawaii, it’s a message and a flavor that really connected. Justin: Saucy Banana is our sassiest song… there is no arguing this point. So, what's the story behind "How'd It Get Burned?" and "How'd It Get Burned Again?"  How DID it get burned? Justin: The opening track “How’d It Get Burned?” is actually a recording straight from the bedroom and started off as an organ sound and bass progression that Kyle came up with. The other elements of the song are my initial reactions to hearing it and recording some guitar and piano on the spot. It ended up having a really cool feel to it because it sounds a bit unsure, and in that way it is sort of posing a question I suppose.  Anyways, since we’re constantly recording new ideas without really knowing what the point of the song is or what the lyrical content will be, we’re tasked with giving the home recording a file name that we’ll be able to remember and associate with the song. Enter Nic Cage. I guess I won’t gush too much over this all too curious thespian, but we like his work and we like the intensity that he delivers some of his lines with. Watch The Wicker Man and you’ll know the origin of this song title (or just watch the best of compilation of the movie on YouTube). Since the original song title seemed to fit the unsure nature of the song, it just stuck.  “How’d It Get Burned Again?” is the demo recording of the song performed live in Eric’s basement, and there’s even a studio version that didn’t make the album. I guess we felt like the song and its multiple iterations served as an overarching theme and musical palette cleanser to the album since the first and second halves are a bit different from one another. I've read about how you guys spend a lot of time perfecting the layered sound and progressions that are found on yourself titled album.  How did the recording process of this album differ from recording your EP? Justin: Well, we recorded both the EP and full length with Jeff Halland at both our home studio and his studio (Vaudeville) in St. Paul. Jeff didn’t really know us all that well when we set out to do our EP, but after recording it he wanted to be a part of the next project and record it in a manner where there were no time constraints or pressure to get it done. He really wanted to work with us to help make the album we wanted to make, and knew how meticulous we were about the sounds we wanted and the overall mixing and production.  So, outside of taking a lot more time to make the album with someone we now felt comfortable with, I think the main differences were just being together for another year as a group, adding in a new member (Nate Dykstra - bass), and hopefully traveling a bit further down our musical rabbit hole.   If the band was stranded a la "Alive" who would die and get eaten first? Bob: I would eat myself. Nate: Probably me.  My survival skills are pretty weak.  Other wise, Eric Pasi.  I'm sure the Wisconsin born members have the best chance of survival for obvious reasons. Eric: Kyle because he's skinny as shit and needs insulin to live (okay that's a lie). Kyle: Nate Dykstra. He looks most edible. Justin: I would eat my brother so that I would have the power of two Steen’s. Then I would yell “Anything’s possible!” like Kevin Garnett might. What's the music scene in your community like?  How's the local vibe?  What is it missing, if anything at all?  What do you feel you are contributing to the community and industry? Justin:  I think that with Minnesota and the Twin Cities, there’s really a good representation of a lot of styles and genres of music (there’s definitely a pretty large hip-hop community too with the Rhymesayers Label being in Minnesota). It also helps that there are some pretty good radio stations like Minnesota Public Radio – The Current and Radio K playing eclectic mixes of music. As a whole, I think that Minnesota is well represented with all types of artists, and there is no shortage of venues and people that will come out and support shows. More in our realm of music though, I think we do represent something that’s missing from the both the local, and to some degree the national scene. I’m really proud that I think our debut is a sort of indie rock album that isn’t afraid to be aggressive, ambitious, sad, happy, experimental, poppy, droning, or whatever we wanted it to be. I think far too often artists get a bit too influenced with what seems to be getting popular, and by the time they trade in their instrumentation for whatever’s popular at the moment, and get their image makeover, music has already gone somewhere else…that’s not saying that trying new things and experimentation isn’t what being an artist is all about, but more that it’s better to be inspired by what’s happening around you than only trying to duplicate it.   At our core, I think we’re completely dedicated to making good songs that are infused with a sense of curiosity in where our music can go. We’re completely cognizant and inspired by what’s going on around us, but we’re not giving into being a band that we think will get local attention at the cost of being just another version of something happening at the national level.   Do you guys have a favorite venue to play at?  Where would you like to play?  What would be your dream gig's line up and venue setting? Justin: There’s a local venue called the 331 Club that has a stage we barely fit on, but the place is usually packed and we usually have a great time there. I would love to play Lollapalooza or Coachella someday… or any overseas festival tour type thing. Dream gig lineup? Hunting Club playing before Radiohead at Lollapalooza. Do you guys watch television?  What are your favorite shows?   Bob: Room Raiders, Legends of the Hidden Temple and the 700 Club. Nate: Current Shows: Breaking Bad, Dexter, True Blood, Community, Treme, The Pacific  -- Old Shows: The Wire - best show ever made in my opinion. Eric: Just recently got into the Bachelorette for the absurdity of it all.   Almost all reality television, to me, reflects the worst things in our culture.  Lost was also huge in our lives. Kyle: The life and times of Tim, The Ricky Gervais Show, and MST3K. Justin: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Top Chef, Survivor, Lost. Twins?  You think they'll go far this season? Bob: No, no I don’t. Nate: Big Twins fan and hope they go far, but realistically I think they will make the playoffs and hopefully win a series or two.  Obviously I hope they go all the way though! Eric: Nate and I are big fans (got half season tickets); went to the 91 series and have been hooked ever since.  Do I think they have as good of a team this year?  You betcha!   Power throughout the lineup, solid D, and decent pitching; they have issues with leaving runners on and unfamiliar pitchers. If they stay healthy and don't let the Yankees get in their heads, they got the best shot in years. Kyle: Only if Chuck Knoblauch returns to the team. Justin: I’m with Bob; I hope they lose every game. Have you prepared anything in case PETA tries to start beef for the whole antlers/hunting thing?  Just wondering. Nate: I've never hunted once in my life and don't ever really plan to.  Just not something I'm interested in.  Plus, being that my girlfriend is a vegetarian I think I would get shot if I even though about it. Eric: If they got beef they can talk to our Smith & Wesson's.  We hunt for sport, not practicality; it's the American way. Kyle: We have already created a video apology stating that we killed the innocent deer merely for its antlers, and not to eat it. They should be cool with that. Justin: As long as we were attacked by some blowhard celebrity pretending to care about anything on behalf of PETA, I’d be okay with it. Plus, for the record, none of us have anything to do with the mistreatment of animals. Are you already working on new material for the next album?  When you have the urge/need/whatever to get something new made, what's the process like? Justin: Yeah, we’ve already got some new material that’s in the works. I think we’re like a lot of artists now that are reaping the benefits of technology and being able to record right from our basements or bedrooms. The core of a lot of our songs start out as recordings submitted by myself or Kyle, with everyone else adding in and helping the song come to life in a more live setting. Whether something sounds good recorded or not, I think our test for any song being good enough is figured out by playing the stuff over and over together. Typically if we can jam to the same thing for twenty minutes straight and enjoy it, we know we’ve got something that has potential. After that, it’s all about the details and trying to make interesting structures, sounds and beats. Then we might re-record the songs or parts of them to work on additional vocals and other percussion parts. It’s really nice to be able to live with the songs for some time prior to the album recording so that you can tell whether you’ll hate them in a couple months or not.   What are you currently listening to?  New and old... Bob: The National, Future Islands, Kurt Vatland. Nate: New: Local Natives - Gorilla Manor, Sleigh Bells - Treats, The National - High Violet, Frightened Rabbit - Winter of Mixes Drinks, Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record, The Black Keys - Brothers, Besnard Lakes - Roaring Night.  Old: Failure - Fantastic Planet - still one of my favorite albums of all time, Menomena - Friend and Foe, Snowden - Anti Anti, Besnard Lakes - Dark Horse. Eric: Besnard Lakes - Roaring Night, Sondre Lerche - Phantom Punch, Beach House - Teen Dream, Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country, Prince - Everything, The Clash - Black Market Clash. Kyle: Elliot Smith, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Justin: Elliot Smith – Either/Or, Beach House – Teen Dream, Radiohead – Amnesiac, Deerhunter.

[georgesmithyear2motiongraphics]

Plastic Infographic Project: Storyboards

13.02.19

I wanted to do some rough storyboards so that I can plan out what I need to do in terms of making assets and animating. I actually made these first two pages a week ago, but unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the post where I talked about them... It’s alright, I’ll just talk about them briefly here, since I’ve made better ones since (last three pages in this post).

First of all, the scene will start with the cargo ship; ‘Ever Laurel’ sailing the seas. Then “January 1992″ will fade onto the screen (maybe) and fade back out. Next, the screen will darken and the waves will get rough—a thunderstorm. A bolt of lightning will shock the boat causing it to tilt and then a crate will slide off into the water, with a splash effect. Next will cut to the ducks where they will be showcased from the side, the bottom, and the back, this is all to show that they have no apertures (holes) so they cannot let water in, so they just float endlessly. Then, a map of the world with points where the ducks have shown up. At this point I was considering doing this, and I wanted to have a point coming from Hong Kong (where the ducks came from) and a line that moves to each country using trim paths. I was planning on using an actual map for this, as making a 100% accurate map myself would take way too long. Next will cut to the ducks again where they will be showcased surviving many different hardships, like being shocked by lightning, being under blistering heat, and being frozen for years and thawing out. The next panel shows what I decided to do after scrapping the idea about the map—I thought I would just have Hong Kong, and then a line using trim paths move toward Japan, UK, US, and Australia, and when the line hits, a little speech bubble pops up with the flag of the respective country. 

On the last few panels on the last page, I decided I wanted to give Curtis Ebbesmeyer some spotlight, and had a back shot of his while a duck was pointing to a chalkboard. This was to try and convey how the ducks taught oceanographers a lot about how currents in the ocean work. The next panel shows both the duck and Curtis from the side, as I planned on having them kind of rotate around the screen, to ultimately end with a shot of Curtis. It’s kind of ambitious as an idea, but then again, as are some of the things I’ve drawn in the newer storyboard.

