#also!! I know I dnf but I glanced through the rest of it and this character seems to be a bog standard ‘supportive friend’ character

[luminarai]

You know when you read a piece of fiction - book, short story, fanfic, what have you - and there’s just one tiny detail that just takes you completely out of the story?

I just read a passage in a piece of original fiction where the main character hugs a friend and tells us she smells like the ‘delicate rose and jasmine of her familiar Chanel No 5’ and my brain just screeched to a halt. Tell me you googled ‘famous fancy perfume’ and picked the first two scent notes you saw without telling me. Many things can be said about that particular fragrance I don’t think anybody with a working nose would describe it as ‘delicate florals’.

[lightns881]

DTeam Tumblr Demographics Survey Results (Part 2):

What does DTeamblr look like, what does it have to do with MCYT history, and why does it look like a rainbow?

I’ll make an educated guess here and say y'all enjoyed my last post (totally unrelated to the way I gained almost 50 followers overnight). Anyhow, thank you so much for the overwhelming support! I’m so glad a lot of you felt you could relate to my deep-dive into the leading personality type on DTeam Tumblr. It took me so many hours to write and research, and as a math major and honors student, it’s no easy feat, so I’m so grateful for the attention it got!

Today we’re discussing the general demographics of DTeam Tumblr and why they might look the way they do. Number 8 will blow your mind! So make sure to keep reading and hit that little grey heart and arrow at the bottom if you like it, so more people get to see it! Thanks for your support! Now, let’s jump straight into the post!

Your Daily Dose of Data

From the 449 responses we received, these are some pie charts displaying the gender, age, and sexuality of all respondents.

Image Description: Female (52.8%), Non-Binary (37.4%), Male (9.8%)

Image Description: 16-17 (37%), 13-15 (31.4%), 18 and over (29.4%), 12 and under (2.2%)

Image Description: Bisexual/Pansexual (54.1%), Homosexual (16%), Asexual (14.7%), Other (7.8%), Heterosexual (7.3%)

Mmhm, delicious! Y'all ready to dig into these stats? Because I don’t know about you, but they certainly don’t strike me as what the general population looks like!

Welcome to Tumblr, the Only Community Where Straight Men are the Minority

So these statistics certainly didn’t take me by surprise. Mostly because the DNF Shipper Survey I took some time ago revealed a similar trend. Not to mention, Tumblr is probably the QUEEREST internet community on the planet. 

Funny enough, the survey revealed a shocking number of ZERO heterosexual males respondents. I’ll say it louder for the people in the back. ZERO straight males were recorded out of 449 respondents for this survey!

Now, this isn’t surprising for the Tumblr community by itself, but I can say I’m somewhat surprised in terms of the MCYT Tumblr community. (Obviously, the survey specified DTeam Tumblr, but there is a big overlap between both communities, so I will be using them interchengably when it seems relevant.)

Let’s break this down. The survey reveals the largest age population is 16-17, though it’s not by a great margin in comparison to 13-15 and 18 and older, which doesn’t surprise me either. Some of the major critics of the DTeam Fandom and other MCYT Fandoms love to claim the fanbase’s majority age range lies with children and pre-teens. While it’s an undeniable fact children are drawn to Minecraft, it’s also a misconception to paint it as solely a community for younger viewers.

In the MCYT Tumblr and DTeam Tumblr communities, specifically, we see this is not the case. Only 1/3 of the respondents of this survey are under the age of 16 (you could attribute part of it to the fact younger people might be less inclined to participate in this survey, but it is still a notable difference). I can’t say these age ranges are similar in other parts of the community like DTeam Twitter, Tik Tok, or Reddit, but if I had to make a guess, I’d say Tumblr lies toward the older of the bunch, with Reddit being the oldest and Tik Tok being the youngest (I do hope to perform this survey on some of the other communities, so please stay until the end if you want to help with that).

One of the likely explanations to why the ages for DTeam Tumblr look this way is the fact a big chunk of the community has likely been watching MCYT for a long time (even with breaks in between). I, myself, used to watch channels like PopularMMOs, Aphmau, and PrestonPlayz as a kid, and I presume many of you are familiar with them as well. With the resurgence of MCYT in the past year, it likely drew a lot of the older viewers in addition to the new ones.

But enough about age. What I really want to highlight on this post is the attraction of queer individuals to DTeam Tumblr and MCYT as a whole.

Why is the current MCYT Fandom so queer in comparison to the previous generations?

This is a huge open-ended question and considering I can only capture so much of the DTeam and MCYT community, the rest of this post should be taken solely as a theoretical analysis as opposed to fact.

With that out of the way, let’s start by discussing the shift MCYT has undergone over the years (I promise this will circle back to the question of queerness in the MCYT fandom, but we need some background before we can come up with a decent theory).

When Minecraft was first released, it proved to be a monumental change in the gaming industry. This simple little indie game took the world by storm. It was so vastly different from what the general population generally viewed gaming as (first-person shooters, story-driven games, action games, etc.) Not to mention, it didn’t exactly solely appeal to only a small margin of gamers, those being white cis males.

The gaming industry has notoriously been known in the past for its heteronormative community and general prejudice toward minorities. Though it has gone through a significant change over the decades, we certainly can’t say it’s fully gone.

Yet for whatever reason, the recent MCYT has taken the interest of so many queer people in comparison to other gaming YouTube communities. Why? Why are queer people so drawn to this community? And, more precisely, why does it feel so different than the old MCYT? Lastly, how does this relate to the conclusion about the leading personalities of this fandom we made in the last post?

