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phoenixtakaramono · 1 year ago

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Kittens, I’ll be honest, I am getting a wee annoyed at the one remaining shadowban on my Twitter acc persisting. *stares mournfully* I just wanna post art on both of my socials and/or perform experiments to see if I can continue freely updating my little spontaneous drabbles threadfics. 😑

On the flip side, it’s been a nice one week social media break from Twitter lol. Then the shadowban got reinstated when I tweeted a pic of being freed from the Shadow Realm, which is very ironic and hilarious in hindsight. So if you saw that pic and then noticed me immediately ceasing all activity ever since, this is why.

Presumably after a couple more days or 1 week of inactivity (hopefully this doesn’t last 1 year), it should be all green again. I’ll probably wait a couple more days to 1 week more max before tweeting anything.

In the meanwhile, current plans for my stories after I come back from my writing break:

Truce ch3 will be next to be updated. The temptation is really strong to wait till S4 of The Boys airs because there’s a small part of me that’s afraid of conflicting what’ll undoubtedly be presented differently in canon, but I’ve been pacifying the urge by watching Gen V with the Boyscord boys. If you notice, there’ve already been mentions of Sister Sage, Firecracker, and even Tek Knight (*coughs* TK is more subtle because he’s only been indirectly foreshadowed via SwingWing in ch2 for ch3 and not outrightly mentioned unlike SS and F) in Truce. And watching Gen V, thankfully, has given me good ammo with the characterization of TK at least and given me food for thought with the Supe virus that’d been in the late Dr. Edison Cardosa’s possession now being in Victoria Neuman’s possession (*coughs* I can see the future bioweapon potential, especially if/when Billy gets his hands on it and he’s gone off the deep end).

I will do my best to keep Truce contained to 4 chapters only. *knocks on wood 3x* I did mention it’s essentially 12 chapters being condensed into 3, which then became 4 because I’d ultimately decided for chapter 2 to be split into two parts (ch2 and ch3). But at the end of the day, this was always intended to be a PWP and as a sort of gateway fic for people to be more interested in The Boys (TV) and spreading interest of this small enemies-to-lovers rarepair I’ve come to just adore. Somehow the self-indulgent fic where I’m just writing shameless old men p*rn became what it is today, haha, but I’m the type of writer who prioritizes “plot” and “character study” and worldbuilding so in retrospect it’s very on brand for me to write p*rn with some serviceable plot, haha.

After ch 3 is updated, unless I desperately need to take a break and jump to another fandom for a bit (*coughs* SVSSS), ch4 should be next to be worked on. This is also if I’m not hit by the strong urge to work on TNotG ch2. So what’ll come next after updating ch3 will be dependent on burnout and what strikes my writer’s whim.

But after ch4 is published and, hence, having finally completed the Truce saga (there will be a future Wedding oneshot I’ll write that takes place post-Truce universe and after a timeskip of events that won’t be covered in Truce because otherwise it’d be turned into a full on 20+ chapters, but that oneshot follow-up will be written sometime later), unless I’m heavily feeling TNotG (which is a real high possibility), what’ll be next to be updated is my Bingyuan magnum opus: The Untold Tale.

I’d written a little April Fools 2023 threadfic for TUT ch6 so if you’ve read it, you know what to expect. We’re bringing in Shen Yuan’s divine family. If there’s one thing I personally don’t like in my own writings, it’s having OCs in my stories unless it’s strictly necessary—so to strike a happy medium I’m bringing in technically canon characters (his parents, two older brothers, and little sister) but turned into PIDW fictional versions of “Shen Yuan’s” family, so technically this is my personal go-around to trick my own brain to not see them as OCs. There’ll also be a scene involving Bing gē. All and all, TUT ch6 is more of a transition and set-up chapter for the more exciting ch7, where we will get to see the transmigrated royal Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky for the first time. And I will have an illustration of him and potentially Mobei jūn. But before we can get to the exciting chapter, ch6 has to exist first, haha. But I hope when I return—jfc, I see 1.5K of you have bookmarked this fic 😳 I am honored but also a little nervous, haha—that you’ll still love the story. <3 Having been in The Boys fandom for awhile with its modern lingo, I hope you don’t mind if I take the time reimmersing myself into the headspace of TUT’s C-novelesque writing style. It might take some time but the payoff will be worth it. <3 Because I do notice quite a few of you lauded the writing style of TUT in your Bookmark notes. Which I am quite appreciative for and humbled by, though it does require me to be in the mindset to write intentionally flowery prose, haha.

It’s during this time, since Truce will be completed at this junction of time, I should be slowly migrating over the four threadfics from my Twitter to AO3. If you know, you know. Three of them, as I said, will be adapted into long fics (the M3GAN-inspired AU, the Fix-It AU, and the Sugar Baby AU). I’ll categorize them under what I’ll likely be calling either the Who Dares Wins series (‘cause it’s the SAS motto, y’get it? *wink wink nudge nudge*) or the Shock and Awe series (because it’s also another military operation name). Whichever I choose, it’s because Scorched Earth had already been taken so to be unique, I gotta go for something else cheeky but hopefully easy to remember by—aka the series of AO3 fics adapted from my Twitter threadfics. <— The only caveat is if I discover writing threadfics on Twitter will still get me shadowbanned. If this is the case, then I will be relocating them early after my experiment has been conducted even before Truce ch3-4 and TUT ch6 are written. There’ll be no real update schedule right now for them; these fics will be updated spontaneously because 80% of the content is being adapted from content that’ve already been written so it’s a bit easier for me to crank out (it’ll just need to be polished). What’ll be slow is if there are any new story content that’ll be added to the polished long fic versions.

Lastly, what’ll be next after TUT ch6, unless I’m very excited to get started on TUT ch7, is a toss-up between updating A Prince and His Baron and The Name of the Game. It depends on where my creative whim oscillates to at this junction of time.

So this is the plan! Take it with a grain of salt for now if a different story of mine will be strongly speaking to me and I change my mind later on, but this is the current list I have of my update schedule, adhering to the pinned post on my tumblr. ✨

#phoenix talks #TNotG (bc it’s so long projected at 135ch) is a special case #so I might decide to update it between each different WIP chapter update #the 🧵fics turned AO3 long fics will be updated spontaneously #the idea is to have the majority written on Twitter & still be updated on Twitter #whilst the polished versions are being slowly posted with more details & in past tense #and with potentially new content added #TUT is also one of the fics I wanna legitimately finish; thankfully it’s just ~20+ ch

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manonamora-if · 2 years ago

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My entry to the French IF Comp is out! Play it here!

It has dark stuff, puzzles, suspense... and an unexpected end :P

You can vote for the French IF Comp until the end of February! (please go vote, the games are really cool!)

(also I saw a funny Chicken picture, and I had to submit to this other jam for the lolz. Like the SeedComp! prompt, you can use that one however you want! It's under the CC-BY license)

Fixed :

some visual issues with small height non-mobile screens

settings in the light mode, and labelling overall

title page small edits

Reloading the page will only give you the logo

the glitchy text in Chapter 3 is fixed (it now works! if you have the setting turned on)

MelS wrote quite a bit this week too! We've passed 8k words.

I don't have any substantial story update to give yet... but I've still some a tiny bit of coding work:

Some visual issues are getting fixed (similar ones to TTATEH + others).

2 new fonts will be included: a monospace and Atkinson Hyperlegible.

I am also adding Keybindings to the main story (the Codex Pages will be a bit tricky, as of now they won't work) for computer play.

I will be changing the code for the notification to a more aria/screen-reader friendly (and there's a lot of them)

A big bug found in the last update of TTATEH has turn up in CRWL too, so that's getting fixed...

Some other bugs raised lately have to be checked out...

OH and the biggest thing: I am adding custom pronouns AND give the choice for the player to choose their title (liege, lord, lady) regardless of their genre :D

Anyway, the Settings, the whole Prologue and Scene 1 is clear. I have started Scene2. Going through the scenes is a bit dull and repetitive (there's 1.5k lines of code for each scene on average), but I am chipping away at it.

Nothing big actually. Just added 2 fonts : a Garamond like and the Atkinson Hyperlegible.

No I haven't forgotten P-RIX. I've been fighting its code all this time...

Anyway, the UI will be changing slightly to give more space for the text (less scrolling, especially on bigger font sizes). The background has also changed (especially the stars looking less like rain, lol). And the radar actually works this time too!

And I've been testing a Mobile portrait version (finally!), which will not include the background, but will be much easier to play!

[It'll be the next UI template too, but bare]

This is the first update of February, so here's a little run-down of what to expect here this month:

a small CRWL update (general UI and bug-fixing)

a P-Rix update (UI for sure, extra content maybe? time will tell)

my SeedComp! entry (if I manage, it will be Gonch-short)

Onto some other IF related information:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~IFDB AWARDS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The IFDB Awards are ongoing. You can vote for Outstanding entries published in 2022 until the 17th of February!

