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adventure-hearts · 4 years ago

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I was asked about this topic recently, and, being bored out of my mind, I felt inspired to use it as a starting point for a new series! I hope to share my current headcanons about the personality types of the Digimon Adventure universe’s main characters, according to different personality systems: astrology, Enneagram, MBTI... feel free to suggest any other typologies you’d like me to explore in the future.

In this first post, I’ll try to explain which of the Sun Sign personality archetypes I find more likely and interesting for each character. Consider this this an update of my previous headcanons, post-tri. (and post LAST EVOLUTION Kizuna).

1: DIGIMON ADVENTURE + ZODIAC SIGNS

Taichi - Aries

Yamato - Aries

Sora - Pisces [semi-canon]

Koushirou - Aquarius

Mimi - Leo

Jou - Virgo

Takeru - Libra

Hikari - Pisces

Daisuke - Sagittarius

Miyako - Gemini [canon]

Iori - Capricorn

Ken - Cancer

Meiko Mochizuki - Virgo/Libra

Maki Himekawa - Scorpio

Daigo Nishijima - Leo

Note: Every single headcanon is highly subjective and even I will probably change my mind about it. This is only a PROPOSAL.

If you’re interested in my interpretation and methodology, read on!

Canon Clues

Although there are no official birthdays for the characters, several Adventure materials have provided “goalposts” where we can fit some characters’ birthdays. I strive to make my HCs as canon-compliant as possible, so it’s important for me to take this info into account.

Miyako is stated to be a Gemini in 02.

The official synopsis of tri. Indicates that Taichi is 17 years old during the series, suggesting the has an April-June birthday.

Sure, you’re free to ignore this little nugget if you prefer, but I personally like to think there’s a reason they mentioned Taichi’s age explicitly — something they never did before. They also never mentioned the explicit age of any of the other characters.

Funnily enough, the DALEK official website and novel lists the character’s ages during the events of the film. Since the film takes place in the summer of 2010, taking those numbers at face-value would require us to believe all 8 characters have birthdays in the first half of the year.

This contradicts the explicit on-screen information about Jou’s age in the original series (see below).

I’m proposing this should be interpreted as their “average” ages, rather than precise ages at this specific moment in time — after all, in Kizuna it’s more difficult to identify the characters by their school year, like they always did before.

Sora’s birthday is canonically before the events of Our War Game. The film takes place during the spring holidays, which typically begin around the third week of March.

Sora having a March birthday is so universally accepted by Japanese fans that it’s even on her Wikipedia page. I wouldn’t be surprised if more recent writers took that information into account, post-OWG, and portrayed her accordingly.

Notice that Pisces is only the more likely option considering the canon timeline and Sora’s personality — Aries (late March) and Aquarius (mid-February) could fit as well. Hence why I consider this choice [semi-canon].

Jou, who is a 6th-grader, mentions he’s 11 years old during Adventure. This suggest his birthday would be after August 1.

Ken is supposed to be 9 years old in August 2000, when he’s in Year 3, suggesting he has an April-August birthday.

This is different from other guidebooks which only list the characters “average” ages, because this lists Ken’s precise age during a specific event.

I believe Ken being exactly 9 years old went to the Digital world is deliberate, since Osamu is stated to be 3 years older than Ken, hadn’t yet turned 12 when he died.

Again, except for Miyako, Sora, and Jou birthdays, I can understand why fans chose to ignore any of this.

Personal Notes

My method isn’t about finding a putative “Official / True Birthday” — that never existed, at least for the Adventure eight. It’s about finding birthdays that work within the limitations of canon (see previous section).

My HCs are based on the personality / character archetypes represented by the the zodiac signs. In theory, any Chosen Child could be understood as representing a specific symbolical archetypes.

The problem is that the Adventure characters are quite complex and often deconstruct traditional archetypes. This explains why it’s so hard for fans to agree on which sign they are supposed to represent. I should also note that anime series seem to understand astrological archetypes slightly differently from the Western mainstream tradition, which explains why typical anime zodiac signs sometimes feel a bit “off”.

Nevertheless, some archetypes are so strong that most of the fandom seems to have reached a consensus: Jou/Virgo and Koushirou/Aquarius, for example. Then you have textbook examples of archetypes like Gemini/Miyako (unsurprisingly canon), Taichi/Aries, and Hikari/Pisces. But even there is a lot of room for disagreement and subjective interpretation!

The 02 writers clearly intended Daisuke to symbolise Fire, Miyako Air, Iori Earth and, due to the Dark Ocean connection, Ken Water. In fact, it’s super easy to place those four characters into any traditional 4-group personality types, such as the four temperaments, Jung’s types, blood types, ABCD personality, etc.

My HCs respect this, and ended up creating two polar opposites within the team: Daisuke/Miyako (mutable) and Ken/Iori (cardinal).

It’s tempting to ascribe 12 main characters = 12 signs, but post-tri. I’m inclined to do something different and not put myself into such a limiting framework.

For this reason I repeat some signs, and I don’t have any Taurus character (sorry!).

My MAIN innovative choice is that I suspect Taichi and Yamato might represent the same sun sign.

Now, I understand this is an extremely controversial opinion. It isn’t a possibility I thought about until quite recently.

But Taichi and Yamato being “different but the same / two sides of the same coin” is incredibly well represented if both of them correspond to the Aries personality archetype.

After all, they’re the leaders, the heroes, the Knights in shining armor. This explains their incredible similarities, despite superficial differences. as well as their love-hate dynamic: the rivalry, the union, the way they complement and balance each other out in an almost instinctive way.

Here are some examples of the Aries/Aries dynamic from the literature...

Both of you are independent individuals and you don’t like feeling “owned” by anyone. Neither of you can tolerate being dominated or bossed by anyone else, so you probably make your own decisions, and direct your own lives. You respect one another’s autonomy, and a relationship that is based on constant togetherness and dependency wouldn’t suit either of you. Sometimes, however, there is too much emphasis on individualism rather than on being close and nurturing the relationship. You both have proud egos, and are sensitive to criticism. Almost inevitably you will compete with each other, and in small doses this can be invigorating. But it easily becomes nasty, and one of you is likely to get hurt. If you’ve ever seen two rams locking horns, you know what I mean! You either respect one another immensely or detest one another – rarely anything in between. (X)

If your relationship has been built on the basis that you are equals, the fire element produces tremendous vision and industriousness. Your combined power and effort could well be a force to be reckoned with — but again, only if you both learn to subdue your own ego in the service of each other. Remember, you can’t always be right. You need to try hard to see things from each other’s perspective; this will help the two of you become a great partnership over time. (x)

When Mars clashes with Mars, the result can be full-scale war, with all flags flapping, bravely and colorfully. Occasional flare-ups are bound to occur when these two are thrown into close, daily proximity, without the relief of some separateness in their association. But there will also be some glorious Highs to offset these Lows. (...) It's been said that Aries people have a way about them. They do. Their own way. Yet, despite that sometimes antagonistic Martian exterior, they'll sense each other's desperate need to be appreciated and liked. When they get together, they may struggle for leadership, but the experience will supply some well-needed lessons. The shock of living with someone - or being around some- one - as innocently thoughtless, selfish and aggressive as one's self, is sure to soften any battering Ram, although there may be a few scars to show for the les- sons in living thus mastered. Aries hearts always carry more scars than the Rams ever show, or openly discuss. (x)

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The more you read, the more this pattern begins to make sense. Try to watch the Dark Masters arc, the Agumon-is-kidnapped mini arc, tri., and even Kizuna with this possibility in mind, and you’ll understand what I mean.

Sure, order to accept this theory, you have to understand Yamato as a more atypical reserved / sensitive Aries (influenced by a Cancer Moon, perhaps?) and Taichi as a more “pure” Arien type. Yamato is more like a baby lamb, right? (don’t tell it to his face).

You can make a very strong argument for Leo!Taichi (that was my initial HC as well) or Yamato as almost anything else. I wouldn’t disagree. But why not come up with a fresh perspective to explain these two?

Oh, and in case you’re curious, their (canon) Japanese Zodiac is also the same: Dragon, the direct equivalent to Aries.

A note about tri.: typing Maki and Daigo seemed straightforward enough. Maki is the stereotypical Scorpio antagonist, and Goggle Boy Daigo’s partner evolved into a literal lion.

I couldn’t resist the idea of making Meiko a Libra, considering her digimon partner is literally the Libra and Meiko is the 9th member of the group. But personality probably fits other signs better — it’s very tempting to type her a Virgo, the polar opposite of Hikari. She could also be the missing Taurus element (Mei as the literal May Queen).

The truth is... I can’t decide!

Disclaimer: There is zero scientific evidence for astrology and, as far as I’m concerned, it’s only interesting as a tool to analyze fictional characters in symbolic /archetypal terms. My headcanons are based on extensive reading about astrology, its symbolism and psychological profiles; I’m happy to share my sources (they’re not from pop astrology). But I’m also aware of the Barnum effect. We are all biased; there are no right or wrong options. Everyone’s conflicting headcanons are equally valid.

Feel free to ask questions or request more in-depth explanations for my suggestions, but FFS don’t start arguing with me and insisting I’m “wrong” based on other people’s equally subjective and disputable headcanons.

BONUS: Sun sign Archetypes / Personality Keywords

Aries

Aries at its best : Brave, assertive, pioneering, quick, determined

Aries on a bad day: Aggressive, hard-headed, selfish, impulsive, impatient, brutal

The Aries archetype : Prince Lancelot, the brave and romantic rock star of King Arthur’s court

The Aries stereotype : The rage-a-holic in the pickup truck who just gave you the finger after cutting you off on the freeway

Gemini

Gemini at its best : Curious, inquisitive, quick witted, communicative, inventive, clever, adaptable

Gemini on a bad day : Verbally cruel, deceptive, disloyal, restless, doesn’t follow through”

“The Gemini archetype : The jester; clever and mischievous, your wit and agility are your best defense

The Gemini stereotype : The meddlesome neighbor, snooping and eavesdropping

Cancer

Cancer at its best : Family-oriented, nurturing, intuitive, domestic, maternal, sensitive, sympathetic, emotional, patriotic, retentive, traditional

Cancer on a bad day : Moody, touchy, oversensitive, negative, manipulative, overly cautious

The Cancer archetype : The universal mother

The Cancer stereotype : The smothering mother

Leo

Leo at its best : Regal, creative, magnetic, performer, generous, inspiring

Leo on a bad day : Vain, domineering, attention seeking, insecure”

The Leo archetype : The benevolent monarch

The Leo stereotype : The shallow playboy or party girl

Virgo

Virgo at its best : Discriminating, thorough, scientific, clean, humane, scientific, analytical

Virgo on a bad day : Picky, critical, petty, self-centered, hypochondriac, gloomy, pedantic

The Virgo archetype : Sherlock Holmes, with his staggering powers of perception and analysis and his earthy tweed jacket

The Virgo stereotype : The quiet, slightly geeky scientist or secretary with horn-rimmed glasses and a repressed manner

Libra

Libra at its best : Refined, artistic, diplomatic, sociable, peace loving, persuasive, just

Libra on a bad day : Fickle, over accommodating, argumentative, indecisive, insincere

The Libra archetype : The diplomat

The Libra stereotype : The gigolo or “kept” man or woman”

Scorpio

Scorpio at its best : Determined, probing, brave, passionate, insightful, empathetic, penetrating, investigative, powerful

Scorpio on a bad day : Jealous, suspicious, sarcastic, secretive, vengeful, manipulative

The Scorpio archetype : The magician, able to transcend the laws of nature to achieve transformation

The Scorpio stereotype : A secret agent, skilled at investigative work and most comfortable working behind the scenes”

Sagittarius

Sagittarius at its best : Philosophical, adventurous, freedom loving, scholarly, funny, honest, athletic, traveler

Sagittarius on a bad day : Crude, blunt, know-it-all, arrogant, superior, intolerant

The Sagittarius archetype : The wayfaring stranger who transforms a community with his knowledge and wisdom before moving on

The Sagittarius stereotype : The clown who trips over his gigantic shoes and throws pies in your face

Capricorn

Capricorn at its best : Responsible, authoritative, traditional, pragmatic, hardworking, economical, serious, mature, ethical

Capricorn on a bad day : Domineering, stubborn, inhibited, unfeeling, fatalistic, judgmental, unforgiving”

“The Capricorn archetype : The wise elder

The Capricorn stereotype : A cranky old man or woman who keeps yelling at kids to “stay off my lawn!”

Aquarius

Aquarius at its best : Independent, genius, iconoclastic, rebellious, logical, scientific, progressive, intellectual, humane

Aquarius on a bad day : Eccentric, temperamental, unpredictable, cold, opinionated, radical”

“The Aquarius archetype : The charismatic rebel who wins over his fellow men by thumbing his nose at authority

The Aquarius stereotype : The mad scientist

Pisces

Pisces at its best : Sympathetic, compassionate, emotional, intuitive, musical, artistic

Pisces on a bad day : Impractical, timid, procrastinator”

The Pisces archetype : The mystic

The Pisces stereotype : The flake

from Kent, April Elliott. “The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology: Everything from zodiac signs to prediction, made easy and entertaining”.

#series: typing the chosen #digimon #headcanons #personality types #astrology #this is a series but I cannot promise timelines!

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crusherthedoctor · 5 years ago

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Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite? - Part 14: SCOURGE

............

......Huh?

Oh, hello there! My name's Lutrudis, pleased to meet you. Judging from that look of surprise on your face however, it's evident that you weren't looking for ME per say... What's that? You want to know what this is? Right, of course, my apologies.

Well, this is a mini-series belonging to... ahem, my creator, in which he goes into slightly more detail about his thoughts on the villains in Sonic's history, and why he thinks they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). Usually he gives his stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves in the game(s) they featured in. He also stresses that these are just his own personal thoughts, and that whether you agree or disagree, you're free to share your own thoughts and opinions.

Unfortunately, as you may have gathered, it seems he's a bit occupied for today, and is thus unable to do a review... is what I WOULD be saying if he didn't let me cover for him! That's right boys and girls, I'll be filling in for him today, by doing a little review of my own! Please forgive me if I prattle on for extended periods, but I sincerely hope my efforts in assessing the Wrong'un of the Week are of the utmost quality. Truth be told, it's kind of nerve-wracking, but I'm happy to give it my all for you guys. ❤️

So then, let's carry on with the show, shall we? Welcome to a new edition of Sweet or... Sour. Welcome to Sweet or Sour. Yes indeed, heh heh... (Is the creator's language normally this gratuitous? I hope Cream hasn't seen his posts...)

Anyhow, for today's review... well, this is quite interesting. Normally the creator prefers to keep his reviews focused on game-centric villains, but I guess he made an exception with this one. Today, we'll be directing our attention to a notorious copycat of our blue hero in the Archie continuity, and legendary connoisseur of 70's fashion: Scourge the Hedgehog.

The Gist: Once upon a time, in the land of comics, there was a world known by all as Mobius. But there was also a parallel dimension called Anti-Mobius, or as it would later become known as, Moebius... one E makes all the difference, apparently. Anyway, in this dimension, everyone and everything that existed in Mobius had an identical equivalent in Anti-Mobius, but things operated a bit differently, in the sense that they were largely the opposite of what we were familiar with.

Putting aside the rather disturbing implication that this world might not have had any real will or independence if it existed purely to do the opposite of what Mobius did, this meant that it had a Sonic the Hedgehog of its very own, as well as a father to that Sonic. Sadly though, this Sonic's father was not that kind to him. In fact, he was said to be a rather poor excuse for a father, as evidenced by how he didn't give his son enough attention, and... oh, that's it.

How awful.

I'd say his choice of attire is the real crime presented here.

Anti-Mobius in its original form experienced a period of Great Peace, but alas, it was not to last. It soon became a shadow of its former glory, which seemed prophetic in hindsight, as it was by this time that this world's Sonic the Hedgehog - Evil Sonic - murdered his own father in cold blood, and then threw his world's incarnation of King Maximilian Acorn into the Zone of Silence. He quickly became a dictator to the people of Anti-Mobius, with his only immediate opposition coming in the form of the kindhearted counterpart to Dr. Ivo Robotnik... or should that be Dr. Julian Robotnik, in this continuity...? Hmm, I suppose it doesn't matter anymore...

Naturally, the laws of the universe saw fit to correct this wrong. Just as water is wet, and fire is hot, Sonic gives evildoers a right kicking. And lo and behold, our magnificent hero did eventually meet his evil duplicate. The two were evenly matched in speed, but the good-natured Sonic triumphed regardless, possibly because he had more wittiness on his person.

Pictured: Quality banter.

Evil Sonic later brought along the rest of his gang to aid him, who predictably mirrored Sonic's own band of Freedom Fighters. They were just as much of a match for our heroes, which is a polite way of saying they weren't. You really shouldn't expect anything exquisite when they looked like this.

Maybe you should call your group something else then...

These parlor games went on for a while, with the status quo never truly changing. But then, after one final showdown with Sonic, the evil Robotnik of Mobius kicked the bucket, which among other things, inspired ANOTHER Robotnik to fill the void. This Robo-Robotnik took Evil Sonic along with him to commit many acts of dastardly intent, an act of generosity that proved to be tragically undermined by Evil Sonic getting caught and trapped by different people time and time again, to the point where even his old gang had long replaced him with a new leader. He did go on to escape the grasp of one Zonic the Zone Cop... only to later get arrested again by the same guy. So far, so adorably incompetent, right?

Still, he did bust out once more, and he proceeded to turn the overall universe into a glorified soap drama by pulling the moves on numerous ladies in Mobius, which in true Evil Sonic style, achieved precisely nothing of merit. Even after he briefly teamed up with Rouge the Bat, his luck persisted in not manifesting. But things were about to get even worse... for us. On a meta level, if you know what I mean.

After one final botched attempt at pointless thievery, with the Master Emerald being the prime target in this particular case, Evil Sonic's attempt to gain himself a super form was halted midway with great force by none other than Locke, the notorious father and attempted microwave murderer of Knuckles the Echidna. Rather than kill him however, all this did was change his fur to green, and leave him with some hardcore scars.

He promptly renamed himself Scourge. Because he's a real SCOURGE to good ideas, har har.

New kid in town, do not steal.

With his first act of villainy as a new man tattering to pieces due to foolishly invoking the wrath of Shadow the Hedgehog, he soon crossed paths with Dr. Finitevus, an albino echidna who otherwise looked exactly like Knuckles (good heavens, how many of these can one muster?), and spent some time on his side by aiding a new gang of lovely gentlemen called the Destructix. Together, these functioning psychopaths committed more mindless evil.

He also managed to swoon over Fiona Fox to his side, a miraculous modicum of success considering you need some sort of charm to be able to do that, of which Scourge has shown nil. I'm hardly an expert on dishing out romantic advice, but I'm willing to bet there's plenty of superior fish in the sea, Fiona...

How about “Oh my god, did I seriously die to THESE losers?”

Eventually, Scourge and Fiona broke away from Finitevus' allegiance after the deadly and boring Enerjak was unleashed on Mobius. He returned to Anti-Mobius, and it turned out that any repairs made since the last time he was king didn't amount to anything substantial, because he went and conquered the entire land all over again. Rechristening his old gang as the Suppression Squad, he continued Being Evil™ some more, until the aforementioned Suppression Squad betrayed him for constantly being abhorrent to them, which led to him being stuck with Rosy the Rascal for a while, yet another shameful derivative of a close friend.

In his last days, at long last, he finally achieved a super form with the power of an Anarchy Beryl... only to get soundly thrashed once again, get thrown in prison, and then just when it seemed he'd be back in business, he got wiped out by the Genesis Wave. Tch, Mondays, am I right?

