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96thdayofrage · 2 years

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I sent my editor a draft of an essay questioning the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. I did not have the energy to respond to the potential backlash from readers, so I sat on my criticisms, reflected on my arguments and prayed that I would be wrong. Then last week, an 18 year old white supremacist drove to a grocery store in Buffalo, New York and murdered 10 Black people. He published a manifesto espousing his horrific views and penciled a racial slur on his gun. Maybe he hadn’t heard about the consequences listed in the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. Or, maybe he was willing to accept them in exchange for the lives he took. Cops arrested him like they arrested white supremacist shooter Dylann Roof– alive and with care.

I can only imagine the power and affirmation that elders and ancestors would feel to witness a federal anti-lynching act finally become law in the United States, and then a couple of months later, another mass lynching happens. It pains me to picture what they endured: the bodies that Black people pulled down from ropes, the ashes they swept into sacred canisters, the swollen babies they recovered from riverbanks. It blesses me to think of their resistance, too. Black activists formed anti-lynching organizations, created self-defense teams, wrote newspaper articles, boycotted white establishments, ran for office, sued in courts, demanded legislation, and much more. They fought white mobs, escaped, and turned potential victims into survivors.

These anti-lynching crusaders used so many different tactics to not only try to end lynching, but to try to end the kind of society where Black people could be vulnerable to the rope. Throughout US history, Black and multiracial social movements demanded economic, educational, and medical justice to increase their agency to live the kinds of lives that they deserved. Others pushed these measures for over a 100 years because they probably believed that criminalization might deter Ku Klux Klan members, cops, and white communities from murdering Black people. However, it is the duty of the living to learn the contexts for the particular demands that activists agitated for throughout history, and determine the utility of their tactics today. People who care about justice, and those of us who are courageous enough to fight for it, must refuse to solely accept symbolic civil rights acts if we truly want to save lives.

For example, decriminalization activists and scholars have demonstrated that calls for criminalization are not the deterrent to crime that many of us assume, especially since the US often perpetuates the violence that it seeks to punish. Instead, criminalization fuels surveillance, policing, incarceration, poverty, and communal violence that makes society less safe for us all. Anti-criminalization organizers argue that these consequences also bear down on the people that the law was theoretically intended to protect. In 2015, prosecutors charged and a judge convicted a Black person under an anti-lynching law for attempting to protect a Black Lives Matter protestor from being arrested.

If Congress wanted to actually fight white supremacist violence, it could fund grants for schools to teach racial justice education. Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act at a time when states are making it illegal to teach about Emmett Till. If the federal government wants to stop or at least slow down a new generation of potential white supremacists, it must make vigorous, affirmative efforts to openly and financially support schools and community organizations doing this work.

Instead of giving more money to the police departments that often hire white supremacists, the federal government could give money to organizations that help white people leave white supremacist organizations and discourage them from joining. Additionally, the US president should stop promising to give more money to the police after a cop kills a Black person. It is a perverse payday that affirms the actions of police to the white supremacist spectators who emulate cops. What’s terrifying is that the Buffalo shooter did not have to commit a mass killing; he literally could have just joined any of the thousands of police departments and killed Black people over time. The prevalence of explicit white supremacists joining law enforcement agencies is so high that the country’s top law enforcement agency- the FBI- has been sounding the alarm to raise awareness for more than two decades. And despite the rise in killings by police, Republicans and Democrats largely compete to give cops more funding, credibility, and protection.

Congress must also commit to ending wars and militarism. Major violent institutions like prisons, police departments, and the military are bastions for white supremacist recruiters who grab isolated and alienated working-class white people to build their ranks. War additionally inspires civilians in the US to violently attack people who descend from places where our drones drop. Or, they join rightwing militia groups like the Oathkeepers, Sheepdogs, and Proud Boys to cement a war-like mentality often replete with martial gear and training. Thus, it is no surprise that the Buffalo shooter dressed in the similar military fashion that many other white, male mass shooters wear during their violence.

Demilitarization, decriminalization, decarceration, and defunding the police all help to shrink the sites of armed, white supremacist organizing. As we continue to build an abolitionist society, let us never forget that the same state that has passed this anti-lynching legislation is at the root of what conditioned the Buffalo shooter to target Black people.

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theuniversitychallengereview · 3 years

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UC 51.03 - London Business School vs Hertford, Oxford

Since it was introduced at the 1988 Olympics, every single Gold Medal in the Women’s Team event in the Archery has gone to South Korea. Including yesterday’s win that’s nine straight victories, and their period of unparalleled dominance continues. The men’s team have also won six of the nine they have contested, and a mixed team won the first staging of that event in Tokyo too. Adding their success in the individual events, South Korea have won 26 gold medals, and 42 in total, in the 43 archery events which have been thus far staged at the Olympic Games.

As Twitter’s own @tarequelaskar pointed out in the brilliant article which alerted me to this story, this is a perfect example of specialisation, an economic concept whereby countries or companies focus intensely on one particular aspect of a given industry and come to serve that niche in such a specialised fashion that they become the ultimate experts and nigh-on irreplaceable. This is done in government and business by providing companies with incentives to specialise, and supporting those who succeed at it.

With respect to Korean archery, similar forces are at play. There are a bunch of professional teams and leagues in the country, giving archers financial stability while they focus on their training, something not as common across the world. Said training involves such things as practicing in live baseball stadiums and replicas of the Olympic venues, to mimic first the atmosphere and then the conditions that will be present on the day of the actual tournament.

This philosophy of marginal gains - the same system used by Team Sky and Chris Froome to win multiple Tour De Frances on the trot - puts their preparation miles ahead of the competition, which goes some way to explaining their dominance. It is not the only reason. Before the fine-tuning of the elite shooters comes the discovery of the promising young ones, and the inspiring nature of past success (along with a historic national love of the sport) helps to create a virtuous cycle which give Korea a far larger number of archers to choose from than any other country. This greater choice means that there is a greater chance of finding the next Gold medallists.

Making the argument that professional footballers are at a higher level than other elite sportspeople, Michael Cox used this same argument in a recent article for The Athletic. To summarise, he stated that because there are a far higher number of people who wish to become professional footballers, that must mean that the ones who do make it are at a higher standard than those who make it in other sports. Initially, I was drawn in by the pure maths of this point, but having thought about it some more I’m no longer sure to what extent I agree.

Now, the fact that hundreds of millions more people play football than rugby, or basketball, will certainly confer some level of “eliteness”, but only up to a certain point. Because football has been so popular for so long, the general standard of the play, relative to what it used to be, has had longer to improve. In the same way that if you transplanted a 100m runner from the Olympic final in the early 20th century to now they probably wouldn’t even qualify for the games, a footballer from the 80s would stand less of a chance of making it were they playing today. Many other sports don’t have that level of natural progression, afforded by decades of technical and tactical advancement - at least not globally.

But the numbers argument only goes so far, as can be demonstrated by the Korean archers. Yes, there are more archers in Korea than anywhere else, relatively, giving them a higher chance of uncovering those with a natural aptitude, but the reason behind their bow and arrow dynasty is the specialisation. The hyper-detailed level of training and focus which allows them to be the best they can possible be.

Now, archery is unique in that there is a theoretical maximum score (I understand that this is to some extent arbitrary, and related to the rules of the game as defined by some human being, semi-randomly, but it works in terms of this argument, because it gives a percentage score of how good the archers are based on the agreed-upon parameters of the sport), which, at the Olympics, is 720. The Olympic record is 700 (held by Korean Kim Woo-jin, giving an implied “eliteness level” of 97.2%.

The best player in the history of football (don’t @ me) is Lionel Messi, and few would doubt that he operates at or above that level of perfection in his sport. But I also don’t think you could doubt that Novak Djokovic, or Serena Williams in her pomp, were similarly magnificent at tennis. Cyclists on the Tour De France put their bodies through more in three weeks than most people endure in a decade, and have every aspect of their training and diet strictly controlled so as to bring them as close to perfection as possible. There will certainly be a higher number of these elite performers in football, because there are a higher number of paying jobs for said elite performers, and because more people attempt to become elite performers, but I don’t think that it follows on from that that they are better at their sport than other elite athletes, all of whom have undergone years and years of specialised training to get them where they are.

Does any of this matter, in terms of how each sport should be enjoyed? Probably not, but its interesting to think about, and kind of awe-inspiring to try and appreciate just how good those at the top of their respective games are. And if there is some discrepancy in the level of eliteness between the different sports it doesn’t detract from the fact that they would handily dispatch any civilian challengers without breaking a sweat. The joy comes from watching people who are good at stuff doing that stuff - and, as evidenced by the crowds which gather for non-league football, it doesn’t matter whether or not they are at the absolute pinnacle of said stuff. They’re still going to be much better than the rest of us.

Competitive quizzing is different from the activities previously mentioned in that any normal person can have a guess at pretty much any question, with a chance that they’ll get it right. What sets the contestants apart on shows like University Challenge is the speed of their recall under pressure - the quickness of their knowledge as well as the knowledge itself. But there are plenty of armchair quizzers who think they could wipe the floor on the show, so just how good are the actual contestants? (Compared to an elite footballer or archer on an imaginary scale that accounts for relative skill in all disciplines?). I don’t know (and in case you hadn’t noticed by now I’m just fascinated by people who are really good at anything, and wanted to share some of that fascination with you all), but I’ll try and have a go at answering it anyway.

So, the World Quizzing Championships have been dominated by British and Irish quizzers since its inception in 2003, with 16 of the 18 winners coming from either Britain or the Republic of Ireland (who have four wins courtesy of The Egghead Pat Gibson). This, in my mind, makes this neck of the woods comparable to South Korean archery. It is a hotbed of talent, and the infrastructure is in place to encourage and aid talent maximalisation. Indeed, if you scroll down the list of highest ranking players at the WQC in any given year you can see a significant cohort of UC alums, so clearly there are a number of elite quizzers who have passed through the show.

This specialisation can be seen in microcosm with the preponderance of top-level quizzers produced by Oxford and Cambridge, who both have a long-standing culture of competitive quizzing far beyond other Universities. The debate is there to be had on the fairness of each institution having so many teams, but clearly they produce enough elite players to compete with far bigger Unis when entering as (sometimes tiny) colleges.

In conclusion, I think it is pretty obvious that UC is a breeding ground for world-class quizzers, and though no one has won a World title straight off the bat after appearing on the show, there are top-50 and top 100 finishes abound, which is still greatly impressive, and helps to give an idea of just how good these students really are.

Hoping to justify the 1000 words I’ve just written about their exceptional talents are two teams from the London Business School and Hertford College, Oxford. The Oxford side have never made it beyond the second round, but LBS reached the semi-finals in 2006, their only previous appearance on the show. Anyway, there is quite literally no time for me to recite the rules; here’s your first starter for ten...

Paxman mentions that LBS were in the show in 2006, but doesn’t mention that they reached the semi final, which is lazy imo. A bunch of them are studying for MBAs, which makes sense. He doesn’t mention Hertford’s previous appearances either, but that’s more understandable.

Hertford’s Hitchens takes the first starter with Kennedy, and the Oxonians added a full set of bonuses on words made up by authors - including a couple of educated guesses. LBS hit back with the next question, but can only manage one bonus on famous scientists. One of the two they miss is Rosalind Franklin, and Paxman teases them for not spotting an apparently obvious clue within the question.

The first picture round is on national emblems, and LBS are first to recognise that of Vietnam for the starter. They don’t know Laos or Belarus, but do know that Mozambique has a machine gun on its one. Butterworth then jumps the gun with argon on the next starter, giving his answer just as Paxman says it in the question. Butterworth makes up for it with the music starter, recognising Fat Boy Slim before anyone else, and LBS know Primal Scream and Wu Tang Clan too. They’re still fifty points behind though, and will need a big second half to turn things around.

This task gets more difficult for them, as Hitchens takes another starter. Lloyd adds a second in a row for Oxford and they are nearly one hundred points clear. LBS really need to get some points on the board, and Ruess duly obliges, knowing that there is a massive sculpture of a spider called Maman, which sounds needlessly scary, to the extent that I’m not even going to google it.

The comeback is ended before its even begun as Oswald takes a starter for Hertford, which gives them the picture bonuses - the starter having been dropped by both teams. Lloyd produces another excellent guess of Reuben, demonstrating how useful it is to have vague knowledge as well as specific knowledge. This is one of probably five questions he has answered in a throwaway manner, but which turned out to be correct.

By this point LBS seem to have accepted defeat. Ruess takes another starter, but there is little to no urgency on the bonus questions. They’re right, granted, to have none, they have no chance of winning, but if they gave it a go they might scrape a high scoring loser spot. Ruess is the only one who seems bothered, and bags himself ten more points. They have an amusing discussion about methods of poisoning in Agatha Christie novels (’it was used as a curry ingredient?’, Ruess wondered aloud, trying to figure out which spices could be poisonous, before Butterworth pointed out that it wasn’t something commonly used as a curry ingredient, prompting respectful mirth from the audience) on the bonuses, but still languish miles behind.

Lloyd grabs the last starter of the night for Hertford, who win by eighty at the gong.

Final Score: London Business School 100 - 180 Hertford, Oxford

At the end, Paxman mentions Hertford’s stellar guesswork, which means I wasn’t chatting nonsense (at least on that front, the jury is out on the rest of it), and says that they’ve done a really good job. Incredibly effusive praise for a score of 180. He really is going soft in his old age.

Phew, that was a long one. If you made it through the intro you deserve a prize. And that prize is that you get to come back next week for the next episode of this blog!! Woop woop!

And if this wasn’t quite enough UC content for you then you can subscribe for extra blogs on my Patreon, which features Retro Reviews from the 2015/16 series of the show. Ta x

#london business school #hertford #oxford #bbc2 #quizzy mondays #jeremy paxman

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cosplayinamerica · 4 years

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Iron Spider from MCU : alejandrojoewono // photo : rosejarmon

I've always been a HUGE fan of Spider-Man and have enjoyed his many iterations in the comics or on the screen. Spider-Man has an amazing cosplay community but sometimes it's difficult to standout. My cousin, Ruby whom got me into cosplay always told me that if I wanted to standout, I have to do something that no one really sees. The minute that I saw the Iron Spider suit in Avenger: Infinity War decked out with all the lights and even his mechanical arms I knew this was THE cosplay I can do to stand out!

In a sense, It was just being in the right place at the right time. My light up faceshell and lenses were by a creator by the name of Cavin Lam (@cavin_creations) and he did a limited run on his light up eyes. At the time I wasn't even thinking too far ahead about doing a full on Iron Spider cosplay but I hopped on that run because I am a huge fan of his work!