Check out this post for more information. This is the first year of this award, so the turn out will decide what will happen to it (or at least some categories) next year. Please go vote! (I have like 7 games that are eligible this year, some have appeared on the polls already, it's neat :P )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SEEDCOMP !~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are about 3 weeks left on the Sprouting Round of the @seedcomp-if ! Come join and create a little game. :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SPRING THING~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Spring Thing 2023 Edition is officially open. You can register your intent until March 1st !

~~~~~~

I've updated the Coding Support list too!

And that's it :P Been a pretty productive week :)

#progress #dol-os #ttateh #the trials and tribulations of edward harcourt #crwl #crimson rose and white lily #meeting the parents #mtp #p-rix - space trucker #p-st #seedcomp #ifdb #awards #spring thing

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arcthebreeder · 1 year ago

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Log_25.TXT

09/07/2023, 00:11 (GMT-5)

I have something... odd, to talk about, I just got back from the train station, yes, this late at night, and I have a reason.

In one of my recent posts I've mentioned that the Gammamon at the train station told me that they feel something "odd" at night, wandering around the place, so I decided it was a good idea to go and check it out, even tho it isn't, not just because of what they feel, but because the train station is a pretty unsafe place to be around at night, and honestly was more scared of getting robbed or worse than any "curse" that may be haunting the place, although, I may be a bit more scared about that last one now.

When I arrived at the train station I was greeted by the Gammamon brothers and a warning on my Digimon DOCK, an unpleasant beeping that made almost every digimon on the team take a fighting stance, including the two Gammamon, and then we were attacked by a rain of bat-like shadows, and then it appears before our eyes. Vamdemon.

Vamdemon is a Perfect level, vampire like Digimon that is only hyped to be strong, but is usually pretty average, however, this one was astonishingly strong, both Cannondramon and Growmon tried to attack him once we saw him, and he managed to easily take them both without that much effort, granted, he is one stage higher than Growmon but Cannondramon? Even with attribute advantage must have struggled at least one bit due to the stage difference...

After that, he gave us a speech I will publish later, since I have the transcription thanks to Kuzuhamon's Kuda-Gitsune, but as a summary, he uttered some nonsense about he trying to spread a virus all over the internet... I don't know exactly what it is but I'm almost 100% sure it doesn't have to do anything with the DMOs, so I'll have to do some research on that too, this is only getting worse and worse as time goes by, and I don't know if our current abilities are enough to fight both whatever the hell the police is doing and this sectary freak, but no matter what, I'll keep you updated.

ATT: ARC

#digimon #blog #blog entry #coding #larp #story #fictional world #fighting #vamdemon #curse #mistery #digimon vpet #vpet

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intheshadowofwar · 1 year ago

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24 June 2023

The Best Seat in the House

Gallipoli 24 June 2023

One thing I try to emphasise whenever I discuss it was how pointless the Gallipoli Campaign really was. What ifs are popular in military history; what if Napoleon had attacked Wellington at 11am instead of 1pm at Waterloo? What if the Nijmegen Bridge had been captured on the first day of Operation Market Garden? At Waterloo and Nijmegen, these counterfactuals have merit; there is a legitimate possibility that these actions could have altered the outcome of the battle. There is no such merit here - there’s no road to Constantinople from the Sari Bair Ridge. There isn’t even a road to the Dardanelles.

We departed at 8.30am and headed to the nucleus of Australian commemoration at Gallipoli - Lone Pine. Lone Pine was technically one of the very few - indeed, probably the only - successes of the so-called August Offensive. We’re going to be talking about August a lot, so here’s a quick rundown of what happened.

Wars are conducted on three layers; tactical, operational and strategic. August had a vague strategic objective - the Sari Bair Ridge and Chanak Bair in particular - but the operational objective was nearly nonexistent. Very little thought seems to have been put into what was meant to happen once the ridge was captured, and there remained a significant distance from there to the Dardanelles. As for the tactical layer, the objectives were clear enough, but the execution of the attacks were mediocre at best and catastrophically incompetent at worst. The failure of the August Offensive lead to the sacking of Hamilton and, in time, the abandonment of the whole campaign.

Lone Pine was carried, but it was largely a diversion for the main efforts elsewhere, which rather rendered the whole thing a pointless waste of life. Nevertheless, the fact that it was technically a victory counts a lot in Australian memory, and it was inevitable that the main Australian memorial would be built here. As far as memorials go, it’s almost underwhelming compared to the poignance of the Beach Cemetaries or Shrapnel Gully, and it lacks the architectural interest of the memorial at Helles. It surprises me that perhaps the most sacred of the Australian memorials, save for the AWM and Villers-Bretanneux, didn’t speak much to be. Perhaps it’s simply that I’m reaching a point where one tower with a cross etched on it starts to look a lot like all the others.

We walked from Lone Pine down to Artillery Road. As the name implies, this road was used to lug artillery guns up to the heights, a backbreaking task in rough terrain. The roughness of the trail, I am told, remained evident as late as 2019, but the authorities have now widened it significantly, creating a great scar in the land from Lone Pine to Anzac Cove. It’s worth noting that this widening project was almost certainly the brainchild of the Australian government - or was at very least done with their support.

On the way down, we stopped at Shell Green. This is one of those places that ended up enshrined in Anzac folklore - it was here, on the last days of the campaign, that Australian troops played cricket under the eyes of the enemy to convince them that they meant to stick around. It’s said that the watching Turks chose sides and cheered along. Here we discussed the concept of emotional truth and accuracy in regards to memoirs; a key rule to interrogating memoirs is that not every inaccuracy is a bald-faced lie. A man might write that he came ashore on the 25th of April but may actually have come ashore on the 27th, but through the vagaries of memory he might believe he came in on the landing day - or a publisher may simply change the date to sell copies of the book. In any case, the date doesn’t matter so much as his experiences - we don’t need to know the exact time a man saw his brother blown to pieces. In such a situation I can think of nothing that matters less.

Shortly thereafter we found some turtles.

At the end of Artillery Road we rejoined the bus and drove to Beach Cemetary, not to be confused with Beach Cemetary - there’s two of them. This Beach Cemetary, which is a little south of the other one, is where Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick is buried. All Australians know the story of the great Aussie battler with his donkey, going out under fire to save his wounded mates until he is eventually killed in the line of duty. A true, blue Australian and an Anzac. There’s just one problem - nearly none of that is true. He absolutely did help the wounded, with a number of donkeys, but he was one of dozens of others carrying out this vital work and wasn’t terribly exceptional in this regard. Brave though he was, he didn’t join the AIF out of patriotism for country or empire - in fact he despised the empire - and fully intended to desert once the Australians made it to London. The reason for this, and the big kicker, is that Simpson, that greatest Australian hero, was an Englishman.

The great absurdity is that Simpson, a English socialist who’d deserted a merchant ship four years earlier, somehow ended up being picked up by both the Red Cross and Australia as an example of the bravery of all the medics and the stretcher bearers, and was inflated to such a point that the person on the street now probably believes there only ever was one stretcher-bearer at Gallipoli. This is not such a great thing for the scores of other men buried at Beach Cemetary - Australian, New Zealander, British and Indian - as Simpson catches the lion’s share of everyone’s attention. The entire thing is a little bit insane, and runs contrary to the idea of Anzac as an egalitarian tradition.

After a brief stop at Embarkation Pier (where there is no pier and where nobody actually embarked) we returned to the hotel to wait out the heat of the day. At 4.30pm we reconvened at the hotel library, watched the last third of Peter Weir’s Gallipoli, and headed back to the Second Ridge to Quinn’s Post.

There are thousands of men buried on the Gallipoli Peninsular - tens of thousands in fact. All of them are equal in death. Yet there is one that I had to elevate above the others - and that is because he’s one of mine. Private D. H. Ellem, 15th Battalion, landed on the first day of the campaign. He was at Gallipoli for a week, and was killed at Quinn’s Post on the 1st of May 1915. There he remains. Quinn’s Post was the site of some of the most violent fighting of the campaign - it was called ‘the Haunted House,’ for the cries of the wounded there echoed all around. Private Thomas Charles Scates of the Royal Marines described it simply as a ‘death trap.’ Today, the view of the endless sea is astounding, especially from Private Ellem’s position. He sits right in front of the great memorial stone at the head of the cemetery. It is the best seat in the house.

Before photographs, families would lay a sheet of paper over the grave of a loved one and shade it with a pencil, creating an imprint that they could take home. I did that, and poured a little water at his grave. I wonder if he would appreciate this person, with whom he shared nothing but a tenuous link of blood, paying him such attention. I wonder why I, who never met this man or saw anything more of him but a grainy photograph on Trove, was so affected by this moment. I suppose, for a brief moment in that golden evening sunshine, the mountains of dead of the First World War had a name and a face.

Dave was nineteen years old.

A little way down from Quinn’s Post is the memorial to the Ottoman 57th Regiment, which was nearly annihiliated at Gallipoli and subsequently destroyed in Palestine. It’s this regiment that Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk) gave that famous command - ‘I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die.’ (The rest of his quote explains that the time that it takes for ‘us’ - he includes himself in this equation - to die will give the army time to send reinforcements.) The 57th are heroes in Turkey, as they’re the ones who - alongside the 27th Regiment - held the attack at Anzac. We stopped here for a discussion of Gallipoli’s place in modern Turkish politics, and I strategically stood a few meters away in case any passersby took any exception to what we were saying.

We continued past the memorial to Sergeant Mehmet. What did Sergeant Mehmet do? To be honest, most of it’s in Turkish and the English placard doesn’t really say what he did, apart from that he was brave. I suppose it’s not really meant for wandering Australians.

A little way past that is the Nek. No other word in the Australian lexicon, save Fromelles, invites such horror. The Nek was about the furthest the Australians made it on the Second Ridge, and as a result was one of the most heavily defended places on the Ottoman line. It was attacked in the August Offensive as a diversion for the New Zealand attack on Chanak Bair. This attack was actually postponed by a day, but nobody seems to have told the Australians. The idea was that two battalions of the Light Horse, the 8th and the 10th (who fought dismounted at Gallipoli), would attack the Nek to draw forces away from Chanak Bair. In order to faciliate success, the Turkish positions would be shelled. A failure to synchronise watches led the (already fairly enemic) bombardment to end to early, allowing the Turks to reoccupy their positions. Despite this, Major Antil, commanding the operation, gave orders for the first wave to attack. Lt. Col. Alexander White bravely led his men over the top and was pretty much immediately killed. This act of heroism meant that there was nobody around to stop Antil from obstinately ordering the second wave over the top, and then a third, and part of a fourth before sanity finally reigned. 372 men were killed and wounded in an area of about twenty yards.

It is the most tragically easy battlefield walk I’ve ever taken - ten seconds from one side to another.

The Nek also overlooks Suvla Bay, the great scapegoat of August. The traditional orthodoxy of the Anzac legend is that the suffering and death of the Lone Pine, the Nek and Chanak Bair were rendered useless by the tepid, casual advance of the British at Suvla - as can be seen by the communications officer in Gallipoli telling the general that they’re ‘drinking tea on the beach.’ This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the August Campaign. Suvla was never the main drive of the offensive - the idea was to create a supply base for future offensives that largely existed in the dreams of Hamilton and Birdwood. Sari Bair was the main assault, and very little that went on at Suvla really affected it. As for lethargy, it’s true that the commander of the British IX Corps, General Sir Frederick Stopford, was a geriatric incompetent who should never have been brought out of retirement, but his men were involved in hard fighting from the morning of the landing. Considering most of them had gotten debilitating diahhrea at Mudros on the way in, the fact that they managed to establish a workable perimeter at Suvla was nothing at all to sneeze at. I was given free reign to give my patented Suvla rant with the actual Suvla Bay in the background, which was a pretty special experience.

We walked to Russell’s Top from there and took some pictures, and then rushed in fading light to Chanak Bair, our final stop of the day. Here is dialogical memorialisation at it’s most stark. The New Zealanders built an impressive cylindrical structure at the point they captured and held on the top of the hill. The Turks built a gigantic statue of Ataturk that stares it down. The New Zealand mythology is that they took the hill, and were then relieved by the British who lost it. This isn’t necessarily wrong, but it’s worth noting that Chanak Bair was an untenable position. Nobody could have held this for long. On Chanak Bair you are completely exposed to enemy fire. You can’t even dig in, as the ground is too hard. It was inevitable that the British would be thrown off; and when they were, the casualties were enormous. As one final insult to injury, the retreating British troops were fired on by New Zealand machine gunners. This was a colossal military disaster. And yet the New Zealanders eventually chose, when the time came to build their memorial, to bury their dead on the eastern side of the hill, overlooking the Dardanelles - to capture in death what was unassailable in life.

We returned to the hotel after that. Tomorrow, we are told, will be an easy day. We’ll bus to Troy, visit the Turkish town of Canakkale, and then do… something or another in the evening. It also means that I might be able to write a log that isn’t a massive wall of text - but we will have to see…

#first world war #gallipoli #study tour

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quartings · 1 year ago

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Announcements and resolutions for 2024!

For all followers of this blog, here are some art, animations, and more to expect for the coming year!

Firstly, I hope I posted enough Pokemon Adventures content here in 2023. Despite promising a lot last year, the big delay before the first SV chapter and the even longer delay until we finally saw Scarlet really put a lot of my planned fanart on hold. Hopefully I’ll be able to post even more Pokespe stuff this year now that ORAS will finally be starting in English, finishing in Japanese, and SV continues! And depending on what the Pokemon games do next, I may have even more Pokemon stuff to post!

To make it up to you all, I recently released an Indigo Disk animated short last week, and will be releasing another animation really soon with Pokemon Adventures characters! Definitely check them out, I worked really hard on them and I hope you like them!

I don’t know how many shows of 2024 I’m excited for- the only thing on the horizon is the Pseudo Harem anime, so maybe I’ll do fanart of that? There’s some other smaller series I may watch but nothing as major. Also, Creature Commandos is set to launch in late 2024 so hopefully that’s a good source of artistic inspiration, too!