As you can tell from my words alone, let alone in an extremely abridged format, he did a fair amount over the years... and yet at the same time, when you really think about it, he ultimately did so very little.

Oh, and there was also a Metal Scourge at one point. I'm aware that the man who made him has never been all there in the head, but I still find myself questioning why he saw fit to go through with this nonsense.

I shouldn't need to say this, but that's a disgrace to the hostile Eggman robot that I know and detest.

The Design: Well, he started off as a Sonic, so it's to be expected that he'd look exactly like the lovable goof. Since this was ~Evil~ Sonic though, he was determined to remind us at all times that Grease was in fact the word.

~You're the one I don't want, you're not the one for, no-ho-ho, honey~

Then he turned green, and... yeah, he turned green. All I can say, really.

Please excuse me, I'm utterly beside myself with amazement.

It doesn't quite strike the imaginative chords, needless to say. And neither does his super state, which... I'm sorry, it's not normally my cup of tea to chide others for their appearance, but just look at this tripe for a moment.

No, I don't think I will.

When you combine his already ridiculous self with black eyes and a tiara... what exactly is the intent here? Am I supposed to be intimidated by this display?

Keep this between us if you can, but personally, I'm more intimidated by staircases than I am by this fiend.

The Personality: You would think that since a Sonic is a Sonic, Scourge would share a lot of his personality with our Sonic. And that is true... in the most superficial sense possible.

Sure, he's jovial, cocky, and prone to moments of overconfidence, which is enough to sound very familiar to us on paper. Beyond that however, that's all they really have in common beside their appearance. In every other category, you could argue that Scourge is the exact opposite of Sonic.

For instance, whereas Sonic is supremely loyal to his friends (trust me, I’m grateful to know!), Scourge treats his gang like fetid garbage, and that's when he's not outright abandoning them, neglecting them, and putting them in danger. Likewise, whereas Sonic is a blue bundle of bravery no matter the odds, Scourge is a poor little chicken when the going gets tough, despite all his ramblings about being Sonic's full potential.

This means that for all the acclaim he receives as Sonic's evil doppelganger... he shares very few similarities with who he's replicating. He's barely any different from all the other ruffians that Sonic faces, so what point is there to him being a Sonic at all? If he had a different name and design entirely, what would honestly be lost in translation?

But then, maybe he would just become Mephiles the Dark instead.

Or Mimic the Octopus instead.

Or Eggman Nega instead.

Or Ken Penders instead.

Or... sheesh, they all kind of blend together after a while, don’t they?

The Execution: If my general tone has thus far not been enough of an obvious indication, I do not rank Scourge with any particular favouritism when it comes to Sonic's rogue gallery.

Mind you, ANYONE who threatens our world and tries to kill my friends is nothing but rancid at their core, and as long as they remain unrepentant, I would never support any of them. Asking me which dangerous maniac is “the best” is like asking me which sewage stinks the least, after all. But even I can understand that there's a right way to do bad, and a wrong way to do bad. Scourge, Evil Sonic, whatever you wish to call him, falls squarely into the latter category.

How I'd love to shove an arrow up His Majesty's rear end.

First of all, his motivations were poorly structured, and that's putting it tactfully. Most of the time, we're led to assume that he does evil for no other reason than because it's evil, so we're already not looking at masterpiece material. But as it turns out, as I mentioned way earlier on, he grew resentful of his father for not giving him as much attention as he felt he deserved.

So when he killed his dear old dad, and went on to do everything else to bitterly stick it to his dad's memory, we're supposed to... sympathise...? Understand his point of view, perhaps...?

Well, I dare say I'll be sticking my nose up to THAT presumption, because there is no pathos to be had here. None at all. It's just a selfish brat becoming a violent and murderous selfish brat, and nothing more. By doing everything for evil's sake, intertwined with this sorry excuse of a tragic backstory, it's as if he's trying to have the best of both villainous worlds, without understanding what makes either of them work.

Secondly, for what little success that Scourge actually had to his name, few of them were by his own hand so to speak. As much as it pains me to give Dr. Eggman even a veneer of kudos, it does require mentioning that for all of the doctor's contemptible attributes, he truly is single-handedly responsible for a great majority of his own... achievements, if you wish to call them such. By contrast, this stinker rarely worked for his moments, instead often relying solely on others to get anything done efficiently, whether it be Fiona, Finitevus, his gangs, or the Anarchy Beryl. Without them, Scourge was always nothing.

Thirdly, as mentioned, he failed to fulfill even the basic concept of what Sonic would be like if he became evil, since he has virtually nothing in common with the hero he's trying so desperately to present himself as the corrupted counterpart to. While I'd obviously prefer not to entertain the mere notion of an evil Sonic anyways, since I know deep in my heart that he would never go down that path, I know him well enough to reasonably assume that even if he did lose his way, he would still be recognisable in some capacity, since there are countless aspects to his personality that remain so... inherent to how his mind operates.

I guess what I'm saying is that if an evil Sonic came to be, he would exist as a darker mirror of how Sonic actually is, and not... something that is not at all like Sonic beyond the physical.

What's the matter? Not used to a horse seeing you for what you really are?

Finally, remember when I said he was considerably more cowardly than Sonic? I wasn't simply referring to life or death battles and similar heat of the moment situations. Even when the scenario is of lower intensity, when the odds are completely in his favor at that, Scourge proves himself to be what Sonic isn't. Remember when he broke into the house of Sonic's father, with the intent to intimidate and kill said father... only to be scolded into submission by him? We're expected to believe this guy is a big baddie who ranks high in threat level, yet getting a telling off is sufficient enough to shoo him away?

If only Eggman was this easy to deal with...

Now granted, it's to my understanding that all of Scourge's failings are occasionally explained as him being a parody character. But, and correct me if I'm wrong here... aren't parodies supposed to be, you know, parodic, even if done subtly? As opposed to being played completely straight with no trace of irony, which is exactly how Scourge was portrayed throughout the entire duration of the comic's run, with no exceptions whatsoever?

Despite how often the comic insisted otherwise, and despite how often he received it, Scourge was not a villain who warranted importance. He was not a master planner, or a legendary conquerer, or a malevolent force of nature. He was bottom of the barrel, a wannabe at best, who thought he was made for bigger stripes, but remained little more than a walking pile of fresh manure, with nothing to show for it till the very end. His credibility was often alluded to, and handed to him, but never in any stretch was it properly earned. A punk who occasionally got lucky is hardly worth the rank of arch-fiend, in my humble opinion. He was a disgrace who simply had the luxury of wearing Sonic's skin to mask his shortcomings, and I can’t say I’m crestfallen to see him go.

And quite frankly, anyone who impersonates Sonic in the first place reeks to high heaven anyway. To think this trash heap thought he could ever compare in the slightest to my darling... Oh goodness, did I say that out loud?

Lutrudis Gives Scourge a: Thumbs Down!

#Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite?#Opinion #Sonic the Hedgehog #Lutrudis Hadeer #Scourge the Hedgehog #Archie Sonic

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lu-undy · 4 years ago

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Oh my freaking god i just had another idea. Sniper and Spy both have tattoos. Sniper has maybe some tribal-like-animal, and Spy has a tattoo sleeve made of roses. No one knows about this. Spy doesn't know about Sniper's tattoo and Sniper doesn't know about Spy's. But something happens and see each other's tats. -💞🐑

Alright, here it is!

"Oh you bastard…"

Sniper heard his enemy coming, the snake in the suit. He turned his back, got his kukri out and leapt forward. The enemy Spy swiftly dodged the blow and slashed through the Australian's upper shoulder, in the back. Sniper thanked the Lord it wasn't a stab and retaliated. This time, it hit right in the enemy's chest and through it.

"That's what you get, you mongrel!"

The corpse quickly disappeared and the marksman resumed his position in front of the window. He picked up his rifle again.

"Ouch… Argh…" The cut in the Aussie's back hurt. He put a hand behind on it but could only reach part of it. His vest, polo shirt and undershirt were ruined of course.

"YOU WIN!"

He sighed. Well, at least he could walk back to spawn and ask Medic to patch him up…

"Your sense of fashion is even worse than what I thought." Sniper looked in the direction where the voice with the French accent came from.

"Ya had expectations?"

Out of a thin cloud of smoke, his masked colleague appeared and walked along Sniper.

"Expectations? Of course not. I had a foolish hope at best."

Both of them exchanged a smile, and maybe a chuckle.

"Oh, your back is injured."

"Yeah, your lot's coward enough to get us from the back!"

"Take it as compliment."

"Huh?"

They entered their spawn room and joined the rest of the team.

"You don't look too bad from there…"

Spy lit a cigarette and parted ways with his colleagues, leaving the Australian confused.

The hell did he mean…?

"Oh, Sniper, you look injured." Medic broke the tall man's train of thought.

"Huh? Y-yeah. Damn Spy got me in the back. Can you have a look?"

"Of course, follow me."

The Australian obeyed but his colleague's sentence was stuck in his mind.

You don't look too bad from there…

Sniper sat on the doctor's table.

Did it mean that Spy found his colleague handsome… from behind?!

"Remove your clothes and lie down on your stomach, please."

He did as he was told.

Nah. Sniper shook his head and frowned. Impossible. But then what? Well, knowing the sarcastic Frenchman, he might as well have meant "I prefer seeing you from behind because your face is ugly." Yeah, that sounded more like it.

"It's only superficial. Your clothes look much worse than your skin. I will disinfect it quickly and add a plaster."

"Thanks."

Sniper fell deep in thoughts again.

Weird how Spy always seemed so mysterious. There was no way to know exactly what he was thinking, ever. And the way he phrased his sentences always had twice as many meanings as the number of letters its words contained.

Sniper nonetheless liked his interactions with the masked man. There was something that made him feel at ease. Maybe it was the fact that along the months of working together and talking here and there, they had managed to get to know each other in the perfect way. It was always respectful and the banter was just the right tone.

"You can go, Sniper. It's nothing to worry about."

"Thanks, doc'."

The Australian went back to his camper van and closed his door. He resumed his train of thought.

At times, Spy would also visit his Australian colleague, to kill the boredom, smoke a cigarette and maybe have a few laughs. Those moments where they were only the two of them had happened more and more frequently as of late. Sniper sometimes caught himself leaving his door open, or even when he heard a noise outside his van, he'd peek through his window and he would check if his friend was visiting him. More often than he would want, it was only the wind brushing the orange and dusty ground. But on the few occasions where he saw the silhouette of the suit, he would drop everything he was doing and open his door, even before Spy knocked.

Knock, knock…

Speaking of!

Sniper raised an eyebrow. He opened his door. No one.

"What…?"

He exited his van and looked left and right. Nothing and no one. But he could have sworn that he heard a knock. He frowned and as he turned to jumped in his van again, he saw a note stuck on his door. It read:

"Good beer & a cigarette, my room."

Sniper raised his eyes from the thin strip of paper he held between his fingers.

Spy.

A few minutes later, the Australian reciprocated the knock on his colleague's door. Unbeknownst to him, the Frenchman leapt to his bathroom, checked himself in front of the mirror, collar, teeth. He then slipped back in his living-room and opened the door.

"Uh, hey Spy, is that from you?"

Sniper showed him the note.

"What do you think?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, not someone who speaks English as a first language who'd have such a handwriting."

"Come in."

Sniper entered.

"Please take a seat on the sofa, I will be a minute."

"Alroight."

The Australian did as we was told and in a few seconds, the Frenchman brought a small, silver tray with two beers and a few bowls with nibbles.

"Oh, thanks."

"It is nothing."

They sat next to each other.

"Mate, this is an Australian one!"

"Indeed it is. It took me weeks to find it but I finally managed to get my hand on a crate or two."

"Aces!"

Spy opened the bottles and they tipped their beers before taking a sip.

"Oh, you're takin' me back home with this, thanks…!"

The Frenchman grinned. Seeing his otherwise very reserved colleague radiating in such simple happiness pleased him.

"How is the wound on your back?" Spy asked.

"Better, Medic had a look at it, it's nothing too serious."

"Ah, good. Might I ask, I couldn't help but notice when you were injured, your clothes were in a very bad state…"

"Yeah, he tore my vest and my polo shirt open on my entire shoulder blade, that bastard."

"Indeed, and I saw your back…"

The smile on the Australian's lips vanished and he frowned, his gaze cold and focused on his host.

"You have tattoos on it?"

"Uh…" Sniper lowered his head. He was visibly not at ease. But he couldn't lie, not to Spy. "Y-yeah, I do."

The Australian blushed.

"What do they represent?"

"It's animals. Animals from back in Oz."

"May I see?"

"Uh, mate… Erm…"

"Oh, my apologies. I don't want to force you in any way. But let me show you something, if you please?"

Sniper nodded.

"Bien."

[Good.]

The Frenchman removed his gloves and undid his cuffs. Sniper raised an eyebrow. He was both taken aback and curious. Spy then undid the buttons of his shirt.

"Uuh, mate? Uh, what are you-?"

"Do not worry, I am not undressing completely." Spy smiled and Sniper realised that he was wearing a tanktop under his shirt.

Thank God.

The Frenchman delicately removed his right hand sleeve but it was when he removed his left hand one that Sniper's jaw dropped.

Spy's left arm and forearm was covered in an intricate series of colored tattoos. They were in the shape of red roses, lacing around his whole left arm. Their thorns were dark but the flowers themselves were in quite a vibrant shade of red.

"Wow, Spook… It's… It's gorgeous…!"

Spy grinned.

"I had no idea you had all that! C-can I touch?"

"But of course."

Sniper put his fingers on his friend's forearm and followed the multiple stems all the way up to Spy's shoulder.

"Have you never wondered why I keep the long sleeves, even in this heat?"

"I just thought you did it cause you liked your suits too much."

"I like them, it is true, but the summer gets quite tiring at times…!"

"Oh, Lord, it's-it's majestic, the colours are amazing, and the motifs are… Crikey, I'm speechless, sorry…!"

"On the contrary, I find you quite talkative in general and now in particular."

"Oh… And uh, y'know what, I'll show you mine. I'm afraid they're just black though…"

"Classic, I like it."

Sniper removed his layers until he got bare chested. He turned his back to the Frenchman.

"Oh, that is lovely… May I…?" Spy asked.

"Y-yeah, go ahead. As I said, they're all animals."

Spy frowned and put his fingers on his friend's back.

"Oui, I see that. Those are kangaroos, that's a hyena… The style is beautiful. I've never seen anything like it."

"It's tribal."

"Oh… Magnificent." Spy brushed the tips of his fingers on Sniper's back. It warmed him up on the inside. "And what is this one? Is that a sort of dog?"

"That's a dingo."

"Oh, a dingo, my apologies. I have never seen one for real."

"Not even in zoos?" Sniper turned his head slightly.

"Non, never."

"Well, you should come and visit then, they're even more beautiful in real life."

Spy slid his hands from Sniper's back up to his shoulders. The Australian felt the shivers run along his spine and without realising it, he closed his eyes. He liked the touch...

"Is this an invitation, Bushman?"

He chuckled and blushed.

"Well, maybe eh… I-I mean I'd be happy to show you around if one day you wanted to come'n see Australia."

"And I'm sure I would enjoy it very much." The Frenchman let his hands run on Sniper's naked shoulders.

"I see the plaster. It isn't too big, in fact."

"Oh, yeah, it shouldn't be. Medic said it was really nothin' in the end."

"Although, I don't know why he gave you one of those plasters…"

"Well to prevent the blood from stainin' my clothes."

"Non, I know that. But why those motifs on it, that is curious."

“What are ya talkin’ about?”

"You shall see when you remove it tomorrow morning. Nothing shocking, it's just out of the ordinary."

"Roight, whatever. I'd better go and get some sleep."

"Fine."

Both men put their clothes back on and the Australian left his friend alone. He turned his back to see the Frenchman. He was still at his doorstep.

"Uhm, Spy?"

"Oui?"

"Thanks for tonight."

"My pleasure."

The next day, Sniper woke up early, as he usually did. He had slept in his boxer shorts only and felt an itch in his back.

"Ah, bloody hell, that plaster…"

He unstuck it and was about to chuck it in the bin where a detail caught his eye.

"Oh, that's what Spook talked about, the motifs on the thing… What do they actually look like…?"

He took the plaster closer to his eyes.

"Oh, bugger… Spook!"

There was a heart, it was drawn with a biro pen and next to it was written in his cursive handwriting:

"Je t'aime."

#tf2 spy #tf2 sniper #sniperspy

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yesazea · 4 years ago

Text

How to Start a Conversation the Right Way

Some people just seem to possess a knack for creating conversation while others struggle to form chitchat. Knowing the way to start a conversation may be a useful social skill. Whether you would like to impress a possible client, strike up a conversation with a love interest, or simply chat with a replacement acquaintance, knowing the way to initiate a conversation can assist you to feel easier and assured during a big variety of social situations.

Before you start

If an area filled with strangers is your idea of a waking nightmare, the thought of getting to a celebration or work event is often incredibly daunting. These kinds of social situations are often especially difficult if you tend to be introverted, shy, or socially anxious.

One way to ease anxiety is to organize beforehand. Mentally review what you would like to speak about and even consider practicing with a lover. the primary step toward becoming a tremendous conversationalist it to be prepared.

If you're nervous about starting a conversation, try these three simple strategies before you begin:

1-Stay Positive:

Stop worrying about making an error and have faith in your abilities. Worrying an excessive amount of about what you're getting to say next can cause you to lose track of the conversation as it’s happening. Instead, attempt to stay focused on the opposite person and what they're saying.

2-Take a Deep Breath:

If you're tense and nervous, you're less likely to feel comfortable. attempt to stay relaxed and just let the conversation flow naturally.

3-Introduce Yourself:

one of the only ways to start is to only introduce yourself then give the opposite person the prospect to try to an equivalent. Once this first icebreaker has taken place, try asking an easy question or making an easy observation to assist inspire further discussion.

Conversation Killers

While it should go without saying, there are a couple of belongings you should avoid unless you're very conversant in the person with whom you're speaking.

While political commentary, gossip, complaints, and offensive jokes could be how your uncle starts conversations during your family get-togethers, it's probably not an example you ought to attempt to emulate in your day-to-day life.

Anything offensive, controversial, or uncomfortable should be avoided as you're initiating conversations.

There is a time and place to precise your opinion or maybe attempt to persuade others, but confirm that such topics are welcome before you get down to an impassioned debate.

Some research suggests that when it involves conversation openers, your best bet could also be to stay to fairly innocuous comments. In one study, participants were asked to rate the effectiveness of a variety of opening lines which may come from a possible romantic partner: flippant "pick-up" lines, open-ended, innocuous questions, and therefore the direct approach.

Few respondents appreciated the pick-up line approach, but responses attended be split when it came to preferences for the opposite two opening styles. Women attended to prefer the innocuous questions ("What's your favorite team?") while men favored the more direct approach ("I'd wish to buy you a drink!").

The authors of the study suggest that it's best to err on the side of the innocuous approach when choosing how to initiate a conversation with a stranger. this sort of conversation opener tends to be less threatening, yet encourages the opposite person to supply some sort of response.

Keep It Positive

Try to start your conversation on an upbeat note. stand back from launching into complaints or making negative observations. regardless of what things are, you'll find something positive to mention.

Comment on the weather, the food, the corporate, or the event itself. Saying something as simple as you're having an honest time and hoping that your conversation partner has a pleasing experience also may be a great way to urge a conversation rolling. albeit things itself isn't perfect, attempt to put a positive spin thereon.