The Niche Communities of MCYT Over the Years

MCYT has always been a huge, over-saturated genre of YouTube with content appealing to a variety of audiences. It’s dominated gaming content for years, and I think we can all safely say it’s never been bigger than it is today.

So why is it that just now it feels like the queerness of the fandom is popping off? Why now as opposed to say five years ago when MCYT was at another one of it’s strongest stages?

It seems like the community has made a tremendous shift in relation to breaking gender norms and LGBTQ+ subjects, not only in the fans but within the creators themselves. Was flirting and calling a pretty-boy streamer pet names as normal in the past as it is today? Were straight gamer guys putting on dresses and a full-face of make-up as supported back then? Were “marriages” and “pregnancies” within Minecraft boys an everyday occurrence like they are now? How is it that MCYT has dominated a Twitch dating show where flirting with the gay host and among straight contestants themselves is just another bit of entertainment? Where is this all coming from?

Recently, I watched a 2 hour documentary depicting all of the stages of Minecraft YouTube and how it has changed over the years. If you haven’t seen it and you have some time to spare, I HIGHLY recommend it! It’s very informative, and it honestly gave me such a strong sense of nostalgia that makes me choke up every time I think about it. I’ll link it below.

The documentary does a great job at exploring the different niche communities that dominated MCYT since it first took off. Some of such communities include the basic Let’s Players, the team-based Let’s Play channels like How2Minecraft, the roleplay story-centric ones like Aphmau and Samgladiator, the tutorial, building and technical side like Mumbo and Grian, the PVP-centric Bedwars or Hypixel channels, the Machinima community, the comedy side like ExplosiveTNT, the parody music videos, and so many more. All of the mentioned communities have dominated Minecraft at one point or another, many of them still having a rippling effect and/or a loyal community today. All of these communities have certain aspects that define them, some of which parallel the current overtaking content in the present.

How can we compare MyStreet to the Dream SMP?

Taking Aphmau as an example, her MyStreet series had a TREMENDOUS success a few years ago, racking in millions of views and bringing in a lot of money that eventually allowed her to hire voice actors and increase the production of mentioned episodes. The roleplay series was so successful it ran for six seasons!

Now, let’s compare that to the Dream SMP. It seems like a big comparison to be making considering they appear so different at first glance. For once, Aphmau is just one channel whose audience caters toward girls and younger people who enjoy romance. The series is set-up in an episodic-format that resembles more of a TV series than actual Minecraft videos.

Meanwhile, the Dream SMP is a collection of content creators with a mix of improvised storylines and the occasional regular video that resembles more of a Let’s Play series than a RP series.

You could say the only true comparisons to draw out of these two are the popularity they had/have and the profit they brought to their respective creators. 

However, there’s two other key similarities that you’ll find not only within these two specific examples, but many other channels and communities as well. Story and characters.

MyStreet’s story aspect is fairly obvious seeing as it’s a episodic series that focuses on a fictional story. The Dream SMP’s story aspect isn’t as clear, but it’s evident there is a story playing out in the foreground and background, whether intentional or unintentional, or improvised or not.

Character is where some of you might start to question me. It’s obvious MyStreet has characters. I mean, it is a fictional story, after all. But the Dream SMP? Light, they’re obviously people!

Well, my answer to that is yes and no--sort of. The Dream SMP’s story heavily relies on roleplay, bits as you might call them. Events that aren’t necessarily planned out as a fictional plot like the typical MyStreet episode is, but they aren’t exactly real. Schlatt is obviously not a villain in real life, he just likes to impersonate as one for the narrative. Wilbur isn’t crazy, but it’s a way to spice up the heroic story surrounding Tommy and him.

It’s video-game improv. Except the actors behind the content just so happen to be real people playing off the personalities and “brands” they have obtained. 

Brands. It all boils down to this. In the entertainment business, without a clear vision of your project and a clear way to brand what your consumer intakes, your project will likely not find a lot of success.

There’s a reason why Tommy plays off his loudness, using an overexaggerated laugh that although may not be completely fake, it is likely not the laugh he uses everyday. Or why BadBoyHalo is this supposed innocent muffin who doesn’t understand the crafting table meme and other references that are fairly easy to google and find the meaning of. Or why Sapnap is this chaotic being who loves starting pet wars and we love to paint as an arsonist in the Dream SMP. While all of these personality traits may be a part of their true selves, they’re played up for the camera--for the story. They act as the personas that define their characters in the narrative.

They have a clear brand and vision that appeals to the audience and makes them tune in on the daily to see how they all come together. It’s like roleplaying a more extreme version of yourself, one that brings home the money.

Story and characters run across every entertainment outlet. They define their brand. Aphmau has her characters and series. Hermitcraft has a set of memorable personalities and episodic videos that formulate its own story that is less like a narrative and more of a history of the server. ExplodingTNT has his recurring cast and comedic sketches. Most of these niche communities have a form of story and character defining them. It’s how they achieve a clear sense of branding and cater to a specific audience.

Queer Theory in MCYT

Having said all that, why does the MCYT of today draw in so many queer viewers?

Let’s think about this. In my last post, I ended by mentioning DTeam Tumblr is a sort of safe haven for INFP and INxx types who might be placed in the “other” category by society. INFPs, specially, are predisposed for escapism--one common form of it being fiction and entertainment. Not to mention, INFPs are feeling types who, as introverts, seek a personable connection. It’s why it’s so easy for them to obsess over book characters or fall in love with content creators.