Sadly, since my original animated short film Wishful Thinking is still at film festival judging, I can’t post it yet. But as mentioned last year, I will now start working on a teaser and promo material for it to post 100% before the year ends!

As for New Years resolutions, here’s some stuff I want to get done before the end of 2024:

Voice in at least 2 new projects for my Youtube channel, more if possible.

Collaborate with at least one new VA friend on one of those projects.

As I continue trying to navigate working in the animation industry to become an animated series showrunner, I appreciate all your support here! And also your patience with any delays as I try to become a proper working adult, haha.

For a final project- this isn’t just a rough idea, but I’m thinking of finally taking my Eris series to a professional level! I’m just stuck deciding if it should be-

A comic book that I try to officially publish

A webtoon that I then try to convert to other mediums if it becomes popular

A series of animated shorts

If any of you have any suggestions on what I should do, please let me know! I know most of my audience would prefer if I did more Pokemon animations (and trust me, I still will!) but I also want to make a living- and preferably off my OC stuff, too!

Conversely, I could slow down on animations and instead do Improvemonth 2, where I do one solid month of training my art to improve it and post the results here, so my future comics and animations can be even better! Here’s the link to my last one, and if you think I should go for it again, let me know!

I will say though, I think 2025 will be a bigger year than 2024- Superman Legacy releases then, I can finally post Wishful Thinking around then, we’ll be closer to more big game releases, and it’ll be the 10th anniversary of this blog!

And finally, if you’re a fan of any of my art or series (especially any of my OC stuff) this is your chance to let me know what you want to see more of! No guarantee that I’ll do it, but it’s always good hearing more from you!

#q speaks #wishful thinking #eris goddess of chaos #update

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act-novel · 2 years ago

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Development Notes #3 | First Layer, Two Weeks Later

Note: This post was originally published on act-novel.itch.io on March 14th, 2023. It has been carried over to this blog for posterity.

Hello, this is Garrett Thompson, sole member of Act-Novel.

At this time of writing, it has been two weeks since Version 1 of Reality Layer Zero was uploaded to itch.io. I think now is a good time to go over how the game's been doing in that period, and how the development of the second layer is progressing in the meantime.

- Lead-up to Release -

Oh no!

The night before February 28th (the day I declared would be the release day for the first layer in the previous Development Notes entry), I uncovered a number of late-breaking issues with the then-release-candidate build. Specifically, I found four critical issues in three separate corners of the code. Two of the four were related to the deck editor (pictured above), one was related to the "continue" option on the main menu (you couldn't select "continue" if you only had an autosave file saved-- clearly a bug!), and one was related to the end-of-layer savegame prompt (which would save your game... and then promptly crash it if you had more "cleared" save files than "in-progress" save files on your hard drive).

I was up pretty late fixing all of those the night they turned up. As I'll mention later, this wasn't quiiiite the extent of the "critical errors" in version 1... But it was pretty close, I think.

- Release Day -

It's been a while since I last uploaded a project to itch (hey, what could this be?), but fortunately the actual deployment process isn't too complicated. I basically just zipped the game files, pointed Butler at 'em, and that was that. In retrospect, I may have zipped too many files-- most of the game's music is actually in the deployed zip archive twice-- once in the packed "data" file (which the game actually uses) and once in an external "Audio/music" folder (which... I'm pretty sure doesn't even get looked at by the game code, but which you can use to listen to outside of the game... y'know, if you want to...) Since this makes the zip file bigger than it needs to be, it may be necessary to remove the external audio in later updates-- both to avoid scaring people off with a large initial download and to potentially get around having to ask itch directly for more upload space (not that I think they wouldn't grant me that, just out of courtesy).

The actual day of release was a mostly-quiet affair. Most of the traffic the game page saw was from the post I made on the itch community forums, and from links I sent to various friends and acquaintances who did not participate in the Steam beta. For day 1, I was fine with this, since I mostly just wanted to sleep and not think about Reality Layer Zero too much. In the coming days, though...

- In the coming days, though... -

Ded. (Suspiciously-cropped graph?)

For the first five days following release, Reality Layer Zero garnered 87 page views and 10 downloads. 2 of those downloads were both me, downloading the game on different machines to make sure the files were uploaded successfully, and at least two others were from people who I know directly, so really it was more like 6 downloads. Now, while that's not zero, it was less than half of the number of people who participated in the Steam beta test. Aside from being a bit disappointed at having made something ostensibly unpopular, I was also skeptical that the practical purpose of the itch release-- which was to hopefully catch errors before releasing the first layer into the wild as a Steam demo-- would be successfully fulfilled.

So basically I stared posting to Reddit. This is sort of bad etiquette on my part, since I'm not very active on Reddit and a lot of my post history is, well, posting about my other projects-- but I followed the rules otherwise and generally posted high-effort content (either custom video edits or, in the case of r/games, an appropriately-formatted and tagged self-post), and in short, nobody seemed to mind too much.

This started to drive some traffic toward the Reality Layer Zero itch page. Not a lot, just some. The click-through-rate was *very* low from Reddit to Itch, but pageviews and downloads both were undeniably better than on previous days. On both March 6th and March 8th, Reality Layer Zero was downloaded nine times, and for all other days in the period between the 5th and the 11th, between one and three times. In a less confusing way of putting that, 12 days after launch, the game had garnered 45 downloads and 446 pageviews. At this point, I considered things were doing alright.

- Patching, Continued Development -

Technically, this isn't a gameplay spoiler since this guy actually got moved since this screenshot was taken!

During this period of sustained promotion, a player was kind enough to bring a crash in the deck editor to my attention. This was the other critical error I alluded to earlier in this post. I'm pretty sure Paulby knew about me from the Applewood days, so I'm not sure if I can chalk this event up as a direct consequence of the promotion or not, but it was nevertheless precisely the thing I wanted to see-- well, perhaps not "wanted", per-se, but, uh... It's the second-best possible outcome! (the first being, of course, the mythical bug-free program) This, as well as several other errors and quality-of-life issues, were addressed in Reality Layer Zero's first patch.

Also during this period, I found some time to start working on the art for the second layer. It took about five days, but I completed illustrations for all of the newly-obtainable argument cards currently planned for that layer. For card illustrations, the actual "illustration" part doesn't take *thaaaat* much time (due to the small canvas size), but figuring out an aesthetically-pleasing and thematically-appropriate composition can be quite time-consuming (and exhausting to boot). I'm looking forward to sharing these illustrations with players-- potentially you!-- when the second layer releases.

I have also-- as of Sunday, anyway-- started back into character design and character art production. I would have liked to get started on this earlier in the month, but the demands of patching and post-release promotion caused me a bit of a delay. I'd estimate I'm about a week behind schedule versus where I'd be if I had not released anything. That... is honestly not a big deal.

So, all-told, what are we looking at? 50-ish downloads, one patch, and development progressing reasonably-smoothly on the second layer? In other words, not an amazing release, but a decently-productive one. A real workmanlike release. That was going to be my conclusion for this Development Notes entry... until Monday, that is!

- Rocket Fuel?? -

The full, uncropped graph.Gamecube startup jingle.

Starting on Monday of this week (March 13th, precisely yesterday) I noticed a change in views and downloads-- specifically an upward trajectory, seemingly out of nowhere. For a moment, I considered the possibility that Itch had frontpaged the game, but that wasn't what happened (not that I'd complain if it did).

The best I can tell, the promotion I did on Reddit over the week leading up to Monday had an accumulatory effect on Reality Layer Zero's popularity ranking on Itch, and on Monday it finally boiled over to the point where people simply browsing popular games (both in genre tags like Card Game and in the general "popular games" section) would reasonably, and in tangible quantities, stumble upon the game and chance a click. Or at least that's the story that the analytics seem to tell.

Another Reddit post (not made by me this time) was made during this period, but as far as I can tell had less of an impact than just the ambient traffic from the browse feature.

For a brief time-- possibly even now-- Reality Layer Zero actually surpassed games you've definitely heard of, like Deltarune and OneShot, in sitewide popularity. That's kind of nutty! It... probably won't stay that way for long! My prediction is that the game simply doesn't have a large-enough, dedicated-enough audience to sustain that level of interest for an extended period. I'd love to be wrong, of course, but for now I'm considering this just a temporary win.

Today has likewise been a pretty good day for traffic, although not as strong as Monday. Interest will... probably gradually return to baseline noise as the week continues. Hey, at least it was cool to watch this all happen in real time.

- Future Work -

Aaaagh, DirectX!!

Thanks to the efforts of my irreplaceable friends doing some testing that I'd be unable to do on my own, it seems that a VRAM bottleneck has been discovered in the current build. This might not be true for all GPU's with similar specs, but it seems that 2GB VRAM DDR3's on systems running Windows 10 will struggle to run the game-- and crash in exterior scenes-- with odds being good that it's due to lack of available memory. As it stands, it might be the case that at least a 3GB VRAM card is needed to run the current build-- or else one of those fancy "flexible memory" cards (e.g. the Intel Iris Xe) that I honestly don't know that much about. I'm going to try to optimize down to the 2GB DDR3 target-- my gut feeling is that a card with 2GB of VRAM ought to be able to run my simple 3D pixel game, so I probably just messed up somewhere. If you're currently rocking a 2GB card, sit tight! Hope hasn't died out for you! If you're working with even less... Well, dang.

- Conclusion -

It's been an eventful two weeks. Getting some attention after all of this time working in relative obscurity was a nice little reward for tolerating the many release-window annoyances that cropped up during this period. Although I'd still say "real" development has slowed down a little bit, it hasn't been by too much. While it's still too early to say whether the new players "like" the game or not, I have seen some good early signs...

I don't even know this guy! Probably!

Anyway, it's back to working on the second layer for me. In the meantime, why not try out the first layer for yourself if you haven't yet? You can also listen to the game's soundtrack on YouTube, if that's what you're about.

Thank you very much for reading!

#gamedev #indie games #indiedev #itch.io #release #development notes #technical #reality layer zero

0 notes

saffronapplemanga · 2 years ago

Text

Tenmaku no Jadoogar: A Witch’s Life in Mongol - 天幕のジャードゥーガル

HISTORICAL, DRAMA

Tenmaku no Jadoogar: A Witch's Life in Mongol by Tomato Soup

(1 volume, ongoing)

JP only. Hopefully, it gets licensed! Please hire me to translate this, publishing companies. The first 5 chapters are up for free in JP here.

Links to my other manga posts here

An Irani girl named Fatima who’s a captive of the Mongol Empire and uses her education to her advantage???

Hello, my name is Fatimah, I’m half Irani, and it’s finally my time >:)

I hope you guys are ready for history and cultural lessons! I worked really hard on this post and she’s a long one... I literally just came back from an Iran trip and got some books, took pictures, and consulted people who know more than me for this post (the trip wasn't for the post, that was a coincidence lolllll).

This series won first place in the オンナ編 (Female Category) for the このマンガがすごい！2023 / Kono Manga ga Sugoi 2023 / “This Manga is Amazing! 2023″. I’ve talked about the Male Category’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners. Check the links if you’re interested :)

This post will be broken up into the following sections - What's It About? - Some Background - Representation - My Localization Choices - Story - Art - Culture Time! - Let's Talk Religion - The First Word From God, "Read".

Enjoy!

What's It About?

I usually don't like to go into plot details too much so you can discover the story for yourself. But since it isn't currently accessible in English at all, I figured I’d summarize the first chapter so you at least know what it’s about. Then I’ll summarize the rest of the chapters in a spoiler section for those who are interested. That way, we can all be informed enough to discuss it. I might touch on themes or other things outside the first chapter in the discussion, but I’ll try to do it in a way that doesn’t spoil for those of you who want to wait and read it for yourselves.

Chapter 1

We kick off with a rather poetic reference to scholars using geometry to measure the earth and the idea of trying to quantify fate. In 13th-century Iran/Persia, in the city of Tous, we meet a family looking for a domestic worker. The family is a woman, Fatima, who is newly widowed, her son, Mohamed, and her brother. A slave trader offers her some options, but they are rather pricey. So he suggests she take a little girl, Sitara, for a heavily discounted price. The slave trader asks Fatima to educate Sitara since they are a scholarly family, so she does.

However, Sitara plays dumb to ensure her value as a slave stays low. That way, no one would bother taking her to faraway lands to sell her for higher prices as she wants to stay close to her home to try and go back. Sitara tries to sneak out and runs into Mohamed, who talks to her about why he thinks learning is so great. He inspires her to pursue an education so she can have the tools to handle whatever life throws at her. Mohamed wants to travel and learn from others to find the "truth" for himself. He promises Sitara that he'll write letters to her and his mother, which further inspires her to learn to read.

The chapter ends with Mohamed leaving Tous, and the narrator tells us it was the last time Mohamed and Sitara ever saw each other.

Chapters 2-5

I'm going to speed through the rest now that we got the setup out of the way.

***SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS 2-5***

8 years have passed since Mohamed left and Sitara has been pursuing an education under the direction of Fatima and her brother. While the Tous army is investigating strange activity near their borders, Fatima shows Sitara some things her late husband left behind such as books and astrology tools.

As the Mongols are closing in on Tous, Fatima and Sitara hunker down in a cellar to wait the threat out. Unfortunately, they're found, and one of the Mongol princes takes a book that belonged to Fatima's late husband. Sitara tries to stand up to him, causing her to be attacked. Fatima takes the blow, saying, "Don't touch my daughter," before passing away.

Tous is razed to the ground, and its citizens killed or driven out and forced to march to the Mongol camp. Sitara finds out that the city of Neyshabur, the city Mohamed is studying at, was also attacked. His whereabouts are unknown.

Interestingly, the Mongol prince was specifically looking for the book he took since his fiance had asked him for it. However, the book is in Persian and they are unable to read it. Sitara meets a boy who is interpreting for the Mongols in an effort to make himself more useful to avoid becoming a meat shield in battles for them. While he can speak Mongolian and Persian, he can't read. But, Sitara can. He asks her to team up with him to help each other become more valuable to their capturers. Sitara will read the stolen book, and the boy will translate. He suggests she come up with a more "elegant" or "majestic" name before presenting herself to the Mongol princes. She steps into their tent and introduces herself as "Fatima".