So, below is the new storyboard set. It’s more fleshed out at parts and more detailed. The scene starts with the cargo ship, ‘Ever Laurel’, exactly the same as how I did it in the original, but the boat drawing is much more detailed and actually looks like a cargo ship. It’s actually based off of the real Ever Laurel cargo ship too, which I think is a nice reference. There’re some clouds above, which I’ll have moving. I’ll make it so that there are two or more layers of clouds, some in the background, which will move slow, and then some closer to the screen, which will move faster. The waves I plan on making move up and down, on three layers: one in the foreground, which will go over the top of the boat, then the other two layers, which will be behind the boat. Essentially, they will act as puppet’s mouths, though I won’t be using the puppet tool in After Effects... The music will most likely be upbeat and happy, as there is nothing going wrong right now, although perhaps I could make it slightly eerie, to foreshadow the next scene. 

Speaking of, the next scene arrives, and the boat is shown tipped (it definitely won’t be this tipped in the final animation, as I drew it way too exaggerated). The cargo is flying off the boat into the ocean because of a thunderbolt from the sky—it’s a storm. The sky will be dark colours, maybe just shades of grey (not 50, of course), and the lightning will be a bright white. The waves will be chaotic and moving up and down really fast, like a really fast ventriloquist, moving his puppet’s mouth. The wave returns with a vengeance and will be creating a huge splash once the crate hits the water. I will most likely be using the opacity effects to do this. It will also be a more zoomed-in shot of the boat to showcase the effects and stuff that I want to do. The music should definitely be much more chaotic and treacherous compared to the first scene. I don’t exactly know tracks I’ll be using yet, probably more video game soundtracks, since they often work very well. I thought about having a single aggressive piano note play as soon as this scene starts that kind of transitions the two scenes. 

The next scene may be my favourite so far, and it involves the ducks. I talked about them in the original storyboards, but essentially, my idea is to have about 5 models of a duck—one from the side, the first one, one that is facing forward with its back to the screen, the middle one, and then a last one that is showing its undercarriage to the screen. In the middles of these three models that I’ll be making in Illustrator, there will be in-between frames if you will, that will be transitioning into the next model, so for example, the first in-between frame will show the duck moving from facing sideways to facing backwards. Then the last in-between will be of the duck... at a kind of awkward angle—I can’t quite get it to look right, but you can kind of work out what I was going for. This is all to show that there’s no apertures in the ducks, so they cannot let water in, therefore, they will not sink. The final animation will hopefully look like some kind of turntable kind of thing. It will be difficult to pull off I’m sure but will be very rewarding if I succeed. I actually have an idea of what kind of music I want for this scene—some kind of elevator-type music, and I have an idea of an exact  theme I could use. 

The next page continues on with the ducks—this time they’re surviving through harsh weather conditions, like being shocked by lightning, which I know is incredibly improbable, but whatever, it’s supposed to be a fun animation. The next duck will be shown under blistering heat, with the sun in the background. The duck will have some sweat drops on it, or maybe melting drops, but maybe that will contradict my statement about them being immortal. The final duck will be shown frozen in ice, (for many years. Perhaps I will have a timer or something that’s going really fast to symbolise that it’s trapped for a long time). Then it will ultimately thaw out, I’m not sure how I would go about this, maybe I would have shards of ice flying off the duck once it thaws out. These scenes won’t be too detailed, perhaps no detail at all in the backgrounds, since I want the focus to be just on the ducks. Not sure what I want for the music yet, possibly the same as the scene before, and I can just have it carry on from it, since there isn’t really a big shift in atmosphere. 

The last scene is kind of a new one. I drew Alaska very roughly, since this is the first place any of the ducks ended up (Sitka, precisely). I will maybe have some text to accompany this, saying that the first of the ducks appeared here, as I don’t want to reveal my trim paths strategy, that I’ll be using much more effectively in the following scene. Speaking of, for this next scene, I will have single countries of where the ducks ended up. These are: UK, USA, Japan, and Australia, of course, that’s not every country they’ve visited, but I just chose some of the more prominent ones. I will also include China complete with Hong Kong which is where the point will start. There will be lines coming from this point and ending at certain points located on the other countries (in no particular place). To do this I will use trim paths as I mentioned. Once the line reaches the point, there will be a little speech bubble popping up containing the respective flag. Also, I know that these countries are horribly drawn, I plan on using existing vectors if I can find any so to make sure I am 100% factually correct. It is an infographic after all. Not too sure what music I will have playing here, but probably something neutral. 

Finally, the last page. These panels are virtually the same as the original storyboard, but this time, the chalkboard at the beginning will have drawings of currents, showing that the ducks taught oceanographers about how currents work in the ocean. Curtis himself will probably be a challenge to create in Illustrator, as even these rough sketches don’t really look anything like him, but I will try my best. 

That is everything that I’ve done in terms of storyboarding. I hope to stick to these as closely as I can, but may stray away from certain ideas if I come up with anything better, which I will detail.

Some websites that I used to help with determine where certain scenes fit:

Seanmungercom. 2015. SeanMungercom. [Online]. [13 February 2019]. Available from: https://seanmunger.com/2015/03/27/flotsam-and-jetsam-part-iii-the-amazing-odyssey-of-the-friendly-floatees/

Staywildswimcom. 2019. Staywildswimcom. [Online]. [13 February 2019]. Available from: https://staywildswim.com/the-blog-1/friendly-floatees 

[pafsins2]

Everything Wrong AND Right With Act Your Age

Here's the one you've all been waiting for. This episode is half of why I started doing Wins, to show a fairer viewpoint compared to my rather salty sins. Speaking of salty sins, let's start.

SINS:

1.This is the final episode in both orders with the normal theme song, and it's used on the most divisive episode of the series.

2.Let's get this out of the way: This is “PHINBELAAAAA!!”: The Episode.

3.Fake out

4.I see they randomly got a budget increase since Tri Stone Area.

5.”We're the co-creators' You can't BOTH be CO creators.

6.If we weren't watching it, we wouldn't have heard you say that.

7.Funny but you did the Perry girlfriend joke in Nerds of a Feather.

8.Do we need this intro when all the other episodes akin to this didn't?

9.The designs suck even though they are exactly as they tend to be like.

10.Only one invention is a sin even the plot is done in a way that has it make sense for there to nly be one small one.

11.They joke about it but the deep voice fits better for an older Baljeet.

12.”Since I've already graduated and been accepted as a professer” Exposition.

13.Buford has an Egorapter haircut.

14.Candace only has this cameo.

15.So with her help, we can send innocent people to jail without evidence? Yay!

16.This reminds me, we never see Jeremy or Stacy. Not seeing them will hopefully not be an issue again.

17.I'll have to kinda of agree with one thing: You could have done the Phinbella side of this story in the present to have a better narrative about them, I guess.

18.Fairly sure I've seen the picking schools conflict in some Disney Sitcoms, making it even more a sin.

19....Irving works for OWCA in the future. Details, now.

20.The others at least tried to change their voices. Jack does not.

21.”I thought he had given up his evil ways when we placed him as a high school science teacher” No, he decided it himself. Yeah, even when they foreshadowing it clear's him changing in the finale was a last minute idea.

22.”He's gone to a better place” He's not actually dead, moving on.

23.Carl dials only 7 numbers,  but  when making a call from the US to The French Polynesia you would have to dial 12 numbers.

24.”Tristate State” Redundancy.

25.”I am so in the friend zone there” Friend Zone.

26.”She changed her eyeballs' Baljeet is good at P&F Sins.

27.”We are guys, we do not talk about feelings” Didn't you want to talk about your feelings back in Hide and Seek?

28.Perry looks exactly the same 10 yeas later and Doof only has different colored hair. They must have aged reaaaly badly between now and Qauntum Bogaloo.

29.Then what is that big contraption?

30.Doof wants to feel the misery of a mid life critis because unlike most people he's not in one. Huh, that's kinda like he wanted to feel the misery of hating Christmas as most people like him do.

31.”Maniup the wha”-That's not at all racist.

32.First boys don't talk about feelings, now the girls are manipulating their men. At least their equal opportunity?

33.Also, THEY SINK BUEET 0/10 WORST EPISODE EVER

34.Some VA's are changed some stay, it's weird.

35.Well, okay now it's REALLY equal opportunity with Baljeet doing it to.

36.Spoilers,nothing comes of this subplot so it's pointless.

37.”We're- girls, it's what we do” Sigh.

38.Perhaps just telling them to do love stuff would be easier

39.Doof isn't forced to pay for the wrecked car.

40.Mishi vanishing makes this bit even more of a sin.

41.Isabella's mom has aged well in 10 years.

42.Cheese romance song

43.The soundtrack version leaves in some dialouge.

44.This is sad and all but maybe you should have just flat out told him before giving up. You know, like you did that one time before the writers- I mean the sprayer thing erased your memory of it.

45.And wait, Isabella gave up and stopped hanging out with them? A little dick-ish to be honest.

46.Phineas sounds roughly fine in most of the episode, but when he sings he's just Vincent Martella.

47.Clip Show.

48.”And now our endless summer is finally coming to an end” Finale-shadowing.

“They would have called us Phinebella” ...+5

53.Teen Isabella is standing on Tween Isabella's foot.

54.They get rid of Candace for this episode, just do the same shitck with Doof getting rid of the stuff.

55.Well, that Doof plot ended abruptly.

56.Just like Isabella's Mom, Linda and Lawrence aged too well.

57.”Watcha doin'?” Boooo.

58.For a Phinbella episode, they don't interact until the very end. And it's slightly rushed, almost like this should have been a special or something.

59.Phineas starts having a thing for Isabella right when she gives up, what cruel irony.

60.Using a Christmas song for the background music.

61. I heard this scene reveals Ferb's full name. Oh man what  is i-”Hey Ferbs” ….............Really.

62.Okay, it's bad enough Montessa went unresolved but they randomly threw it all away just to put her with Ferb thus making all that pointless. I've been joking around but I legit hate this.

63.Vanessa's car only has two seats but when it pulls up next to Isabella it has a third one.

64.They were able to show the lips touching in at2d but not now?

65.Isabella rolls down the window but in the next shot it's rolled up.

