#and even people im not close to yet still feel vital to my little blog enclosure

[lavendorii]

like a year and a half ago I was so intimidated by you I was like ☹️it probably thinks I'm lame as fuck it's so cool but I am so lame and now im out here being like "Finnegan lavendorri set me on fire and stole my wife but it's chill because it's a caterpillar"

TOP TEN ASKS THAT MAKE ME FLAP MY HANDS ND SMILE LALWAYS iye am also lame wer are one and the same

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Final Four: Beaks in the Shell! or JESUS WEPT!

This.. this is a big occasion for me. It’s a return to regular Ducktales coverage.. but it’s also the first episode of the LAST four of the series. It was thanks to Ducktales my blog got a following, first through in character chat things, then through my reviews of this very season. It was starting this last year that took my blog from something I was passionate abbout but did ocassionaly to a vital part of my being and my source of income via one lucky boy who just wont’ let me stop! I kid of course, I thank kev for it, though i’d gladly welcome any other review comissions from you fine folks and fit them into the schedule. There’s a page on my blog for how and if your on mobile you can simply send me an ask or submit to ask about comissiong an episode or episodes of an animated shwo you like and i’ll give you my prices and what not. But it’s thanks to these Kev started comissioning in the first place and thanks to you all clicking on these reviews every week I do them that kept me doing them early on. So I wanted to thank you all. 

Covering the last four episodes is really bittersweet for me. It’s not the end for ducks here: I have most of seasons 1 and 2 to cover, and will be covering a lot of season 1 next month so I can properly cover shadow war for my Lena retrospective, not to mention continuing to cover life and times when I have the space, various birthdays, including Carl Barks Next Month!, and so on and so on. But this is not only the first show I covered on a weekly basis but it’s the first show i’ve covered like that to end. To put it in perspective, Loud House won’t be leaving until it WANTS to and even then nick will probably prepare a second spinoff to follow it up in some form, Amphibia has both the rest of season 2 to go, starting next month!, and a third season renewal meaning while that probably WILL be it i’ll have had two full seasons to cover by the time it’s over, and I went into Close Enough FULLY expecting it not to make it past season 1 as it’s long and harried production cycle lead me to belivie Time-Warner was just going to dump it on HBO Max and be done with it.. and to my utter and everlasting delight the opposite has happened: It didn’t just get renewed but it’s become one of HBO Max’s most popular shows, the flagship of it’s adult animation lineup, and been given THREE more seasons, two of which are coming very soon, and likely will get as many as it wants for the forseable future. 

The point is.. I went into covering Ducktales expecting at least one more season and genuinely not knowing if i’d make it thorugh covering this one, and once this started to really work out for me, to the point from doubting i’d EVER be able to set up a Patreon to having one that nets me ten dollars a month, feel free to contribute if you enjoy these reviews even a buck a month helps, honest. Plus thanks to that ten bucks a month i’ll be covering the five part 87 Ducktales pilot in April and if you get it up to ten i’ll cover super ducktales. But I wouldn’t even had one without these reviews giving me something to start with, and I figured they’d be around for a few more years, at least one more season. I didn’t think the show would just.. end with this season and while the season IS a proper final season of the show, wrapping up arcs, introducing long overdue cast additions, giving us the biggest and best overarching plot thus far.. a good final season dosen’t make it hurt any less. But as a wise Synthizoid once said...

It hurts it’s going.. I wasn’t prepared for it.. but it’s giving us one hell of a last act, and if this episode is any indication, just because the end is in sight dosen’t mean the last few eps before the finale are phoning it in. This is the end... so now i’ve got my emotional stuff and the weight behind it out of the way, for now i’m defintely going to be bawling come the finale and I’m not ashamed, we can dive into the begining of the end. Counting down.. because really when else am I going to get to use this...

We’re at four and under the cut it’s beaks in the shell. Let’s get dangerous. 

We open with a crime in progress as Gandra is stealing a thing for FOWL and Fenton has shown up on the scene to stop her as you’d expect.. along with Huey the boy wonder! He’s finally Fenton’s Sidekick!

Seriously it’s just so sweet to see this little payoff, to see Huey, after talking about it and clearly wanting to assit Fenton however he can, actually participate. Granted he dosen’t have an armor, yet, of his own, but still he’s been through enough stuff to be helpful> plus, Gyro’s reaction to Fenton trying to ge the resources for another gizmosuit was...

Gandra trips up his wheel, and im with 87 Scrooge in Ducktales Remastered, which I finally got to play recently! Horay!, what WAS gyro thinking with that design. Regardless she gets away, and our heroes return the loot off screen. Good day’s crime fighting. 

Except something’s off with Fenton as he’s been working extra late lately and lying to both Gyro and Ma’Ma about it with both suspcious, Gyro because he dosen’t like not knowing things and especially not knowing what his former intern’s up to because he’s a bit of a control freak.. and because he probably can’t go visit his new clone farm and work on speeding up the process of his replacement bodies after moonvasion used em all up without Fenton finding out as he’d tell Scrooge and Scrooge would be like “Stop playing God in ways that could get me a steep fine!”. It’d be a whole thing. The fact Fenton’s also using their now shared intern in Manny and neither is telling him why probably isn’t helping and i’ts only that workplace harassment seminar that keeps him from trying to strangle either of them again. That and Manny dosen’t have a neck.

Ma’Ma is more upset that not only is he lying to her again, more on that later, but .. that she’s figured out he has a new girlfriend and understandably thinks there’s some dark reason he’s not telling her, and unlike Gyro turns out she’s two for two. I mean she is a detective while Gyro is more worried about his clone army, his man horse and his robot son. I mean the last two are valid but still Mama just has to worry about her job and her socially awkward adult son. She has more time to focus on this.

But yes, not only is Fenton seeing someone.. but it’s Gandra again. A bit abrubt but honestly this isn’t the first Fenton episode to move his life fast.. and frankly i’m more lenient on final seasons, or seasons INTENDED to be the last ones in terms of offscreen stuff, as your trying to get everything you can wrapped up in the span of 13-24 episodes depending on how lucky you get, if not less. Sometimes you just gotta use a reveal and some exposition to hurry things along and if presented right it works.. and here it is a while the summary for this episode spoiled the reveal, i’ts still subtly dramatic that not only has hef ully forgiven her.. but their together.. despite the fact she still works for fowl. Wuh-oh.  After the credits we get an idea of what their working on, as Fenton used the gizmoduck suit to enter some kind of VR scape. This is the Gizmoscape! It’s a vast virtual reality landscape.. that looks like a fancy version of the VR Interface from community. Marble pillars, flowing water falls. Though ironically enough Jim Rash’s character is NOT a part of it and despite Fenton suggesting letting him in to help with their glitch problem she’s reluctant as it’s THEIR baby and she wants it to be perfect first before they allow other people in. Though i’m also sure part of it is that Gyro would start screaming JESUS WEPT! over and over. 