Every now and again I go on theRPF.com and look at their "Junkyard" section to see if there were any cosplay pieces that people were selling. I happened to run into @cos.may selling his Iron Spider Mechanical Legs, Light up Shoulder Pads and Light up Web-Shooters. When I saw this listing and with Cavin Creations Iron Spider light up faceshell and lenses in my possession I felt that my dream of cosplaying MCU Iron Spider was in my grasp. I instantly reached out and got it. I eventually got a simple dye-sub Iron Spider suit from Zentaizone.com with the pattern done by Brandon Gilbert (@brandongilberto)

Once I had all the pieces together I had to put in a bit of elbow grease myself. First, I attached the faceshell and lenses to the mask, then I had to adjust the harness that attaches the mechanical legs on my back because it was a bit too small for me, finally I used a compression shirt and attached magnets on the shoulders so the shoulder pads could connect. I did a couple try on tests that took probably almost an hour each of getting the suit on before having a routine to get me in the suit in 15 minutes. (At first I needed help getting in but now I can do it myself no problem!)

The response was AMAZING (pun 100% intended) I was never swarmed for pictures as a cosplayer before. In a group yes but never just by myself. It was such an amazing experience. The compliments were so flattering!

One of my favorite compliments is that that I even sound like Tom Holland. When I'm dressed as MCU's Iron Spider I admittedly get into character and have my voice go up a couple octaves to try and mimic Tom Hollands voice and when it gets recognized it makes me really happy!

An interesting story is that I actually met one of if not my favorite cosplayer @Hendoart in NYCC as Iron Spider. Now if I'm being honest, it's VERY hard to see out of my lenses. From the fog to the lights, I can basically only make out shapes in there so when people ask for pictures I can still recognize body shapes and look at the camera but detail is GONE. I remember this girl asked for a selfie and so we did one. She asked for my Instagram but I never really posted (Still don't haha that HAS to change) so instead of giving a boring explanation I just told her I didn't have one.

THEN TO MY SURPRISE, after the con when I'm scrolling through stories on Instagram I see on Hendoart's story, she posted herself as Mary Jane Waston and ME as Iron Spider and in her caption it read "An Iron Spooooooder! No IG, he's just out here having a good time he said" that's when I put two and two together and my jaw dropped so fast. I even remember telling her that I was having a good time haha. It's the one time I wish I was active on Instagram. If I ever get the chance to meet her again and on the off chance that she remembers this interaction I'd love to tell her this story hahaha.

I always loved dressing up for Halloween but never found out that people dress up outside of October 31st until my cousin Ruby Rinekso (@rubinekso/fb: Planet Ruby) introduced me to the world of cosplay.

Ruby's a pretty well-known cosplayer on the east side most notably for his Batman 66, Hulk, Man-Bat, Chewbacca & Iron Man cosplays to name few! He brought me to a couple cons that he was invited to as a cosplay guest.

My first time dressing up was as the Eleventh Doctor and when I got asked for my first picture as the Eleventh Doctor, I had a gut feeling that this was going to be my new favorite hobby and still to this day I have yet to lose any love for it in the past 5 years of cosplaying.

Cosplay taught me that I wasn't alone. I grew up as an only child and I was always interested in things that were deemed "geeky". I loved things like Marvel, Power Rangers, and Anime. As a kid it was always tough to find people that liked the same things because if it was revealed that you did like those kind of things you were deemed a "loser". I got lucky and found a few friends that had similar interests but I can tell you that we were easy pickings for the bullies in elementary school.

So when I found cosplay through my cousin Ruby, it was pretty nerve-wracking to get into a community I had little to no knowledge about. I was nervous about approaching total strangers and while yes I knew they were like me and loved stuff that I did it was always hard to approach people. Until I found these three other people that were cosplaying characters that were in the same universe as mine! I was "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" Spider-Man and met with a Black Cat (@vixenjay_), a Spider-Gwen (@shaaaaaaantastic), and a Mary Jane!

When I say we hit it off we really did. We were geeking out about each others costumes and about Marvel and comics in general. This all happened because of the fact that we were all dressed as characters that interacted with each other in Marvel. I'm still close to them to this day and it's thanks to them that I've become more of a social butterfly in cosplay!

I just wanna say that walking around in the mosh pits of Dragon Con with the Iron Spider legs is the hardest thing to do without hitting someone in the face with them. The amount of times I've said sorry to someone because I hit them is too much to even count haha.

When I'm not cosplaying at conventions I'm an actor! This past year I released a Spider-Man fan film that I starred in, directed, wrote and produced. It was the biggest project I've ever done for myself and is the proudest thing I've created. It's on YouTube under "Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man Part 1" by After School Film Productions. (Part 2 coming soon!)

Portraying a character that I've idolized since my childhood honestly meant the world to me. It's even hard to put into words about my experience of playing him. Just being referred to as Peter Parker would make me geek out! I'm just thankful I have such amazing and supportive friends and family to help this project come alive and making this film is an experience that I'll never forget! No matter how many future roles I'll play, being Peter Parker/Spider-Man will always have a special place in my heart

#Spiderman #Iron Spider #cosplay #Iron Spider cosplay #spiderman cosplay #cosplay interview

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xb-squaredx · 4 years

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B-Squared’s Top 10 Games of 2020

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that having something to distract me from the genuine horrors unleashed during 2020 was vital to staying alive, and for me that means a lot of video games! I played…a lot of games last year, but I spent a lot of time playing older games, so I didn’t get a chance to check out a lot of high-profile games that launched this year. Still, I do want to shine a light on the games that managed to resonate with me even a little bit, that somehow managed to launch this year. So let’s get to it!

#10 – No Straight Roads

Rarely have I been struck by a single trailer for a game like I was for No Straight Roads. Produced by industry veterans under a new studio, this is a rare game that’s not quite an indie game from a studio full of newbies, but it’s also not produced with the same kind of budget and resources of a Triple-A project. What do we call this? A Double-A game? Single-A? Regardless, I have to give the team at Metronomik some props for delivering a super stylish game in the midst of a very challenging year. No Straight Roads is a rhythm-based action game where two up-and-coming musicians fight to bring back Rock and Roll to the people of Vinyl City. I absolutely adore this game’s presentation, with each major boss being visually unique and having their own feel that compliments the music they bring to battle. There’s some real energy in these animations with character designs that ooze personality, and being a game about music the soundtrack is great! All that being said though, I have to admit I wasn’t a huge fan of the gameplay when all was said and done. It leans way more on the rhythm side of the equation than I was hoping for, and the action felt very shallow. The fixed camera made some phases of some fights a real problem, and the Switch verison, which I played, is plagued with a lot of issues that really brought the game down for me. If the game interests you at all, give it a shot on PC or PS4; I hear those versions are a lot better. Still, I liked the potential I saw in this game and in this studio, so I can only hope they did well enough to continue on. This definitely feels like the kind of passion project that deserves more recognition.

#9 – Streets of Rage 4

OK, so full disclosure: I didn’t grow up with 2D beat-em-ups. I missed out on all of the greats of the genre back in the day. No Final Fight, no River City Ransom, no Double Dragon, and definitely no Streets of Rage. In more recent years I have tried to dip my toe in the genre, as I did in 2019 with River City Girls. However, I came away from that game a bit disappointed by the overall gameplay and wondered if 2D beat-em-ups were for me. Seeing so much praise heaped onto Streets of Rage 4 had me curious, so I knew I had to try it, if only to broaden my experience in the genre. In many ways, this game is the perfect sequel to a franchise that hasn’t seen any signs of new life in years. It retains what made the series beloved with satisfying combat and challenge, but with a modern touch. The overall art style of the game and music work out pretty well, and I found the act of comboing enemies to be really satisfying. It really doesn’t overstay its welcome either, which is very appreciated in an age of endless timesinks. I also struggled a fair bit with the game, even on Normal, and well after some patches that seemed designed for more casual fans like me. Had this game not had online co-op as an option, I don’t know if I could have beaten the final levels. So my time with this game was pretty rough but despite that I can still see this was a game made with care, and if this game DOES do something for you, there’s plenty of reasons to keep playing on higher difficulties, unlocking more characters and even playing online with friends. Let me put it this way; I’m not all that sure I like the genre and I still liked this game, so I think that counts for something!

#8 – The Wonderful 101: Remastered

…this one is kind of cheating, I’ll admit! I had a lot of trouble thinking up ten games that really stood out to me this year, honestly. That said, I’ll definitely use loopholes to plug one of my favorite games from years ago. Seven years ago, PlatinumGames launched The Wonderful 101 on the ill-fated Wii U, where it bombed harder than just about anything on the system. For those that gave the game a shot, however, they were quick to discover a deep, complex, and charming action game that plays like nothing else out there. Controlling a team of 100 heroes at once, players form weapons out of the various Wonderful One’s bodies, smacking around giant robots and aliens far larger than them with the power of teamwork! How could you not love that, right?! Now, years later, PlatinumGames is aiming to become more independent and their first act was launching a Kickstarter as a way to get this game on newer platforms. While we may never know why Nintendo gave Platinum their blessing to release this game on non-Nintendo platforms (being as this is still, as far as I know, a Nintendo-owned IP), I’m just glad more people can have access to one of the most unique action games I’ve ever touched.

To sell it another way, this game combines the overall aesthetic of Viewtiful Joe with the shape-drawing action of Okami but with a bit of Bayonetta flair on the side. Basically, this is the culmination of everything director Hideki Kamiya has ever worked on. The Remastered version fixes some issues present from the game’s original release, and while I do think they could have gone a bit further with some changes, it is likely the best way to play the game for many. All those sections that made heavy use of the Wii U GamePad are a tad awkward though, but that held true even back on the Wii U anyway…d-don’t worry so much about that, though! I’d still recommend this game to anyone looking for the type of over-the-top action that only Platinum (and occasionally Capcom) can provide! So please consider joining the Wonderful Ones and Unite Up!

#7 – Paper Mario: The Origami King

Discourse around the Paper Mario series is…more than a little rough, honestly! Many fans have been quite vocal about not liking the direction the series has been heading with the last few games, but I went into The Origami King with an open mind and ended up really enjoying the game for the most part! What the game lacked in a developed storyline, it made up for with some really strong character moments and memorable setpieces. Bobby and Olivia are among my favorite partners in ANY of the Mario RPGs, easily, and the entirety of the Great Sea section of the game was a really fun adventure. I love the highly-detailed paper-crafted enemies and locales, and the soundtrack really didn’t have to go as hard as it did. While the battles against common enemies didn’t quite click with me, the boss battles throughout the game constantly surprised me with interesting twists on the ring-based combat and are a real highlight for me. I know this game is pretty divisive amongst Paper Mario fans, but I think the franchise has a pretty bright future ahead of it!

#6 – DOOM Eternal

Fair warning here, but I haven’t quite managed to beat DOOM Eternal at the time of writing this, but what I’ve played so far tells me it definitely belongs here. I think Eternal is hands-down the most intense game I’ve played in a long time. It gets my blood pumping as I dash about, shooting and slicing through demons that are extremely eager to rip and tear me to pieces. I don’t play many shooters in general, so I knew I was going to be in for a rough time, but DOOM Eternal brings it to another level right away. In some respects, I don’t quite agree with various aspects of the core game design that makes the game harder than I think it needs to be at times. The scarcity of ammo, and thus the constant need to use the Chainsaw weapon in order to gain more ammo gets tiring, though that somewhat levels off as more weapons are acquired and players learn of more efficient ways to take out the hordes of Hell. The game’s fantastic soundtrack by Mick Gordon definitely elevates the experience, so it is a huge bummer knowing that he and ID Software had a falling out and he won’t be coming back. I really dig the game’s expansive levels and more focus being put on exploring every nook and cranny for secrets, and certain old-school touches like finding extra lives or cheat codes definitely makes the game feel like it was ripped out of a bygone era and given a modern paintjob at times. Doom is eternal, and with it, so is pulse-pounding shooting action!

#5 – Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

Compared to the other re-release of an old game on this list, I think this particular title had a lot more time and care put into it…and it also happens to enhance one of my favorite games on Wii as a bonus! Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii was a game that almost passed me by but even years later, I still adored the characters and world it introduced, and I’ve been happy to see what started as game that was almost stuck in Japan eventually grow into a full franchise. I consider the first game to the best in the series, though it was held back by a few issues later games would iron out. Chief among the problems was the visuals, particularly the character models and…wow does ten years make a world of difference. The Definitive Edition does more than just clean up everyone’s faces, it also cleaned up the game’s cluttered UI, made it easier to track quests and materials for said quests, and added some fun optional challenge missions for veterans to tackle. The bow that adorns the top of this package, however, is the epilogue story Future Connected that serves to tie up some loose ends and gives a particular character some great closure. If you love massive worlds to explore, a compelling, at times over-the-top story, and a deep, rewarding combat system, I can’t recommend THIS version of THIS game enough. If you’re going to give the Xenoblade series a try, there’s no better place to start.

#4 – Ghost of Tsushima

When Ghost of Tsushima was first unveiled years ago, I didn’t exactly have a high opinion of it. It seemed like a game that put more emphasis on visuals over gameplay, and I was almost certain it would launch as a PS5 exclusive so why bother getting excited when I probably wasn’t going to be an early adopter of the system? To my great surprise, not only was this game confirmed for PS4, it wound up being one of the prettiest games on the platform and well-optimized to boot, even on my old slim PS4. Playing as lone samurai Jin Sakai, players try to repel the Mongel invasion of Japan, but are forced to adopt less-than-honorable tactics to take on this ruthless enemy. Usually when I play stealth games, I find myself frustrated. I feel weak, or limited, and often the games feel overly harsh. If you get caught once, game over and there’s little salvaging being seen. In Ghost of Tsushima however, there’s a great deal more care put into stealth, and at times I’d argue it’s almost too fun to pass up over the sword play. Very few missions in the game force you to go completely unseen, so stealth just because yet another tool rather than a limitation imposed on you.

Swordplay felt a bit less engaging against common enemies (typically just being Simon Says, switching to the appropriate stance for a given enemy), but the one-on-one duels throughout the game were fantastic and I almost wish the game was all about them instead. I can’t overstate how gorgeous this game is either, with a world that feels like it is breathing, as the wind whips through the tall grass, the moon penetrates fog overtaking a creepy forest, or seeing the smoke from an enemy camp wafting over the distance. Hands-down one of the best-looking games on the PS4, and I’m particularly happy that developer Sucker Punch managed to land a hit with a new IP, as those generally feel more risky as times go on. While I’d argue that Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t really redefine how open-world games should be designed, it is an extremely polished experience and manages to do it well, with plenty of opportunities to grow in a potential sequel.

#3 – Animal Crossing: New Horizons

If there’s any one game that people absolutely needed in 2020, it was Animal Crossing: New Horizons. While there are other games of this type, like Stardew Valley or the Harvest Moon (and later, Story of Seasons games), Animal Crossing is one of the few games that gets mainstream attention while simultaneously running counter to most mainstream gaming trends. No conflict, no combat, no overarching story really…just a game that lets you live your live, day by day on your own terms. I tried getting into the series before with New Leaf but just didn’t stick with it, but New Horizons launched at the perfect time in an imperfect world. Being able to escape the uncertainty and dread that enveloped the world as the pandemic spread for even a little while was a necessity, and thankfully New Horizons had plenty to do to keep idle hands busy. Changes like item crafting and eventually limited terraforming of your island paradise give players so much more agency in decorating their homes and building up something they can be proud of.

