#because meta has their messenger system too

[taviokapudding]

THE US GOVERNMENT IS MOVING TO MAKE VPNS ILLEGAL, HAVE DONE STOCK MARKET MANIPULATION, & HAVE ALLOWED META EXTREME OVERREACH

IF US TIKTOK GOES, US TUMBLR IS NEXT

And yes @staff this isn’t like last time where we all poked fun at Elon and walked away with our silly little crabs and checkmarks, you guys need to be ready for your US staffers to be laid off too

IF YOU ARE FROM THE US AND KNOW ANYBODY THAT IS 18+ WHO USES ANY SOCIAL MEDIA THAT ISN’T META

Find the March 23, 2023 hearing footage against tiktok and make them stomach as much as they can so they understand how Congress will treat ALL non-Meta social media platforms and those working in the social media industry moving forward

Get them to call their state and federal representatives and tell them

I will not be voting, donating, or supporting you nor you party in the upcoming primaries- I will be supporting your opponent

Congress hasn’t taken away public access to stock trading & being able to read bills being made yet but with everything that’s transpired we need to be ready for full blown censoring of it & I encourage non-US users to inform their US followers, friends, and family members because this isn’t going to be shown on public television or NPR.

[herotome]

i'd like to know more about what you mentioned in the tags then, about taking inspiration from outside media! i remember when i first played the demo it hit just right cause i'd just watched the boys and i was hungry for more hero cynicism lol

Aw hell yeah!!

Okay so actually - I take very little inspiration from modern hero media, if any. I did grow up watching Justice League (2001-2004), Static Shock, and Batman the Animated Series and take some tonal inspiration from my memories of them (in which heroes generally try their best and it isn't always enough, villains tend to have sympathetic motives, also Mr Freeze is there and he's my big favorite), but that's about it.

When I started taking an interest in game design, I took deep inspiration from games with stories and mechanics that really resonated with me:

Mystic Messenger: I took heavy inspiration from how the love interests talk to each other, and how they all participate in every route. And the banter!! This game genuinely made me feel a personal connection to all its characters, and a lot of the player's dialogue choices were pretty damn funny for an otome game. (I have since learned that many, many indie otome games are similarly charming and I wrote a whole big list of recommendations, but didn't know they existed back in 2016-or-so.)

Undertale: Its sense of humor and meta commentary blew my mind. You could just do so much and have the game remember and react to your actions/choices, such as taking too much candy and making the whole bowl spill to the floor, or having the Mad Dummy rant about how you treated the dummy from the beginning of the game. Undertale is probably responsible for my deep interest in variable-tracking, and having characters respond to different things. (Dammit, Undertale, it's been so much work... but it's worth it I guess.....)

Disco Elysium: I played this a short while after MM and UT, and it just solidified my idea of what "my favorite game" would look like. Because I'm trying to make Herotome into my favorite game, that's my secret cap, etc etc. Anyway... Disco Elysium is fucking crazy. It's full of heart and camaraderie and also you can loudly beg for money and punch a literal child in the face and sing karaoke really badly and joking that if you find three racists you will be granted three wishes like??? It's unhinged. I haven't even mentioned the stellar atmosphere, plot, and how you have a bunch of voices in your head suggesting various courses of action and how you play as a recovering addict and you can go right back into your addiction with smoking alcohol and drugs... Describing it like this, it feels like an impossible game, that there's no way a game like this exists, but goddamn it do. And I take inspiration from a small.. SMALL aspect of it, because if I tried to fully emulate Disco Elysium I would probably die. It's just so much. And it's beautiful. Anyway DE inspired me to be more unhinged.

Dragon Age Origins: I'm listing this last because I actually played it well, well before I started game development, but it was such an impactful game for me that I'd never forgotten its scenes, characters, and how it made me feel. The CHARACTER BANTER... The sheer wealth of choices, and the emotions involved!!! There was such a general sense of world building and gravitas and then you find this mystical holy urn that's been important to a major religion and one of the characters quips "Nice vase. I should get one for my house." like??? Gah. I guess it inspired me not to take my own game too seriously, but the characters are also very,veryvery charming while also being quite diverse - everyone has a unique sense of humor and a unique background. The player can ALSO have a unique sense of humor and a unique background, which is super cool. I am absolutely not doing separate Origins for Herotome because that's way too much work-- but the diversity of the love interests did inspire me a great deal. Oh-- and the APPROVAL SYSTEM. I loved how you could get characters in the negative and have really, really interesting dialogue from antagonistic interactions, so DA:O really taught me early on that I didn't have to shy away from such things.

Perhaps most importantly: I like these games a whole lot, they are probably my favorite games. I want to like Herotome in the same way, or at least a very similar way.

A quote I try to think about a lot is "I'm surprised at the success of the show, I'm... I'm not surprised by people liking it that watch it, because... even though that makes me sound like a dick, like, that [sounds like] I knew people would like it, that's not quite what I mean-- I just mean, when you write something, you have to... if it's gonna be good, you have to be, like, its first fan, you have to be like... I don't care if I'm the only person who ever watches this, I love this. So when a second person says 'this is awesome!' You're like, stoked, but you're not shocked[...]"

... Okay I don't think about that entire stuttering quote (it's from Dan Harmon, regardless of how one might feel about him as a person he is an undeniably successful writer); but I do try to internalize "I don't care if I'm the only person who likes this" as often as I can.

I also make an effort to trust in the universe and that Herotome will reach "its people" and resonate with them in the same way my favorite games resonated with me...

... Anyway.

Outside of game design, I also try to pick out enjoyable aspects from everything I watch and read. If a book has a particularly well-written scene, I'll jot down some notes about why I liked it even if I didn't enjoy the book overall. Same with VNs and other games. While watching movies/shows I'll try to remember how they make me feel, and remember scenes that are particularly powerful and why they affected me. Yeah it's a lot of English homework, but it's how I work and indirectly feed Herotome and keep it alive in my day-to-day. I even have a playlist of random youtube videos I might reference while working on the game. Oh, and video essays -- I watch video essays religiously and make mental notes... let's plays, too, are a great way to experience how a game is designed and saving some time--

Uh, point being, you don't have to go hardcore categorizing and note-taking like I do. I just truly believe that every piece of media has something to share that can be molded and used to your own devices... even if it's "what not to do," in situations where I really, really don't like something. I'll just make a mental note to do the opposite thing. (eg, when Mystic Messenger let you choose your PFP and then randomly showed you the default MC kissing the love interest - so much whiplash, so awful, still one of my favorite games but whyyyyyy)

I actually did a meme about characters-who-inspired-my-characters a while back too, so there's that... same logic. Many many games and stories and characters inspired me, very few of them directly concern superheroes.

Thank you for the ask!!!

[thevictorianghost]

If you could rewrite legend of korra and make it your own(or just in general better) how would you do it? The villains would stay the same and korra and crew are the same(personalities you can definitely tweak a bit. I would definitely not have any love triangles and make korra and asami happen in the beginning) how would you do it with your ships being canon as well?

Okay so I’ve never actually watched LOK. I’ve heard A LOT about it through watching countless video essays on Youtube and reading Tumblr posts about it. I know the who, the what and the how, I just haven’t wanted to watch it because, even though it looks cinematically gorgeous, the story was written by Bry/ke and there’s a LOT of it, worldbuilding and storywise, that I just can’t bare to watch.

So here goes. This got long. Enjoy!

1) Remove the Decopunk world. 

A Decopunk world is a world where technology is 1920s-ish, but very advanced. We have cars, tanks, radio, bobs and faux bobs, cloche hats, short skirts, nice suits, etc. I adore Decopunk. The 1920s are one of my favourite eras. An optimistic way of looking at the world, partying, illegal alcohol, the remnants of the Great War... I love it. I really do. But it doesn’t work in the pre-established world of Avatar. It brings elements that are far too imperialistic and colonial in nature (which prompted the comics to be imperialistic and colonial in nature, with the Northern and Southern Water Tribe, you can find many posts about that), which came along hand in hand with the Industrial Revolution, as this article puts it so well. Please read it, it’s awesome.

Why did they feel they had to denature Avatar’s world? They already had everything they could possibly want. 

The Fire Nation could be more Steampunk, which is a little less advanced than Decopunk (First Industrial Revolution vs Second Industrial Revolution) because there were elements of Steampunk in the Fire Nation Army (such as the tanks, the navy and the dirigibles). But it could be for them only. It could show us how Zuko transformed the Fire Nation from a war industry to a steam-powered country. This could be the new way to channel firebending (and please, no more “anyone can do lightning bending”, you don’t need lightning bending to get electricity and it makes  Zuko, Iroh, Ozai and Azula weak in the show!). 

We’ve seen waterbending used in clever ways in the Northern Water Tribe. How could Katara’s waterbending and Sokka’s engineering influence the Southern Water Tribe to make them use waterbending more? Canals, waterfalls, waterways, etc.? In new and different ways? Could the Southern Water Tribe use hydroelectricity, but in a clean, sustainable way? Why does the Southern Water Tribe port look so... mundane? 

The Earth Kingdom already had a working train system in Ba Sing Se. And the postal system in Omashu. Toph could have taught earthbenders how to follow the Badgermoles way and dug tunnels throughout a nation in peace. Then boom. Subways. But instead of machines pushing the people along, you can have benders do it. Instead of messenger hawks, the postal system could run through the entire kingdom instead of just Omashu and be much more efficient. The Earth Kingdom could be praised for its fast postal system that could, maybe, work as telegrams.

I’ll come back to the Air Nomads.

Those are just examples from the top of my head. I don’t mean “never allow technology to “””progress””” (I use that word veeeeery loosely because it has huge imperialistic undertones). I mean instead of trashing the fun parts of bending to make way for Decopunk technology that doesn’t need bending, work with it! Get creative! This worldbuilding feels... too easy. When Avatar: The Last Airbender was praised for its worldbuilding.

I adore Decopunk. I enjoy it far more than Dieselpunk and it’s much less known that Steampunk. But it has no place in the Avatar world.

2) That doesn’t mean “remove Republic City”.

First of all, it should honestly have a better name. It’s kind of like naming a city “Democracy City”. Which is way too on the nose. Harmony City sounds better, and that’s the first thing that came to mind. Anyway.

I really like the idea of a city being built in the spirit of Iroh and the White Lotus. To allow the Four Nations to live together in harmony in one city. But why is Republic City literally New York City with an “““Asian””” flair? What is up with that? I know New York is the MOST Decopunk city ever (you can’t encounter anything Decopunk without seeing New York, with its Art Deco buildings, the Harlem Renaissance, the Prohibition, etc.). But they do NOTHING with it! They just take New York, change some names, add some Asian flair, and call it a day. 

I don’t want 1920s New York for Republic City. I want Zootopia.

What happens in a city where all the Four Nations are represented? How does Water, Earth, Fire and Air work together? Big cities tend to be quartered in neighborhoods, so each neighborhood could be a smaller version of their nation. We could have a Northern Water Tribe next to an Earth Kingdom next to... you know what I mean? Each neighborhood could be a small-scale introduction to the nation for Korra first, then you can send her to that nation afterwards!

Which leads us to this.

3) Have Korra follow a traditional Avatar’s journey. 

I really don’t know why they decided that Korra would learn three elements before the age of sixteen (when that’s the age Avatars usually START their journeys) and then only have her learn Airbending during the entire show. Wasn’t the structure of each Book being about Aang learning one element at a time a good structure? Why go out of their way to NOT do that? Why was it the White Lotus’ prerogative to train the Avatar in the first place, too?  

So let’s have Korra know waterbending first (and show Katara teaching her, please!), then she can learn Earth, Fire and Air. By going to the Earth Kingdom, to the Fire Nation, and to the Air Temples. This could help develop each nation and show us how they have grown through the years. And it could lead Korra and the audience to figure out that there’s not only Aang who has had children to represent the Air Nomads, but there were other Air Nomads who survived the genocide and we can actually see the Air Nomads as a thriving culture.

So about Republic City. As I said, we could keep it. But now that Korra is going on a traditional Avatar journey, you could have, say, one episode at the beginning and one episode at the end of each season taking place in Republic City. To show us how each Nation’s neighborhood works and as an introduction to Korra before she actually takes the plunge to travel to that nation. 

Please! Build upon the Avatar world at large more! Come on!

4) Stop it with the love triangles. 

Many have talked about the Mako, Korra, Bolin and Asami love triangles. I’ve read once that they don’t exactly feel like friends, they’re only colleagues who share the fact they all dated Korra at one point. Which is sad. Knowing that the Gaang is so beloved because they’re such GOOD FRIENDS first!

So work to build strong, healthy friendships first, THEN start thinking about romance if you have to. And please, if you want a ship to be endgame, don’t have it so you have to confirm it on Twitter. 

Don’t.

Oh! And also. Bolin and Eska’s relationship was unhealthy as all hell and treated as “funny” and “comic relief” because a woman was being emotionally abusive to a man. That’s terrible. Please don’t do that.

5) Don’t let Katara fall to the side like she did. 

Many, MANY before me have talked about how Katara got the short end of the stick in LOK. Where’s her statue? Where’s her recognition as the Greatest Waterbender in the World? Why is she day in and day out in the healing hut, when she said “I don’t want to heal, I want to FIGHT”? Does she even have a waterbending school? Or is that completely fanon? Why does she allow Aang to take one of their children on life-changing field trips while leaving their other kids behind? Aren’t they also Air Nomads by birth??

It’s okay to worship the old Gaang because, well, we all love them! I do love Aang, even if I give him a hard time a lot, but I love the character. I just don’t like the way Book 3 Aang was written. But some characters shouldn’t have everything while others have nothing. Aang is LITERALLY THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. But where was Katara’s statue? And also, what happened to Suki?? What happened to Mai or Ty Lee, too?? Or even Sokka?? He died some time ago and... that’s it??

Which brings us to this.

6) Zutara, Taang, Sukka and Mailee.

I’ve seen that picture of Toph, Aang, Sokka and Katara being edited with Zuko and Katara next to each other, Toph and Aang next to each other, and a (suddenly alive!) Suki next to Sokka. I think that’s so good! It feels so healthy!

Not all relationships that started when people were kids work out. Sokka and Suki seem the strongest relationship at the end of the show and they’re probably the only ones I could see working out in the end. Sokka could become the Southern Water Tribe Chief and Suki could become his Queen when she’s retired from the Kyoshi Warriors.

Katara and Aang would be lifelong friends, of course they would be, but I don’t really see them lasting. Aang was twelve when they started dating. They’d date a few years, then they’d decide they want other things. That’s a good thing to show kids!

I’ve written many metas about Zutara, but Ambassador then Fire Lady Katara would show a changing world, where the Fire Nation, now no longer a war industry but a Steampunk country, is moving forward, with Zuko literally marrying a woman the Fire Nation tried to wipe out. They would be equals and leave an equal mark upon the world. Together.

Toph and Aang would be amazing together. They’d be a great team, working in the Earth Kindom, helping rebuild the old Temples when the Air Nomads came out of hiding, and bringing peace around the world. I don’t think they’d be a conventional relationship. They’d do their own thing for a while, find each other for a while, work together on some projects, then continue doing their own thing. Aang being the Avatar who travels the world and Toph teaching metalbenders and working with the King in Ba Sing Se and Bumi in Omashu and wherever she’s needed. I think Toph would be much more fulfilled than what we’ve seen of elderly Katara. She doesn’t have Katara’s abandonment issues (I’ve talked about them here) and she’s more independent, I believe.

I know I haven’t talked about them much yet, but I want Mai and Ty Lee together in the end. Badass ladies challenging their respective stereotypes and create a new world for themselves. Mai could find herself away from the Fire Nation court (I don’t know what she’d do, but circuses love people who throw knives, don’t they? She could be a circus performer for a while), and I think Ty Lee, in this version, could work at the circus and with Aang to rebuild the Air Nomads. I love the idea of Ty Lee being a descendant of the Air Nomads.

All of them should be shown creating Zootopia-like Republic City. Because of course they should be! They’re the Gaang!

So yeah, that’s how I would see the world of Avatar grow beyond the borders of the original show! :)

[amphibious-entity]

TMBS Book 1 Brain Dump

~An Embarrassingly Long Post~

I don’t know why I’m writing this or why I’m so determined to do it. Maybe to finally assume my true form and become a mega dork on main, or maybe just for fun!

This is basically a compilation of all the main points running through my head after reading The Mysterious Benedict Society (2007) for the first time. Rather than posting a ton and spamming the tag, everything’s here in one neat package! (hopefully this gets it all out of my system rip)

Contents:

The Book Itself

The Book Itself, for real this time

The Characters

A Funny Parallel

The S.Q. Section

Lines & Scenes I Liked

Spoilers abound!

The Book Itself

Upon acquiring the first three books (don’t judge me pls), I was surprised at just how long they are. Like, they’re still pretty light being paperbacks and all, but these books are hefty lads.

The first book has this Disney+ Original Series circle thing printed on it, which is kind of unfortunate. Regardless, I love the cover illustration and yellow is actually my favorite color :D It made me weirdly quite happy whenever I saw the book lying around in my room

Also, it’s really cute how there’s a letter from Mr. Benedict at the end! (It only reveals that you can find out his first name if you “know the code”, meaning the bit of Morse printed below the summary on the back.) Shock and horror, though, as I realized I’m starting to recognize some of the letters

The Book Itself, for real this time

It’s wonderful how the tone of the book really shone through to the show adaptation. Something about the deliberateness of the aesthetic, from the set designs to the fashion to scene compositions, that really sells that particular style— like it’s very clear that this story is being told to us, rather than one we’re seeing unfold, if that makes sense.