Comments to steer With

“That was a very great presentation, wasn’t it?” “Whoever organized this event sure did an excellent job!” “Your presentation was excellent. I desire I learned a lot!” “It’s quite cold today but the weather report said that tomorrow is meant to be nice and sunny.” People tend to reply better to a positive comment instead of a negative one. It helps show that you simply are a pleasing one that pays attention to what’s happening. Staying positive also helps put others comfortable. As a result, people are going to be more curious about continuing a conversation with you.

Start Simple

Not every great conversation must begin with a deep, philosophical, earth-shattering observation. Simple icebreaker comments or questions are excellent thanks to the beginning.

Commenting on the weather, the room, or the food might sound cliche, but there's a reason why this type of icebreaker works so well. It’s an easy, easy thanks to getting a conversation rolling, offering a touch of footing between two strangers. Talking about inconsequential things can cause further conversations about personal preferences, backgrounds, hobbies, and deeper topics which will help forge social bonds between people.

What the Research Says

In one study published within the journal psychology, researchers performed naturalistic observations on participants to record both chitchat and deep conversations for several days.

What they found is that folks who engaged in deeper, personal conversations also had higher levels of happiness. This might mean that happy people are more likely to interact with others in meaningful conversations—but it also might mean that such substantive conversations may very well cause greater happiness. The researchers suggest that “the findings demonstrate that the happy life is social instead of solitary and conversationally deep instead of superficial.”

Not everyone loves making chitchat, but it is often a crucial initiative that will cause deeper, more meaningful conversations.

While starting a conversation often begins by that specialize in small, trivial things, research suggests that having more deep conversations could also be linked to greater happiness and well-being.

Learning the way to start a conversation can help lead you into these more consequential social connections.

Ask for Help

Asking an issue may be a good way to start a conversation. Doing this not only gives you a reason to interact with the opposite person—but it also allows them to be helpful.

When using this approach, start with something simple which will be accomplished without an excellent deal of effort. for instance, you would possibly ask someone if they know what time a workshop begins or directions to a specific location.

Conversation Starters

“Do you happen to understand where I could get a schedule?” “Have you seen an earring? I seem to possess lost one.” “Do you recognize if there'll be refreshments served after the workshop?” One of the advantages of this approach is that asking an easy question can cause further conversation about other topics. Once you've got posed your question and therefore the other person has offered their assistance, it creates something of a reciprocal agreement between you and your conversation partner.

Since they need offering their assistance, it's now up to you to offer your thanks and introduce yourself. this will function a chance for you to ask more about the opposite person—who they're, what brings them here, and other questions that are relevant given the setting and situation.

Body Language

Sometimes what you are doing say is simply as important as what you do say. As you strike up a replacement conversation, it's important to concentrate on your nonverbal communication.

Body language is often wont to convey interest and emotion. A friendly expression, comfortable stance, and good eye contact, for instance, can help show that you simply have a real interest in learning more about another person. Slouching, looking away, and frowning, on the opposite hand, might make your conversation partner feel that you simply are bored or disinterested.

Encouraging nonverbal signals include:

An open posture, which involves keeping the trunk of your body open together with your arms relaxed, helps convey a way of friendliness. Good eye contact involves watching a person’s eyes. Don’t stare, which may be threatening. Instead, keep things natural, watching the opposite person’s eyes but glancing away occasionally. Smiling is often helpful, as long because it seems genuine and natural. Avoid faking an enormous smile and check out to travel for a relaxed but uplifting expression.

Listen and Express Interest

It is often intimidating to undertake to speak to someone when it feels that you simply have little in common. In these situations, getting the opposite person to speak about his or her interests, work, or expertise is often useful thanks to starting a conversation.

Ask an issue about what the opposite person does, then specialize in really taking note of what they need to mention. People often enjoy talking about things they're hooked in to, so expressing a real interest in the things that people enjoy are often excellent fuel for an excellent conversation.

Strike a Balance

A good conversation doesn't believe only one approach.

The best discussions involve a mix of asking questions, taking note of what people need to say, and sharing things about yourself.

A simple conversation might start by:

Asking some basic information (“Did you enjoy the presentation?”) Listening to the solution (“It was great! I desire I learned a lot!”) Disclosing your thoughts (“I thought so also . I have already got some ideas about how I can incorporate those tips into my work process.”) Next, you would possibly repeat the method by asking another question, or your conversation partner might then prefer to ask an issue about your earlier response.) Learning the way to start a conversation is a crucial skill that will assist you to build social connections during a big variety of contexts. It is often difficult initially, particularly if you struggle with shyness or social anxiety, but gaining many practices is the key to become easier to lecture to people.

Try to consider all of those interactions as a rehearsal. The more often you initiate discussions with others, the stronger your conversational skills will become.

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avenger-hawk · 6 years ago

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Hello, it's me again. Thank you for answering my last question, I really apprecite how you give an elaborated answer, thoroughly explaining your point of view. My next question for you: is there any other character (or characters) that you would have like to see Sasuke interacting with, but in cannon he had very little contact or no contact at all? Why?

Hello again, and thanks for coming by~

This is a cool question, there isn’t just one character I’d have liked to see Sasuke interacting with more, mostly because I really love Sasuke’s interactions with almost anyone, some superficial fans see him as smug and arrogant or always brooding and ‘emo’ but to me he’s neither. He’s just aloof and usually lost in his own thoughts, and uninterested to most things with no problem in saying it, but when he is interested in something or someone he has his own cute way of showing it. But let me start with the list of characters.

Shikamaru

Both are very smart but in different ways. Both are observant and strategic. Both are usually lost in their own thoughts, one in contemplation of clouds and stuff, the other lost in memories and plans and considerations. Both are familiar with revenge, although one has been condemned and the other not at all. At his best Shikamaru is open-minded, as shown in the way he never had prejudices against N*ruto as a kid. I think in a post-ending setting he might be one of the first to actually talk to him because he knows how it feels to want revenge above everything, among all things, so he shouldn’t be one of those who judge him. At his worst, Shikamaru’s individuality has been brainwashed by Konoha like everyone else, so he might keep an eye on him cause he doesn’t trust him. Which means darker interactions and possibilities. Also his shadow jutsu is an interesting one in this setting.

Kiba

Sasuke loves animals. Kiba has a dog, actually Kiba is a sort of dog as well lol. He’s similar to N*ruto because of his assertive, loud, enthusiastic attitude but he’s less flashed out ofc, and he lacks N*ruto’s possessive, imposing and generally negative traits. Like I said here Akamaru would sense Sasuke’s kind soul and Kiba would follow his best friend’s ‘advice’. Sasuke would get along with Akamaru and Kiba would talk to him, Sasuke would not be talkative at all but he’d pet Akamaru a lot. Their interactions would be kinda like NS but healthier? But lol the word itself sounds so boring. Cuter sounds better. Also, Kiba being ‘beastlike’ in certain ways, and Sasuke being passive means possibility for dark imagery.

Sai

I’m really disappointed that except for fighting in the beginning they didn’t really interact in canon because Sai is his replacement…and tbh Team Yamato was much better, as a team, than Team7. Anyway. Sai and Sasuke have something in common: they both were loved and protected by their big brothers, who died, sacrificing themselves for them, in a way or another. It’s a lot in common, actually. I wrote a scene about this in my fic In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated. Both are blunt, but in a different way. Sasuke knows what he’s saying and why, if he steps over social norms it’s because he doesn’t care. Sai ignores social norms, he’s without filter and awkward, and he tries to learn with sometimes terrible results. Their interactions would be awkward and weird at first. Sai was Danzo’s subordinate, this would make Sasuke wary of him; but also, Sai was Danzo’s slave, he had no choice in this. Almost like Itachi. Sasuke would understand this very well. Also, my personal headcanon is that since Danzo formed Root after the massacre, he told Itachi’s story to those shinobi, both to teach them that shinobi must carry on every mission assigned no matter what, and to teach them that emotions are a bad thing. Sai would more or less know about Itachi and he would tell Sasuke, in a way that didn’t judge, but that instead admired him. And Sasuke would appreciate. Their interactions would be more relaxed then, but still there would be weird comments on Sai’s side.

Ino

I don’t ship them and I don’t care much about her but her desperate cry when he was sentenced to death impressed me very much. It doesn’t just show a girl’s crush, it shows real empathy and compassion for the destiny of a person she once had a crush on. Cause she did move on when she first got interested in Sai imo, like normal people do btw. So it would be cute to see a girl interact with him for real, with no secret agenda or smth.

Gaara

What a wasted potential their relationship was…in pt1 creepy monster Gaara was interested in him, before N*ruto took over. In pt2 Gaara acts like the Kazekage with a desperate broken Sasuke attacking their meeting, but he also sheds a tear for him. Gaara was really saved cause he was a monster. Sasuke isn’t and was never one, and he didn’t need to be saved but the narration pushes that direction. Gaara was interested in Sasuke’s fate in ep479, I think he would not judge him (his official Kazekage position aside) and he would like to bond with him somehow. Sasuke admires strength and Gaara is very strong, so he would not ignore him. And Sasuke talks about politics as well. Gaara would listen and talk as well. And he would stare at him a lot. But I wrote about this already. Besides there’s a lot of dark potential as well. Because imo it’s interesting to think that there’s still some darkness in his heart and somehow he’d let it out with a passive masochistic Sasuke who feels like he needs to atone for his sins.

Kisame

He was Itachi’s partner, he knows a lot about Itachi because he’s observant, and Sasuke is the one who killed his partner. He was snarky about it with Obito and Sasuke himself but I (like to) think that he was feeling something, like resentment, towards Sasuke for killing Itachi. After all, no matter his reasons, he sure preferred Itachi. I also like to think that during the time Sasuke and Team Taka stayed in Obito’s hideout as Akatsuki members, he made no mystery of the truth about Itachi, and I like to think that he asked Kisame about his brother. (which kinda opens to the dark stuff cause Kisame being angry at him because he killed Itachi…you got it)

Tobirama

I find him very interesting despite disagreeing with his politics, and I really liked his interactions with Sasuke, especially the way he first insulted his clan and rudely talked to him, but then he tried to protect him against Madara. And I liked how Sasuke humbly, pragmatically and with an open mind he listened to him without letting his feelings get in the way, without getting offended. I would have liked to fight together more, and to see him protecting him more actively, not being blocked by those black sticks. And I would have liked him to openly praise Sasuke and his abilities like he did in his mind.

Madara

I’ll forever be salty at how their interactions were little and not emotionally charged at all. I mean Sasuke is the last Uchiha alive and Madara was another founder, the former head of the clan…I get that he was fighting a war and I know he did show interest in Sasuke’s eyes (and he acknowledged the pain he felt to obtain them) and he did try to get him on his side, and I get that Sasuke was all hyped up to protect the village because Itachi, but still. Like, Madara’s plan was to create a new world, he could have told Sasuke, he could have told him that Itachi would have been there, since his allies Obito and Kabuto were defeated or being defeated. Ugh.

my madasasu tag. my madasasu edits and meta.

Orochimaru (&Kabuto)

I like all part2 interactions between them, and I really like the way they became after Orochimaru was brought back, but I’m also interested in their interactions in Otogakure, the way he trained Sasuke, the forbidden substances he got him to take, the forbidden jutsu he taught him and the forbidden things they required to be done (think whatever here lol). The way he trained Sasuke to take poisons and not be affected, I’m sure they were all painful and hard things to bear, and I’m sure than in part of them he was strapped to a table, and others he was really really exhausted and badly injured, after. Not to mention the way Orochimaru talked to him, how he manipulated him using Itachi and his weakness compared to him, how he was ‘kind’ to him in his creepy way. All the things Sasuke had to witness beside him and how he decided to free the prisoners, and Team Taka ofc. Speaking of which.

Team Taka

They did have a lot of interactions but I wanted more both pre ending and post ending. How Sasuke first met them, how he decided they were the ones he needed. Their travels, their conversations, their nightmares, their bonding moments.

Sasuke and Karin’s conversations. Both suffered great trauma, both lost their families.

Juugo being protective and loyal over Sasuke but also! his dark side coming out against him and Sasuke welcoming it and becoming his cage, but kinda getting hurt in the process.

Suigetsu admiring Sasuke and wanting to be noticed by him but being obnoxious and mischievous. And kinda sadistic. And Sasuke being ok with it cause he’s passive.

Special mentions, in and out of canon:

Deidara

I really loved their fight, the strategy, the contrast between their personalities. I like that both have an inferiority complex, especially towards Itachi, and they both worked hard to get stronger, but they act differently. Deidara is loud and apparently messy and he loudly brags his art and abilities, Sasuke is silent and calm and uninterested but he is proud of his achievements, as shown when he explains Deidara what he did and he points out that it’s chidori, not raikiri. His version of the jutsu. Other things in common? They’re both reckless with their bodies when it comes to achieve their goal. I’d love an AU where they interact, like my Akatsuki AU. It’s kinda like NS in a way. also.

Obito

They spent a lot of time together in canon but it’s not shown. It’s some of my canon behind the screen thingies, and I’d love to see any interactions between them. Obito knows the truth about Itachi, he knows Itachi while Sasuke doesn’t. He wants to know anything about his brother and I’m sure he asked him a lot. Obito told him stuff also because he needed to manipulate Sasuke against the village, but also because he feels some little attachment between the other Uchiha, just like he felt some for Itachi. There’s a scene that is always overlooked and that I liked a lot, in ep375 when Obito is about to be ‘killed’ by Kakashi and before he’s taken over by Madara, Sasuke is there and Obito refers to him as ‘fellow traitor’. I like that he kinda aknowledged Sasuke’s presence in that moment ok. To do such thing while Kakashi and Madara are clearly the strongest presences for him, I like to think that Sasuke left an impression on him.

(my obisasu tag and meta)

Shisui

I mean, in the filler non massacre arc. He did train Sasuke after all. I’d have liked to see more. But it’s no mystery, that arc inspired me greatly and if now I ship Shisasu even in other contexts it’s because of it.

my shisasu tag. my shisasu edits and meta.

Hiruzen

Only because I’d like Sasuke to tell him that he’s just as guilty as his buddy Danzo. That old a**hole.

#sasuke #shikasasu #kibasasu #deisasu #obisasu #madasasu #tobisasu #team taka #too many #vivalarevolution #vivalarevolution: bonds #vivalarevolution: visions #hostilecherry #long post

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amwritingmeta · 6 years ago

Text

14x14: Noah as Representative of Suppression/Repression

Dean, Sam, Cas and Jack are all at a crossroads. How huge that crossroads is and how long they’ll be stood at it, weighing their options, remains to be seen, but Yockey firmly placed them there in this episode and he did it, to my mind, through using Noah as the needed tool to up the stakes, as it were.

I wrote in an ask response about one side to Noah’s representative qualities in the narrative, where I can see his boredom with the same old routine (his fate, as he calls it) to be a reflection of Dean’s boredom with casual sex and subtle exposition of exactly why Dean hasn’t been engaging with it for so long: he craves something more satisfying. (because he’s in love)

And though Noah is violent, he’s not violent for the sake of violence, the way Michael is shown to be at the end of this very same episode, and as such Noah isn’t, for me, a representative of toxic masculinity. Mostly because Michael so firmly holds onto that title, but also because of Noah’s distaste for having to cook humans for supper. He’d rather not, but nature left him the choice of this or death. And he’s not going to sacrifice himself, which, as far as the natural order goes, is fairly understandable.

(he’s not a human eating other humans) (he’s a demigod requiring humans for sustenance) (there’s a crude but real difference to the two concepts)

The fact that Noah isn’t a toxic masculinity representative, though, is extremely significant to me.

So, in this post I’d like to outline my thoughts on the second side to Noah’s representative qualities, as I see them, and talk a bit about the deeply ingrained patterns of suppression/repression that exists in each of our main characters.

Definitions -->

Suppression is a psychological term for when we consciously push down unwanted thoughts or urges. Used healthily this is where self-control lies, but when an unwanted emotion or urge is ignored out of fear, this suppression tactic can turn into a pattern of behaviour that may lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms (like drinking, casual sex, violent outbursts, addiction to danger etc) *side eye Dean Winchester* and irrational behaviour and lack of self-control due to lack of self-awareness.

Repression is a psychological term for when we push down unwanted thoughts, urges or very often memories into our unconscious, where our conscious mind is protected from having to deal with these particulars, because our conscious mind is kept wholly unaware that these particulars are a part of us. However, these repressed thoughts, urges or memories will push to be recognised, because anything we try to simply forget, that is deeply affecting, will never stay forgotten, and being unable to confront these buried thoughts, urges or memories may result in unhealthy outlets, such as the coping mechanisms and irrational behaviour mentioned above.

Noah

Though what exactly the gorgon represents truly is up for interpretation, the simple facts are:

Noah the gorgon in and of himself is a snake symbol, and per the ouroboros of the title, the snake symbolism in 14x14 might be leaning towards renewal, rebirth and a conjoining of opposites rather than, you know, the snake that brought knowledge to mankind and helped us rebel........ Yeah, kinda good either way you look at it, no?

Noah also Biblically brought the flood, which is a mighty symbol of rebirth, so he’s this double-edged sword where both edges spell renewal

Noah looks at you, assesses you and sees the truth of you, established with the truck driver, his note to Dean and with Jack - a bit of a narrative tie to Michael in 14x01, who blasted onto the scene reading the truth of people’s motivations left and right, and subtle foreshadowing of how Michael will shed Dean, and go looking for a new skin *shudder’

Noah enjoys both men and women (yes indeed bisexual symbol and nope I am not the first to point this out of course)

That’s the basic makeup of Noah’s demigod character, yeah?

Now, there’s a lot of moments in this episode that, to me, highlight the suppression/repression tendencies in TFW 2.0 and push for the much needed confrontation these moments lead into with Noah, as well as the repercussions that follow this very confrontation, culminating in the deaths at the bunker and Jack’s standoff with Michael.

Self-deception, thy collective face is Three Men and I’m Not a Baby -->

Sam

Darling Sam. He is so deep in his suppression of his superficial fear of how everything is not at all fine or okay, as well as in his deeply repressed fears that go back years and are a part of his identity makeup, that he can’t even stand a fair questioning from someone who knows a great deal about exactly the situation he’s putting himself in, as she later even points out in dialogue.

Sam leans heavily on the belief that everything will work out in the end, as long as they think it will, and his behaviour is, to me, a very sharp critique of the blinding power of the codependency, because the innate fears (repressed fear of failure and loss of identity) that has kept the codependency at the heart of how Sam and Dean relate themselves to each other is what is making Sam incapable of taking a step back and assessing their situation with any clarity.

Instead, he recites the age old belief system and shuts himself off from questioning it in any way:

Dean will be okay, because Dean has to be okay.

Jack is fine, because Jack has to be fine.

Sam’s loyalty to Dean is what makes Sam insist on Dean coming home after Sam talks Dean out of getting in that box, and then that same loyalty makes Sam insist on them acting as though everything is normal, thinking this is the only way he can support Dean, because this is how Dean has always handled every situation.

But Sam in a leader position should think of the safety of those following him, he should see the very real threat of Michael getting free, and should take steps to protect the innocent people who end up dying at the hands of Michael.

I’m not saying their deaths are Sam’s fault, because Sam didn’t tell Michael to kill them, but their deaths are a narrative punishment for Sam’s inability to see past old patterns and learn from old mistakes.

Sam takes a huge risk bringing Dean back to the bunker, especially after he’s knocked out cold in this episode and even Cas can’t see what the hell is going on in his head, and if Sam wasn’t blinded by the patterns of the codependency, he might not have made that executive decision to begin with.

Btw, I’m also not prescribing the brothers shouldn’t have each other’s backs or should look at every dangerous situation with cold calculation, but when the lives of a group of innocent people are at stake, taking that step back and seeing the bigger picture might be preferable for everyone involved.