We all start as nothing but a small tent on a mostly-empty island, but seeing what people were able to do even in the first few weeks or so was nothing short of amazing. We need more unflinchingly wholesome games in the world, and I’m thankful for Animal Crossing for being there when we needed it, and considering how well it sold and how much post-launch content is expected to be added with time, it remains a sanctuary to return to even now. Just…please let us craft in bulk? Pretty please, Nintendo?

#2 – Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Last year, Nintendo released Astral Chain, a game that no one knew about before release, which was revealed and released with very little gaps between them. It was a game I didn’t know I wanted until it was presented to me, and that trend continues this year with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. The first Hyrule Warriors was a fun, surprising spin-off of the main Legend of Zelda series, and Breath of the Wild was a fantastic game that shook up the core of the Zelda franchise, so in hindsight it really does seem like a no-brainer to combine the two into one package. Age of Calamity, for my tastes at least, cuts down on the repetition and overall stressful atmosphere of the first Hyrule Warriors and instead focused on fleshing out it’s core combat and crafting more creative main storyline missions. It helps that the game reimagines iconic locales from Breath of the Wild from before their destruction, and really makes you feel like you’re fighting through actual places rather than just a collection of random keeps that most Warriors games use.

Bringing in aspects like the Sheikiah Slate and Elemental Rods allows players to control the flow of combat more directly on top of letting them be more creative. Freeze enemies standing over water with the Cryonis rune or burn some grass with the Fire Rod to distract certain enemies, among many other things. Each playable character is also very distinct, even in cases where I could have forgiven the developers for reusing some attacks or traits. For one, Link has different movesets for his Sword and Shield, Spear, and Two-Handed weapons, but none of his attack overlap with the other Champions who use similar weapons. Some people might be put off with certain aspects of this game’s story and ultimately not everyone likes the overall structure of the Warriors spinoffs anyway, but for my part, Age of Calamity was one of the best surprises of the year, unveiled right at the end of the year in the nick of time. Of course, there was one game this year that surprised me more than any other.

#1 – Hades

I’ve known of Supergiant Games for quite a while and very recently began looking through their catalogue of games. They’re known for well-crafted narratives and satisfying combat, and yet when I first saw Hades when it was released in Early Access I was tepid on it. It didn’t look bad or anything, but it didn’t exactly blow me away and even now, I think a random screenshot or quick clip of the game might not do the game justice in explaining the appeal. I already wrote about the game at-length (as my only real non-retrospective blog post of the year, oops!), which you can read here if you want more in-depth praise, but to summarize…Hades is the total package for me.

Playing as Prince Zagreus your end-goal is to escape the puts of Hell, and more specifically get away from your overbearing father, Hades. It’s a rogue-lite, meaning you’re expected to finish the game in one shot and if you die you lose any upgrades you picked up along the way and have to start from scratch…to a point. Hades does allow you to keep a fair amount of items you pick up which can towards small, permanent upgrades or even gifts for various NPCs that can deepen your bond with them. Unlike most other games of this type too, the story constantly moves forward, even after death. The game is about dying over and over and then dusting yourself off to try again, all the while other characters remark on your progress or lack thereof. I grew to really enjoy this cast of characters, a fun spin on the Greek pantheon, paired with excellent voice acting for the entire cast. From the imposing, if somewhat sultry Megaera, to the nervous wreck that is the maid, Dusa, to the pompous ass Theseus, I looked forward to each new run just to learn more about this world and those within it. For once, death wasn’t really a punishment, but a reward, and just part of the process.

Of course, incredibly satisfying combat is ALSO part of the process and it just gets…addicting; muttering “one more run” over and over as you try out different weapons and boons, discovering what works well together and what doesn’t. While at first beating the game felt like it would never happen, I grew from my failures, adapted and eventually overcame. Multiple times. If you want the “full” Hades experience, this game can really demand a lot of time out of you but at the same time it stays fresh, so I can’t really complain. With new gameplay mechanics unlocking as time goes on, to the Pacts of Punishment players can trigger if they want a bit more challenge (or a lot more), Hades is that rare game that just keeps giving and giving. Before I knew it, I had dumped well over 50 hours into it, and I STILL need to get back to the game if I want that epilogue.

Compared to every other game that came out this year, Hades is the one game that grabbed me from moment one and would not let go until I hit credits. When I wasn’t playing this game, I was counting down the minutes until I could play it again, and let me tell you that is rare for me these days. At this point, Hades is clearly the breakthrough hit for Supergiant and I couldn’t be happier. The fact that this game got to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with industry titans at The Game Awards is kind of surreal, but I can’t think of many who deserve that recognition more. It helps that Supergiant is a studio that actually takes care of its employees, which is way rarer than it should be. I don’t mean to hype this game up like it’s the cure for COVID or anything, but I mean it with all my heart that this was the best game I played this year, and I’d recommend it in a heartbeat. I couldn’t stop talking about it for months after playing it, just ask my friends! So yeah, it’s pretty OK I guess.

CONCLUSION

I’m sure my Top 10 List looks a lot different from most out there, but that’s what’s great about games! So much variety and so much quality no matter where you look! Every year, without fail, there’s always at least a small handful of games that come out that I don’t get to, and try as I might I’ll never trim that backlog down. I want to keep playing games for as long as I can, trying out so many different experiences and seeing what this wonderful pastime can offer. For a good chunk of 2020 I was more than a little down, not just because of…you know, but a lot of games that were coming out weren’t appealing to me. That said, seeing as this was the year of shadow drops and announcing things at the last minute, I ended up loving a bunch of games I hadn’t already spend months hyping myself up for, which definitely helped to lift me up this year. Already, 2021 has a lot of titles I’m anticipating though, so it’s sure to be an exciting year.

Happy Gaming.

-B

#top ten list #gaming #animal crossing #paper mario #xenoblade chronicles #ghost of tsushima #doom eternal #no straight roads #hades #streets of rage 4 #thewonderful101 #age of calamity

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unwelcome-ozian · 5 years

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.Why do you equate mass shootings with white supremacy? A few have been, sure. Not every shooting is purported by white supremacists. And not every shooting is a choice either. It can result from bullying, abusive parenting, suppressing of gender identity and all kinds of things that eat at them until they are mentally scattered and unhinged.

2 Programming can sometimes contribute. Schizophrenia and dehumanization can contribute. Being forced to live in a society that doesnt accept, having everything monitored to the point of breaking, programming like being drugged out can contribute. It’s not even like all mass shooters are even white. I cant believe you are minimizing trauma and abuse to simply White Supremacy. Yes not all mentally I’ll are violent, no, it’s not all an act of racial violence, even if a few are.

Is there no abuse in society? Is it always simply white supremacy when someone breaks and is very irrational due to not even being able to think with everyone breathing down their damn neck and cant even think without being policed? Is it white supremacy to be abused to the point they are a potential danger to society, maybe they feel like they’ll never be productive or he feels like a defective female and male because he was raised to be that way?Utterly callous and insensitive Nice gaslighting

Also maybe I am completely out of the loop on these things but how is shooting a bunch of other white people an act of white supremacy? How is someone who shoots people he perceives to be bullies an act of white supremacy?

What it is like to almost reach mass shooter status is where you arent allowed to do any physical activity or rough house with anyone and people put shackles on you by abusing neglecting and raping you and potentially even drugging you until your brain breaks and words and actions become like daggers and bats. And that’s because you havent been allowed sleep or adequate portions of food and because you cant let your anger and emotions out they start giving you rashes and in your brain as

as a person with DID you can only see yourself as having scars and black eyes and broken fingers and of you speak someone will cut out your tongue and.. you through windows and criticizing everything and setting traps and.. I’m not looking to get unhinged from this further so Ill stop. Its insensitive to look at an issue that intersects with abuse and bullying as only white supremacy. Maybe it just hit a soft spot from a much rougher time for us Is it not abuse if it occurs in a school setting?

I’m not even finishing my rant because you don’t deserve to hear my story. I’m a strong beautiful survivor who is worth much more than that And my story is much more genuine and importance then you will ever understand. Its not some nazi wet dream. I doubt you care but I wont follow a blog who minimizes abuse of children because its in a school setting instead of a home setting. It’s gross. My healing journey doesnt need ppl like this anywhere near it. I hope you mature one day.

Itsnot because of my RA or because I was abused as an autistic or had my gender identity suppressed and had another beaten into me its because Im a white supremacist and all my pains are invalid and I should quit whining and try to push it down when I cant and doing that makes me break out in rashes and become irrational because I’m so used to doing it. Grow up. No one wants to help eliminate child abuse in schools stop systematic child torture And you are no different. I chose this. Okay.

Okay this is my last message but just to clarify white supremacy as well as banning guns ends all the violence (although it would stop a lot of it) are scapegoats. One shifts the blame away from RA, from our current school issues, the other doesnt address why ppl are turning out the way they are. Anyway. I wont look at this blog anymore. I dont have to, and the content you post is your choice I understand. Its better to speak up than stay quiet though.

Here is the post you are referring to.

Why do you equate mass shootings with white supremacy?

Because there is an association.

In the two weeks since a gunman killed 22 people in El Paso law enforcement officials say they have thwarted at least seven separate mass shootings or white supremacist attacks across the US.

At least four of the alleged foiled plots also appeared to involve men espousing far-right viewpoints and racist ideologies, with echoes of the Texas massacre. Aug 22, 2019

April 2019

1 killed in mass shooting targeting a synagogue in Poway, California, US.

March 2019

51 killed in mass shootings targeting two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

October 2018

11 killed in a mass shooting targeting the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US.

October 2018

Man attempted to enter black church before allegedly killing two black people in a supermarket in Kentucky, US.

January 2017

Six people killed during evening prayers at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada.

For a comprehensive list go here: LINK

Not every shooting is purported by white supremacists. And not every shooting is a choice either.

Nowhere in that post did it say EVERY shooting. So you are correct. In the context of the post yes EVERY shooting is a choice.

Careful using absolutes like; always, all, every, and never. Things rarely are 100 percent, that’s the reason things must be kept in context. So, throughout this reply, I’m going to continually place things back in context for you by referring to the post that you are upset about.

It’s not even like all mass shooters are even white. I cant believe you are minimizing trauma and abuse to simply White Supremacy.

Again, out of context, nowhere in that post did it say ALL are white. It says ‘being a white supremacist is not a mental illness, it’s a choice.’

Do you know what a choice is in the context of the post? I’ll explain in this context, it means someone choosing, willfully saying, ‘I choose to hate someone solely based on their race, country of origin, ethnicity, religion and for no other reason.’ That is a choice.

And again, in the context of the post: White supremacy isn’t a mental health issue.

For clarification, are you saying you’re a white supremacist? Or….

Anyway. I wont look at this blog anymore. I dont have to, and the content you post is your choice I understand. Its better to speak up than stay quiet though.

That’s fine, you don’t have to look at this Tumblr, it is your choice. Like being a white supremacist is a choice.

Mental health issues however are not a choice. Depression, not a choice. Schizophrenia, not a choice. DID, not a choice. Bi-polar, you guessed it, not a choice. BPD, not a choice. EDs, not a choice. The mental health issues people live with absolutely not a choice. We agree there.

#answers to questions #white supremacy #mass murders #white supremacy not a mental illness #scapegoating the mentally ill

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vampirewithbedsidemanners · 5 years

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Out of the Vault: Story Time

STORY TIME This is not a work of fiction. TRIGGER WARNING: ACTIVE SHOOTER/THREAT. If you are sensitive to the topic, dont read. This is something I wrote for myself following a pretty intense situation at work. This was a few years ago but Im leaving out names and places on purpose, still. You hear a lot about active shooters in the media but they rarely cover active shooter threats, which can take a toll as well. I saw a news report once about schools in bad neighborhoods that have regular lock downs because of shootings in the surrounding neighborhoods are giving their students PTSD just trying to protect them. I can see why. I don’t think I have PTSD, but I wont really know until I get another call like this.

I don’t think about it often. Sometimes, in the days after when the rest of the world started forgetting, I would remember it.

But most days, especially now, it was a distant nightmare. I was still a kid at the time, young and naive. I still lived in that bubble of ‘it will never happen to me’. Every close call solidified that bubble. The almost stabbing, the drug busts, the scrappy fist fights that always ended with someone getting snowed, fed the delusion. Somewhere in the middle of all of it, I knew that we were short staffed. That I shouldn’t be clearing buildings and parking lots and bathrooms with drug addicts overdosed on the floor, by myself. Most days, I didn’t even notice.

It makes you feel big, even when you’re not. 5′1″, I disappeared behind the desk at the stationary post without even trying. The other guards couldn’t get in the patrol car behind me without moving the seat back. But there was an adrenaline rush to it that made me feel like I could do this, no matter my size. I liked the work, it made me a piece of a larger puzzle.

“You better lock down the hospital, I’m coming to kill you all.”

12 words.

5 minutes before help arrived.

1 other guard.

6 buildings. 23 floors between all of them. 11 elevators. 2 pedways. A tunnel. 17 entrances.

9 parking lots.

43 employees. Roughly 100 patients.

5:30 a.m., all the doors have automatically unlocked.

We had no plan. We had no face to put to the voice. The operator who took the call was doubled over in a corner, crying. The House Supervisor was quiet. My coworker, always confident on the border of cocky, was at a loss for words.

“Do we take this threat serious.” The question hung in the air.

“We have to.” House said. And that was it. The horrible, terrible, unfair truth about threats. Bomb threats. Active Shooter threats. It didn’t matter.

Its real until it’s not.

I used to write about how adrenaline rushes make you numb to the pain. I slammed my hand in the first door, trying to get it to lock. I was at the end of a long hallway, outside the Emergency Room. It was the first external door I passed on the way into the rest of the hospital. I felt the pain in my hand, even though the adrenaline was pumping. My palms were sweaty, and I was out of breath. I had to jump up over and over, swiping at the off button before I could lock the door.

As I ran down the hall towards the surgery area, all I could think was ‘I should have started at the main lobby.’ These long hallways with nowhere to hide would have made me an easy target. One short, out of breath, underpaid and overworked guard with a thousand keys and blood dripping down her hand because she was clumsy and couldn't lock a door, target.

The surgery entrance door stands open when you turn off the box. I didn’t know that at the time. I could feel the seconds ticking by as I struggled with it. In hindsight, I should have just locked the inner door and been done with it. They were glass anyways, and definitely not bullet proof. Anyone who wanted to get in wouldn't have been deterred by glass.