Where that narration style stood out to me the most was the first chapter. We are told (rather than shown) how Reynie gets himself to the point of the second test, and there’s this whole twisty time maneuver for that whole sequence of events that’s really interesting

A super secret fun fact about me is that I wanted to be a writer when I was younger! So this particular balance of show vs. tell is really neat, since it runs counter to my own tendencies. The sheer amount of commas in every sentence is also kind of comforting, since Ahah, I Do That in those few serious-ish attempts at writing lol

Overall this book’s style reminds me a lot of Roald Dahl’s books, which are very nostalgic for me :D The whole “kids are more competent than adults” angle helps a lot too haha

The Characters

Oh boy here’s where I get a little bit critical! Overall I did really like this book!! it’s just that that expresses itself in all this weird “”analysis”” lol

Reynie - much better in the books than in the show

It’s sort of a lukewarm take but I feel like show!Reynie is kind of boring? He doesn’t have a lot going on flaw-wise, and obviously since he’s the protagonist he can’t have too many weird traits or else the kids watching can’t project themselves onto him as easily

(I call it the difference between an aspirational protagonist and a vessel protagonist. Going off of the Roald Dahl vibes, think Matilda vs Charlie. show!Reynie is more of a Charlie)

Thus when we get to see him really struggle with the Whisperer and doubt himself it gives him a lot more dimension, at least in my opinion

It is a federal crime that the white knight scenes were not adapted into the show

Sticky - my son

I’ve long held to no one besides myself and my long suffering sister that Sticky is The Best Member of the Society

He happened to hit a lot of the Bingo squares of Stuff I Like In Characters: glasses, anxious, nice :), kind of a coward but ultimately is there for his friends, etc

For some reason I don’t talk about him nearly as much as you-know-who, but I love him just as dearly

Kate & Constance - I don’t have much to say

Kate is really interesting in this book! I like how we get to see more of her depths, in particular that one passage about her belief that she is invincible being the only thing that keeps her from falling apart? :c

Also her constant fidgeting is relatable lol

Constance is somehow a lot more tolerable in the book. I think I’m just one of those people with no patience for small children, unfortunately lol

(Some of) The Adults

It’s interesting that they had such an offscreen presence for most of the book. Giving them more time was probably one of the stronger changes of the show

However if that decision was made at the expense of the white knight scenes I think the choice should have been clear

I like the way Rhonda and Number Two are written

Milligan always on sad boy hours 😔✊

The “mill again” passage is touching but kind of messes up the pacing of the getaway, at least for me. Maybe I should read it again to make sure I didn’t miss something

Miss Perumal is much better in the show. We see so little of her in the book she doesn’t function well as an emotional anchor for Reynie, imo

The Institute Gang

Jackson and Jillson serve their purpose well, and Martina was surprising to say the least. I like the direction they took her in the show! I can’t imagine how funny it must have been to watch the tetherball subplot come out of nowhere lolol

These sections were written out of sequence, so random tidbit I couldn’t fit in The S.Q. Section: I like how he stumbles over his words. relatable

Mr. Curtain

While I think I know why they decided to not give Curtain the wheelchair in the show, we were totally robbed of Actor Tony Hale’s performance for the reveal during the final confrontation

Speaking of the wheelchair, it’s such a powerful symbol of his need for control or rather, his fear of losing it

The Contrast between him and Mr. Benedict. This point is expanded on in A Funny Parallel

Mr. Benedict

Oh boy, Mr. Benedict… How do I say this

I find it hard to trust Mr. Benedict, unfortunately

I mean to say, I do in the sense that I know he would never hurt the kids, thanks to knowing that a) this is a children’s book series and b) the meta (tumblr) states that he is really nice and lovable and stuff, but seriously. Why do the kids trust him at first?? I probably missed something somewhere

I like to think I’m an optimistic person, but unfortunately I’m also super paranoid. The premise of “a bunch of vulnerable orphans team up with a strange old man” is just so odd to me I don’t know how to explain it

I don’t know!!! I really want to trust Mr. Benedict

One of the strengths of the show is that we get to see him more often, and thus he gets to acknowledge more often that the plan is weird and that he feels really badly for putting the kids in danger and that he’s trustworthy and genuine

But his lack of presence for most of the book just makes him into something of a specter, invisible and unknowable, speaking only in riddles from across the bay

Which is why the white knight scene is so important!! I loved that scene ;-;

Because here’s an actual emotional connection! We can actually see it happening, rather than only being told that it exists

Reynie asking for advice and receiving encouragement, in words that demonstrate that Mr. Benedict actually cares about him and worries about him and agghh

It is a federal crime that the white knight scenes were not adapted into the show

But overall this whole issue didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book at all! It’s just ->

A Funny Parallel

Okay, ready for my biggest brain, hottest take ever??

Mr. Benedict and Mr. Curtain…. are… the same

I mean obviously not entirely, given that one is benevolent and kind and the other is… Mr. Curtain

But seriously. Genius old man seeks out children (mainly orphans) to enact a plan. Said children often end up incredibly devoted to his cause and deeply admire him this is a little flimsy

Undoubtedly that’s intentional and is supposed to show the difference between them, like some kind of cautionary tale? “Let yourself be vulnerable and let others help you, lest you turn eeeeviiillll”

I guess that’s where the aforementioned epic contrast comes in. You get Mr. Curtain, strapped into his wheelchair and hiding behind those mirrored sunglasses, terrified (but unwilling to admit it) of ever showing the tiniest hint of vulnerability, vs. Mr. Benedict, who can let himself fall knowing that someone will catch him :’)

Anyhow I have nothing against the parallels, I just think it’s funny

The S.Q. Section

The S.Q. Quarantine Thread so it doesn’t leak out everywhere else <3

I’d like to meet the emo angstlord genius who read this book and decided to make SQ into Dr. Curtain’s son. What in the world

Okay I should probably preface this by saying that I absolutely adore both book!S.Q. and show!SQ with all my heart. Somehow, despite being a completely different character in both mediums, he has managed to be one of the best characters in either and certainly one of my favorites (besides Sticky of course) in the entire franchise, despite the fact that I’ve only read the first book/watched the show so far. I am confident in this statement.

But seriously! How?? Why?? I could probably write a whole other essay about why show!SQ is such an interesting character, and the change works so incredibly well. I’m just. Baffled

Okay, focus. book!S.Q. is such a sweetheart, oh my goodness. Like, 100% one of the most endearing characters in the book. Poor guy. I don’t even know where to start!!

He just seems to be a genuinely good guy at heart, despite being technically one of the bad guys. He’s genuinely happy for Reynie and Sticky when they became Messengers and helped Kate when she “fell” and was concerned about Constance when she looked sick and how he was in that meeting with Mr. Curtain and Martina?!!? aaahhhhghgh ;-; he just wants people to be happy TT-TT

Comparing him against literally every character at the Institute is probably what makes him so endearing tbh. When everyone else is so awful to the kids, it really makes him stand out. Like a cheerful little nightlight in the worst, most humid and rank bathroom you’ve ever been in

It’s kind of pointless to theorize about a book series that’s already concluded (I think?) but. Is the implication of S.Q.’s forgetfulness supposed to be that Mr. Curtain used him in brainsweeping experiments somehow? The timeline probably definitely absolutely doesn’t line up but like. How did he get to being a Messenger being the way he is now, given how cutthroat the process is? And then of course Mr. Curtain keeps him around as an Executive because he’s fun to mess with and presumably his loyalty. I’m very curious as to how their relationship develops in the other books, if at all. Those are probably where the seeds of the “let’s make them family” logic were planted

But wouldn’t it be hilarious if the reason we don’t know what “S.Q.” stands for in the books is that he just. Forgot

Another thing that occurred to me. Given that he and the other Executives were Messengers at some point, what were their worst fears? What is S.Q.’s worst fear?? Inquiring minds need to know

One last horrible little anecdote: I was thinking about book!S.Q. while eating breakfast, as one does, and suddenly it hit me.

I want to believe The Author Trenton Lee Stewart had the name for a character, S.Q. Pedalian, and was like, “Hm! What sort of quirky trait should this young fellow have?” Because, of course, in this style of fiction every character has to have at least one cartoonish or otherwise distinguishing trait to stand out in the minds of children. (For instance, Kate has her bucket, Sticky has his glasses, Constance is angry, and Reynie is Emmett from the Lego Movie)

Anyhow, he looks around the room, searching for inspiration. Suddenly he comes across a jumbo box of plastic wrap. Completely innocuous in design, save for one line of text. 300 SQ FT.

“…large… S.Q. …feet? THAT’S IT!” i’m sorry

Lines & Scenes I Liked

In no particular order!

Sticky quotes Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Evil combination aerobics/square dancing in the gym with the Executives

Everyone being happy at the end :’)

Everyone partying after Sticky reunites with his parents, and later finding Mr. Benedict asleep at his desk from the moment they shook hands :’’)

Literally any scene with Sticky in it

Any time Kate says “you boys” or “gosh”

[“Um, sir?” S.Q. said timidly, raising his hand. “A thought just occurred to me.” / Mr. Curtain raised his eyebrows. “That’s remarkable, S.Q. What is it?”] clown prince of my heart </3

S.Q.’s determined monologue about searching for clues after he bungled up the first time

Literally any scene with S.Q. in it (please refer to The S.Q. Section)

Reynie trying to resist the Whisperer.

[Let us begin. / First let me polish my spectacles, Reynie thought. / Let us begin. / Not without my bucket, Reynie insisted. He heard Mr. Curtain muttering behind him. / Let us begin, let us begin, let us begin. / Rules and schools are tools for fools, Reynie thought.]

NO MORE HURTIN’ WITH CURTAIN

Milligan showing up on the island!!

Remember the white knight hhhhhh

“controle”

A Super Secret Bonus Section

I would be extremely surprised if anyone read through all the way down here lol. Regardless, here’s a little acknowledgements section :D not tagging anyone since I don’t want to bother all of these people

Special shoutout to tumblr blog stonetowns for unknowingly yet singlehandedly demolishing my reluctance to read the books by posting a ton of cute quotes. Thank you for your service o7

Thanks to the two OGs that liked the post I made right before this one, for being my unwitting enablers and for sticking around despite being a) technically an internet stranger (hello!) and b) someone I haven’t spoken to irl in literal years (hey!!)

Last but not least thankz 2 my sister for putting up with me ranting about the book when I first got it and for asking about “CQ” sometimes lol. (i desperately hope you’re not reading this orz)

[sepublic]

Hey I love you reading your theories and analysis, they've contributed a lot to my own headcanons and views on the characters so I wanted to get your thoughts on a in universe reason why Amity might be the only outlier for the name of her family. You have Edric: prosperous ruler, Emira most commonly meaning princess or leader, Odalia: wealth and fortune, Aladar: noble, eminent, glorious, and then you have Amity for friendship.

           It really means a lot to me to hear about this! Honestly, I’m just another fan, speculating on things, maybe projecting a few ideas and opinions of what I’d like to see onto the show… But it’s very touching to hear this, thank you so much! As for the subject of your ask…

           Well, there WAS that one brief idea I aired a while back… Basically, I considered the possibility that Amity was literally conceived for a sole purpose, and/or was chosen by Odalia and Alador to be a glorified ‘offering’ to Emperor Belos…

           The thing about members of the Emperor’s Coven is, we don’t know much, if anything, about their social lives outside of their jobs! And that’s assuming they even HAVE one… The most we see is Lilith’s bedroom, which based on the architecture is possibly within Belos’ castle, but we can’t really say for sure! Not to mention this was from a background that was never included in the episode, and as Head of the Emperor’s Coven, Lilith would understandably have a more intimate relationship with its headquarters given the tasks she oversees.

           And amidst the speculation of EC witches going a physical transformation upon receiving the Emperor’s Brand, in order to further conform them to Belos’ standard… And again, it makes me wonder if Amity is even going to remain in contact with her family. If ANY of the Emperor’s Coven witches do… Again, there’s Lilith, but she doesn’t exactly have much family to go back to, to begin with it seems! And even if she DID, it’s worth noting that she’s Head of the Emperor’s Coven, and like Wrath and Kikimora… It seems that having a high position even amongst Belos’ enforcers garners you a little special individuality, just to hammer it in just how much MORE you are compared to the rest!

           So again; All speculation. But it makes me wonder if standard members of the Emperor’s Coven basically sacrifice their previous life and cut off all ties with it to become an enforcer of Belos. This potentially means no relationships, no adopting kids because even if it’s not expressly forbidden, you just don’t have the time and resources for that… etc.

           And given how big a deal Odalia and Alador place on the concept of the ‘Blight’ family name, it makes sense that they’d want to have grandchildren and continue the lineage, right? And… that’s possibly where Emira and Edric come into play…!

           What I’m suggesting is that Emira and Edric are allowed to get away with things, because Odalia was always okay with that sort of thing… But with Amity, she’s subject to extra scrutiny because she’s basically being given to Belos as an offering; Like, here, we raised one of our kids for the sole purpose of serving your will, doesn’t this show how loyal we are? Considering how young Belos’ reign is, he’s likely looking for witches he can trust, and considering the kind of person Odalia likely is (I can’t say much for Alador especially since he was ‘interesting’ for Dana to write and was an outsider to the family), it’s possible she saw this as her chance to schmoozy up to the Emperor, gain his favor, etc.!

           But the thing is… Belos’ standards are HIGH, and Odalia knows it. Maybe she never joined the Emperor’s Coven herself because she wasn’t skilled enough, because her talents lied elsewhere and the system recognized this, and/or she didn’t want to sacrifice her individuality… So why not prove just how loyal she is, just how useful the Blights are, by presenting a perfect child to the Titan’s Messenger! A shining example of the Blight family!

           And if I AM correct in that members of the Emperor’s Coven basically dedicate their entire existence to Belos, then… This means that Amity won’t be able to continue the Blight lineage. But Emira and Edric will… And because THEY’re not the ones who will have Belos breathing down their necks, they can get away with making more mistakes because they’re not trying to impress the emperor, and likewise they’re not trying to get into his prestigious coven! So Amity is subject to a special double-standard because she’s the one who will be ‘sacrificed’ to Belos to make a good image of the family, while Ed and Em are given a lot more leniency!

           This DOES raise the question, if I am correct… Did Odalia and Alador give Amity a different theme-naming, because they knew this? Because they KNEW from the beginning that this third child wouldn’t actually grow up to be a part of the family, that they’d say goodbye once she turned eighteen –maybe even younger- and sacrifice her Blight identity to become an enforcer of Belos? Did they give Amity a more ‘mundane’ name, because even if she was technically chosen to represent the family, by the end of the day she’d be revoking her connection to them anyway, so why bother building one up?

           Is THAT one of many reasons why Odalia and Alador are so cold- Because they know there’s no point getting attached to Amity, if she’s going to leave them in the end and prioritize Belos over them!? And BECAUSE they’re purposefully colder and more detached towards Amity, that just causes Odalia and Alador to act crueler towards her, and so on and so forth in a self-feeding cycle.

           Again; The fact that this was Amity’s name, which was likely decided before she was born or right when she was… Indicates that, if there WAS an in-universe reason (and the differentiation isn’t simply meta), she was intended to be separate from the rest. Whether this was a sign of rejection from Odalia because Amity had her brown hair prominent from birth… I can’t say for sure, because she seemed willing to accept Alador!

          But we don’t know exactly what his deal is… And regardless, Odalia seemed intent on making Amity more like a ‘traditional’ Blight by having her hair dyed green, and forcing Amity to uphold the family standards. So why undermine this effort by giving her a different type of name, unless she changed her mind afterwards, and by then the name had stuck?

           Plus, if Odalia DID make a point of having Amity be ‘more like a Blight’, then how does this fit into the idea of her and Alador having a purposeful disconnect from her compared to them and the Twins, if they knew Amity’s identity as an Emperor’s Coven witch would be prioritized in the end? Unless of course, it was to better signify to Belos that Amity is representative of the Blights as the most talented, obedient enforcer… So Green Hair is a must! But then, why give Amity a different kind of name, unless there was a specific balance to be had between ‘Setting Amity aside as different because she’s going to be gone anyway’ and ‘Making her representative of the Blight family to Belos’.

           This is just a crazy theory though, with not too much evidence. It comes solely from the assumption that Emperor’s Coven witches don’t maintain lives outside of their roles, which while I wouldn’t be shocked if that were the case… There’s nothing outright in favor of this assumption, either. It’s just that- An assumption, which I then used as the basis for a fairly outlandish idea that while not unreasonable given what we’ve seen of Odalia and Alador, doesn’t have much evidence pointing in that direction otherwise.

           Because, like you said; If there IS an in-universe reasoning for this naming, then it suggests that Odalia and Alador had intentions for Amity to be set apart from the rest of the family, even before she could’ve shown any prowess or skill as a witch! And while the Oracle Coven’s exist DOES allude to visions of the future being a thing… Amity’s name suggests her ‘separation’ from the family was always planned and not in reaction to any particular ‘deviancy’ from the Blight identity.

          Which again, leads back to the speculation of why Amity was chosen to join the Emperor’s Coven, but not Emira and Edric… If they simply proved too defiant to mold by that point, or if their talents in Illusions had already been noted by the system, thereby guaranteeing a place within the Illusionist Coven and NOT the EC as would’ve been desired…. Etc. Because as I said before, unless Odalia and Alador looked into the future (which again isn’t too out of the question thanks to Oracle magic), they would’ve only had brown hair to differentiate Amity by that point, and it doesn’t make sense for Odalia to more or less condemn Amity to a completely different fate and identity for something her own husband has.

           And THAT leads me to my final verdict, of… Either there IS a reason we’ll learn more of later in the future, or there is no reason in-universe, and it’s a purely meta decision! Just as there is no in-universe reason why Amity parallels Luz, but from a thematic standpoint, this connection IS very much real and one of the more meaningful and developed concepts this show has to offer! Personally my assumption is that, when it comes to the name at least, the difference doesn’t exist in-universe and it’s a purely meta thing… But as always, you can never say for sure! Especially since we still have Season 2 and so much more to see from Odalia and Alador, no less!

           (This makes me wonder how Alador reacted to the hair-color change… Is he an ‘outsider’ who was fully indoctrinated into the idea of upholding the Blight identity? Is HIS hair dyed green, too? Did he willingly subject himself to this, as a dark parallel to Luz and her relationship with Amity… With Alador being unconditionally selfless to a self-destructive degree, willingly forgoing his identity to meet Odalia’s standards, potentially because he really wanted to be with her and/or didn’t want to stir up trouble with her parents by not meeting their standards?)

[bladekindeyewear]

Boots Reads Homestuck Epilogue(s) Part 2 - Pre-next-chapter-drop asks

Alright, going over some asks under the readmore before I read whatever’s about to drop Epilogue-ways.

Anonymous said: have a deliciously meta thing that like most people have already realized but that's worth pointing out to everyone anyway--it's AO3-style right now because we're, in Rose's words, outside canon, but once John heads back into canon? we'll probably get panels again

Hm? Maybe, but...  there’s something about this format that seems like it could be a whole lot more descriptive when it comes to our leftover doubts and loopholes.

That, or I already heard that “over 100k words” business from my friend and my expectations are biased.

Anonymous said: I notice you didn't comment on the John/Roxy/Calliope mess.

Yeah, things seem just as open as before.  John isn’t a part of it and doesn’t know where any of it stands, but it’s intentionally left malleable, too.  Seems like Andrew to leave things so that we can imagine a whole bunch of endgame pairings easily possible from here, however it turns out.  And complex social arrangements that make the word “pairings” seem restrictive, too!