66.Abrupt ending to the main episode.

67.”It's just a cartoon' If only both sides of the base on this episode got that.

68.Milly is misspelled as “Millie”

69.Here's a sin for this episode turning most of the fanbase  into dumb idiots. Over a show that had an episode all about how dumb fan wars are.

EPISODE SIN TALLY: 69 (OH COME ON)

SENTENCE:Sick with Salmonella.

...Well, there you go. That's a lot of sins, even for a 22 minute episode. Look, this kind of episode lends itself to sins, okay? Besides, some mock some nitpicking I've seen. But dang, that's more sins than Mission Marvel had. But anyway, hope this side of the base is happy.

Now to please the other side.

WINS:

1.Since this is the last time we see the theme, better point it out as a way.

2.I like the book end with Dan and Swampy, nicely sets things up.

3.”Are we ever going to see Perry the Platypus get a girlfriend?” “No' Nice.

4.You know what? I'm gonna win the concept. Seeing the future with them as teens is cool.

5.Neat invention. Oh hey look there's them building a thing, according to the critics they never do that in this episode.

6.Them being able to be in this many schools makes perfect sense.

7.The fake out with Baljeet's voice is funny

8.Buford as a pretentious film maker is amazing.

9.Candace working in law? Very fitting.

10.The conflict of Phineas having to pick a school is nice.

11.Okay, here's a story: Dan found some nice fan artists and they figured any teens desins they made would just look like hers. So they actually brought her over to do the designs officially, and now she's working on Milo Murphy's Law. Her name is Ashley Simpson and she is a win.

12.I'll defend the future thing to an extent. Some aspects of it add further tension with Isabella going off to school as he realizes this, adding a ticking clock. Plus the deeper romance stuff would have been weird as kids. Could have this still been done in the present? Yes, but I could why the writers thought this was the better move.

13.Irving for OWCA is just awesome. Weirdly fits him too.

14.Carl being the major is nice.

15.It's nice that Monogram is having a good time in retirement.

16.It's interesting how they avoided having Perry interact with the boys, to make it ambitious if they found it by this time.

17.Great lampshading hanging of the eyes in hearts thing.

18.DOOFENSHMIRTZ MMMM  INCORPERATED.

19.I enjoy the Doof plot. First, in concept it's great. Doof actually WANTS a mid life crisi because he actually feels okay. Nice.

20.Also, awesome Doof is awesome.

21.KAZOO SOLO.

22. Baljeet ending up with Ginger is nice evenifbufordwouldhaveeenbetter

23.Fun Fact: Teen Ginger is voiced is voiced by Minga Na. Her voicing Ginger's Mom is fitting enough but she is Michaela Zee's mother in real life.

24.I like the subplot with them trying to get them together. It's pointless but amusing enough.

25.”It is how we love” D'aww.

26.Some funny Doof stuff here.

27.This subplot also gives us the “Doof gets rid of invention” thing which is cool.

28.”We have this sign” Nice.

29.Ginger being jealous of Mishit is amusing.

30.I'll admit it: I really like “What Might Have Been”. Infact, it's the main reason I like the episode. It's very emotional and it sounds really really nice. The emotion is so powerful that you'd have to be a heartless monster not to be sucked in at this point at least due to the effort.

31.This adds a nice tragedy to the whole thing with Isabella having given up and Phineas wondering if he wasted his time on the big ideas. The latter is odd but it's nice in terms of adding tragedy.

32.Leave it these guys to use a fan term in order to rhyme with Samonella.

33.Buford in diaper is a funny visual callback.

34.The Jump instructor pushing Doof is a win.

35.This Lawrence cameo is amazing.

36.Hey, even in the future Paul gets work!

37.”Watcha' doin” Nice.

38.This scene is too nice to dislike.

39.You have no idea how much I love that his full name is just Ferbs

40.Ugh, I guess this a win for Ferbnessa fans. Still not happy about it.

41.If any Phinbella kiss has to be a win, it's gotta be this one. Frankly, I'm glad we got any resolution to them at all. A flawed something is better than nothing.

42.”Well,, that was worth the wait” Agreed.

43.”It's a sweet episode” Yep.

44.Swampy crying is hilarious but weirdly sweet if you know how passionate they were about this.

45.We got hear that nice song in the credits.

46. Swampy still crying is hilarious.

47.One final statement. Yes, this episode is flawed but overall  I think it is good. I'm glad the shippers got their episode, even with all the hyped they caused over it. It's very clear from the behind the scenes stuff that they did put plenty of effort into this and really loved it and  I can't take that away from them. The episode was nice enough but seeing what it means to the creators makes it even nicer. It's a win.

EPISODE WIN TALLY: 47

REWARD: A kiss. (“That was worth the wait”)

Yeah, decent amount. That's more than Clip O Rama and both parts of Where's Perry separately, 2 eps I like more. Weird. I would win most of this stuff no matter what, I mostly was being honest and not just being too nice, hopefully. I do truly like this one fine. If only for what it means to the crew.

Well.....we're almost done. Next one is the finale, than that owca thing. Holy crap. So close. Monday is LDOS but first, some extra stuff. Some wins on the weekend but tomorrow....well, tomorrow is special, you'll see.

Goodbye until then.

[artlessictoan]

Also, Smoke Into The Sand w/ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15! OoO As a side-note I haven't read this yet (SHAME ON ME BC I WANNA) and i'm SUPER interested in it!

asdfjskdjskdjfsk this is gonna get long fukc

What inspired you to write the fic this way?

my main goal with sits was to make it read like an old myth or storybook, an old tale that would be passed down for generations, the majority of the fic is written in that style exactly, but the overall story definitely is (and it does come through a bit more in how the backstory is told and some of the more important scenes)

that said, the main narrative is written much more slice-of-life-y, one of my biggest inspirations for this fic is the manga monogatari (bride’s story), it’s a really nice series that explores the daily life of people in various areas along the silk road, it has that simple, everyday life feel that i love and really wanted to write into sits! that’s where the random details about desert living and the tribe’s lifestyle come in (warning for anyone who might want to check out mono though: it does have an arranged marriage between a 20 yr old woman and a 12 yr old boy, it’s being played as a more platonic/familial relationship thus far but i can totally understand why it would put people off, so just a heads-up before anyone jumps in)

What scene did you first put down?

the first scene i actually started writing was the very first scene! but the very first scene, the one that spawned this entire fic i haven’t actually gotten to yet, it’s gonna be v near the end and i’m dying to finally reveal it because it’s gonna be Big.. but i shalln’t spoil it here, just something for my readers to look forwards to

What’s your favorite line of narration?

ok so like i said i’m shit at remembering any of what i write and it’s a bit more than just a line but fuck it:

Gaara froze, in fact, everything did. The soft whistling ofthe wind cut off into eerie silence, the constantly shifting sand stopped witha suddenness that was entirely unnatural, Naruto glanced away for a second andsaw that some grains were being held in the air, perfectly still. He turned hisgaze back to the spirit before him, his expression hadn’t changed at all, hewas still glaring, but his eyes were unfocussed, like they weren’t reallylooking at him.

Naruto was too scared to move, to speak; hecould only stare and pray that he hadn’t just sealed his own death warrant.

What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

again, not a line, but i really love this exchange between nart and ameno so effing much:

“So mature… You’re growing up too fast, how am I ever goingto keep up?” she asked, mostly to herself judging from the distant look on herface.

He slowly drew his hand back once her face wasdry and gave her a confused look. “You won’t have to; I’ll just carry you withme.

What part was hardest to write?

well i might just be saying this cause it’s the most recent struggle i faced (among many) but the chapter six reALLY killed me. trying to find the right way to describe the exhaustion and constant fear took many, many weeks and i’m still not sure i really nailed it (hopefully something i’ll be able to fix in the next chap)

What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

other than being the first multi-chap fic i’ve ever written, this is actually one of my oldest fic ideas ever, seriously it’s been kicking around in my head for a good five years or so now so there’s that

it also happens to contain basically All of my Special Interests; naruto, deserts, nomadic culture, boring minutia, swords.... honestly the only thing it’s missing is cats (though i’m sure i can find some way to work them in too..)

and, honestly, this is kinda my magnum opus? or at least that’s how i’ve always thought of it, i had actually planned to not start writing it until i’d already done a few other fics because i wanted to make sure my writing skill was at its best before starting such an ambitious fic.. yeah that didn’t happen, but i think that’s actually worked out alright, jumping in with a harder fic right at the start of my writing ‘career’ has been a bit of a crash-course and taught me a heck of a lot, i still think it’s gonna be one of the best things i ever write though. it just has a very special place in my heart

Where did the title come from?

well tbh i’m kinda shit at titles, so i usually just hunt through the first chap looking for any particularly poetic-sounding line that would work (though in this case it does have a nice little easter egg, since in arab folklore jinn are made of smoke!)

Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

hmm not really? the whole thing is meant to be very fantastical and unreal (despite all the slice-of-life stuff), the only real-world insp comes from my research into bedouin lifestyle and such

What do you like best about this fic?

gaara! i mean ofc i like him in anything but this version of gaa - silent, detached, barely human, incredibly complex - is one of my faves and he’s really fun to write, we’ll be finding out more about him as the fic goes on and when we do it’ll make his actions before now both more understandable and less at the same time (he’s quite the paradox)

What do you like least about this fic?

the inconsistency. i feel like i must’ve gone through about ten different writing styles throughout the course of it and it bothers me that i haven’t quite got that storybook feel i was always aiming for, i’ll probably do a rewrite when i’ve got more experience under my belt and try to make the whole thing a bit more cohesive

What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

as with btc, i mostly listen to soundtracks, since songs with lyrics really distract me when writing, since i like to try and match the music i listen to to the setting/tone of what i’m writing i try to listen to classical middle-eastern music (though i’ve had a hard time finding many albums of just instrumental stuff, if anyone has any recs i’d love you forever!)

in addition to that there’s the soundtracks of Journey, Bastion, Dreamfall Chapters and the Prince of Persia games and for instrumental artists i really like Break of Reality and Tina Guo for sits insp!

Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?What did you learn from writing this fic?

hmm, well i’d love it if people learned a bit more about the cultures i’m writing about (and i’d like to learn more of that too tbh, i’m still finding out new things that i actually got wrong earlier on in the fic), maybe even get interested enough to go looking for more info themselves, because there’s a lot of stuff that i simply won’t be able to go into much detail about

as for myself, well ^that and also it’s just been a rEALLY good experience in so many small ways - writing longer fics, writing in general, character interaction, introspection, action, plotting, description, suspense, mystery..... i could go on but yeah, basically it’s helped me grow as an author in Every Single Way and i’m sure it’ll help ever more before it’s done!

[entergamingxp]

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2019 Awards — Judgment Overrules the Competition

December 23, 2019 1:59 PM EST

DualShockers presents their Game of the Year Awards for 2019, with Judgment winning Staff Choice and Death Stranding nabbing Readers’ Choice.

With the decade quickly coming to a wrap, it is time for DualShockers’ annual Game of the Year awards selection. In all my time with this publication, this game of the year has been the most contentious — a fact that speaks to the many fantastic titles that came out this year. But whether you stan Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Death Stranding, or Apex Legends, most notable games got their fair share of recognition in 2019.

Before we jump into the Game of the Year 2019 awards, I wanted to throw a quick shout out to the DualShockers community at large — this was the first year we’ve added a way for readers to jump into our site-wide vote. We had a terrific turnout that changed the tides of selections. Meanwhile, both Readers’ Choice for Game of the Year 2019 and Most Anticipated of 2020 got record turnouts, with some of the most diverse picks in any poll we’ve run.

In short, thank you all for being here and being part of the process. With an eye on 2020, we are looking to bring more to you readers across the board: whether that means live streams, news coverage, or ways to participate in these kinds of awards.

Now, without further ado, here are the DualShockers’ Game of the Year Awards for 2019:

DualShockers Game of the Year 2019: Judgment

Yeah, you read that right — Judgment is our Game of the Year winner. Like every game we discussed during DualShockers’ Game of the Year deliberations, Judgment made gaming in 2019 very special. But the reason why Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Yakuza spinoff received so much praise from our staff is that every facet of that game is done exceptionally well. From its familiar open-world of Kamurocho to its wild narrative, it was such a treat to experience Takayuki Yagami’s first adventure.

Much of the argument for Judgment as Game of the Year was due to its variety in both story and gameplay. Its central narrative thread involves a series of mysterious murders in Kamurocho; it’s essentially a melodramatic crime drama that is very intense and very serious. At the same time, you may find yourself in a side job where you are trying to stop a pervy dude named the “Panty Professor” from stealing some random girl’s underwear. It’s super goofy and ridiculous.

It is such a change of pace from one another, but Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio managed to fit all that diverse gameplay into one game without it feeling detached.

To address the elephant in the room, Judgment hardly got the same high score from us at release that other major players on the list did — including two 10 out of 10 titles (Apex Legends and Astral Chain). But some games age like fine wine–in the first week or two of review, it is hard to determine which titles will get their roots in you. And like our 2016 and 2017 choices (Final Fantasy XV and Persona 5, respectively), our picks aren’t always the best-reviewed game of the year.

We also congratulate Judgment on winning a few other awards in the process, including Best PS4 Game, Best Narrative, and Best Open World.

So yes — a lot of our Game of the Year discussions fell on the innovation and polish of games like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the ambition behind Fire Emblem: Three Houses, or the raw boundary-pushing of Resident Evil 2 and Death Stranding. But when the battle lines were drawn, there was one thing we all agreed on: Judgement was unanimously some of the most fun we’ve had in gaming in 2019. And in the end, isn’t that the most important metric for Game of the Year?

Game of the Year 2019 (Readers’ Choice): Death Stranding

Despite adding the community’s choice to the site-wide vote, this is the first time in three years the staff and DualShockers community have differed on Game of the Year. However, it did go to the other most-notable PS4 exclusive on the market: Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding.

Closely followed by both Resident Evil 2 (3rd place) and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, there’s a lot of hype and payoff to Death Stranding. The game managed to win both Best Art Direction, Best Audio Design, and Best Graphics as it genuinely pushed the industry forward and set new benchmarks that will (hopefully) be followed up on next generation.

For as many jokes floating around about Death Stranding creating the first game in the “Strand Genre,” Hideo Kojima should be proud of the massive accomplishment, and his studio undoubtedly has a bright life ahead of it.

For a quick rundown from the votes, check the infographic below:

Most Anticipated Game of 2020: Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt Red’s latest project is around the corner, and it is hard to be anything but excited. It might be nuts to think that the team can follow up to the immensely successful The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but with such a talented group of developers and bold source material, the ball is in CDPR’s court. And based on the trailers and gameplay we’ve seen, the team is going to pulling out all the stops and will undoubtedly impress.

Most Anticipated Game of 2020 (Readers’ Choice): Final Fantasy VII Remake

No surprises here — while the site-wide and Readers’ Choice poll diverged again on this vote, it was close on either. Specifically, DualShockers Community has its eye on both The Last of Us: Part II (18%) and Cyberpunk 2077 (20%).

With that said, we can’t downplay the hype for Final Fantasy VII Remake. The game–which garnered a standing ovation during its initial 2014 E3 appearance–is finally set to release in 2020. Arguably the best RPG ever created, gameplay demos seamlessly bridge the gap between innovation and nostalgia. The first part of this remake has been in the oven for a long time, but we will see the final project soon enough.

For a quick rundown from the votes, check the infographic below:

Hardware of the Year: Nintendo Switch Lite

Nintendo manages to grab top slot for Hardware of the Year with the Nintendo Switch Lite. While it isn’t the technical marvel of truly out of the box thinking or pushing boundaries. Instead, Nintendo Switch Lite does something arguably more important — fill the gap in the market for a dedicated handheld console.

Sure, the mainline Nintendo Switch is a hybrid that can be a handheld system. But for those gamers who are looking for a straight-up successor to the legacies of the Nintendo 3DS or PlayStation Vita, the Nintendo Switch Lite is a form-first love letter to handheld gaming.

And who knows — this may be the starting note in a more feature-rich line of new Nintendo Switch hardware. I can dream, right?

Best Developer: Capcom

If we are talking about which group of development teams had a banger year, it’s impossible to overlook the team at Capcom. With two major tentpole releases under their belt, Capcom took 2019 by storm and mostly took hold of the gaming scene for the beginning half of the year.

For one, Resident Evil 2 helped create a new standard in how remakes should be done. Meanwhile, Devil May Cry 5 did everything but disappoint, offering a fantastic installment in an already noteworthy series. Hell, even Matt Walker — Capcom USA’s CEO — isn’t shy about saying it: “Capcom is back.”

Best Publisher: Nintendo

While the dedicated Nintendo EAD development teams seem to be biding their time and energy, there is no shortage of terrific titles published from Nintendo. This includes a swath of Third-Party games that you may not have known were created out of the House of Mario: Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Next Level Games), Astral Chain (Platinum Games), and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Grezzo).

However, there is something to be said about being a blockbuster collaborative force in the industry. Nintendo is continually making smart choices in which projects to back, and it is paying off for them with a fantastic library on Nintendo Switch.

Best First Party Game: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Speaking of Nintendo, let’s talk about Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Specifically, the game is our Best First Party Game of 2020. While we are years past the Fire Emblem renaissance on the Nintendo 3DS, a few people had doubts about the future of the series — especially with so little known about the title going into 2019. However, developer Intelligent Systems isn’t known to disappoint.

While previous blockbuster Fire Emblem games acted as a return to form, Three Houses was a refinement: a gripping story, understandable battle mechanics, and the depth needed to satisfy hardcore fans of the series. It should be no surprise that the title also managed to land Best Nintendo Switch Game, Best RPG, and Best Strategy Game in the process.

Best PS4 Game: Judgment

Best Xbox One Game: Gears 5

Surprise surprise! The game that came in first for our Xbox One Definitives list of must-play Xbox games won the top honor.

While it’s likely no surprise, Gears 5 has a lot going for it — specifically, it is both a technical marvel that improves on the original series in every way imaginable. If this is what The Coalition and Xbox Games Studios has up their sleeve for their next generation of titles, they are coming out swinging in 2020 with the Xbox Series X.

Best Nintendo Switch Game: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Best PC Game: Disco Elysium

The indie darling of 2019, Disco Elysium takes the top billing for Best PC Game of the year. Perhaps one of the more overlooked titles by the gaming scene at large (until it started picking up awards at The Game Awards 2019), developer ZA/UM brought one of the most ambitious titles in 2019.

Though rough around the edges at launch, the game features an exciting world and story that is nearly unmatched in 2019. Even better, the shift away from focusing on turn-based combat to the dialogue and commentary between those beats is truly rewarding — albeit, likely not for every gamer.

If you are into slower burns with multiple playthrough potential, don’t ignore Disco Elysium.

Best Mobile Game: Sayonara Wild Hearts

Abstract. Weird. Beautiful. Charming. A visual and musical treat. There is a lot to love about Sayonara Wild Hearts, and it is a lot more accessible to all gamers — including those who only play on mobile devices.

Touching on combating your inner demons and growing as a person, this is a game that’s surprisingly deep while being easily approachable. And while veteran Swedish developers Simogo have a long history of critically acclaimed games, there is no doubt that Sayonara Wild Hearts tops that list.

Best Action-Adventure Game: Devil May Cry 5

We mentioned a bit earlier that Devil May Cry 5 is perhaps the strongest showing in the long-running series. But when we are thinking about what wins Best Action-Adventure Game, a lot of the decision-making goes into pure gameplay.

Thankfully, Devil May Cry 5 has some of the best — and the most variation — of the year. Stylish and nearly perfect, the action in Devil May Cry 5 rewards those who are patient enough to perfect it. Even better, being able to play as multiple characters is not only immensely rewarding but gives you the exact amount of depth you want. Perfect one, or master them all.

This isn’t to say that Devil May Cry 5 is solely a powerhouse in gameplay–the title also manages to win Best Soundtrack of 2019 for obvious reasons:

This year was a banger for Action Adventure-dedicated gamers, but Devil May Cry 5 is one on everyone’s shortlist.