Now, let’s imagine a whole community of LGBTQ+ INFP and INxx types. Actually, scratch that, we don’t even have to imagine it.

It’s what our community looks like today.

And why are so many so drawn to the DTeam and Dream SMP of all things? It’s a personable storyline that essentially forms a direct tie to the viewer. Unlike pre-recorded fictional TV series you tune into on your device, the Dream SMP is a whole load of chaos that blurs the lines between reality and fiction where fans can directly connect to creators and get to know them as people through a storyline that features sub-textual queer themes and non-conforming behaviors.

The MCYT content creator community of today is more non-conforming than ever before, and knowing this whole fact, knowing that many of them might place themselves in the “other” category or at the very least aren’t afraid to break the norms and be seen in that light, is a comfort in itself for LGBTQ+ INFP types. Once again, it’s a safe space that helps you escape from the troubles of real life, one you relate to.

Okay. So although this does answer why the fans look like they do, what about the creators themselves? Are we really supposed to believe this all came through naturally? That a bunch of straight guys suddenly decided wearing dresses was something they wanted to do?

I don’t mean to sound cynical here, and I’m in no way trying to insinuate creators have solely some sort of corrupt ulterior motive. Things are never as simple as they look. However, the truth is, a part of it lies on the attention it’s gotten.

I’ve talked a lot about DreamNotFound and the way Dream uses it as a marketing ploy. I stand by my point. However, he’s not the only one who does this in the MCYT community. Why did Finn suddenly go from wearing a dress to cross-dressing as a girl for a whole week? Why are so many creators suddenly deciding wearing dresses is fun? Why does every freaking straight MCYT actively want to flirt with George nowadays?

Let’s just let Techno’s favorite word answer this for us: clout.

It gets attention from one of the largest historically underserved minority community in the entertainment business. We might not be able to see gay flirting in every Netflix TV show or guys not minding dresses and getting fake marriages, but you are certainly going to get at least one of those in every Dream SMP stream and video you tune into. It gets attention. It brings home the money. And do I blame them? Not really.

Interestingly enough, there’s a lot of analytical posts on the MCYT Tumblr community that discuss the dangers of these tactics and why gay jokes and the way queer subtext is treated by MCYT creators is harmful. Despite this, it still attracts such a huge community of queers. So why exactly would queer people actively watch something that’s offensive or harmful to us?

I have a lot more to say about this topic and the morality behind Dream’s tactics, but I’m out of breath for today, so I’ll talk about it in my next post. What better way to start the conversation about the DNF and Karlnap questions of the survey than a good ol’ discussion on the morality of queerbaiting and the likes?

If you got this far, I’d appreciate it if you liked and reblogged this post if you enjoyed it and/or learned something new! Also, important news, I would really like to perform a similar study on the DTeam Twitter Community to measure the differences in demographics across platforms. I would REALLY appreciate it if you guys could go like, retweet and share the link I posted on my Twitter about it (tweet will be linked in the reblog below) so it reaches more of the DTeam Twitter community!

However, if you filled out the survey yourself here or you associate more with DTeam Tumblr than DTeam Twitter please DO NOT fill out the survey again! I’m trying to make sure it reaches the audience that mains on Twitter, but I need a little help with that since I don’t have as big of an influence on Twitter than on here for obvious reasons.

Anyhow, thank you so much for all your support! I really appreciate y’all and make sure to hit the follow if you want to lookout for the next demographics post! <3

(Pssst, I’m releasing a MCYT DNF superpower AU longfic next month... You should totally go check out the post on that if you’re interested in it...)

[shootfastrunfar]

My first taste of Failure

                   On Sunday, April 8th, I failed for the first time in my life.

               That statement is, to a degree, hyperbolic.  I’ve failed many times in my 22 (almost 23) years on this planet.  I’ve failed out of college due to laziness.  I’ve failed to bench press 225 for years.  I’ve failed to crank out 20 pullups on a PFT.  I’ve failed tests.  I’ve failed to make food properly.  I’ve failed to make good first impressions.  I’ve failed to talk to my grandfather for years before he died. But on April 8th, 2018, I failed in a way that I’ve never failed before, and it rocked me: I failed to do something that I set my mind to do.  In that way, I truly failed.

               My failure was, ultimately, my own doing.  I failed to properly prepare for something that I knew would be difficult, for a myriad of reasons; I was tired, I was busy, I had trained enough to get by, I was sore, or maybe I just said “Fuck it”. Ironically, that phrase has gotten me through some of the most physically and mentally demanding situations in my life. That phrase has also led me to this failure in the worst possible way.  It bred an attitude of complacency in me.  It bred cockiness.  It led me to believe that I could simply power through whatever challenge lay before me, through sheer guts, balls of steel, and a willingness to believe that I could do anything.  Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!  And then Ironman 70.3 Galveston grabbed me by the balls and Stone Cold Stunnered me back to earth.

               This story begins just over two years ago.  I had convinced my roommate to run the 2016 Marine Corps Marathon with me.  During that conversation, he brought up something called an Ironman.  Having never heard of such a thing, I asked him what it was.  What he described to me simultaneously scared and excited me.  A 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a full 26.2 mile marathon, all in 17 hours?! I suddenly had a sinking feeling.  I realized that simply running a marathon would no longer suffice for dick measuring contests.  If I were to ever have the largest genitalia in an argument, I realized I was going to have to step up my game.  