Sam’s suppression/repression of his fears, and his inability to confront the fact that his fear of failure is keeping him tethered to his brother (because he’s using Dean’s presence as a security blanket, even when Sam’s the one in the leader position) is manifested through the fact that Sam can’t stop Noah, representative of suppression/repression.

Noah tosses Sam across the room like he’s made out of tissue paper because Noah represents all those things that are continually kicking Sam’s ass and making him run from taking real responsibility.

And the way for Sam to shoulder individual responsibility and move towards his true identity, an identity that in no way is defined by his relationship to Dean?

Well, to my mind, Sam needs to dare to believe that he’s a good and strong leader in his own right.

Sam has a default attitude of We Can Fix This Together, which is good, but that attitude without sound leadership and realistic risk assessment is bad.

He’s the born leader. Once he’s balanced and begins to realise that teamwork still requires a strong team leader, he’ll be fucking golden.

*so Sam stating in 14x15 that he has to stop running made my heart sing* *hoping it sticks*

Dean

Dean, Dean, Dean. This episode made it very clear that he’s still very much not believing at all that there’s any way Sam and Cas can find a way to defeat Michael. He says to Cas that he promised to give them time, meaning Dean’s not part of this taking time deal. This is weighty af, because of course he’s the only one who can actually find another way, if he only dared try.

But he doesn’t dare to, because he’s completely ruled by his fear of failure, just like Sam is, only for Dean, it’s always all on him.

If Michael gets free on his watch, it’s his fault, and he’d rather just go drop himself in the ocean than work as a team with people who might, and to his mind most likely will, get hurt in the process.

Dean’s risk assessment is always on red alert and there’s rarely any hope or trust in him - at least not on an unconscious, deeper level - that the outcome won’t be the worst case scenario, especially not now, with Michael pounding against his frontal lobe.

Dean walks around not with a death wish, but with an acknowledgement that he’ll die on the job and with the conviction that what he wants is to go down swinging, and this conscious, defeatist attitude goes against his unconscious, true wish: to live a long and happy life.

His suppressed/repressed fears make even the thought of an actual future impossible.

His suppressed/repressed fears that are tied to his toxic masculinity armour and manifested in the toxic masculinity representative of Michael, ie Dean’s shadow-self.

And in this episode we have Dean incapable of facing his shadow-self for fear of what facing his shadow-self will mean for his ego, ie his conscious view of himself and his understanding of his own identity.

So instead of facing his shadow-self and engaging in what Carl Jung calls shadow work, Dean has locked his shadow-self away and is, basically, holding onto Plan B, which is the equivalent of him running from the need to own up to fears that have been informing his way of relating himself to the world for far too long, and they’ve done so because rather than risk his long-held idea of who he is and who he’s been taught he needs to be (in order to keep Sam and the world safe), he’s going to put himself in a (societal) box and symbolically drown even the hope of finding internal balance.

This absolute and continued refusal to commit to change, to let go of his suppression as well as his repression of fears that have ruled him from much too young an age, lands him in a moment when facing off with the representative for that suppression/repression - Noah - brings about the narrative punishment of Dean’s worst fears coming to pass: losing his control and Michael breaking free because of it.

This punishment comes about because of the fact that Dean hasn’t been able to internally engage in shadow work, and the suppression/repression he’s engaged with instead now doing what it’s always done, which is take away Dean’s control and allow for his shadow-self to not only break free, but to actually manifest externally and wreak havoc.

But that’s not all. Oh, no.

I’ll talk about Jack a little further down.

Cas

Oh, Cas. At this point his identity confusion reaches a never before seen peak.

I mean, holy fuck, this moment is the moment when his rejection of his angel heritage is put in proper dialogue, but this rejection combined with the impossibility for him to explore what would make him truly happy means that he is stuck in identity limbo.

Not angel, not man, but a thing.

*it’s heartbreaking and stupidly exciting*

Cas is suppressing his longing for more because of his repressed fear of failure (among other fears), and this because his fear of failure is what’s crept up on him over the course of his individual arc, where he’s kept trying to help, and at every turn has faced a bigger and bigger failure, until it became impossible for him to see himself having any other use than to act the sacrificial lamb and constantly throw himself in the path of danger, without even thinking to ask himself if it was what he truly wanted for himself.

In S4 Cas stated to Dean that he wasn’t just a hammer, but over the course of his individual arc, Cas has slowly made himself into the weapon, this when deep down he’s always been the shield, and he is innately the protector.

Moving away from Heaven’s doctrine is essential for Cas’ character progression, and the slow nudging over the course of the last two seasons has been rather fantastic to behold, but for all his progress, Cas is now giving into his repressed fear of failure and allowing it to rule him.

Cas is choosing to maintain the status quo, and it’s gloriously frustrating to watch him simply accept the fact that he can’t ever be happy, when what he should be doing is engage in shadow work and question the validity of his shadow-self running the show.

Questioning his shadow-self and facing all those suppressed and deeply repressed fears, though, means the same as it does for Dean: answering the questions Who am I? and Who do I want to be? honestly, and for himself, and the prospect of his idea of himself having to evolve is a scary one, so no wonder he allows his shadow-self to dictate the terms.

Cas comes face to face with Noah and lo and behold, what happens is quite intriguing as Noah slaps Cas twice on each cheek, almost as if to chastise him for sleepwalking through his life, and then Noah kisses Cas on the cheek, effectively paralysing him.

It comes across as a rather marvellous visual manifestation of how Cas’ suppression/repression of his own true wants and needs is paralysing him, leaving him complacent to a fate that he believes is inevitable.

But...

Jack

So then. Jack. This formidable knitting point. This gorgeous narrative tool. This amazing mirror for all of TFW, full of expositional prowess and symbolic value.

Aw Jack.

His fear has always been reflective of Sam, Dean and Cas, because even though he’s his own brand of innocent, he is meant to be a combination of the character traits of TFW, allowing him that expositional prowess, because his character evolution sheds light on the needed evolution of TFW.

*mh mh good*

Jack’s greatest fear is to bring suffering, but in this fear is the fear of failure, yes, that old fear, that’s so overwhelming in all of TFW. Jack wants to do good, and he tries so hard that we’ve seen how it’s sometimes difficult for him to separate good choices from bad ones.

In 12x19 he rejected Dagon and he rejected his father, choosing Cas as his protector and doing everything in his baby Nephi powers to protect his mother. Kelly’s motherly love shaped Jack into the caring and innocent being that he came into the world as, where that moment of his father reaching out to him, at the beginning of S13, frightened him, and where he continuously rejected Lucifer’s influence.

What 14x14 so gorgeously sets up for us is underlining what Jack’s weakness at this point in his individual arc is: his refusal to acknowledge how he doesn’t know who he is yet.

I’m not a child. I’m the son of Lucifer. I’m a hunter. I’m a Winchester.

The identity confusion in this statement is pretty amazing, to my mind, because where he’s spent so much time rejecting his father and the heritage of Lucifer, he’s now suddenly embracing it in dialogue and, even more than that, he’s using it as his first identity marker. Clearly he’s seeing himself moving into adulthood, his identity statement after all beginning with him telling us how he considers his childhood over.

And let’s note that his last identity marker is that he’s a Winchester.

Yeah, as 14x15 is already telling us, this probably doesn’t bode well, but I also believe it doesn’t bode well for now.

The fact that he claims the Winchester name for his is also a very good thing for later, obviously, and one that will most likely be crucial when it comes to the resolution of what is most likely going to be his dark arc. It may last a few episodes or it may build to the end of the season, we shall see, but it seems fairly evident that it’s rapidly approaching.

In a sense, him taking Michael’s grace into himself is him moving from child to teenager, in another sense Jack declaring that he’s not a child is ironic, seeing how he truly needs guidance, now more than ever before.

I mean, he’s literally swallowed down the essence of the thing that’s tripped Dean up his whole life and, by proxy, Sam and ultimately Cas as well: toxic masculinity.

This is no way to grow up, Jack.

And, of course -->

Jack losing his soul - even though it’s not all of it yet - is a callback to Sam being soulless in S6, where Sam had to confront the side to him that is able to distance itself and look at a situation through a wholly mercenary perspective, fuelling his sense of dependency as he suddenly had to question his own judgement, something that hampers him as a leader as well, hollowing out his sense of self-worth, making it wholly easier to follow than to lead

the possible setting up for Jack trying to help and managing to do the opposite, his growing powers possible sending him off the beaten track, might prove a strong callback to Cas for most of his arc, where his first mistake of becoming Godstiel paved the way for choices that led hollowed out Cas sense of self-worth, leading him into depression

the possible setting up for Jack’s shadow-self to rule him because of Jack swallowing down toxic masculinity is a callback to the MoC arc for Dean, where his lack of self-worth led him to become a demon, the scenario being his shadow-self manifesting his worst nightmare as Dean lost himself in careless, selfish, mindless coping behaviours, dominated by violence

As ever, we shall see how the writers choose to go, but I’m damned stoked.

This whole season has been saturated with the MoC arc of S10 and the MoC arc was all about pushing Dean to change and to evolve out of old, worn patterns. It was all about forcing a new perspective of himself on him, and a new understanding of what he wants for himself. (a long and happy life with the man he loves) And here we now are, with all of these characters facing their suppression/repression as well as the narrative consequences for none of them having properly grown up and grown into their true identities.

The fact that they can still deceive themselves like this is shown to not be okay, as they’re all hit with equal punishment, all of which now rather neatly knots itself into the fate of Jack.

My hope?

That Jack’s choice to burn off his soul to protect the people he loves and swallowing Michael’s grace and beginning to feel different and possibly starting to go off the rails is the awaited push necessary for Sam, Dean and Cas to reach the point in their progression that it’s necessary they reach if they’re going to be able to get through to Jack, and ultimately guide him or, at the very least, be the role models he truly needs.

Because right now, not a single one of them is anywhere near that point. Well, possibly Sam, as per 14x15, if he’s the first one of them to stop running.

Let’s remember that Jack was the one to chop off Noah’s head as well as put an end to Michael’s new world order: symbolically pretty heavy duty on the probable importance to the actual internal balance being reached for our three main characters, right?

Jack cut the head off two symbolical snakes in one episode.

Both of which were tied to the unhealthy habits of Sam, Dean and Cas.

It’s beautifully setup, whatever happens, and I can’t wait to see what we get!

#spn meta #spn 14x14 #my reading #tfw 2.0 #sam winchester #dean winchester #cas #jack kline winchester #shadow work #carl jung #suppression/repression #spn symbology #noah #michael #toxic masculinity #balance #true identity #lying to yourself is not a good thing #honesty is the best medicine

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ranwing · 6 years ago

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Rent Live on Fox: A Review

Many of my followers and readers of my stories know that I’m something of a musical theater buff, and I hold a lot of affection for the show “Rent”. This was a musical about my generation - the one coming of age in the era of AIDS. Where the east Village was gritty and filled with creative artistic types (before it was taken over by chain stores and rents - no pun intended - skyrocketed). When I was of an age with the characters, there was something intriguing and romantic about living for art and not worrying about what the next day might bring. So needless to say, the prospect of seeing Rent performed again was going to be a nice trip down memory lane.

Like all live productions, there were good things, bad elements and things that made me wonder what the production team was thinking about. To start off with, I’m not worried about the fact that the show did not air “live” due to the injury of one of the lead actors. In fact, I would have preferred better, smarter editing because I had some serious issues with the staging. But more on that in a bit.

Casting: For the most part, I found the casting of the show... adequate. There were a few performers that really blew me away but mostly I was struck at how generic most of the players were. I’m a firm believer that musical shows like this are best served with musical theater actors who can balance singing and acting. Too often, performers are chosen by name recognition and the show suffers as a result. Rent was no different.

First, there were some really outstanding performers. I adored Tinashe, who brought the right balance of sultriness and vulnerability that I want to see in Mimi. Her rendition of Take Me Out was amazing and she managed to overcome the annoying frenetic camera angles (more on that later). Another standout was Kiersey Clemons as Joanne, who was able to bring appropriate gravitas to the “straight” woman of the Joanne/Maureen pairing. Brandon Victor Dixon’s experience as a Broadway actor showed and he gave Tom Collins depth and charm.

And I was really delighted to see Keala Settle as the leader of the Life Support meeting. She’s always a joy to watch. Most of the background performers were excellent and I think that the show did a good job filling out the supporting cast with talented singers and actors.

Of the other leads, I was less in love. Vanessa Hudgens had some enjoyable moments as Maureen, but I sometimes found her too frenetic and superficial. There were times when she was grinning that just felt... off. Brennin Hunt looked the part of Roger, but his vocals sounded thin at times. And while I think that Jordan Fisher is exceptionally talented, I feel that he was miscast as Mark. I understand that the show did want to have as diverse a cast as possible, but he was a poor fit for a geeky Jewish boy from Scarsdale. Valentina had moments where she really shone as Angel, but there were also moments when she struggled with the music. So the casting and acting was a mixed bag for me.

Production: When I first heard that FOX would be airing Rent, I’m going to admit that my heart sank because I had no clue how they were going to air a show like this without totally butchering it (the way Rocky Horror was). The show is filled with profanity, frank discussions about sex and relationships (including one song that is all about fucking). But unlike the ill-fated attempt to bring Rocky Horror to the screen, I ended up being pleasantly surprised that a lot of the show was left more or less unedited. Yes, the cursing was cut out (and not always adeptly) but the song about fucking was left intact (Contact). The lesbian and gay relationships were highlighted and the actors were able to show kissing and physical affection between their characters (including Maureen bouncing on her’s and Joanne’s bed during Take Me or Leave Me). Angel’s gender fluidity wasn’t whitewashed away, and all of the drug references seem to have made it through the editing phase.

That’s not to say that there weren’t edits that left me annoyed. During La Vie Boheme, there were edits made clearly to reduce run time that I felt affected the flow of the number and made no sense. And while they characters could sing about “mucho masturbation” and S&M, the word dildo had to be changed for some silly reason. But for the most part, they got a lot of the original musical in, which made me quite happy.

Explaining the setting of the show (including the impact of the AIDS crisis to viewers who might be too young to understand) and the tribute to Larson at the end was well done and gave the show a frame in history from which to operate. The New York of Rent has changed dramatically since, but this show provides an interesting window on that brief period of our history. And bringing back the original cast from the Broadway production (who I got to see perform several times back in the day) made sitting through the whole show worth while.

Staging: This was an issue that I had a love/hate relationship with. Sometimes the staging was great, and other times it just looked too random. Like they had all this scaffolding, so actors had to run about it as much as possible. I think that the show could have done a better job in setting up actual sets within the scaffolding to create the different settings (Mark’s and Roger’s loft, the Life Cafe, etc). They had the luxury of all that space and didn’t seem to utilize it in a way that was effective. We got the impression of settings rather than actual settings in a lot of cases.

And I had issues with how the show interacted with the studio audience. Too often it seemed that the audience was getting in the way of the production. There were times when it was difficult to hear the singers, and I could have done without the pointless body surfing done during What You Own.

So all it all, it wasn’t a bad production for the most part. I enjoyed it and have it saved on my DVR so I can watch it again later. I think that the weaknesses of the show don’t detract from my generally being able to enjoy it. Of all the musicals done on television, this is probably one of the better efforts (along with Jesus Christ Superstar last season). I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with Hair (which is airing on NBC in May 2019) and hope that maybe one day we’ll get to see a show aired in its entirety. Too many people don’t have the luxury of seeing live theater and this is a wonderful way to give them a small taste of what going to a Broadway show can entail. Rent wasn’t perfect, but it did a decent job given the limitations of the medium.

#rent live #musical theater #I'll give it a B-

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justateenagetearaway · 6 years ago

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shaizstern · 5 years ago

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Article from NYT: Talk Less. Listen More. Here’s How.

Lessons in the art of listening, from a C.I.A. agent, a focus group moderator and more.

Lily Padula

By Kate Murphy

Ms. Murphy is the author of “You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters.”

Jan. 9, 2020

When was the last time you listened to someone? Really listened, without thinking about what you wanted to say next, glancing down at your phone or jumping in to offer your opinion? And when was the last time someone really listened to you? Was so attentive to what you were saying and whose response was so spot on that you felt truly understood?

We are encouraged to listen to our hearts, our inner voices and our guts, but rarely are we encouraged to listen carefully and purposefully to other people. Instead, we talk over one another at cocktail parties, work meetings and even family dinners. Online and in person, it’s all about defining yourself, shaping the narrative and staying on message.

And yet, listening can be more valuable than speaking. Wars have been fought, fortunes lost and friendships wrecked for lack of listening. It is only by listening that we engage, understand, empathize, cooperate and develop as human beings. It is fundamental to any successful relationship — personal, professional and political.

In writing a book about listening, I asked people from Brooklyn to Beijing what it meant to be a good listener. The typical response was a blank stare. People had no trouble, however, telling me what it meant to be a bad listener, rattling off actions such as interrupting, looking at a phone, and responding in a narcissistic or confused way. The sad truth is that people have more experience being cut off, ignored and misunderstood than heard to their satisfaction.

Of course, technology plays a role. Social media provides a virtual megaphone, along with the means to filter out opposing views. People find phone calls intrusive and ignore voice mail, preferring text or wordless emoji. If people are listening to anything, it’s likely through headphones or earbuds, where they feel safe inside their own curated sound bubbles. This is all fueling what public health officials describe as an epidemic of loneliness in the United States.

But tech is not the only culprit. High schools and colleges have debate teams and courses in rhetoric and persuasion, but rarely, if ever, offer classes or extracurricular activities that teach careful listening. You can get a doctorate in speech communication and join clubs such as Toastmasters to perfect your public speaking, but who strives for excellence in listening? The image of success and power today is someone miked up and prowling around a stage or orating from behind a lectern. Giving a TED talk or delivering a commencement speech is living the dream.

The cacophony of modern life also stops us from listening. The acoustics in restaurants can make it difficult, if not impossible, for diners to clearly hear one another. Offices with an open design ensure every keyboard click, telephone call and after-lunch belch make for constant racket. Traffic noise on city streets, music playing in shops and the bean grinder at your favorite coffeehouse exceed the volume of normal conversation by as much as 30 decibels, and can even cause hearing loss.

So how can we reclaim the lost art of listening? After a couple of years studying the neuroscience, psychology and sociology of listening, as well as consulting some of the best professional listeners out there (including a C.I.A. agent, focus group moderator, radio producer, priest, bartender and furniture salesmen), I discovered that listening goes beyond simply hearing what people say. It also involves paying attention to how they say it and what they do while they are saying it, in what context, and how what they say resonates within you.

It’s not about merely holding your peace while someone else holds forth. Quite the opposite. A lot of listening has to do with how you respond — the degree to which you facilitate the clear expression of another person’s thoughts and, in the process, crystallize your own.

Good listeners ask good questions. One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned as a journalist is that anyone can be interesting if you ask the right questions. That is, if you ask truly curious questions that don’t have the hidden agenda of fixing, saving, advising, convincing or correcting. Curious questions don’t begin with “Wouldn’t you agree…?” or “Don’t you think…?” and they definitely don’t end with “right?” The idea is to explore the other person’s point of view, not sway it.

For example, when trying to find out why people might go to the grocery store late at night, a focus group moderator told me, she didn’t ask leading questions like, “Do you shop late a night because you didn’t get around to it during the day?” or “Do you shop at night because that’s when they restock the shelves?” Instead, she turned her question into an invitation: “Tell me about the last time you went grocery shopping late at night.” This, she said, prompted a quiet, unassuming woman who had hardly spoken up to that point to raise her hand. “I had just smoked a joint and was looking for a ménage à trois — me, Ben and Jerry,” she said. Grocers, take note.