Anonymous said: So... John is probably going to punch ARANEA, right? This would be the perfect way for Hussie to please all the people who hated the retcon: give us a candy ending where John stays and a meat ending where he goes back and stops Game Over, then goes to fight the final boss with that group.

That sounds more plausible than other suggestions I’ve heard for a girl to punch!  It’s not going to be Vriska again, from the phrasing, and Aranea’s thus a prime target.

Anonymous said: 'not gonna start theorizing' yeah right man. It's gonna be 2 epilogues, diverging from this point on, and the two choices of meal symbolise the two types of story we'll get: one will fill our hunger for plot and closing threads, but is invariably going to fuck us up emotionally (hard to chew, harder to swallow), and one will be a lighthearted character-focused romp in the style of the snapchat updates. Hussie has referred to this dichotomy in his book commentaries under '[S] Jack: Ascend'

Diverging epilogues that cover both and legitimize both are quite possible, like the “mind split” I mentioned earlier except we’d be tracking both branches.  Some of you probably already know the answer, because the new epilogue part already dropped as I was writing this paragraph, I just haven’t read it yet. :p

Anonymous said: Hello! A lot of people think the reason Rose was so cagey when John talked about coming back and talking to her think that means she is going to die. Honestly, either, or, or both present a clean narrative parallel to the Terezi list. With that situation, John not only left the doomed timeline and never returned, but the messenger died after giving him the note. Adding on with Rose being sick and the implications that her powers are causing problems for her physically...

JESUS CHRIST FUCK YOU FOR THAT BEING PLAUSIBLE, ROSE DYING BEFORE JOHN GETS BACK

BECAUSE IT IS

AAAAA no calm the fuck down boots JOHN is going to die in an alternate timeline or something it’s FINE.  Andrew ain’t angsty enough to just have Rose die offscreen at a young age in the alpha timeline due to weird Seer illness bullshit for no reason.  (There’s not going to be some conflict that kills her so soon or..? D: )  And there’s Heroic/Just to consider too, so.

Anonymous said: Someone pointed out that if John's showdown with Typheus is any indication, both meat and candy are the wrong answers and he should either combine both to make candied bacon, or warp somewhere else and eat some vegetables.

Eh; while a third choice is a known theme here with him, I think the split itself is more of a fit for this (or both branching paths followed) than anything, unless the “third path” he takes is somehow going off to address the giant black hole instead.  (Which reminds me, it’s possible in the Meat of this epilogue that John pulls someone out of said black hole.)

Anonymous said: have you read all the skaianet systems files? thoughts?

The who??

mudklp said: Rose mentioned “holes in canon” that need to be plugged. How many plot threads do you think will be sewn up?

Less than there are but more than we hope?  I dunno.

Okay lemme start reading this.  Posting this and moving on to the next post....

[linkspooky]

also sorry for asking about something right after the devilman crybaby ask but pls talk about koichi pls talk abt koichi, you don't have to make a full blown meta... unless you want to? OH and do you prefer the MS translation of what some of the citizens think is name is(hauler) or the VIZ one- i forgot what it was lmao

No problem anon, I’m glad you’re enthusiastic.

Vigilantes is actually my favorite part of the MHA universe. Part of the reason I like it is because it follows closer to Deku’s original concept where he was still quirkless and decided to become a hero outside of the system. Vigilantes is about a character who basically fell through the cracks who is doing everything to help in his own way.

What’s interesting to me most right now about Koichi’s character is the way he hasn’t grown quite yet. Especially since the manga is continuing now with his mentor having left him behind and Koichi moreso now on his own. 

Remember, Koichi starts out the manga basically being a vigilante the most mundane sense of the word. Technically he’s breaking the law because he’s using his quirk without permission but he only ever uses it to do quick favors for each other. 

This is just a quick mention but I love how both Koichi and Gentle share the title Gentle-man for a little while. They even have similiar backstories, they were people with ambitions who fell through the cracks of the hero system and were mostly forgotten despite their earnest efforts to do better. 

However, Koichi is primarily motivated by being helpful to others while Gentle wanted the easiest road to be remembered by others, so Koichi becomes a vigilante and Gentle a pretty harmless anti-villain. Harmless is also a good word to describe both of them because Koichi’s main strength as a hero isn’t his ability to punch bad guys.

So Koichi’s goal is to make himself useful in whatever way possible, but his mentor is somebody who is pretty much the opposite of that. He’s somebody who outwardly projects an image of the more traditional vigilante somebody who just wants to beat up bad guys (though this is eventually subverted).

This panel most of all really summarizes what Koichi’s character arc is about. He’s somebody who wants to break out of the boundaries of where he currently is. Hence, why the manga itself is called vigilantes. Koichi has a desire to be useful in whatever way possible, but that desire often means he’ll settle as well. His version of a vigilante was just somebody doing really menial labor and nice favors for other people. Koichi tends to always put others first, to a point of true selflessness and always taking a secondary role. A helpful role. 

If Deku’s greatest flaw is his self destruction in a physical sense, his willingness to destroy his own body in order to save others than Koichi’s is in a personal sense. He’s always willing to throw away his opportunities and ambitions in order to help someone else. For example when Deku is told by Nighteye that Mirio would be a better candidate for One for All he holds onto his own ambitions even though it’s not the most selfless thing to do. Koichi however, knowing everything about his character would have thrown it away because objectively that’s the most helpful thing he could do at the moment.

That’s why the backstory for Koichi missing an exam literally has him acting like a hero to be towards his detriment. When Deku saves Urakaka in the entry exams it’s something he was rewarded for, but Koichi was punished for doing the right thing in this situation. It’s far more of a fault in Koichi’s case because he’s often casting aside his personal wants and ambitions to be a hero. For a vigilante he’s oddly complacent. 

So Koichi’s improvements of his quirk as well come with breaking through the limits he’s set on his own self. He has to learn to fly. Gravity is a boundary just like the law. Koichi is a vigilante, but he’s also one working in a really limited capacity to fill a specific niche. As opposed to his mentor who basically was only acting as a vigilante to save the one person he wanted to save. Knuckleduster achieved what he wanted though because of his selfishness and his sharp sight, whereas Koichi’s selflessness and his want to be helpful is causing him to become complacent. 

I mean the series is called Vigilante, thematically it makes sense it would be about somebody learning to be a proper vigilante.

The latest chapter points this out. If Koichi is just acting like a glorified messenger man for bigger heroes then how exactly is he a vigilante. Koichi excuses himself with saying his quirk isn’t very combat oriented, but we already know that Koichi’s quirk an be strengthened and there are also several quirks that can be used creatively for combat as well.

So the next arc seems to be about what Koichi is going to learn in his master’s absence to carve out his niche, before he grows too comfortable letting other heroes do the fighting for him. 

Pop seems okay with their current gig but Koichi definitely looks unsatisfied still at the end of the chapter, even if on the surface he agrees with pop. My question is how is what Koichi is doing now in the latest chapter that different for when he just ran errands for people for free as Gentle-man? 

Here’s a hint, Koichi in general is a giant spiderman reference so being a hometown hero is probably always going to be a part of his character but this is something both characters struggle with. How exactly do they use their powers to the best of their ability to help others? Great power and great responsibility and what not. 

I bet the next big question of Koichi’s next arc is now that his master is gone, “Am I doing enough on my own?” Which is important for Koichi to ask because he spends 110% of his existence supporting others. 

[ghostraita]

MassZymes Review: Protease Rich Enzyme Supplement, How effective?

Masszymes Review: How effective is this digestive enzyme supplement in helping you digest your protein intake, bodybuilding and total digestive health?

MassZymes bottle

Do you want to be the health hero of your own life?

With all the miscalculations that we do with our training, diet, and lifestyle:

How do we boost our body’s performance without the usual elbow grease involved in the process?

To be point blank over here:

If you are witnessing increasingly small progress from your diet and training efforts, you should start thinking outside the box.

After all, what’s the point of taking hundreds and hundreds of grams of protein every day when your body can’t absorb all of that?

The chances are that your protein is not landing where it needs to be.

It must be landing right in the toilet bowl.

What a huge waste of food and cash, isn’t it?

So, what’s the missing puzzle over here?

Let’s say; you know that your body needs 250 grams of protein every day. Supplying your body with 250 grams of protein doesn’t necessarily mean that your body is automatically geared for muscle building.

Why so?

Remember, you are feeding 250 grams of protein in your digestive system to meet your protein requirements for the day.

How much of the 250 grams of protein do you think gets nicely absorbed by the body?

Believe it or not…,

Most bodies can digest only half of the supplied protein. Worse yet, undigested protein doesn’t do any good to our muscles or overall health.

Basically, most of the money spent on the protein fulfillment goes right down the drain.

Yuck!

Ironically, most of us fail to recognize the critical role of enzymes for peak body performance, overall health and wellness; even the best of us.

For those who don’t know, enzymes are the key to improved digestive health. As surprising as it may sound, if your enzymes are doing a poor job of breaking down your food; the nutrient absorption from the supplied food can be less than half.

What enzymes essentially do is that they break down the food into easily absorbed particles to transport them better to all the required body parts.

In other words, they do a great favor to our body by improving our nutrient absorption ability.

Simply put: they bless us with a far better digestive system than we would have without them.

MassZymes Review:  Does it Fit the Bill?

Since you are now aware of the important role of enzymes, how do you increase their population in your body?

Sorry to be the messenger of bad news over here:

We can’t get enough enzymes from our regular food to beef up our digestive enzymes naturally.

This is where MassZymes comes into the picture like a lead hero. MassZymes is a medical-grade, vegan-based digestive enzymes supplement.

It optimizes the digestive system of those that workout or train and even those who don’t.

By incorporating MassZymes into your life, you will be able to cut down the biggest waste of your diet: ‘proteins.’

Because this dietary supplement will help you absorb the protein much better than your body would ordinarily do.

Watch Wade Lightheart speak on how enzyme optimizes the body in the video below

Basically…,

It will help you maximize utilization of your protein intake without necessarily having take more proteins.

Thus preventing the body from breaking down muscle tissues for manufacturing digestive enzymes to digest any food intake.

How does MassZymes Work?

MassZymes is loaded with a healthy dose of Protease strains in each capsule. They work at various pH levels to ensure that our body breaks down the protein supplied to the digestive tract in an efficient manner.

See how MassZymes work on Oatmeal in the video below

It contains five major proteases, and it’s formulated with 100,000 HUTs (HUT: Haemoglobin Unit Tyrosine base) of protease per capsule. In combination with other ingredients, (which are clearly listed on the supplement), the MassZymes ensures that the consumed protein gets broken down into vital amino acids at every phase of the digestion process, which is a must for muscle growth and repair.

The key ingredient that aids the absorption of Amino acids over here is AstraZyme

. When paired with others, it floods your muscles with maximum possible amino acids to achieve optimum muscle growth without needing to increase your protein intake.

MassZymes also endows the digestive system with other enzymes such as Lipase, Amylase and other. This works on food intakes such as fats, carbohydrates and any other class of food we can consume; breaking them down into absorb-able components for the body to use.

The Man Behind the Product:

The man behind this MassZymes is Wade T Lightheart. For those who are involved in the fitness world may know him, needing no formal or written introduction.

Wade T Lightheart is a vegetarian bodybuilder who avoided the common path followed by many “juiced-up bodybuilders” out there to winning some bodybuilding Championship to his name.

He partnered with some world-renowned scientists to create a one-of-a-kind enzyme formula focused towards fitness enthusiasts and those that desire total digestive health.

Today, he is an author, nutritionist, athlete, and advisor. He is also a mainstream speaker at health and fitness seminars. So, he is not one of those guys with lacklustre profile. Information about him can be easily found on the web.

Moreover, his well-toned body does tell us that he is a product user himself. In Wade T Lightheart’s own words, “I would never ever endorse a product I don’t use myself. That would seem so dishonest to me.”

Who Should Consider MassZymes?

Studies suggest that a typical human being loses nearly 70% of the stored enzymes by the time he/she turns forty years old. This essentially means that your body will be able to effectively digest less than half of all you consume.

Leaving most of it to waste away.

As a result, you will lose out on a huge chunk of the nutrient value that you deserve.

Watch Wade Lightheart being interviewed by the guys at length by the guys from critical bench below.

Since majority of the population would only be lucky enough to absorb more than 50% nutrients from the consumed food…

This product is suitable for anyone who wants to get the most value from the food that passes into their body.

MassZymes Pros:

MassZymes is made from natural plant extracts. Therefore, it improves total digestive health and protein absorption and in a safe way. It is made by a Vegetarian, so no animal extract used.

It’s a real product that tens and thousands of regular people and athletes have been using for several years. With most of them deliriously happy with the product’s performance.

MassZymes contain all the necessary enzymes that your body needs to digest all that you eat. It doesn’t let your protein intake go useless feeding your toilet bowl with it and turning you into a fart machine.

Other than proper protein absorption, it aids in the muscle recovery process as well by increasing the body’s glucose absorption by as much as 55%. Basically, it fuels a person’s body with everything that’s essential for optimum muscle growth.

With better muscle growth, faster recovery, and improved energy levels, a regular gym-goer will be able to break many exercise plateaus with the help of MassZymes. As a result, it can help in rapid body transformation too.

By improving one’s digestive system, it can also save users from serious gut problems and digestion nightmares such as stomach bloating, gas, irritable bowel movements, diarrhea, and more.

Due to improved digestive health, people are bound to feel more energetic throughout the day even if they are not regular gym-goers. According to the makers, it fires a user’s energy level by an incredible 18%. You won’t be walking around with a toxic body.

Other health benefits include improved mental focus, better sleep, and clearer thinking. As hinted before, MassZymes has more protease content than most leading brands out there for maximum health benefits. For those who are not aware, protease is the most expensive enzyme to produce.

MassZymes Cons:

MassZymes costs a tad bit higher than the competition. But, MassZymes can beat its rivals by a landslide; considering that a bottle contains 250 capsules, it equals most out there in terms of cost, and infuses more health benefits than most digestive supplement on the market. So, we can’t hold a major grudge against MassZymes, as past users have confirmed that the product’s effectiveness makes it worth the price.

MassZymes may not be for everyone out there. Men or women below the age of eighteen are advised against the use of this product. Also, breastfeeding population, anyone with ulcer or any other gastric conditions should not use this supplement. As such, everyone else should also consult their physician before using the product. As you might already know, this is a common word of advice that needs to be followed before using any dietary supplement.

Any Guarantees?

Gladly enough, MassZymes comes with a rock-solid product warranty. Wade T Lightheart has backed MassZymes with a generous 365-day money back guarantee. If the product fails to please you to death, you can get your full-amount refunded without any hiccups provided you opened just one bottle.

Given the product warranty, it won’t be an understatement to claim that you will lose nothing by pulling the trigger on this highly health beneficial dietary gem of a product.

Final Words:

Designed mainly for athletes, bodybuilders, weightlifters and those seeking a well optimized digestive health; MassZymes brings out the best in a person’s body performance. As you can tell by now, the game changes when a person is stacked with necessary digestive enzymes.

It will make your protein work like never before. After all, it’s the ultimate solution to increase the protein usability in the body. So, the chilling conclusion is that this medical-grade dietary product should be a no-brainer choice for anyone looking to build muscles or improve his/her health in general. Not to forget the fact that the iron-clad money back guarantee keeps your investment on the product protected for a full 365-days.

See how MassZymes works on raw meat and when used with P3-OM Probiotics in the video below.

The post MassZymes Review: Protease Rich Enzyme Supplement, How effective? appeared first on Bodyoptimizers.

Source: https://bodyoptimizers.com/masszymes-review/

[nyxelestia]

Racism in the Teen Wolf Fandom

[This post originally tagged several people I was directly addressing, as I was expecting it to mostly be reblogged by them and their followers, with maybe a small handful of people I asked to take a look at this post even bothering to read this behemoth, let alone share it. However, a lot more people than I expected paid attention to and shared this post, including a blog that dedicates itself to highlighting racism in fandom. In the interests of preventing "raiding"/dogpiling behavior against the people I addressed this post to, I have removed their handles.]

tl;dr - I don't actually believe any of you are racists, no more than I am, than we all are by virtue of being raised in a white-centric culture, internalizing the attitudes expressed by our media and community, and carrying those attitudes with us into fandom. But that is all the more reason we need to address bigotry in our communities, no matter how passive or benign or minor, because that is the only way to engender change in this fandom, in fandom in general, and in ourselves. I take issue with your guys' posts and meta not because I think everyone should worship Scott - hey, he's not my #1 fave either - or because I think he is perfect (no one is, perfect characters are boring). I take issue with the fact a lot of your logic, meta, and analyses rely on the same racist arguments that permeate mainstream media. I object to the casual dismissal of canonical events, and the way headcanons and assumptions are treated as canon when analyzing the show (especially when they are overwhelmingly skewed a certain direction). And I object to the fact every attempt by myself and many, many others to point all of this out is often met with little more than dismissing everything with the vague claim that we're "too sensitive" and "see racism everywhere" and "are only using buzzwords". I don't think any of you are racists, but I think all of you have utilized or enabled racist rhetoric when talking about Scott (and several other characters, but primarily Scott, for reasons I explain down below).

I'm temporarily disabling anon - either one of you, or one of your followers, constantly fills my inbox with misogynistic slurs every time I speak up against bigotry in fandom, and I just do not have the time to IP block each one. I just got this lovely one just yesterday:

(I and everyone else who talk about racism in Teen Wolf fandom are accused of "using buzzwords", while I'm getting anons who accuse me of misogyny while calling me a cunt. Yay irony.)

If you want to yell at me, do it under your own name. And yes, out of all the people circle-jerking on the original post, I blocked the one who used name-calling now, and has demonstrated some remarkably immature behavior in the past. If bhadpodcast is going to act and post like I blocked them, I might as well actually block them and save myself the headache. They can still relay messages to me through one of you. The rest of you have demonstrated yourself to be open-minded and willing to listen to logical arguments in the past (or I don't know you well enough to assume that you'll ignore my words and skip straight to the name-calling) which is why I've tagged you.

This is a rodeo I've ridden before, and while I can always hope for change, the reality is that I have already expressed all of this in meta before, and that I've spoken to most of you directly about all of this. I'm familiar with the arguments you make, and I'm tired. So it's going to take pretty much all of my self-control to do this, but no matter what you reblog, I am not going to respond. I'm not going to get caught up in the tactics of deflection and distraction, I'm not going to let you draw me into petty arguments on isolated comments and use that as an excuse to ignore the overwhelming majority of this post, and I'm not interested in rehashing arguments I've already had a dozen times over with almost all of you at one point or another.