               First things first, however.  The marathon would be run first.  So with the Hanson’s running method under my belt, a brand new pair of Brooks Launchs, and a belly full of Gu, he and I began our training. Out of a 5 month program, we completed maybe 2/3 of the workouts.  And the last three weeks, we did 2.  Life started taking hold, and we both entered that race woefully unprepared.  But with a little bit of luck and a lot of motivation, we managed to stumble across the finish line before the cutoff time.  JUST before the cutoff times.  To say we “ran” the marathon was generous.  We jogged/walked/stumbled it.  But we finished it none the less, and I have the medal proudly sitting in a shadow box to prove it.  

               Fast forward 8 months.  The post marathon blues had destroyed my fitness.  I had stopped going to the gym for money and time reasons while training for the marathon, and it took me months to be able to start going again.  I was in the worst shape of my life.  I managed to somewhat get my shit together, just enough to convince myself I needed to make a big change.  So AT (Annual Training) 2017 came around, and I decided I was going to start my Ironman Journey.  The day before we went to the field, I signed up for my first Sprint Triathlon.  After returning, I forced myself to buy a cheap road bike and start training.  That first Tri came and went, and I was itching for another.  So I impulse signed up for Ironman 70.3 Galveston, bought a training plan, and once again gaffed off over half the training sessions, and did all of 2 in the final month.  Hell, I had done some of the longer rides and runs, so I knew I could just dig deep and power through, right?  I’m a goddamn US Marine (one weekend a month, anyway).  I could do a little fucking triathlon!  It’s not even a full Ironman! It’s the Triathlon equivalent of a half marathon! You just show up and crank it out! How hard could it be?

               The race started out well enough.  I actually crushed the swim, the area I was most concerned about.  Roka makes a damn fine wetsuit.  Their sleeved Maverick Elite II was well worth the money.  I had done no open water swims in my training, had briefly swam in the wetsuit ONCE for all of 3 minutes, and had never swam farther than 800 Meters. And I still crushed the swim in just under 45 minutes.  Not an amazing time, but I came out of the water barely winded and ready to make the rest of the race my bitch.  And then everything went to shit.

               Now, I’m not the strongest cyclist.  Most of it is me, obviously.  The bike is only as good as its engine, and I’m not exactly a V8. More like a V4 Ecoboost.  Without the eco boost.  My main enemy is wind resistance and hills.  Riding a fairly heavy road bike, and being a fairly heavy guy for my height (triathlon wise anyway), and being about as aerodynamic as a full bred Russian Boar makes those things a nightmare for me.  That’s no excuse, but it did make things a lot harder. And it REALLY made my lack of training shine.  Clydesdale after Clydesdale passed me, and I realized that my gear wasn’t the problem, I was.  However, I managed to cruise at 16.5 MPH regardless.  Not a great time, but hell, I had a headwind, and I would make cutoff. And then I hit the turnaround, and things got bad fast.

               After taking a quick pit stop and grabbing some Cliff Shots, I attempted to mount my bike.  And for the first time ever, I fell over while clipping in.  I had managed to avoid it for nearly a year, and was proud to say I had never fallen over.  That ended quickly.  I managed to get up and get going after a few seconds of cussing and swearing vengeance against the trickster god who was clearly fucking with me.  I immediately noticed something was wrong.  Why was it so hard to get back up to speed, and what was that squeaking?  Marvelous, my brake hood was cocked inwards, and my front disk brake was slightly engaged. Not enough to stop me, but enough to stop the wheel from spinning freely.  No matter, I’ll power on.  I had enough of a buffer that 2 MPH slower wasn’t going to DNF me.  And then I realized that the headwind I felt going out was not, in fact, a headwind.  It was a slightly to the side tailwind. >OhNo.jpeg. NOW I was riding into the headwind.  And it was going to work me for all I was worth. I had to switch into the small gear for the first time in my life.  I was struggling to maintain 11.5MPH.  No matter, I thought, this is gonna suck, but I have enough of a lead that I’ll make cutoff. And then I slowed to 10.  Then 9.  The squeaking was getting worse, so I scavenged a full water bottle that someone had sent flying.  I desperately tried squirting water on the front brake to maybe give it slightly better lubrication.  Surprisingly, it worked.  Until shit went tits up, literally.

               While doing this particular stunt one time, I managed to lean too far forward, get hit by a particularly nasty gust, AND avoid a water bottle on the path all at the same time.  I then had the pleasure of experiencing my first bike crash! This race was full of first experiences! About 1.5 seconds later, I was on my back, seeing starts, knee gashed, other knee starting to swell, arm and shoulder throbbing, and worst of all, I’m pretty sure I scuffed my new saddle JUST enough to render it unreturnable.  So there goes that fit guarantee!  After a few minutes of bitching and swearing to the Old Gods and the New that I would smite whomever was responsible for that water bottle in the road, I managed to mount my trusty, broke steed for another 10 miles.  And as I approached the final aid station, and glanced at the time, I realized my lack of training was coming for its due.  Despite the bad weather, despite all my gear failures, and despite my all around shitty luck, I could have finished.  I missed cutoff by 4 minutes.  4 minutes of a 3:30 hour ride.  4 minutes of a 40 minuet swim.  4 minutes of extra effort.  Gone.