Best Battle Royale Game: Apex Legends

With some significant competition from Tetris 99, this year’s top prize for Best Battle Royale is Apex Legends. With titans like Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds battling it out for dominance of the genre, it would be tough for any game to break into the market. Yet, with a reasonably low-key launch with minimal PR buzz, that is precisely what Apex Legends managed to do with their hero-based shooter.

But why? What resonated to let the game break into one of the most competitive genres in the 2010s? Apex Legends has a lot of things going for it thanks to the smart positioning from developer Respawn Entertainment. Every moment of the game feels action-packed, thanks to the intelligent design of the map, quality of life changes to the genre (which were quickly incorporated into Fortnite), or even the notion of a “Jumpmaster” to random matchmakers to work closer together.

These reasons are why Apex Legends won some other major categories this year, notably Best Competitive Game, Best Multiplayer Game, and Best Shooter. Respawn Entertainment continues to evolve most genres they touch, and we can’t wait to see what their next projects (and future developments in Apex Legends) hold.

Best Competitive Game: Apex Legends

Best Cooperative Game: Luigi’s Mansion 3

The Luigi’s Mansion series holds a special place in the hearts of most Nintendo fans, and Luigi’s Mansion 3 is on the shortlist for best Nintendo Switch titles of the year. However, it is most certainly the best title to play Cooperatively with friends with the inclusion of Gooigi.

This was explicitly our favorite new addition to Luigi’s Mansion 3:

the aptly-named clone of Luigi that is, yes, made out of goo. While Gooigi was first introduced in the 3DS remake of the original Luigi’s Mansion, in Luigi’s Mansion 3 he takes on a more vital role as Luigi’s companion, especially when it comes to puzzle solving. By clicking the right analog stick (or giving another player a Joy-Con in co-op), Luigi can summon Gooigi from the Poltergust to act as a second set of hands, which gives the player a whole new set of environmental choices to consider.

With this in mind, it is no wonder it takes up both the spot for Best Cooperative Game and Best Family Game for 2019.

Best DLC or Expansion: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn can’t be stopped — it was one of the first games on the PS4 and Xbox One, and it is closing out the generation with some of the strongest showings yet. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers has placed the massive online game into the best place it’s ever been, with new lore, content, and a promise of future rollouts to keep the active fanbase entertained for time to come.

But the best part of Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers? The fact that this expansion feels so great because developer Square Enix has listened to the community and addressed concerns, criticisms, and feedback along the way. With that in mind, the title at large also takes home our Best Ongoing Game award for 2019.

Best Family Game: Luigi’s Mansion 3

Best Fighting Game: Mortal Kombat 11

Despite a very, very bumpy launch, Mortal Kombat 11 has managed to shine this year as the Best Fighting Game of 2019 (despite a crowded group of exceptionally great fighting games). It seems commonplace that Mortal Kombat 11 win this top honor. Still, NeatherRealm worked for this slot by introducing customization options and a much more in-depth tutorial that will push middling players into the more nuanced gameplay needed for expert players.

Mortal Kombat 11 is a visual treat with a thrilling story, but that is expected of NeatherRealm in 2019.

Best Horror Game: Resident Evil 2

Not mincing words, Resident Evil 2 is probably the best remake we’ve ever seen. Capcom knows they hit a slam dunk, with everyone on the internet fighting to post their best video of Mr. X chasing them across the game and clamoring to survive Racoon City all over again.

With the Resident Evil series firmly re-embracing survival horror, the game straddles the line between having just the right amount of fear and action to keep you on edge. Between this and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, we are undoubtedly in a renaissance for the series, and we can expect more greatness in the year to come.

As no surprise, Resident Evil 2 also takes home the award for Best Remake or Remaster of 2019.

Best Interactive Story Game: Life is Strange 2

With the shuttering of Telltale Games, the Interactive Story Game genre has hit a weird rough patch in 2019. But the down notes hasn’t managed to hamper Dontnod Entertainment’s Life is Strange 2 — a continually remarkable emotional journey with a terrific narrative.

Best Metroidvania: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Koji Igarashi has returned with a force! The creator of the Castlevania series has expanded his horizons with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, widely delivering on some of his most ambitious promises laid out in the game’s Kickstarter.

Not everything is perfect — a few mechanics like crafting can be left by the wayside, and the grind (like many later Castlevania games) feels very real. However, the Metroidvania elements and soundtrack are superb, thanks in part to fun shard collecting and smart puzzle design.

Best Multiplayer Game: Apex Legends

Best Platformer: Super Mario Maker 2

It seems like the trick for any good Platformer in 2019 is being able to create your own maps. And… well… that’s most of what Super Mario Maker 2 is! In all seriousness, the game enhances a chunk of the original with new functionality, a fairly dedicated story mode, and better filtering options to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Your gameplay experience will likely depend on RNG with the online community. Still, there are a ton of creative people who stretch the mechanics of Super Mario to its limits.

Best Puzzle Game: Tetris 99

The most popular puzzle game in history met the most popular sub-genre this generation, and the result is flat out addictive. Tetris 99 is fast-paced, smart, and questions everything you think you know about the game. With the bonus of fueling a “one more game” mentality, Tetris 99 is a tour de force for the Battle Royale genre that opens up the possibility of where those tenets can flourish outside of dropping from airships.

Best Racing Game: Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled

Racing back with the nostalgia that fueled it, Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled is a fun remake that checks all the right boxes for a great racing game. Bright, colorful, and remastered for the current generation, it’s hard not to appreciate the love and polish that developer Beenox poured into this classic.

Sure, some of it is old-timey and reminiscent of the original PlayStation era… but isn’t that the fun of it? If we were playing one racing game this year, we’d prefer it be one that gives us a Nitro-Fueled blast from the past.

Best Remake or Remaster: Resident Evil 2

Best Role-Playing Game: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Best Shooter: Apex Legends

Best Sports Game: Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020

There are a ton of technically great, polished sports games that came out in 2019 that push the limits of Baseball or Hockey titles. And then there is Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Maybe what makes this title so endearing is the fact that it isn’t overly technical and can be enjoyed by everyone.

Even better, the game is a substantial improvement of this (somehow) pervasive series. With a ton of surprising polish, some Tokyo history, and pure fun, this might be the first time the series is recommendable to every owner of a Nintendo console. Seriously, consider picking it up if you are a minigame fan.

Best Strategy Game: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Best Virtual Reality Game: Beat Saber

Let nobody tell you that the virtual reality scene is slowing down. The rhythm, light-saber based title Beat Saber has deservedly taken the medium by storm. Introducing an entirely new way to enjoy rhythm games and VR alike, this title alone has added a ton of people to the still-nascent medium and is a must-own for everyone with a headset that can handle it.

Best Art Direction: Death Stranding

Best Audio Design: Death Stranding

Best Character: Mr. X (Resident Evil 2)

Mr. X is perfect. We’ve written an entire editorial on why we love him. With that said, he is the secret sauce to Resident Evil 2 — both what makes the game so horrifying and magical. And also, what makes the game so meme-worthy in 2019 with a ton of mods. Nothing screams evil like having either Thomas the Tank Engine or Dio Brando chasing you down the hall.

More than any character (including protagonists), Mr. X added the most to his respective game and cemented Resident Evil 2 as a must-play in 2019.

Best Graphics: Death Stranding

Best Narrative: Judgment

Best Open World: Judgment

Best Ongoing Game: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

Best Performance: Mads Mikkelson as Cliff (Death Stranding)

While Death Stranding‘s narrative may be divisive in execution, there is unanimous approval for Mads Mikkelson’s role as Cliff. Delivering (arguably) the strongest arc of the game, Mikkelson needs to get his props for driving home Death Stranding in a meaningful way. How? Well, I’m not going to spoil anything — but you most certainly should be picking up this game in 2020.

Biggest Shocker of 2019: Half-Life is Reborn Again in Alyx

In 2019 we have witnessed the death of Half-Life 3 meme. After a thirteen-year hiatus, we finally see a new Half-Life game in Half-Life: Alyx. And this one is going to be in VR. Oh yeah, and it is coming in just a few months.

Seriously, this announcement was a barnstormer and is a shot to the hip for Final Fantasy VII, NioH 2, DOOM Eternal, and Cyberpunk 2077. This is either a significant show of confidence or a massive miscalculation by Valve. Either way, we are here for it.

Worst Moment in the Gaming Industry: Hearthstone: Blitzchung Suspended as Blizzard Backs China

Blizzard has been on a roll for the last few years — this time creating an international PR disaster that sparked a broader discussion into Esport censorship, China’s encroachment into gaming Politik, and commentation from the US Government.

For those who missed it, Hong Kong-based Hearthstone Esports player Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung– upon winning the Grandmasters — used his time to advocate support for the Hong Kong protests. Blizzard responded swiftly by banning Blitzchung for a year and rescinding his prize winnings from the tournament, immediately calling into question Chinese influence within Blizzard’s policy.

On the one hand, Blizzard released a statement on the situation claiming that their relation to China does not influence their policy (and partially rescinding some of their announced punishments). However, it’s hard to imagine that without such a broad international backlash, Blizzard would have made any change or statement.

Here’s hoping that 2020 will show a new embrace of democratic ideals instead of whatever helps the bottom line.

Best In-Game Moment of 2019: Resident Evil 2: Getting Chased by Mr. X in the Police Station

And that’s a wrap! We have a long year of gaming ahead of us, so let us know how we did in the comments and give us a glimpse of what your personal favorites were for each category!

December 23, 2019 1:59 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/dualshockers-game-of-the-year-2019-awards-judgment-overrules-the-competition/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dualshockers-game-of-the-year-2019-awards-judgment-overrules-the-competition

[isabellescheerer]

Sprint #4

Sprint #4 was probably the most busy and demanding two weeks that my group and I have had to work through. This sprint housed the finalization period of everything we had previously been working on, and required mass communication emails between elementary schools, team members, and our leading non-profit organization in order for our project to finish in time for the actual Read Aloud to a Child Week event. It was the ultimate lead-up to the week we have been working towards for the last 10 weeks. 