If you actually read this entire thing and have an honest rebuttal to something I stated below, and its something that is based in the canonical source material, is not contradicted by other canonical source material, and is not contingent on a headcanon, my Messenger is open. Otherwise, it's been good talking to you, and I'm sure we'll be talking about all of this again, soon enough. But I am stating my piece and peacing out, because I need to save up my energy for the next time this wank comes around - and given the way fandom has shown itself to act in the past (and the fact racism has been around far, far longer than television, letalone fandom), that is not an 'if', but a 'when'.

Below the cut:

1.) Yes, Scott is a character of color, I don't care what country you're in.

2.) The fact that most of the racism in Teen Wolf fandom comes in microaggressions does not make it less racist.

3.) Actors and characters are held to tremendously disparate double standards and this is a huge problem, probably the biggest one.

4.) Racism of Teen Wolf fandom is highly reflective of racism offline/in the "real world".

On Scott actually being a character of color

Now, first and foremost - I don't really care what country you are from, Scott is a character of color. I get that some of you come from backgrounds where someone with his complexion is coded as white, but ignoring the fact that 1.) internalized racism is as much of a problem as external racism and 2.) most of ya'll have your own serious problems with colorism and race (where do you think America got it from?), the reality is that you are watching an American TV show, filmed using Amercian actors and and in a setting whose populace is designed to look American. On top of that, most of you have consumed plenty of American media before Teen Wolf, or media that reflects/contains the same problems with colorism and racism as American media.

Even if you did not perceive Scott as white on your first watch, the majority of the target audience did, a significant portion of your meta still used logic and arguments saturated in racist rhetorical history (American racism and otherwise), and many of your character delineations still fell along racial lines (i.e. which characters you headcanon as being secretly evil or having ulterior motives, and which ones you headcanon as secretly not being as evil as they act). As this article points out, the actual TV show has a pretty sketchy history when it comes to its treatment of non white, non male characters - granted, it's nothing new, most TV shows do this or something like this, as does most media in general. But "everyone else does it" and "it's always been this way" has never been an excuse before, and Teen Wolf doesn't get to start now.

On top of that, even if you personally came from a country with no ties to or influences from Western racism at all, you are still engaging in a fandom that is largely rooted in America, with American racial preconceptions, and dealing with American racial norms. Much of my issues with racism in your posts, meta, and reponses is not that an individual is immediately being racist, but rather are perpetuating racist misconstructions.

i.e. Stiles gets struggles on a test, and it's because he has ADHD, so/and he's still a genius, which is reinforced by all the times outside of school. Allison openly admits to having had to repeat a year before and failing a class now, and it's attributed to familial and superantural stress. But Scott gets a bad grade, he's an idiot, and the idea that he "never" does anything outside of school. You aren't going to call Scott stupid because of his ethnicity. But by taking away situations in which he has demonstrated intelligence and cunning and attributing it to someone else, you reinforce anti-Scott fans' rhetoric that Scott is an idiot who can't do anything, most of which traces back to racial stereotypes about Latino boys in the American education system. This is just one of many, many examples.

I understand why you feel like the fact you didn't code Scott as white on your first watch means you don't and can't possibly have racist attitudes towards him or express it in meta. But the thing is, bigotry is rarely about you individually, it's almost always about how you connect to and relate to a broader tradition of oppression and marginalization. There is not a single English-speaking or European country that does not currently have problems with racism and colorism, and while the nuances of how racism manifests varies from country to country, the traditions, media trends, and social habits do not - which is why the fact that people from different countries perceive characters' a little differently based on their appearances, the underlying rhetoric and logic is still the same.

Teen Wolf Fandom Racism

In the post this came clusterfuck from, the person I was responding to literally says, 'the hero is not a hero, and the villain IS the hero'. The fact that she didn't actually say their races doesn't change the fact all the positive attributes or successes of the character of color were projected onto white characters, while supporting the idea that the character of color is evil. She literally removed the character of color from the story, by claiming that the adult werewolf is actually the "teen wolf". AUs are fine and dandy and dark AUs are a lot of fun. But we call them AUs for a reason. The show itself is one created by people, not some documentary about real life events. The story presented is the story intended, and the post is one which undermines that story in order to demonize a character of color, while also deifying white characters, in a way that is contingent of separating the character of color from his own story and plastering his story onto white characters.

It's a not-so-micro microaggression. Just because you don't intend a certain bias, does not mean you are not acting it out or perpetuating it. Just because you are not intentionally judging someone on the basis of race, does not eliminate the fact you (and I) were raised in a very racist culture, and especially in a racist media environment, and express racialized judgments without intending it. We all do this - up until her library scene with Mason in Season 5, I was doing this with Kira all the time. And I've also fallen prey to the tendency to sideline Boyd. When I recognized that I ponder the stories of white characters who has as much screen time as him or even less so, I strove to change that.

This article explains the way fandom treats characters of color and how erasure manifests in fandom, and very specifically #3 in to one of you whose meta I was responding to before. The article is primarily about shipping, but it also specifically addresses the demonization of Deaton, and other characters of color, in the Teen Wolf fandom, and puts these into the context of fandom racism in general, not just Teen Wolf. In particular:

When characters of color are distanced from their triumphs and relationships in canon via headcanon, photo manipulations/edits, or simply not being written or drawn into fanworks, it’s an attempt to minimize the importance of the character. Whether or not it’s a subconscious or conscious distancing, the fact of the matter is that fandom does this on the regular and it usually only benefits white characters (and largely white fans) because it takes importance away from the few characters of color that the canon gives us.

This is literally erasing a character of color and replacing him with a white character, who the fuck thought this was okay? I get that this was a Stiles-centric event, but if you can smoothly switch out heads and paste in characters, then you can damn well make your own banner pulling together all the characters independently, without erasing the character of color and pasting a white character over him.

On top of that, the post points out how much racism in fandom manifests as separating characters of color from their white friend.

Take a look at the finale of Season 2. We never once see Stiles' reaction to Gerard (he wasn't even there, yet). Only edited for size and brightness, here is Stiles' entrance to the scene - after Gerard has already collapsed from the mountain ash:

Incidentally, the show never explains how Stiles actually knew to go to this warehouse in the first place, and at the the beginning of the scene, it was Scott, Chris, and Isaac who arrived here first, setting the location for the finale. There are a lot of possible explanations for all of these. But fandom only treats one as if it were canon, while rarely or never mentioning the other, equally likely, possibility. Why? Because that creates a separation between Scott and Stiles (despite/especially because of the fact the season literally ends with the two of them goofing off together).

The very ending of the season is about Scott and Stiles playing lacrosse together after Scott respectfully walks away from Allison when she breaks up with him, but how many post-S2 fics start out with Stiles feeling lonely because Scott abandoned him for Allison? We see Stiles discovering the alpha symbol and learning about the alpha pack at the same time as Scott at the beginning of Season 3A - yet why do so many people talk about Stiles helping Derek look for them over the summer as if it were canon? (In the interest of demonstrating full disclosure about our own mistakes, even I used to think this, just because it appeared in fanfic so many times. It wasn't until my second watch of S3 that I realized Stiles hadn't canonically been helping Derek look for Erica and Boyd, or known about the alpha pack beforehand.)

(Sloppy gif is sloppy. Derek and Scott were talking about alphas, so Derek actually said "A pack of them." This conversation was interspersed with cuts from the Braeden and Alpha Pack fight scene, so the awkward jumps are from cutting those out.)

This unconscious racism also manifests in how fandom treats actors of color in the fandom, and in Teen Wolf fandom.

Dylan O'Brien made a joke about violating native law and taking advantage of sacred land for his own personal humor, and fandom largely forgot about it in a week. Tyler Posey makes a joke about being gay, and fandom still rails at him over it. Tyler and Dylan should be held accountable to the same standards. Both of them made a stupid, shitty joke, and both apologized pretty quickly. Only one of them is still being taken to task for it.

One Tyler calls Sterek twisted and bizarre, the other Tyler calls Sterek disrespectful. Only one is taken to task over it, and it's the one who was routinely harassed about this ship, whose character is almost systemically marginalized from his own TV show, and whose character's death was being advocated to make another character into the lead of the show.

For those who want more quantative evidence

The number of fanworks about Scott compared to Stiles and Derek is ridiculous. On its own, in the context of a fandom that wasn't so otherwise racist or engaging in racist rhetoric and behavior, I'd buy that it was because there are many reasons why someone could identify with Stiles and Derek more than Scott. But most of the reasons people profess for identifying with Stiles - complexity, mental illness, etc., - are also attributes that apply to Scott's character, which means if you eliminate the things that are same, the racial difference becomes much, MUCH more prominent.

This is before getting into the fact that if you go into the Scott McCall tag right now, most of the fics (based on other tags, and summaries) aren't even about him, but about Stiles and/or Derek. Out of the 10 results in the first page when I just checked, only 1 had a summary that wasn't about Stiles or Derek. And it's really hard to take "Scott is just not that interesting" too seriously when I see how many people have forgotten really engaging scenes and stories with him, and how often people think a scene between him and either Stiles or Derek was actually between Stiles and Derek - and not him - in the show. People erase Scott from his own story, then claim he has no story.

Other Prominent Examples and Points of Contention

We live in a culture that romanticizes white pain in media, and dismisses the experiences and pain of non-white characters. Western audiences are trained and predisposed to dismissing characters of color, their experiences, their pain, and their development - or to taking these experiences and projecting them onto white characters. People are culturally trained to romanticize white, male suffering (which they do with Derek and Stiles), and dismiss men of color or their needs or pain (which they do with Scott).

To put it more bluntly, people will make a hundred gifsets about Stiles crying in the waiting room, but barely a dozen of Scott crying into his mother's arms. There are a hundred gifsets of Stiles conning Derek into a striptease in the first season, but barely any of Scott admitting he'd made a mistake in accusing Derek of murder, and trying to fix it. Does anyone remember that while Stiles and Derek were paralyzed on the floor of the police station in Matt's rampage, Scott had been shot? I've seen hundreds of gifs and images made of Stiles and Derek's pool scene - but I can't remember ever seeing a gifset about Gerard torturing Scott after that, stabbing him and holding the knife in while threatening his mother. And oh, hey, do you remember what Scott was dealing with during the pool scene?

No one is actively racist against Scott, but the implications that he's never changed, that he's never suffered, that he has no story, etc. etc. that so much of the anti-Scott meta is built upon - those are because people just dismiss his experiences and his story, without ever once actually thinking about it. They dismiss it when they watch it, and then again when they make a million gifs about Stiles and Derek's experiences, yet only a fraction as many about Scott's experiences.

This post illustrates my point quite nicely.

It's a pair of gifs from the first season about the boys after Hunters show up at the school, with feel good tags about Stiles "swooping in to save Derek". But here's the thing, those gifs have been edited to cut out Scott from the scene. Scott was the one driving Derek's car to rescue them. *Scott was was saving Derek too.* They were BOTH saving Derek's ass in here, but the gifs are edited to only show Stiles, and the tags only talk about Stiles. If you didn't actually watch this scene yourself, you probably wouldn't know that Scott was even there, let alone the fact the scene was primarily between him and Derek, not Stiles and Derek. How often do we see characters of color in critical roles get dismissed as "support staff"? Scott is "just" the getaway driver, so he's not important anymore to this scene, he no longer exists, only Stiles does.

(This can be a cute Sterek moment, but it can also be a cute Scerek moment and McHaleinski moment. Stiles and Derek actually have the least interaction in this scene, and Stiles is literally in the backseat and mostly in the background of the scene, which is focused on Derek and Scott.)

So now a lot of people are seeing this gifset, and not just internalizing those feel-good tags - they are internalizing the idea that it was only Stiles saving Derek, conveniently forgetting that Scott was even there. On top of that, the ensuing dialogue involves Scott admitting he made a mistake in accusing Derek of murder when he thought Derek was dead, and trying to fix the problem - but how many meta accuse him of never changing, admitting his mistakes, or addressing problems that he caused?

And this is just one example, from the very first season.

On top of that, that scene was also where Stiles and Derek find out the symbol Derek was investigating was on Allison's pendant. The next scene is Stiles pushing Scott to ignore Allison's need for space, in order to get that necklace - but Scott is the one who is blamed for "emotionally abusing her/manipulating her" for trying to reach out to her. I'd bet money that if Scott had decided to respect Allison's space, fandom would be decrying him for not helping Stiles and Derek hunt down an actual killer just because he didn't want to make a teenaged girl he barely knew a little uncomfortable. :|

Other Double Standards

Scott is called an abuser for levels of interpersonal violence that Stiles and Derek are constantly excused for it. Scott lies, and is called manipulative, Stiles lies, and he's just trying to protect people. People in fandom say that Derek is "violent, but not abusive", despite recurring acts of violence against relatively vulnerable characters who are under his care, yet they call Scott an abuser for all of two instances of lashing out at Isaac over something stupid.

Alan Deaton gets headcanons painting him as evil because he withholds information from the main characters. Stiles withholds information from the other characters, and he's just traumatized and scared.

Marin Morrell said if no other solutions to the nogitsune problem was found, then she'd kill one teenager who they already have confirmed is the source/host of the villain, in order to protect the rest of the town from the definite threat. Derek nearly murdered an innocent teenager, hoped for and attempted to engineer the death of another teenager, and dragged three more teenagers into a violent situation which they had little understanding of because he needed a pack (the alpha pack didn't come until later). But he is not called a villain at nearly half the rate Morrell is, if at all outside of the anti-Derek fandom. (Side note: neither of them are villains. Both of them are stuck dealing with the actual villains who've forced them into shitty situations. My problem is that while neither of them are villains, only one of them is repeatedly called and portrayed as one in fanworks.)

Boyd probably fares best, by virtue of barely ever getting mentioned in fanfic or meta, even in comparison to Cora or Erica (who he had about as much screentime as).

Fandom compares Scott to a rapist for using Derek's body against his will in order to save Allison's life. But where were they when Liam tried to kill Scott for his girlfriend, and Scott takes a few weeks to feel safe around him again instead of welcoming him back with open arms right away?

By the way, wanna know why fandom rarely gifs the scene of Scott forcing Derek to Bite Gerard with the actual dialogue?

Because you can't compare Scott to a rapist for using Derek's body against him when we see that he's only doing it because the villain is holding someone hostage and threatening their life, and you can't claim that Scott never apologizes for anything if you see him literally apologizing for what he's doing to Derek. And I'd bet even more money that if the reverse had happened, fandom would have decried Scott for letting Allison die "just" so Derek wouldn't have had to Bite someone he didn't want to, and called him a murderer for it.

People castigate Scott for successfully setting a broken leg when it was technically illegal, but I don't see any posts castigating Stiles for interfering in police investigations, violating people's privacy and boundaries, or interfering with an active crime scene/body search.

People call Scott a murderer because Theo killed Tracy and Josh on another character's information - not even a suggestion, just information - yet Derek actively sought to violate a girl's bodily autonomy and got her killed as a result. (I don't think he is a murderer for it - I think that if he isn't a murderer for Paige's death, then it's as ridiculous or even more so to claim that Scott is responsible for Theo's victims.)

Scott isn't perfect, no one on this show is, because perfect characters are boring. But only Scott is considered evil and villainous for not being perfect, while white characters' flaws are celebrated. Scott is derided for not being held accountable, but not only are the instances where he is held accountable erased, white characters' actions are constantly excused or justified without anybody screaming about their lack of accountability. Fandom hates on Scott for not verbally apologizing for things, but no one makes hate posts about the fact Stiles and Derek never verbally apologize, either. Fandom holds Scott up to an impossible standard while having little to no standards for the white characters. They use "he's the main character/protagonist/hero!" to justify the double standard, but then try to claim he ISN'T the protagonist or hero to justify giving his story to a white character - in the instance at the beginning of this post, a white villain no less - and casting him as the villain.

Main Points

I like darkfic as much as the next person, but that doesn't erase the fact that the process of making Scott a villain (as in, claiming Scott is actually a villain in the context of canon) is contingent on the racist traditions of separating a character of color from their own story, wiping away that characters' story, and romanticizing the struggles and personal strifes of white characters (often in the process of "giving" the character of colors' stories to them).

This problem isn't unique to Teen Wolf. Just about every fandom is racist, and many (if not most) of their media sources are even more racist than Teen Wolf. If anything, one thing Teen Wolf fandom has going for it is that, while it still has a lot of sexism and misogyny, it seems to have less so than most other, similar fandoms. Though the biggest point of comparison is the Supernatural fandom, so that might not be saying much.

The difference is that in other fandoms, the main characters are white, and most of the surrounding characters are white, too. Characters of color are always secondary ones. A Netflix show was the first time an MCU production had a non-white character as its lead. But in Teen Wolf, the main character is a character of color, and he's still getting treated the same way as secondary characters of other fandoms, if not even worse so.

I don't think any of you, as individuals, are racist. But I do think that all of you, as individuals, never examine racial biases in your media consumption or analysis. This leads to you microaggressively expressing racist attitudes in your meta, passively perpetuating racist stereotypes and tropes, and - however unintentionally - enabling racism in fandom.

I was also asked if I admit to my own biases, so here it is: When it comes to analyzing Teen Wolf (and making judgments about the show and the characters therein), I don't care about people's headcanons, or fanons, just the source material. The show was written by written by over a dozen people alongside Jeff Davis and produced by MTV, it did not magically appear out of thin air, nor is it a skewed documentation of some "real" story or "real" events. I believe in holding the characters' to the same level of accountability, and the same standards, as each other. If this makes me biased, then yes, fine, I'm biased.

I also know that none of these problems are unique to Teen Wolf fandom, and that actual Scott stans have also justified his poor decisions, and hated on Stiles and Derek. Some of you might remember me getting blocked by some Sciles BNFs for saying "Derek's not a rapist", and I've lost track of the number of times I'd try to reblog a Stydia or Stalia gifset, only for it to turn out I can't, and most likely this comes from my past of pointing out misogyny in those fandoms.

Meanwhile, Sciles fandom slathers heteronormativity onto the pairing as much as Sterek fandom does, and the fact that it's being done on an interracial relationship actually makes it a little worse than when it's on the all-white Sterek ship (but that's a can of worms for another day). Female characters like Allison, Lydia, Malia, and Kira are constantly utilized as little more than talking plot-devices or fag-hags in fandom unless it's explicitly about them, and they are reduced to caricatures instead of characters even more than the most underserved male characters of color, like Boyd. For all of them, I went onto their character tags, and I didn't find a fic summary that was about them until I got the second page, which is worse than Scott having only 1 out of 10 in the first page.