Meanwhile Mark Beaks is having a big flashy press confrence to announce the new Waddlephone. Only a 50% chance of exploding! And that’s not my dig at Samsung but the shows as that’s really Beaks sales pitch. Unsuprisingly only one VERY bored looking nerd is there at the confrence. As for why he’s finally fallen so low part of it is explalined in the episode: His attempted thefts of the Gizmoduck suit have gotten stale. As the bored nerd puts it he’s tried to steal it four times already, two that we’ve seen but i’m VERY unsuprised he’s tried again off screen. He’s made it PAINFULLY clear he has no ideas of his own, constantly steals them, and the public’s tired of it. As for why it took THIS LONG.. this is sadly realistic. As the throngs of “hardcore gamers” defending Cyberpunk 2077 before it was released can attest to, internet nerd culture can often be toxic, stupid and defend big personalities even when they’ve CLEARLY done something terrible as long as their doing something they like. Beaks was clearly pilfering enough good products and doing enough antics on social media to still be liked and for them to ignore his blanat and douchey crimes and had enough money on him during said crimes to walk away from it. 

Problem is.. while people can be awful and defend someone despite them not deserving their loyality, being a douche in public and doing VERY terrible things.. you have to have something to earn that loyalty. Waddle had that at first iwth project ta-dah, Waddleduck, various aps i’m sure... but it’s clear from context by this point Beaks has nothing left and no cult of personality to insulate him. Unlike say Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos he dosen’t HAVE some big product to mask his shadier wealth hoarding actions, he just has rampat supervilian attempts to steal someone else’s power armor and a hired hyjacking to get back at his cold unloving mother. Even when he does supervillian stuff like that.. he can’t be bothered to do it originally. The public will, and very sadly, defend you from terrible stuff, we’ve seen it with people supproting Gina Carano even though she’s actively spreading harmful disnfermation and then had the GALL to compare herself to jews hiding from the nazis, and one journalist trying to defend her had the gall to compare this to the hollywood blacklisting if the 50′s instead of you know, someone who woudln’t shut up about harmful dangerous shit finally getting fired for using teh platform said job provided to spread said harmful dangerous shit about masks and the vacine. But if you have nothing to offer.. thieri just going to forget you and move on. He has nothing to offer so they’ll gladly gravitate to some other jackass who can at leasat given them a neat phone instead of trying to steal a superhero suit for the 8th time. Mark realizes if he can’t steal something soon.. he’ll be forced to go with the Nuclear option: MAKE SOMETHING HIMSELF. 

Back at Fenton’s toilet lab, Huey finds Fenton having some cyber makeouts with Gandra... which translates to him kissing the air and Huey feeling evne more awarkd than usual. As for why Huey’s here despite it being late, he got a piece of Gandra’s nanotech during the robbery and figures they can track her. Fenton is.. less than enthused about that for obvious reasons but things soon get worse for our hero as our other hero notices the linkup. And while sidekicks are a good thing in my eyes; They allow young heroes to get proper training, help nuture their talents and prevent assholes from telling them to stop it instead of you know helping them. It’s.. a more common trope than you think let me tell you. 

But Fenton’s discovered the Downside is they can show up anytime, want to hunt your criminal girlfriend down not knowing the full story, and if their a genius like you, figure out what your up to with no effort and really want to try it. Seriously Huey’s almost as smart as you Fenton and will no doubt surpass you one day, this was a matter of when not if and you shouldv’e been more prepared. But Huey wants to try, and while Fenton tries deflecting since he only has the gizmoduck helmet and it only works for him now... Manny comes in with a bunch of vr rigs and Huey dives in.  Naturally, Huey soon running directly into Gandra dosne’t go great.. and given this is huey his natural instinct is to have a panic attack over his best friend, mentor and the only person besides maybe his family, boyfriend and girlfriend that really gets him possibly betraying him and his entire family. Gandra is of course mad Fenton invited someone in when she didn’t want that, and even more someone whose clearly not happy with her and will likely tell on them because that’s basic hue-man nature. 

Fenton explains he didn’t ask for this, so we get easily the best part of the episode: Gandra’s solution to the child having a mental breakdown.. is to summon a weighted blanket and throw it over him, which Huey mistakes for a trap and she explains helps with Anxiety.. and while he struggles.. it really does. Damn gotta get me one of those. Also while his Autisim remains vauge, likely on puprose, Huey having anxiety disorder, while obvious before, is now 100% confirmed. 

So now he’s calm, though his Anxiety meter shows he’s still not happy and Gandra doubts he’ll listen, Fenton can at least try and explain: The two have been seeing each other and working on this in secret.. but it has NOTHING to do with FOWL other than Gandra embezzling resoruces to make it happen. Gandra also explains why the project is so important to her and Fenton via her own backstory: Super Science is a dangerous, unrpedictable field and accidents happen a lot, and given people tend to hate what they don’t understand, hence why the X-Men founded their own island  after getting spat on one too many times, it often gets an unfair bad wrap.. and she shows she’s had to put up with this her whole life, making an intresting lazer thing as a kid that lost to a volcano and getting glared at for it accidently destroying said volcano. And as an adult due to her work’s dangerous and experimental nature, no one would take a chance on it and like many a super villian she had to experiment on herself. It’s also why she worked for Beaks last season and works with FOWL now, only supervillians with thier grandiose ambitions and lack of care for property damage would fund her. 

That’s part, at least, of why this is so very important to her: The Gizmoscap eprovides an invorment where scientests and others can experiment unabated, where the only limit is imagination and those glitches they keep having and any accident can be frozen , dragged and dropped away with no damage. There’s no risk but all the reward and they plan to give it out for free, to let the public use this and let the world grow from it. 

It also fills in a lot of Gandra’s character and gives weight to her last apperance: Her working with Beaks, while hypocritical, now has a tragic edge as he was simply the only one who’d fund her work. Her hatred of Fenton’s corprroate job and people like Scrooge.. is that in general billionares like him usually aren’t good people, and even SCrooge has his clear faults, and she assumed he was just making Fenton shut up and do things just to beniefit him and make him more money.. when Scrooge was instaead paying him to do a genuine public service as gizmoduck, and gives him and Gyro a LOT of leway and a pretty bottomless budget and only turns things down if their way too dangeorus for public release. The tragedy here is if she’d gone to Scrooge.. she never would’ve had to work for FOWL. He wouldd’ve genuinely supported her and likely given her a full ride and a spot in the lab of her own, maybe as an intern but probably on her own merit given how game changing her tech is and how he of all people understands a ballance of risk and reward. It turns her from a very hypcoriticla techie who works with the very people she scorns.. to someone who has no choice and desperatley wants out.  And this is her way out: something new and bold that’, while not hers alone as Fenton co created it, could change the world and make it safe for people like her to do what they do without ridcule, scorn or risk. It’s everything she could’ve dreamed of and more and once it’s done she promises to leave fowl and as the end of the episode bares out, and as her tone makes clear, she’s genuine about it. She also TRULY does love fenton and vice versa and both are desspearte for Huey to keep a lid on things from Gyro till it’s ready, as she rightfully worries if it gets out unfisnished they’ll just be mocked agian.  Naturally being a good soft boy Huey is now entirely on board, because he loves science, and he loves love and this is both. And frankly given what we saw way back in Astro BOYD... .he knows more than anyone what its like to be laughed at and mocked for being diffrent and simply being smart. And even though his family lvoes him.. only one member is as smart as him in the same way, his mom whose still a very diffrent person, and it wasn’t till this season he really got to connect with people his own age like him. And both Violet and BOYD could benifit form this.. everyone could. So he’ll keep it secret for now.  This proves problematic as both Gyro AND Mama are there and both have questions. And while Huey ducks gyro, Mama.. interrogates a small child who she’s defintely met and likely knows has anxiety over something as trivial as her son having a secret girlfrined. You.. you guys might’ve wanted to remove this bit given last year. I”m just saying. Does not play well. The most Huey can come up with is a girlfriend in Canada which fenton plays along with... but given neither her nor gyro are really buying into things, though Mama has a check done on seamstresses in canada just in case because this bit was clearly written years ago and not rerecorded for whatever reason, Huey uses little bulb to fake a gizmo emergency so Fenton can get out of there, go home and work on this himself while Huey stalls and lies. But since his best on the fly lie was “a girlfriend in canada”, which is somehow worse than “who’s Dewey”, and while our boy is many things: excellent at opera, a good friend, a wonderful wingman, excellent at setting a mood, a good son, great at panic attacks, a genius, an expert woodchuck, knowledgeble on quantum mechanics.. the list goes on lying is not one of those things and he seems to be in a pickle. 