By the time I hit the pedway, I felt sick. It had been 2 minutes since I had started locking down the hospital, something that we had no plan or procedure for. Somewhere between day surgery and the pedway, I started to get tunnel vision. I don’t remember my thought process for calling my husband, and I vaguely recall what I actually said on the voicemail. My words were kind of hard to make out over the sound of me running down a flight of stairs.

‘I love you. I’ll be home late. Don’t freak out, but we have a Code Black at East. I love you.’ It was all I could make out. The first time I listened to it, a few weeks after that day, all I could remember thinking was ‘this could have been the last thing he ever heard from me.’

When I reached the main lobby, I started moving people away from windows and down into hallways. Registration helped some, mostly with moving benches. No one really knew what to do. Someone brought me a printout. Cops had arrived, there was just 2 patrol cars parked outside the Emergency Department. More were coming. They traced the number and got an ID. I was expecting a mugshot, not a military ID. The grainy black and white photo did very little to help with identification. I was looking for a black man, in his early 20’s, of unknown height or weight, neither of which are listed. I stood by the door, vetting everyone that came in. More cops showed up, some in undercover vehicles, some off duty in their own cars. It became harder and harder to tell what was suspicious from what wasn’t. I think by that point, the paranoia had set in. Even if the cops had more info than I did, they would have had just as hard a time picking a non-descript black man out in a crowd.

A man in sweats approached the front door. He had walked past the off-duty cop parked in front. The cop started opening his door to get out, or at least that is what my brain saw. It could have been anything, or nothing. I didn’t know. It was the hoodie that caught me off guard. Baggy clothes conceal everything. His hood was up, hands in his pockets. I couldn’t see his face.

It played out like one of those dreams where you’re cornered and scrambling and trying to get the words out, but you can’t. I was shaking so hard I could barely hold the glass sliding doors as I tried to force them back together. He walked at a normal pace, at ease. There was nothing aside from the clothes and skin color to say that this was the caller, but I was terrified that it was, regardless of the statistics. Looking back, I must have looked like a mess. Here I was, shaky and out of breath, struggling to push together glass doors that didn’t actually lock to stop a potential shooter who would just break them down anyways instead of running away. My voice was gone, as was all the air in my lungs. I’ve seen videos, of cops shooting suspects that were already down because of adrenaline. It gets to be too much, and they start to twitch and accidentally pull the trigger. I imagine, this is what that would feel like. We’re all human, after all.

When he pulled out his hospital badge, I thought I might actually start crying from relief.

It was over in under 10 minutes, but I was still shaky 2 and a half hours later when they found him and I was finally sent home.

People at work said that it wasn’t real, because nothing happened. People, mostly the other guards, who were called in and showed up after the site was swarming with law enforcement. We had half the police force, it seemed like, between the off duty and the incoming shift. State troopers were combing the surrounding interstates. Military police were waiting at the caller’s residency. But there was just the two of us for those first 5 minutes. Before police were there, before we had any answers. We had to pick and choose what entrances to lock because there was no way to lock them all. We ignored entire buildings because there was too much ground to cover. If he had been sitting in his car in the parking lot when he called, it wouldn’t have mattered if the cops were called or the military police involved.

I would have been a target for the uniform I wore. Patients might have been fine. Nurses, too. Doctors maybe. The floors would have gone untouched. But the two of us would have been shot at, even if he didn’t hit either one.

Troopers found the caller overdosed in his car 3 miles from the hospital. He had a gun, but only a handful of bullets. Even if he had shown up, he was too messed up to do anything and would have quickly been taken down. They gave him Narcan, and the Military police took him away. I found out later when I was looking over the list of charges that he had also called the fire department and told them the hospital was on fire and that they needed to evacuate us. Someone said he wanted pain pills and the doctor said no because he was a junkie, but I’m not really sure why he did it. It doesn’t really matter. He was sentenced to 15 years for the civil side of things and court marshaled for conduct by the military. He will spend the better part of the next two decades in a military prison serving two consecutive sentences. 15 years and then another 5 for the military.

The hospital had forgotten by shift change. I had been held over 15 and a half hours because of the lockdown. I would have gotten off at 6 a.m. that morning. When I came in the next night, no one really talked about it. I guess that means I did my job. My debriefing was 10 minutes, and didn’t cover anything, really. The hospital locked down the truth and smoothed things over with the local paper. They didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.

We were 3 miles and 5 bullets away from a Code Silver, active shooter.

But nothing happened so it wasn’t real, right?

Tags: @fanfiction-trashpile

#out of the vault #active shooter threat #personal

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sirxelots-anime-land · 5 years

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Manga Recommandations ...

Yeah, I am finally doing what nobody asked for. I am gonna give ya’ll a list of Manga that I think aren’t that well known but are great and worth a read (at least in my opinion), Sounds Good? Alrighty let’s get this going them!

Groundless - Sekigan no Sogekihei

Now that is one Manga that I would really like to continue and release chapters in english faster. But it seems like no one really bothers to translate it atm wich is sad :( �� Anyway, Groundless is set on an island in a somewhat modern fantasy world with a civil war rumbling on said island. The main character is Sophia who lost her husband and daughter after their arms shop got set up with a hughe order from the colonel of the army stationed there. All she has left is a sniper rifle her husband hid for her to sell in case something bad happens. Instead of selling it she decides to seek revenge and joins the local militia as a sniper.

It’s got some pretty cool charakters, it’s brutal (not over the top brutal though) and the art is pretty good.

Afterschool War Activities

Alright, technically this is not quite a manga since it is a Webtoon but I like it and it is pretty cool ... yea. Set in a South Korean Highschool, the daily lifes of our class are dissrupted when strange things appear in the sky (strange and deadly). highschoolers and university students have to fill up the military ranks to fight this strange enemy off.

It has a lot of interesting characters in the school class we follow around and it gives a pretty good impression on the emotional stress and trauma the situation brings with it.

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad

Let’s switch our guns out for something different now ... how about a guitar. Beck is one of my favourite Anime and Manga out there and I’d say everybody should give it a try because it is so good. First of, the Anime ends around Chapter 29 of the Manga and it sticks pretty closely to it. So if you want to watch the anime instead for the first quarter of the Story, there you go :P Since I don’t really know how I should summarize the story of Beck without going on for the next ten minutes I’ll make it short. Yukio Tanaka gets into playing the guitar and starts to set his sights on becomming a rock star (the absolute breakdown version of it). It has a lot of good drama, is super fun and has pretty good music (Anime Only :( ). The only thing that might put you off on the anime at least is the animations. They can be a bit whacky in normal situations. The manga however looks gorgeous all the time. Two last words: JUST READ IT GOD DAMN IT’S SO DAMN GOOD OMG

In This Corner of the World

Oh yeah baby, we’re back with the War stuff. Though this time we don’t really see anything of the fighting itself.

Rather we’re following a typical japanese family through their daily lifes during the second world war. Sound glum and boring? Don’t worry thanks our somewhat clumsy but loveable main charakter and a wonderfull cast in general it won’t be that glum mos.. well ... not all the time. And if the cast isn’t enough, the art of it is also very beautifull and you learn a lot about how live was during that time in japan (there is a whole vocabulary list at the end of each volume explaining certain words and phrases in the context of the war).

But wait that is not all, if you don’t necessarily want to read through the 3 Volumes of it you can watch the movie on Netfilx. It will definitly be worth your time (maybe don’t watch it when you want something happy go lucky though).

Maria: The Virgin Witch

I know it might seem like I only read stuff that is set during some kind of war but I promise you that that is not the case and just a coincidence. This time the story is set in the Hundred Years’ War. Maria our young and ambitious witch wants to stop the war with her sex appeal... Do I need to say more to convince you? Yes? Well alright. She herself is still a virgin so she sends her domestic deamon to do the sexy time part for her. God on the other hand doesn’t really like the idea that Maria wants to end the war wich leads to our little conflict between our cute little witch and an arch angel.

With only three Volumes it’s a nice and quick read and a very fun one at that. Or you know... you could watch the anime wich is also decent.

Black Rock Shooter: Innocent Soul

Alright, now we’re really done with the War stuff i promise :D So you might’ve already heard of Black Rock Shooter and you might have watched the anime/ short movie ova thing. BRS IS takes the charakters of Black Roch Shooter and puts them in a alternate story that has nothing to do with the anime stuff.

Set in Hazama, a world between heaven and earth where souls land that are not worthy of going to heaven nor hell, we follow a girl called rock who is a Black Star whose job it is to keep order. Again a very short manga with three volumes it has a nice story (though it get’s a bit hard to follow in the very last bit from what I remember right now) and a very beautifull art style. Also it has some super funny moments in it thanks to the great dynamic between our main protaganist and her side kick.

Prophecy

Another three volume Manga comming right up. Prophecy. A man uploads videos on definitly not youtube Mr. Copyright man, where he promises revenge for crimes that didn’t get punished hard enough (and pulls through with them). Meanwhile a special divison of the police force specialized in cybercrime tries to catch the man. It’s a nice cat and mouse detective criminal story with an interesting take on social media and social injustice. It can feel a bit silly at the beginning when they talk about the internet but that might just be the german translation in my case :P If you have a thing for some good crime stories definitly check it out.

Aion

One of my favorite and first manga. A manga I would really like to see as an anime but probably never will. I kinda don’t wanna say to much about it here because I probably wouldn’t find an end. So basically mermaids are real and they try to F up humanity with worms that control them. Our main protagonist meets the girl who has her sights set out to kill all the mermaids. It’s a really cool story and unique (as far as I remember it ... I need to read it again) with some nice characters and I also did a drawing of one f the characters that turned out pretty dope ... ok that last part is probably not that convincing to you so just check the manga out ok? Good.

Boku Girl

Ok, you’re almost done by now. To end this list I have something with a bit more bare skin that is also a bit weird and a 100% hillarious and caused me to cry of laughter more than the number of it’s chapters. And it develops into a cute little love story aswell.

Out main character is Suzushiro Mizuki who is far from a a very masculine guy, In fact he get’s mistaken for a girl more than he’d like to. Even his crush thinks of him more as one of the girls. Meanwhile, Loki the Trickster god get’s bored with playing tricks on other gods so he plays one on Mizuki ... (also Loki is a girl ... in this one at least). I guess you might be able to figure out what happens to poor Mizuki with this prank and if you don’t mind that stuff, you most likely will have a blast with it (I hope at least because I definitly had). And I dont’t think I have more to add to that :D

OH WAIT ... IT HAS SUPER CUTE MOMENTS ... that’s all

The Afterword

Aight. that concludes my short list of manga that I want you to read cuz I like them and you better like them too OR ELSE ...

Mind you I did this whole text in one sitting and it was very spontaneous and late at night. So if you can’t make sense out of my gibberish and eventuall spelling/grammatik errors, I am sorry. I didn’t really prepare this as much as I could have and it’s been a while since I wrote a longer text in english.

I hope you enjoyed this list anyways and some of the Manga aswell. I might or might not do stuff like this again in the future, maybe a bit more prepared.

If you most definitly would like to see me stuff like this more, let me know :D

Have a good one folks.

#text post #text #list #afterschool war activities #manga #manga list #in this corner of the world #aion #boku girl #prohpecy #black rock shooter #black roch shooter innocent soul #maria the virgin witch #beck #beck mongolian chop squad #mongolian chop squad #groundless #sekigan no sogekihei

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howlingwind · 5 years

Text

01. what’s your name/alias you go by ??

my name is jeff !! lmfao (i don’t let memes die) it’s not my real name but i’ve gone by cody on tumblr for a long time

02. what’s your age ??

twenty. jfc i’m old. but also apparently a fetus??

03. what’s your zodiac sign ??

aries, which couldn’t feel further from correct lmfao

04. what’s your ethnicity ??

uhh mostly italian & sicilian, but you could probably point to any white place in europe and i’ll have a little bit of that in me. i’m also 1/16th native american but it’s such a small amount and sadly i don’t even know which tribe to learn more about them.

05. what’s your nationality ??

‘murican

06. what’s your favorite band and/or musical artist ??

i’m super indecisive about everything, so it’s difficult for me to pick faves (as you’ll see in a sec) but… mac miller, post malone, johnny cash, eminem, tenacious d, colter wall, kehlani, bruno mars, snoop dogg, elvis presley, justin timberlake, sublime, the rolling stones, etc etc there’s probably a lot i’m forgetting tho. i like most types of music except country. well, modern country anyway.

07. what’s your dream job ??

uh, i don’t have one? i mean yeah, i’d love to be a writer, or game dev, or a narrative director on a game, or direct, write, or act in movies or television, but like…i could live without any of that stuff. i just want to make a decent living, be able to own a house, not completely hate my job. yknow, not a glamorous life but a good one.

08. what’s one place you would love to visit ??

idk there’s a lot of places i’d like to go, but i’d most like to visit alpha centauri, even tho that’ll never happen lol

09. what’s your favorite tv show ??

i can’t pick that! but i love a lot of shows. general hospital, lucifer, the 100, supernatural, stranger things, izombie, south park, legends of tomorrow, once upon a time, arrow (at times), dragon ball, big brother, riverdale, chilling adventures of sabrina, that 70′s show, the ranch, umm… i could probably keep listing forever.

10. what’s your favorite movie ??

hmmmm, again i’ve got a list but… joe dirt, the new guy, why him, the waterboy, 50 first dates, all the spider-man movies, thor ragnarok, man of steel, 21 jump street, 22 jump street ,and a fuckton more lol

11. what’s your favorite song ??

constantly in flux, but the current faves are — creep by radiohead, stay by post malone, no below by speedy ortiz, unshaken by d’angelo, cruel cruel world by willie nelson, wanksta by 50 cent, shooter by lil wayne & robin thicke, stressed out by 21 pilots, self care by mac miller (along with practically everything on his final album), and i will always, un-ironically love only in america by riff raff. he’s not the greatest ever but that song is hilarious and always puts me in a good mood.

12. what’s your favorite sport ??

can i say rocket league? lol

13. what’s your favorite food ??

pizza, unquestionably. cereal is a damn close second tho. or pot stickers. damn, i’m hungry…

14. what’s your favorite face claim to use ??

typically, i’ve always really liked using paul wesley, chris wood, and matt daddario. i’m using lindsey morgan for the first time now though, and i really like her as an fc too.

15. what’s your least favorite face claim ??

to use?? um pretty much any singer or model just bc their resources aren’t too great. i really didn’t enjoy using pete davidson as much as i thought i would, either lol

to see… uh probs emma roberts or andy biersack. emma for obvs reasons but also bc i once had a really bad experience with people using those fcs. idm people using whoever they feel like using tho.