***END OF SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS 2-5***

Some Background

Quick disclaimer, I'm by no means an expert. A lot of this is what I know and what I've experienced. I might have to make some generalizations or else we're gonna be here all day.

I feel like I’m about to overshare but I want to offer my perspective on this series. I don’t get to do this often so indulge me please. This background is so you have an idea of some things that influenced my perspective on this story.

For those of you new around here, I'm a Kuwaiti/Irani, Japanese-to-English translator (I speak English, Arabic, and Japanese).

My parents know Farsi to varying degrees of fluency as a second language. I never learned it since their first language is Arabic and that was the language they focused on teaching me when I was little. They usually spoke Farsi if they wanted to keep me and my brother out of a conversation between adults, rude. But I can sometimes pick up on some things being said. One of my best friends is Irani-American (Her name is also Fatimah! It's a ridiculously popular name) and our experiences are quite different, but there's overlap as well!

For those of you who don't know where Kuwait is. It's a tiny little country in the northern end of the Persian Gulf in Western Asia. FYI "Mina" in "Mina Al Ahmadi," which you can see on the map, means "port".

Most of our Kuwaiti relatives have Irani roots and some Turkish. There are a lot of ethnic groups in Kuwait because it started out as a port city that was a part of the Silk Road network. (I actually wanna study the Silk Road more!) So lots of people from all over gathered there. There are afro-Kuwaitis, those with blonde hair and blue eyes (my mom's relatives are like this), those with more East Asian features (my cousins), those with darker features (my dad's side), etc.

The Silk Road in the 1st century, courtesy of Wikipedia. You can see the route going through Kuwait. It was specifically part of the Maritime Silk Road route.

Because of all the trade, you can see the influences of many other regions in the food, clothes, language, culture, and so on.

But, yeah! History is cool.

Representation

I am indeed one of those people who is annoyingly passionate about representation. Like, I could write a whole Master’s dissertation on why it’s so important, but I’ll spare you… for now. More eloquent people have already done so anyways.

As you can imagine, I’m not used to seeing myself represented in media. And any representation I did get, was… well, how do I put this… not great? Bad™ actually. Beyond racist tbh. So can you blame me for being excited? I’m still mad about that one episode of Grey’s Anatomy when that girl whipped off her scarf/hijab to save a patient IN A FULLY STOCKED HOSPITAL!!! That would NEVER happen ;_; like imagine if you pulled your pants off to put pressure on a wound when the gauze is literally right there. I CAN’T, where do I even begin??? But I digress.

And even if I wasn’t a person from this culture, it’s just cool to see rep we don’t usually get! For example, Requiem of the Rose King is fresh in my mind right now, but having an intersex main character is not something I recall seeing. While not intersex myself, nor a noble from ye olde times, I related to Richard a lot and appreciate what the story did. I can see people from other cultures relating to Tenmaku no Jadoogar, or simply just learning new things about a culture we don’t get to see a lot of rep about.

My Localization Choices

There are no official spellings for this manga, so some explanations as to why I wrote things the way I did. Thankfully, these are all real-world names with context, so I'm not pulling nonsense out of thin air. Localizing uncommon/made-up names is... hard... traumatic flashbacks to when I had to look up official spellings for Gundam and Kamen Rider and the client didn't give me glossaries... Literally did research about Sypha Belnandes' name localization being all over the place for this blog post. Spoiler, I don’t think it was supposed to be Belnandes.

It really be like that...

Sitara - シタラ "Shitara". This isn't a name I was familiar with, so I asked my mom and Irani-American friend if it sounded like a name they knew. I wanted to say "Sitra" sounds like something that has a more "West Asian pronunciation" than the Japanese pronunciation in the manga. I was wrong and it's "Sitara" which means "star" just like what they said in the story.

Fatima - ファーティマ "Fātima". Same as my name! It's a super popular name. I katakana-fied my name as ファティーマ, which is the same, I just put the dash that elongates the sound in a different place. Why? Fatima is an Arabic name فَاطِمَة. In classical Arabic, it's pronounced like Fā-dtee-ma or Fadt-ma in Kuwaiti Arabic (the letter طِ doesn't exist in EN/JP and the best way I can describe it is it's like D+T sound.) An Irani pronunciation is more like Fā-teh-meh, which is what my grandma and Irani-American friends call me. In English, I personally pronounce my name like Fuh-tee-ma, but people have various preferences. So basically, I took the Arabic and English pronunciations and katakana-fied it how I thought it would sound best in Japanese. And no one has ever pronounced my name wrong in Japan since katakana is phonetic and is actually pronounced how it's spelled. Wild I know. Meanwhile in the U.S. ... *cries* I have a half-Irani-half-Japanese acquaintance who doesn't put any elongated sound in her name like ファティマ, and it's all just preference tbh. There are also different ways you can spell it in English, but "Fatima" is the most common way.

Mohamed - モハンマド "Mohanmado". This one is pretty straightforward. I think most people are familiar with this name. Also super popular. There are various English spellings as well, so I just went with a common, shorter spelling (manga bubble space is limited after all, haha).

The title, 天幕のジャードゥーガル Tenmaku no Jadougal (this is how it's romanized on anilist), also doesn't have an official translation. It basically translates to Witch of the Marquee. Tenmaku="tent/marquee" in Japanese. ジャードゥーガル comes from جادوگر "jadoogar" meaning "witch" in Farsi. The romanization of the title should actually be Tenmaku no Jadoogar. There is no "L" in Japanese, so it often becomes "R". In Japanese, ジャードゥーガル is "Jādoogaru". Without context, it's often hard to tell if it's supposed to be "L" or "R" so I don't blame them for the mistake. But yeah, that's why I wrote it as Tenmaku no Jadoogar for the title at the top of the post. How do I contact the anilist admins about correcting that? The way my brain is short-circuiting trying to combine Japanese, English, my nonexistent Arabic reading skills since Farsi uses basically the same alphabet, and consulting my Farsi "sources"... my brain can only handle two of the three languages I speak at the same time...

Shout out to Fatimah #2 for putting up with all my questions <3 Farsi has some extra letters that aren't in Arabic and I didn't know about that one...

Story

I’m starting to realize that I really dig historical fiction. Things like Requiem of the Rose King (current read, I'm obsessed), Vinland Saga, Bride’s Story (a priority TBR of mine), and Ertugrul (this one is a Turkish drama, highly recommend!) are so fascinating because we get to take a peek at what life used to be like, especially if the author did their homework. This story reminds me of Ertugrul at times since they both take place in West Asia during the 13th century, and the characters in both had run-ins with the Mongols.

This baddie took out three Mongolian soldiers on her own!!! Well, her horse helped. Horses are great. I'm a horse girl, literally took riding lessons for ~4 years.

I found out while researching for this post that this story is in fact based on a real person in history! Here's the Wikipedia page, more info here by Dr. Jack Weatherford who wrote a book that I'm totally going to read once I can get my hands on it. I think this manga is going in a similar vein as Vinland Saga where the events are real historical events, and some characters were actual people in history, but the author is going to take creative liberties. (Check out Merphy Napier and Philip Chase's Vinland Saga discussions. They're great and Philip has a lot of historical knowledge relevant to that series that's super informative!)

The characters are lovable and interesting. I like Sitara's spunk, Mohamed's thoughtfulness, and Fatima's gentle nature, just to name a few. The relationship Sitara has with Mohamed and Fatima was very sweet. I'm interested to see how the relationship that I mentioned at the end of chapter 5 goes. Also intrigued by the bits of relationship dynamics with the Mongolian characters we have so far.

I got super excited when the theme of "learning/education" came up. Seeing how that looked back in 13th-century Persia which was a hotspot for advances in many fields is so cool! This story led me to do some research and asking around on topics I was familiar with, but not an expert on, and I learned things about my own culture/religion. More on learning and education later. But overall, a strong start and I can't wait to read more!

Art

My twitter reading thread for this series

The art is very stylized, like a chibi-esque style with Persian art influences. I like the contrast between the simplified shapes and the detailed bits. I’m a big fan of inky blacks and white whites. I know all manga is black and white but this one feels like it has more contrast due to the simplified shapes. It's got tons of charm!

The shoujo-esque flowery background, but make it Irani-flavored✨ It looks like the rug we got in Iran!

Some pictures I took at historical sites in Tehran with more examples of flowery imagery. Sorry if the image quality sucks, I didn't have my good camera :(

Culture Time!

As soon as I saw this cover, I felt a sense of familiarity. Particularly, the style of henna on her hands made me go, “Hey! That’s similar to how we do our henna!” While we also do the mehndi style henna (Is that the right term? Help) in Kuwait because of Indian influences due to longtime trade, we have another kind as well. You take the paste and hold it in your hands while curling your fingertips into it.

I had such a hard time finding pics that weren’t the intricate mehndi design ones. I would’ve just put henna on my own hands and taken a pic to show what I’m talking about, but it’s winter and it’s not good to use henna in winter because it has a cooling effect. I put henna on in winter once, and it made me so much colder. But makes you feel nice and cool in the summer! That’s why it’s traditionally applied to the head, hands, and feet, which are places you have a lot of heat dissipate from and it saps the heat away. I remember my mom doing that for me and my brother all the time when we were little during summer.

But! With the help of my mom, she helped me narrow it down. I didn't know the actual name of this style of henna. I just called it Kuwaiti-style henna lol. Apparently, it's حنه قصعة henna gasa'a, and bingo!

It doesn't show super well here, but the tops of the fingertips are also dyed like on the cover of the manga. Love that nazar ring though, so cute! 🧿

This is the mehndi style henna that people are most familiar with.

When I was little, I assumed that henna was made from soil because there are soils that can dye things a reddish color. But it's actually from a plant! The leaves are ground into a powder and then made into a paste when you want to use it.

Health, cleanliness, and hygiene are big deals in Islam. Other than being used for beauty and it’s cooling effect, henna is also used to keep oneself clean and smelling nice. It’s said that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) utilized henna as well.

I actually didn't know much about Iran's henna culture. When I asked my Irani-American friend whose family is from Tehran (northern Iran), she said she wasn't familiar with any. But like Kuwait, Iran has a lot of ethnic groups. It's also a large region (it used to be a whole empire and all that, too), so there are definitely people who do use it!

Turkmen Iranis, dying their fingertips with henna, exactly like in the manga! My family are Turk, too! (From a book I picked up a few days ago in Iran, "Nomads: Migrating with Swallows". What a pretty title...)

The clothing of the characters also felt very familiar. The cover of volume one reminded me of this picture:

Maku Kurd girl ("Nomads: Migrating with Swallows")

Iran grows tons of fruit, herbs, and flowers, famously roses! Rose water is a staple we pretty much always had at home.

Rose water is used for medicinal purposes and has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory qualities. People often wash up with it since it has a lovely fragrance and makes you smell nice. It's also used in foods and desserts or added to drinking water for flavor and health benefits.

Sitara bringing Fatima rose water. It looks just like this 12th-century rose water container. We still have containers like this nowadays and I actually used one to wash my hands recently.

Faloodeh (Persian Lime and Rose Water Granita With Rice Noodles), Bastani Sonati (Saffron and Rose Water Ice Cream), in Kuwait we say Sharbat Nimil but apparently, it's Tokhm-e Sharbatie in Iran (Rose Water and Basil Seed Drink) Fun fact: Sharbat Nimil means "ant drink" because the seeds look like... ants... and the thought freaked me out as a kid, I never wanted to drink it. I thought my aunt was messing with me but my parents said, "Yeah, no, that's actually what it's called."

Dates! Another staple. Always have some in the house.

These are ripe dates. We call them "tamar". Sweet, delicious, amazing.

These are fresh dates! We call them "khalal". Sweet, crunchy, amazing.

The architecture was also, you guessed it, familiar as well. Particularly the courtyards! It really took me back.

Courtyards! My Irani grandma (also Fatima, I told you it was a popular name...) had a courtyard home in Kuwait too, but less fancy, and she had a huge date tree instead of a fountain. We would play there all the time when we visited. Also reminds me of the houses in some of the Irani movies I've seen.

Let's Talk Religion

I know religion is historically always a fun and totally not divisive topic, but we're all going to be civil and discuss stuff like adults. I'm not trying to convert anyone, I swear. Chasing after people and forcing religion down their throats is actually frowned upon in Islam believe it or not. I’m also not saying it’s a better religion than others or anything of the sort so don’t come for me. It's just relevant to the story and I'm hoping we can interact in good faith, so let's talk.

I am NOT a scholar, this is just what I know and my understanding so please don't quote me. I probably have to gloss over and simplify a lot because there's... too much.

There are various interpretations of Islam. The Quran, to my understanding, is meant to have its interpretations evolve over time to address the issues of people no matter the time or place. Issues faced centuries ago might not be as pressing now, or we might have new issues today that weren't a thing back in the day. Iranians mainly practice Shia Islam, which is also the sect I know most about so that's what we're focusing on.

Islam is the fastest-growing religion. It's also quite misunderstood due to hate/misinformation, AND — I'm gonna just say it — there are Muslims who have skewed interpretations of Islam's teachings. Am I the perfect Muslim and my interpretations are law? I didn't say that, obviously not. But I'm going to call it how I see it. I don't take sides and I'm not going to defend someone just because they identify as Muslim if they're doing stuff that doesn't make sense (that would be un-Islamic and just... dumb imo). But anyway, there are a few points I’d like to touch on so we all have a base understanding.

Many people think that Allah (SWT) is “the Muslim god” but actually, he’s the same god that brought down the Bible and Torah. He's just... God. This is why you’ll see a lot of crossover between these religions. And Christian Arabs, for example, say Allah because that’s just God in Arabic.

Why did God come up with different religions? It’s my understanding each religion was what the people needed at the time. (Also because of the next point.)

Muslims DO believe in the original Bible and Torah, but historically there's evidence that these books have been altered by people over the years. (Again, I'm not saying your religion is wrong if you're Christian or Jewish. You do you.) Then what about the Quran? I’ll actually address that later.

Muslims DO believe in Jesus. We just think he's a prophet instead of the son of God or God.

Cool? Cool.

Now to address some religion-related things that came up in the story.

The part where there is the selling of slaves made me raise an eyebrow since slavery is not allowed in Islam, because, duh.

I did some research and asked around. I was able to talk to my Irani-American friend's aunt when I visited them during my Iran trip last week since she's studied this kind of stuff. She joked that I should save myself the trouble and not touch the slavery topic, especially with Americans since it's... like... a super touchy topic. But this is an important topic and we should talk about important topics instead of shying away from them. Respectfully, of course. And maybe we can all learn something. It was a perspective on slavery that was very different from what I'm used to hearing about from the U.S. She essentially confirmed what I was thinking.