But the sheer amount of Scott hate outpaces hate of all the other characters combined, and the sheer amount of fanworks about these secondary characters outpaces the fanworks about the main character. And yes, every ship and character's fandom sent rape and death threats to the cast and crew over their stupid ship or character. But the amount leveled at Tyler Posey from Sterek fans, even before he finally snapped and made an unprofessional comment about it, is tremendously higher than all the other kinds of hate - especially when compared to the fandom's reaction to the Tyler Hoechlin also saying a negative comments about Sterek.

Fandom does not exist in a vacuum.

The attitudes by which white characters' trauma and experiences are used to justify their violence while characters of colors' victimizations are dismissed, is the same logic used to defend cops who "just reacted" or "panicked", while blaming young children of color for "getting shot" by not behaving 100% correctly. The logic by which a white characters' abusive behavior and characters of colors' abuse are dismissed, while the white characters' abuse and the character of colors' abusive behaviors are exaggerated, is the same logic for which white rapists are painted as "merely making a mistake" while a black shoplifter is painted as a bankrobber in the making.

And the logic of calling someone who explains all this an "ableist troll" for pointing this out is the same logic used to pit marginalized peoples against each other in an effort to maintain the status quo - why do you think racism between racial minorities exists? And the logic of claiming someone is just "exploiting real tragedies" to talk about racism in fandom only makes sense if you assume all fans are white, and therefore none have ever been or will be touched by racism or racial violence in their real lives, and only bring up race to prop up fictional characters.  (Yes, these are why I blocked bhadpodcast.)

Some of you can choose to walk away from racism, you can talk about it in fandom and that is the only place it will ever affect you directly. Not all of us get that luxury. Some of us have to confront racism in our daily lives, and sometimes, the racism online and the racism offline start to look and sound the same.

And I will apologize for one thing on the post that started this: my tags in my initial response were needlessly aggressive. I had to deal with racism in my real life, and then I came home, and see echoes of that exact same racism in a fandom post, and I over-reacted in the tags.

The logic by which a character of color is erased from his own narrative, derided as a villain, and replaced by a white character, is the same logic that is used in professional environments to judge who has "worked hard" and who hasn't (and thus, who gets promoted and who doesn't). Maybe, if you've never experienced racial bias in the work place, these seem like problems worlds away from each other, but they are not, these are two different manifestations of the same subconscious bias. When I came into fandom and saw someone I consider close to a friend regurgitating the exact same illogic as one of my workplace superiors, I snapped.

When I say that fandom doesn't exist in a vacuum, this is what I mean. The same attitudes and judgments of people that exist in offline life - based on their physical appearance, their skin tone, their heritage, etc. - follow us into fandom, whether we like it or not.

I acknowledge I should've been a lot calmer about expressing my frustrations with that post. I probably shouldn't have answered so soon after work-life problems and just before I was supposed to go to bed. I tell people all the time to hold back on topics which are personal to them and wait until they are calmer to address it, and here I went and ignored that. I took out my anger on athena via those tags, and for that, I am sorry.

But it's also the only thing I'm sorry about. I still stand by my notion that the post I was responding to was very racist, and the fact that the characters' races were never brought up in the post itself does not change that.

[lady-divine-writes]

Klaine one-shot - “Organized Chaos” (Rated PG13)

Kurt comes home one night to find his husband in desperate need of his help ... but will Blaine let Kurt help him? (2292 words)

So, I re-wrote this, playing off the idea that Blaine may also have suffered from OCD, kind of the way Kurt did, but as an extension of PTSD (seeing as the meta exists that Dalton!Blaine was actually the facade, and the Blaine we see at McKinley was the person he actually was). I based this off of my own personal experiences with OCD and PTSD. The cleaning, the disposable pens, the paper towels, and the obsession with vents, those are personal to me, as is the way Blaine's grandmother passes away.

Read on AO3.

“Sorry I’m late, sweetie,” Kurt calls, juggling his messenger bag on his shoulder, a narrow paper bag with a bottle of Riesling in the crook of his arm, and two way-too-thin plastic bags, both trying, with little success, to contain the multiple cardboard containers of Thai food inside, “but when I went to get our food, they messed up our order … again!” Kurt shuffles in, the door refusing to open more than a few inches because of something lodged on the opposite side. “I mean, I know you love Pok Pok, and I know it’s our Thursday night tradition, but I really think that … whoa …”

Kurt stops a foot inside the apartment, the door swinging shut on its own, and stares at the mess … no, the organized chaos afoot in the living room. But not just the living room. Kurt can see through the doorway that leads to the dining room, and the hallway that tangents off toward the kitchen, that the effects are far-reaching. Shelves empty, their contents relegated to the floor. Cabinets and storage closet doors left open, their insides purged, and the strong, lemon-scent of cleanser hanging in the air.

Kurt walks by perfectly constructed stacks and piles. Books from off the shelves create pillars that mark his way, and behind those, CDs, Blaine’s vinyl records, Kurt’s song books and scrapbooks. Blaine’s collection of vintage superhero action figures have been moved from the curios cabinets to the dining room table, along with Kurt’s collection of Hummel figurines (an inside joke between him and his in-laws that Blaine’s mother loves to indulge), lined up like a small army, staring at him with wide, pleading eyes, solemnly standing guard.

“Blaine?” Kurt calls, keeping his voice light, knowing what he’s most likely going to see as he rounds the corner to their bedroom. Kurt is struck by how silent the apartment is, and how dark. Blaine’s main coping tools are light and music. Every light in the place should be on and classical music playing, but there’s nothing. If not for the clutter, Kurt would be convinced that Blaine isn’t even home. “Blaine? Honey? I’m here, and I brought dinner.”

Kurt walks down the final hallway, bottle still lodged under his arm, bags clutched in his grip, towards the only room in the house glowing with light. No music, just light. This one’s bad. Kurt knows they’re in for a long night. He only hopes that Blaine will tell him what triggered it.

“Blaine …” Kurt keeps talking so he doesn’t startle Blaine, in case he’s locked in the midst of his own unreasonable thoughts. “Don’t worry. I made sure to get that spicy mustard that you like. You know, the guy behind the counter always gives me a look because he knows we use it on our lunch sandwiches and not our take out.” Kurt chuckles. It sounds unnatural. “You know, I’m surprised we haven’t been blacklisted yet for inappropriate use of condi … ments …“

Kurt’s voice trails off when he gets to their bedroom. He can’t help it. The whole room is a wreck – so much more than he expected – but in a different sense. It looks like Blaine had started doing a little … childproofing might be the right term, if they had a child, one who suffered from an extreme case of asthma. Just like the rest of the apartment, books and CDs are piled on the floor. The doors to the closet are wide open, and Kurt can see that every stitch of clothing has been put in a garment bag, every pair of shoes closed up in a plastic shoebox. The mattress has been stripped, along with the pillows, and everything covered in allergy-free casings. Blaine’s authentic Persian rug, the one they got on their honeymoon, is rolled up in the corner and stowed in some kind of plastic, cylindrical-shaped container. Crowded in the opposite corner, Kurt sees a collection of dust mops/steam cleaners/chamois clothes/anti-allergy surface cleaners/and the whole Lysol family from underneath their kitchen sink.

And then there’s Kurt’s husband, wearing yellow latex dishwashing gloves on his hands and a dust mask over his mouth, frantically buffing a spot on the shelf.

“Hey, babe,” Kurt says, taking a step through the door. “How’s your day been?”

“I know what you’re going to say.” Blaine doesn’t turn to look at him, but moves his dust mask down to his chin to make talking easier. He swipes the cloth down the length of the wood shelf, then zeros in on that same spot again and buffs. “But, you didn’t see it. It was filthy, alright? Everything was filthy.” He does another swipe, then moves an inch to the right. “A-and the other day, you said that you felt a tickle in your sinuses, right? D-didn’t you say that?”

Kurt doesn’t answer. It won’t change anything either way, so he stands in place and listens.

“A-and I know you’re standing there with dinner, a-and it sucks because you’re going to wait for me to be done, and then it’s going to get cold …”

“That’s alright, honey. I don’t mind.” Blaine doesn’t usually stutter. Kurt knows when that starts, he’s nearing a break. Kurt puts the bags down by the foot of the bed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Most of the time, the answer’s no. Or it’s nothing. Or there’s nothing to talk about. But this time, Blaine’s hand stops. His head drops, and in his profile, Kurt can see anxiety assailing his face - wrinkling his brow, crinkling the bridge of his nose, tightening his lips in a scowl.

“I---I stopped by NYADA this afternoon to get a copy of the summer schedule for that music theory class I’m subbing,” Blaine starts. Kurt walks over and sits on their bed, as close to Blaine as he knows he can. “I’ve been emailing them about it all week, but no one’s posted a copy, so I thought, why not just go down there? It’s a nice day. I need some time out.”

“You did,” Kurt says so that Blaine knows he’s listening.

“Marlene, that lady from the financial aid office, was out today because her little boy is sick.” Here Blaine’s voice shakes, and he stops to swallow. “The exhaust system in their building was being flushed, so they had to stay at a hotel for a few days till it was done. Their building’s old and they had to convert …” Blaine stops and shakes his head, trying to move along in his story, brush away the unimportant facts from his mind. “Well, I guess some mold spores or something got into her place. Her and her husband, they’re older, they’re at work all day, but David, he’s barely one, and he’s at home with his nanny all the time. He ended up with meningitis or something awful like that, I can’t … I can’t remember. He’s on a breathing machine and he’s unconscious. And then I remembered you saying you felt a tickle, and yesterday, you were coughing. And then, you know, when my grandma got sick, right before she passed” - Blaine chokes up, and Kurt’s not sure he’ll continue, but he does. He seems to need to get this out – “but the doctor couldn’t tell what was wrong. I came home, and I saw this shelf and everything on it, and everything in the place collecting dust and God-knows-what-else. And your dad, Kurt. He’s coming next week. He just finished treatment …” Blaine shakes his head again, a single tear gathering on his eyelashes. “I know it’s clean, Kurt,” he says, his voice shaking so hard it doesn’t sound like his voice anymore. “I know it is, because it’s always clean. Because you keep it clean, and because the housekeeping service was just here, and because we don’t have any carpets” – his eyes dart to the one lone rug rolled up in its coffin in the corner – “and we keep our suits in bags, and … but what if, Kurt? What if you have meningitis? What if your dad comes and he gets something? What if you guys get sick like my grandma did, and …”

Kurt stands. He wants to reach out and put a hand on Blaine’s shoulder, but he can’t. Not yet.

Kurt misses the days when the touch of his hand could soothe his husband. Lately, Kurt feels like he can’t do anything to help.

Blaine has always been a bit of a perfectionist, all through high school and college, for as long as Kurt has known him. It was just a character trait then, a quirky part of Blaine’s personality. So maybe it seemed a little off the wall to Kurt that Blaine only owned disposable pens in even numbers, or that he organized his books and papers on his desk in right angles, or his pencils by height. When Kurt didn’t understand Blaine’s coping mechanisms, they were just another thing to tease Blaine over, and for Blaine’s part, the teasing didn’t seem to bother him. He used it as an excuse to tease back - to instigate tickle fights or pull Kurt over his knee and spank him.

Blaine developed one or two more “quirks” after he and Kurt moved in together – alphabetizing the canned goods in the kitchen cabinets, and turning them so their labels faced front. Kurt had considered once messing with the cans when Blaine wasn’t looking, since it had never been an issue before. But without even understanding this fixation with order, Kurt felt it was too cruel.

It didn’t become a big deal until a few years ago, when Blaine’s grandmother, one of Blaine’s favorite people in the world, died of pneumonia. It hit her kind of out of the blue. She’d already had a compromised immune system from a bout of the flu so severe that it put her in Cedars-Sinai. Blaine had been the one to sign his grandmother out of the hospital, even though he told Kurt later that he had a nagging feeling that something else was wrong. Blaine had been the one to stay the week at his grandmother’s house, taking care of her. And Blaine had been with her the night they rushed her back to the hospital, when she stopped being able to breathe, when liquid filled her lungs so quickly no one could do anything to stop it.

The night she passed away.

Blaine felt that he could have done something more, he could have anticipated it. That he should have said something the first time he felt uneasy with her care.

After the funeral, that’s when whatever dam in his head that kept things locked away exploded. That’s when the episodes started. The night terrors. That’s when the compulsive repetitive behaviors became more exaggerated. Blaine seems absolutely fine most of the time – teaching at NYADA or when they’re out having dinner with friends. His tells are relatively minor things. His need to use exactly three paper towels to dry after he washes his hands. Counting the sweetener packets on the table at the restaurant to ensure that there are an equal number of sugar to Sweet ’N Low to Splenda. Turning the lights on and off two times before he leaves a room. These are things that most people they know ignore. They’re not blaring. They don’t scream obsessive compulsive disorder to someone who doesn’t recognize them.

Things like this, though – this intense, manic cleaning - Blaine does in quiet, where only Kurt gets to see.

Kurt doesn’t try to tell Blaine that it’s okay, because in Blaine’s mind, it’s not okay, and Kurt has no intention of belittling his husband’s feelings.

“What do you need me to do?” Kurt asks.

Blaine pauses, his shoulders rigid. Kurt waits for Blaine to dismiss him, the way he always does. Because Kurt can’t help him. Because Blaine doesn’t like Kurt to see him this way. Because this compulsion he has that he can’t stop, no matter how hard he tries, becomes so sickening inside of him that the moment Kurt leaves the room, he’ll most likely start dry heaving.

But this time around, he turns his head halfway to meet Kurt’s eyes, and Kurt feels his heart stop.

“Could you … maybe … help me?” Blaine asks, finally looking over his shoulder.

Kurt smiles – it’s weak, and he’s sure his exhaustion shows, but it’s a smile Blaine knows is just for him.

“Sure,” Kurt says. “What do you need help with?”

“Th-the books?” Blaine says with a sniffle. He glances over his other shoulder to a stack of books from the shelf, their immaculate leather covers waiting their turn to be dusted. “Would you mind … dusting the books?”

Kurt feels the answer catch in his throat, and he doesn’t want it to. He doesn’t want Blaine to think that he’s anything other than completely and utterly happy that he’ll finally let him help.

“Of course. Anything.” Kurt points to a reserve cleaning cloth on the bed. Blaine sees Kurt’s hand reaching and nods, giving him permission to take it.

Kurt picks up the top book on the pile – A Tale of Two Cities – and wipes down the covers, the binding, and the gold edge of the pages, while Blaine watches. Kurt lifts his eyes to look at Blaine, to make sure he’s dusted the book to Blaine’s satisfaction. Blaine extends an arm and takes the book. He puts it on the shelf and Kurt reaches for another.

One by one, Kurt dusts the books, then hands them to Blaine, who returns them to the shelves, and together, they slowly put Blaine’s peace of mind back together.

[psychologyandneuroscience101]

Transmission between neurons

In this post, we will look at how two neurons send a message between each other.

Just like two people can be said to share a chemical attraction, the process of two neurons sharing information is also a chemical affair.

image: stickman image from canva.com

image: stickman image from canva.com

Synapse

The synapse occurs at the point where the terminal button of one neuron meets the membrane (dendrite or soma) of another neuron.

The is a small gap between the synapse and the membrane known as the synaptic cleft. Information travels through A’s synapse, across the synaptic cleft and into the receptors on neuron B.

Synaptic transmission

Synaptic transmission basically refers to the delivery of a message via a synapse.

Synaptic transmission is a chemical process (as mentioned above) that deals with neurotransmitters.

Here is the process of what happens during synaptic transmission:

Binding

Let’s take a closer look at exactly what happens at step 7, when the neurotransmitter binds to the post-synaptic cell. (The post-synaptic cell is basically the one that’s doing the receiving).

The receptors in the membrane of the post-synaptic cell contain these things called ion channels. You can picture these as doors into/out of the cell.

These ion channels either let ions in or out of the postsynaptic cell.

The method in which these ion channel doors are opened involves things called neurotransmitters. The role of a neurotransmitter is to bind themselves to a receptor’s binding site. This will let the receptor’s ion channel will open and allow ions to move either in or out of the postsynaptic cell.

So, think of the neurotransmitters as being little keys and the binding sites on the receptors are the locks. Binding to a binding site unlocks the door and opens the ion channel door.

However – there’s a catch, each neurotransmitter will only bind to one certain type of receptor. For instance, one neurotransmitter may only bind to a binding site on a receptor that handles Na+ ions (i.e. one with an ion channel that lets Na+ ions into the cell). Another may only bind to a binding site on a receptor that handles K+ ions, etc.

This is called a lock and key system. Each neurotransmitter only binds to one type of receptor, in the same way that one key can only unlock one lock.

Remember – letting ions into and out of the cell creates a certain postsynaptic potential (fancy name for the receiving cell’s charge).

The postsynaptic potential that is created (excitatory or inhibitory) depends on which ion channel (door) is unlocked and thus, which ions are moving into/out of the cell.

You can have two types of postsynaptic potential:

EPSP = excitatory postsynaptic potential

IPSP = inhibitory postsynaptic potential

An EPSP basically means that the receiving neuron cell has been encouraged to fire and send on the message to other neurons.

So, if your neurons were passing along this message: “JUMP”, a specific ion channel would be opened on the postsynaptic cell that would allow a certain type of ion through that would result in the creation of an EPSP.

This would encourage the neuron to fire and pass on the message to other neurons, leading to the behaviour eventually being carried out.

Whereas, an IPSP means that a receiving neuron has been discouraged from firing and sending on the message.

So, if the message were “DON’T OPEN YOUR HAND AND DROP THE BOILING PAN OF WATER”, then a different ion channel would open on the postsynaptic cell that would allow a different type of ion to enter/leave the cell, thus creating an IPSP.

This would prevent the neuron from firing and thus, stop you from opening your hand and dropping the pan.

But which ions create an EPSP and which create an IPSP?

I’m glad you asked.

  Na+

Na+ can only move INTO the postsynaptic cell and not out. If a whole lot of Na+ does enter the postsynaptic cell then an EPSP is created. This means that the cell will become depolarised (when the postsynaptic cell’s charge moves closer to zero).

Try imagining that the postsynaptic cell is in financial debt and the Na+ ions are a form of currency. As more Na+ ions enter the cell, the cell’s outlook on life becomes less negative.

Also, you can remember that depolarised = moves closer to zero because polarised = gains electric charge so depolarised must mean that it is losing that charge.