This sprint was also interesting for me personally as I was across the world in South Korea for the entirety of it. I do think it added a small amount of inconvenience, or more so, it required more time-management and communication skills in order to ensure my tasks for the sprint were getting done on time... that is, Eastern Standard Time rather than my 13 hours time zone ahead. However, being in another country during the crucial time was also quite beneficial as it gave me another environment to take inspiration from.

The Details

During this sprint, my main focus was on completing the reading trackers. These were to be included in the Read Aloud to a Child Week email as a printable file for the participating schools to use as a way to keep track of what students were participating. Hopefully, if this tracker were to be continuously used, it would also be able to show the increase or decrease of participation in the years to come.

Meanwhile, my other team members focused on creating the final logo design for Read Aloud to a Child Week, ensuring the Facebook page we collectively made was working as we hoped, and emailing the participating elementary schools with the needed information and material to succeed during the upcoming week.

The Process

Creating the reading trackers was fairly easy to draft early on due to the fact that I had a good vision of what I wanted them to look like. I think my vision was so clear on them because I spent nearly 3 full days in the beginning just researching what preexisting kid-friendly calendars and trackers looked like. By doing this, I got a very firm grip on what I thought would work and what wouldn’t. 

My process of creating the trackers was a fairly fast one in the long scheme of things. I had a very firm grip on what I wanted to design, with a fluid ideation of what it should look like.

It took me only a day or two to create the base layer of the tracker, which contained the grid pattern for the student/class names and days of the week. Again, this was fairly simple due to the fact that I had already done an abundance of research on what trackers look like. The design I created also was the most logical and space-conscious that I could think of.

After that, I drafted a first sketch of the tracker to be able to show the non-profit and my classmates. This sketch more so showed the benefit of having a tracker set up in the manner that I created it. It also was a nice visual aid that elaborated on what color and pattern can do for a child-related product. At this stage, we were able to discuss what would and wouldn’t work for the tracker. It was here when we decided using stickers would not work the way we envisioned on such a small sheet of paper, which is why we then decided to allow the children to color in their corresponding box. By doing this, they will be able to choose their favorite color to use, they have a more hands-on element in the event, and it saves money for the non-profit.

After a lot of discussion and back-and-forth on color combinations and typeface pairings, my group was able to make a decision on the final color palette and typefaces to be used in the final iteration of the tracker. This step did not necessarily take a long time, but getting to a consensus definitely took a little bit of time and communication. We were able to reach a decision on the final two chosen typefaces relatively fast as many of the typefaces being discussed did not fit the kid-friendly and book-related project. The two that we chose were the most compatible and interesting, while still being easily read. On the other hand, the color palette was slightly harder to decide on as we started out with bright, bold colors which quickly switched to pastels. My group had trouble narrowing down from the color options we provided, which we later ended up using all of them as it contained the colors of the rainbow. We did spend a decent amount of time trying to create a pastel palette that was subtle yet bold. We wanted a pastel palette because we thought having neon or bold colors would make the tracker hard to read and hard to be written on clearly. That decision, I believe, saved us in the end as it would have been too overwhelming to have that many bright colors on a legal-sized paper.

Once the nitty-gritty details were decided upon, I started working on the final tracker design. This was fairly simple due to the fact that I had already sketched it many times at this point. I worked in Illustrator for the final design in order to get the cleanest line-work and illustration-to-text combination. The hardest part about this process was trying to determine the mathematics of the underlying grid pattern due to the fact that the rectangular spaces needed to both be big enough to write a student’s name and color in when the student had read. To solve this, I started playing around with the center lines and building in either direction as I went - shifting the grid to the left and right repeatedly until they were balanced. I then moved the name column over more since it obviously needed to be larger than the soon-to-be colored boxes. 

The last thing I had to do, which also took me the longest time, was to create the top border. This was one of the most important aspects of the tracker for me, other than the tracker information. I felt like the design for the border needed to be based on this year’s theme, which is nature. I also felt as if the border design would essentially make or break a school’s interest in it, as that is the most fun and personable aspect of the design. I ultimately illustrated two scenes, which allowed for the two trackers to be different but closely related. The first tracker, for classroom use, showcased a landscape of grass and trees with a couple of falling leaves from the sky. The other tracker contained an abundance of falling leaves in the traditional Fall colors with a faint sky background. I felt like these designs embodied the year’s nature theme, gave a reminder of Fall since the event is held in October, and seemed very playful. I wanted these illustrations to feel relaxing and calm, and to remind children about the outdoors since they go out less and less as technology advances.

Final Thoughts & What I Learned

I am still awaiting feedback on whether or not the trackers were helpful. I hope to hear back from the participating schools in the next week or two, which I will then make revisions to the tracker for its use in the coming years.

I believe that designing the tracker was quite the learning experience since I had never created a calendar tracker from scratch, nor for someone else. The closest thing I had ever made was quick sketches of a “week at a glance” perspective of my ever-changing schedule. 

I thoroughly enjoyed designing the tracker for this event. It gave me a sense of responsibility and tranquility over the last few weeks during the ideation and designing phases. It was a nice experience to have to think for someone else and to be in another person’s shoes. It was even more interesting having to create something for a person who doesn’t even know they need a particular thing yet. Additionally, I found it helpful to my practice and ideation to be forced to consider patterns, colors, typefaces, layouts, and negative spaces in a way that would cause my design to make-it-or-break-it. I like knowing that I was, hopefully, able to help at least one person feel more organized, accomplished, or ambitious during Read Aloud to a Child Week.

Photographs of the Process

Initial Sketch of Tracker - Ideation Process

Sketch of Tracker - More Concrete Breakdown of Space and Layout

Illustration for Banner of the Grade Tracker

Illustration for Banner of the Class Tracker

Final Tracker Design - Class Tracker

Final Tracker Design - Class Tracker (Additional Pages)

Final Tracker Design - Grade Tracker

[celtfather]

What Are You Doing While Listening to Celtic Music #432

I want your feedback. What are you doing while listening to the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast? This week, I'm gonna share a bunch of feedback from the past couple o'years.

Poisoned Dwarf, Seldom Sober, Songs For Ceilidh, Mitchell & Vincent, Ciunas, Kennedy's Kitchen, Alasdair Fraser & Tony McManus, Kellswater Bridge, Captain John Stout, The Jig Is Up! from First Steps, Brobdingnagian Bards, Dylan Walshe, Sylvia Woods, The Jackdaws, Claire Roche, Black Market Haggis, Crepuscule, The Round Table, Tartanic, The Celtic Kitchen Party, Moch Pryderi, Teton Skye, Alexander James Adams, Molly's Revenge, Celtic Woman, O'hanleigh, Ciana, Vintage Wildflower, Katherine Nagy, Bellow Bridge, Jil Chambless

I hope you enjoyed this week's show. If you did, please share the show with ONE friend.

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is dedicated to growing our community and helping the incredible artists who so generously share their music. If you find music you love, buy their albums, shirts, and songbooks, follow them on Spotify, see their shows, and drop them an email to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast.

Remember also to Subscribe to the Celtic Music Magazine. Every week, I'll send you a few cool bits of Celtic music news. It's a quick and easy way to plug yourself into more great Celtic culture. Plus, you'll get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free, just for signing up today. Thank you again for being a Celt of Kindness.

THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:05 - "Bolt The Door" by Poisoned Dwarf from Bolt The Door

5:58 - WELCOME

7:25 - "The Ferryman / Mason's Apron" by Seldom Sober from Six Months of Confession

11:24 - "Rothsea-0" by Songs For Ceilidh from Falling Forward

14:36 - Alexis Fickes emailed: "Hey Marc, I am Alexis and I just wanted to tell you that I love the podcast, especially #426. I listen to the podcast on the bus and while I paint. Absolutely amazing. I love that there’s someone who appreciates the artists and music like this. Keep doing you!!"

Simon Dillon emailed a photo: "Hello Marc. Although over month ago, this photo shows me driving back from Canberra to my home town Bendigo (700km) while listening to your podcast.   Myself and my friend, and fellow musician, Keven McCarthy had just spent the Easter long weekend at the Australian National Folk Festival presenting “Songs From The Australian Tradition” session on each day of the festival.  Australia has many traditional songs. Many of these songs use traditional Irish melodies or are even parodies of traditional Irish songs.

The Nation Folk Festival was one of 3 festivals the Kevin and I attended in South Eastern Australia over 17 days around Easter.  We started at the Lake Cullulleraine Music Festival, then the National Folk Festival and ended up at the Koroit Irish Festival. By the time I arrived back home, we had covered 2800 km and listened to many Irish and Celtic Music Podcasts, the quintessential road trip podcast. Keep up the great work.

16:13 - "Seven Stars, The Sloe" by Mitchell & Vincent from The Preservation of Fire

19:18 - "Celtic Tiger" by Ciunas from High Time

22:59 - Ruben Lopez emailed a photo: "I heard the podcast #393, and was drawing. Here's the drawing. Have a good one."

Alexander Randall 5th emailed a photo: "Hey Marc: I put your sticker on my car... I should put one on the boat, but only fish and mermaids would see it..."

Conor Coll emailed: "Hey Marc, Just replying to let you know I received the music you sent and I am currently listening to them, still trying to decide between my favourite!

As an Irish man I have been hearing Celtic music all my life and it takes me back to a lovely atmosphere when I listen to these tracks. Recently, I have been following a band which I had done a little camera work with in the past, The Ronan Gallagher Band. They are very talented and are from the region I come from, so I am a big fan of their music. They are what inspired me to look for more traditional music which lead me to this newsletter."

Submit music to the podcast at 4celts.com.

25:00 - "Eoin O'neill Has Gone To Clare" by Kennedy's Kitchen from The Whiskey of Truth

30:25 - "Lady Louisa Gordon's Strathspey / The Highlands of Banffshire / The Merrymaking" by Alasdair Fraser & Tony McManus from Return to Kintail

34:50 - Marshall Blosser emailed: "Greetings Celtfather, I've been listening to your podcast for well over a decade.  We've circled around nearby cities, but never met. You moved to New Orleans just as I moved from there to the Mississippi gulf coast. And now you are in my old stomping grounds of Atlanta.