16. what’s your favorite character of yours to play ?? which do you think you’re most like ??

oh man, uhh i really enjoy writing chrissy & theo. they both speak to me. but tbh i’m not much like any of my characters? i’m boring af so i tend not to make any like me lol. i am kinda like theo in the sense that i’m quiet, and really just try to be a good person. other than that i’m most like jason solely based on the fact we’re both human lol

17. what’s your sexuality ??

danversexual. attracted only to fictional danvers women, examples including carol, kara, and alex danvers.

lmfao but nah i’m just a boring straight boy. well, like 99.9% straight. jensen ackles makes me question shit.

18. what’s the last movie you saw in a cinema/theater ??

captain marvel (thanks to dani lol). only two months late but it was worth the experience haha.

19. what’s the worst injury you’ve ever had ??

thankfully i’ve never really hurt myself too terribly except for a broken wrist, but between the ages of 10-17 i’d occasionally hurt my back by sitting weird, usually in an attempt to play video games without the glasses i desperately needed lol. once when i was like 11 i laid belly down on the couch with my elbows up on the arm of it for like three hours, which messed me up for days, then a few other times i hurt myself, but another bad one when i was 17, i had my back curved while sitting and propping my laptop up on my knee, tried to move and literally just cried, crawled on the floor, and laid there all night until i forced myself to move in the morning. lol luckily it hasn’t happened since i lost a little weight.

20. what’s a random or interesting fact about you ??

uhm, nothing? i literally can’t think of one, i’m dull af. i uh.. i replaced my own cpu cooler once? lmfao

21. do you listen to music while you write ??

sometimes. a lot of time i just like the silence or ambient background noise, but if i’ve got a fitting playlist for the vibe of what i’m trying to write, i’ll use it!

22. are you a morning, day, evening, or night writer ??

i’m a never writer, apparently v___v but lol ideally a night writer, my best work is between the hours of 12am & 4am, but my sleeping schedule is so inconsistent, and so is my dad’s who spends literally every waking moment of his telling me different stuff he wants done, so it’s tough to hit that sweet spot. i write whenever i get a chance tho.

23. have you ever roleplayed intoxicated ??

lol nah i’ve never even had a drink. like what teenager doesn’t have a drink at some point?? i told you i’m lame.

24. what language or languages do you speak ??

english, barely. and assassin’s creed 2 taught me some italian swears. and ac: odyssey has had me occasionally dropping “malaka” bombs since the day i first played it haha.

25. how long have you roleplayed ??

officially, about 9 years. i started at 11 on myspace, rping dragon ball z stuff. but basically about 12 years, if you count how from the ages of 8-11 i’d put an anime pic up on my myspace, pretend i was older, and talk to roleplayers i didn’t realize were roleplayers lmfao.

26. favorite roleplay genre ??

i like pretty much anything, tbh. as long as it’s well thought out, has an interesting plot, or whatever. sometimes it doesn’t even need that, it just needs to catch my eye or line up with something i’m looking for. but yeah, supernatural, multi-fandom, sci-fi, romance, town rps, high school/college rps, anime rp (well, pokemon mostly), harry potter… i’ve done it all tbh and don’t particularly have a favorite.

27. one sound you hate & one you love ??

the sound of cotton stretching is the absolute worst thing to me. or scratching cotton. idk, it just sends chills up and down my spine and makes my hands feel weak lmfao. i’m weird. i really love the sound of rain, or fire crackling, or like “ambient” harp or ukulele music.

28. do you believe in ghosts ??

short answer, yes. long answer… i’m pretty sure i was friends with a ghost girl as a kid?? like no joke, even looking back at it through rational “adult” eyes, i’m still convinced. my fam moved into a new apartment, and pretty much right after that i started having dreams about a girl my age at the time (11-12). i’d never seen her before but the dreams would be like just conversations, like i was visiting a friend or something. i don’t remember them much, but i do remember the feeling of someone else in my room all the time, like you know how if someone else is around you just know even if you’re not looking at them? like that. there was even one night i was getting in bed, laid there a minute, and then i could have absolutely sworn somebody came in the room and sat down next to me on the bed because i felt the bed sink a little under their weight, but i looked and no one was there. i had a really vivid conversation/dream/thing that night. then a few nights later, for the first time since moving there i didn’t have one. the next morning my dad was really freaked out and said he fell asleep in the chair, but woke up and couldn’t breathe, and felt cold little hands over his mouth. he rationalized it as just waking up from a nightmare but i didn’t think so, so that night when i went to sleep and saw her i got really upset, yelled at her for it, and woke up right after. then i never saw or heard anything even remotely similar again, like she left or disappeared or something. it’s so weird, and i know how crazy it sounds, but yeah. don’t get me started on the topic of ghosts lmfao. THEN AGAIN, like a year later we had a carbon monoxide scare, but i really doubt the two were related because that would mean there was an entire year that we were breathing it in and the monitor didn’t do anything lol

29. do you believe in aliens ??

no alien story, thankfully, but it just makes no sense not to believe in them to me. like, we probably don’t have them on earth, and we’ve probably never encountered any, but it’s as close as you can get to a mathematical certainty that there’s some other life out there in the universe.

30. do you believe in true love ??

like, people who are just meant for each other, like romantic soulmates? nah not really. but i believe that two people can grow to truly love one another. whether it’s based off an initial attraction/infatuation, or a friendship, or both. i’d actually argue that’s a simple explanation of the biological science behind the feeling of love, but that’s an essay i’m not gonna write lol. but there’s apparently a lot of different types of love, so i guess “true love” is suggestive?

also slightly unrelated but i don’t-quite-believe-in-but-am-open-to-the-idea-of soulmates, not necessarily as two souls who are just meant for each other romantically and always end up together, but more as two or more souls that gravitate toward each other to make up the important people in each other’s lives, like family members, lovers, or close friends. but that’s more of a theoretical idea/possibility than an actual belief of mine.

31. do you hold grudges ??

um, yes. lol i try not to, and i really do want everyone to be their best/happiest selves, but some people man… some people can take a long walk off a short pier lmao

32. do you have any obsessions right now ??

PO KE MON GOTTA CATCH EM ALLLLL. also… life is strange (thanks dani lol). supernatural. stranger things (thanks dani & steph) the 100 / clexa / becho (thanks steph). lucifer. captain marvel (thanks dani). the song “creep” by radiohead and all its covers (tom ellis, haley reinhart, etc). cyberpunk 2077 (thanks dani). as you can see, i’m easily influenced lmfao.

33. do you drive & if so, have you ever been in a crash ??

nope i don’t drive, precisely because i’d definitely end up in a crash lol

34. do you like the smell of gasoline ??

uh that’s a big fat no from me, chief

35. do you prefer writing fluff, angst, or smut ??

i like it all equally, i think. i just really like writing & rp in general. i did run a smut rp once in the past tho. it gets old quick tbh and is the one of the three i can live without lol

36. are you in a relationship ??

bahahahahahahaha no.

37. grab the nearest book to you and turn to page 23, what is the 17the line ??

❝ “and why would that be?” kronos’s golden eyes glittered. ❞

— the last olympian by rick riordan.

38. put your playlist on shuffle and list the first four songs that pop up:

1. season of the witch – donovan 2. riot van – arctic monkeys 3. busta rhymes – qveen herby 4. der kommissar – after the fire

also i gotta cheat because it’s too perfect that the next two are

5. stay – mac miller (one of my favorites ever that i forgot to mention above) 6. only in america – riff raff (i just love this ok. the video is hilarious but tw james franco for those that don’t like him)

#pandemonium: task #// i’m always last 😔 lmfao #// also this is like a mile long idek why so if you actually read this?? you’re a saint lol #→ por queue

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binnsowen · 5 years

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Assassination Vacation Tour: Review

From the beginning of queuing, to the tiring taxi journey home, the atmosphere around Resorts World was electric. Even from turning up to the surprisingly short line at midday, the weather-battered, homeless-looking groups of fans seemed to still be full of energy, despite clearly looking like they’ve been there since the early hours of the morning. However, as exciting as this day panned out to be, it slowly got less and less exciting as the wait grew more and more. Keeping us outside for an extra 1 and half hours wasn’t the best decision on the staff’s behalf. Nonetheless, as soon as my ticket was scanned and I was in, the excitement I reminisced at the beginning of waiting instantly came flooding back, and the buzz was back in the air. After grabbing food, drinks and any merchandise that took my fancy, then came probably the strangest way of moving to the standing area I’ve ever encountered. The first 100-or-so people in the queue were stamped and given a number on the way in, and these numbered people had to stand in another queue in numerical order. We were then told to walk towards the standing area, in a single file line without pushing, shoving or trying to run to the front. To be honest, I’m surprised we weren’t asked to sit in our rows with our legs crossed and our finger over our lips. It was as if I was back in first school. It also doesn’t do them any favours as we were given a safety brief before the acts came out. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself and ask ‘When has this ever happened at a concert before?’. Despite all of this, I secured my place at the barrier, trying my hardest not to let the girl behind me elbow her way in front of me. It was only then, at this moment in time, that it hit me, at the same time it hit everyone else. The main reason all 15,000 people were there, for one reason and one reason only: to wait a further 3 hours for the supporting act and Tory to finish and go mad when Drake comes out.

Baka was the only supporting act; and despite it wasn’t the largest, he drew in quite the crowd and was the perfect act to hype everyone up for the remaining artists to appear later on in the night. I couldn’t help but feel bad for Baka though. Even though his set was strong and consistent, it didn’t quite have that ‘wow’ factor as any other performer would. And the worst thing? There isn’t anything that he can do as of now that will help that. Because, in terms of concerts, the only way to impress a large audience from the get-go is to be well cemented into the industry, so to speak. As I was looking around the arena, I noticed that almost 3 quarters of the seats weren’t even filled, and simply because nobody cares about who’s on stage at this time. Especially if it is someone that they haven't even heard of, as I could hear a few people from way back in the standing section question who Baka even was. Which goes to show, in hip-hop, the fans are reserved for those who are on top of the game and know how to finesse the business. Which I think, is extremely unfair, but that point is for another time.

After an hour of Baka’s set, then came Tory Lanez. And with him, came along a lot more hype and anticipation. This point in the night is where the butterflies in your belly begin to shake violently with excitement, as a 5 foot 7 inch Canadian darts around the stage screaming into a microphone, dressed in a varsity jacket, skinny jeans and high top vans. Lanez’s music never fails to get you into that high-school-party, drunk-and-high-at-the-same-time, I-think-I-can-sing-esque mood, and this mood only heightens when you see him perform live. Girls were going crazy for him singing about the birds that he’s slept with on songs like LUV, Say it and recently released Freaky, and the lads were waiting for the mosh-pit bangers to come such as Shooters, Litty and Ferris Wheel. So his performance was unsurprisingly diverse, and could appeal to any listener. And with the addition of Baka before hand, it was strategic placing them together as Tory supported the hype that Baka had created perfectly. The best thing however, was the fact the security has to literally pick him up and throw him back on the stage after he’d been for a spot of crowd surfing. I was creasing at the fact that he could've probably jumped back up, but it was as if they threw him back up just to take the mick. His set then came to a close, and then came the final interval of the evening, with nobody else to perform other than the man of the hour, or 7 hours in this instance.

After about 30 minutes of standing around, the interval music came to a stop and the lights began to dim. This alone was enough to send the audience into hysterics, as they screamed at the top of their lungs recording nothing but an empty stage. But the stage wasn’t empty for long, however it wasn’t filled with a bearded rapper from Toronto, it was filled with a square curtain covering the entire stage floor being lowered from the ceiling. When it hit the floor, images of palm trees, coconuts and hula girls were vibrantly projected onto the curtain and the theme music to Austin Powers was played. At this moment, I wondered whether or not I was at the show. I was looking around to see if people were as confused as I was, but they all seemed to be hypnotised by the silhouettes of a horny spy. But as the projections disappeared, there happened to be somebody behind the curtain. Somebody tall, in a Louis Vuitton assault vest, holding a microphone. Seeing this outline made the crowd even more hysterical. It was at this moment that the introduction of 8 out of 10 began playing, and then the figure came to life, rapping along to it. Because I was stood at the barrier, I could see slightly through the curtain and could easily tell that the figure was Drake, if it wasn’t obvious enough. After the first verse ended, the curtain was raised to reveal the 6 God himself, live in the flesh. A part of me couldn’t believe it. That was the real Drake, stood a couple of meters in front of me. And as his performance went on, it wasn’t settling in any more.

Drake’s live performances are a priceless experience. From the clever use of pyrotechnics to the talented back up dancers that accompanied him on stage, you can clearly tell that Drake is at his best when he is on stage. Despite this, it pains me to admit that I felt his show was rushed and disorganised. Some songs were left unfinished, which was a shame because the older Drake songs on the set list (arguably his best era) were played for about 10 seconds each. To rub salt in the wound, they were all played with no breaks or intermission between each other. So in a sense, there was no real point in playing them at all. It was almost as if he had somewhere much better to be than there. Because of this, I found it hard at times to engage with him and with what he was doing, even though I desperately wanted to. Nevertheless, he still managed to put out an exceptional performance of his recent music. The transitions between certain tracks were executed smoothly, and his delivery of them were executed even more so. I really managed to notice the diversity of Drake as an artist whilst watching him, which is a skill I see many other rappers attempt but fail. He can easily perform a song such as Jumpman with the expected energy and charisma, and then manage to calm himself and the arena down with a soft and soppy performance of Peak. He can have any audience on strings and is in complete control of how they act and feel throughout his performance. To obtain this skill to such a degree is something that no other musician has, which is one of the many reasons that Drake is the best performer out of today’s generation of rappers; and probably the best rapper out of them too. But again, that’s for another time.

To summarise, Baka and Tory Lanez hyped the night up perfectly; no other 2 acts could’ve done it better. However, Drake could’ve handled that hype a little bit better and his delivery of certain songs could’ve been a bit more consistent. But this slight criticism doesn’t diminish his performance in any way, shape or form: it was a quality show. Was it worth going? Absolutely. Was it worth £120 and a 7 hour wait? Absolutely not. I cannot recommend going to any Drake concert enough. It is an experience that cannot be matched by any other artist simply because of how much of a natural born performer he really is. But my only piece of advice would be to choose wisely. If you’re going to pay that much and wait that long, go to Canada and see him there. I feel as if it would've been worth that much if there was some sort of after party to go to, or some form of exclusives included in the ticket price. Whether that be merch or a smaller show or whatever, it just wasn’t quite £120 material. But one thing is for certain, I look forward to the release of Drake’s next album that he said he would be working on as soon as the Assassination Vacation is over. So if he was to rush the next 11 shows, I wouldn't mind at all.

#drake #torylanez #bakanotnice #hiphop #resortsworld #assassinationvacation

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getmespidey · 6 years

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Baby Steps 1.

(all images from Pinterest)

PREVIEW || part 2. || part 3. || MASTERLIST

* 2 years ago *

The day your first year of college was officially over and you had summer to enjoy. You hadn’t been the most present socially so after a long and deserved nap all you wanted to do was see Peter. It didn’t matter where, but you desperately needed that social interaction that been denied to you. How could your first year already be so hard on you?