K+

K+ can only move OUT of the postsynaptic cell. If a lot of K+ does exit the cell, then an IPSP is caused in the postsynaptic cell. This hyperpolarises the postsynaptic cell, making it more negative.

Imagine that the post-synaptic cell is upset that all the K+ ions are leaving, like it’s losing it’s babies, so as a result it has a more negative outlook on life.

Cl-

Cl- can only move INTO the postsynaptic cell. If lots of Cl- enters the postsynaptic cell, then an IPSP is caused in the postsynaptic cell. This hyperpolarises the postsynaptic cell, so that it becomes more negative.

Imagine that the  postsynaptic cell is enjoying it’s life, minding it’s own business, then a hoard of Cl- ions move into it’s membrane – disturbing it’s peace. This leaves the postsynaptic cell feeling rather negative. Like when your younger siblings burst into your room and ruin your peaceful chill time.

Ca2+

This one is a sneaky one. He’s very different from the rest. Be sure to look out for him. Basically, Ca2+ can only move INTO the cell and once it is in there it’s main job is to activate enzymes. Forget all that IPSP and EPSP nonsense, Ca2+ ain’t go time for that.

In summary:

Confused?

Let’s go through it again from the top:

(NT = neurotransmitter)

    So, as you can see, the neurotransmitters work as keys to unlock the ion channel doors on the receptors, so that ions can pass in and out of the cell. As ions pass in and out of the cell, the appropriate PSP (postsynaptic potential) is created that either encourages or discourages a given behaviour from happening.

Receptors

Receptors sit on the edge of the post-synaptic cell and their job is to receive the incoming ions/messages.

Receptors come in two types:

ionotropic receptors

metabotropic receptors

Both types have binding sites. Binding sites are the points where the neurotransmitter attaches to the receptor, thus opening the ion channel and allowing ions to enter the post-synaptic cell.

Ionotropic receptor (eye on oh trow pik) – Direct method

With an ionotropic receptor, the ion channel on the receptor will only open when a neurotransmitter binds to that receptor’s binding site.

Think of the neurotransmitter as a key to open the receptor’s “ion channel” door. The binding site would then be the lock.

This method is good for things that you need to be updated quickly – like your sense of sight and hearing.

Think DIRECT = QUICK.

Metabotropic receptor (meh tab oh trow pik) – Indirect method

The use of metabotropic receptors makes up the indirect method of transmission between neurons.

This is how metabotropic receptors work:

Here’s a plain text version too (for access reasons):

NT binds to the ion channel (NT= neurotransmitter)

This activates the G-protein

G-protein activates an enzyme

Enzyme produces second messengers (blue arrows on diagram)

Second messengers open the ion channels

So, as you can see, they work using a chain reaction.

This chain reaction means that postsynaptic potentials (PSPs) are produced slower than those made by ionotropic receptors.

This is good for stuff that you need to last for a while, for instance, sense of taste, smell and pain.

You can try and remember that metabotropic receptors form the indirect method of transmission between neurons by associating “metabotropic” with the term “meta”.

When a piece of creative work is termed as meta, it usually means that it indirectly refers to itself or it’s genre/industry. An example of a meta-movie could be a movie about people making their own movie about the film industry. Therefore, the meta-movie would be an indirect comment on itself/it’s industry.

Thus, we can think metabotropic = meta = indirect method.

Likewise, we can then remember that ionotropic receptors must be the direct method by default.

Image credit: memegenerator.net

Termination

Let’s look more closely at how the excess neurotransmitter left outside the cell dissipated away.

This dissipation mainly happens via two ways:

1. Enzymatic deactivation/degradation 

The neurotransmitter is eventually broken down by an enzyme into other substances.

e.g., acetylcholinesterase (a see tul koh lin ess ter ace) breaks down Ach into choline and acetic acid.

2. Reuptake

The excess neurotransmitter is taken back into the presynaptic terminal (the cell it just came out of).

Neural integration

The excitatory PSPs (postsynaptic potentials) increase the chance that the neuron will fire.

Whereas, the inhibitory PSPs decrease the chance that the neuron will fire.

Integration is basically the fancy term for when you take the excitatory PSPs then take away the inhibitory PSPs.The total postsynaptic potential from that equation determines whether the neuron will actually fire or not.

(Note: the numbers in the picture above are meaningless and are merely to illustrate the integration process)

Important points:

It is important to remember that inhibitory PSPs don’t always inhibit behaviour.

If there’s an inhibition of inhibitory neurons then there’s a greater chance of behaviour occurring .

E.g. So, an inhibitory neuron may be stopping you dropping a heavy bowling ball that you’re carrying onto your friend’s foot. Use an IPSP to inhibit those neurons (turn them off) and you’ll have one less friend…and your friend will have one broken foot.

If there’s an excitation of inhibitory neurons then there’s less chance of behaviour occurring.

E.g. So, another inhibitory neuron might be stopping you from dropping a pan of boiling water onto your foot. Luckily for you, using an EPSP to excite this neuron boosts its inhibiting power meaning that you are extremely unlikely to drop the pan.

Think of EPSPs and IPSPs like potions or pills. If an inhibitory neuron takes an EPSP pill, it becomes excited and does it’s job of inhibiting behaviour twice as hard. If an inhibitory neuron takes an IPSP pill, it becomes inhibited and is less effective at it’s job of inhibiting behaviour.

(Side note: don’t do drugs, kids)

Neurotransmitters

The following neurotransmitters are all actually amino acids.

Let’s look at some of the main neurotransmitters and what they do:

Glutamate

Glutamate is the most common excitatory neurotransmitter floating around in your CNS (central nervous system).

It’s unique in that it has the ability to bind to a large number of receptors.

Glutamate is particularly important for learning and memory processes.

You can remember this because you can say that glutamate makes information stick in your head like glue.

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

GABA is the most common inhibitory neurotransmitter in your CNS.

This means that GABA’s main job is to lower the likelihood of a neuron firing.

Basically, GABA is a massive party-pooper.

Acetylcholine (ACh) (a see tul koh leen)

Image credit: muscle image from Clker.com

ACh is a neurotransmitter that is located in both the CNS and the PNS (peripheral nervous system).

In particular, ACh is usually located at neuromuscular junctions.

Hence, ACh has a big role in muscle contraction.

Some poisons have been created that exploit the use of ACh in the CNS:

Curare (kew rahr ee)

Image credit: muscle image from Clker.com

Curare is an ACh antagonist. This means that it blocks the functioning of ACh.

By doing this, curare effectively prevents muscle contraction from happening, leaving the victim paralysed.

Muscarine

Image credit: mask from Clker.com

Muscarine is an ACh agonist. This means that is disguises itself as ACh, thus creating a battle between itself and the genuine ACh at binding sites.

Uses for these poisons

These two poisons have actually been put to use in:

hunting (by using darts coated in curare to paralyse a target)

surgery (as a local anaesthetic)

Monoamines

The following neurotransmitters are known as the monoamines.

They are made by the neurons in your brain.

They are also G-protein coupled (so, they have a G-protein attached to them. Don’t worry too much about this – just remember it).

The monoamines can be either excitatory or inhibitory – it all depends on which receptor subtype they bind to. In a sense, they’re kind of like chameleons.

Let’s take a look at two member of the monoamine family and what jobs they do:

Dopamine:

Think of dopamine as a drug baron (stay with me here).

The things it cares about are:

motor control (being in control of your body)

reward (such as cold, hard cash)

addiction (dopamine explains why many drugs are so addictive)

Looking at it like that, it would be easy to picture a dopamine as a greedy, cruel drug baron. We could even call him Donny “the drug lord” Dopamine.

Image credit: Clker.com

Serotonin:

Serotonin is another member of the monoamine family.

Serotonin is basically a stereotypical mum. It has many jobs to do in order to keep you functioning, these include:

Checking that you’re feeling okay (mood regulation)

Making sure you’re eating right (regulating eating)

Making sure you’re getting enough sleep (regulating sleep)

Making sure you’re paying attention when crossing the street etc (regulating arousal)

Letting you know when to stop doing something before you get really badly hurt (experience of pain)

Image credit: Clker.com

Think you’ve got it?

Test yourself here

Transmission between neurons Transmission between neurons In this post, we will look at how two neurons send a message between each other.

[bradjweber]

Emily Is Away Too - Review

“Rather than being about romantic relationships, Emily Is Away Too strives to explore the importance of platonic ones.“

“...developer Kyle Seeley clearly designed a game with multiple endings that acts more like a personality test, giving players a result based on their actions and who they really are as a person.”

     One of my favorite games of 2015 was one that I’m not sure a lot of people have heard of. It’s a free to play indie on Steam called Emily Is Away. The conceit of the game was that it was an almost perfect simulation of using AOL Instant Messenger in the early 2000′s. From the sounds of your “old PC” running in the background, the faux-recreation of Windows XP, all the way down to year appropriate buddy icons, as well as the ever familiar sound effects, it sells the aesthetic quite well. The story of the game, without getting into spoilers, sees you working your way through a relationship with your friend Emily. Whether you want to be just friends, attempt to be more than that, or even give her the cold shoulder. It was all done through a selection of four different responses after each line of dialogue that you would then proceed to “type” into the chat window by slamming on your keyboard à la Hacker Typer.

      This unique style of controlling what is essentially a visual novel, combined with some excellent writing and scripting created a game that easily won me over, and even hit pretty close to home a few times. I won’t get too specific about the events of the first game in this review, but I will be referencing a lot of the emotional and mechanical beats that it hits, so I highly recommend playing it for yourself. It’s free, and no more than two hours long. Even if you don’t come back to read the rest of this review, At least I’ll know I’ve convinced more people to play it.

     After two years in development, Emily Is Away Too is finally here, boasting a longer run time, multiple endings, as well as a $5 price tag. At a glance, not much is different about the game when compared to the first. There’s another pretty spot on recreation of AOL Messenger, sound effects, buddy icons and all. Except, now the game runs in windowed mode so that they can pull neat little tricks where characters have you download files to your desktop, and send you links to fun recreations of 06-07 era YouTube and Facebook (which is also a pretty clever way of including licensed music in your game without actually having to pay for it).

     The main difference in gameplay doesn’t become apparent until you begin the game, where you realize that you’ll be spending the majority of your time talking to two different girls at once, sometimes one or the other sending you messages with time sensitive responses. Meaning that you’ll have to pick which person you really want to focus your attention on. I felt like this system provided some much needed player agency in the way that they carried out their relationships with the characters when compared to first. Although, this also created situations where either person would become upset with you for not responding to their message within 5-10 seconds, and I’m not really sure that I’ve ever seen somebody react that way before.

     This new change gives way to the biggest difference between Too and the first. That is having multiple endings. The first Emily Is Away only had one ending, regardless, it was still one of the most powerful executions of a game’s story and mechanics that I’ve yet to see since; aside from maybe the likes of NieR: Automata. And believe me, it stuck the landing. I wouldn’t have written two whole paragraphs about the first game in a review for the second if it hadn’t. Unfortunately in this game, with multiple endings, I feel like the emotional resonance is lost a bit here. Sure, your choices might make you feel a bit more invested in the way that the story plays out, and in the circumstances that your relationships are left in once the credits roll, but the first game’s melancholy ending helped the game convey a specific theme. Something that I feel like the sequel has a hard time doing.

     The first game set out with a specific story to tell, and all of the events leading up to it’s ending played out in order make you feel a certain way, regardless of the paths you took. Emily Is Away was about the strains that distance can have on friendship, the regret of missing out on important relationships, the awkwardness of keeping in touch with people post-high school, making mistakes in your first relationships, unrequited love, and so much more than that. Emily Is Away Too on the other hand feels more like a really really well written simulation of talking with two teenage girls in the mid-2000′s. That’s not to say this is necessarily an issue, it’s just that Too’s themes have a harder time being conveyed when some of the endings seem to fly in the face of what the game is trying to say.

     Rather than being about romantic relationships, Emily Is Away Too strives to explore the importance of platonic ones. In the first, where the player was obviously set up in a position where they would likely try to date Emily, the sequel attempts to dive into what makes friendship so special. Whether that be sharing your favorite music or video games, shooting the shit about your classes, or even helping each other through nasty breakups, Emily Is Away Too has a firm understanding of the emotions that make friendship so important to some people... and it utilizes them. Emily Is Away Too deals with topics like abusive/toxic relationships, the reluctance to let friends move on, as well as coming to terms with it, the importance of staying true to yourself, and the dangers of becoming somebody you’re not just to get people to do what you want.

     Especially regarding those last two items, Too, like a lot of sequels tries to take a bit more of a meta approach to it’s writing. Attempting to anticipate some of the play styles that players may have taken in the first in order to “win,” so that it can stay one step ahead of the player. And it works! I wasn’t necessarily keen on what the game was up to as I was playing it, but there’s a certain moment in the game where players could be potentially “punished” for not treating the characters as human beings or for treating the relationships in the game as anything less than real. Trying to game the system by predicting what a character will want you to say rather than what you want to say will likely have the opposite effect than what the player intended. I think it’s a super smart way of stopping players from playing Emily Is Away Too like a game, in order to get the ending they want, rather than the ending that they deserve.

     It’s for that reason that at the time of writing this review, I’ve only finished Emily Is Away Too a single time. And I don’t think I necessarily want to replay it. Not because I don’t want to see the other endings, or because I dislike the game, but because developer Kyle Seeley clearly designed a game with multiple endings that acts more like a personality test, giving players a result based on their actions and who they really are as a person, rather than something where multiple playthroughs yield players a wildly different adventure each time. I feel like if I were to replay Emily Is Away Too, I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to reach a different conclusion. The ending I got, and the path I took to get there is so tied up in my moral sensibilities, my anxieties/fears, my taste in friends, and even my taste in video games or music, that to do anything else would feel wrong. I feel like I’d be lying to myself in a way.

     Emily Is Away Too is a special game. While I don’t necessarily think that it hits the highs of the first, I think it comes close by changing up the formula, and by secretly providing an almost entirely different experience to it’s predecessor. It trades away themes of incompatibility and regret for themes of friendship and what it truly means to call somebody your best friend.

[ciathyzareposts]

Infocom Marathon: Leather Goddesses of Phobos – Part Two

Written by Joe Pranevich

My six-year old has recently become very interested in space. In the way that six-year olds can pick odd topics to be obsessed with (er… that apple didn’t fall far from the tree), he’s talked so much about Phobos and Deimos lately that I could probably lecture a course on it. Phobos is the larger of Mars’s two moons with a diameter only of around 14 miles. Gravity on Phobos is incredibly weak and a human could take a flying leap of nearly a half mile without difficulty, although with that comes a low escape velocity. Athletic individuals could potentially jump into space! There’s also a good chance that Phobos could break apart in a few hundred years to give Mars a tiny ring of its own. I have learned so much! And yet, my son has never once mentioned the legendary Leather Goddesses of Phobos. This is probably for the best given that he is just six, but still a disappointment. I have half a mind to start a petition to name one of the many Phobos craters after Steve Meretzky, but I doubt that would go very far.

Where we left off last time, I narrated four of the game’s puzzles and collected four of the game’s eight key objects. We have four left and a ton of great puzzles so let’s get to it.

Puzzle #5 – The Mysterious Message

There is one more puzzle in the “main” area of Mars where we started, a frog prince, but since we don’t have all that we need to solve that I’ll skip it for now. The next area to explore is the Martian canal system and we start by using the barge that we found just north of King Mitre’s castle. There are two tricks with the canal boat:

We have nearly no control over the barge. While riding in it, we will be slowly taken downriver. There is a button in the ship to turn on an engine to speed it up, but even with that we have to type “wait” a lot and read about the scenery.

It has a magnetic mooring system that we can activate when you approach a dock. This is the only way to stop.

By being careful and watching the descriptions, we can locate a number of docks along the way that lead off to tiny corners of the world. The first of these will be called “Baby Dock” (after the then-recently-overthrown President of Haiti) and leads into a desert where we find a dead messenger holding onto a very strange message… and some lip balm. Fortunately, we have a clue in the manual as to how to deal with coded messages:

I have the 3-D glasses from the original box. They don’t help much. 

I didn’t remember the manual hint at first. I tried and failed to solve the cipher by hand since many of the letter combinations didn’t work. Once I remembered the hint in the manual, I knew that I was on the right track. I ended up with something like this:

It did not take me long to realize that the message was simply written backwards:

YOUR MISSION IS TO CONTACT WIFE NUMBER 107 OF THE SULTAN AND GET THE YECRET MAP — IDENTIFY YOURSELF TO HER BY ASKING HER TO KISS YOUR KNEECAPS

I’m not sure whether the typo is something deliberate in the game or whether I copied the code wrong, but either way we have an interesting message and something to do if we ever meet the 107th wife of the Sultan. When playing as a woman, the genders are reversed and we will be looking for the husband of a Sultaness, but it is otherwise the same.

All in all, this was an easier puzzle in part because it’s one piece of a bigger whole. Back to the canals!

So many question marks, he could have been a late 80s Doctor Who!

Puzzle #6 – Riddle Me This

As we proceed along the canal, we’ll find a dilapidated shopping mall with a store selling “exits” but which will not make change. There’s no solution to that puzzle yet, but we will come back to it once we get exact change and a way to revisit sections of the canal. The mall is interesting not only that there are two docks that lead there, but also because the second comes right after a bend in the canal and there is another dock directly across the way. This leads to a small puzzle, but one that I solved by accident. If you travel slowly on the canal, your boat will hug the inside of the turn and arrive at the mall. If you travel quickly, the barge will ride the outer edge of the curve and arrive at the other dock. Failing to notice the dock on the other side or working out how to get there makes the game unwinnable. It’s not a great puzzle, but at least it’s not difficult. Welcome to the Sultan’s palace!

The Palace is a multi-stage puzzle and the decoded message and canal bends are the first two pieces. Once here, we can find a black circle that takes us back to the Leather Goddesses’s ship, but also unlocks a new black circle on the other end so we can return. That will be useful later. Another circle lands us back in the barge and more on that later too. Elsewhere in the palace, we can pick up a clothes pin in the laundry room. It’s not huge and we’ll shortly end up stumbling on the throne room. Once you do, you are trapped and have to answer the Sultan’s (or Sultaness’s) riddle to survive. If we answer correctly, we live and get to meet one of his wives (or her husbands), but fail and we die. Here is the riddle:

Some say I’m pointless / but many are obsessed by me. I have caused heroic gambles / and sown endless frustration. Uncounted deaths have I caused. / What am I?

Tiffany immediately guesses “a grapefruit” and she’s led off to her apparent demise. I suppose we’ll be seeing her again shortly.