My family is moving from the Mississippi gulf coast to the eastern most  city in North America (St John's NL) so my wife can get her PhD in analytical chemistry. (I know you understand about moving to support your wife)

We will be driving there mid December (all 54 hours of it).  Apart from episode 421 the long drive - that's an understatement - we would like to have a few  CDs to pass the time on the road. I know there is a large Celtic music scene up there. Do you know of any St John's or Newfoundland Celtic artists that we could buy to support and listen to on the way there?

Thanks muchly,

P.S. I am an aspiring writer and your podcasts have inspired several stories (now if I could just get published) Txs again. Keep the Celtic light burning, in all its colors"

Marshall Blosser emailed: "Marc, I have enjoyed your podcast for over 12 years. The variety of music you bring to this show never fails to inspire and amaze me. The fact that you follow the roots of the music and the tendrils of its influence show just how connected the world is and how music is one of those things that can unite everyone. You understand and respect that musically there is no one Celtic musical voice. But rather that it is a rich and varied chorus of voices that make up that sound. I applaud the fact that you are seeking musicians and tunes for a Celtic LGBTQIA+ Pride special next year. The fact that you stand for the diversity that makes this music so touching and valuable is wonderful and so needed everywhere. Peace and may you never lose your laughter, your joy or your autoharp Marshall Blosser"

38:08 - "Keys to the Castle" by Kellswater Bridge from The Proof Is in the Pudding

42:32 - "Hail to the Autumn" by Captain John Stout from Love Abides

46:35 - James Cope emailed: "Hi Marc,Your ebook is a wonderful gift, thank you. I see the changes in the music business, some beneficial, some not so much. Your ideas and knowledge help me as a long time, and older generation musician “unpaid Professional” (mostly) to find where I can land and have the best impact on the art form.

Being upbeat in these changing times is a choice and you are an inspiration. As a friend of mine once said, “Damn! Jim you have made something from nothing!” So…. Damn Marc!! you have made something from nothing. Thanks again."

Melinda emailed: "Marc, I have subscribed to the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast - I am still listening to shows from years ago, which was where you played the Joss song, and the "Don't Drink with Hobbits" song, which I LOVE!  Shared it with my son who just cracked up with me.

We are in El Paso - as far West as you can get!  Have not been to any of the festivals in Texas, but go to Phoenix each year to enjoy the Ren Fest there.  Have been to the Ren Fest in Bonner Springs, KS, in MD (think they shut that one down, but it was huge and wonderful!), and AZ.  Actually, I am still listening to your podcasts when you still lived in Austin, so didn't know that's not where you lived now :) Would love to see you live.  Will have to make sure to listen to the more up to date podcasts to get your latest events - or check your website. Keep up the great work! Slan Agat!

49:33 - "There's Worse Then That Around - Polka Niall - John Walsh" by The Jig Is Up! from First Steps

55:33 - "The Prettiest Hobbit" by Brobdingnagian Bards from I Will Not Sing Along

55:54 - Todd Thorne emailed photos: "Hello Mark, From the attached few pictures, I’ll bet you can instantly figure out where I took the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast this past month. For ages my wife and I aspired to visit Australia and New Zealand. Being two unabashed geeks, we could not make a trip Down Under without dropping in for a tour of Hobbiton. What an amazing day it was conjuring up the feeling that, at any moment, Sam, Frodo or Bilbo might emerge to challenge all of us interlopers in The Shire. While that particular encounter didn’t happen, I did get to talk up the podcast to fellow tourists plus our guide in response to their questions regarding my catchy and quite fetching t-shirt. Hopefully, you’ll pick up a few new worldly fans as a result.

I’ve been a devoted listener to the podcast for many years and credit multiple episodes for enriching and expanding my collection of Celtic music. At last count, some 15 artists have joined my growing mix, which all came about only because you featured them in an episode after they submitted their hopes, ambitions and livelihood for consideration. Thanks to you and all the incredible indie Celtic artists for providing us a way to connect and support what we love.

In closing, here’s an idea to ponder. What about a future Celtic Invasion Vacation to New Zealand? After all, Dunedin in the South Island has a mighty strong Scottish heritage and the Celtic spirit is alive and well I hear. Not to mention Hobbiton beckoning away on the North Island. A bit ambitious perhaps but it would be up there in the Trip of a Lifetime category, which I can definitely vouch for.

My best to you, your family and all the fans in the 2019 new year. Sláinte!

More about A Long Expected Party, next one is in 2020

58:38 - "Cut It Down" by Dylan Walshe from All Manner of Ways

1:02:56 - "Metamorphosis" by Sylvia Woods from The Harp of Brandiswhiere

1:05:37 - Margaret Zavala emailed: "Mark I just want to say thank you for the podcast that you put on. When I travel the world I can still listen to my celtic music. A few shows back, you featured Bangers and mash. well they’re playing near my hometown. in fact playing for two weeks just a five minute drive from my house. thank you for keeping me a contact such wonderful bands"

Rachel Bryant emailed: "Marc, Just dropping you a line to say how much I'm enjoying all your podcasts!! This time of year, I especially appreciate holiday music that is different (and better) than what I'm forced to hear in public.

Today, I am cleaning the house ahead of company, and enjoying the music and a very thematic beer, pic attached. I wish I could mail you some... maybe it's available in your area? I highly recommend this beer.

I try to wear my podcast shirt so I can spread the word! I made a new group of friends that way just a week ago, and we swapped stories of our favorite music venues and Irish/Celtic festivals.

Happy Holidays to you and your family!"

Subscribe to Celtic Christmas Podcast. It starts back up in November!

1:07:14 - "Erin's Revenge" by The Jackdaws from Colors

1:10:59 - "My Mother" by Claire Roche from From Then Until the Here and Now

1:14:58 - Darius emailed photos: "Hello Marc, I came across your wonderful podcast recently & subscribed!

Regarding voting, although all your featured musicians are wonderful, when asked to vote for a specific episode's featured musician, perhaps asking to vote for that particular/featured song would be more appropriate? By that I mean, I have gone back & searched the bands featured but found 2 or 3 songs as my personal favourites. Absolutely no offence to the great bands but I wouldn't go as far as voting them as my favourite bands, rather songs :)

Also, what do you think about either as the final episode of the year or the first episode of the year, featuring the top rated songs of the year, voted by the listeners?

Anyway thank you again and I promise to become a paid subscriber once I have some income.

Currently in the process of starting a sustainable, holistic, self sufficient & off-grid Ecovillage in Canada. More on that if you are interested. Namaste"

Vote in the Celtic Top 20.

Begum Unveroglu emailed a photo: "Hello there! I am listening to Scarborough fair episode on a train trip from Ankara to Istanbul. I am loving your show! By chance, I had opportunity to hear my favorite American Irish Music group the Gothard Sisters!!! Much love"

1:17:26 - "4 Concertina Reel Set" by Black Market Haggis from Better Than It Sounds

1:20:14 - "Rob Roy MacGregor" by Crepuscule from Hap and Rowe

1:23:15 - Dan Kulhanek emailed: "Marc,I was able to receive the downloads. Thank you so much!  I use them on my running playlist. I have your podcast to thank for where I am today.

My wife’s family is Scottish and Irish. I am of German heritage. After attending several St. Patrick’s Day celebrations with them, I really started to listen to the music. I stumbled upon your podcast shortly thereafter.

I was a casual listener for a number of years. After the economic collapse of 2008, I found myself without a job. I went back to school to become a nurse and found that I needed to learn how to speed read in order to keep up with the assignments. I used the jigs and reels in your podcast to help keep me on tempo and keep my speed up.

Fast forward several years later....

My daughter wanted to take dance lessons. My mother in law told her that if we enrolled her in Irish or Highland Dance she would pay for lessons. My daughter settled on Highland Dance and we found a group that offered lessons. It was a pipe and drum band with a dance troop. They also offered bagpipe lessons for free. After listening to your podcast for several years, my love for the music had grown so much that I jumped on the opportunity to learn the bagpipes.

I now have become an active member of the band, performing for gigs and the competition team, but I also have branched out on my own as a solo piper.

I look forward to your podcast every week. Please keep up the great work and we’ll keep listening!”

1:25:14 - "Love Is Ever the Strongest Spell" by The Round Table from Tales from the Turning Leaf

1:29:44 - "Jiggy Biddy's Slur Horn" by Tartanic from Uncharted

1:32:46 - Gerry Corr emailed a video: "Marc, Had a great evening listening to your Podcasts…….sitting on the deck on a cool, late summer evening enjoying sweet Uisce Beatha"

GERRY CORR VIDEO

Mike Coombs emailed a photo: "Dear Marc, I really love your podcasts! Thank you so much for introducing me to loads of superb bands and singers that otherwise I wouldn’t have heard. I listen mostly in my car. I’m a peripatetic guitar/bass/banjo teacher in the UK. I also play in a barn dance band and compose mostly acoustic guitar based instrumental music.

I hope to be recording my first solo album with a couple of Celtic style tracks in the next few months."

1:34:05 - "Pride of Newfoundland" by The Celtic Kitchen Party from Sociable

1:37:42 - "Welsh Medley" by Moch Pryderi from Jig Moch

1:41:39 - André Paz emailed: "Hey Marc Gunn! I'm a brasilian biologist, musician and flute player. I love your Podcasts, and I always listen to you, mainly while working/studying.

I've started with the Celtic music because of a brasilian band called Tuatha de Danann. I'd like to indicate them for you. I just listened to the "Summer Road Trip #361", and I heard a Brasilian band, Braia! They have almost the same musicians of the band I mentioned. Here follows some other names I remembered, mainly with flute or Whistles on their songs:

Kernunna (BR),

Tuatha de Danann (BR) ,

Braia (BR) ,

Flook,

Luar na Lubre,

MuteFish,

Thanks for your very nice mood, always, and for  your inspiration! Enjoy the summer there! Hugs from Brasil"

1:43:04 - "I'll Neither Spin Nor Weave" by Teton Skye from Teton Skye

1:45:55 - "Harvest Season - Second Cutting" by Alexander James Adams from Harvest Season - Second Cutting

1:48:47 - Erika Burkhardt tweeted: "Thanks for episode #371 of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. Putting it to good use this morning planning lessons at the park."