Meanwhile Mark is struggling to create, can relate, because he’s entirely creatively sterile. And that’s probably why out of Scrooge’s foes.. he stopped being a threat. He has no vision. And while true the Beagle BOys also don’t besides steal stuff and maybe get our deed back, that’s by design as Ma knows they can’t take scrooge or gizmoduck so why cry. Stick to petty crimes and stuff he isn’t aware of or dosen’t care about. But Magica and Glomgold do. Magica is cunning, if not subtle, and manipulative and when on full blast horrifyingly powerful, and it took everything Clan McDuck had to stop her at full, and she still nearly won without any powers when she came back, and even if Lena can keep her in check now, she still GOT her powers back and got her new arch enemy to defeat her old one. Glomgold while only slightly more comipitent than beaks, and even then VERY slightly, he at least has vision. His schemes are entirely stupid.. but he dosen’t stop coming up with them. They may be his first draft but damn if they aren’t entertaining and damn if one or two haven’t WORKED. Simply stealing a few cents from scrooge and gaslighting him in a devil costume NEARLY drove him insane and cost him his fortune.  Beaks.. has no ideas. He has ambiation.. but it’s to steal the same tech that even if he got it, he woudln’t know what to do with. The ONLY time he’s been a full on threat has been using someone else’s scheme, that Gandra clearly came up with and STILL required piggybacking on the gizmo suit. He has nothing and while it was fine for a while.. eventually h’es left iwth nothing. Glomgold at least has money, magica at least has power... Beaks HAD both.. but had no idea what to properly do with it and now is on his last legs. Even his idea for a coffee cups with aps is taken because of course “even the dumbest ideas are taken”, this is america. Making dumb shit for rich morons is our primary export. But he sees the fleeing fenton, has a breakdown and declares FINE if that’s what fate wants i’ll steal the armor I’LL STEAL THE ARMOR ALL DAY. 

So Fenton heads home to recharge in both senses of the word, and to tell Gandra the timetable’s moved and Huey can hold them only so long. And he seems to be wrong as Huey confidently prepares to answer their questions.. but is seemingly thrown when we get the real reason Mama is so upset: She’s just worried and still a bit hurt from Fenton not feeling he could tell her he was gizmoduck and it breaks her heart that her son feels he has to hide from her again. However while this is genuinely sad and emotional.. the reason he’s thrown is it’s NOT huey, but Louie, whose a bit miffed as he DIDN’T know Fenton was Gizmoduck, and can’t properly bullshit without full info. it’s also really nice that bit FINALLY came up as the rest of the four main kids have known for a while now. But Huey convincnes him to do it.. for 6 months allowance. Frankly the real shocker here is that they actually GET an allowance. 

However Mama.. is again a cop. One who REALLY needs to rethink her ethics.. but a cop, and the best one on the force, and thus has easily guessed this is not Huey, and given she’s probably ran into his schemes before, figures out which one he’d bring in to buffer for him and easily gets rid of Louie by asking him to tur informant on himself, since the REAL Huey would under pressure and Louie instead flees in terror not wanting to get arrested and leaves both the lab and the episode. Though I’m pretty sure i know where he went

So yeah things are not great and only get worse, as Mark breaks into fentons house via the open window and upon finding out abotu the Gizmoscape naturally plans to hack into it and take it for himself. Before he does Fenton talks to Gandra and admits they may have to let other people in and we get another reason: She’s worried she’s not good enough. He reassures her.. and this tender moment is interupted by Beaks who imprisons them, hyjacks fenton’s security system aka a gizmo armor, and while still a creatively sterile douche, does have a decent if horrifically scummy way to profit all of this: use the open coloabreation concept to get the legal right to steal all this and say it’s his. 

Fenton bemaons the fact that Gandra was right, one bad apple spoiled the bunch and unveling it too qiuckly would’ve gone bad as she feared.. but Gandra’s grown and realizes Fenton was also right, and that they needed more people. While the wrong people can ruin a project, collaboration can help, finding perspectives you didn’t see and helping fine tune ideas. Huey, whose collapsed at Fenton’s due to the exustion of lying, wakes up to find Beaks crimes and being unable to just unplug him, as while Beaks is VERY dumb, even he’s not THAT stupid. But Fenton gets out an SOS over morse to tell everyone So Huey does.. and the calvary arrives, as Huey enters the Gizmoscape with Mama and Gyro. And while Mama is pleased to realize she’s right about the girlfirend thing they don’t really have time for that, so once Huey explains the basic concept, he uses it himself to give himself GIZMO ARMOR. AT LAST. 

He also has extra long legs, because of course, just.. of course. Naturally Beaks steals it, and everyone else takes a stab at their own gizmotech armor: Mama daawns a stunning police themed one, Gyro goes for a bulb mecha based on the giant version of little bulb from the great dime chase, an idea brought up by LB, and Gandra goes for a sleek tron esque nanotech number. Beaks take sa bit from each and our heroes wonder how to beat him.. but Fenton realizes that’s simple: Beaks can only copy and steal... they can create. And Gandra uses this against him by pointing that out so he drops his super armor.. to look like Andross from Starfox.. which shows that EVEN when trying to come up with a cool final boss form... Beaks has to steal from something. The rest of the Gizmo Corps, my name for them I own that, Gizmo Legion would also be good, after Iron Man’s iron Legion, suit back up and kick beaks ass as a team. I smell second spinoff.. or first if darkwing ends up hyjacked by Seth Rogen.. who I have nothing agianst he’s just not the one who put in the work for a reboot. 

So our heroes win in an awesome sequence, seirously spinoff and Beaks is knocked the fuck out and presumibly will FINALLY go to jail for good to this as he can get away from a lot but directly breaking into an officer’s house and stalking her son, they can omit the gizmopart and even if Fenton went public.. no one would care and he and Mama can take care of htemselves, as can Huey, Gyro, Gandra and Manny, so it’s not like anyones in danger. Beaks is well and truly defeated: he has no idea, an imminet jail sentence, and no one to back him up. Fenton’s finally got the little boil off his back

So now the big fight is over, Gyro can actually process the Gizmoscape.. and is genuinely impressed.. he tries to hidei t because of course he does.. but it’s clear for someone who himself has constnatly been called crazy and had his ideas blow up.. this is paradise to him. a place where he won’t be judged and has unlimtied funds to experiment with his ideas without having to get yelled at when they destroy a city block or nearly choked to death by his own robot son, daughter or nonbinary person. He also easily fixes the problem and proves Fenton right for wanting to include him, as he points out they hadn’t been DELETING anything, simply downsizing it and it naturally caused stress on the server.  Fenton talks about Gandra and defneeds her to Mama.. whose just happy he’s happya nd someone can take her son. Alls well that ends well right. 