Closing the door to your small apartment you looked out the window and imagined when Peter would be able to meet up with you. In the mean time you decided to cook up something for the both of you, take a shower and a nap. Not necessarily in that order.

A few hours later you were woken up by the rushing passing of hard steps right outside your door. You didn’t really live in the nicest neighborhood so you were used to being woken up rudely in all odd hours.

Rubbing the sleep from your eyes you looked at your phone and nothing from Peter, but also nothing from Tony or Happy and that meant he was fine. Just a little late. You decided to go for that shower since you had no idea when Peter would show up to eat.

A loud crash startled you from inside the bathroom. You quickly put your clothe back on and went to check on where the noise was coming from. Stepping out you screamed as you bumped into Peter.

“Whoa, Y/N! Sorry.” Peter’s voice was low and apologetic.

“Peter! What are you doing?” you said half angry while punching his chest.

“I came to see you. We’re supposed to have dinner and I’m here to pick you up.”he smiled proudly at you.

He was wearing his suit and had a bag over his shoulder.

“I’m just going to have a shower and then I’ll get started on our dinner.” you said heading back to the bathroom. “You can change if you want or take a shower while I make dinner.” you screamed over your shoulder.

“You know we could cut that off the list if I go in with you.” his voice lower.

“Don’t you dare. I really need to eat something before.”

“But I miss you!”

“I don’t care, honey!” you shut the door before he could say anything.

You were relieved to finally have some peace. Probably the first time you and Peter spent together in two weeks where both of you were paying attention to the other and not falling asleep. He was working hard with the Avengers and you with college. It seemed like you guys didn’t really have time for each other lately.

“So...” He said once you were both sitting on the sofa watching Stranger Things once again.

You waited for him to continue, but when he didn’t you nudged him with your foot.

“I was talking to Tony two days ago about this weekend. How I wanted to do something nice for you... For us. And he said we could spend the weekend at his house in the Hamptons.” he looked at his food and focused maybe shy about the offer.

Obviously you weren’t expecting that, but you would be a fool to let an opportunity like that one pass.

“That would be amazing. Remind me to get him something nice as a thank you gift.”

“What would you give the man that has it all?” he asked smiling at you now. A lot more comfortable.

“Well, I could just give him a refrigerator magnet and he’d still be over the moon. That man adores me maybe more than he adores you.” you laughed at the complete shocked look Peter had.

“Does not.”

Right after dinner Peter and you made your bags for the weekend. Peter already had his small bag, but he helped you pack two huge ones just for you.

You took your small car and drove a good distance to where you’d be spending the weekend. Truthfully that house was easy 20x your small apartment.

Both of you enjoyed staying there just the two of you. The privacy and comfort was very much appreciated. It was nothing like being at your place or even when you stayed over at the compound. You rarely stayed the night at May’s place, but the twice a week dinners did make her place feel like home by now.

Saturday morning Peter woke you up with a huge mug of coffee and mini pancakes. It was lovely having that kind of time with him again. You would never say it out loud but you missed the attention and care free time you used to have back when you were both in high school and he wasn’t yet an Avenger. Your lives as a couple and as individuals had changed so much in the past year. It was almost too hard to believe.

You spent most of your time either in bed... or at the beach just outside the house. Sometimes you guys went for long walks, but you were just really in the mood to be alone with him. No contact with the outside world.

And that is how your weekend went. The best possible and relaxing weekend Peter could have given you and then right when you were supposed to gather your things to head back to the city Peter became weird. He avoided being near you most of the time and he was constantly checking his phone. It started to bother you.

As you sat for half an hour in the car waiting for him you were afraid something bad was going on and in his weird way, he was creating a distance to protect you or something.

“What’s gotten into you? You were fine, like, three hours ago and now you’re... weird.” you said once he got in the car.

He was nervous that’s for sure. He was messing with his fingers on the wheel of the car. He looked at his lap and to the road ahead.

“I was supposed to have asked you this before, but I didn’t because I’m an idiot. So now I’m going to ask and I really don’t want you to freak out.”

You waited and he just kept looking at you.

“Tony didn’t just offer the Hampton house to us.” he said and your heart went from nervous beating to OH MY GOD WHAT THE ...........

“Don’t tell me he’s giving us the house?!”

“No!” he said really fast and started to laugh. You calmed him down, but somewhere deep down you were a bit more nervous now.

“He told me you’re more than welcome to come live with everyone at the Avengers Compound. You know it’s closer to your college from where you live, it’s a lot safer and there’s me. We could share a room... or not. Your choice. And we’d get more time together. Plus, it’s rent free. That whole deal.”

You weren’t really expecting to be asked that. During the whole weekend he didn’t even hint at that. Not that you gave him the time to bring this up, but still. This came out of nowhere.

“I can’t just leave the apartment. I have a contract.” you said kind of sad now, because you wanted to say yes.

“What if I told you that wouldn’t be a problem?”

You looked at peter with that sweet smile and you couldn’t believe that maybe, just maybe, it’d be possible.

“I’d say I would love to move in with you and the worlds mightiest heroes.” You smiled at him pulling him in for a kiss. “Oh my... Does Thor live there?”

His smile faded to an annoyed look.

“He has a room. Its three doors from mine. He stays there sometimes, but he’s mostly out.”

You kissed his cheek with force leaving a print of your kiss on his face.

“I want to live with you.”

“I’m glad, ‘cause your stuff is already at the compound.” He gave you a crooked smile and you didn’t think you could handle everyday of this.

* P R E S E N T *

You kept looking at yourself in the mirror. It had been a few days where you weren’t feeling that well, but it wouldn’t have alarmed you if your period hadn’t been late. It wasn’t like you to go three days late, actually it never happened before. You kept repeating to yourself that you were fine and all of this was in your head. It was finals week after all and you’d been a mess trying to make it through without losing your mind. After this week you could rest up and you’d be back to normal. It was only the stress getting to you. It was only the stress getting to you. It was only the…

Your thoughts were interrupted by the window opening by your side and Peter crawling in with his Spider-Man suit. He took off the mask once he was inside and smiled sweetly at you.

“Hey, Y/N.” he said as he put your face between his hands and kissed you softly.

“Hey, Pete. How was it out there today?” you asked making conversation to hide your thoughts like he would have been able to figure them out.

“Not much. I stopped some thefts and prevented an accident. Nothing major.” you thought it was a little cute how he thought what he did wasn’t major, but every day you were just as proud as you were worried.

You had both been together for almost three years now and you hoped to every God out there that if you were right, this wouldn’t be the end.

“I’m going to take a shower and check on Tony. I think I may have damaged one of the web shooters.” he said rubbing his wrist.

“Are you okay though?” you asked as he headed for the shower.

“Yeah. The wrist is a little tender, but as soon as I’m out of the shower it’ll be 100% again. I just need to take a look at the shooters.” he shut the door and with that you were alone with the mirror again.

It was impossible. You were both careful, right? It’s not like you guys had unprotected sex all the time. You didn’t. That’s not it. YOU WERE FINE! You screamed inside your head.

Laying down in bed you felt a little sick with the thought of how unsure your future now was. You stared at the ceiling with your hands of your stomach.

Peter came out of the shower and talked for the longest time, but you just didn’t have the energy to focus on what he said. You felt sick and you wanted to cry, but at the moment you felt so disconnected that you did nothing but look at the ceiling.

“I’m going down to the lab. Dinner will be ready soon, so see you at the table?” he leaned down to peck your lips.

You managed to mumble something along the lines ok yeah and he took off once again. You sat up and pulled your laptop so you could finish studying for your tests. No success there. All you could think about was ‘maybe I’m pregnant’ and you had no idea what to do.

I know this is not the best first chapter, but I just wanted to post a little something today. I’ll try not to take too long with the next chapter.

taglist:

@derekxsammy @littlefrota @iris-suoh @beautiful-holland @softboy-holland

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tifarobles · 6 years

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Video Games That Shaped Me

Video games have been a huge part of my life as far back as I can remember. The first game I ever played was Fischer Price’s School Bus Driver when I was about 3 years old. From there, video games began to shape my life. From the relationships I built with my family to the career I went into, video games were there every step of the way.

Super Mario Bros 1 & 3

While we didn’t play the 2nd game very much, my brother, mom, and I played both Super Mario Bros 1 and 3 more times than I could count on our classic Nintendo. My mom and I were both terrible. We never could beat the game. However, my brother rocked at figuring out where all the secret one-up mushrooms were, finding all the shortcut tubes, and beating all the boss battles. Some of my best memories include playing these games, having the goal of seeing every level, and laughing with my mom when we got as far as we could without my brother’s help.

Mortal Kombat

With Mortal Kombat on the Super Nintendo, my love of fighting games was born. We played through as many of these games as we could get. My brother even had the official Strategy Guide (this was a hard copy magazine before the internet was easily accessible). I went from playing Sonya (because she was the only girl option) and Scorpion (because he’s rad) to Kitana being my absolute favorite character to play. As a little girl, I liked that she was pretty, mysterious, super tough, and used gorgeous fans as weapons. Her Kiss of Death Fatality was a huge plus, especially because I had enjoyed Sonya’s in the first game. I also really liked that she ended up aligning as a good character and that her twin sister was he archnemesis. That storyline blew my little mind.

Final Fantasy VII, VIII, & XI

Obviously, Final Fantasy VII was going to be on my list. I was obsessed with this game. I’ve probably started FFVII over 100 times in my life. I absolutely loved the characters and all the deep backstories. I wanted to be Tifa, wanted someone like Aeris as my best friend, and dreamed of someday meeting my Cloud. I experienced my first bout of depression with Aeris’s death and did my first cosplay as Tifa, both as a child in my bedroom and at my first gaming convention (PAX 2008). This game changed my life more than any other game ever has. It led me down the path to be a gamer.

My love for Final Fantasy didn’t stop there. I have to give credit to the love story and graphics in FFVIII and the thematic elements and amazing characters of FFXI. All of these games inspired me to create my own characters, which eventually turned into my novel (launching on Kickstarter next year!). When I was given the nickname of Tifa upon moving to Seattle, I gladly accepted it.

Crash Team Racing

This game was simultaneously the closest I got to being good at a Crash Bandicoot game and the closest I ever got to being good at a racing game. My mom and I would play this game for hours. I was already a big fan of Crash Bandicoot’s adorable face, silly characterization, and his little sister Coco, but when this game came out I loved the franchise even more. I enjoyed playing Coco (again, the only girl option) because her driving style fit mine and I thought she was really cute! Usually, my mom and I would sit down and play until we played through all the racing tracks. Some of them were miserable and sometimes I was actually pretty good. This game will always have fond memories for me.

Soul Calibur II & IV

The only arcade game I ever really got into playing was Soul Calibur II. There was only one arcade that I remember going to while growing up, and it was on the bottom floor of my favorite mall in Spokane. There was a machine with Soul Calibur II and I always played Xianghua. With so many woman player choices (finally!) I was drawn to the small, modest brunette with a sword. I liked that she played fast with a feminine style. I picked her up quickly and could pwn random teenage boys that walked by wanting to play. It was the first time I felt confident playing against people in a game. My love of the franchise continued with IV and I even considered trying my hand at tournament play. Instead, I buried myself deep into the character creator, making over 150 characters in the game. Sadly, my skillful muscle memory wasn’t retained for the most recent release of Soul Calibur VI, but at least the character creator is even better. Wolf Among Us

The Wolf Among Us was the first game in adulthood to captivate my attention in the way JRPGs used to. I fell in love with Snow White and rooted for Bigby to end up with her. In fact, I was a big fan of all the powerful female characters in the game, from Faith to Bloody Mary. I was impressed with the dark setting mixing with beloved classic fairytales and the unique aesthetic of Telltale games. I was deeply involved with the story, anticipating each episode as it released and playing through them in one sitting. From there, I read the graphic novel and played through most of the other Telltale games. Wolf Among Us remains in my top two favorite games that I have played as an adult. From a story perspective, it’s number one by a long shot. Stardew Valley

My other favorite game of adulthood. I’ve already talked about how Stardew Valley has helped me with anxiety and insomnia, mentioning the 140 hours I played during maternity leave. However, I didn’t mention that it was also helping me through the depression of losing my “dream job”. This was two months after Xander was born and the day before Trump was elected. That November was one of the hardest times of my life, full of scary uncertainty and doubt. I had three things to rely on: my precious baby boy, my loving husband, and my farm in Stardew Valley. The citizens of Pelican Town were there for me whenever I needed a reminder that there was good in life.

Overwatch

Overwatch is the only First Person Shooter that I have ever liked. I was fascinated with the story and characters the first time I saw a trailer come through while working on the Xbox dashboard. The graphics were beautiful, it felt like the characters would have complex backstories, and I’d heard that the play style was interesting. If only it wasn’t an FPS, I kept saying. When it released, Overwatch was all people around me talked about. Eventually, Mike and a few friends convinced me to try it. They had explained that Reinhardt didn’t even have a gun, that I could hold up a big shield and swing around an hammer. I learned quickly that I could play Reinhardt as a tank. My favorite part was riding the payload to the finish line. I was hooked! I put in a good 25 hours with Reinhardt before branching out, playing Bastion, Mercy, and Junkrat. Mike and I played online with friends many times while Xander was really little. It was the only game I have ever experienced that way and I’m so happy I gave it a chance.

I can’t imagine my life without video games! What games have shaped your life?

#video games #nostalgia

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genocider-syo-is-still-my-queen · 6 years

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Danganronpa Rarepair Week, day 3: ice cream.

This isn’t more of a brotp, but this is Toko x Korekiyo, my all time favourite ship. Also, Togami x Leon managed to sneak in too.

"Are you sure you don’t want anything Toko?" Leon asked. He was a little concerned that she wasn’t eating, only drinking a Diet Coke for lunch, especially since everyone else was having burgers.

"No. I’m not hungry." She quietly replied. This wasn’t a complete lie, she didn’t feel bigger hungry, only bag of crisps hungry, she’d get something from the hostel's vending machine later. But there was another reason, her anxiety prevented her from ordering food. Especially when she was in Switzerland, in an area where most people spoke French, which she didn’t.

Korekiyo didn’t speak, but looked at her silently. He knew exactly what was going on, she’d confided in him yesterday about her problem, and he’d been a big help. He only wished she’d asked him sooner, he was fluent in French, he could have ordered for her. Ah well, she seemed content with this scenario.

"I’ll pay." Byakuya said, pulling out a credit card. "But don’t think this is a gift, I’ll be expecting my money back." He got up to do this, and the others had a quick discussion about it. Between the five of them, the total came to just under 40 francs, so they should pay 10 each. Toko got out her purse too, but was stopped.