This one was tough for me. I don’t believe the answer is hinted at anywhere in the documentation or in the game. I guessed “love”, “hope”, and “sex” but none of them were the solution. It took me at least six tries to get it right: the answer is the riddle itself. I am then given the chance to select which husband or wife I want to visit and select the one from the coded message. The number changes each time so you have to have discovered the message to know which one.

Once in the spouse’s bedchamber, we can ask him or her to kiss our kneecaps to trigger the next event. He is thrilled that we are members of the resistance and hands us a secret map (more copy protection) and a lantern before leading us to a secret passage into the catacombs. I can also pause and have sex with him before I head down, but that doesn’t change anything. Once in the catacombs, we learn that Tiffany survived thanks to circus space midgets and a black circle stashed inside of their tiger cage.

I’d like this puzzle more if it had been hinted at in the game. As it stands, if you aren’t good at this style of wordplay you would not find this puzzle very entertaining.

Puzzle #7 – The Catacombs

So many puzzles and we haven’t even snagged a new key item yet! Fortunately, our dry spell will end soon as we navigate another one of Infocom’s “non-traditional” mazes. The catacombs aren’t like any of the other mazes that we’ve seen so far in this marathon. For one thing, we are given a map! Sure, it’s not labeled and we have no idea where to go, but the distribution of square and circular rooms must hint at something. However, if we use the map we quickly learn two things: first, it’s not up to date. There have been several cave-ins that have blocked off certain paths. We will still need to keep track of where we can go. The second problem is that we are frequently attacked by beetles, crabs, and alligators. Sometimes they kill you, but other times you just get moved into a random location. When that happens, we have to restore because finding out where we are is pretty much impossible at that point.

As for the animals, the Lane Mastodon comic comes to the rescue again:

More copy-protection! How much does this game need?

Not only must we identify the broken tunnels, we also have to “clap” every five turns, “hop” every nine turns, and “kweepa” every eleven turns to keep us safe from the wildlife. To add insult to injury, our light source will expire quickly and we cannot afford to take many wrong turns. This forces us to build a turn-by-turn “map” of our path, marking when we need to clap or whatever. I made mine using a spreadsheet. It is complicated when you have to do two things at once (throwing off the “math”), but it’s not too difficult. It’s likely that I have not found the most efficient path through the maze, but it works.

My goal is to find the exit, but the square shaped rooms call out to be explored so I build my map to take us to them:

Clap if you love X mod 5 = 1.

Using this method, we find a Cleveland phone book in one of the square rooms (our fifth item!) and a plastic inflatable raft in another. We also locate a ladder up and out of the maze. The exit takes us to the palace’s laundry room where we can snag the clothespin if we neglected to earlier, but otherwise we are done with the Sultan and it’s time to move on.

This is a fun variation on a maze, made all the better by all of the other puzzles that we had to solve to get this far. The fact that we find the Cleveland phone book here rather than in Cleveland is another one of the game’s meta-jokes, I am sure.

Puzzle #8 – The Frog Prince Needs a Breath Mint

The next stop on our canal tour takes us just about to where we started, the “Wattz-Up Dock” which made the eastern boundary of our earlier exploration of Mars. There’s a warning buoy here suggesting that we shouldn’t go any farther, but we’ll just heed that for a moment while we knock out another puzzle: the frog prince.

While we were exploring last time, we stumbled on this frog with a crown out in the Martian desert. If we tried to kiss him, as you would naturally be inclined to do, we balk because the frog is revolting. This takes us into a puzzle which feels like one part Hitchhiker’s Guide and one part Scott Adams. With only rare exceptions, Infocom puzzles never have you act on yourself. You nearly never “hold breath” or “close eyes” to solve a puzzle, instead the solutions always come from the objects that you manipulate around you. (My impression of Scott Adams puzzles may be shaped in part by the first one of his that I played for TAG: Questprobe Featuring the Hulk (1984). That game had several such puzzles, including the first puzzle of the game which required you to bite yourself.) All that gets thrown out this window for this one.

If we want to kiss the frog, we fail because we are offended by his warts. If we close our eyes first, we notice the frog’s rancid breath. We can hold our nose, but then we are disturbed by the frog’s ribbiting whenever we get close. At that point, we are out of hands and have to solve this another way. Now that we have the clothespin from the Sultan’s palace, we can place it on our nose and then hold our ears. That gets us even farther, but now we’re finally freaked out about touching a frog with our lips. If we use the lip balm that we discovered (being held by the dead alien with the coded message), we can slather that on our lips and finally (finally!) kiss the frog. He turns into a prince(ss), we have a quick lovemaking session, and then he drops off a blender on his way out. The sixth special item!

Like this but in space.

Puzzle #9 – The Last Puzzle With the Boat, Seriously

Where we last left the barge, we had it parked by a warning buoy. If we continue down the canal, the current will lead us further and further south. It’s a boring trip because there are no more docks to explore. Eventually, we will reach a tower:

The barge is now passing the metal structure that has been looming closer for the last hour. Its size and power are overwhelming; a relic of Martian technology at its height. Vacuum tubes the size of telephone booths produce power that was once beamed all over Mars. But now, in the twilight of the planet’s civilization, the machine’s base has rusted away. The massive tower now shoots its ion power beam uselessly across the canal, into the sand of the opposite bank.

There’s no way out to explore, but our body will be charged by the ancient Martian technology if we pass through the beam. And by “charged”, I mean “dead in a few turns”. We’ll shortly arrive at the Martian South Pole and can disembark to explore, but it doesn’t matter until we work out a way around the beam. Otherwise…

Your anatomy, in absorbing a dose of super-ionized energy in trans-lethal levels, has ultimately equalized this submolecular environmental imbalance by fulminating a cataclysmic exothermic reaction. Or to put it in lay terms, you’ve just blown up.

There is no way to hide in the boat and no obvious way to avoid the ion blast. We need to find another solution.

Fortunately, we already found the solution even if we didn’t notice: one of the black circles at the Sultan’s palace took us back to the barge. At the time, we may have thought that it took us to the dock or perhaps to the water (such that if we went through it without the barge parked where it was, we would have fallen in), but in fact we can experiment to determine that it will always go to wherever the barge is. All we have to do is turn off the magnetic moorings while we are standing outside the barge and watch it slowly drift away downstream. If we wait long enough before entering the circle, we find that it has crashed into the southern end of the canal and just where we need it for the next set of puzzles.

Yes, there are penguins on Mars.

Puzzle #10 – The South Pole

The final set of puzzles on Mars are not difficult. Once we arrive at the South Pole, Trent slips on the ice and falls to his death into the canal water. I’m not going to worry much about him at this point. Nearby, we discover penguins blocking the road. They want me to contribute to their retirement fund and I hand over the coin that I found in the phone booth on Venus. They pass back a one marsmid coin as change; now I’ll have something that I can use to buy an exit at the store in the mall.

Further south, we trigger a scene with robot gypsies who treat us well but then immediately die and leave a crying baby in their tent. The puzzle is to stop it crying, but wrapping it in a blanket works well enough. A turn or so later, we reach a robotic orphanage where we notice a pair of cotton balls in the window. The door is locked, but if we are clever and leave the baby in a wicker basket (like the one that we found on the ship at the beginning of the game) and then hide, a robotic caretaker comes out and picks up the baby. In her rush, she leaves the orphanage unlocked so I can swoop in and take the cotton balls. We have object seven! I was stymied by this one for longer than I care to admit because it’s not clear that the robot lady left the door unlocked. I had tried lots of combinations of hiding to try to sneak in or open the window before just trying the door again.

The only other thing near the Pole is an exit back to the main part of Mars, so I take it. A few turns later, Trent emerges from the fountain in the desert, revealing that he held his breath for a long time and was carried along by the current. Sure.

Like this, but even less plausible.

Puzzle #11: Chivalry in Space

This puzzle could have been done much (much) earlier, but I skipped it the first time (because of a Trent death before I realized to just ignore them) and only realized when I hit the end of the game that I was one special object down from a complete set. The portal on Venus behind the Fly Trap leads to a spaceship and a tightly time-based puzzle. From the first moment that we arrive, we have only a few turns to discover that there is a passenger spaceship parked outside that is getting ready to leave and make our way to it before it does. The first times I went through this, I didn’t expect a limit and just thought that I was missing something when there didn’t appear to be anything to do. There is a small hint (a rumble message when the other ship leaves), but not really a sure sign that you are about to make the game unwinnable.

Getting to the other ship isn’t exactly difficult either. The main challenge is that the ship is large and there is a long (long!) hallway between our end and the end with an airlock. Fortunately, we discover a stable (!!) on the ship and can ride a horse (!!) down the corridor to arrive at the other end faster.

Once we arrive, we find a spacesuit and an airlock. If we are lucky, there is still a ship parked outside. If we head out, we discover the evil kidnapper Thorbala (or her male counterpart) and have to engage with a sword fight. Did I mention that there’s a sword to pick up in the hold as well? This trapped me for a while because I could not work out how to win the sword fight. When you fight, you will usually get a message that you manage to block her attack or she blocks yours. A small portion of the time, you will succeed in knocking her sword out of her hands. If you take the sword, as I did, you can never win. Instead, you have to take the sword and immediately give it back to her. This gesture makes her realize that you are a “good guy” and destined to win, so she kills herself. Some commenters said that this is a B-movie trope, but if so I missed it completely; I had to take a hint.

With that out of the way, we learn that she was kidnapping a rich man (or woman) and we can rescue him easily from a cowardly monster. He rewards us with fabulous cash and prizes if we just go to his address; he writes it on the back of a photo and zooms off. Of course, the photo that he was scribbling on happens to be a picture of Douglas Fairbanks and we have all that we need to end the game! There’s another black circle to leave the ship hidden in the long hallway and Trent will reappear after being saved by a time traveler, but none of that should be a problem for seasoned adventurers like ourselves.

This mall has seen better days.

Puzzle #12 – The End

After navigating the maze of black circles and weird puzzles, I can hardly call the end of the game a “puzzle”. The most difficult thing is to find the black circle that will take you to the Leather Goddesses and the final confrontation. I found it a bit earlier than I needed to, but the “trick” is the change that we were given by the penguins at the South Pole. We can use that to buy an exit at the abandoned mall. That exit, for reasons never explained, happens to take you to exactly where you need to go. We never found a way back to the mall before, but we can use the rubber raft (from the catacombs) on the canals to explore them all again if we desire. Once we buy the circle, we’re good to go!

We enter the circle to realize that we are in the bedroom of one of the Leather Goddesses of Phobos. If we desire, we can make sweet love to our nemesis before moving onto the endgame– in fact, we can even do this as a woman for the game’s sole scene that is not heteronormative:

> f*ck goddess 

Your couchmate seems only too happy to oblige. You flush with passion as your two bodies draw closer on the divan. You discover, much to your surprise, that you are making love to a woman. Even more surprising, your misgivings are swept away by the heady pleasure of the soft, full breasts pressing against your own. Suddenly…

We are quickly discovered and swept down into a Plaza. The Goddesses assemble a comically large army to attack Tiffany and I. Meanwhile, Tiffany begins building her device. We have to hand her each of the eight special objects in turn. Assuming that we have them all, she creates what she needs for the final confrontation:

   The guards have finished activating the death ray and have begun the activation sequence. The ground quakes as the berserko robotoids plow through the rubble towards you; the wind from their whirling swords knocks over a few trees. The tanks loom above you, their gun turrets blocking out the sun. Beyond them, the Main Attack Fleet is sweeping in for a final attack.   Tiffany, hammering and twiddling madly at the growing machine, yells, “Okay, things are going neato peachy keen! There! I think it’s all done. Cross your fingers, kiddo!” She switches on the device. Amidst showers of sparks, a powerful electric arc bridges two electrodes. The machine shudders, and you smell something yellow shoot from the machine. […] Through the smoke of battle, you see a banana peel squirt from the Super-Duper Anti-Leather Goddess of Phobos Attack Machine.    The peel lands a few feet away, as the Super-Duper Anti-Leather Goddess of Phobos Attack Machine gives one final shudder and self-destructs in an orgy of flames and shrapnel.   The attacking forces continue to close, and certain death is only seconds away when one of the Chompers, loping towards you at nearly Mach One, steps on the banana peel, and slips a few inches to one side before righting itself. This is enough, however, to nudge a tank into a crater, tripping one of the samurai robots!   More and more of the attacking forces plow into the mess in the crater, like some improbably fantastical football tackle. A stray grenade lands right in its midst, and the resulting plume of debris sheers the fins off the leading warship. Your heart leaps as the entire Main Attack Fleet of the Leather Goddesses of Phobos plummets towards the ground. The mass of metal strikes the ground, and a tremendous explosion knocks you senseless!

We awakened a short time later at a gas station. The game is over, but our adventure is just beginning. Up next for our unwitting space adventurer will be Leather Goddesses of Phobos II: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience of Planet X. But that game, sadly, will never be made as an Infocom text adventure. I am currently scheduled to play it twenty-six games from now, near the end of my marathon. I hope I get there.

Total time played: 8 hr 50 min, not including my alternate gender replay.

But this “sequel” is only eleven games away!

Not Really the Final Score

I hope you enjoyed this “bonus” look at Leather Goddesses; it has taken me a lot longer to finish than I had hoped thanks to the world’s situation(s). So much for my idea of just doing a quick 3,000 word recap and moving on to Moonmist! I am glad that I had the experience of playing Steve Meretzky’s final “hit” for Infocom and sharing it with you.

Having played through this game multiple times and thought about it off and on for months, my opinion is still mixed. My notes say that I opened this game for the first time on February 17, almost four months ago, and I did much of my playing through the early stages of the pandemic. My initial impression was quite poor. I did not like the random nature of the circles, the difficulty mapping, or even the crazy humor-logic that underlies most of the puzzles. I was ready to write it off as a commercial success but a failure of a game. It’s still not perfect and nowhere near the top of my Infocom enjoyment chart, but I appreciate it for what it is and what it tried to be. I had more fun with it the second time around than I did my first.

It is my practice to always write down the score within a day of beating a game. While my own impression of the game may have softened in the intervening months, this is the score that I gave it the night that I finished:

Puzzles & Solvability: 4

Interface & Inventory: 4

Story & Setting: 5

Graphics & Sound: 0

Environment & Atmosphere: 4

Dialog & Acting: 5

That worked out to a final score of 37. That is lower than TBD’s score of 40 and around the same as Starcross and Enchanter. It would have been the lowest-scoring Meretzky game, if it had been up to me to rate it. I suspect that I was being too harsh and should have popped an extra point into Environment or Dialog, but no sense dwelling on it too much. I enjoyed this game more than A Mind Forever Voyaging and that has to count for something.

Up next for me will be Moonmist. My play time is still heavily curtailed, but the good news for you is that I’ve beaten it already (but only once) and just need to type it up from my notes. I’ll try to win each of the other variations before I’m through. I’m aiming for three posts, but you know how these things go.

See you soon!

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/infocom-marathon-leather-goddesses-of-phobos-part-two/

[mateenaltaf]

Parents Participation in Education

Various studies have demonstrated that the greater part of parents are orientated to their children's scholastic advancement, yet there are other people who don't get to be included. There is a question which dependably emerges in the minds of parents, instructors and the school management. "Why would that be a requirement for parents to be included in school life as it is after all the student who goes to the school, and not the parents?" So how do parents participate? National survey data shows that attending school meetings or events is the leading form of parent participation in schools, followed by school fundraising activities. The National Center for Education Statistics’ Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey for the 2007 National Household Education Surveys Program (Herrold and O’Donnell, 2008) included these conclusions from parent responses:

78 percent attended a parent-teacher conference;

74 percent attended a class or school event;

65 percent participated in school fundraising;

86 percent said they had received information about the parents’ expected role at the student’s school;

46 percent served as a volunteer on a school committee; and

89 percent of those interviewed from January-May 2007 said they had attended at least one school or PTO/PTA meeting since the start of the school year.

Not surprisingly, participation was greater for parents with K-8 students than for those with high school students. At the K-8 level, 92 percent of parents reported attending a school or PTO/PTA meeting compared with 83 percent of parents of high scholars. The gap was even more pronounced in volunteering, which was evident among 52 percent of parents of K-8 students but only 34 percent of parents with high school students. In summarizing findings of this study and others in a major meta-analysis, scholars at the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL, 2002) concluded that educators and policymakers should have no pre-conceived notions about parent involvement. “Recognize that all parents, regardless of income, education or cultural background, are involved in their children’s learning and want their children to do well,” SEDL said. It is well understood and researched certainty that when parents include themselves in their children`s education, the positive learning of the students identifies with higher accomplishments. So the more intensively parents are involved in their child’s education, the more beneficial are the accomplishments of the student and this has a greater impact on the child’s education which can be everlasting. The most efficient form of parental participation is that when parents are directly involved in the learning activities. Programs which specifically include parents with their children’s like helping them with their reading, writing, homework, and so forth., while coaching them with the use of materials and guidelines gave by the instructors, indicate especially noteworthy results. However, the area of parental inclusion in day by day instructive exercises has been a standout among-st the most questionable issues. A few parents might want to assume a more dynamic part in this kind of inclusion, whereas most school administrators and teachers exhibit great reluctance to encourage parents to become partners in governance and they assume it an unnecessary interference and hindrance to the smooth functioning of schools. Consequently, it is particularly basic to uproot the misguided judgments parents, school management and teachers may have around one another`s thought processes, states of mind, expectations and capacities. Along these lines, it is vital to make such an environment, to the point that these partners may sit together by keeping in mind students achievements a top need in their perspectives. It is critical for schools to orchestrate discussion programs for parents at all times. They should know that they are not just being drawn closer to impart the weakness of their children and the issues of the school, additionally for the fun and different viewpoints too. To implement this kind of parental participation in education, initially school management and teachers have to convey this messenger to all parents that their participation and abutment makes a greater difference in their children’s performance and the parents doesn’t need to be well educated for the participation, parents just have to involve themselves in the academic progress of their child. If this consolation and participation is proposed at the time when their children first enter the boundaries of the school and making the parents up to date about their children’s development, then it will have an everlasting impact because parents, as well, would have given all the information to the teacher about their children, which will permit them to expand on the state of mind, aptitudes and information accomplished as of now. A research was conducted on this topic about the parental involvement in education of their children that in this study it was found that disregarding the background of the family income, the students which have the parental participation in their education are likely to:

Earn good grades and excellent test scores and are enlist in higher level programs.

Pass their classes and promoted and earn credits.

Regular attendance in the school

Good in social involvement, show good behavior and behave well at school.