Final Thoughts:  So this was a... wait.. why are we cutting back to fowl.. why is bradford there. 

Yeah turns out megalmanoical diabolical msterminds kinda monitor their employees so he knew she intended to quit and stole resources, and while she plans to leave, he simply calls in a bunch of eggheads who overwhelm her with sheer numbers and has her fined two weeks pay.. and taken to the lost library to indefintely lock her up. What’s that she asks “You have your secrets, I have mine”

So yeah a bit of a downer ending

Actual Final Thoughts: 

This was an excellent capper to Fenton’s character arc. While the Gandra relationsihp is a bit rushed the rest is a masterful capper to his character arc: This episode shows off how he’s changed from EVERY one of his previous three focus episodes, while a major part of astro boyd and how he got his docterate it dosne’t quite contribute to his character arc,  and grown from them: From beware the buddy system! he’s learned to colaberate properly and taken his desire to WORK with other people, like he always did with Gyro but was constnatly shut out, and found a proper and brilliant way to that allows people like him, gyro, gandra and huey to really express themselvs. He’s grown from a niave rookie trusting the wrong people in who is gizmoduck.. to someone whose STILL fully trusting despite constant betryals, but now knows who to trust, and an experinced hero who once freed easily counters his nemisis.  And finally from Dangerous Chemistry, he’s finally got a ballance in his life: inastead of running from gizmo or treating his alter ego as something else.. he’s found a way to use the gizmotech for science, and FINALLY found his world changing invention one so good and so practical even his mentor, despite trying to walk it back, is genuinely proud of him and genuinely in awe.

Every step lead to his happy ending.. well okay his girlfriend still needs to be freed from her insane ex-boss, but that’s just a few episodes away. Fenton has everything he wanted when he started: his boss finally respects him and treats him as an equal, his mom not only knows who he is but is proud and supportive of him, he has a loving partner creatively and romantically.. and a best friend who while a good two decades younger, is there for him and who he genuinely apologizes too for putting so much on him. LIke all the endings so far this season.. it feels like a throughly satisfying end to the journey we’ve been following. This fits in nicely with Penny realizing earth could be her home and that she dosen’t have to constnatly fight to have a purpose, Lena finally accepting magic instead of running from it and thus gaining peace of mind and power to stop her former abuser from hurting anyone else, Goldie finally accepting how much she cars about Scrooge and his family and that she CAN change... all of this, except penny obviously has been built up through three seasons and while I DEFINTLY could see frank and matt returning to all of them.. i’ts nice to get some closure.  It feelsd earned and impressive. The episode is also.. REALLY fucking funny, from the weighted blanket gag to Beaks in general, to Huey yelling at fenton about Mama “She somehow broke Louie!”. It’s a masterful and throughly satisfying end to Fenton’s story. And again we’ll likely see him in the finale but character arc wise.. its a good place to end his. 

Next Week: FINALLY, AFTER 10,000 YEARS, IT’S THE TAILSPIN EPISODE. OWEEOOO, OWEEHHHH. 

Tommorow: We return to the noiry furry world of John Blacksad as everyone’s favorite panther detective battles white supremacists to find a missing girl and we’re introduced to your faviorite sidekick and mine Weekly. 

Later on this week: The Lena retrospective continues with Jaw$, we celebrate Tex Avery’s birthday, and I tackle the awful original tom and jerry movie. 

So if any of that tickles your fancy see you at the next rainbow

[kakloins]

Hey, I really like your blog (your fics are seriously amazing 💖) and wanted to request fluff w Jotaro x f!reader. I had this idea that maybe reader is part of the sdc and she gets hurt in order to save Jotaro and then he confesses? (You can write something else if you want, I don't rlly mind 💕) Anyways, hope you're having a great day!

aww thank you so much 💕💕!!! im actually pretty new to writing so im glad you like my stuff heheh

also....this is a very good request i ended up writing 1000+ words again whooPS

warning: slight blood mention

Although you couldn’t exactly pinpoint it, there was something that just felt off. The moment you and Jotaro left the others in order to ask some locals about Dio’s whereabouts, a tense feeling appeared deep in your gut that just couldn’t seem to escape you. You felt anxious—like you were being watched and followed at the same time—yet a quick glance at your surroundings dismissed those paranoid thoughts almost immediately. There was nothing unusual, there were no suspicious figures hanging around or anything out of the ordinary.

So why did you feel this way…?

“Hey,” Your thoughts were interrupted by the tall man next to you. Jotaro must have noticed you looking around cautiously, as he looked down at you besides him, gently nudging you with his elbow. “What’s wrong? You’re acting strange—or at least stranger than usual.”

The sudden contact caused you to let out a barely audible gasp in surprise, though you quickly composed yourself once your brain processed Jotaro as the one who was speaking to you. He was still looking down at you with his green eyes staring into yours expectantly, waiting for response.

You looked away slightly from his serious gaze, laughing nervously. “Ah—It’s nothing. I guess I just feel a little weird is all. Probably because of the heat, you know?” 

It was the most likely reason you could think of. The harsh Egyptian heat wasn’t like any other heat you had experienced, and it easily could’ve been the source of your somewhat anxious feelings. Though you weren’t positive it was true, you had to quickly come up with an excuse so Jotaro wouldn’t worry about you; after all, you both had to focus on what you came out here to do in the first place.

His gaze stayed transfixed on you and his eyebrows lowered—he seemed slightly concerned, and at the same time unbelieving of your answer, as if he was going to ask you if the heat was really the real reason for your odd behavior. Yet after another second, he simply turned his head back towards the front of him and looked on ahead. “If you start to feel any worse, tell me. We’ll head back.” He stated bluntly.

You held back a sigh of relief, grateful that he didn’t press you any further on the matter. “Alright.” You agreed.

For the next few minutes while you were both walking and asking people about Dio's whereabouts, everything was calm, and though you tried to ignore it, the same eerie feeling resided within you.

Then it suddenly became much more intense.

You stopped walking, frantically looking around, with all previous doubts gone and now positive someone dangerous was near. Jotaro stopped in his tracks and looked back at you, his expression a mixture of confusion and mostly concern.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” He yelled.

Before you even had time to respond, you saw something through the corner of your eye. It was just a blur, but it was heading towards you both fast. There was no doubt that it was an enemy stand user’s attack. Before you could even blink it was already a couple of feet in front of you, about to make impact.

Your mind was racing, trying to think of what you could do—there was no time to summon your stand, that was out of the question. At the last moment, you decided there was only one thing you could do, and that was potentially save your close friend, who started this journey to save his mother.

While Jotaro was still looking at you, you yelled, suddenly leaping forward and pushed him with all your strength, causing him to stumble a few feet and fall towards the ground.

All he saw afterwards was your body and a spray of blood as you flew back, hitting the ground with a heavy thud and laying motionless.

...

You had ended up losing consciousness after the impact, though you had no idea how long. When you started to open your eyes, Jotaro was kneeling besides you. His face was one of pure fear as he looked down at you, examining your bruised and bloodied form. 

"Jotaro…?" You quietly groaned.