You also want to avoid asking people personal and appraising questions like “What do you do for a living?” or “What part of town do you live in?” or “What school did you go to?” or “Are you married?” This line of questioning is not an honest attempt to get to know who you’re talking to so much as rank them in the social hierarchy. It’s more like an interrogation and, as a former C.I.A. agent told me, interrogation will get you information, but it won’t be credible or reliable.

In social situations, peppering people with judgmental questions is likely to shift the conversation into a superficial, self-promoting elevator pitch. In other words, the kinds of conversations that make you want to leave the party early and rush home to your dog.

Instead, ask about people’s interests. Try to find out what excites or aggravates them — their daily pleasures or what keeps them up at night. Ask about the last movie they saw or for the story behind a piece of jewelry they’re wearing. Also good are expansive questions, such as, “If you could spend a month anywhere in the world, where would you go?”

Research indicates that when people who don’t know each other well ask each other these types of questions, they feel more connected than if they spent time together accomplishing a task. They are the same kinds of questions listed in the widely circulated article “36 Questions That Lead to Love” and are similar to the conversation starters suggested by the Family Dinner Project, which encourages device-free and listening-focused meals.

Because our brains can think a lot faster than people can talk, beware of the tendency to take mental side trips when you should be listening. Smart people are particularly apt to get distracted by their own galloping thoughts. They are also more likely to assume they already know what the other person is going to say.

People with higher I.Q.s also tend to be more neurotic and self-conscious, which means that worry and anxiety are more likely to hijack their attention. If you fall in this category, it could be helpful to consider listening a kind of meditation, where you make yourself aware of and acknowledge distractions, then return to focusing. Rather than concentrating on your breathing or a mantra, return your attention to the speaker.

The reward of good listening will almost certainly be more interesting conversations. Researchers have found that when talking to inattentive listeners, the speakers volunteered less information and conveyed information less articulately. Conversely, they found that attentive listeners received more information, relevant details and elaboration from speakers, even when the listeners didn’t ask any questions.

How you listen can work like a self-fulfilling prophecy: If you’re barely listening to someone because you think that person is boring or not worth your time, you could actually make it so. Moreover, listening to other people makes it more likely other people will listen to you. This is partly because it’s human nature to return courtesies, but also because good listening improves your chances of delivering a message that resonates.

Listening is a skill. And as with any skill, it degrades if you don’t do it enough. Some people may have stronger natural ability while others may have to work harder, but each of us can become a better listener with practice. The more people you listen to, the more aspects of humanity you will recognize, and the better your instincts will be. Listening well can help you understand other people’s attitudes and motivations, which is essential in building cooperative and productive relationships, as well as discerning which relationships you’d be better off avoiding.

We are, each of us, the sum of what we attend to in life. The soothing voice of a mother, the whisper of a lover, the guidance of a mentor, the admonishment of a supervisor, the rallying call of a leader and the taunts of a rival ultimately form and shape us. And to listen poorly, selectively or not at all limits your understanding of the world and prevents you from becoming the best you can be.

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andranikolayi · 5 years ago

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Gxrls Can’t Mix - misogyny and discrimination in the electronic music world

originally appeared online in Romanian for Revista Cutra

A brief note about this translation

I initially wrote this text in July for Romanian intersectional feminist mag CUTRA and they published it mid September. The focus was supposed to be on events that did take place locally, however, this summer there’s been a constant stream of tweets from female-identified and enby djs/producers about their horrendous Boiler Room experiences.

I wanted to shine a light on that and the endemic kind of sexism that boiler room is constantly facilitating and refuses to take any responsibility towards, as well as share some of the horrors from the Romania scene that nobody wants to talk about because we still live in a very homophobic, racist and sexist environment. As a local queer artist myself, I do believe it is our duty to speak up on these issues even if it may negatively affect our social/professional life. The local community leaders do know what they need to do in order to create safer, more inclusive spaces yet prefer to use a superficially woke discourse that looks good online, yet they would never take direct action or present an unpopular opinion.

Having spoken to Ceci after their Boiler Room and their scary bad experience (including receiving multiple death threats), it became increasingly clear that this text needed to exist in the world. Also running into Lakuti last week in Berlin and hearing how traumatized she still is after her experience playing in Romania, I was all the more motivated to translate it into English and make this available for everyone.

It may be sprawling at times, but I think it’s important to present a translation of the original published material, as it appears on the CUTRA website. Please keep in mind that CUTRA is not a music/dj-specific publication so certain aspects of the industry come with very ELI5 explanations.

First I thought she was just messing with us, but now i m starting to think that this girl doesn’t know what she’s doing

This is boring room not boiler room

Are they trying to put us to bed and broadcasting Schumann resonances?

She would have been better at spinning pizzas than records

Go back to the kitchen!

These are just a select few from the over 2000 comments of the very first Boiler Room live stream taking place in Romania. Said comments appeared on the initial Facebook live post. The event took place in July 2016. At the time of writing this article [na – july 2019], all the comments are still publicly visible on their page.

I could probably write a thesis on misogyny in electronic music, but for this particular piece I’d like to focus on the following question: why do we saying that gxrls can’t mix?

I would also like to ask the follow up questions: should we be surprised that colleagues from the Romanian club industry would say that a female-identified person is a sick DJ but „a little too homely” to play a certain club? Or that another person I used to consider a close friend would tell me during a b2b set that because he just took some MDMA I looked like „a juicy piece of meat” to him? Or how when Electronic Beats Romania did their first feature on local producer Admina and they didn’t even know who to contact from the magazine to moderate the deluge of hateful comments? Or how nobody even bats an eye at the way industry men here always tend to grab you by the lower waist when talking to you in the club as if it were the most natural thing in the world? Try to explicitly say something and you would be instantly labelled an „unchill bitch”.

The answer is a resounding yes. We should be surprised, as well as angry and concerned enough to start actively doing something about this.

Miss I’s Boiler Room

On July 6th, 2016, the promoters behind the Interval event and festival series put together the very first Boiler Room in Romania. For those of you less familiar with the club world, Boiler Room is a platform that organizes events specifically designed to broadcast a live video stream of the club experience. Think DJs mixing or musicians doing live sets, while also making a point in filming the audience and their reactions to the music. Since its inception in 2010, Boiler Room has become a global phenomenon, with immense pull in the industry. The project is equally revered and reviled to the point that there are parody YouTube channels (see People of Boiler Room). For most artists, being on Boiler Room is a make or break moment, sort of like a calling card highlighting your skill as a DJ.

Promoters, fellow DJs, agents and ravers all follow Boiler Room religiously. The platform’s increased popularity and growing volume of videos produced per week may have slightly decreased its influence due to sheer oversaturation, being on BR is still the highlight of many up-and-coming artists’ career. Unlike a mix, the BR videos don’t just physically show off your mixing skills, but they also document the audience’s reaction in real time. Oh, and as a DJ you only get 60 minutes to give it your best. Or, as with Miss I in the following example, you’ve just been asked to open the very first BR broadcast ever from your country. Miss I is one of the most beloved local female DJs, also responsible for opening the first vinyl only record store in Romania and highly appreciated in the minimal/deep house scene, so you know there’s gonna be eyeballs. But no pressure, u do u grrrrl.

For every Boiler Room event, the broadcast is livestreaming on their website and Facebook page. Reading the live reactions on the chatroom and Facebook comments is intricately related to the experience. On that humid summer afternoon in a rooftop garden in Rahova, the comments that started pouring just a few minutes into her set were absolutely shocking. The level and volume of vitriol had greatly surpassed the BR staff’s expectations. About 40 minutes in, the host publicly posted a call out comment.

However, while researching this article, I was surprised to discover that most of said harmful and sexist comments were still up online. There were no attempts on behalf of the BR team to warn or ban users. Hell, there was no moderation. But maybe there should have been.

The Boiler Room Effect

Part I - San Francisco Pride, 2019

This story took place in 2016. We could easily justify what had happened by claiming we don’t like to talk about gender politics at the club or how, generally speaking, the Eurominimal/tech-house scene the event was catering to is notoriously populated by aggro cishet bros who worship Villalobos. Unfortunately (surprise surprise!), this has not been the first, nor the last online scandal Boiler Room has been responsible for.

During the writing process for this material, initially meant to focus mainly on Romanian issues, I started paying attention to the comments on recent BR livestreams. This process, coupled with the increased number of artist friends talking about the backlash in the comments following their BR streams I was seeing on Twitter lead me to believe in the dire necessity of live moderators for the entire BR social media. These comments are not just mean spirited or unfunny trolling, they can be incredibly harmful and have a lasting negative effect.

On June 1st 2019, Boiler Room organized a Pride-related event in San Francisco where an artist I not only appreciate but happen to occasionally work with made their debut. Ceci aka CCL is a DJ, producer, co-founder of queer collective TUF and [at the time of publishing] agent working for Discwoman, an NYC-based talent agency created to boost womxn and non-binary artists. CCL identifies as non-binary and uses only they/them pronouns. Being AFAB and feminine presenting, they are often misgendered due to their presentation, even after clearly stating their preferences.

In the beginning of the video, the host does use their correct pronouns, but most people in the comments were still referring to them by using she/her pronouns. This might seem like a minor inconvenience compared to the bulk of the discourse happening below the stream, mostly comprised of people complaining about the music, ranging from how weird the selection is, whether or not that sound is a faulty cable and how bad their technical skills were. Later Ceci confessed they even received actual death threats. All this was happening at a Pride-related event in one of the gayest cities in the world and with a line-up specifically tailored for the occasion.

Being misgendered is always a bad experience, but when it happens during what is supposed to be a career-defining moment, the effect is even more traumatic. Besides, a torrent of sexist and negative comments cannot have a positive effect on anyone, regardless of their gender or sexual identity. Especially with BR, this only seems to happen when female-identified or non-binary artists are concerned. In CCL’s case, the misgendering may have not been the most atrocious part of the online response, however we do need to start implementing such habits as not assuming one’s gender or choice of pronouns. It may seem like a small step, but it does make a world of difference.

What Boiler Room continuously refuse to do is acknowledge the influence it carries in the industry and the responsibility that comes with that. BR could have avoided causing a lot of damage by simply adding a little blurb about the artist’s preferred pronouns in the description of the Facebook live video, for the users tuning in later or not familiar with their work.

It’s this kind of thoughtfulness and concern for the actual scenes they feature that is consistently lacking from their approach.

Part II - The Sherelle Incident

In March 2019, a different incident took over both the online and offline music discourse – for approximately two whole weeks, all you could see on Techno Twitter were reactions to Sherelle’s Boiler Room. In short, there was clip of a POC female-identified DJ from the UK playing bass and jungle to a packed room going totally berserk until someone from the audience touches the CDJs and the music stops. This unwanted intervention coming from an unidentified hand created a meme-worthy WTF reaction. To nobody’s surprise, this snipped was the one Boiler Room chose to use as their preview advertising her set online. All of a sudden, her startled face in the clip was all anyone could think of, not the incredible atmosphere she created. Yewande Adeniran wrote a thoughtful piece on the implications and how said “accident” took the discourse away from a moment that was supposed to be just about Sherelle and her skills as a DJ.

Following the incident, the Twitter community managed to ID the person who caused the hubbub, who turned out to be infamous UK DJ Riz la Teef, who was also playing the event. Online, he’s been bombarded with accusations of racism and misogyny to the point of having to delete his account. However, a wave of reputed DJs and producers jumped to his defense and justified his action. Keeping in mind that most of what we call Techno Twitter is comprised of people from/who live in North American, their argument was that his unwarranted intrusion was in fact a very common practice from the UK grime/bass culture.

Known as a wheel up or to turn up, it consists on moving the jog (the little CDJ wheelie thingie) to rewind the track playing and increase the hype. It’s traditionally considered a sign of appreciation and supposed to be very flattering when your friends/fellow DJs perform it. Think of it as a hands-on rewind. Only in this case his attempt failed and the only thing he managed to accomplish was create a whole lot of confusion. Plus, they were friends and earlier in the clip you can see him come say hi and hug her. In true Internet fashion, think pieces from major publications followed, educating the poor American kids on the wheel up, as well as photos with the two hugging and making peace, telling everyone it’s time to chill out. As for Sherelle’s part, I’m actually curious what else was she supposed to do than say something along the lines of “OK, fine, let’s move on”? It’s already hard enough to break through in the industry as a queer black woman, the last thing you want to do is be that unchill bitch who can’t take a joke.

Our Daily Misogyny

Going back the shitty things that happened in Romania chapter, I want to talk about an incident that happened in October 2016 at a Queer Night party in Guesthouse. To give you a little context, Queer Night is a series of queer parties, the first of its kind, co-run by local choreographer/dancer Paul Dunca and DJ/singer Cosima von Bulowe for over a decade. Guesthouse is a club mainly associated with the Rominimal/tech-house cult, with a pretty cishet, homophobic audience. However, they occasionally host the odd underground event, like DJ Stingray or Lena Willikens. This particular event was a collaborative effort between Queer Night and the Interval (the people responsible for the Romanian Boiler Rooms – na) curatorial teams, who invited queer womxn DJ couple Lakuti and Tama Sumo to do an extended back to back set. Lerato Khathi aka Lakuti is an incredibly talented DJ from South Africa, who also runs the label and talent agency Uzuri and Tama Sumo has an extensive DJ career and also books for Panoramabar.

As Lerato was mixing, a guy standing in front of the booth reaches towards the turntables and touches the record that was playing and the music glitches. Lerato simply froze for a second but continues to carry on mixing. A few minutes later, said guy suddenly appears behind the booth (access to the booth and the backstage area requires a separate bracelet) and tries to get her attention and starts touching her. In that moment, Tama rushes in and extracts the person from the booth. In spite of his highly inappropriate conduct at event that promotes safe spaces, the security staff refused to kick him out of the club for a fuzzy array of reasons – friends with the owner, being a “house regulars” and my favorite “he didn’t beat up anyone” line. Considering the organizers’ credo and position as community leaders, they could have done more than simply trying to minimize the incident.

The rest of the night went well and their set was lovely, but talking to them the next morning, the entire experience didn’t sound like just a minor incident of a someone being an asshole: Lerato confessed that even though she traveled and played all across the globe, she’s never experienced anything remotely similar.

I’d love to be able to say that these stories are just rare occurrences. Unfortunately, being in the music industry reflects a much more grim reality of endemic sexism. Let me suggest a little exercise – take for example any Boiler Room video on Youtube where there are female-identified performers and within the first dozen comments you might something along the lines of “she can’t mix”, “great selection but her technique is lacking” or “X guy did this so much better in the ‘90s”.

Perhaps we all know by now that commenting on a womxn’s appearance is a no-no. Yet I still constantly hear various industry men making comments that womxn like Peggy Gou or Jayda G only got where they are now just because they’re hot. (How come nobody calls out Marcel Dettman for looking like a model I ask you?). Unlike jabs at someone’s looks which are easy to dismiss as harmful, commenting on someone’s “skill” and “technique” are seemly OK because they refer to an objective (they say) variable, easy to judge and quantify. I ask you this – doesn’t this all sound terribly familiar? Perhaps using the same arguments as those right wing Youtube personalities that post videos with titles such as „X DESTROYS feminists with FACTS and LOGIC”?

Consequences of the systemic sexism are starting to pop up everywhere, from Resident Advisor closing down their comments section due to the amount of harassment related to their recent focus on female artists to the petition against Giegling’s Konstantin. For a quick reminder, German DJ Konstantin used a bunch of “biological determinism” arguments in an interview trying to explain why he believes women don’t have the right kind of brain for mixing. In 2018, Konstantin was booked to perform at three major parties during Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), a key annual gathering for the electronic music industry. A petition signed by thousands of fellow DJs, music journalists and electronic music artists circulated online to have him blackballed due to his comments and half-assed apology that followed. Unfortunately, the only result was the ADE organizers offering him even more exposure by inviting him to talk about his actions on a live panel.

This kind of discourse is very dangerous, as by accepting and normalizing it we’re offering it unwarranted legitimacy to the point that opinions such as Konstantin’s start being reiterated by the press. After this year’s Movement festival in Detroit (the birthplace of techno), a journalist in a local newspaper writing a piece on the women’s rising visibility in electronic music, cited a “veteran DJ” who claimed women lack the technical capabilities to mix and rely on laptops and software in order to do their job. Despite this not being the author’s argument, he chose to offer a platform to a blatantly misogynistic opinion. These positions are not just wrong and should be called out for their obvious sexism, but perpetuating them in the press further increases their destructive power. The more we will continue to validate them, the more present they will become.

And still, why do we keep saying gxrls can’t mix?

Are girls really all lacking in the rhythm department? Commenting on one’s ability to mix is still one of the most widespread forms of criticism that AFAB and female-identified persons get. Why is it so widespread?

Through mixing, the art that defines the modern dance music DJ, most people understand creating a story through a continuous body of variegated music but particularly having no pause between the tracks. When industry people talk about mixing, they usually refer to beatmatching, which is usually means blending two or more tracks, often of different tempos or keys. The overall tempo of the DJ’s mix can remain constant or experience subtle increases across their set. This style of mixing, using long transitions, no tempo changes and working within the same musical subgenre throughout is particularly appreciated in Eurominimal and tech-house, which is also the most lucrative part of the industry in places like France, Germany and Romania. As many talented DJs have proven over the years, from legends like Larry Lavan or David Mancuso and their cosmic or loft deeply personal, eclectic styles, the perfect blends same tempo school is by no means the only “right” way to think about a dancefloor.

At a time when dance music has exploded into a multi-billion dollar industry, the “perfect mix” paradigm became the dominant style. In this climate, to be a DJ is synonymous with knowing how to mix, otherwise you don’t exist. Or at least that’s the androcentric perspective. And once you frame things like this, the comments on womxn’s “technical skills” stem from the same sexist pool as saying womxn are not good at math/science/driving or other “men’s” activities. After all, they’re just being objective, right? “Oh my god it’s not like I said she was fat or something!”

Mixing is a learned skill that requires practice to be perfected. The portion of the population who is encouraged to learn skills that involve music and technology, who is not discriminated against and has access to often costly equipment (be it controllers, CDJs or turntables) is overwhelmingly cis, straight and male. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the “I don’t have a mix online/nowhere to practice because my ex bf had all the equipment” story. Or gxrls saying they never learned how to mix because they didn’t have access to equipment. Or the supportive “nice guy” story who invites you over to “teach you how to mix” but quickly loses his interest once you reject his sexual advances.

It’s refreshing to see groups like Room 4 Resistance, No Shade or Discwoman not only organizing events, but also putting together free mixing workshops for womxn and non-binary people. People are also trying to change things in Romania, with groups like Corp. or Queer Night trying to tilt the gender imbalance locally, only unfortunately their efforts are lacking the infrastructure, institutional support and ideological consistency.

Where to Now?

We’re in 2019. DJs like The Black Madona, Josey Rebelle or Octo Octa and Eris Drew are some of the most in-demand people in the circuit. They all approach the dancefloor differently and bring unique views of what a DJ set can be. Yet straight white boys are feeling threatened by their success and are constantly looking for arguments to delegitimize their success. “Yeah, but this person is getting booked everywhere just because it’s cool to be trans now” – as if anyone would go through the intense process of forever altering your body just because queer is “in”! “Oh if I had tits I would get more gigs” – another male DJ I used to call a friend told me when I started playing more in Bucharest. I’ve heard phrases like “but why do women only book other women?” or “how can the super talented boys ever breakthrough in this environment if women are getting all the attention?” more times than I can recount.