The Quran envisions the ideal society as one in which slavery no longer exists. Since slavery was such a widespread issue around the whole world back in the olden days, (it still is an issue today, but I'm assuming it was worse back then) it was unfortunately unrealistic to try and abolish it in one fell swoop. Again, this isn’t just abolishing in one country or region, but tackling the issue worldwide. So, in Islam, the idea is that there are steps in place to phase it out. For example:

No free people can be enslaved, duh.

People cannot be enslaved due to debt or crime.

You are encouraged to help slaves buy their way to freedom by giving them money to do so or buying them to free them.

If you are in possession of a slave, you should free them.

If you house a slave, you must treat them well.

This last one is just an interesting thing I didn’t know about that I saw in my research and it came up in the story — Slaves get half the punishment for a sin than if the same sin was committed by a free person.

I wondered why then, did Fatima's family not free Sitara and the other slaves? It didn’t look like they had anything stopping them from running away either. Sure, Sitara got scolded by another slave for trying to leave, but she could have tried again and run away. The other slaves in the story seemed like they wanted to/were okay with staying, even though they did wish they could go home and felt homesick. So what’s up?

It's my understanding that back then, it was common for people to take slaves into their families, sometimes even presenting the option of marriage into the family if they were interested, and offering shelter and and education. It was a way to take them off the streets, away from the slave traders, and keep them safe.

Why not just take everyone back to their homes? Various reasons. They might be in danger if they try to go back. They might not have anywhere to go back to. Also, this was the 13th century. It's not like they could just hop on a plane and go home. There's also no law enforcement the way we have today. Hell, even with all the local and international law enforcement of today, slavery is still a major issue.

Sitara wants to go home but has no home to go back to.

Is this ideal? As I mentioned, ideally slavery wouldn't even be a thing. I’m pretty sure we can all agree slavery=bad. I'm not here to argue that. But I also think it's important to try and understand what things were like back then and why people did what they did. A lot of times I see people measure things with their standards that were developed in modern day, with their own life experience. You need to be careful when doing that. I'm sure in the future, people will look back at us like, "Damn, y'all lived like that???"

Perhaps, this was the best the average person could do. Try to protect them and offer them shelter and an education. As long as we don’t live in an ideal world, we need to consider various solutions to issues. So this was an interesting way to try and tackle the issue given the time and circumstances. It’s rather different from what I think most Americans know about this subject.

Did everyone do this? I'm going to say probably not. Terrible people always exist. Plus there are plenty of people who say they practice a religion, but cherry-pick what they want to follow, do the opposite, have distorted understandings of its teachings, or just downright weaponize religion to suit them. That's a whole other discussion though, so I'll leave it there.

I would like to read more about this topic though, so if anyone knows any sources, let me know!

The First Word From God - "Read"

"Slave or not, it is a Muslim's duty to seek knowledge, as stated in the hadiths."

What's a hadith? Here you go. Also, this is the OG Fatima, Lady Fatima (PBUH).

When God first sent the angel Gabriel down to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), his first word to him was, "read". Education and seeking knowledge are SUPER important in Islam, and should not be kept from anyone regardless of race, gender, social standing, etc. Seeking knowledge will make you a more rational, well-rounded person. Knowledge in this context is broad and all-encompassing. It doesn't only mean religion, math, and science, but philosophy, art, and so on. Literally anything. I hope I don't really need to convince anyone that education is a human right and empowering and all that stuff, so let's keep it moving.

"Isn't that what learning is all about?"

To address this earlier point:

Muslims DO believe in the original Bible and Torah, but historically there's evidence that these books have been altered by people over the years. Then what about the Quran?

Tbh, I hesitated to include this part because people might misinterpret or take offense. To reiterate for the umpteenth time, I'm not saying your religion is wrong if you're Christian or Jewish. You do you. We’re actually told to respect believers of these religions. I swear!

So, yeah. Moving on.

Another reason seeking knowledge is an obligation in Islam is so that you are able to read the Quran for yourself. When loads of people read it, memorize it, and are familiar with it, any changes will not go unnoticed. This is to stop people from weaponizing and distorting the Quran's teachings. And this is why there is only ONE Quran, and not multiple versions (I’m not talking about translated Qurans). Modern-day Qurans match the oldest Qurans. They haven't changed.

In general, having knowledge about things makes you less susceptible to being lied to or misled, regardless of the topic. Unfortunately, I'm in the camp where I believe not enough people do their own research and reading. And again, I don't just mean religion, but everything. That kind of thing takes effort, and effort is hard.

Go read!

You're Still Here?

Like the first-place winner for the Male Category, The Summer Hikaru Died, which I’ve been pushing on anyone who will listen since volume one hit bookstores in Japan, Tenmaku no Jadoogar: A Witch's Life in Mongol deserves to win the Female Category. From what I can see so far, it’s well researched and written with love. I'm looking forward to seeing how this story unfolds and I may add more thoughts as we go.

Volume 2 is due to come out February 16th, so I’ll be tweeting my thoughts on my reading thread. The link to this post is on Twitter here if you want to share it there. EDIT: Volume 2 post is up!

If there's anything else you'd like to see me discuss or expand on, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I'd love to hear what others think!

I await your email publishers, my resume is ready... [email protected]

🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿🪬🧿

—————————–

If there’s any Japanese-only manga you want me to check out, let me know! No promises, I’ll only read what I’m interested in, but I’ll take suggestions into consideration. Preferably, shorter manga or newer manga with a few volumes out since I like to take breaks from longer series I’m reading :)

#天幕のジャードゥーガル #Tenmaku no Jadougal #A Witch’s Life in Mongol #manga recs #manga #漫画 #おすすめ #Tenmaku no Jadoogar #manga recommendation #kono manga ga sugoi #このマンガがすごい #manga discussion #shoujosei #josei #josei manga

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nekoannie-chan · 5 years ago

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Regrets

Pairing: Steve Rogers X Mutant! Reader.

Word count: 1545 words.

Summary: Steve had made a decision, but another fact will make he realizes it was the wrong one, can he fix it?

Warnings: some smut references, nothing explicit, mention of deaths of characters, angst, sad.

A/N: This is my entry to the @distractedgemini‘s Kay’s Decade of Music Writing Challenge with the song prompt #35:

“Someone like you” by Adele.

And my entry to the @kitkatd7 ‘s Kits’ 250 Writing Challenge with the dialogue prompt #1:

“Don’t you understand? You were her happy ending”.

And my entry to @jtargaryen18 ‘s 30 days of Chris.

My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistake please let me know and I will correct it.

I don’t give any kind of permission that my fics be posted in other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don’t steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other’s people. The only exception is the ones I gifted ‘cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and is not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Marvel’s characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.

My other media where I publish: Wattpad, Ao3, ffnet.

If you like it, please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog.

youtube

I heard that you're settled down That you found a girl and you're married now I heard that your dreams came true Guess she gave you things, I didn't give to you

2005

You came into your house after returning from school, everything was supposed to have changed, the mutants no longer had to hide, and weren't taken to the Garland Detention Center.

"I'm home," you said after closing the door.

There was no answer, maybe they didn't hear you.

"Mom, Dad," you called as you walked down the aisle.

It was strange to you that they didn’t say anything, you returned to the hall, maybe they left you a message there and you hadn't seen it yet, there was no note, probably something had happened, some last-minute mission, although it was rare that you hadn't been warned.

While they weren't your biological parents; Clarice and John had adopted you after yours were killed by the Purifiers when you were a baby, although the fact that you were adopted didn't care much because you were happy with your family, even your last name was Proudstar and they love you as her daughter.

But when you entered the kitchen, a scream came out of your throat; there were their bodies, you could tell at first glance that they had tried to defend themselves, even though it was not enough.

"No! Mom! Dad!”

You tried to move them, you were hoping they'd still be alive, even if they were badly hurt, you didn't get the idea that they were dead.

I heard that you're settled down That you found a girl and you're married now I heard that your dreams came true Guess she gave you things, I didn't give to you

"There's someone here," a woman said.

You didn't even hear when someone came into your house; for a moment you thought they were your parents’ killers who had come back or listened to you.

“Are you Y/N? Y/N Proudstar, Clarice's, and John's daughter? The woman questioned.

You nodded, you didn't know if to trust, you didn't even know who that woman was, within seconds a man came into the kitchen.

"When did you arrive? Fury asked you.

"About 10 minutes ago," you replied scared.

"You'll come with us, Coulson, accompany her to take her belongings and help her," Nick said.

"What? I'm not going anywhere, I don't even know who you are, how can I be sure you're not going to do me the same as my parents?”

"We are S.H.I.E.L.D. we received your parents' message asking for help and that we take care of you.”

“How do I know they are S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

Your parents had told you everything, yet without proof, you couldn't believe them.

Fury and Coulson showed their IDs, they weren't lying, you sighed, you went to your bedroom followed by Coulson and you started storing things in suitcases and backpacks, they hadn't specified any item limits on you, so you'd take as much as you could.

Old friend, why are you so shy? Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light

I hate to turn up out of the blue, uninvited But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it I had hoped you'd see my face And that you'd be reminded that for me, it isn't over

2012

You walked as fast as you could, that day you were late, you were carrying the report of the last mission you were gone to.

You didn't pay attention around you, so you crashed into something hard, you thought it had been against a wall, because of the impact, you fell.

"I'm sorry, miss, okay?” The ‘wall’ said to help you lift.

"Captain, I'm sorry, I didn't see it," you apologized.

Steve help you pick up the leaves, within a few seconds Coulson showed up.

"Agent Proudstar, the report," he asked.

"I was already taking him to his office right now," you replied.

"I see you've met, your next mission will be together," Coulson said.

You knew who Steve was, but you remembered he didn't know who you were, you still didn't show up.

"Agent Y/N Proudstar," you said, smiling.

Never mind, I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you, too "Don't forget me, " I beg I remember you said "Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead" "Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead"

2018

"I know we've lost a lot these days, but you remember I was going to ask you something the day Bruce called us. You know when Thanos...”

"Yes," you answered while you were accommodating some things

Steve took your arm to stop and pay attention to him.

"What's going on?”

"Marry me," he asked.

"Just like that? Are you sure? I mean, you always told me you wanted Bucky to be in...”

"We try to get everything back to normal, Thanos is dead we can't do much, but we can try to be happy and get on with our lives, it seems like that's all we can do.”

"I think it's going to be enough for Nat to be there," you said.

He took your answer as if he ‘I do’ and kissed you.

You know how the time flies Only yesterday was the time of our lives We were born and raised in a summer haze Bound by the surprise of our glory days

2023

You looked down, you knew Steve had told you a lie... or worse he had lied to you all that time.

As soon as he left you started running towards the trees, you didn't want to know anything anymore, if you could... If you could... you probably would have done the same thing and prevent your parents from being killed.

“Y/N!” Bucky called you.

You didn't listen to him, you kept running, you wanted to go as far as you could, you'd like to somehow forget everything and Bucky finally caught you, grabbed your arm, and stopped you.

"He's gone, he went with Peggy," you started sobbing.

Bucky hugged you, he didn't know what to say or do to comfort you, he knew what you were saying was true.

"He left us... Bucky, he left us...”

Yes, Steve had left them, but Bucky didn't understand exactly what you meant, you hadn't even had a chance to say anything, you didn't know now what to do, the feeling was a thousand times worse than when you lost your parents.

I hate to turn up out of the blue, uninvited But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it I had hoped you'd see my face And that you'd be reminded that for me, it isn't over

1947

Steve peeked into the door of the house where Peggy was living.

He saw her pass, at least now he was sure he hadn't got the wrong house; he needed a few more minutes before knocking the door and that's when he saw Daniel kissing Peggy and after the couple split up, she took the baby from the crib.

Peggy found her right partner after Steve had ended up on the ice...

Steve stayed a week in that time, it would probably be a month after the last time he had seen them...

You didn't expect to be welcomed... but he would do his best to recover what he had ruined.

Never mind, I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you, too "Don't forget me, " I begged I remember you said "Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead"

2019

"Orphanages are full," you said while you're taking the last picture you'd been taken with your parents.

"Everything is complicated," Steve replied, and he was reading the newspaper.

"We should adopt some or some of those little ones, I was very happy when Clarice and John adopted me," you said looking at the picture.

"You think they're going to let us? We’re superheroes, I don't think they want to expose children to danger," Steve replied, taking his eyes off the newspaper.

You kept thinking for a few minutes, Steve was right, you didn't know exactly if another threat would show up, no one knew.

"You're right.”

"But we can do some," Steve proposed, approaching you.

"Captain," you said seductively.

Nothing compares, no worries or cares Regrets and mistakes, they're memories made Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste?

2023

Steve returned to where he belonged, took everyone by surprise, as soon as they heard the machine activate Bruce and Bucky immediately went to see what was going on, Bruce had installed it at the Compound in case it was necessary, they feared it would be some other enemy, no one expected him to return, as soon as they saw him a sepulchral silence took over the room.

Bucky decided to take him outside, no one dared say what had happened.

“And Y/N?” Steve asked

Steve had immediately noticed your absence, Bucky bit his lip, and he didn't know how to explain it.

"Buck, and Y/N? I know she must be angry...”

"She didn't make it on the last mission," he finally confessed.

"What?”

"Something went wrong and...”

Steve turned around and started walking inland from the Compound.

“DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND? YOU WERE HER HAPPY ENDING…!”

Steve didn't keep listening to what his friend was saying, he went to the base and went straight into the room that you and he shared, and if he hadn't left... if it hadn't been so hollow head... you'd still be alive.

