#as a chess enjoyer I couldn't resist

[teal-skull]

An proper analysis of Käärijä's chess game against himself.

Okay so I play chess a little so I wanted to take a look at the genious pro gamer moves he does in this chess tik tok.

So he is starting with rook to d3, which lichess knows to tells me is Mieses opening.

So he is not off to the strongest start. As he is playing against himself, he coutners with rook D5. This migth actually be a good move, since according to lichess statistics is the most popular response to Mieses opening, and it is taking more control of the center. E5 could've been good as well.

But then Käärijä shows his tomfoolery by playing a nasty trick...

He first pretends to move his knight to F3, which is what black would expect white to do, but isntead he is marely summonign the levitation powers of the knight to fly his king to E3. For this to be achieved, he had to give up bishop for blood sacrafice. While black is frozen by the sheer audacity of this move, Käärijä uses his feet to push his rook into battle against the black rook!

But oh no! The king had too much levitation and he is yeeted across the board, landing on his face, the king dies instantly. How tragic! Meanwhile, black decides to put all in and move his king to the front lines, the queen and rook follow, but get shot by a rook sniper in H2. However rook in D4 despite their bravery, gets black rook's sword through their chest.

????

Profit! Käärijä wins the game!

[sohannabarberaesque]

Postcards from Snagglepuss

All in all, how did Pie Day turn out?

AT TOBIE'S RESTAURANT IN HINCKLEY, MN: "Snagglepuss--?" asked Huckleberry Hound over a plate of Tobie's legendary caramel pecan rolls and a pot of coffee shared between us.

"Yes, Huck, if I may call you that?"

"I do have to acknowledge these sweet rolls are rather delicious ... and a little on the gooey side for my tastes."

"And who could concur more?"

"Nonetheless, Snag," Huck was quick to remark, "our Character Convocation back at Braham Pie Day turned out rather well ... not to mention several among us taking some decent honours."

"I do admit that my Grasshopper Pie, at least as per the judges, may have been a little strong with the mint flavour ... but at least they appreciated it enough to recognise it with Honourable Mention."

"Meanwhile ... Clementine's huckleberry pie, lattice-top crust and all, impressed the judges in its own sweet way. Though it's worth knowing that Clementine adds a little lemon juice to cut down on the tartness and tapioca for added juiciness."

"Which, as I understand it, has been recommended for fruit pies for some time."

"And it's not all that often, Snag, that you still see a lattice top crust so skillfully crafted. And I wonder how Clementine goes about it."

"So I've wondered ... so I've wondered!" [Short pause to catch my thoughts and refresh my coffee mug.] "Oh, and how did Kitty Jo's chess pie, much-hyped as it was, turn out?"

"The judges were rather surprised that such a pie was known this far north, yet Kitty Jo--"

"From the Cattanooga Cats, I know."

"--Kitty Jo explained that such was a little touch of the South that she enjoys fixing from time to time for the band as much as the post-concert receptions they host. Even if she had to explain such was custard pie with cornmeal and vinegar."

(The waitress came along to refresh the coffee pot, and I do have to acknowledge that, for such a legendary stop on I-35 towards Duluth, Tobie's serves coffee as legendary as their sweet rolls.)

"Inevitably, Huck, the Hair Bear Bunch were their same old lovably crazy selves at Braham Pie Day ... be it in the meet-and-greet, or even when they entered berry pie in the competition."

"And well-timed, I have to admit, it being just as the bear mating season they're ever fond of was winding down. And who could blame them for just how incredibly crazy their mating season antics could go, to begin with?"

"Even allowing for that kind of oven mini-motorhomes, camper vans even, are notorious for--running off propane and having to be rather impatient in getting such to the right temperature ... yet the crowds cannot resist them. Hair Bear especially, for some reason or other."

"... and a wonderful time was had by all," Huck couldn't help but admit acknowledging as the last of his caramel pecan roll was taken to mouth. "You bet," added I.

Even allowing for where a few days in Duluth before the Minnesota State Fair were in order, including going along the Skyline Parkway.

"So," asked I as we paid our bill, "who among our Funtastic kind would you like along heading into the fall?"

"Let's not forget that Peter Potamus is planning to have us along with his merry band of divers come the fall for some diving over in the Caribbean," Huck reminded me.

"Thanks, Huck," saith I, "for bringing this reminder up."

*************

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[taiblogcomics]

The Plot Meanders On

Hey there, vengeful women and basementable men. It's December already! Time might be flying, but Countdown trudges on apace. I haven't looked ahead, but god I hope this issue's a break. We need it.

Here's the cover:

Yeah, an exasperated "Oh, for goodness' sake" is probably the best reaction to this cover. Like, I'm all for the equal representation and the flip of the usual dynamic of the "leg cling" poster pose (that part is a fun concept, don't get me wrong!), but Granny Goodness and Desaad are definitely nobody's favourite Fourth World characters. Given how terrible this series is and has been, I don't think splashing these two on the cover is quite the selling point. Especially when Trickster just got shot last issue. Like, that'd probably be spoilers for the cover, but guess what, Granny Goodness being in this is also spoilers. We'll get to it~

Here's the recap: As alluded, Pied Piper and Trickster's run from the law has ended in tragedy. Holly Robinson and Harley Quinn's trip to an Amazon camp has ended in hard labour. Mary Marvel's gift of new powers has ended in being sold to Darkseid. Jimmy Olsen's trip to Apokalips has ended with a visit to the firepits. Karate Kid and Una's trip to Bludhaven ended when Desaad possessed Firestorm for a hot minute. The Multiverse Crew's search for Ray Palmer has not yet ended. And neither has this interminably long comic review~

So in case you weren't sure last time if Trickster was really dead or not, this issue opens with Pied Piper screaming over his bleeding corpse. He even tries tugging on the electrocution cuffs to try and restart Trickster's heart with the electric shock, but it's no good. The poor guy begins to break down, and you can see him speedrunning the five stages of grief. He goes through denial and then anger pretty quick, but then he has to get to acceptance in record time because the cuffs then announce that since one of them has died, it's going to self-destruct in 24 hours.