His eyes quickly shot back up to your face and widened. He was breathing heavily, sweating, and just looked like an overall mess. You had never seen him like this before—so different from his usual self.

He softly muttered your name as you tried to sit up. "Are you alright?"

You let out a small groan as you adjusted yourself, accompanied with a bitter laugh as blood still oozed out of the wound on your midsection. “Y-yeah, I think so. It’s not as bad it looks. I don’t think I got hit anywhere vital...”

That’s right—there was an enemy stand user nearby that had attacked you both. You perked up, quickly scanning the area, trying to see if the attacker was still nearby. He could end up striking again at any time while you were still vulnerable.

You looked at the man next to you and spoke with a hint of panic to your tone. “Jotaro, what happened to the—“ 

Before you can finish the sentence, a pair of large arms are wrapped around you, holding you tight. Jotaro brought you closer to him, holding you against his chest and lowering his head into the crook of your neck. Your breath got caught in your throat, preventing you from uttering a single word as you were pulled against him, and your cheeks started heating up instantly at the contact. It was just so intimate—you could feel his chest heave with his breathing and his warm breath on your neck.

He let out a deep sigh of relief. “I thought you were dead. God, I don’t know what I would’ve done if that were true. I was scared shitless.”

There was a gentleness in his voice that you had never heard from him before, and it made you all the more confused and flustered. Though another part of you couldn't help but also felt guilty for frightening him, so much so that he'd end up embracing you. Slowly, you reciprocated the hug without even thinking, wrapping your arms around him as well.

"I'm okay, Jotaro." A small laugh escaped your lips as your hands continued to roam across the expanse of his back, rubbing him comfortingly. "I won't leave you that easily, y'know. I love being with you way too much for that." 

He lifted his head up from it's position near your neck, looking directly into your warm eyes. His own expression was still soft, with all hints of his typical serious expression gone as he looked at your own. "I…"

Jotaro's words trailed off as if he was still thinking of how to put his thoughts into words. As he saw you waiting expectantly while looking at him, you noticed his cheeks become a shade darker as he looked off to the side. Then he took a deep breath.

"I… love being with you, too. I want you to stay with me for as long as possible–I don't know if you feel the same way, but…"

In an instant, your heart rate skyrocketed to a rapid speed. As you looked at the man holding you, his red face half hidden with his hat, it was apparent what he was actually trying to tell you and how much weight those words had.

It was Jotaro's own way of confessing his feelings and asking if you felt the same without directly saying it. Maybe he had planned to tell you when you both left the others to question locals by yourselves, but you never would have guessed he felt that way about you, even if you were closer to him than the other crusaders. Then again… a memory flashed back to you of Polnareff smiling goofily as you and Jotaro once again decided to sit next to each other while traveling to your next destination.

The silence that lingered in the air for a moment following his words was tense. Jotaro was still looking off to the side, avoiding your gaze.

You decided to break that silence and spare him the stress. "Of course I feel the same way. Why do you think I protected you from that attack before?" Your arms then wrapped around Jotaro, pulling him back into a soft embrace. "I love you. I couldn’t risk you getting hurt like that." Your voice was quiet, but still plenty loud enough for him to get the point.

You both remained quietly in each other's arms for a few moments as his own were wrapped around you following your own confession, just enjoying the intimacy of being so close to each other. Then, Jotaro stood up, offering you a hand and pulling you up. When you were finally standing besides him, however, he didn’t let go.

A large smile appeared on your face, and Jotaro offered a small grin of his own. “Alright then. Let’s head back and get your wounds treated.”

You nodded, then started walking with him, still holding each other’s hand. The day didn’t go exactly how you thought it would, but as you felt Jotaro’s hand holding your own, minus the slight injury, you certainly couldn’t complain at the sudden turn of events.

[doughyduo]

likewise we havent done much yet together but im gonna self submit my own url for that if thats cool :0

Roleplaying/Writing

My favorite muse(s) of theirs and why: To be honest, I know nothing on Ryuko except for what I’ve seen from them and the brief reading I did on the wiki, but she seems metal as fuck. Like, getting her arms ripped off (or maybe it was ripping someone’s arms off) and tearing someone’s heart out? Damn. Still, that doesn’t mean she isn’t a fun character to see, because the sort of free-spirit and determination (?) in her is something I always like to see in characters.

My favorite interaction/thread of theirs: From what I’ve seen, the Ryuko/Claire thread has been sweet. It brought out Claire’s accent because Ryuko got close enough to her, and they’re both letting loose and having fun. Then again, I haven’t read a whole ton of it, so I can’t say much else.

My thoughts on their unique characterization/interpretation of their muse(s): Again, I don’t know much about Ryuko, but the fact that she can flip from being like extremely headstrong and angry to soppy and caring without seeming like her character is breaking says a lot. She goes from ‘wow fuck you i’ll do what i want’ to ‘listen, i care a lot despite not seeming like it, okay? i just wanted you to know that’. Ryuko is a unique character in that sense, and I enjoy what I see from headache.

My thoughts on their writing style as a whole: I didn’t know what to expect from this blog when I first saw them come about, and to be honest, I was on the edge of paying attention to them. I decided to, and that was clearly a very good decision. Headache is seriously good at writing, using just the right words and setting sentences just right to give for a pleasant and enjoyable read. I seriously was worried about hitting reblog in the thread we had because I was worried my responses weren’t good enough. The substance in their responses don’t feel like a few extra words to make a match-lengthed response, but it feels like what would actually happen in the situations and brings your attention to vital things that tell you a few things about the character.

Situation(s)/Plot(s) I’d love to see their muse(s) in: Self-indulgent things for headache where Ryuko has a huge gurgling tum and she’s just relaxing after a huge meal and headache can do whatever they want with her

Someone else I love seeing them interact with: meatymidnightmetaverse/bakingupastorm, because they just have enough ideas and can do enough in a thread to keep it interesting and for like 300+ notes. Mine never get past like fifty notes, so holy shit that’s awesome

Anything else I want to say about their roleplaying: headache is a gooooood

If We Know Each Other

What I Think Are Their Best Qualities: headache is sweet as well, being nice to talk to. I found it easy to just straight up go to them and ask how they were doing, and as I’ve said before, that’s usually tough for me to do. That, plus she’s very passionate about Ryuko and plots, which is always fun to see!

What I Think Are Their Strengths: Writing and having fun. Like, take a look at their responses. They could be pretty small and short, not caring to bring out the true character in Ryuko too much, but just look at them. Seriously.

A Memorable OOC Interaction Of Ours: We haven’t talked that much at all, but if I’m being honest, I’m glad to have talked about what we have. I’m always around if you need someone to talk to, so don’t be shy~

Why Others Should RP With Them: Because Headache is fun and passionate and does great replies and has great ideas and is generally great!

How Others Should Approach Them:Calmly. Say hey, ask how he’s doing, and come with some ideas. Don’t go ‘hey let’s rp�� and expect to do a poorly-hidden self-insert where you feed a character, come with something that has substance and a non-standard but fun plot. Look at previous threads for inspiration, and take a little time before you message.

Other Roleplayers I’d Recommend To Them: You probably know more people than me, really

Anything else I want to say about them: I know you haven’t done art in a while, but I wanted to remind you that all your stuff is really good! I found that Darkness piece of yours before I even really had you on Discord, and I remember wondering who made it because I thought it was a good piece. 