He opened the drawer of your nightstand where you kept the photos, he wanted to see you, he saw that something flew out when he took out the album and it was frozen as soon as he saw the object.

She took the positive pregnancy test, the day he left, you seemed so nervous, so you insisted that he wasn't the one to return the Stones.

There was only one way to get you back, this time I wouldn't ruin it, he took some things from the room and headed to where the time machine was.

Never mind, I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you "Don't forget me, " I beg I remember you said "Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead"

2010

You knocked on Fury's office, you were sent to call, and you thought it was for a new mission.

"Agent Proudstar, I'm glad you came," Nick said.

“What do you need a Director?”

"This is Steve Rogers, Captain America," Fury said, pointing to Steve.

"Captain, I'm Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Y/N Proudstar," you introduced yourself smiling.

Your smile, Steve had missed her so much.

He stretched out his hand to greet you and smiled, he was going to fix everything that had happened, he would love you again and no mistakes this time, and he was going to make sure you were happy together.

Never mind, I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you, too "Don't forget me, " I begged I remember you said "Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead" "Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead"

#Kay’s Decade of Music Challenge #kits250challenge #30DaysofChris2020 #Steve Rogers #steve rogers one shot #steve rogers fic #steve rogers fanfiction #steve x reader #steve x you #steve x y/n #captain america #captain america fic #captain america fanfiction #captain america one shot #captain america x you #captain america x reader #captain america x y/n

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e-leader · 2 years ago

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Hey, this is my very first post on this account so I’m going to start with the basics

(TRIGGER warnings: slight mention of self harm, schizophrenia and depression)

I’m 16 years old and only once had a boyfriend (but he never actually liked me, instead used me to get closer to my best friend). On here I’ll call him J.

The girl he wanted to get closer to, L isn’t my best friend anymore. She was very toxic and all in all never actually a good friend.

Now my best friend is M and that’s great. She really knows everything about me, except that I started this blog.

I used to sh a lot last year and sometimes I still relapse. So if this might trigger you, I will put a warning at the top of every post where it’s mentioned. Please don’t read them if it might trigger you.

My dad died when I was 9 years old and I have two brothers, one older one younger. My mum is great, but I often feel squished by her even if I don’t want to. She went to mental hospital this summer because she wanted to kill herself and had schizophrenic attacks because she hadn’t been able to properly sleep in weeks. She was/is also suffering from depression and anxiety. Now she’s in treatment and she really has gotten better.

I’m part of the one direction fandom. I absolutely adore all five of them, you’d know if you saw my room. At the moment I’m reading my policeman bc the film publishes in like a week and guess what: I’ve got 4 concert tickets for Louis and one for Harry in 2023!!!!!!

Ive been to see Harry once last year and cried for days because I wasn’t able to get any for Louis who was also on tour.

I do rhythmic sports gymnastics (RSG) every Tuesday and Thursday. I’ve currently also started to coach 6 year olds that do RSG and it actually makes me feel good about myself. I really like sports and the people in my club are really nice. I’ve kind of got a crush on one girl but no one knows. Especially since she is most likely straight and definitely not into 16 year old girls with acne braces and yellow teeth. I don’t actually know how old she is but at least five years older than me since she just finished uni and started working lately.

So yes i think I might be bisexual but more into guys (that sounds like something a straight girl would say) and maybe I turn out to be straight after all but who knows. I would prefer not to label myself until I’m completely sure.

I think that’ll be it for my first post, I don’t want to make my life updates too long. If you have any questions or want to know more about specific things in my life just text me and you’ll probably get what you wish for :)

-E

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celtfather · 2 years ago

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Grace O'Malley & Celtic Invasion Vacation Expectations

Where are we going on the next Celtic Invasion Vacation? Listen and also enjoy some music related to the invasion. Plus, you’ll learn what you can expect to experience when you join an invasion.

It’s Pub Songs & Stories #258

WELCOME TO PUB SONGS & STORIES

I am Marc Gunn. This is the audio liner notes for the songs I record and play.

The show is brought to you by my Gunn Runners on Patreon. If you enjoy this podcast and my music, please join the Club. You’ll get 2-3 podcasts per month. You’ll be able to download songs featured in this show, get sheet music, and access to Coffee with The Celtfather video concerts. You get a lot for as little as $5 per month. And you can save 15% with an annual membership. Thanks to my newest Gunn Runners on Patreon: Cecilia F

1:01 - WHAT’S NEW?

This is a bonus episode. I finally settled on where to go for the next Celtic Invasion Vacation in 2023. I looked at Galicia in Spain, the Wicklow Mountains, south of Dublin, Ireland, and Westport in County Mayo, Ireland. And the winner is… Westport in County Mayo.

I don’t yet have details about the trip. Nor have I opened it up to the public. I’m gonna spend the next month working those out. But there are few things I want to explore while we are there.

First, County Mayo was the home of Grace O’Malley. She was known as the Pirate Queen of Ireland. A quick search revealed that there are not many records of her. However, there are some letters that were exchanged with Queen Elizabeth I, which show a mutual admiration of each other, two strong women in a time of men. I’m gonna research a bit about the Pirate Queen and see what we can find.

And to give you a small taste, The Gothard Sisters have a song inspired by Grainne, as she is often called.

2:15 - “Grace O’Malley” by The Gothard Sisters from Mountain Rose

5:49 - MORE ON TRAVEL

One of my regular invaders, Jim, once said that what he enjoyed about our trips is that there are frequently different types of travel that we do. Meaning we might take a boat or train, instead of a car. So I’m always looking out for something cool like that for at least one day. Happily, Clare Island is nearby.

I honestly know very little about Clare Island. Although, it sounds like Gracy O’Malley spent some time there as well. What I do know about it is that The Saw Doctors have a fantastic song called “Clare Island”. It makes me excited to see it.

That’s what I have so far.

6:31 - UPCOMING SHOWS

SEP 28-OCT 2: ALEP, Shakertown, KY with Brobdingnagian Bards

OCT 8: Ironshield Brewing, Lawrenceville, GA @ 7:00 – 10:00 PM.

OCT 14-16: MultiVerse, Atlanta, GA

NOV 4-6: Conjuration, Atlanta, GA

I’m gonna share a replay from the Celtfather Unkilted podcast. I noticed after publishing that episode last month that there is one thing that is a bit off at present. That is the requirement of a vaccination card. I am not requiring that at present though the sentiment is still valid. These trips are small and your fellow invaders should be treated like family. Meaning I do expect that you will get vaccinated as needed to protect your family.

7:54 - WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT ON A CELTIC INVASION VACATION?

If you go to the website you won’t find much information. I usually list the itinerary when it becomes available but that can be January or March before the trip. You will find podcasts and links to pictures and videos. I don't know that any of it really paints a good picture.

So I thought I would try to break down how these trips work to help you decide if you want to join me in the future.

Celtic Invasion Vacations are not your typical travel tour experience. Most tourists travel on big buses. They go place to place. You stay up late. You get up early. There’s 30, 60 or even 90 people packed on one to three tour buses.

If you’re like me, that sounds pretty miserable. My first two trips were on tour buses. Everyone was a fan of my music. So that was pretty awesome. The bus drivers were awesome too. But that's a lot of people for an introvert like me.

I don’t know how much of the fatigue was from so many people or the staying up late/getting-up-early business. But it’s not my preferred way of traveling. I like small groups.

My mom moved to Italy in 1985. So I’ve gone back-and-forth to Europe for a long time.

My mom is an awesome adventurer. I went to school on an American military base in Vicenza, Italy for my senior year of high school. While all the other high school seniors went to Remini to get drunk, my mom and I went on in artistic pilgrimage following the works of Piero Della Francesca. She instilled in me the value of planning as well as spontaneity.

You see that in my Celtic Invasion Vacations itinerary. When I finally make one that is. Typically, I don't have a full itinerary when I announce the latest trip. I have… ideas.

In fact, I usually have one big idea. Then I find a way to make it work.

One person told me he was disappointed when my trip to the Highlands of Scotland a few years back did not also include the Isle of Skye, like it was initially listed on the early itinerary.

That was because I had a big idea. But when I finally settled on details, I realized it was impractical. I learned from that error. If I make any big changes to what was planned, you are welcome to back out.

I don’t usually settle on solid itineraries until December or January. I just don’t have enough details to make a solid decision.

That might make some people uncomfortable, especially when you’re putting down nearly $3000, plus air travel, to join me.

The adventure is worth it!

The great thing about traveling on the Celtic Invasion Vacation in my opinion is that it is a small group. That means maximum flexibility for adventure.

So let’s answer some questions.

11:08 - WHEN ARE THE CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS?

This can always vary. But typically I run my trips in late May or early June. This seems to be the best time to travel to Ireland and Scotland. People talk about rain in Ireland. June seems to invariably have one of the lightest rain falls ever. It's just... perfect!

11:28 - HOW LONG IS EACH TRIP?

Celtic Invasion Vacations are about seven days long. The trips are officially scheduled from Saturday to Saturday. That’s because that’s how long most vacation rentals book. But I’m not going to be taking you to seven hotels in seven days. We stay in one place most of the week.

If the vacation rental is more than a couple hours from the airport or there's something cool to see closer, we may stay in a hotel near the airport on the last night of the Invasion. It just depends on how soon everyone on the trip has booked their departure.

12:00 - WHEN SHOULD I ARRIVE?

I usually ask Invaders to arrive the day before the trip. That way you can recover from jet lag and adjust to the time change. But that also allows us to leave first thing in the morning on Saturday to drive to our vacation rental.

While it is recommended, it is not required. As long as you arrive by 11 am on Saturday, we will adjust. You are also responsible for the hotel on Friday night. But you might find a roommate with other Invaders.

12:39 - WHEN SHOULD I DEPART?

Again, it’s up to you. I prefer you to set your departure after noon on Saturday. You can stay as long as you want.

I usually leave on Sunday after the trip is over.

12:50 - HOW DO YOU SELECT THE DESTINATIONS?

Destinations are chosen by invaders and of course me. I usually have an idea of a place I want to see. I look for a suitable vacation spot.

But sometimes I ask for suggestions from Invaders. Our trip to Brittany and Cornwall were both chosen because some regular Invaders wanted to visit all seven Celtic nations.

Of course, I get the final say. And if I can't get enough people to attend one of these more remote spots, I may make adjustments.

Once we settle on a big destination, the next step is figuring out the generalized itinerary.

13:23 - IS THERE DOWNTIME?

Yes. This is not an intense, constantly moving tour. Celtic Invasion Vacations are about relaxation, adventure, and fun. But how much can be up to you.

There’s usually at least one day where we are near to the cottage and take it easy. We explore the local town. Wednesday’s have the option of a little extra downtime for those who need it.

13:49 - HOW DO YOU CHOOSE THE ITINERARY?

You can't make an itinerary until you know where you are going, right? Well, the challenge for me is that I need to know the exact place we are staying to figure out where our itinerary will go.

My next step then is to start researching vacation rentals. I look for rentals in our destination area that hold between 8-12 people (sometimes more). I want it to look nice, comfortable and easily accessible. In fact, I want the majority of the cool stuff that we will explore to be within 30 minutes of where we are staying.

Once I know the exact location, I can plan the itinerary.

14:23 - WHAT DOES A TYPICAL ITINERARY LOOK LIKE?

The first day of the trip involves driving to our destination. We need at least one interesting place to stop along the way. Maybe two if you include lunch.

When we arrive, we need groceries. I confess, there's something extra fun about going to a grocery store in Europe. Some of our Invaders join me for a shopping experience as we load up on breakfast and a couple dinners.

I make dinner the first night, typically my secret pasta recipe. That evening is usually concluded with a little music by me.

The second day is usually a good day to stay local. So we explore one or two of the cool things nearby. We try to spend time out of the car, walking around. It's good to stretch our legs after traveling.

On either the second or the third day, I like to bring in a tour guide, if possible. My trips are not geared around "tours", but local guides are great for adding a little bit of history, culture, and legends to the experience.

Guides are also good at giving us a local perspective of things we should check out that are not necessarily on our itinerary.

In Brittany, we found some cool cairns that were not on our original itinerary. In Cornwall, we got an overview of Tintagel and found some standing stones I would've never found. In Wales, Gwilym Morus shared the incredible legends of Merlin and introduced us to an eco-resort, hidden in the mountains. In Donegal, we found some great restaurants and a former passage tomb.

Around day three, we're ready for a different travel experience. That's when I try to get us out on the water or on a train. Something to shake up the feel of the trip.

Day four is the midweek break. Again we stay local. Some choose to relax in our cottage. Others explore something new that’s local.

Day five usually takes us on a long adventure. We'll get in the van and drive further to see something outside of our main region. This gives us a nice look at other regions nearby. It also adds to the fun adventure.

Day six is intentionally left open. We usually find something cool by this time that we might not have realized before the trip began. Or perhaps a guide or a local we met had a recommendation. That's when we take the advice of others to explore something different

The final day is usually spent fairly local. It’s time for last minute exploration of our area. Sometimes we pack up and make our way back \towards the airport. One or two bonus destinations end up on the final day.

17:17 - WHAT MAKES A CELTIC INVASION VACATION DIFFERENT FROM OTHER TOURS?

I like to stress that Celtic Invasion Vacations are not tours. They are vacations. I want my Invaders to feel relaxed and happy by the end of the trip. Not exhausted, like I was on my first two trips to Ireland. You should be energized and excited for the next Celtic Invasion experience.

17:36 - HOW MANY PEOPLE JOIN THE INVASION?

The number can vary. But I usually aim for between 8-12 invaders. Too many people and I start having trouble finding restaurants to eat at.

17:55 - WHAT PERSONAL PAPERS ARE NEEDED FOR TRAVELING ON A CELTIC INVASION VACATION?

You DO need a passport. It's usually good to get your passport at least 90 days out. I would suggest applying for one a minimum of six months before you depart. But there are some expedited services that can get them sooner. Just plan ahead.

You do NOT need a visa. You don't need an international drivers license either. In fact, your regular driver's license is fine if you plan to drive in Europe with any car company. Make sure you bring that at the very least. But of course, driving on the Invasion is usually done by me.

Since the pandemic, you will need a vaccination card. Invasions are like family vacations. We want to take care of our fellow invaders. So your COVID vaccination card is essential for my trip and a lot of European travel.