Straight white boys need to shut the fuck up! For decades, the vast majority of people in charge of running/booking clubs were straight white men who would only book other straight white men. Yes, there we certainly do see more womxn in line ups, but just as female:pressure cares to remind us periodically, the percentage is still predominantly male. The healthiest path towards building a more diverse and inclusive music world is not having the old gatekeepers trying to educate themselves and perform acts of tokenism, but make space for marginalized people in decision-making positions, because nobody could make more informed, coherent and inspired choices than a person who is deeply involved in the community. Just see Discwoman’s Frankie miracle work over at Bossa Nova Civic in NYC. And it is very likely that with the right people running the show, incidents of abuse and harassment will diminish as well.

Womxn have been so used to be touched without consent and constantly harassed that we’ve been programmed to dismiss such indiscretions as minor inconveniences, something that “comes with the territory”. In order to see an improvement of this state of affairs we have to become more radical in our attitudes against sexism and discrimination. We absolutely need to learn to speak up whenever we encounter misogyny, racism, homo and transphobia and, most importantly, believe womxn when they come forward with a story of abuse of boundaries crossing because whenever we brush it off with things like “he was drunk”, “it was just a joke” or “there are two sides to every story”, we become complicit and contribute to this toxic culture.

The good news is that we can all contribute to changing things. And no, you don’t have to go to a march or join an organization if you want to help out. Change starts in your own immediate community by simply calling out your friends when they say something sexist, not supporting the known abusers and problematic people in the industry and just coming out to see one of the local womxn artists.

We will continue to play, to defend the DJ booth as sometimes the only safe space we might have at the club, to record our music however we can and become ten times better than all male DJs who told us we don’t know, we can’t or we “don’t have the necessary biological conformation”. But, most importantly, we’ll keep making people dance.

images, in order of appearance

queer night at apollo 111, 2017

miss i boiler room, 2016

edited screengrab from comments in the miss i boiler room facebook stream

crowd at miss i boiler room, 2016

ccl at rewire, 2019

all photos courtesy of the author

#gxrls cant mix #cutra #boiler room #sexism

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 7 years ago

Text

Splataclysm!

So, uh, a Splatoon AU anyone? It’s even weirder than it sounds probably. But I decided to start writing one anyway because it’s fun. You don’t have to know anything about Splatoon to read it - all you really need to know is that no one’s a human, they’re all humanoid squids!

AO3

Chapter One

Nathaniel Kurtzberg couldn’t help but feel nervous about moving to the city. He had lived in Calamari County his whole life and was perfectly happy there, in relative peace and quiet, expecting to go on living there for the rest of his life without anything unusual or surprising happening to him. But everything had changed two years ago when his school friends Mireille and Aurore won the Youth Folk-Singing Contest.

The two of them teamed up to form a pop duo called the Squid Sisters (despite actually being cousins) and were immediately picked up by an agency in Inkopolis, where they shortly moved to. Now they were famous, and annoyingly this meant that Nath’s parents constantly pressured him to do something similar.

He didn’t want to be a singer, that was for sure. He would rather make a name for himself in some other kind of art, like painting. But his parents simply didn’t see things the same way. They were always reminding him that there was no future for him out here in the countryside, and that if he wanted to get anywhere in life then he should move to the city, just like Mireille and Aurore had done. Now, finally sick of their constant pestering, he’d packed his bags and taken the first train to Inkopolis.

It was just after midday when he arrived. Mireille and Aurore were waiting for him at the station. Plenty of adoring fans were waiting nearby too and waving at them, and they occasionally waved back and signed the odd autograph. As soon as they saw Nathaniel they ran over towards him, looking excited.

“Welcome to Inkopolis!” Mireille said, pulling him off the train and hugging him. “It’s been so long since we last saw you! How’s everyone back home? They all good? Has the weather been alright? Do you know anyone else here? You’re going to try battling, right?”

“Jeez, Mireille, let him breathe.” Aurore pushed her cousin aside and then shook Nath’s hand. “It’s good to see you again. Please ignore Mireille, she’s had too much chocolate and won’t shut up.”

“Hey, you had lots of chocolate too!”

“But at least I’m not going to use that as an excuse to bombard poor Nath with nonsense the second he’s arrived, am I?” She cleared her throat. “Anyway Nath, you’re here for battling, aren’t you? That’s why every fresh squid moves to Inkopolis.”

“I’ve never tried a battle before,” Nath mumbled. “But my parents said it was either that or singing, so…”

“I see. Well don’t worry, Mireille and I can easily get you started. Here, come with us.”

The Squid Sisters led Nath out of the train station and towards what looked like an empty urban yard, graffiti and old posters covering the walls. Aurore handed him a green, box-like ink gun.

“This is a Splattershot Jr.,” she said. “It’s a Shooter type weapon. Basically, you press the trigger and it shoots out ink. It’s a pretty good beginner weapon since it’s easy to get used to and it’s pretty versatile. Decent fire rate and ink consumption. Why don’t you try it out?”

Nath held up the weapon and tentatively pulled the trigger. It immediately blasted out spurts of bright red ink all over the floor in front of him.

“Nice job!” Mireille said, bobbing up and down. “Since you’re just a beginner here you’re not going to need to do much more than that, since they won’t let you do anything other than Turf Wars until you’re more experienced. But this is pretty good!”

“What exactly do you do in a Turf War?” Nath asked. He knew of Turf Wars, of course. The most famous inkling sport in the world. But he had never participated in one before. Usually he preferred to stay out of combat if he could.

“You try to cover the ground in as much of your ink as possible within the time limit. The enemy team will also be inking ground, in a different colour, so you have to make sure you do more! And try not to get splatted!”

He gulped. “Splatted?”

“Yeah, like… dying. Don’t die.”

“You can die in battles?!”

“Of course you can!”

Aurore rolled her eyes. “Mireille, don’t be dramatic. It’s not really death, Nathaniel, it’s more like a temporary setback. Do you want me to show you? Look, I’ll splat you right now.”

She pulled out a long, thin, black and green sniper rifle and pointed it right at him. There was a whistling noise as the weapon charged up, then it hit him with a painful gob of ink that felt like it knocked him right out of his body. He was so stunned he couldn’t move for a few seconds, only feeling as if he was floating up into the air with no control over where he was going. Within another few seconds he was back to normal, standing in front of Aurore and Mireille as if nothing had happened.

“And that’s what it’s like to be splatted. Though if you were splatted in an actual battle you’d actually respawn back at your team’s base.”

Nath nodded.

“So stay out of enemy fire as much as you can. You’ll know because the enemy team will be using a different colour ink to you. Stay out of contact with it. Of course, if an enemy is nearby, you could always use your own weapon to splat them before they can get you, but don’t worry about it too much. Turf Wars are about inking turf, not killing people.”

“You know how to revert to squid form, right?” Mireille asked. “Like, you can turn into a squid, can’t you?”

“Yep,” Nath said. He demonstrated by quickly transforming into a little red squid, then back into humanoid form.

“Good work! I know most people can do it by this age but some people still struggle sometimes. Anyway, when you’re in squid form, you can swim through your own ink really fast. Wanna try it?”

Nath turned back into a squid and slithered along the ground through the red ink that he had shot out of his Splattershot Jr. a minute ago. Sure enough, he did travel very fast – much faster than he could have run in his humanoid form.

“Awesome!” Mireille said once he had returned to humanoid form. “You can do that during battle to move around really fast or hide from enemies so they can’t see you!”

“You can Super Jump too, right?” Aurore asked him.

“Yes,” he replied. It was easy – turn into squid form, then launch yourself high up into the air to land somewhere else.

“Good. In battle you can Super Jump to your teammates to reach them quicker. Though be careful, because enemies will be able to see where you’re going to land and they might splat you as soon as you get there.”

“Tell him about Subs and Specials!” Mireille said, shaking Aurore’s shoulder.

“Alright, fine, get off me! Okay Nathaniel, now with your Splattershot Jr., which is your Main Weapon, you also get two other weapons: a Sub Weapon and a Special Weapon. You can use your Sub whenever you want but it uses up a lot of ink and you might have to turn back into squid form to refill you ink tank for a while. As for your Special Weapon, that has to be charged up before you can use it. You do that by inking turf.”

“The Splattershot Jr.’s Sub Weapon is the Splat Bomb!” Mireille said. “Basically it’s just an ink bomb and you throw it, and in a few seconds it explodes. You should totally try it!”

Nath reached into the weapon pocket and pulled out what looked like a little pyramid filled with ink. He flung it away from him where it landed on the ground, sliding a little before settling. After a few seconds it exploded and coated the ground around it with ink.

“Good work! You can always throw those at enemies to splat them or just get them to go away from you. And your Special Weapon is even cooler! It’s the Bubbler!”

“It’s not that cool,” Aurore huffed. “It’s just a shield that surrounds you and protects you for a few seconds against enemy attacks. You can pass it onto your teammates too if you come into contact with them. But it doesn’t last long and you can still be pushed around, so I don’t get how it’s that great.”

“Of course it’s great! Anyway yeah, I think we’ve taught you everything you need to know to do a Turf War. We’ll take you to Inkopolis Plaza and there you can go to the Tower and enter your first match – how exciting! And just in time, too, since me and Aurore will have to go do the battle stage announcements soon. Come on!”

“But wait!” Nath said. “I just want to know something… what’s the point of all this? These matches inking turf and all that, isn’t it just for fun? How do people make a living from it? Or get famous from it?”

“You’ll earn money from winning matches, duh! And once you’re good enough to start Ranked Battles, you can easily become famous by being one of the best players in history!”

Right. That sounded somewhat… superficial.

“Okay, cool,” he said. “Thanks for showing me all this.”

“It’s no problem! Now let’s go to Inkopolis Plaza and get you started on some actual matches!”

Inkopolis Plaza was filled with squids, jellyfish, a large television screen, a shopping mall area called “Booyah Base”, and of course the great Inkopolis Tower, stretching up into the sky.

“We’ve got to go now but our studio’s just upstairs so come and talk to us if you need to!” Mireille said before dashing off.

“Go to the lobby in Inkopolis Tower and get started – good luck!” Aurore added, then followed her cousin away into the crowd of squids.

Nath looked around, feeling a little overwhelmed. Everyone else here seemed so… well… fresh, as people said these days. All hanging out with their friends, laughing and having a good time, wearing cool clothes, carrying cool weapons, knowing exactly what they were doing…

It was the kind of life he had always wanted but never really fit into. But then again, that had been back home in the countryside, where everything was different. Maybe here he could make a new start for himself and actually be the kind of person he wanted to be.

Clutching his Splattershot Jr. in his arms tightly, he headed into Inkopolis Tower through the automatic doors. The lobby was split into sections where people were milling about, waiting for the next battles to start. Nath headed towards the sign saying “Turf War”, not really sure what to do next.

“Hi there!”

The person next to him had spoken to him – ugh, a stranger. Nath hated talking to strangers. He wasn’t even a fan of talking in general. It made him feel nervous. He turned to see that the person who had spoken to him was a cute little squid with short, yellow tentacle hair, wearing a frilly pink dress and carrying what looked like an oversized paint roller.

“Hi,” he said back.

“Are you new?” the squid girl asked, her voice rather high-pitched. “It’s just that you’re looking a little lost!”

“Yeah, I’m new. Just arrived here today.”

“Well then, welcome! My name is Rose. What’s your name?”

“Nathaniel, but you can call me Nath for short.”

“Nice to meet you!”

Nath tried not to roll his eyes. Small talk was the worst. It was just saying the same things over and over again with no real feeling behind them – what was the point of that?

“Anyway,” Rose continued, “I’m sure you’ll like Turf Wars, they’re really fun. They’re the least aggressive out of all battle types, which is why they’re my favourite! In fact I don’t actually battle that often. I feel like I’m not competitive enough compared to everyone else. But it’s okay because the most important thing is to have fun, right?”

“Yep,” Nath said, putting on a fake smile.

“Good! I’m sure we’ll have lots of fun together!”

The bell sounded for the next battle to start. Thank goodness, since Nath was not feeling in the mood for dealing with the sickly sweetness of a person like Rose for much longer. He followed her onto a launchpad, where he was given a map and linked up to the computer system that would help him track his score and his teammates, then he Super Jumped to the battle location.

The battle stage was called “Urchin Underpass”, located under a highway bridge just as its name suggested. Nath had a quick check of the map but it was far too complicated to memorize properly right now. He turned and had a look at his teammates, standing on the spawn point along with him. They had a range of odd weapons that he had never seen before. Through the linked-up computer system Nath could see that Rose’s weapon was called a “Carbon Roller Deco”, whatever that was.

“Is your weapon better than a Splattershot Jr.?” he asked her.

“Nah, all weapons are good. It just depends how you play! I personally don’t really like shooting so I go with Rollers, and anyway the objective in Turf Wars is inking as much as possible, not attacking, so you can use whatever you want!”

He remembered how Aurore had called the Splattershot Jr. a beginner weapon. Clearly it wasn’t something he should stick with for long.

“Where can I buy new weapons?” he asked.

“Ammo Knights back at Booyah Base sells weapons,” Rose replied, “though Tikki might not want to sell you more weapons until you have more experience. She’s like that.”

The computer system notified that the opposing team was now assembling too, at their own spawn point on the other side of the battle stage. Nath checked the map and had a look at what sort of team they were facing.

“Uh oh,” Rose muttered.

“What’s wrong?”

She hastily put a smile back on her face. “Nothing! Just… try your best and have fun!” Her smile fell slightly as she glanced back at the opponents on the map.

“Seriously Rose, what’s wrong? Is it these opponents? Are they really good or something?”

“Well… Adrien’s fine, I suppose, but the other three… we don’t call them the Slaughter Squad for nothing…”

Slaughter Squad? Wasn’t a name like that overkill? Surely they couldn’t be that bad. Nath took another look at the map to get some more details.

Kim: Aerospray MG

Max: E-Litre 3K Scope

Alix: Aerospray RG

Their weapons didn’t look like much. Two weak airbrushes and an old fuel pump – that was nothing compared to a gun, right? Rose was probably exaggerating. Of course someone as bubbly and innocent as her would be intimidated by a bunch of squids much fresher than her.

He was about to mention something about it when the signal played for the match to begin. His teammates immediately began spreading out from the base, inking all the turf they could get at. The ink colour of their team was a bright orange, and from the looks of the map, the enemy’s ink colour was light blue.

Not really knowing where to go, Nath followed Rose down the slope in front of them, trying to shoot ink onto all the turf that she missed. Her Carbon Roller Deco was rolling along the ground at a much quicker speed than he could run with his heavy gun. He had to keep dipping into squid form and swimming along the ground to keep up with her.

The first few seconds of the match weren’t so bad. Nath realized that, quite annoyingly, his points counter did not go up at all when inking walls, so clearly only the ground counted as “turf”. He also realized that the Splattershot Jr. was rather messy, spraying ink all over the place no matter where he pointed it. The lack of accuracy was probably going to come back to bite him at some point, he could just tell. At least for now it was helping him get a few points.

He followed Rose through a strange grate that could be surpassed by swimming straight through it in squid form, heading towards the centre of the battle arena in order to cover it in orange. That was when the trouble began.

There was an ominous whooshing noise somewhere overhead. The shadow of a target appeared on the ground just beside him. Rose quickly pulled him aside and as far away as possible – just in time, as a huge tornado of blue ink suddenly landed in the area, only narrowly missing them.

“That was an Inkstrike – a Special Weapon,” Rose said quickly, before running back and throwing her Roller down onto all the newly blue turf to make it orange again.

A Special Weapon? Already? How could someone have charged up their Special so fast? Nath looked at his metre to see that he wasn’t even close to using his Special yet. In any case he followed Rose back into the area and started inking turf again.

He was startled by a weird siren sound. Turning around he saw that there was an enemy device on the ground that was rapidly approaching him, leaving a trail of blue ink behind it. He backed up as quick as he could – but not fast enough. The device hit him and exploded, splatting him to pieces.

Ouch… being splatted still hurt a bit. Hopefully he would get used to that. While he was waiting for his body to reform he could still access the computer. It told him that he had been hit by a Seeker, which had been sent by Kim. It must have been his Sub Weapon.

Within a few seconds Nath had respawned back at his home base, far away from all the action. All the turf around here was already inked in a bright layer of orange. It would take a while to swim all the way to somewhere that hadn’t been inked yet – but wait, he could Super Jump to his teammates, right? He opened up the map and launched himself into a Super Jump towards Rose.

Oh no – that had been a mistake. While high up in the air he could see that Rose had just been splatted, and he was descending rapidly towards an enemy who was watching him with glee, already shooting at the spot where he was about to land. Sure enough, as soon as he reached the ground he was hit with at least 5 shots in the space of a second, enough to splat him again before he could even take a single step. Or before he could even get a look at his opponent.

Waiting to respawn again, he saw that this time he had been splatted by Alix and her Aerospray RG. But surely, surely a simple airbrush couldn’t be that good at splatting people? Nath knew a thing or two about art brushes and he knew that airbrushes were weak. But then again, the Aerospray fire rate seemed to be so high, so much higher than his own weapon. Maybe that made all the difference. In any case, it looked like she had already inked enough turf to have charged up her Inkstrike again.

Once he had respawned he took a quick look at the map but couldn’t make sense of where any of his teammates were. He wasn’t even sure which one was Rose, and he didn’t have time to stop and check – every second counted. The map showed that the enemy team had already claimed the centre of the arena in huge swathes of blue ink, and were fast moving in on Nath’s home base. There was no time to waste.

Compressing himself back into squid form, he surged forwards through what was left of the orange ink towards where the sounds of battling were. Before he even reached anyone he was suddenly splatted again, rather violently, by what looked like a mini twister of blue ink that had zoomed towards him so fast there was no way he could have moved aside in time. The computer screen told him that it was Kim using his Inkzooka, a Special Weapon. In fact he was still using it, and from the looks of it, it could travel straight through walls. Great.

Respawning once again, Nath decided perhaps a new tactic was in order. While the enemies had rushed ahead, there was no one protecting all the blue turf they had already inked near their own base right at the start of the match. Perhaps if he could sneak through one of the side alleys, he could reach it without being spotted and actually be able to ink it back to orange without being attacked.

He transformed into a squid and set off immediately. Urchin Underpass did indeed have a few sneaky routes down the sides of the arena where he wouldn’t attract any attention. In fact, this was working! The sounds of battling were quietly fading away as he got further away from them. And there – yes! There was fresh, unguarded blue ink just up ahead! Perfect!

Nath jumped up into humanoid form and started shooting orange ink. Points, at last!

But wait… what was this laser line pointing right at him? He looked up and followed it to see Max perched way off in the distance, aiming his E-Litre 3K Scope right at him. Pfff, that was alright, there was no way he would be able to reach–

Except he did. Nath was splatted in one shot.

No way. That was just unfair. How could Max’s weapon have such great range? And be powerful enough to splat someone in one go from all the way over there?

By the time Nath respawned, he could directly see that Kim and Alix were nearing his team’s home base. He swam ahead in squid form and tried to go around the side of them but they spotted him and started shooting at him. Thank goodness their weapons were short-ranged and weak or he’d be dead again already.

He remembered his Sub Weapon, the Splat Bomb, and threw one towards them. Unfortunately his aim was slightly off and it didn’t go far enough, exploding well away from them. The next thing he knew, he had suddenly been splatted again – this time by a hidden Ink Mine from Alix.

This was getting tedious. As soon as he respawned again he simply charged forwards as fearlessly as he could, firing ink in every direction. His weapon had better range and damage stats than theirs, right? In that case maybe running headfirst into battle might work better than trying to sneak around.

But no – Max splatted him with his E-Litre 3K Scope again, from so far away it was hard to even see him. It was so unfair!