If We Have/Plan To Interact Together

A plot I’d like to write with them: Something with Ryuko and Clare or Hana, but I’m not sure what. It would be fun to have Clare just like take care of a full, stuffed Ryuko and cuddle up with her or something, idk, but that’s not enough to be a thread.A muse I want to introduce to them: I’m fairly sure you know all my muses, so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯A ship/broship I’d like to propose to them:A thread with them I’m excited about: Just anything we end up doing, but I need to get to thinking something up first, lolAnything else I want to say: Remember that you’re great! Seriously, I mean everything I say. You’re sweet, you’re kind and let me talk to you, your writing and art are amazing. I wish I had reblogged this earlier so I could have written this all when I wasn’t as tired as I am now!

Rebloggers, be sure to pick one of the below

This meme applies to:

[  ] Mutuals Only    [ x ] Only if we’ve interacted  [ ] Everyone

[hi-n-oops]

Fic Rec

I am making a list of fics that I read/re-read (and liked) this week. Mostly because I am abysmal at remembering titles and only remember them by summary (ik im stupid). So here it goes!

A Beginning by SexyAssWoman  @thesexyasswoman

Harry had been in love with Louis Tomlinson since he found his poetry blog years ago. Without even knowing how the man looked like, Harry was infatuated with him. So when he gets a chance to meet Louis for the first time, Harry is set on making an impression. That is until he gets distracted by the blue eyed stranger that sits beside him.

Or, Where Harry was in love with a poet, and the stranger that sat beside him on a poetry session had eyes that looked like the sea.

**This one was short but very sweet!

Dance to the Distortion by Lis (domesticharry) @domestic-harry

Louis accidentally breaks Harry's camera lens and in order to get it fixed, they decide to participate in a romantic couples study. The only issue is that they are not actually couple. Well that and the fact they cannot stand each other.

**Enemies to Lovers- Check; Fake/Pretend Relationship - Check; Enemies who are pretending to be in a fake relationship - Double Check. This fic is pure gold. I loved the dynamics between the characters and how everything played out!!

Hearts Don't Break Around Here by sincewewereeighteen @downgoesanotherhero

"Another car has stopped at the beginning of the carpet. People are going to collapse any time soon, and Louis knows why. Harry Styles has just arrived. And Louis. Well. Louis is a grown man. He curses himself a hundred times for even letting his heart race in his chest. He knew they were bound to meet tonight. What the hell is wrong with him?"

Or: the one in which Harry's having his big movie debut and Louis sings on it's soundtrack.

**I am on a lookout for all the Actor Harry fics and this one was one of the cutest out there!!

Sail into the Sun by angelsvevo

Prince Louis Tomlinson is sick of the closet. Harry Styles is a con man with a hatred of rich people. Louis needed a way out, Harry needed a husband. It was a mutual agreement. Doesn't mean they have to like each other.

**I got to know about this one because of one of my anons, so thank you for that. The author has orphaned the fic, so it was a little hard to find. Marriage of Convenience au!!

Homegrown by casuallyhl @casuallyhl

“It wasn’t an easy decision, if I’m honest,” Harry admits, shoulders sagging in on himself. “Moving is really difficult. My whole life was in Manchester. But Manchester didn’t want me. Leeds did.”

“Well, Leeds is happy to have you,” Louis says, giving Harry a kind smile.

Harry brightens a bit at that, undeniably pleased. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Louis replies, expression soft and lips curved.

Or, a gardening AU where Harry is new to town and the newest volunteer at the local gardening club, Louis is the attractive grandson of one of the members, and the nosy volunteers hatch a plan to get them together.

**This one was so sweet! A feel-good fic!!

The Boys of Summer by larrymylove

Harry is in love with Louis and would have given anything to be his partner for the end of term literature assignment. Louis is the only kid in the class who can get away with anything, and all he wants is the attention of the pretty boy with the curls across the room. Featuring lots of banter, pining, flirting, and Fionn as an unwilling Cupid. 

**This is a short one but adorable!!

Heart on an Open Highway by afirethatcannotdie @afirethatcannotdie

AU. Harry's a popstar about to release his second album, and Louis is the Radio 1 intern who gets his heart racing.

**This is probably the 100th version of the prompt. I loved it!!

i'll be yours to keep by midnights @harryindallas  (you have to be logged in to read this)

louis should've thought a lot more about who he said his fake boyfriend is, especially since he and his "significant other" kinda hate each other. most of the time. 

**This was a re-read! A Hogwarts AU and being a Potterhead, it was a treat!! Enemies to Lovers + Fake/Pretend Relationship!! Need I say more?

Just a Flower Boy by Larryruinedme

Harry Styles is a clumsy, flower crown-wearing, openly gay junior with only two true friends, Niall and Zayn. Louis Tomlinson is the school's attractive, straight football captain, with a small body and a big personality. As fate will have it, Harry has a huge, unrequited, utterly hopeless crush on Louis.

Fate is thrown out the window the day that Harry and Louis find themselves partnered up for a history project. Harry starts to receive notes from a secret admirer, Louis starts to get jealous of Harry's budding friendship with senior Nick Grimshaw, Zayn and Liam develop a thing for each other, and Niall is the best mate anyone could have asked for. And suddenly, Harry's crush on Louis doesn't seem so utterly hopeless anymore.

**This one was so unbearably adorable!! I love HS AUs!!

Swallow My Words by YesIsAWorld @louandhazaf

Senior year is stressful. On top of balancing school work, family, and friends, Harry's lacrosse team is vying to win the state championship, he's not sure where he's going to college yet, and he has a secret boyfriend that no one can know about.

**This fic is very real. Harry’s teammates are homophobic assholes. Louis is Harry’s secret bf. And though Louis is supportive of Harry, he is tired of hiding their relationship. It deals with homophobia, so beware!

Small Doses (Loving You It's Explosive) by QuickedWeen

Louis Tomlinson finds himself at Vitality Fitness to try and turn his life around after having left his cheating boyfriend of four years. The gym's owner, Liam, quickly becomes a good friend, but his right hand man is rude and dismissive from the get-go. Louis and Harry continue to clash all while Harry is trying to move his way up the ranks in Manchester's amateur boxing circuit, but they can't seem to stay away from each other.

**I LOVED THIS!! ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS!! Harry is a boxer (yes, that is a huge bonus to me).

Fool's Gold by tvshows_addict @tvshows-addict

Leaflet for Over Again Inc.

“In relationships, there are three types of people: those who are happy, those who are unhappy but accept it and deal, those who are unhappy and in denial.

Handling this last category is our job: we are professional couple breakers.

To reach our goal, we use all means necessary.”

Or the Arnacoeur AU in which Harry is scheduled to be married to Liam in 10 days and Harry’s mother hires Louis and his team to break them up.

**This has been in my reading list for a long time. Louis is hired to break up Harry’s seemingly happy engagement but nothing is what it seems when Louis gets closer to the situation. I won’t say anything else, find out yourself!!

Only Reason by letsjustsee @letsjustsee

Or, Louis is most definitely smitten with Harry from the second he sees him, but he is also most definitely not the world's foremost expert on beekeeping. He decides to roll with it anyway.

**This is another short one but oh-so adorable!!

tangled up in you by missandrogyny @missandrogyny

Harry blinks once. And blinks again. And says, his voice dangerous: “Niall, did you get me a mail-order bride?”