"Hey, you only got a coke, we can cover it for ya!" However, these words didn’t soothe her. She didn’t like being in debt to people, as they would have the potential to use it against her later.

Well, maybe it was better this way. Despite how long they’d known each other, Toko still couldn’t bring herself to make eye contact with the heir, even if she knew she had no chance with him. His flirting with the baseball guy last evening had proven that.

"Alright team, let’s go! I saw a crepe place, and we absolutely need to try those before we leave for the museum!" Nidai took control of the group as they wandered over to the next cafe. Toko remembered her childhood, one of her mothers preferred western food, and sometimes she’d get the leftovers when she made crepes. She wanted to get one, but there was still a huge language barrier, and anxiety, preventing her from ordering.

"H-hey Korekiyo?" Despite his general creepiness, Toko found that she was most comfortable asking him for help. In fact, she’d go as far to say that she wouldn’t have the confidence to hang out with this loud group if he wasn’t there. It was weird.

"Yes, how can I help."

"Can you order a crepe for me? The top one." She said, pointing at the list. It had the added benefit of being the cheapest one. She gave him a 10 franc note, despite the fact the crepe was only 4,50.

"Of course I can." He smiled (probably) back at her, and took the money. She breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down with the others.

"Hey Toko, aren’t you going to order?" Leon asked. God he was getting annoying. What did it matter to him what she was eating? She was making sure to get enough food a day, so he could just lay off and stop pretending to care.

About a minute later, Korekiyo brought her crepe, and gave back the note. She was a little shocked to say the least, now she’d be in debt to 2 people. But she couldn’t find the words to complain, and just ate her food, watching Leon trying to feed Byakuya, and him refusing and giving him an icy glare (but secretly he was trying not to blush). She had already come up with a plan. It was Korekiyo's birthday, and all she needed to do was give him a card with the money in it. Then he’d be sure to accept it.

After a while, the group had to meet up with the rest of the school trip. After a trip to the Geneva Red Cross museum, everyone was in the hostel. The teachers on the trip saw this opportunity to pass around a certain card.

She signed it 'Dear Korekiyo. Thanks for helping. Happy birthday! From Toko.' And she also took the opportunity to sneakily put a 10 franc note in the envelope. Only Byakuya saw her do this, and he took no notice.

That evening they went bowling, where Toko managed to expertly display her incompetence by scoring the lowest of all 25 people there. She was disappointed to say the least.

Afterwards, the teachers too, them to a pizza restaurant, where Korekiyo was given his card. He read though it, giving Toko a glance whilst doing so.

"Free money? Sure, I’ll take it."

They went back to the bowling alley, to play in the arcade for a while. Korekiyo asked her if she wanted to play a shooter game.

"I’ve only ever played crane games before, but alright."

To her surprise, she ended up doing better than him, which was a shock to him, as it was his favourite arcade game of all time.

Toko turned around to look at Mario kart, but when she looked back Korekiyo had vanished. She started to panic, looking around frantically. Some of the other Hope's Peak students were in sight, but she couldn’t stand being out of his sight. She felt her breathing get faster as she frantically searched, trying not to have an anxiety attack in the process.

She found him in front of the tv with the other boys, and he didn’t spare a glance when she pulled over a chair.

The next day, they experienced the main event of the trip - the visit to CERN. I mean, this was a physics trip, not just a good excuse for a holiday. Honestly, she didn't actually understand what any of the cool nuclear physics people were talking about, but pretended to anyway, as she didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. She was an author, not a scientist.

That afternoon their small group, and a few others, went swimming in the lake, which was also a lot of fun, even if she thought she was going to die when she was swimming out to the others. It was also an excellent opportunity to see Kyoko in a swimsuit, what a beauty. Wait what was she saying? Why was she more interested in her than any of the hot guys here? She remembered something Mukuro once said: 'everyone’s a little gay for Kyoko'. Ah, of course.

Afterwards, they got some ice cream nearby. Korekiyo and Toko both wanted slushies, and it all seemed good. That is, until Korekiyo asked a certain question.

"Hey Toko, how much money do you have left?"

"I have over 100 francs, why?" He looked at her in shock, he wasn’t expecting her to have so much left from the original 150 they were all given. Most people seemed to be on their last 30.

"Well I was wondering, I bought you that crepe yesterday, can you pay for my slushie?"

Toko stared at him for a second. How she wished she could speak her mind right now. If she could, she’d say:

"Well first of all, bitch, I was willing to pay for it myself, but oh no, ultimate gentleman over here decides he doesn’t need my money and just gives it back, so I was assuming you didn’t care about it. It was your choice to buy it for me, so piss off. And also, I already gave you back twice that much in your birthday card, you consider that? No, you didn’t. I wouldn’t say I owe you anything, so you can get it yourself."

But what she actually said was:

"Sure."

Sometimes you just have to be the bigger person. And you know, maybe this could repay him for how nice he’d been to her throughout this holiday. Maybe this entire time, she’d been after t the wrong person, maybe Korekiyo was more deserving of her love after all...

#DanganRarePairWeek2018 #toko fukawa #korekiyo shinguuji

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rpbetter · 3 years

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Hi Vespertine. Can you offer some advice on how to RP a character that a lot of people think I shouldn't be RPing? I've wanted to RP Hans Landa for years, I like how cunning he is and how he could react to other ideals, how he could grow, especially in modern settings where he would stick out a lot. But I'm afraid because of how people react to muses like him. How do I build up confidence? How do I keep RPing if people bother or threaten to report me? Would people even RP with me? Thank you.

Alright, first thing, I've apologized on the blog already, apologized to people before you, but like I keep saying: it's really important to specifically apologize to individuals when we do something lame like I have. I did not intend to leave the blog unattended for months, but I did. This is an important question, it's right up the alley of why I created this blog, and I left you hanging. I'm deeply sorry, and I hope that my serious delay did not cause you any further worries or to give up on your character/RP!

Okay, we can proceed now!

I'll confess, I seriously spaced on who Hans Landa was for a moment there, but quickly remembered upon Googling! He was an interesting character, and I love that movie! However, I definitely see why you're worried, Anon.

Up until the last decade, taking up a character who was villainous, yes, even a Nazi, was a mark of creative gumption. Almost everyone had a verse for their muse that today would get them anon hate, callouts, reported, and so on. You know what? We had far less drama then. So, I'm not at all in the camp of demonizing your choices, or anyone else's. I saw what worked for a more peaceful RPC for decades and I've seen what is a total nightmare on tumblr.

Unfortunately, it is a total nightmare. So, let's see what you might be looking at, what your options are.

Firstly, you have the right idea; this is a character that appeals to you creatively, and that's really all that should matter. You've got ideas, you want to see your muse grow and change through interactions, and that's very much what the whole RPC needs to be a little more interested in.

I think, based on that alone, you would find people who wanted to write with you. There are quite a few muns out there dying for more interesting interactions with muses who have been taken up because the other mun really wants to write and develop them. Especially in the multi-para and novella communities. It's a bit of bane over there, the way the majority of muses are picked purely to satisfy a fleeting interest in a fandom. They don't come across as the characters they are in canon, are never given the opportunity to develop uniquely, they just exist to fulfill the mun's intense interest that will be gone soon. That works wonderfully and happily for some, but there really are a lot of muns out there who are interested in different approaches.

I will also say that most longer multi-para and novella RPers are less supportive of callout culture and content policing. When the very way that you enjoy RP is easily considered problematic on the grounds that you take it too seriously because you're invested in it, you tend to be against labeling others and giving them a hard time. That portion of the RPC, additionally, tends to be made up of older adults. The RPC kind of despises anyone over 25 who is still RPing, and I think a decent part of that is...this. We don't usually go in on equating fiction to reality, thinking that muse=mun, or that "problematic" material needs to be driven into the darkest void for communal safety. A great deal of that is because we lived through multiple fandom experiences being obliterated by these sorts of ideas, we know this is all detrimental to the community, and are more interested in a live and let live mentality even if we are disturbed by someone's muse or writing topics.

You may wish to specifically seek out RPers who are serious veterans (around for 10+ years), multi-para to novella writers, and/or have things in their rules that imply toleration and support for dark topics, villain muses, etc. (I know I have it in my rules that minors shouldn't interact with this blog due both its content and my age, but I can't exactly verify that with an anonymous message! So, Anon, please be aware I am giving this advice as though you are legally an adult.) Seek out muns who have muses that could also be considered "problematic" or who interact with muses who could be.

Remain away from anyone participating in or supportive of callout culture and purity policing. I know that can be difficult and limiting, and it is also not a 100% safe bet that you will be avoiding problems, but at least you'll know right off that these are not your people. That includes the ever-present callouts that claim the poster "never does this," that the mun being called out is just that much of a danger, and/or those dealing in the major callout-laden muns in your corner of the community. You might agree that one or two of those muns is a legitimate problem, but it's too likely that these people are going to feel like you are too.

Know that you will, inevitably, be called worse than just a "villain apologist." I write a muse that I wanted to write for years as well, and refrained from writing for so long because of the fandom's ideas about them. However, I have never been so happy with any muse choice, it's worth it to me to have some random hatefulness sometimes. I know I'm not a horrible person, the people who matter to me on and offline know that I am not, it doesn't actually matter what someone on tumblr thinks. It doesn't matter what they think about you either, they don't know you and won't give you the opportunity to be known, so pfft to them!

It can still be a little disheartening to hear some of the especially hateful things. While my muse isn't like Hans, the comparison to that is often made. There are a lot of assumptions about my personal character, race, gender, political affiliation, and so on. I'm just going to say it: if you don't think you can handle someone randomly attacking you and labeling you as "actually a Nazi," a genocide supporter, school shooter, "white cishet republican," and so on, do not subject yourself to this. Just write with friends you know are on your side or write some fic where there is some distance and control.

I do not believe, after reviewing them again, that you would be violating tumblr's TOS by writing this muse. You would not be promoting racism, harm to others, or misleading information. Nor would you be harassing anyone. Does that mean no one will try to report you? No, unfortunately. I've gotten reported for politely disagreeing on a post and asking a question! The important thing is that nothing will happen.

I would still make it very clear that this character might be offensive to some. Seriously, I would say, "In the interest of sensitivity, please note that this muse might be offensive to some - do not interact if imagery or topics associated with historical Nazis will be triggering for you. Hans Landa is from the film 2009 Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds." Pop that into the top of a pinned post, your rules, and your blog's header statement.

Because even if tumblr wasn't a mess, it's still the most responsible thing to do to treat this sensitively. It is a sensitive matter! People should have every opportunity to be aware and make the best choice for them to interact or not.

People almost certainly will threaten to report and block. Particularly when you are still looking for writing partners and having to expose yourself to more of the community in order to do so. It'll get so much better when you start finding them, though, I promise! Once you find a good mun or two, you've kind of unlocked a pocket of potential. Those people who are more accepting, reasonable, and interested in writing and characters are naturally going to be interacting with other like-minded muns.

Finding a good base of partners might take you some time, but the good news is, the whole process will help you build up the confidence to keep writing. It helps you get in touch with both writing and the muse, what is really important to you as an RPer, and is what isn't. It feels shitty at the time, but in the end, it builds a lot of confidence in yourself, and when you pull confidence from within you, you're never totally without it again!

When you're looking for those people (I'd additionally suggest historical RPers, if there is any existent community for the movie still, and branching out to fandoms that have "problematic" characters in them that you could do crossovers with in modern settings etc.), you can still be writing and developing your muse. Write up headcanons, fleshout the character's backstory, make multiple verses so that you have many options ready to go, do some one-shots.

A great way to do that is to find memes or traditional writing questions specifically for character development, but don't wait for someone to ask you! Go down the meme/list, pick some questions that spark your interest, and base your HC posts on them. Answer questions you immediately have answers to, answer the really hard ones you have no clue about. You don't know until you develop it, after all!

It helps with confidence so much to feel confident about your writing and comfortable with the character. It'll also help non-judgemental RPers who come across your blog or want to follow you back to see your writing and interest in the muse. I know that there are muses I was not interested in from their canon, but seeing the mun's love for them and how they had uniquely developed them, I had to interact!

When you do receive the almost inevitable anon hate, I'm going to suggest something a bit radical here; the idea of not feeding the trolls doesn't always work. That's predicated upon people not already receiving a reward for sending that hate to you. You can't starve what has already eaten lunch! I've found that demonstrating that they're not getting to you is more effective, in all, incredibly controversial honesty.

Put in your rules that anon hate will be addressed only with something like...a gif of a rabbit, a random fact, or a link to a song you recommend. Then, you do exactly that. You get a message calling you derogatory things, but instead of deleting it or going off about it in a way they can just use, you respond with a picture of a bunny cleaning its ears. Block the anon after.

This, again, in all honesty, is a confidence booster. Sometimes, building confidence is about projecting it first. You are projecting an aura of non-hostile confidence that you're not any of those negative things in reality, nor is your life ruined by people who haven't anything better to do with their own lives than bother you as performative "activism" online. It's alright if it really does bother you at first! Eventually, it won't. Eventually, you'll be left in peace with the reasonable muns you've found.

You will find them! There are still muns out there who feel like the most important factors in RP are engaging muses and writing, and how the mun is truly conducting themselves. If that mun is a genuinely decent person who isn't starting problems, harassing people, forcing anything on anyone, that's what matters! Just put your muse out there in a thoughtful way around people who are interested in writing. Be respectful of the sensitive nature of the subject, tag liberally and correctly.

No matter what tumblr's RPC says, you do have the right to write any muse or topic you so desire. People also have the right to not interact, of course, but since you're concerned about it (and truly, the person who is most likely to be made uncomfortable on here), I highly doubt you'll be trying to force interactions or anything.

Unfortunately, when you write any, even vaguely, problematic muse here, you are held to higher standards. You are obliged to be ten times nicer in the face of hatefulness, to be more aware of tagging and other warnings, and so on. It's kind of a practice in acceptance, and it can be frustrating. Again, if the muse is worth it to you, it'll be fine. Just know that you'll need to not be reactive to nastiness, very responsible in how you present yourself in all ways, and that it still won't be enough for some people. And know that's alright as well! They're making a choice to be hostile without knowing you or employing the adult maturity to just not interact with you, not you.

I know it's very easy to say "don't let people get to you." Perhaps especially from someone who will openly say in the tumblr RPC in 2021 that it's 100% fine to write a Nazi muse lol but please know that my confidence was not naturally occurring. It was developed across years of nonsense, and much of it offline, in person. So, I'm not flippantly advising you to have a level of fortitude out of nowhere! I'm honestly telling you that it is a process, but I think that if you want something bad enough to stick to it through the hardest part of it, you kind of expedite that process. It makes it a bit easier if you're still enjoying yourself!