When Nath respawned for the sixth time, he could tell it was hopeless. The map was almost entirely covered in blotches of light blue, with the odd specks of orange here and there, though those were rapidly disappearing. The other team had now reached Nath’s home base and were waiting there, ready to begin shooting at people if they tried to leave it. Even Adrien was here now. He was holding a Krak-On Splat Roller and looking somewhat apologetic about his rough teammates.

Well, at least standing in the home base circle gave Nath some protection. He stayed put and started firing ink in every direction he could, trying to aim for his opponents. The Splattershot Jr.’s accuracy was too low for him to be able to splat anyone though.

One by one his teammates were splatted and respawned back on the home base, deciding to stay there rather than risk stepping off it and being immediately splatted again. Rose thwacked her Carbon Roller Deco on the ground over and over, splashing ink everywhere.

It wasn’t good enough. The other team were too good at dodging, too speedy to hit, and for the most part they stayed out of range and kept themselves safe. Any time one of Nath’s teammates dared venture out of the home base circle, they were immediately converged on and splatted.

Gee… no wonder those three were called the Slaughter Squad…

“I’ve charged up my Special Weapon!” Rose said to Nath, hard to hear over the sound of weapons firing everywhere. “It’s Bomb Rush with Seekers – I’ll send as many Seekers at them as I can within the few seconds my Special is active, so get ready to use that to your advantage!”

Sure enough, she unleashed a torrent of Seekers along the ground. They began chasing down the enemy team members, though it didn’t look like they actually managed to splat anyone. At least they had driven the enemies back – enough for Nath to finally be able to leave the base and begin inking turf properly again.

Or so he thought.

Max, up on his sniper perch and well out of harm’s way, splatted Nath before he had even taken two steps.

It was hopeless. With only 10 seconds remaining, there was no way they could win now. Not a chance. The best thing Nath could do after respawning again was to stand on the home base, firing ink around him and trying to charge up his Special metre enough that he would be able to use the Bubbler before time ran out. That might give him and his teammates enough protection to not lose quite so badly.

But he couldn’t charge it up quick enough. The match ended, and all the players were Super Jumped to the centre of the arena by the computer system, ready to find out the results.

It was no contest whatsoever. Nath looked at the map to see that it was pretty much all blue, except for a tiny smudge of orange around his team’s home base. Yeah, they had lost. By a lot.

A tiny black cat-like creature appeared in the centre of the arena, between the two teams. He yawned and took a look at a map himself.

“Alright, here are the results,” he muttered, sounding sleepy. “The orange team inked 6.3% of the total available turf that can be inked, and the blue team inked 88.7%. Blue team wins. Yay.” He half-heartedly waved a little flag in their direction. “Now get out of here before the next match begins. Oh wait, it’s stage changeover time. So leave if you want, or stay here while the ink evaporates, whatever. I’m going back to sleep.”

He disappeared again. How was he doing that? Was it some kind of Super Jump? Anyway, weren’t mammals extinct? How was there a cat here? Who even was this guy?

It didn’t matter anyway. Nath had lost his first match. In fact, he had lost it very, very badly. Looking at everyone’s point scores on the computer system, he hadn’t even done well for a beginner. Only 140p? That was nothing! And the Aerosprays had got in the 2300p range! (Though that did include a 1000p bonus for winning, so it had been more like 1300p.)

The Slaughter Squad were already celebrating their win. Even though they had already started walking away they were so loud that they could easily be heard. Adrien had been left behind and he was watching them, looking a little uneasy.

“You only got more than me because you’ve got Inkstrike, that doesn’t count!”

“Oh shut up Kim, you know I’m better than you…”

“Well I splatted more people so there!”

“Actually Max splatted the most people, so why don’t you try out-snipering him next time? Or are you not good enough to be a sniper?”

“I could totally beat Max!”

Their voices finally faded away. Nath looked at the ground, ashamed at his easy defeat. And perhaps it was more than shame. Was it…

Jealousy?

He had never had a “squad” like that, so to speak. Those three were killers. The best of the best. Intimidating, terrifying, striking fear into the hearts of their opponents. That was the freshest kind of squid that anyone could ever hope to be. What would it take to be part of a squad like that? Or to be part of their squad, right along with them? He had always dreamed of being respected, popular, not on the fringes of squid society like he always was. But he was just… too shy…

His thoughts were interrupted by Rose.

“You did well for your first try!” she gushed, giving him a double thumbs up.

“No I didn’t,” he muttered. “And anyway, we lost.”

“That’s okay, not everything is about winning. You’ll still have earned some money, I’m sure! Though not everything is about money either!”

“Is every battle as difficult as that?”

“No, not at all. You were just unlucky to end up battling against Turf War legends on your first match. You won’t be against them every time, I’m sure. They do Ranked Battles sometimes too, so they’ll be busy with that and you’ll get easier opponents here! Or, of course, you could be lucky like Adrien and end up on their team with them…”

That didn’t sound like much fun either. Adrien had barely got to do anything. It was like he had been an outsider on his own team, and that was not what Nath wanted. Nath had felt like an outsider for far too much of his life.

“I need a better weapon,” he said finally. “Did you say Ammo Knights sells weapons? Where is that?”

“It’s at Booyah Base back at Inkopolis Plaza, but I don’t think Tikki would think you’re ready for–”

“Thanks.”

Without waiting to listen any longer, he headed away and Super Jumped back to the Plaza.

The weapons shop, Ammo Knights, was small and cosy. Inside was a strange bug-like creature who seemed to know a lot about weapons for someone who didn’t even look like she could lift one.

“Hello, my name is Tikki!” she said as soon as Nath walked in. “Are you new here? You look like it!”

He looked new, did he? Clearly he wasn’t fresh enough yet.

“Can I buy some new weapons?” he asked. “My friends gave me this Splattershot Jr. but I don’t think it’s very good…”

Tikki frowned. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Well… I just lost my first Turf War really badly because the others had way better weapons. Stuff with a high fire rate.”

“Weapons with high fire rates often have low damage, range and accuracy. Their weapons aren’t necessarily better than yours, they’re just better at using them. That’s all. You can easily be a brilliant player using a Splattershot Jr.”

She sounded like a teacher! Just try hard and you will succeed, no matter what… ugh. No.

“I don’t think it suits me,” he said. “I want something more powerful.”

“Weapons that do more damage usually have a lower fire rate, though. So which do you want? A high fire rate or high damage?”

“Um… I don’t know.”

“Exactly. You’re a newbie here, and the Splattershot Jr. is the perfect weapon to get you to learn the ropes. Come back once you’ve got a bit more battling experience and then I’ll show you some new weapons, alright? And have a think about what sort of weapon would suit you. Do some research.”

“Okay, thanks,” he said. She really was sounding like a teacher now, and it was starting to annoy him. “I guess I’ll go do some more battles then… and hope the Slaughter Squad aren’t my opponents again…”

Tikki chuckled. “Oh, so you were against them, were you? I wouldn’t judge a Splattershot Jr. based on that. You’re a newbie so you’re always going to lose, it’s nothing to do with your weapon. But trust me – those three can be beaten, and they can be beaten with a Splattershot Jr.”

“What? But they have Aerosprays, and a sniper…”

“I stand by what I said. It’s the player who wins a match, not the weapon. If Splattershot Jr. is someone’s favourite weapon and they know how to use it to the best of its capabilities, that’s infinitely better than a newbie messing around with an Aerospray or an E-Litre.”

“But–”

“Trust me,” she said firmly. “Go get some more experience. Then come back and tell me exactly what kind of weapon you’re looking for.”

He sighed. “Alright, thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure. See you soon, and good luck in your future battles!”

That had been far from ideal. Turning around, Nath headed towards the exit of the shop, looking at the ground. His floppy red tentacle fringe fell over the top of his face and he didn’t bother to move it aside again – until he walked straight into someone who was just coming through the door.

“Oh sorry – I didn’t see you there!”

He looked up to see a fresh-looking squid girl standing in front of him, her bouncy black tentacles tied into pigtails somewhat like Aurore’s. She was pretty… very pretty…

“Oh, um, sorry,” Nath mumbled, stepping aside.

“Are you new?” the girl asked.

Oh no, she could tell too?

“Yep.”

“Welcome to Inkopolis!” she said, beaming at him in a way that made his heart jump a few beats. “I’m Marinette. What’s your name?”

“Nathaniel.”

“Cool! Well, I’ll see you around, right? Let me know if you want to do some practice battles or something!”

“Yeah… see you…”

He let his fringe fall back over his face and walked off as quick as he could, his face heating up too much.

Marinette… that was a nice name. Maybe he would take up her offer of practice battles. If he could psych himself up enough to speak to her again, that was.

#the tomato is not actually the main character #it was just easiest to use him for an introduction. the plot will kick in next chapter tho #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #nathaniel kurtzberg #aurore beaureale #mireille caquet #uhhh other people i can't be bothered to tag #classmates #splatoon #nintendo #random stuff #splataclysm #aish writes

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brajeshupadhyay · 4 years ago

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Donald Trump is all sound and fury, signifying nothing; he lacks real will to use the power handed to him, says Sumantra Maitra

Doctoral scholar on neo-realism, researcher and columnist Sumantra Maitra, one of the sharpest conservative voices around, provides freewheeling answers to a few questions from Firstpost on liberalism, United States presidential elections, foreign policy and more. Following are the edited excerpts:

Do you see the culture war amid the poll battle in the US reflecting the larger ideological debate facing liberal democracies?

I do. It was inevitable and predicted by various scholars (Mearsheimer, Kaplan, Huntington, although no one was quite certain about how history will return. Liberalism as a theory is predicated on a worldview which is providential in nature, almost like a religion, a faith in a progressive arc of history; similar to Marxism in that way, which also has its own version of end of history. On one hand liberalism is a universalist idea, on the other hand, it values individual liberty which is particularist and naturally, those two are often in contradiction. It also refuses to acknowledge the concept of power and hierarchy in politics and thinks rational debate is the only way forward.

The theory which talks about diversity so much is intolerant of opposing worldviews. It prefers superficial diversity but is, in reality, an imperial, homogenising force. As we now know, the world is too big for one worldview and history isn’t an arc of progress, but a cycle. The electoral wins of Narendra Modi, Boris Johnson, and Scott Morrison, the return of Turkish imperial ambition, the rise of China, narrow nationalism, and realism in Anglo-American foreign policy, Jair Bolsonaro, Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban are different rebellions against the homogenising universalist impulse.

Do you view Trump as the disruptor or a product of the disruption?

For American domestic politics, both. Ironic that it took a reality TV star to grasp and act on the reality of structural changes already underway. For all his rhetorical flaws, Trump has pushed back against aggressive campus feminism, critical race theory and other subversive forces within the country. That’s more than any true-blue conservative president or prime minister in recent history. He is also correct about the massive geopolitical upheaval that is China’s rise and has realised that the better way to achieve peace in the Middle East is through a balance of power. Refreshingly old school.

In foreign policy, however, it is irrelevant what type of individual Trump is. Structure matters more than an agency in international relations, and structural forces dictate that the US will retrench from Europe and the Middle East in order to focus on Asia. This overarching change will happen regardless, under any upcoming US administration, though the details might vary. US concerns about NATO freeriding, EU’s rise as an economic competitor, China’s rise as a military peer, wasteful wars and nation-building -- these issues predate Trump and will continue after him.

What’s your take on Joe Biden’s foreign policy that has been described as restorative? Do you see any change in policy towards India in a Biden White House?

Biden, for all his flaws, is comparatively decent on foreign policy. He is fundamentally a risk-averse man. He opposed the strike on Osama bin Laden, gave a cautious statement about the strike on Qasem Soleimani, as well as opposed interventions in Libya and Syria, and has a disdain for Gulf states promoting jihadists. That indicates how he thinks and decides. He also wants a return to a status quo in Europe. His China hawkery sounds shallow. Biden is not a hawk. That said, he will be mostly influenced by aides and cabinet, so that’s something to observe.

India will be courted by the US as a counter-balance to China, and that broader strategy will not change. But India may face more criticism about domestic politics from a Biden administration than it would from a Trump return. The Biden team (Kamala Harris and others) are ideological about promoting liberalism abroad, something which Trump’s team isn’t. So, India should expect more push on domestic reforms, human rights, etc., which might strain ties a bit. But overall, the grand strategy won’t change. The US needs local powers to balance China, and India is a major regional power, middle-class market, as well as a potential supply-chain base. Those simple facts determine policy. How smartly India plays it, is up to Indian policymakers. If I were to suggest a course forward, then I’d refer back to the golden rules of a realist great power grand strategy. Have a strong economy at any cost; maintain equidistance and hedge between various great powers and avoid costly long wars; and build a large, massive navy.

Is the obsession with Russia in US political discourse justified, or does it miss acknowledging the centrality and enormity of the geopolitical, geoeconomic and ideological threat posed by China?

It is not justified at all, but understandable given how partisan and ideological US politics is. China is the only overwhelming great power threat to the US; much, much larger than even USSR, Nazi Germany, or Imperial Japan ever was. But there are three factors which determine American policy towards Russia.

One, the smaller East European states, who try to bog down Americans for providing security in Europe, when they should demand more from Germany and France. Consider the Baltic states hyperventilating about Belarus, a country that is peripheral to American grand strategy.

Two, domestic politics. Russia is the Pakistan of the US, the original and perpetual adversary. Regardless of how weak it gets, every small act will result in a hysteria, which is mostly cynical and political. Russia is an adversary, sure, capable of mischief, but not an existential threat. It’s a key difference. Law of international politics states that increased threat perception determines military rearmament. Russia has a demographic decline, no discernible soft power, second-rate technology, a mono-industrial economic base and a GDP smaller than Italy and California. Russians are bleeding dry in Syria and Ukraine, and if anyone studies Russian military journals, they’d know that Russia has no capability or will to go on conquest mode or quell an insurgency if it tries to conquer Ukraine or Georgia. It simply is not capable.

Three, there are liberal hawks in Washington who have made a career out of promoting a particular version of liberal democracy in Europe. They are the ones pushing Russia hysteria. If Biden wins, nothing will change much about actual policies concerning Russia, but we will see lofty rhetoric about how devastating Russian revanchism is in Belarus, Ukraine, Syria, and Georgia.

To what extent do you think a surge of violence in US cities will be a poll issue? Will Democrats be affected for failing to oppose looting and violence, or has Biden been able to sidestep that trap?

That’s a million-dollar question and any foreign policy wonk should be careful not to give a deterministic answer. Anarchy is worse than tyranny, and the constant lawlessness usually leads the middle class to vote right-wing. That said, there are two complicating factors. Trump is not a normal president like Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan. He is all sound and fury, signifying nothing. He lacks the real will to use the power handed to him. There’s a lot that could be done, from intelligence, crackdown, economic punishment on anarchist cities, etc.

Instead, Trump is tweeting and biding his time hoping the voters would vote for him. It’s a gamble. The voters might find him craven and spineless when a challenge finally came. Second, American media is overwhelmingly liberal to the point that it is capable of simply hiding the reality. The major outlets are all in on a liberal restoration. How that affects the election remains to be seen.

Sumantra Maitra is a doctoral scholar at the University of Nottingham, UK, and a senior contributor to The Federalist, columnist for The National Interest, War on the Rocks, The Spectator and Quillette Magazine, and a non-resident fellow at the James G Martin Center, US.

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entergamingxp · 4 years ago

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Command and Conquer Remastered: modernised, improved

The grandfather of the real-time strategy genre is back, improved and modernised while retaining everything that made it great – and in the process, delivering a game that still manages to hold up against the best in the business. In fact, Command and Conquer Remastered is such an exceptional piece of work, I’m almost in awe of the effort. Consisting of the original game and the Red Alert sequel along with all expansions, everything has been expertly remastered to work flawlessly on modern PCs while looking great on today’s displays, but this is a remastering effort that goes beyond the superficial: subtle but well-judged tweaks are made to the user interface and gameplay too and the pay-off is massive.

It’s easy to forget that despite relatively simplistic visuals – judged by modern day standards, at least – Command and Conquer was doing a lot of work for PCs back in 1995. It rendered a lot of animated sprites on top of expansive, destructible environments. Meanwhile, the full-motion video sequences for inter-mission campaign briefings were also state-of-the-art for the day. However, this was a game held back by the technology of the era. In-game artwork was of a low resolution, animation was limited, and it was often difficult to identify individual units – especially the similar-looking infantry. The remaster’s solution here is straightforward enough: artwork is redrawn at a much higher resolution, extra frames of animation are added and general movement is improved. There’s a careful, but effective approach to the remastering here and it’s deployed on every aspect of unit and environmental art.

It’s not just about the graphics either as the audio is also revamped – the low sample rates of the original audio are drastically improved, so gunshots, explosions, and unit responses sound clear and not as ‘crunchy’ as they did back in the day. On top of this, the game’s soundtrack is freshened up with new versions of the songs by series composer Frank Kelpacki joined by his band the Tiberian Sons. The remade songs are a delight, hitting the same beats and sounds of the original while also bringing new notes to the table.

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Command and Conquer Remastered: the Digital Foundry tech review.

Similar to the Halo Anniversary remasters, players can switch between old and new art with a single press of a mappable button and even the attention to detail here is impressive. It’s not an immediate, jarring cut, but rather a linear blend between the old and new art styles, giving the impression of defocusing or refocusing the image. It’s here where you can appreciate how the developers have stayed true to the original style of the artwork – nothing looks radically different, just better, a great fit for today’s displays. This level of resolution definitely helps in gameplay, where telling apart different pieces of terrain or different infantry units is much easier to do at a glance, with the silhouettes and detail in the sprites making the game much more readable.

Command and Conquer’s almost legendary full-motion video sequences have also been remastered with some interesting improvements: AI upscaling is used to boost detail, colour depth is massively improved, while the scanline effect of the original is gone. In general, I think it looks pretty great, but the AI upscaling’s effectiveness depends on the content. Character close-ups tend to benefit most from the process as there is much more information for the AI scaler to work with. The offline rendered CGI videos showing combat or machines and troops moving from afar tend to fare worse, with only marginal improvements. Perhaps the developers could implement an optional scanline filter for these offline rendered cinematics to make them look like low-tech filmed footage in the field instead of blown up low resolution upscales?

On top of remastering the artwork, the extra resolution and screen-space real estate are actively used to make the game more playable. Instead of having multiple zoom modes due to the low resolution of the original game, the satellite map now has enough resolution to show the entire playing field in lavish detail without zooming. In the old game, the low resolution of the screen also made it necessary to actively click to scroll up and down the user interface to produce units and buildings from various production places: like the barracks, air pads, and factories. It was cumbersome to try to multi-task while producing units, but in the remaster, each production type has its own tab that is hotkeyed, where you can easily produce multiple units or structures simultaneously.

This is where the remaster’s gameplay improvements come into focus. Command and Conquer was one of the first RTS games to hit the market, so it has some historical baggage – such as the inability to queue up unit production. Each time you want to build a unit, you have to click on it on the UI. If you try to build a second unit while the first one is building, the game tells you to wait – introducing needless friction. The remaster allows you to queue units from multiple production types at the same time, and just this small tweak feels amazing by comparison. There are also key improvement in unit selection too: simple changes that somehow manage to make a mid-90s RTS feel just as intuitive to play as a modern equivalent.

Behind all of these user interface improvements are a variety of options for customisation. Hot keys are available for pretty much everything you could ask for, and all of them can be changed to your preference. Alongside this, there are tweaks to support various resolutions, plus the game easily scales to 120 frames per second or higher (21:9 ultrawide support does seem to be bugged right now) and as you might imagine, this does not unduly burden a modern CPU. Even if the developer doesn’t return to the code, user mods are directly supported right now and the remastering team has even released the source code for the remaster – a remarkably generous and forward-looking move by the remastering team and Electronic Arts.