Sasha, the Travelin' Quaker emailed a photo: "Hi Marc, I saved up several episodes of the show for us to listen to as we hiked part of the Barrow Way on our trip to Ireland (we are still here). It has been great catching live music and recognizing many of the songs I have heard on the show. Thanks again for an amazing show!"

1:49:30 - "Emmet's Hedgehog" by Molly's Revenge With Moira Smiley from The Western Shore

1:54:10 - "Ae Fond Kiss" by Celtic Woman from Ancient Land Deluxe

1:58:03 - Bonfilio Acencio emailed: "Hi Marc. I have been loving the podcast for like 3 years. I work outside landscaping so the music fits the surroundings, although Tennessee hills are not as great as Ireland it will do. But right now I have the great luck to go back and pick some of my favorite episodes, my girlfriend and I are going to the beach and I get to DJ the road trip (well really you do) Give my love to the family and ill let you know how the trip go's. Keep up the amazing work."

Annie Moisan emailed: "Allo Marc, I am from Québec, Canada. I am french so sorry for my english!!! Just for tell you that I love your podcast. I listen it during I'm working (I'm a IT programmer at home). We love Irish music. My husband and I have a duo and we play Irish music not professionnaly but we did a "home CD" two years ago and went to Ireland 4 times now. We like to sing Irish songs in French, English and Irish. We do little show with the projection of our photos of Ireland during we are playing for transmit our love of this country. I specially like harmony voices like The Selkie Girls, Lumiere, Sora, High Kings, Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer. But also Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Caladh Nua, Barrule. Thanks a lot to promote Irish music. We discovered on your podcast many signers and groups that we love. Still continue! With great regards! Annie"

2:00:10 - "Town of Strabane" by O'hanleigh from Of Irish Crossings Told

2:04:19 - "Tom McElvogue's / The Monaghan Twig / Woman of the House" by Ciana from Loneliest Road

2:07:40 - Daniel L emailed photos: "Hey mark! I love the podcast, thanks for being such a dedicated collector and distributer of Celtic music. I listen through Mixcloud, and love to dig into old episodes daily.

My father was a piper and flute player. your podcast is a great way to keep the traditional music I was raised on, in my life.

Here's a pic of me at work (I'm on the left side of the left rig) we rig suspended scaffolding and then paint beautiful signs and advertisements. This one is for Gucci in downtown manhattan. If you zoom I've got my headphones in, listening to your podcast of course!

An (almost) finished picture. And one more of our truck once we packed it all up. Keep doing your thing! Much love from nyc"

2:08:37 - "Sweet Bride" by Vintage Wildflowers from Lovely Madness

2:12:27 - "Gypsy Lady" by Katherine Nagy from Single

2:15:35 - "An Buachillin Ban" by Bellow Bridge from Cautionary Tales

2:19:28 - Jay Martin emailed from San Francisco: "Marc, All right, I Spotified. The first song I heard was "Last Gift" by Marys Lane. That song answers a question from Michael Truman Kavanaugh in show 376. How did that happen? Thanks for the music."

Listen to the Irish & Celtic Music Playlist on Spotify

2:21:46 - "When First I Came to Caledonia" by Jil Chambless from The Ladies Go Dancing

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather. To subscribe, go to Apple Podcasts or to our website where you can become a Patron of the Podcast for as little as $1 per episode. Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com/.

  CELTIC PODCAST NEWS

* Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. My name is Marc Gunn. I am a Celtic musician and podcaster. This show is dedicated to the indie Celtic musicians. I want to ask you to support these artists. Share the show with your friends. And find more episodes at celticmusicpodcast.com. You can also support this podcast on Patreon.

New to the show?

Listen for free

Each episode list the showing times for each song played on the show. This makes it easy for you to skip around or find an artist you love

Vote for each of your favorite artist in each episode of the show

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Listen to the next episode of the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast every week

TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through it's culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos. Join the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com!

VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 With the new year comes a new votes in the Celtic Top 20. This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. Just list the show number, and the name of as many bands in the episode as you like. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2019 episode.  Vote Now!

THANK YOU PATRONS OF THE PODCAST! Because of Your kind and generous support, this show comes out every week and has done so since 2014. You can pledge a dollar or more per episode and cap how much you want to spend each month over on Patreon.

Your generosity funds the creation, promotion and production of the show. It allows us to attract new listeners and to help our community grow. Plus, you get to hear episodes before regular listeners. When we hit a milestone, you get an extra-long episode. We are super close to getting a two-hour instrumental special.

I want to thank our Patrons of the Podcast:

You can become a generous Patron of the Podcast at http://patreon.com/celticpodcast.

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Update: A Year After The Disaster, Pokémon Go Fest Is A Success

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=6804 Update: A Year After The Disaster, Pokémon Go Fest Is A Success - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=6804 Update 3: The rain was unwanted, but the clouds that kept the heat down were more than welcome as trainers walked across the spacious 1.8-mile course Niantic set up in Lincoln Park. Professor Willow's new five-part research quest was easier than his first challenge that appeared earlier this year. After completing mission 3, trainers were greeted by the second Mythical Pokémon in the game: Celebi. Much like the Mew encounter, Celebi can only be caught in AR, and will escape the ball numerous times before being added to the Pokédex. Celebi is the biggest addition to the game at the festival. No new legendary Pokémon debuted, and Torkoal is the only regional to travel to Chicago. Shiny Pokémon also spawn at a much higher rate, making some of the older critters more attractive for catching purposes. Outside of a few hiccups with Verizon's network, the first day of the festival was a success. Players barely took their eyes off of their phones, and I assume almost everyone stayed in the park until they caught Celebi. The number of exclusives offered is disappointing, especially given last year's barely functioning event had more (Unown, Heracross, Lugia, and Articuno). At the end of the day, though, the game worked, and that's what mattered most. Niantic shied away from the player-intensive raids in favor of stability. Maybe next year will bring a more ambitious attempt. Update 2: The rain continues to fall periodically, but it isn't stopping people from catching hundreds of Pokémon. Most players are trying to complete a new five-part quest from Professor Willow. The activities haven't been too difficult so far: spin stops, hatch eggs, and catch seven Unown (this one is sure to make players not at the festival envious). Most players haven't had any issues with the game, although people on Verizon's network are experiencing connection issues at certain parts of Lincoln Park – those mostly with heavy pockets of people and narrow walking paths. The rewards have been significant. Ludicolo and Metagross were rewarded for catching ten of their Pokémon type. No gym battles are in the park, but they are appearing nearby in the city. Lugia, who debuted at last year's Pokémon Go Fest, is back for a repeat performance, and is available worldwide. More as it develops... Update: Light rain is falling in Chicago, but trainers are still out in full force catching new Pokémon an hour before the festival officially kicks off. Many people woke up to the surprise of new Pokémon spawning around the globe. Alolan versions of Geodude and Diglett are out there, as are shiny versions of Plusle and Minun. Go hunt them down! Rain clouds and a sense of dread hang over Pokémon Go Fest on the eve of its gates opening to the public. Heavy rain is likely the least of the worries for people who traveled from around the world to attend this gathering of Pokémon Go fans in Chicago's Lincoln Park. These trainers, as they like to be called, are more concerned with the stability of the game, and wondering if they'll even get the chance to play it. At last year's inaugural Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago's Grant Park, the game was unplayable for most of the 20,000 people in attendance. As people baked in the sun, and the hours ticked by without hardly anyone being able to catch a single Pokémon, angry chants of "fix the game" and "refund" grew in volume. Niantic didn't have any answers for the game blackout. Most cellular networks were overloaded by people trying to connect to them, and even if they did, the game itself wasn't letting people in. In the late hours of the festival, Niantic expanded the size of the digital play space that only people with tickets could access. Stretching a couple of miles into the heart of Chicago, showgoers dispersed from Grant Park and were able to finally start playing the game in the less occupied areas of the city. This switch saved the festival, and trainers walked away somewhat relieved, as their Pokédexes were filled with rare Unowns, Heracrosses, and the first Legendaries in the game. Despite getting the Pokémon they wanted in the end, people who attended still felt the Fest was a bust, and filed a class-action lawsuit against Niantic. The company settled it earlier this year for $1.5 million. Niantic clearly believes that large gatherings of players are possible in Pokémon Go. The company has successfully united players at other events around the globe, but the United States, and Chicago in particular, have proven tricky. To see Niantic return to the scene of the crime in Chicago is puzzling, but perhaps is a sign that the company has confidence in the game's performance. The first notable change is moving the festival from Grant Park, which was a circle that grouped everyone in a large cluster, to the more spacious Lincoln Park. The hope is that trainers will be spread out and the networks and game won't be overloaded. Niantic has set up a 1.8-mile course for players in the park with activities littered along the way. Cell coverage should also be better. Chicago Sun Times contacted four of the largest cellular networks, and learned there will be more COWs (cell on wheels) and COLTs (cell on light trucks) in the area. Verizon is bringing in two COLTs, AT&T has two COWs, Sprint one COW, and T-Mobile says it will have four additional cell sites on hand. AT&T's COWs are expected to boost performance capacity by 452 percent. Niantic is also beginning the festival with an expanded digital play space. If trainers run into issues in the park, they can immediately vacate it and head into the city to hopefully have better luck. Why are trainers taking a chance on this festival again? For the exclusive Pokémon that will likely only be at the event. We already know that the region-based Torkoal will migrate from India to Chicago for two days. Rain or shine, Pokémon Go fans will be out in full force this weekend. Here's hoping they have better luck filling out their Pokédexes with new critters than last year. I will be one of the many walking through the park with my eyes glued to my phone. You can read about my experience tomorrow, and I'll also share all of the breaking news as it hits. Source link