So, on that note, my additional advice is to have another muse or other hobby you can enjoy during the difficult patches, or even slow times before you establish a good group of writing partners. Do things that will keep you feeling positive and motivated to write. That looks different for everyone, but I'm certain you have something. If that does happen to be another muse, or muses, I would strongly suggest you keep it to yourself that you are the mun of this one until you get rolling. While you have exactly nothing to be ashamed of, don't tempt ruining your fun on the other blog(s) until you are established on the new one and confident about it.

If you ever need to vent or further advice, I'm not going to vanish or anything again! Drop by any time you need to, Anon. Sometimes it goes a long way knowing that even a single person out there supports you!

I hope this helped a little, and I do support you! I think you've got this!

#vespertine #answered #anonymous #rp advice #tumblr rpc #nazi mention cw #villain muses

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your-dietician · 3 years

Text

What will ESPN’s coverage of the NHL look like next season?

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/nhl/what-will-espns-coverage-of-the-nhl-look-like-next-season/

What will ESPN’s coverage of the NHL look like next season?

The network’s coverage starts with the July 21 Seattle expansion draft, hosted by Chris Fowler on ESPN2. John Buccigross will host the NHL Draft two days later. Those shows will be produced by NHL Network.

When Gross spoke over the phone this past week, ESPN (which reportedly paid $410 million a year for seven years of NHL rights) and Turner ($225 million a year over the same period) still hadn’t divvied the games. The NHL had yet to release its 2021-22 schedule. Its puck- and player-tracking data has not seen the light of day.

“One thing we’re trying to get our arms around is what analytics teams and coaches use to showcase in our game coverage, our studio coverage,” Gross said. “Camera positions is another thing we’re looking at, talking to the league to see how we can showcase and document the games.”

Strategy and speed are the buzzwords Gross hears in his daily conversations with NHL people. Capturing both, while serving hard-core fans, hooking viewers from the massive pool of casual sports viewers who don’t give hockey much thought, attracting diverse genders and backgrounds . . . all are among Gross’s concerns.

“There has to be a level of entertainment without it being forced,” he said. “There’s really nothing worse on TV than forced fun. We have to find our spots, when we get [Chris] Chelios and [Mark] Messier together, who have a relationship. We’ll mix and match with other folks.”

Chelios and Messier, along with Steve Levy, will likely work the major events. “We know how that works,” Gross said. Hearing the two Hall of Famers, owners of some sharp elbows, chime in on player safety decisions should be interesting.

While he may not be hockey’s answer to Charles Barkley, Chelios does seem like a straight shooter. In a phone call, he acknowledged he wasn’t looking for a gig when he reached out to ESPN after the announcement. He was calling as a dad, hoping that his daughter, Lightning TV reporter Caley Chelios, was on the network’s radar.

“I like to think I’ll call it like it is,” said Chelios, 59, “Even though it’s a little different than when I played, hockey’s hockey.”

Messier, Chelios, Hilary Knight, Ray Ferraro, Brian Boucher, and Cassie Campbell-Pascall were among the first names Gross mentioned when speaking about his roster, but a lineup has yet to be solidified. He noted that women will be featured prominently in on-air roles.

The list of local connections is long, from Boucher (Woonsocket, R.I.), A.J. Mleczko (Nantucket/Harvard), former Red Sox play-by-play man Sean McDonough (Boston), Buccigross (who has Boston roots), Rick DiPietro (Winthrop/Boston University), ex-Boston College Eagles Blake Bolden and Bob Wischusen, and Emily Kaplan, a former Globie.

Gross said another fan favorite from the past, play-by-play announcer Gary Thorne, remains an option. He spoke with the agent for Thorne, 73, this past week.

“We’re not done yet,” Gross said. “We want to see what the schedule looks like, and what other decisions we have to make. We still have time.”

What’s the game-changing idea that will separate ESPN? It won’t be glow pucks and robots (fun as they were for younger fans in the ’90s). What’s hockey’s version of the K-Zone?

“Some people thought the first-and-10 line would be too intrusive,” Gross mused. “Now you can’t really watch a game without it.”

AWARD SEASON

One voter’s ballot in depth

Connor McDavid became the first unanimous MVP since Wayne Gretzky in 1982, collecting all 100 first-place votes for the Hart Memorial Trophy.DARRYL DYCK/Associated Press

I consider it a privilege to vote on year-end NHL awards as part of my duties with the Professional Hockey Writers Association. I’m not alone. My peers and I want to get it right.

When it came to this season’s MVP, I believe we did.

Connor McDavid earned all 100 first-place votes for the Hart Trophy, becoming the second unanimous MVP ever (Wayne Gretzky, 1982). McDavid’s 105 points in 56 games goes down as one of the most dominant seasons in league history. He was playing at a different speed than everyone else.

In the voting bloc — trimmed from about 175 to 100 members, and dispersed regionally to address imbalances created by the divisional-only schedule — we saw some refreshingly progressive thinking, and as always, some strange calls. One Edmonton writer voted McDavid’s teammate, Leon Draisaitl, second for the Selke. Draisaitl made strides this season, but it would be generous to call him an above-average defensive forward, much less elite.

In this space last year, I delved into my methodology, which blends in-person viewings, video study, and number-crunching. Obviously this season, I relied more on the latter two. I was among the few beat writers who traveled all season, but I only watched the East Division up close.

My ballot, and some quick takes:

Hart Trophy — 1. McDavid; 2. Auston Matthews; 3. Nathan MacKinnon; 4. Aleksander Barkov; 5. Brad Marchand.

Relatively easy calls. McDavid was incredible, and the other four were the driving forces on good teams. Marchand was ranked as high as No. 2 on six ballots.

Norris Trophy — 1. Adam Fox; 2. Cale Makar; 3. Charlie McAvoy; 4. Dougie Hamilton; 5. MacKenzie Weegar.

A youth movement, and an ECAC/Hockey East top three. Makar (UMass) missed 12 games, or 21 percent of the season, leaving the door open for Fox (Harvard), who was the Rangers’ MVP in his second season. McAvoy (BU) might be the best five-on-five defender in the game. Weegar opened eyes after Aaron Ekblad’s injury. Eleven blue liners earned top-three votes. Victor Hedman was down-ballot for me, after an injury-plagued regular season. Don’t ask me why someone gave Kris Letang a first-place vote. Fun fact: Fox is the first player of Jewish descent to win a major NHL award.

Calder Trophy — 1. Kirill Kaprizov; 2. Jason Robertson; 3. Alex Nedeljkovic; 4. Josh Norris; 5. Igor Shesterkin.

Kaprizov (27 goals and 51 points in 55 games) was a slam dunk, though Robertson had a brief midseason run that made it interesting.

Lady Byng Trophy — 1. Jaccob Slavin; 2. Jared Spurgeon; 3. Barkov; 4. Roope Hintz; 5. Johnny Gaudreau.

I’ve said before that writers should not vote for this. Referees should. Slavin, an elite defender playing heavy minutes, committed one penalty all season (for shooting the puck over the glass). Good enough for me.

Selke Trophy — 1. Barkov; 2. Patrice Bergeron; 3. Joel Eriksson Ek; 4. Phillip Danault; 5. Joe Pavelski.

Barkov had a strong MVP case, but his 200-foot excellence was properly recognized here. Bergeron is still Bergeron. Could see Danault, after his lockdown playoffs, be front of mind for a lot of voters next season.

The PWHA does not vote on the Vezina Trophy (the general managers selected Marc-Andre Fleury), but we do pick the year-end All-Star teams. My goalies, in order, were Andrei Vasilevskiy, Fleury, and Juuse Saros. We also pick All-Rookie teams. I had Kaprizov, Robertson, and Norris as my forwards, Ty Smith and K’Andre Miller as my defensemen, and Nedeljkovic in goal.

ETC.

League will not rush to judgment

Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league is waiting for an independent review of the Blackhawks alleged cover-up of sexual abuse before proceeding.Karl B DeBlaker/Associated Press

The alleged cover-up of sexual assault by the Blackhawks was the leading topic in Gary Bettman’s annual pre-Stanley Cup Final news conference this past week. Rightfully so.

Bettman said the league learned of the allegations “relatively recently” and will wait for an independent review.

According to a lawsuit filed in May, a former Blackhawks player alleges he and another player were assaulted by then-video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s 2010 championship run. The team’s leadership, which included current GM Stan Bowman, were allegedly informed of the incident by then-skills coach Paul Vincent, whom the players had told.

Aldrich later worked at a high school in Michigan, where he was convicted of sexual assault involving a student. He is now on Michigan’s sex offender registry.

Multiple ex-Blackhawks, including Nick Boynton, Daniel Carcillo (then with the Flyers), and Brent Sopel, spoke out this past week. One unnamed player told The Athletic that “every guy on the team knew.” Captain Jonathan Toews took issue with that, telling that outlet he didn’t hear about the allegations until the end of that summer. He said he couldn’t say for sure if the team “mishandled” the situation.

Bettman, a former lawyer, pumped the brakes. “Let us see what the investigation reveals, and then we can figure out what comes next,” he said. “I think everyone is jumping too far, too fast. This is going to be handled appropriately and professionally, and done right.”

Let’s hope so.

Beijing Olympics not a given

Commissioner Gary Bettman said the NHL has concerns over the feasibility of sending players to the Olympics next winter.Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

Later in his Q&A, Bettman shared the league’s “real concerns” over whether it was “sensible” to have a two-week shutdown for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Wait, what?

After sitting out 2018 — and watching interest in Olympic hockey wane — the NHL and NHLPA last summer collectively bargained to participate in the 2022 and 2026 Winter Olympics, pending further agreement with both parties, the IIHF, and IOC. But there is no plan yet.

COVID-19 variants remain a worry, and NBC isn’t likely to lobby on the NHL’s inclusion following the expiration of the TV deal. The NHL hopes to release its 2021-22 schedule shortly after the Cup Final.

“Time is running very short,” Bettman said, which came as disappointing news to Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman.

“The Olympics is one of the biggest dreams of mine and I haven’t been able to participate in one. This might be the last chance I get. That sucks to hear,” said Hedman, who was left off Team Sweden in 2014. “When you get an opportunity to represent your country on the biggest stage, it’s one of those things that you’ll probably never forget. For me, it’s obviously something I’ve been dreaming about my whole life and something I want to do before I hang up my skates.”

Pride working on title defense

The Boston Pride, two-time Isobel Cup winners, are preparing a title defense for 2021-22.Mary Schwalm/Associated Press

The NWHL’s Boston Pride are deep into an Isobel Cup summer, hauling the trophy from New England lake houses to the Grand Canyon.

As he preps for a title defense, coach Paul Mara is playing his cards close. After a few defections, he’s using his newfound salary-cap space — the league doubled the ceiling to $300,000 — to bring in some outside help.

“Working on a few things,” he said.

The NWHL is feeling momentum entering its seventh season. An influx of sponsorship dollars, visibility from its Isobel Cup playoffs broadcast on NBCSN, and a lot of player raises have elevated the mood.

Since last month, the four franchises under league control — the Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, and Minnesota Whitecaps — were sold to private owners, making it a league of six independent clubs. Expansion is on the horizon, with Montreal a primary target.

Also notable: This past week’s draft, which was streamed on Twitch, included appearances from a range of pro sports personalities, including NHL league and team executives, and USA Hockey reps. The NWHL hasn’t always had such vocal support.

For all the growth, players aren’t yet earning a living wage. Contracts are yearly. Outside opportunities create a talent drain.

The Pride lost president Hayley Moore to the AHL (vice president of hockey operations), replacing her with 1998 US Olympian Colleen Coyne. They are searching for a GM, after Karilyn Pilch this past week signed on with the Chicago Blackhawks’ scouting and player development department.

They also need a few good forwards. Mary Parker, Carlee Turner, and Lexie Laing departed for job and school reasons. Czech standout Tereza Vanisova signed with Leksands IF in Sweden, which will better help her participate in a demanding Olympic training schedule.

League MVP Jillian Dempsey, recovered from shoulder surgery, returns with All-Star linemates McKenna Brand and Christina Putigna, the No. 1 defense pair of Kaleigh Fratkin (two-time NWHL Defender of the Year) and Mallory Souliotis, and netminders Lovisa Selander and Victoria Hanson. That crew, plus whomever Mara can lure to town, should keep the Pride near the top of the standings.

Unlike last season, when the Pride got a boost from No. 1 overall pick Sammy Davis (BU) and six drafted rookies, the draft won’t have a major impact. Because they lost their 2021 first- and second-round picks when they traded up to select Davis, and dealt their third-rounder to Buffalo for future considerations, the Pride picked in the fourth and fifth rounds (Weston’s Finley Frechette and Beverly’s Abby Nearis, both forwards).

The NWHL’s player pool was thinned after the NCAA granted players an extra year of eligibility, leading many of the top draft-eligible players to return to school. Because of that, Boston isn’t the only team that believes next year’s draft will be loaded.

Loose pucks

Bruce Cassidy (left) has been promoting from within, with assistant coach Jay Pandolfo (center) leaving for Boston University.Winslow Townson/Associated Press

The Bruins have promoted from within of late, calling up coaches from Providence and the player development ranks. It makes sense that fourth-year P-Bruins coach Jay Leach would replace Jay Pandolfo on Bruce Cassidy’s staff, but player development staffers Chris Kelly and Jamie Langenbrunner will also get a look. Like Pandolfo, they were two-way forwards with long NHL résumés . . . As for Pandolfo, the move to BU gives him a shorter path to a head coaching gig. Albie O’Connell, who is entering the final year of his deal, has had a spotty run . . . Bruins strength and conditioning assistant Kenny Whittier also made the move to BU . . . A few first-timers joined NHL benches this past week, including two ex-players, Alex Tanguay (Detroit assistant) and Tuomo Ruutu (Florida assistant), and André Tourigny (Arizona coach). The latter move was particularly interesting, for a league that often recycles head coaches . . . Toews, after a year out of the spotlight with a mysterious illness, is back on the ice. He posted a video message to fans after a practice, saying doctors told him he has “chronic immune response syndrome,” a catch-all term for constant, debilitating stress reactions. Still dealing with a few symptoms, the Blackhawks’ captain believes the condition was brought on by a nasty bout with COVID-19 in February 2020, before the pandemic hit in full; the toll of 13 NHL seasons; and the year-round hockey training schedule he’s followed since he was a young teenager. “I think there’s a lot of things that just piled up,” he said, “where my body just fell apart.” He hopes to return in October . . . Edmonton trimmed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’s $6 million cap hit, but took a beating on term, when it locked up the No. 2 center to an eight-year, $41 million deal with a full no-move clause. He will be 36 when it expires. “No contract is perfect,” GM Ken Holland acknowledged . . . Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon’s take on game jersey ads, which are coming to the NHL sooner rather than later: “If we look like Formula One or NASCAR, that’d be fine with me.” . . . Glad to see college athletes everywhere get a chance to make some cash off their name and image, following the Supreme Court’s hammering of the paternalistic NCAA. A small step, long overdue.

Matt Porter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyports.

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