               I’m a “Balling on a Budget” triathlete.  While not the poorest in this sport, I definitely don’t have money to waste.  And $500 on registration, lodging, and gas is a HUGE hit to me.  Enough that I can really only do 1 Ironman branded event per year. Hell, on my motivation board, I have “YOU PAID $2600 TO BECOME AND IRONMAN SO FAR.  DON’T LET THAT MONEY GO TO WASTE!”  This sport has claimed almost all of my disposable income the past year, plus some. The financial burden of this failure was almost worse than anything else.  And the realization that I let all that time and money go to waste was crushing. While being driven back to the transition area, I strongly considered selling all my gear and getting out of the sport.  Cutting my losses and paying off some debt.  Putting this whole thing behind me.  It would allow me to focus on my PFT, powerlifting, and bodybuilding.  The types of physical activity I prefer. Lord knows it would greatly increase my ammo budget.  That would be the smart thing to do, right?  Accept the fact I’m not cut out for the dedication this sport takes, and move on with my life.

               Well, in case you didn’t read the first paragraph, I’m not a smart man.  I joined the Marine Corps and failed college.  So clearly I’m a bit of dumbass.  

               Failure will not be my legacy with this sport. This was a wakeup call.  If I want the title of Ironman, I’m going to have to work for it, and work harder at it than anything else in my life.  My plan has not changed: Ironman Texas 2019.  I will NOT back away from that.  But I need to evaluate my discipline, my work ethic, and my training.  From here on, I must make EVERY workout be as intense as possible.  I must fall into bed EVERY NIGHT exhausted from training and work, and rise every morning with wrath in my heart and bloodlust in my soul. I must look at the weakness in my and kill it, because if I fail to do so, it will kill me.  I must forge on ahead, ready for the hardest 12 months of training in my life.  My lofty goal of qualifying for Kona in 2020 seems all the further away, but luckily I have one simple phrase to get me through:

                                                      “Fuck it.”

And so we go.

[roslinadama-sinequanon]

Major Crimes Re-Watch-There’s No Place Like Home.

So, not too much about this episode. It’s not that I didn’t like it, I did. It was entertaining and fun and the veteran comedic actors were great. I especially like the fact that they had all done a crime show together, but there wasn’t a lot of drama or personal angst to for reflection. I know those of us who are Shandy fans were hoping to see the wedding, or at least have some reference to it, or a little acknowledgement between Sharon and Andy so the first time around that was what I was focused on, hoping and waiting. Of course, I was disappointed but we still got a few little moments, a few shared glances and thus the start of Shandy frustration. 

“Maybe he's been under a lot stress at work.”

Provenza is down in the dumps because his target shooting is not up to snuff and he has, over the past three months, received several DNF’s (did not qualify). He has four days to pass or he spends the rest of his career on desk duty and he's feeling his age and the pressure. Both Andy and Sharon are aware that something is up with him, they just aren't sure what and we again get a lot of shared looks and non- verbal communication. 

“Hey just because something is old doesn't mean it isn't serving a good purpose.” 

I really hadn't realized until this rewatch just how much Provenza was feeling his age, how many people are surprised he's still around, and how retirement is always right there in front of him,

“We all worked on the same crime series in the 1970's.”

“Prognosis Homicide” 

A group of elderly people live in run- down apartment complex called Lost Horizons. What an amazing array of veteran comedic talent to have in this episode. They were all great! And the crime worked well in correlation with Provenza feeling like he’s being put out to pasture because of his age.

“She's such a good kid.”

“And I'm not.”

“What?”

“Look, I may good Sharon but I am not a kid.”

 And 

“Okay I wanna catch up with everyone in my class but they are never going to catch up with me. Because I am not a kid anymore and I haven't been for a very long time.” 

Rusty’s feelings of alienation and of being an outsider run very deep. But there is also a longing and an envy in him that you can almost feel. He is going through the motions of going to school and being a teenager but he really doesn’t feel like he has anything in common with those kids. They cannot understand the kind of life he has lived and it’s only over the past year or so since he’s come to live with Sharon that he can see the kind of life that they have lived, which only serves to show him how different he is from them. And as far as forming attachments goes, Rusty doesn’t have any experience with that. He’s gone from place to place, school to school and then lived on the streets. He doesn’t really know how to make friends and doesn’t want to make friends because he feels like there is no point since he’ll have to leave them behind. Also he feels pretty bad about himself and is ashamed of who he is and what he has done, so he isn’t going to let anyone get close enough to him to see who he really is---except Sharon. Sharon knows that this is not healthy and she again offers him psychiatric help. Typically, Rusty explodes over this and it does create a tough situation for Sharon. She desperately wants him to get the professional help that he needs but if she keeps mentioning it each time they have a heart to heart she runs the risk of Rusty deciding not to open up to her anymore. 

The deal making process-

This time the deal works to get the residents of Shangri La sentences of manslaughter rather than murder, complete with a house arrest sentence so they can live peacefully at Shangri La. The court scene was great. Judge Ridgewood was totally flummoxed listening to the convoluted murder confessions of each of the group. We did get a nice little moment with Sharon and Andy sitting close, side by side and exchanging humorous looks. That was about the most Shandy we were going to get in this episode. 

Home- 

Kris gives Rusty a bracelet with the word "Home". Her mother made it as a peace offering as she felt bad for judging Rusty. She felt it was fitting because home is what he is fighting for. Seems that this was also a little foreshadowing for the upcoming possibility of Rusty having to be put into witness protection when his threatening letters come to light. 

[othersportsnews-blog]

Is Valteri Bottas a genuine title contender?

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Is Valteri Bottas a genuine title contender?