This transitions to Desaad musing over Darkseid's action figure display, which appears to be tiered now. Before it was just a chessboard, now it has levels. Hey, I wouldn't say it's incorrect to say Darkseid plays 3D chess, but it's a little on the nose. His musings about the fragility of life gives way to bickering with Granny Goodness over who has Darkseid's favour, and Desaad outright mocks her current plan of training humans to become new Female Furies. Granny merely responds she follows Darkseid's will whatever form it takes, turning into Athena as she does so, to illustrate the point.

Yeah. Remember that cover spoiler I mentioned? Here you go: Athena has been Granny Goodness this entire time. Like, there's no build-up or foreshadowing to this reveal, they just dump it on you. Like, Athena's been mildly sinister through the whole story, but I don't think it's anything you couldn't attribute to Greek godhood until now. But rather than a Greek god, she's actually a New God! It's just so… unceremonious. And on that bombshell, Granny/Athena warps out, noting to Desaad that the real Greek gods still resist their captivity, suggesting harsher measures.

Anyway, speaking of Granny's grand plan, we cut over to Paradise Island where Holly Robinson and Harley Quinn are now running an obstacle course. Finally back with the most neglected storyline in this entire affair. While the pair clambor over a steep obstacle, Harley expresses her enjoyment with this entire scenario. She feels exhilirated, no longer bound by rules or having anyone tell her what to do. This is just after a guard atop a watchtower has yelled at them to keep moving and running the course, so it's either meant to be ironic or Harley being an idiot. Take your pick.

Speaking of being an idiot, Harley then decides at this point to go AWOL, hopping the chainlink fence and running towards a nearby cave. An exasperated Holly can only follow her. She even lampshades that two unarmed women entering a pitch-black cave always goes well in the movies. And since Harley chipperly agrees and marches right in, I think we are supposed to think Harley is an idiot in this story. Honestly, it's the only way some writers know how to characterise her. As a viewer, we also see a silhouette of a sword-wielding person in the cave, but since they're escaping the training camp secretly run by Granny Goodness, this probably isn't actually threatening.

You might've noticed the Earth-12 logo on the cover, and you know what that means. The Multiverse Crew have dropped in on another Earth in the multiverse. This time, it's the Batman Beyond reality. But instead of doing anything interesting with this, Jason, Kyle, and Donna just watch Terry McGinnis/Batman beat guys up from on top of a building. They're not here to interact, they're just looking for Ray Palmer. Frankly, this could be any Earth. (Except Earth-15, I guess, because that blew up.) And just as Jason Todd starts musing they should leave now, they're interrupted by a bright light behind them.

It's another Monitor. Bob (our Monitor, in case you forgot) is astonished, and only becomes moreso when this Monitor reveals he's here on Solomon's behalf. This guy's essentially here to extend the invitation to Bob to join Solomon's cause, as all the other Monitors have. Bob declines, on two grounds: he thinks Solomon is a zealot, and he's not done with his own mission. Other Monitor says Ray Palmer is of no consequence, but Jason tries to interject that they're saving the multiverse. Other Monitor knocks him out, and when he then attempts to go in for the kill, Bob stands in his way.

The pair do a fight-and-argue for a few pages, until eventually Kyle Rayner blocks them off. Bob insists it's between the two of them, but Kyle asserts that they're a team. A crew. A couple of multiverse pals, if you will. Bob blasts Other Monitor through Kyle's barrier, and the group takes the opportunity to escape, disappearing into the Bleed, the space between universes. Bob muses that the other guy let too much slip, and he's now sure exactly where Ray Palmer is. Meanwhile, the other guy swears he'll pursue them anywhere, naming himself Nix Uotan in the process, saving me some naming trouble for later~

Now we go back to Bludhaven with Karate Kid and friends. In previous issues, all the characters had high-tech containment suits due to Bludhaving being a radioactive hellhole. This issue's artist didn't get the memo, and everyone's in their civilian clothing, including non-superheroes Buddy Blank and his grandson. Regardless, though, Firestorm reforms and turns all the Atomic Knights' suits into stone or metal or something, thus proving my point about him being easily able to end their fight. Firestorm's kind of OP is what I'm saying~

The group wanders on, eventually finding a security hatch, which Karate Kid attempts to open. Some force scans him when he touches it, and over where they're storing Brother Eye, all the soldiers in the facility turn into OMACs, the nano-machine-armoured minions Brother Eye commands. Reading out various diagnostics, Brother Eye vibrates the whole mountain facility and shakes himself loose. He's a giant flying metal sphere, and now he's loose. The comic ends with Brother Eye preparing to fly to Karate Kid's location, noting he is the carrier of the Morticoccus virus, and announcing "Eye am the shepard. Eye am the way." Oh, it's never good when your machines start to get religious…

Well... Nothing significantly horrible happened in this issue, at least! We had three horrible issues in a row, and frankly I dunno what I would've done if this had been one as well. We must be in that wind-down period, where stuff stops happening for a while. The most we really got out of this one is the most un-set-up, left-field reveal of all time, which is at least something of note. Like, I guess so, anyway.

Any issue of Countdown that doesn't fill me with apoplectic disgust is a good one in my books~