18:45 - HOW MUCH DO CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS COST?

That varies year to year. It starts at about $2800 for the land part of the trip, for each person on the trip.

It does not cover the cost of air travel. You handle your own airline tickets.

Your fee covers your housing for a full week. That's for a shared room, either a double if you’re a couple or two singles. Depending on our housing, it may cost extra to get a single room to yourself.

Your fee covers a breakfast every day and dinner at least five times. Often I cover more than that. Sometimes it works well to make lunches if we're not planning to be near restaurants. So I happily pay for lunch supplies if we need them. But in general, you are responsible for your own lunch.

You can have what you like for breakfast each morning. Some days we have a full breakfast with eggs, bacon, yogurt, fruit, cheese, or whatever you want.

Grocery shopping usually happens on the first day. So whatever you need, we can probably find it.

Other days, if we want to get going early, then we will have a Continental Breakfast with just breads, cheese, yogurt or fruit.

And yes, there's coffee. Every morning. And tea too. I need my coffee!

I cook dinner at least 2 days during the week. We have my world famous secret pasta meal. And then there's the Celtic Invasion specialty... Prince Charlie... Secret. It's a recipe we picked up years ago and is now a tradition on the Invasions. There may be more than two meals. But of course, we like to eat out too.

The toughest thing about dining on the Celtic Invasions is finding a place to eat. If the group is under nine people. That's usually not too difficult. But if we have more than that, it can be a challenge. I plan ahead for that. Because who doesn't like to eat out in Europe!?!?! I consider that a big part of the experience.

20:38 - IS THERE MUSIC?

At least twice a week, we spend the evening relaxing at our cottage with dinner... and music.

I am, of course, host of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. But I'm also a musician. I play Celtic music with a sci fi drinking song twist. I call it Sci F'Irish music. You can hear my music through my website at celtfather.net.

I plan to play for at least an hour. But a lot of it depends on you and how excited you are to hear some music. If we're really lucky, you might bring an instrument too. Then we can have an Irish session with songs and tunes afterward.

And if we're really fortunate, I will find a musician or bring in a musician to come play for us. That's frequently difficult to pull off. But when it happens. It's absolutely amazing!

21:27 - WHEN DOES OUR DAY BEGIN AND END?

Breakfast is usually around 7:30 or 8 AM with a departure time of 8:30-9 AM.

We don't usually do too much in the evening. Since Irish sessions usually don't begin until 9 PM, it's not something we usually attend outside of our cottage. But if it's something you want to do, we might be able to make it happen.

22:29 - HOW OLD IS TOO OLD? HOW YOUNG IS TOO YOUNG?

I have had people ages 18 on into their 70s on my Celtic Invasion Vacations. I'd say the vast majority are in their 40s, 50s and 60s. But I don't really think much about it because I adjust each trip to who's on it.

In 2019, the younger group hiked up Skellig Michael while the less physically able landed on the Greater Blaskett Island by boat.

The physically active walk, hike and run ahead if they so desire. Those who aren't, take it at their own speed.

The Isle of Skye was one of the few places we went where it was better to be physically active. There's a lot of hiking on that island. But ye know, I don't think anyone's vacation fun was hindered by their physical activity.

As for younger folks, I typically don't prefer to have young kids on the trip. I know the challenges associated with that. But I'm willing to consider it as long as the you feel the kids are up to getting up and going.

One lady asked about a teenager. I think I might be open to a teenager who is a bit more independent but still willing to follow the rules.

23:48 - HOW DO WE TRAVEL?

Typically we travel in a van. These are usually large nine-seaters with lots of luggage space. Sometimes we will add a second van or a car to carry extra Invaders.

Speaking of luggage, we do have limited space. I find one suitcase per person is plenty, plus a carry on. You typically don't need more. There's usually laundry facilities too. So you can always wash something extra. There's a whole bunch of videos on YouTube where you can learn how to travel light.

If you truly need an extra suitcase, that's fine. But your experience is so much better when you travel light.

24:32 - HOW DO YOU SIGN UP?

The first step is for me to open up the Invasion to the public. You see, former Invaders get first dibs. Once it's public, here's what you do.

First, email an application form to me.

Second, send me a check for your deposit. That reserves your spot on the Invasion within 2 weeks of emailing your application form.

Finally, just send me your final payment before the deadline and you're golden.

Speaking of your final payment, you are welcome to break it up into multiple payments if you don't want to or can't pay all at once. I'm happy to work with you to make the trip happen.

25:05 - HOW DO I CANCEL IF I NEED TO?

First off, there is a $400 non-refundable deposit. Though there is a caveat for the "non-refundable" part. If I change the dates, you can get a refund. If you can find someone to take your spot, or someone willing takes your spot, then you can get a refund.

However, if you are sick and turned away by an airline or country, I can't offer a refund. Typically, 30-60 days before the trip, once I start paying for things, like our housing, vans, tour guides, whatever, I can no longer offer a refund. That usually starts about the time of the Celtic Invasion deadline.

I'm not a corporation though. So there may be flexibility. My goal here is to have people "sign up" and then not drop a month later as happened on my very first Celtic Invasion. If you wanna go, make a commitment with a non-refundable deposit.

25:54 - CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS – CLOSING REMARKS

All in all, Celtic Invasion Vacations are about happily experiencing the fun culture, history, and legends of one small but magical location. I hope you'll consider joining me on the next Celtic Invasion Vacation.

And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

26:20 - STAR OF COUNTY DOWN PLACEHOLDER

Let’s finish up with a recording of “Star of the County Down”. This was released on show #255 ConJuration: From Ren Fest to Sci Fi Conventions.

You can download this song as an MP3 when you join my Gunn Runners on Patreon.

26:45 - “Star of the County Down” by Marc Gunn also from How America Saved Irish Music

30:24 - CLOSING

What are you doing while listening to Pub Stories? I’d love your thoughts and feedback. So take a picture of yourself or where you are or what one of these stories reminds you of. Post it on social media. Use the hashtag #pubstories so I can find it and share your story.

Thanks for listening to Pub Songs & Stories. The show was produced by Marc Gunn, edited by Mitchell Petersen with graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs. You can subscribe and listen to the regular show wherever you find podcasts. You can also subscribe to my mailing list. You will get regular updates of new music, podcasts, special offers, and you’ll enjoy more stories behind several of my most-popular songs.

And of course, please tell one friend about this podcast. Word of mouth is the absolute best way to support any creative endeavor.

Have fun and sing along at www.pubsong.com!

#pubstories #countymayo #thegothardsisters

Check out this episode!

#pub songs #stories #Celtic Music #Irish music #best #best of #behind the music #song stories

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opticien2-0 · 4 years ago

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Boohoo sets out how it will deal with ‘substantially true’ supply chain allegations of poor working conditions and low pay

Image courtesy of Boohoo Group

Allegations of poor working conditions and low rates of pay in Leicester factories serving the Boohoo Group are “not merely well-founded but substantially true”, according to the independent review that it commissioned into its business in response to allegations this summer.

The company’s monitoring of its Leicester supply chain was “inadequate”, Alison Levitt QC’s independent review of its supply chain concluded. The report, which Boohoo Group published today, also found that while there is “no evidence that the company itself of its officers have committed any criminal offences”, senior directors did know there were serious issues about the treatment of “largely invisible” factory workers in Leicester and the programme it put in place to remedy this a year ago did not move quickly enough. “Boohoo’s culpability,” says the report, “lies not in doing nothing but that they did too little too late.”

In the last two years Boohoo Group has added brands from Karen Millen and Coast to Oasis and Warehouse to a stable that previously included boohoo.com, Nasty Gal and MissPap.

The newspaper allegations came after a Labour behind the Label report and The Sunday Times both alleged, in early July, unsafe conditions and minimum wage breaches at some Leicester factories serving Boohoo. A spike in infection rates in Leicester had led to the first UK local lockdown at the end of June.

In her report, Levitt argues that Boohoo “ought to have appreciated the serious risks created by ‘lockdown’ in relation to potential exploitation of the workforce of the Leicester factories.” She says that while the retailer “capitalised on the commercial opportunities offered by lockdown and believed that it was supporting Leicester factories by not cancelling orders” it “took no responsibility for the consequences for those who made the clothes they sold.” Levitt also said she had seen no evidence to suggest that the company’s purchasing practices had been responsible for an increased Covid-19 rate in Leicester. The report suggests that Boohoo buys from about 200 Tier One suppliers in Leicester, who subcontract to a further 300 Tier Two factories, located close to each other in the city,

Boohoo today set out out how it plans to respond to the independent report, which concludes that it has grown so quickly that its governance processes have failed to keep pace, while its focus on turnover has sometimes been at the expense of its other corporate obligations.

Alison Levitt QC, who was commissioned to produce the report into Boohoo’s Leicester-based supply chain following newspaper allegations of minimum wage breaches and Covid-19 safety breaches, also said the retailer had not felt responsible for conditions in the Leicester factories that supplied it “other than at a superficial level” and that it had on occasions failed to appreciate the responsibility to act in the best interests of all shareholders that come with being a listed company.

She warned that Boohoo now had the power to be a tremendous force for good - but that if it failed to live its values, it was “inevitable” that the problems would recur – and that was likely to hit its share price.

In the 235-page report published today, Levitt said Boohoo had grown so quickly that its governance processes had failed to keep pace, while its focus on turnover has sometimes been at the expense of its other corporate obligations. She said that she did not accept the argument that Boohoo’s business model was depending on profits made from the deliberate exploitation of the Leicester supply chain free from scrutiny. But, she said, that in the future Boohoo would need to change its approach, “not least in terms of how Boohoo educates and trains its suppliers”.

She added: “I have reached the conclusion that the true reason that Boohoo did not become more involved in monitoring conditions in Leicester was that it saw it as being a lower priority than matters which directly affected the company (such as commercial issues or their own employees). The Leicester workers are not employed by them and so they are not their responsibility in the way that their own workforce is. To some extent this is understandable, but can lead to serious issues of the kind which Boohoo is now facing.”

How Boohoo will respond

Boohoo Group has responded to Levitt’s Independent Review into the Boohoo Group PLC’s Leicester supply chain, by setting out six areas in which it plans to take action, reflecting the report’s recommendations. It says it will strengthen its board with two new non-executive directors, one of whom will be a specialist in environmental, social and governance issues, and a new supply chain compliance committee that report into a new board-level risk committee. It is appointing a new group director of responsible sourcing, while its buying team will also develop a new, mandatory set of purchasing principles.

At the same time the business plans to raise supply chain standards with a consolidated supplier list and an invitation to suppliers who can demonstrate an ethical and sustainable approach to business to join its list. It will continue to support Leicester workers and their rights through a new garment and textiles community trust. It says it will support suppliers with a more consistent and predictable flow of orders that will enable them to plan, while also introducing new KPIs aimed at improving management systems and worker engagement and it will advise its suppliers on how best to go about meeting them. Finally, it will also demonstrate best practice in action through its own state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to be opened in Leicester.

Boohoo Group chief executive John Lyttle said the Levitt review had “identified significant and clearly unacceptable issues in our supply chain and the steps we had taken to address them, but it is clear that we need to go further and faster to improve our governance, overnight and compliance.”

Setting the context

Today’s report and Boohoo’s response to it comes at a time when both consumer and legal expectations of the fashion – and other – businesses they buy from are changing fast. Many are responding accordingly.

Earlier this year, Zalando became the first retailer to make it compulsory for brands selling via its platform to measure how sustainable their businesses are.

Asos this summer asked brands that sell via its website to sign up to four “ambitious” new commitment this year – from signing the transparency pledge to mapping its UK garment supply chains and identifying supply chain risks within them.

Quiz is also reviewing its supply chain in response to minimum wage allegations.

Beyond fashion, Unilever this week said it was working with Google Cloud towards its ambition of creating a deforestation-free supply chain by 2023.

Boohoo and Karen Millen are ranked Top100 in RXUK Top500 research, and Oasis is Top50, while Coast, Warehouse and NastyGal are Top250.

#Retail 2.0

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bigyack-com · 5 years ago

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Neiman Marcus Files for Bankruptcy