Because what the actual fuck. It kind of looks like Niall’s just purchased a person. For Harry.

Niall blinks back at him for a few moments, before throwing his head back and howling with laughter. Harry throws a pillow at him. Hard. “No, what the fuck, Harry.”

“A prostitute then?” Harry also doesn't want a prostitute.

“Of course not!”

“A stripper?”

“No!”

Damn, he’s running out of ideas. He settles for launching another pillow at Niall’s head. Niall bats it away easily, still laughing. “Stop!”

“What did you get me, then?!” Niall must hear the tinge of hysteria in his voice, because he’s pulling himself together, trying to stop himself from laughing.

There’s still a big grin on his face, though, when he says, “I got you a professional cuddler.”

A professional…what. “What?”

**Another re-read! This fic is gold. I have probably re-read it three times now and I love it everytime!! Also, the SMUT WAS AWESOME!!!

As Cold as a Whisper by panda_bear21

Harry did not turn around to face Louis yet and Louis’ body screamed at him to take the opportunity and run. Run until he couldn’t anymore, until his lungs collapsed out of breath and he was either safe and away or caught back in Harry’s gaze. Harry turned then, and his eyes were darker than the heavens and just as green as the haunting woods surrounding them, entrapping Louis. Focused, and clear. Louis' heart rattled in his ribcage, shaking, wanting to escape his unmoving body. Harry walked closer and Louis’ eyes stayed on him, breath leaving in a sharp exhale when Harry bent down to touch his face.

A fairy tale au where people in Louis' village are disappearing and Louis is married off to uphold a centuries long agreement.

**This is a fantasy AU. Also arranged marriage! It was so unique and mysterious if a little dark at times! The whole atmosphere of the fic was very foreboding...

pray for some sweet simplicity by delsicle @emperorstyles

Louis is the only omega to ever make it in the cut-throat world of competitive motorcycle racing—that is, he would be if anyone actually knew about his identity. Now, his sights are set towards competing in—and winning—the European Grand Prix, the biggest and most difficult race of the entire year, so he can disappear underground for good. He’s close enough, too, until an alpha sports journalist is assigned to follow Louis’s every move as he prepares for the event of his career.

Or, an AU where motorcycle racing is the biggest sport in a heavily divided world, Louis is trying to take control of his own destiny, and Harry is in for more than he bargained for.

**I probably cried tears of joy when I found this one because it was 200k+ and I was in need of a fic that I could read for a long time on a long ride and because I loved the setting of the fic. It was beautifully written. Your heart will ache for Louis... 

Dunkirk AU Drabble (Alex/Louis Smut basically by @emperorstyles

**DUNKIRK SPOILERS!!!!!!!! So beware. Its porn, but porn with feelings. I actually cried a little (i’m weird, i know)

Can't Fool Me by emma1234 @lads-laddylads

“I hate frats,” Louis repeats for what feels like the millionth time.

“Yes, I’ve heard, once or twice or every day for the past three years,” Liam says. His careful tone reminds Louis of how his mom always sounds when one of his siblings is on the brink of a tantrum.

Louis glances speculatively at Liam’s frat brothers, who are still huddled together and chatting, with the exception of the one who’s looking in Louis’ direction. Maybe Louis shouldn’t rule out a tantrum. While making a scene wouldn’t actually free him from fraternity nonsense in the future, it would at least be entertaining.

AU where Louis hates fraternities and would never be into a frat boy. And one of these things is definitely not a lie.

**I read this as soon as it came out because I read fics before going to bed (who doesn’t?) Louis hates frats, Harry is a frat boy. You do the math. Also, there is a SURPRISE!!!

 Happy Reading!!!

[myfirstrealjob]

*taps microphone* IS THIS THING ON?  {File under: Covid 19 pandemic}

I started this blog to keep a record of some of the crazy things that happened on the hospital wards...things i really didn't want to forget. 

I always found it SO crazy that my first real job was being a Doctor especially because the job came with unparalleled amounts of responsibility- literally life or death sometimes. Often I felt overwhelmed and stuck and I wanted to quit altogether. I remember once in the middle of the craziest Greys-anatomy-esque A&E shift I went into the bathroom, looked in the mirror and whispered ‘Im too young to have seen all this sh*t’ .LOL  

A lot has happened since my last blog post. I have since lived and worked in places as random as Boston Lincolnshire and rotated through many hospital jobs. In the last 5 years of working as a Doctor I have had high highs and very low lows - from assisting in the deliveries of the most perfect,healthy babies to unexpected stillbirth deliveries ,from witnessing a 20 year old collapse and die in the hospital waiting room and spending hours trying to resuscitate him and failing, to being one of the first Drs to attend to a patient actively having a heart attack and saving his life.I have even been called upon mid-flight to attend to an unwell crew member and ended up making the call for the plane to be turned back to London as he needed urgent attention- this ended up in a first class upgrade which was an added bonus. 

There have been happier days and some of the most challenging days of my life.But this Corona Virus Pandemic..it just feels different. It is not comparable to some of the worst shifts of my life because those shifts were never longer than a13 hour stretch. This experience has been more slow-burning.

Im currently working in a GP surgery in London,and a few months away from being a fully qualified General Practioner *Praise Dance*.  Things have dramatically changed over the last 4 weeks. We no longer see patients face-to-face and are only triaging via telephone and video. It’s weird- we’ve had to be creative in how we assess patients - I’m video calling patients and telling them how to measure their pulse and essentially how to examine themselves or their kids because its vital in helping me formulate a management plan. I currently have a growing case load of patients with Corona Virus who are sick but not sick enough to be in hospital - my job is to keep them out of hospital for as long as is safe (because hospitals are overwhelmed) whilst closely monitoring them virtually.  On the other hand, I have many elderly patients who are high-risk and therefore shielding themselves as per the Government directive. They call me simply because they are scared and alone. Im starting to get more patients with mental health problems who are struggling and I have very little to offer them. Its hard.

This pandemic has exposed many vulnerabilities and nobody is immune, not even health care professionals. My colleagues have literally been dropping like flies .More and more people are becoming unwell with the virus or have unwell family members,some are too anxious to leave their houses.Nobody is immune.

It’s been so heartwarming and emotional to see healthcare professionals receive so much support from the general public. Personally, I have received so many lovely messages of thanks which keep me going and keep me from getting jaded. When people ask how I feel or if i’m scared, Im tempted to partner with the negative narratives but in this post I want to flip the switch a little and brag on my colleagues. Ive seen all my colleagues step up and embrace the new normal in the most amazing way! As more people are off sick, the few of us who are well are holding the forte down whilst still looking out for each other. Retired Doctors and nurses are returning to the workforce en masse to help. Medical students are offering to babysit for healthcare professionals for free and some are even risking their lives to come to the hospital to help in any way they can. People are working longer days, bank holiday/annual leave is a complete myth , yet WE MOVE. All whilst working hard to develop new protocols daily and keep up with the ever evolving guidelines about this demon virus. Nobody has been here before, it is so unfamiliar and we are literally using our day-to-day experiences with patients to try to come up with patterns about the virus .Sometimes we acknowledge that it seems like we are just making things up.