Given that retiring from the Spanish Grand Prix with a turbo failure, Valtteri Bottas has scored far more details than any other driver at the next 4 races. From a opportunity one hundred details he has secured seventy three and in the procedure he has minimize his deficit to teammate Lewis Hamilton from 35 to fifteen. Just after Barcelona it was simple to solid the Finn as Hamilton’s rear gunner for the rest of the time, but as the poor luck has switched from 1 facet of the Mercedes garage to the other, Bottas is at the time yet again getting talked about as a title contender.

“There was never a point that he was not in the title combat,” Hamilton explained as a subject of actuality statement after Bottas’ get in Austria on Sunday. “I believe it was only you fellas [the media] who likely recommended that he was never in the battle. I always assumed he however was, and this just reveals he however is.

“When you glance at the results, he’s also experienced a DNF, so he’s normally experienced a superior time I would say so considerably.”

Hamilton v Bottas

Lars Baron/Getty Pictures

The 1st challenge standing concerning Bottas and this year’s globe championship is beating his teammate. Mercedes has vowed not to acquire sides at this phase in the title battle, but that equality of opportunity will develop into more and more difficult to keep if Sebastian Vettel continues to prolong his lead in the championship.

Statistically, nonetheless, Bottas and Hamilton have been nearer in the 1st fifty percent of the time than you could believe. The Finn has concluded in advance of his teammate at 4 of the nine grands prix this year and, if you were being to give again the fifteen details he misplaced when he retired from third place in Spain, Bottas would be degree with Hamilton on 151 details.

In qualifying Bottas has been an normal of .105s off Hamilton and has out-competent the Brit on a few situations. Monaco is the anomaly that a bit skews the normal from Hamilton’s facet (it would be .256s without the need of it), but the a few-time champion’s struggles that weekend created Bottas’ third-place grid placement all the far more amazing.

It also highlights a typical development this year in that Bottas has been able to step up to the plate when Hamilton has struggled. Russia was a related story, with Hamilton unable to get the vehicle balanced front to rear although Bottas was able to push all-around the challenge and get the race. In Monaco, he experienced the very same set up as Hamilton but was able to get far more from it, which finally served the team realize the challenge it faced and acquire pole placement at the next a few races. Eventually, his latest get in Austria was labelled by team chairman Niki Lauda as a end result that “saved” Mercedes on a weekend when Hamilton’s probabilities were being scuppered by a gearbox penalty.

Bottas desires to maintain strengthening

Photograph by Clive Mason/Getty Pictures

Bottas’ performances this year have been all the far more amazing provided the late timing of his change from Williams above the winter. The challenge of moving from 1 team to an additional need to not be underestimated and the actuality Bottas has built-in so effectively is a credit not only to his capacity but the good quality of the Mercedes team. In seven limited months he has learned an dreadful ton and, crucially, he says he is however strengthening with just about every round.

“In F1 it is all about particulars,” Bottas stated after Sunday’s race. “It would acquire hours to converse about anything I have learned and created. But it is the compact matters that subject when it comes to successful or getting rid of.

“So a lot of matters, in terms of location up the vehicle, how to method the weekend with that, and driving sensible, getting alongside Lewis. With Lewis as my team mate, it would be silly not to find out some thing from him. He is 1 of the very best qualifiers ever in F1, and a a few-time globe champion, so for positive I’m watching just about every solitary time if you can find nearly anything I can pick up, any track with the driving lines, etc.

“It truly is just the quantity of suggestions I get from the team after each and every race, after each and every session, but in particular the meetings we have a handful of days after the race. We go via just about every solitary bit that they believe I can do superior, just seriously immediate suggestions. This is a team of winners, and they know how to do it. It permits me to find out so substantially, and I’m just keen to get the job done difficult and get superior, since as extensive as you want to increase, it never stops. So it truly is seriously remarkable.”

The tricky matter for Bottas now is to locate that further .105s for every lap and get started out-qualifying Hamilton on a frequent basis. Austria was a fantastic get started, but Hamilton’s gearbox penalty intended he went into the session compromised. In Q2 he set his time on the tremendous-delicate tyres so that he could get started the race on a unique compound to his rivals, but he admitted on Sunday evening that he misplaced some of the rhythm of the session by possessing to offer with the connected balance alter that comes with switching compounds halfway via qualifying.

Had Hamilton not experienced a gearbox penalty hanging above him, he would have employed the extremely-softs all over (like Bottas did) and may have recovered far more — or probably all — of the .173s that divided him and his teammate. Which is not to say Bottas did not deserve pole, far more that Hamilton is very likely to bounce again in Silverstone and Bottas desires to be prepared to up his activity at the time far more.

Bottas desires to make momentum

Marco Canoniero/LightRocket through Getty Pictures

The next two races in advance of the summertime break will be essential for Bottas’ championship marketing campaign. Austria proved how swiftly perceptions can alter, but similarly if Bottas suffers two straight defeats to Hamilton at the next two rounds it would undo all of his difficult get the job done and make it more and more difficult for Mercedes not to gravitate towards Hamilton in the next fifty percent of the time.

Of class, Bottas won’t only have to overhaul Hamilton to develop into globe champion, he also has to minimize a 35-point gap to Sebastian Vettel. Considerably of that will rely on the relative effectiveness of the Mercedes and Ferrari above the rest of the time, but it will be vital for Bottas to get in just twenty five details of Vettel as before long as feasible in order to capitalise on any race retirements. So considerably this year the No.five Ferrari has concluded just about every round, but Vettel is already on the past of his allocation of turbochargers and MGU-Hs in advance of getting a grid penalty. It truly is hence very likely that the two Mercedes drivers will have an opportunity to shut the gap considerably at some point this year and Bottas desires to be shut enough to capitalise.