Overall, Command and Conquer Remastered is one of the best modernisation efforts I have ever seen. It is faithful to the original where it matters in terms of the core gameplay and audio-visual design, but it enhances the definition and usability to bring the game bang up to date. The team has achieved something here which stands up on its own merits in the here and now, without relying upon nostalgia to paper over the cracks you might expect from playing a 25-year-old game. Command and Conquer Remastered plays, looks, and sounds great – and I highly recommend buying it.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/06/command-and-conquer-remastered-modernised-improved/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=command-and-conquer-remastered-modernised-improved

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michellelewis7162 · 5 years ago

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Using Online Medical Care Goes To A Tipping Aspect

Online medical care is coming to be more allowed by both physicians as well as individuals, and also is, I feel, ultimately at an oblique factor. By 2015 online communication in between doctors as well as patients and the regimen use of mixeds media relevant information will certainly be the rule. Telemedicine Services

Clients will definitely still be actually viewed in person however our strengthened ability to connect electronically is, as Clayton Christensen has actually put it, a "turbulent advancement" that is going to reinvent health care shipping. Providers and individuals will be actually often using these brand-new modern technologies, such as email, telemedicine, digital documents, social media networks and wireless mobile uses with individuals. This will make medical care extra economical, obtainable and also reliable for all. Option of interaction tool are going to considerably become typical, along with patients being able to decide on exactly how to connect with their medical professionals based on ease and expense, as well as on medical essential need. More and more online video consults will definitely be included in to medical centers, along with clients being observed both face to face as well as by video recording, phone or e-mail in the course of the average facility treatment Telemedicine Companies.

These adjustments are going to be muscled building supplement and built up by the schedule of interactives media records. Digital clinical information will certainly be actually extra readily available than today for each medical professionals as well as people to review, comment on, pass to others for second opinions, as well as compare to medical databases and also ailment computer registries. This information are going to be in various digital styles - numerical, text-based, audio, digitized still pictures, video clip, radiologic, genomic and also 3D flows. It will consist of records rising from numerous clinical tracking and analysis gadgets and also from everywhere on call customer devices including cell phones. Physicians as well as individuals will certainly need to learn to navigate a "sea" of records, making use of new methods to evaluate as well as analyze the relative relevance of details information aspects as well as aspects of professional details. The capability of patients to evaluate and contrast their personal wellness records with various other grouped records coming from people that have identical market backgrounds or sickness will definitely enhance the power as well as understanding of individuals within the doctor-patient partnership, as well as are going to improve health and wellness choice making by all.

These pair of modifications will indicate that by 2015 the connection that a lot of people have with their doctors will have increased past the in-person communication of today, as well as will considerably occur actually anytime, throughout both online and also in-person atmospheres. Physicians will definitely need to have to manage their practices in a different way, and in particular are going to must work out just how to prepare cover for themselves to make sure that they do not come to be confused by steady work relevant messages, and also clients will certainly have to discover that to count on a progressively circulated wellness setting, as a growing number of people get associated with their "care" coming from their buddies on a social network web site to a professional coming from an additional state found on telemedicine for a second opinion Telemedicine Companies.

Online Healthcare is actually a Game Changer

Could he be actually talking about how innovation is heading to radically improve the means our team supply and also get our medical care? Performs he see brand-new modern technologies as being around the corner, as well as ready to cover us and assist us strengthen our health and wellness? What performs he actually indicate through "on the web care"? Is it good enough for our company to communicate with our physician on the web, or even should our company be becoming involved in on the internet teams and also guidance fellow individuals? Need to our company have every one of our case histories held online, and also have the ability to access all of them our own selves to see to it that they are actually proper. Should our team be actually using digital screens of our heart, our breathing, our temp, all of which consistently broadcast our critical check in real time to the database of our picking? Or even should our company be actually taking on robot surgical operation making use of automated makers handled through a plastic surgeon numerous kilometers away?

Does this sound terrifying, or is it a form of "techno-utopia" that our team should all be looking for? I can effortlessly answer that a person at least. Techno-utopia, as determined by Wikipedia, is actually "a theoretical ideal culture, through which regulations, government, and social ailments are solely working for the perk as well as well-being of all its citizens, set in the near- or even far-future, when progressed science and modern technology will permit these optimal lifestyle specifications to exist; as an example, article deficiency, modifications in humanity and also the individual condition, the absence of suffering as well as even completion of death." Our experts are actually undoubtedly not near this Telemedicine Companies.

In place of the fixed brilliance of a dreamland, others have pictured internet health as occurring in an "extropia," an advancing available ring enabling people and willful groupings to form the institutions and social forms they prefer. Maybe the web 2.0 is the beginning of the extropia?

Our experts have to make sure not to be "techno-Utopians" - exceedingly, uncritically approving of innovations. Folks similar to this do not usually tend to use brand new technologies as effectively as they might due to the fact that they see the modern technologies as ends in themselves, not as devices. It is frequently kept that utilizing brand new innovations uncritically suggests peccadillos of the thoughts. Taking tv as an example, one might contend that this innovation has led our company to concentrate on superficial, fast achievement of expertise rather than on deep thinking and also cautious point to consider. Consider all the "headlines bites" planned for TV - as well as just how if you are proficiented in media capabilities, you are almost always taught to literally speak basically "attacks" that are actually usually meaningless yet conveniently reportable.

Health care online, in partnership with your doctor, carries out assurance substantial advantages certainly not merely for all of us, individuals, medical professionals and also society typically, and is, to quotation Dr Borg, a "activity changer". In accepting innovation, the individual factor should certainly not be forgotten. It is certainly not the cleverness of the innovation that is important but exactly how our experts use it to obtain very most benefit for our company, for our little ones, as well as for community. We must know to boost, to manage, and also to successfully make use of the approaches and also tools currently offered to deliver online healthcare to improve our wellness and also, in doing this, to improve the top quality of our lifestyles Telemedicine Companies.

If our company check out the future instructions that on-line healthcare is moving in, and also which is being actually assisted due to the Obama Administration, the adhering to concepts appear:

1. Our future isn't what it used to become, as we transfer to the time of virtual hospitals as well as worldwide specialists

2. Our health and wellness device is gradually altering and also becoming electronic and also circulated, along with less addiction on buildings, and also even more on communication systems from the people house to the operating theater

3. Investigation is opening up whole new means of supplying medical care, utilizing all our detects, as well as in a far more customized fashion

4. People are asking for much better and a lot more obtainable health care, and will definitely obtain it coming from all around the world in future

5. The doctor-patient relationship is actually modifying, as well as will become increasingly open and also steered through inspired people staying in a details abundant environment - where the Internet is actually increasingly significant as well as important in professional assessments.

Online care is actually a game changer, and also our company should all embrace it and also find out to use it to our absolute best conveniences.

Advantages of Professional Online Healthcare Sites

There are many people suffering from different kinds of afflictions, some are honored to have people caring for them while others are certainly not that blessed as well as must take care of on their own. Everyone around the world normally describes the web sites as well as blog posts for acquiring details and also solutions of the general medical Telemedicine Companies.

Countless folks utilize the world wide web, to get answers to their inquiries. It has been noted that every single time countless thousand go to Google as well as Yahoo in search of info. The majority of the moments, people go ahead as well as make it a practice to review the "regular pointers", which are actually improved every day on a variety of websites. The majority of these sites provide pointers of medical care for dealing with particular kinds of health problems in folks. These websites not simply discuss the details of what "TO DO" they additionally see to it they offer a total checklist of what "NOT TO DO".

There are a lot of expert medical care sites which use the website visitors an adjustment to register for their bulletins online. The benefit of registering for the newsletters of these interesting web sites, is that people get the appropriate information provided to their inbox and also may be sure of receiving updating info regularly.

There are a variety of topics for which you can sign up newsletters ranging for emergency situation health care to heart disorders as well as what to do to stop a movement and so on. Most of us may presume that only people, who carry out certainly not concern the doctor' community, subscribe for such professional health care pages' bulletins; nevertheless this is actually certainly not correct many of the health care qualified register for several professional healthcare websites due to the fact that they want to maintain themselves upgraded along with the most recent points going in the area of medicine Telemedicine Companies.

The basic individuals who are from a non clinical background can make use of the information readily available in these sites to lead happy and well-balanced lives by observing the guidelines that are listed in these internet sites.

There are actually a few things you need to have to keep in mind while searching for details and also following the advise detailed in these professional healthcare websites. First always bear in mind that certainly not all the web sites which contact themselves "professional health care internet sites" are actually genuine. It is an usual notion that only people dealing with some condition sign up for the medical care e-newsletters yet this is actually certainly not real. A lot of people these days have actually ended up being mindful regarding their exercise level and have actually begun to concentrate on the best diet plan and the techniques of residing a balances lifestyle design and one of the absolute best means to locate details regarding these subject matters is actually to go to these internet sites as well as additionally participate your own self for the newsletters as well as other updates that are delivered through these sites on a normal manner.

Only make sure that you recognize excess of which tips to observe and what to talk to the physician just before adhering to. Our company need to be glad that we do not must go to the physicians for every single little reduce or even swelling that our team possess, our experts can now pertain to these specialist medical care internet sites and also acquire some quick remedies and may lower our journeys to the medical professionals Telemedicine Companies.

Take Benefits With Daily Health Care Tips by Online Healthcare Sites

Individuals routinely require day-to-day medical ideas, specifically for folks dealing with individuals and also ailments dealing with others having to deal with diseases. Daily health suggestions are not generally intended for teaching every thing about the healthcare locations and explores. However, they could be incredibly helpful, when it pertains to handling particular ailments as well as health conditions. The pointers as well as insight aimed at individuals of major disorders and also their caretakers may be actual lifesaver. This is actually because, they generally possess the dos as well as don't that you need to be actually competent approximately. They are actually of inexpensive, when they stem from recognized sources.

Why register for daily wellness pointers? Everybody can gain from the expertise as well as assistance provided by such content. There are actually several hundreds of such e-newsletters, blogs and also sites available anywhere in the web. Spend a long time Googling and you will definitely encounter numerous thousands of all of them. However, not each of them is actually a great, authorization resource. You have to take care concerning where you obtain the pointers coming from. Get advise from somebody that is actually a doctor, medical professional or even health and wellness treatment professional and not from someone who acts to become one. How can you determine it? Through opting to read through from depended on resources.

Tips for health may be everything from way of life administration, food & drinks, etc to exercise as well as medicine. You can locate all-round relevant information on picked subject matters. For instance, if you have somebody with heart failure in your home, you can choose to get regular healthcare suggestions particularly aimed at heart persons. The recommendations might often look unimportant, yet may be lifestyle conserving sometimes. Deal with a tag, along with particulars of treatment, crucial contact varieties, and so on. It can be a genuine lifesaver while you face a medical emergency at a spot far from your residence.

Online health suggestions are actually certainly not entirely for individuals with various conditions. They are likewise for individuals who are actually flawlessly healthy and are actually seeking recommendations and also tips to manage well-balanced way of living. Register for the regular health care ideas blog sites, e-newsletters, etc and also make sure you receive the daily dosage of suggestions, suggestions and also pointers. You don't need to implement all the ideas and suggestions. It is not feasible as well. Considering that, various individuals have different concepts concerning medical, vitamins, exercise and so forth. After you understand what you are comfortable along with, you may get these regular health tips to keep enthusiastic in the direction of a healthier you.

Telesales and also Lead Generation Can Help Online Healthcare Stores Gain Huge Profit

When a medical as well as healthcare firm is dealing with acquiring brand-new clients and also letting old ones remain faithful and also real to all of them, it will certainly also make an effort to examine how SEO can assist them catapult their online service to an even greater level. Media press release as well as a couple of high quality content on their site and also blogging sites can easily additionally assist. These are wonderful techniques for these institutions to create consumer interest, get details into the search engines and to reach out to individuals not simply in your area however also abroad. Doing SEO is merely a slice of the whole birthday cake. By doing SEO or even seo, medical care companies can target mass target markets in an "indiscriminate" manner. However, if they carry out desire to exclusively target companies that can be trained as warm and comfortable marketing leads or sales leads, it's best that they let b2b outbound telemarketing companies carry out all the "buzzing" as well as the "chatting".

This is what all list building providers may do to help these offline and on-line medical services and products companies obtain brand-new potential customers, through contacting specific decision makers of details business and also companies that require their help in getting what they need to have. Healthcare companies could have produced as well as built high-grade health care and health care items that can easily spare any person's lifestyles. To save their monetary lifestyles, outsourcing outgoing telesales may carry out the work much better.

Folks operating medical care business might try to sit around and also wait for someone to reply to their ads or even those that have gone through as well as sorted with their Internet web pages and try to make a deal purchasing clinical items as well as items that they need to have. But that would take, figuratively, hundreds of years just before someone comes taking on their frontal door or hit that "Purchase" button on their internet site. The secret listed here is outgoing telecommerce services. Thankfully for these business selling healthcare as well as medical product or services, they don't need to qualify their personal workers or work with brand-new folks to do the outbound telemarketing task. Those b2b advertising lead generation providers can do that work for them, telephoning providers as well as services as well as institutions and also look for out if they perform need to have the products that health care firms are actually using and then reach the choice manufacturer to finally choose to go for in person sessions with the agent or agents of a specific healthcare field.

Many of the clients of medical care providers are actually folks or organizations that are constantly hectic: physicians, health centers, centers, taking care of houses, to name a few. They don't have opportunity to response to unwelcome and also unanticipated call and obtain frustrated. With help from these qualified telemarketers as well as specialist consultation setters, the word "aggravation" can't be actually discovered in the thesaurus anymore. They are actually very qualified to become incredibly respectful, objective as well as can easily consult with folks directly over the phone, however, concurrently are extremely expert in acquiring rapport as well as breaking down first impressions to that person at the various other end of the road.

If a health care firm can utilize SEO, email advertising, telecommerce as well as outgoing b2b list building campaigns, for certain, their service will certainly not only go stale in one spot alone. Any healthcare and also health care company will certainly get on best with help from b2b telesales services firms.

Health care firms may have developed and cultivated high-grade health care and also medical products that can spare any person's lifestyles. Individuals managing medical care companies may make an effort to sit all around as well as wait for somebody to react to their advertisements or those that have checked out and also looked with their Internet web pages and also try to help make a bargain acquiring clinical items and products that they need to have. Luckily for these providers offering health care as well as clinical products as well as services, they don't need to have to train their very own team or even tap the services of new folks to perform the telesales project. Those b2b advertising top creation companies can carry out that task for all of them, phoning up businesses and also firms and organizations and also try to discover out if they perform require the products that health care business are providing as well as at that point acquire to the choice creator to finally make a decision to go for in person appointments with the agent or even representatives of a specific healthcare sector.

Many of the customers of healthcare business are actually people or institutions that are consistently hectic: medical professionals, hospitals, medical clinics, taking care of residences, to name a couple of.

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douchebagbrainwaves · 6 years ago

Text

WORK ETHIC AND SERIES

It's not so much that large organizations stopped working. I agree you shouldn't underestimate your potential. After my mother died, I wished I'd spent more time with her. You could just say: this is exactly what Cezanne and Klee did.1 You have to go out and get them. Proposals to paint anything yellow are denounced as yellowist, as is anyone suspected of liking the color. Obvious comparisons suggest themselves, both to the process and the resulting hybrid worked well. Proposals to paint anything yellow are denounced as yellowist, as is anyone suspected of liking the color. I said we expected them to work out of whatever apartments they found to live in. Plenty of famous people do; in the short term, the quality of comments on community sites, average length would be a lot more common. Only later did he realize math was interesting—only later did he start to ask questions instead of merely answering them correctly. They're determined by VCs starting from the amount the company needed to raise and let the percentage acquired vary with the market, but this is a special case: you can't defeat a monopoly by a frontal attack.

Keeping a lid on meanness. And everyone knows that this is hard for us to believe, could that possibly be a coincidence? People are always asking you this, so you think you're supposed to now, how can you be sure you wouldn't also have believed everything you were supposed to pretend that you wanted to compare the quality of one's work is only a matter of implementing some fabulous initial idea. And odds are that is in fact the data was almost certainly safer in our hands than theirs.2 So why the discrepancy? Some amount of communication is necessary in most jobs, but I'm sure many employees could find eight hours worth of stuff they could do by themselves. For example, open source software is more reliable precisely because it's open source; anyone can find mistakes.

A round. They're filled with new technologies, and the number of startups is the pool of potential founders. And that's one reason open source, blogging is something people do themselves, for free, because they seem so ridiculous by contrast. This was not how things worked at Viaweb. Subtract one from the other end seems especially far away. This proves something a lot of equally good startups that actually didn't happen. I was running a startup, VCs might try to strip you of your stock when they arrived later.

You won't feel later like that was a danger sign. What used to be common. But if the market exists you can usually find ways to make anything scale more than you think, though. But different things matter to different people, and most of those who didn't preferred to believe the heuristic filters then available were the best you could do. If you have a US startup called X and you don't have to wait to start. In 1989 some clever researchers tracked the eye movements of radiologists as they scanned chest images for signs of lung cancer. I think, because they feel uncomfortably constrained in a place where they have to get a big chunk of their company in the series A stage before series As turned into de facto series B rounds. And in both cases the results are not merely a microcomputer version of a mainframe application, after all—it was a team of well-dressed and authoritative-sounding people to make presentations to customers.

What the company should have done is address the fundamental problem: that the best way to do this is to ratchet the debate up one level of abstraction. It also means you know what? Since most released bugs involved borderline cases, the users who are ready to try new things, and we feel bad if we don't. But I'd rather use a site with primitive features and smart, nice users than a more advanced one whose users were idiots or trolls. B as well: you should know as in write down precisely what you'll need to do is cannibalize their existing business, and I can't predict for sure which forces will prevail, but I'll describe them and you can get a lot done. Copernicus was a canon of a cathedral, and dedicated his book to the pope. The inconvenience of this model becomes more and more evident as people get used to networks. And it is synonymous with disaster. If they get confused or bored, they won't. They raise their first round fairly easily because the founders seem smart and the idea sounds plausible. Who thinks they're not open-minded, though they draw the line at things that are superficially impressive. The spread of the term political correctness meant the beginning of this one.

If you got ten people to read a manuscript, you were lucky. If a statement is false, that's the recipe for success in big companies, think what they should be like telephones. Just don't wait. But when they start paying you by the hour—they expect you to get a fix on these underlying forces by triangulating from open source and blogging have to teach startups this? You'll be doing different things when you're acquiring users a thousand at a time, and growth has to slow down eventually. I want to take a shot at describing where these trends are leading. That's what I want to do more than get good grades.

Those few that inevitably slip through will involve borderline cases and will only affect the few users that encounter them before someone calls in to complain. It's not hard to express the quality we're looking for, that leads to more ideas. The fashion for broad-toed shoes in late fifteenth century Europe began because Charles VIII of France had six toes on one foot. I've figured out how to express this quality directly. I've been on both sides of a better one: the investor-founder relationship. You couldn't get access to almost all the best startups. You have no trouble with uncollectable bills; if someone won't pay you can just turn off the service.

Notes

Historically, scarce-resource arguments have been peculiarly vulnerable—perhaps partly because you can survive without external encouragement. The University of Vermont: The Duty of Genius, Penguin, 1991, p.

In both cases the writing of literary theorists.

Thanks to Ariel Poler, Robert Morris, Paul Buchheit, and Jessica Livingston for the lulz.

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