Have i been scared? Sometimes.  For myself,for my  loved ones, for my unwell colleagues and their unwell relatives, for my patients - some of whom have already lost their lives and some who might not be alive by the time I next return to work tomorrow. BUT I don't wake up dreading the days as I have in previous work situations- I wake up thankful for my good health and determined to be an extension of Gods healing Hands to my patients.I think I’ll celebrate that.

HAPPY EASTER (imaginary) friends! I really believe we are going to get through this & I'm hoping to document my journey here as much as I can.

xoxo

[kellykperez]

Test-driving Pinterest Lens: How does Pinterest’s new visual search tool stack up?

Pinterest has released its visual discovery tool, Lens, to all Android and iPhone users in the US.

As part of Pinterest’s strategy to capture some of the lucrative search market by mastering visual search, this is a significant move and is one that will undoubtedly extend beyond the US soon.

Within the last year, Pinterest has launched a range of new search and e-commerce products, including their paid search partnership with Kenshoo, Shop the Look, and Instant Ideas.

These all fall under the umbrella term ‘visual discovery tools’, and their USP is framed by Pinterest’s recurring phrase, “All without typing a single character.”

No prizes for guessing which search giant they are taking aim at there.

Lens will be central to the fortunes of Pinterest’s decidedly alternative entry to the digital advertising market, so we have taken a hands-on look at what it is, how it works, and just how effective it is.

What is Pinterest Lens?

Lens is a point-and-shoot discovery tool that analyses and interprets smartphone images to find related Pins and ideas, then suggests them to the user. The objective for Pinterest is to turn the world into a set of Pins that can be captured, discovered, and linked to each other, typically via mobile devices.

To get started with Lens (if you are in the US), just download or upgrade the app, then tap the search bar within the app, and select the red camera icon.

How does Pinterest Lens work?

Once Lens is open, Pinterest’s visual discovery technology springs into action. 

This will open up a camera frame like the one below, which is surely designed to encourage the user to hone in on one specific object:

This is vital to the successful functioning of Lens. Pinterest’s technology works best when it can isolate a specific item, then cross-reference the identified form with its database of images, using their own search platform.

The object is broken down into segments; by color, shape, or product category, for example. Pinterest has developed confidence metrics to include in this calculation, to account for uncertainties caused by fuzzy images or a combination of objects within the same frame.

This process (outlined below in a handy diagram from TechCrunch), will allow Lens to move from recognizing a shoe, to recognizing that it is a loafer, through to recognizing that the loafer is, in fact, blue.

Image: TechCrunch

So far, so typical image search. Amazon’s FireFly technology aims to provide the same service, in technological terms, and its image recognition abilities are impressive. Google has made significant strides in this area, as has Instagram.

Where Pinterest hopes to add a new and rewarding dimension is by incorporating what are typically the reserve of human perspectives: value judgments.

By knowing the style of the loafer, Pinterest could recommend accompanying accessories, but could also learn something about the user’s taste. This knowledge helps to refine suggestions, so the user experience is constantly improving.

Where Amazon will recognize a product and deliver a selection of very similar products, Pinterest’s creative lead, Albert Pereta, summed up their philosophy nicely: “If I’m in my kitchen and have an avocado in front of me, if we point at that and we return a million photos of avocados, that’s close to as useless as you can get.”

It is in the conceptual leap from the product in view, to related products contained in Pinterest’s database, that Lens could become most useful for consumers and marketers. Where Pinterest has an advantage in the visual search race is in its vast database of images, which are typically product-led, clearly labeled, and posted in relation to similar items.

How effective is Lens?

All of this theory is seductive, for Pinners in search of new ideas and for advertisers in search of a cost-effective alternative to Google search.

But how well does it work in practice?

I used the app as an aid during my search to replace some much-loved but battle-weary sneakers.

First, I took a picture of the sneaker in question using Lens:

Pinterest’s colourful tags on the left and right reveal the identifying factors of the shoe, which are mainly pretty accurate. They have never been used for running, but I understand and accept that they could have been.

Next up, the recommendations for related items. A scrolling list of about 60 images was provided for this example, which were certainly very varied in terms of style, but there was enough aesthetic cohesion to say that they are inter-related items:

These images provide an option to click through and, in many instances, purchase. And this is where the lines are blurred – beautifully so, from Pinterest’s perspective. Not all images will lead to that option; many are just other Pinners proudly sharing their shoes, providing inspiration to others.

This engenders trust, a fact that can benefit advertisers if they manage to blend in with this ethos of inspiring and sharing, rather than just selling.

The demarcation (which is, admittedly, dissolving rapidly) between paid and organic results on Google is at odds with what Pinterest could achieve here, if advertisers pay attention to the platform and its users.

That said, I tried Lens out with a number of items (a chair, a pencil, and a plant pot, to name just three), and there was a pattern across the results. The image recognition is great, and it’s easy to use. Where things become murkier is within the suggested results, which show a lot of potential but are the output of what is still a work in progress.

Pinterest has quite intelligently pre-empted and sidestepped these potential recriminations by admitting up front that this isn’t perfect – yet.

One criticism of advances in consumer-facing AI is that it simply hasn’t delivered on the Utopian visions we were led to believe would be reality by now. The potential of this technology is such that people can’t help but get carried away – a realization that has fed Pinterest’s decision to temper expectations.

Moreover, they have invited their users to get involved and help out. In their blog post announcing the launch, Pinterest stated:

“Lens is still learning, and doesn’t always recognize exactly what you’re looking for.

Lens will stay in beta as it gets even better at recognizing all the things. And that’s where you come in!

If you get results that feel a little meh, tap the new + button to add feedback and help Lens get better at finding ideas inspired by whatever you just Lensed. As more and more people help teach Lens about more and more objects, soon it will earn its way out of the beta zone.”

This attitude of openness and collaboration could safeguard them against some ripostes to unconvincing results in the early stages, but there can be no doubt that haste will be of the utmost concern as Pinterest tries to monetize this technology before the competition gets there.

How would advertisers measure performance on Pinterest?

One of the enduring attractions of Google AdWords has been its measurability, an area where it remains without a serious competitor.

Brands accustomed to this satisfying marketing mechanism may therefore hesitate before investing their AdWords dollars in a platform like Pinterest. No doubt, any such forays will be experimental in nature through this year, with few brands willing to take a serious risk on a nascent search technology when such a dependable, dominant alternative exists.

Of significant note in this regard is the recently-announced integration of Pinterest data into Datorama, a cross-channel reporting platform. This API connector adds a new level of measurement and accountability for the platform, which will be welcomed by anyone investing in Pinterest advertising.  We should expect this functionality to be standard for reporting platforms in the near future.

Measurement is not the only hurdle for Pinterest to clear, of course.

Pinterest’s number of daily active users and their propensity to purchase will also be under scrutiny, metrics that will be of significant interest when broken down by industry. Pinterest is unlikely to be the right fit for every company, no matter how effective its visual search becomes, but for some it could be the perfect match.

With the advent of Lens in the US, and Pinterest’s accompanying admission that the technology is “not perfect”, there is plentiful room for experimentation. The search results will continue to improve and, with some senior recruits from Google on board to lead their visual search team, Pinterest means business.

Time will tell whether consumers and advertisers have the patience to get on board for a bumpy, but potentially very fruitful, journey.

from IM Tips And Tricks https://searchenginewatch.com/2017/03/16/test-driving-pinterest-lens-how-does-pinterests-new-visual-search-tool-stack-up/