Potentially 1 space where Bottas does have an edge on the two title rivals is his mentality. We’ve noticed Vettel’s limited temper flare up 2 times in the earlier 12 months and Hamilton’s performances have always experienced the opportunity to fluctuate with his temper. But Bottas reveals minimal emotion and that could allow for him to capitalise if all the emphasis is on the more and more fierce rivalry concerning Hamilton and Vettel. In 2007, Raikkonen took the title from beneath the noses of Hamilton and his warring McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso, and if Bottas can continue being in contention heading into the remaining races he could make an upset. In the meantime, Bottas has vowed to forget about about the opportunity glory of a title and grind out the needed results.

“The actuality is that to get the title you have got to make the most out of just about every solitary race weekend and get all the details out there, be steady, and when it truly is feasible to get, you want to get,” he explained on Sunday evening. “By generating a matter about successful titles, it won’t alter nearly anything. You want to go race-by-race, or seriously session by session, lap by lap. Which is how it goes. I know as a actuality that in theory, with the details, anything however will be in the combat. So that is fantastic to know.”

According to the bookmakers, Bottas presently has a 16/1 shot at successful this year’s title although Hamilton and Vettel the two share odds of 10/eleven. Given the existing details condition and Hamilton and Vettel’s status as various globe champions, all those odds seem fair. If Bottas is to shorten them, he desires to continue on to up his activity at just about every round and prove he can put a run of wins collectively above the next handful of races. But from what we’ve noticed so considerably this time, that is not outside of the realms of chance.

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Review #6 - Splendor series

Splendor series Author: Janet Nissenson Genre: Billionaries & CEOs, Contemporary Romance Rating: ★★★ Recommendation: it’s a toss-up; once was enough Summary: Ian is a hotel chain heir who has lots of money. Tessa is a lot less fortunate and works under him. It’s less of an office romance and more like Ian and Tessa’s Grand Fairytale Romance.

Female Lead: Well. Let’s start with the childhood. To say the least, Tessa has a rough time growing up. Single manic-depressive mother not on medication or therapy is no help, so Tessa learns to grow up quickly and do all the adult things her mother can’t seem to give her. I thought the mother was going to be one of those characters that kept coming back to drag Tessa down, but fear not. Nissenson kills her off pretty quickly. Up in flames, literally, she goes. Of course, sixteen and parent-less, Tessa continues to be dealt bad hands, that is, until her co-worker/friend comes up with the brilliant plan to get married so he can be legally responsible for her until she turns eighteen. What?

I can rationalize why Tessa is the way she is and why she becomes easily attached to Ian. All her life, she’s basically been ignored, so the first person that shows her kindness, of course she’s going to latch on. First it was Peter who was basically a knight in shining armor by getting her a safe place to live (or park her car) and marrying her so she didn’t have to go into the system when she was still a minor. And then obviously with Ian, an older and very wealthy and good-looking dude is paying attention to you and buying you things and taking care of you. Given that she’s terrified of being alone and abandoned again? Yeah, of course she’s going to stay with him.

The problem I had with Tessa is that she seemed to have minimal ambition. Yes, I know she did not do well in high school and that’s not entirely her fault. Yes, I know she said she was interested in an online program in Crave. But overall? Nissenson wrote her like a prize, a trophy girlfriend/wife. Tessa didn’t mind that she stopped working and wasn’t getting paid anymore. I mean, you have some rich dude taking care of you, so fine, whatever, your choice. There is also nothing wrong with wanting to be a housewife and mother because those are really full-time jobs. Still, the way Nissenson wrote her left something to be desired. Male Lead: I have slightly mixed feelings towards Ian too. On one hand, I appreciated that he was a clear gentleman. Throughout the entirety of Covet when Tessa remains married to Peter, there is no line-crossing on his part. That’s why I said this wasn’t entirely an office romance story, but I’ll get to that later. Ian cares about Tessa, for sure. He treats her well, asks for consent, all that nice kind of stuff, especially considering that Tessa has little if any experience in a real romantic relationship given that what she had with Peter really couldn’t be constituted as one despite their legal marriage. So kudos on the asking for permission parts and all that jazz.

I just couldn’t get a hold of Ian’s true motives and deep-seated feelings and rationale. Yes, he clearly worshipped at the altar of Tessa, but why? Love at first sight? Sure. But what do you love about her? Every time I got a hint of an answer, it was because she was some blushing beauty with an amazing body and that was about it. I mean, okay. No guy is going to say ‘I love this girl because she has amazing Excel skills’ and no girl wants to hear that either. Still, why did Ian love her? What else did he love about her besides her body? We can rule out pity because he was already in love with her before Tessa told him about her background. But the reasons for his infatuation were never definitive enough for me. Yes, he absolutely treated her well and lavished her with gifts, but I wanted to know more. I wanted to feel more. It’s like answering the question ‘Why do you love me?’ with ‘You’re the love of my life’. It goes on and on and we get it, but the question is never fully answered. For someone who claims that he loves Tessa so much and basically can’t imagine life without her, there was no gut punch to it. I might even say that his feelings seemed superficial because other than taking care of her and buying her a lot of stuff, there wasn’t enough raw emotion from this dude. Plot & Writing: Let’s make something clear. The Splendor series came from Splendor, the book. Covet, Crave, and Claim is a trilogy ‘rewrite’ of Splendor from the Inevitable series. This confused the hell out of me at the beginning because I didn’t know this fact and thus what I was supposed to read. So I first read Covet, the prequel of sorts. Then I read Crave, what Nissenson basically describes as a retelling/rewrite of Splendor with some additional scenes or whatever. I did not read Splendor, the book, so I don’t know what the differences are, but Nissenson said the plot is the same. Then there’s Claim, the finale of the trilogy that is basically a separate epilogue book that comes after the events of Splendor (the book)/Crave.