In March 2019, the luxury retailer Neiman Marcus opened its first outpost in Manhattan. Spread over three floors and 188,000 square feet, the store was an anchor tenant of the gleaming Hudson Yards development and, the company’s chief executive said, a new kind of “retail theater.” It boasted in-house aestheticians, live cooking and mixology demonstrations, and fitting rooms complete with interactive touch screens.The executive, Geoffroy van Raemdonck, was about a year into the job and had already hired a slew of new executives, including a chief for the company’s other jewel in New York, Bergdorf Goodman. Each of the hires, he said in a late November interview with The New York Times, has “a passion for transforming our business.”“They all believe that not only are we going to delight our customers by bringing to them unique and curated experiences, but they really believe that we are traveling a new course for how the retail industry and department store are transforming themselves,” Mr. van Raemdonck said.On Thursday, all of that came to an abrupt halt when Neiman Marcus became the first major department store group to file for bankruptcy protection during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a stunning fall that follows the collapse of Barneys New York late last year and comes as shadows gather over chains like Lord & Taylor and J.C. Penney.The company entered Chapter 11 restructuring proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.In a letter to customers, Mr. van Raemdonck emphasized that the business was not liquidating and that it planned to reopen stores once it was safe to do so.“This is simply a process that allows our company to alleviate debt, access additional capital to run the business during these challenging times, and emerge a stronger company with the ability to better serve you and continue our transformation over the long term,” he said.Covid-19 temporarily forced the closing of all 43 Neiman Marcus stores across the country, as well as the group's two Bergdorf Goodman stores and Last Call outlets, all but stopping sales and crushing the company’s revenue streams. While that may have been the immediate cause of the company’s troubles, its problems had been building for years. An untenable debt burden accrued as part of two leveraged buyouts by private-equity firms and changing consumer shopping habits combined to render its position precarious even before the virus hit.The pandemic has been disastrous for the already weakened retail industry. In March, the sales of clothing and accessories fell by more than half. Those numbers are expected to be worse for April, considering that many stores were open for at least some of March. Retailers have furloughed employees, slashed corporate salaries and hoarded cash in a desperate attempt to make it to the end of the shutdown. This week, J. Crew, the mass-market retailer, also filed for bankruptcy protection, as did John Varvatos, the men’s wear brand. There is widespread belief the trend is likely to continue.Neiman Marcus said it would “continue to assess store closure decisions” for Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Last Call and reopen once it was safe to do so. Ten Neiman Marcus stores are now offering curbside pickup, and some temporary store closings will continue through May 31.In a statement, the company said it would receive $675 million in financing from creditors to keep running the business, as well as $750 million in exit financing from the same creditors. It hopes to emerge from bankruptcy by “early fall.” The creditors will become majority owners of Neiman Marcus, which expects to eliminate $4 billion in debt.“It is a change of ownership by which our debt holders are forfeiting $4 billion in debt in exchange for owning the N.M.G. business operations,” Mr. van Raemdonck said in an internal video sent to employees on Thursday.William Susman, managing director at Threadstone Advisors, said he expected the retailer to use bankruptcy to shed some of its leases and reduce its physical footprint, a situation that could make it more attractive to a potential buyer.“Neiman Marcus has a bad balance sheet, but it’s still a luxury brand,” Mr. Susman said. “They still have a reason to exist.”Neiman Marcus was founded in Dallas in 1907, just in time to become a magnet for new oil money. It built its reputation on an unabashed embrace of the trappings of luxury — and the dreams of those who aspired to own them, or experience them for a moment. It became famous for its extravagant Christmas catalog, which over the years offered items like an authentic Guinness pub-in-your-home for $250,000 and a $20 million submarine.The company’s mastermind was Stanley Marcus, son of one of the founders — Herbert Marcus. (The other founders were Herbert’s sister, Carrie Marcus Neiman, and Carrie’s husband, A.L. Neiman.) Under his guidance, Neiman Marcus became the first department store to hold a weekly fashion show for customers. On the occasion of the Texas Centennial Fair in 1936, the store held a special extravaganza it called “100 Years of Texas Fashions,” and Edna Woolman Chase, the editor of Vogue and a guest, said: “I dreamed all my life of the perfect store for women. Then I saw Neiman Marcus, and my dream had come true.”It became such an institution that in 1983, Frederick Wiseman made a documentary about it titled, simply, “The Store.” At that point, it was in the midst of a countrywide expansion that culminated in a public stock offering in 1999 by Harcourt General, the book publisher and the store’s then-owner.Six years later, during private equity’s first, somewhat misguided flirtation with luxury, a leveraged buyout by TPG and Warburg Pincus took it off the market for about $5.1 billion — and its debt problems began. The company weathered the financial crisis and changed hands in 2013, when it was sold to a group led by Ares Management, another private-equity firm, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in a $6 billion deal. Since then, the business has evolved in fits and starts.Neiman Marcus filed to go public in 2015, which would have helped pay down its debt, but an initial public offering never materialized. Its last public annual report was for the year that ended in July 2018, when its revenue was $4.9 billion and its net interest expense of $307 million exceeded its net profit of $251 million. The company has spent much of the last two years working to restructure a crushing burden of long-term debt that was reported at almost $5 billion a year ago. Last year, it managed to push the bulk of its maturities back to late 2023.Moody’s said last May that Neiman Marcus’s debt levels had reached “unsustainable levels.” As it is at most department stores, part of Neiman Marcus’s challenge has been transforming itself for customers who increasingly do their shopping online. Luxury brands like Neiman’s were slow to accept the idea of e-commerce, believing that the in-person experience was crucial to high-ticket sales. In 2014, in a shortcut to digital prowess, it acquired the successful German-based website MyTheresa.com, which had made a name for itself as an early competitor to Net-a-Porter.But MyTheresa has become a major point of contention for a group of bondholders, who have been arguing since 2018 that Neiman Marcus improperly transferred MyTheresa’s valuable assets to the company’s owners, leaving little to protect holders of the company’s unsecured debt. MyTheresa.com is not included in the bankruptcy filing.Though Mr. van Raemdonck said in the video to employees that the bankruptcy did not mean the company would be sold, speculation has begun about a potential acquisition.Richard Baker, the chief executive of Hudson’s Bay, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue, explored buying Neiman Marcus in 2017. A combined Saks and Neiman Marcus-Bergdorf Goodman would consolidate the few high-end department stores that remain. Saks has also licensed use of the Barneys New York label.Another name that has been mentioned as a possible buyer of Bergdorf Goodman (though not Neiman Marcus) is the luxury behemoth LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.Until very recently, Neiman’s felt it was in a good position. When asked about Barneys in November, Mr. van Raemdonck expressed his dismay that the storied brand had fallen, but he emphasized that its challenges stood apart from Neiman’s properties.“Every single store we have at Neiman Marcus Group, the brand or Bergdorf, they’re all profitable,” he said.Michael J. de la Merced contributed reporting.Contact Vanessa Friedman at [email protected] or Sapna Maheshwari at [email protected]. Read the full article

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maxihealth · 6 years ago

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Prescription Drug Costs In America Through the Patient Lens, via IQVIA, GoodRx and a New $2 Million Therapy

Americans consumed 17.6 prescriptions per person in 2018, two in three of which treated chronic conditions. Welcome to Medicine Use and Spending in the U.S. , the annual review of prescription drug supply, demand and Rx pricing dynamics from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science.

In a call with analysts this week in which I participated, Murray Aitken discussed the report which looks back at 2018 and forward to 2023 with scenarios about what the U.S. prescription drug market might look like five years from now.

The report is organized into four sections: medical use trends; costs and spending on meds and growth dynamics underlying the top line numbers; patient out-of-pocket costs; and that five-year forecast to 2023. It’s a richly detailed report with a mine of data; in this Health Populi post, I’ll focus through the patient lens of Rx spending, medication adherence out-of-pocket costs, prescription drug abandonment, and the role of “place” in personal drug pricing.

The big picture on medical use trends is shown in the first bar chart, illustrating that: more Americans took more meds than ever in 2018. These prescriptions are increasingly filled as 90-day supplies of drugs via mail order or retail pharmacy channels. Two-thirds of Rx’s were dispensed to treat chronic conditions, notably hypertension, mental health, lipid management, diabetes, and anti-coagulants. Medicines treating hypertension experienced the largest absolute growth in number of scripts, up 48 million in 2018 over 2017; this increase was driven by an aging population and expanded guidelines in place for the treatment of high blood pressure.

Increases in prescriptions for chronic conditions were also due to growing attention to prescription drug adherence by patients. This is a good news aspect of the IQVIA report, as adherence can be a win-win-win for patients, prescribers and manufacturers alike. In 2018, we saw more incentives to inspire adherence to prescription drug regimens, particularly in Medicare Part D along with increasing focus by pharmacists and providers.

As the second chart details, adherence among patients enrolled in Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage (the green bar) had the highest levels across the three payment sources studied and in all U.S. regions.

Adherence is not equal across every state in America, IQVIA Institute learned: for major chronic conditions of hypertension, cholesterol and diabetes, adherence was a low of around 50% among Medicaid enrollees in Arkansas, Iowa and New York; and as high approaching 90% in Minnesota for Medicare Part D enrollees in that state. Vermont and Minnesota had generally higher adherence across all three payor types, versus relatively low adherence among residents in DC and Mississippi.

Another interesting aspect of medicine usage in 2018 was the adoption new flu and shingles vaccines, which outpaced other new drug starts last year. Nearly 9 in 10 new therapy starts in 2018 were in vaccines, with the rest in traditional medicines. In 2018, forty percent of new therapy starts were for Shingrix, the shingles vaccine. In 2017, nearly 60% of new therapy starts were for the Flucelvax Quadrivalent flu vaccine.

Generics have gone beyond mainstream: they’re universally used by patients who filled a prescription in 2018. When generics were available, they were dispensed 97% of the time in 2018, the third line chart demonstrates. Generic drugs comprised 90% of all dispensed prescriptions in 2018, and in many therapeutic areas generics are dispensed at near 100% of the time.

The generics story feeds into the next section of the IQVIA Institute report which quantifies medicine spending. In 2018, the total market for prescription drug spending in the U.S. was $344 billion, a 4.5% increase over 2017 net of rebates, discounts, and price concessions. This growth rate was a relative historic low level.

On a per capita basis, those $344 bn calculated to $1,044, about $10 up from 2017 and $44 up over a decade ago.

Based on that $44 increase per person in 10 years, Aitken said that relatively low level of increase in per capita spending for medicines was “lower than headlines often suggest.”

Specialty medicines are becoming a more important part of total medicines spending. IQVIA defines specialty medicines as those that treat chronic, complex or rare diseases and share several key characteristics related to their distribution, care delivery, and/or cost of the therapies: specifically, with a list price over $6,000 per year.

Specialty meds are reaching nearly one-half of medicine spending as patents expire for branded drugs and much lower-cost generics are so universally dispensed. The growth in spending is largely driven by oncology, autoimmune disease therapies, treatment for diabetes, and Hep C meds. These four classes generated over 75% of total medicine spending growth in 2018.

The growing proportion and cost of specialty drugs segues us to the next part of the IQVIA report plotline: patient out-of-pocket (OOP) costs. This takes us from the pharma manufacturer’s perspective to the patient’s role in the Rx ecosystem.

Total patient OOP costs in 2018 reached $61 billion, up $2 bn from 2017, and $5 bn from 2014. Just under 9% of patients across all three health plan types had over $500 in OOP costs in 2018. For people enrolled in Medicare Part D, 20% faced over $500 in OOP costs.

When it comes to OOP costs and patient cost exposure, there’s a direct relationship between level of cost and level of prescription abandonment. That’s the scenario when an Rx was written and sent to the pharmacy but ultimately, the patient does not pick up the medicine — thus, “abandoning” it.

Patients abandon over 20% of new prescriptions when their OOP costs rise above $50. A cost of $125 or more yields abandonment of at least 50%. The bar chart here illustrates abandonment rates for patients in commercial and Medicare plans.

Looking to the future toward 2023, IQVIA identified a roster of policies that relate to the American Patients First Blueprint that President Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar unveiled in 2018. IQVIA identified several at higher probabilities of adoption, including eliminating the payer rebate safe harbor, establishing international benchmark reimbursement, capping patient costs in the catastrophic phase, reducing protected classes limitations, and eliminating cost-sharing on generics, among other provisions.

Heath Populi’s Hot Points: To complement the IQVIA Institute report, I wanted to provide some topline data from the first GoodRx Quarterly Report, published in late April 2019 based on data from the first quarter of 2019 (January 1-March 31, 2019).

Drugs continue to get more expensive, GoodRx notes, with the average list price set by manufacturers growing 2.9% over all generics and brands. GoodRx found a “huge spike” in Rx price increases in the first week of January 2019.

The 20 most expensive medications in the U.S. cost more than $25,000 for a monthly supply.

And, place matters when it comes to drug pricing, shown in the map and top-10 chart here from the GoodRx report. Living in New York City and San Francisco will price you at least 14% above the national average of drug costs, the two towns with double-digit margins above the national average of Rx’s.

If you live in greater Atlanta, you’re in luck: prescription medicines are priced about 20% lower than national average there, similarly in Dallas, Houston and Denver.

It’s important to note that place does indeed matter to the individual patient, as I point out in my book, HealthConsuming: From Health Consumer to Health Citizen. “Place matters” due to our ZIP code so profoundly influencing our health beyond our genetic code, for healthy food access, transportation, broadband connectivity, clean air and water, job opportunities and education….and here GoodRx reveals, drug pricing.

I had the opportunity to brainstorm for a few minutes with IQVIA’s Murray Aitken about the study, and my question about those “headlines” he mentioned in his remarks. In my book, I highlight EpiPen and insulin prices as current examples of patient-consumer uproar, taking the patient-facing costs of these two life-sustaining therapies as quite personal.

Murray explained that the issue of a patient’s out-of-pocket costs connects with the drug’s list price when it comes to amount the patient has to pay when not subject to a standard co-payment for their Rx: that individual facing sticker shock may be one of four patient-payor personae: in the deductible phase if commercially insured; in the Medicare Part D donut hole; in catastrophic care; or, filling a prescription that carries coinsurance (a percent of the manufacturer’s list price).

That exposure has become much greater as more patients have enrolled in plans with high deductibles.

That’s why this has become a bigger issue, Murray explained.

We agreed — prescription drug pricing, from the patient’s point of view, is complicated, indeed.

But to that N of 1 patient, I said, it’s hugely personal. It impacts the household budget, already on average 20% of which is allocated to healthcare on a median national basis, HealthConsuming explains as the patient is the payor.

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal featured an article on A $2 Million Therapy About to Hit [the] Market, discussing a new gene therapy treatment that addresses spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Without a treatment, patients with this condition can die before their second birthday, which gives SMA the sobering distinction of being the most common genetic cause of infant death. This is a rare disease, with between 400 and 500 babies born with the genetic defect each year in the U.S.

“A therapy is useless if no one can afford it,” asserted Cathryn Donaldson from AHIP, the health insurance advocacy group, quoted in the story. AHIP has been a frequent critic of pharmaceutical and biotech industries in recent years as health reform targets have heated up in terms of regulation and price controls putting health insurance companies, pharma and biotech, and hospitals in the political bullseye on Capitol Hill, in State Houses, and as Aitken pointed out, “in the headlines.”

The politics of prescription drug pricing will continue to be personal for health care voters, I forecast in my own scenarios looking toward not 2023 — but 2020.

The post Prescription Drug Costs In America Through the Patient Lens, via IQVIA, GoodRx and a New $2 Million Therapy appeared first on HealthPopuli.com.

Prescription Drug Costs In America Through the Patient Lens, via IQVIA, GoodRx and a New $2 Million Therapy posted first on https://carilloncitydental.blogspot.com

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