I read most of Covet, the majority of Crave, and really quickly skimmed Claim. And when I say really quickly skimmed, I mean I flipped through really quickly and glanced at the beginning and end of every chapter to see if anything was worth reading. It wasn’t.

Just to touch on the office romance part I mentioned before, I didn’t categorize this series as such because while Ian and Tessa do enter a clandestine romance when she works for him, both made it very clear that they did not want that to continue. Kudos for Nissenson for not dragging out the forbidden office romance problem. Still, once Tessa resigns, I don’t think she ever gets another paying job. I could be wrong since I skimmed the last third of Crave and all of Claim, but I get the feeling that she didn’t. No? We don’t want a hardworking girl that’s had it rough to show the world that she can? Okay. Whatever.

I’m going to skip my bad behaviors rant for the most part. I mean, at least Ian was very forthcoming with the fact that he was clean and hadn’t had sex in two years because he was basically waiting for Tessa for the rest of his life before he confirmed that she was on birth control because he wasn’t going to use a condom. Right… And then there were a lot of car rides without seat belts on. I don’t know… Your choice, people.

Okay. The main problem with this series? Nissenson drones on and on and on and on. And on. I was quite into Covet and the first half of Crave until I just couldn’t take it anymore. I remember looking at the genres people put these books into on Goodreads when I first started reading and there was a lot of ‘meh’ or ‘dnf’ and I thought why? NOW I KNOW. Nissenson’s writing is not bad, but she doesn’t know when to stop. It was Ian and Tessa’s love and it just kept going. It wouldn’t stop. I was waiting for major conflicts, Peter to come back, Logan—Tessa’s high school crush—to come around, the ‘office romance’ to blow up in their faces, Ian’s family and everyone else to disapprove of Tessa, even Tessa’s mom to come back from the dead or something, Jesus. I wanted something to make the relationship more interesting because it was just fairytale land the entire time where nothing could go wrong and they would never argue. Do I want happy ever afters where the couple is strong and unconditionally in love? Yes. Do I want to read two books worth of love that never has any obstacles to overcome? Unfortunately not.

Because Nissenson chose to write the series in third person, we also got a lot of different perspectives—a lot of different perspectives that I did not care about. Use your secondary characters effectively. If you’ve built this entire series on the grand fairytale romance that is Ian and Tessa, don’t randomly cut to another person’s POV and give us a whole bunch of unnecessary information. Sure, it’s cool to get that outside perspective that you’re allowed when using third person, but if I started to care less about Ian and Tessa’s romantic romps, I really could not care less about the lives of secondary characters.

Also to note, Nissenson’s use of italics. In Covet, it worked because she was giving us that sexual content people likely wanted to read even though those segments weren’t real sexual encounters between Ian and Tessa because the latter was still married to Peter. In Crave, the italized sections became flashbacks. This was both good and bad. Some flashbacks I found interesting, but some I thought she could’ve written out as real scenes in chronological order because they only took place like a couple of days before or whatever. Again, use your devices appropriately. Don’t overdo it. Secondary Characters & Plots: I grew tired of the secondary characters. They were flat. They didn’t add anything to the story. I was slightly more invested during Covet with people in Tessa’s life as a minor, but they grew weary and annoying and didn’t prove to be of much use. There were actually a lot of secondary characters, and I think Nissenson would have benefitted from slimming the number of them and fleshing them out a bit more. I don’t want everyone’s background and feelings and whatever. I just want some more solid supporting characters that would boost the story in different ways. Instead, Nissenson kind of had the same secondary character manifest over and over in the different people she had revolving around Ian’s and Tessa’s life (after Tessa left her old life and started working under Ian, that is).

The secondary plot related to mental health was interesting, but again, not fleshed out. I felt like Nissenson threw that device away. It could have played a major role given how we saw it visibly take a toll on Tessa’s mother. Yet we only got a slight glimpse of it in Claim (yeah, that tiny bit that I actually read) before it’s brushed off and Ian and Tessa’s Grand Fairytale Romance takes over again. Favorite Part(s): I can never resist a good shopping scene. It’s not like the whole concept of buying clothes is foreign to Tessa, but clearly she’s never had the luxury of choices--high-end choices for that matter. Is this my dream? Kind of, yeah. Sue me. And then when the man goes into the dressing room with the girl? Sigh.

But also, Ian’s protective moments were sweet. Like when he couldn’t handle Tessa telling him that she used to live in her car and everytime he protected her from that creepy Jason character. More of that. Less of so much pointless action and redundant reflection that only felt skin-deep. Final Thoughts: I highly suggest that if you’re interested in reading the plot, just read Splendor, the book. Don’t read the trilogy series because three books is not worth it. It’s like how J.K. Rowling keeps giving us all this Harry Potter world information that we kind of stopped caring about a long time ago? That was the trilogy—a lot of information that was kind of unnecessary in the span of three books. I didn’t even read Splendor, the book, but since it’s basically the same as Claim, which I found to be the main bulk of the romance I actually cared about, just stick with that.