Students of all races and ethnic groups benefit when their parents are involved in their education, according to William H. Jeynes in “Parental Involvement and Student Achievement,” a meta-analysis of parental involvement and student achievement studies conducted as part of the Harvard Family Research Project. The one aspect of parent involvement that has the most impact on student achievement, according to Jeynes, is parental expectations. Students achieve more when their parents expect more. Both students and schools benefit when parents are involved in education. Academic achievement and standardized test results are higher, students have a more positive attitude toward school and their behavior is better. Other benefits include more successful academic programs and schools that are generally more effective. One of the best ways for parents to be involved in education is to communicate regularly with teachers. Think of yourself as the teacher’s partner in managing your child’s education. Monitor your child’s homework and school projects, making them a top priority in his schedule. Another way parents can be involved is to volunteer at the school. All kinds of opportunities exist, such as helping in the classroom, conducting fundraisers and assisting with extracurricular activities. Schools must do their part to encourage parent involvement in education. Key activities include making parents feel welcome at school, involving parents in decision making, and implementing programs to provide information about parenting skills and community resources. Parent engagement matters. Study after study has shown us that student achievement improves when parents play an active role in their children's education, and that good schools become even better schools when parents are involved. It is recognized that parent engagement is a key factor in the enhancement of student achievement and well-being. Students are more likely to be motivated, to earn higher grades, to have better behavior and social skills, and to continue their education to a higher level when their parents are actively engaged in supporting their success at school.

The significance of parental involvement in education has been documented over the years by psychologists and educational theorists and debated by many parents and legislators in the United States. Academic Joyce L. Epstein wrote: "The evidence is clear that parental encouragement, activities and interest at home, and parental participation in schools and classrooms positively influence achievement, even after the students' ability and family socio-economic status are taken into account. “Researchers have consistently found that an active partnership between a child's parents and school can boost the performance of students and improve their life but when it comes to family circumstances, data from the National Center for Education Statistics (1998) found that 72% of schools with low levels of poverty report that the majority of parents attend school open days. This compares to a figure of 28% of parents attending when there are high levels of poverty. Susan Jarmuz-Smith, writing in the National Association of School Psychologists' magazine (2011) cited the work of Christenson, Rounds, and Gorney (1992) who discovered that any amount of parental engagement positively affects children. Jarmuz-Smith believes "that overall, the key to parent involvement is providing meaningful engagement opportunities that offer concrete ways for parents to build knowledge of and the capacity to involve themselves in the educational system. If we ask parents to help, research shows they will." In The Journal of Educational Research (2000) Reuven Feuerstein reported that increased communication from a school naturally increases parent involvement. He explains: "Just the small act of communicating with parents about the needs of the school motivated parents to become involved. " The goal, then, Feuerstein argues, is to provide concrete ways for parents to engage and in return to keep the lines of communication open. In terms of the legal argument for participation, the main laws here are the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The ESEA, previously the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) mandates involving parents as partners in education. Professional organizations such as The National Association of School Psychologists' Principles for Professional Ethics also play a key role by stating that school psychologists must aim to "encourage and promote parental participation and respect the wishes of parents," while The National Association for the Education of Young Children stresses the importance of parent involvement and parent-staff communication in its guidelines. Joyce Epstein, director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at John Hopkins University, reported in 1997 that there are six different types of parental involvement. These areas include: providing information about student progress and opening up a pathway for parents to communicate with schools; providing information to parents about child development and age-appropriate expectations; encouraging volunteering to fit in with parents' schedules; ideas and strategies on how parents can assist with homework; a two-way connection between community, business and schools, and helping parents to become involved in organizations, committees and school boards. In School, Family, and Community Interaction: A View from the Firing Lines (1994), Cheryl L. Fagnano and Beverly Z. Weber referred to the research of Ann Henderson. Writing in 1987, Henderson conducted an extensive review of parental involvement and found that involving parents in their children's formal education improves achievement and that parental involvement is most effective when it is comprehensive, long lasting and well planned. She also reported that there are "strong effects" from involving parents continuously throughout the school lives of their children in Early Childhood Research & Practice (2008) Hamida Amirali Jinnah and Lynda Henley Walters question the inclusion of parents as they are expected to offer subjective impressions rather than professional opinions or objective observations. Some critics argue that much of the research into parental participation is focused within elementary education and have called for more research in other areas, including middle and high schools. Others in the field believe that as a child grows up parental involvement is less common and therefore becomes difficult to quantify. Since the educational reforms of the late 1980s American parents have played a more active role in governing schools, in receiving information and in gaining the right to state a preference for a specific school. The Goals 2000 Educate America Act vowed to provide resources to states and communities to ensure that all students reach their full potential. The Act stated "every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children." Being involved in the school and your child’s education is just as important today as it was at the beginning of the school year. Below are highlights of research findings on parent involvement in education. The most accurate predictor of a student’s achievement in school is not income or social status, but the extent to which that student’s family is able to:

create a home environment that encourages learning;

communicate high, yet reasonable, expectations for their children’s achievement and future careers; and

become involved in their children’s education at school and in the community.

Student behaviors such as alcohol use, violence, and anti-social behavior decrease as parent involvement increases. Students are more likely to fall behind in academic performance if their parents do not participate in school events, develop a working relationship with their child's educators, or keep up with what is happening in their child's school. The benefits of involving parents are not confined to the early years; there are significant gains at all ages and grade levels. Middle and senior high school students whose parents remain involved make better transitions, maintain the quality of their work, and develop realistic plans for their future. Students whose parents are not involved, on the other hand, are more likely to drop out of school. When parents are involved, students achieve more, regardless of socio-economic status, ethnic/racial background, or the parents’ education level. When parents are involved in their student’s education, those students have higher grades and test scores, better attendance, and complete homework more consistently. When parents are involved, students exhibit more positive attitudes and behavior, increased motivation and better self-esteem. Students whose parents are involved in their lives have higher graduation rates and greater enrollment rates in post-secondary education. Henderson and Berla (1994) reviewed and analyzed eighty-five studies that documented the comprehensive benefits of parent involvement in children's education. This and other studies show that parent involvement activities that are effectively planned and well implemented result in substantial benefits to children, parents, educators, and the school.

Benefits for the Children

Children tend to achieve more, regardless of ethnic or racial background, socioeconomic status, or parents' education level.

Children generally achieve better grades, test scores, and attendance.

Children consistently complete their homework.

Children have better self-esteem, are more self-disciplined, and show higher aspirations and motivation toward school.

Children's positive attitude about school often results in improved behavior in school and less suspension for disciplinary reasons.

Fewer children are being placed in special education and remedial classes.

Children from diverse cultural backgrounds tend to do better when parents and professionals work together to bridge the gap between the culture at home and the culture in school.

Junior high and high school students whose parents remain involved usually make better transitions and are less likely to drop out of school.

Benefits for the Parents

Parents increase their interaction and discussion with their children and are more responsive and sensitive to their children's social, emotional, and intellectual developmental needs.

Parents are more confident in their parenting and decision-making skills.

As parents gain more knowledge of child development, there is more use of affection and positive reinforcement and less punishment on their children.

Parents have a better understanding of the teacher's job and school curriculum.

When parents are aware of what their children are learning, they are more likely to help when they are requested by teachers to become more involved in their children's learning activities at home.

Parents' perceptions of the school are improved and there are stronger ties and commitment to the school.

Parents are more aware of, and become more active regarding, policies that affect their children's education when parents are requested by school to be part of the decision-making team.

Benefits for the Educators

When schools have a high percentage of involved parents in and out of schools, teachers and principals are more likely to experience higher morale.

Teachers and principals often earn greater respect for their profession from the parents.

Consistent parent involvement leads to improved communication and relations between parents, teachers, and administrators.

Teachers and principals acquire a better understanding of families' cultures and diversity, and they form deeper respect for parents' abilities and time.

Teachers and principals report an increase in job satisfaction.

Benefits for the School

Schools that actively involve parents and the community tend to establish better reputations in the community.

Schools also experience better community support.

School programs that encourage and involve parents usually do better and have higher quality programs than programs that do not involve parents.

Conclusion:

Parents of all income levels and ethnicity want to be involved in their child’s learning, even if they aren’t often visible at bake sales or PTA meetings. However, schools and parents often have a different understanding of what that involvement should look like. Creating a partnership between schools and parents can have a significant impact on student achievement. One of the best ways to structure that partnership is through involving parents in their children’s homework. While all forms of parent involvement play significant roles in the health of the school and the community, home learning activities are perhaps the wisest investment of school dollars and effort to produce long-lasting academic gains. While such involvement is fairly straightforward in elementary school, it’s also possible later on. At the middle and high school level, school activities that promote the parent’s role in maintaining high expectations for their children benefit students.

Finally, targeted parent involvement to solve a particular problem such as poor attendance or behavior can also be beneficial. And parent involvement should be a support, not a substitute, for the true work of schools: good teaching and learning. But the research is clear: parents want to be involved, and parent involvement can make a difference in student learning. Structuring the partnership between schools and parents is one of the best things school boards can do.

Bibliography:

Karim, D. (2010, July 11). Parental involvement in education. Dawn. Islamabad.

Bridget Williams, Joel Williams & Anna Ullman (2002), Parental Involvement in Education.

Research Spotlight on Parental Involvement in Education (2016)

Herrold and O’Donnell, (2008), National Center for Education Statistics’ Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey.

Chuck Dervarics and Eileen O'Brien (2011), Back to school: How parent involvement affects student achievement

SEDL - A New Wave of Evidence: Advancing Research, Improving Education

William H. Jeynes (2005), Parental Involvement and Student Achievement: A Meta-Analysis

Linda Hinkle (Oct 16, 2013), The Importance of Parent Involvement in Education

Susan Jarmuz-Smith (2011), National Association of School Psychologists' magazine

Questia.com (2014), Parental Participation in Education

Jane D. Hull, Robin Sackmann (2002), At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child's success is the positive involvement of parents.

G. Olsen, M.L. Fuller (2010), Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall, The Benefits of Parent Involvement: What Research Has to Say

[socmedsean]

[ANSWERED] Troubleshooting Facebook Issues Like “No Photo Description Available” Or Photos Not Displaying

SocMedSean - Social.Media.Sean [ANSWERED] Troubleshooting Facebook Issues Like “No Photo Description Available” Or Photos Not Displaying

Okay, I have had several questions today about this one.

The reality is Facebook, and therefore Instagram and WhatsApp are experiencing issues today.

But for those of you who are experiencing this later than this publication date, I thought I’d jot down a few ways for you to troubleshoot Facebook and it’s owned apps when things are going wonky.

By “wonky” I mean:

Photos aren’t displaying

You are seeing text instead of photos that says something like “No photo description available” or “image may contain: one or people sitting outside” or something like that (I’ll cover what that is later).

You can’t add a new post to Facebook or Instagram

You can’t edit or update an existing post on Facebook or Instagram

You are getting timeout errors in WhatsApp

Facebook Messenger tells you there is an unread message when there isn’t (click for this fix)

Facebook is acting…well…wonky.

If Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram are acting all wonky on you, here are some tips to troubleshoot the problem. Click To Tweet

For today, the issue is really one related to Facebook’s network and their ability to render photos. So, users are seeing a few photos but lots of boxes with text in them that look like this:

NOTE: In the case of this specific outage, it is interesting to see a glimpse of the Facebook meta that its algorithms are trying to apply to specific photos. In this case, we can see that the algorithms are trying to identify what is going on in the photo, whether the photo contains people, pets, etc…and the location of the photo. An interesting side-effect to the outage.

For those of you who are reading this in the future, maybe this is the same issue you are experiencing. In this case, it’s a Facebook issue and you just have to wait it out. 

If your issue isn’t the same, here are the steps I take to troubleshoot Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp issues.

Step 1 – Check To See If Facebook Is The Problem

Before you waste a bunch of time troubleshooting your browser and/or computer, check to see if the problem is actually just with Facebook. There are a number of ways I do this:

Check The Facebook Developer Site

You would think that Facebook would tell us if there is an issue, right?

Sometimes they do…sometimes they don’t. If you think about it, it’s not really in their best interest to tell everyone there is a problem. Users might start tweeting instead. Shareholders might start questioning whether they should own Facebook stock. The board might start questioning whether they have the right leadership in place.

Basically, I there eyes it’s not a good idea for Facebook to tell us when there are issues.

Sometimes, though, they do announce issues to the developers at https://developers.facebook.com/status/dashboard/. It’s pretty hit or miss, though.

For instance, earlier today there were no issues:

Facebook developer site was reporting no issues when clearly there were.

This afternoon, however, because they couldn’t fix the issue and cover it up quickly, there is an announcement:

Since they couldn’t fix it quickly without announcing it, they have opened a ticket with the Facebook issue.

Check DownDetector To See If Facebook, Instagram, Or WhatsApp Aren’t Working

A little more reliable way to see if a site is down is to check Down Detector. This site pays attention to the APIs and services of a lot of major sites, as well as monitoring popular channels like Twitter to see if users are reporting outages.

Down Detector is a good tool check to see if a major network is down

Personally, I find Down Detector to be a little more reliable and more expedient when it comes to reporting major issues. Here are some quick links to some of the Facebook-owned channels:

Facebook Down Detector

Instagram Down Detector

WhatsApp Down Detector

DownDetector is often a better way to check for major network outages that checking with Facebook. Click To Tweet

Check Twitter To See If Facebook Is Down

Yeah, I know is sounds weird to check Twitter to see if Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp aren’t working, but it works. Check out these hashtags and you’ll be able to tell whether these sites are misbehaving:

#FacebookDown

#InstagramDown

#WhatsAppDown

Just check out this screen capture from today. Yes…there are definitely issues.

Twitter hashtags can tell you when Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp are down.

If there are no issues reported through those various services, it’s time to start looking more closely at your PC or Mac to see if there are other issues that might be causing problems.

Step 2 – Restart Your Browser

It’s possible that it’s not Facebook at all. When browser cache’s get full or too many windows/tabs are chewing up your CPUs, it’s possible that you just need to restart Chrome, Firefox, Safari…whatever browser you use.

If you restart your browser and the issue still persists, then it might not be your browser. To validate this, though, try opening Facebook in a different browser and see if the problems still exists.

If Facebook misbehaves in Chrome, but works in Firefox…then the issue might be a problem with a Chrome extension or Ad Blocker that you have installed.

If restarting the problem doesn’t fix it, move on to the next step.

Step 3 – Restart Your Browser In Safe Mode To Disable Any Extension or Ad-Blockers

OK, so the problem still persists in your browser of choice. The next step is to restart that browser in safe mode and see if it still is giving your the errors.

To restart your browser in safe mode, the steps are:

1) Close all open browser. All of them. Honestly, I would close every application and just focus on troubleshooting your browser issue.

2) For Chrome, just open Chrome and then click the “New Incognito Window” option from the menu in the upper-right corner.

To start Chrome in safe mode, just open a new Incognito window.

By starting a new Incognito window, Chrome will load the browser without any active plugins or extensions. Now, just browse to Facebook and see if the issue still exists.

Starting your browser in safe mode can sometimes help you troubleshoot problems with sites like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp Click To Tweet

3) For Firefox, the best way is to open Firefox and then choose “Restart with Add-ons Disabled…”. By doing this, Firefox will restart and none of your plugins or extensions will be enabled. Once restarted, browse to Facebook and see if there are still problems.

Starting Firefox in safe mode can help you troubleshoot issues.

4) Unfortunately, Safari doesn’t really have a “safe mode” like Chrome and Firefox do. Instead, reboot your Mac and hold the shift key while it boots. That will start your operating system in safe mode and will allow you to troubleshoot to see if Safari is the issue.

Once rebooted into safe mode, just open Safari and then browse to Facebook to check whether the issue still exists.

If the problem still exists despite restarting the browser in safe mode, the next step is just restarting your computer.

Step 4 – Restart Your Computer

I know, I know…it seems like such a simple task. However, I am guilty of leaving my PC on and using sleep mode for weeks at a time. After I’m done at work, I just put my laptop to sleep,  go home, and wake it up.

Then, when I leave for work I just put it to sleep again and go to work.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat….for weeks at a time.

Unfortunately, this isn’t really a good strategy for overall stability. So, if your computer is acting up just restart it.

Step 5 – Switch From WiFi To A Wired Connection Or Vice-Versa

It’s possible that the problem isn’t Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp at all. Maybe it’s your internal network or Internet Service Provider (ISP).

If your network ISP is having issues, it’s more likely that you’re going to see issues that span beyond just Facebook. Google searches might fail, Twitter might give you crazy errors. You might see browser errors that the site has timed-out.

If you are seeing issues like across multiple sites, it might be your network or ISP.

If you are using a wired connection using a network cable that connects your computer to a jack in the wall, you might try switching over to a WiFi network. If that resolves the issue, then you might need to check your adapter, connections, or router.

If you’re on WiFi, try switching to another WiFi network or connecting via a wired connection. If switching networks helps, then it’s possible your router might be the issue.

If you’re at home on a PC that doesn’t have a WiFi adapter, then you can always check to see if Facebook is experiencing issues using your mobile device. Just be sure you aren’t connected to WiFi.

Try testing Facebook over a 4G connection and if no issues are present, it’s likely your network or ISP are having issues.

Step 6 – Restart Your Router

If you followed the steps above and you think your network or ISP might be the issue, then first try restarting your router.

My XFi router is a fan-powered and a bit dusty. Not a good combination. Time to dust it off so it doesn’t overheat.

Just like your PC, it does need to be restarted occasionally. While you’re at it, dust it off and give it a good cleaning with a can of compressed air.

If you don’t keep your router clean, it can overheat and that will definitely degrade performance and cause issues.

Step 7 – Check With Your Service Provider To See If There Are Issues.

I know.

I hate calling my ISP too. Long wait periods, cruddy support, just a dissatisfying experience. Sometimes, though, it’s a necessary evil.

If you have determined that there are no reported issues and nothing seems to be wrong with your local network or WiFi connections, then you might just need to contact Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, or whoever your Internet Service Provider is.

Give them a call, open a chat, or tweet at them. Hopefully, they can help you out.

Step 8 – Wait It Out

If you have tried everything else, maybe just wait a while.

Go outside. Read a book. Talk to your family.

Do something non-internet related.

Who knows, it might fix itself in a few hours.

I hope these tips help folks who are troubleshooting issues with Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp. If you have a tip that seems to work for you, be sure to share it in the comments. It’s always great when we help each other.

Cheers!

–Sean

Share This Post With A Pin!

[ANSWERED] Troubleshooting Facebook Issues Like “No Photo Description Available” Or Photos Not Displaying Sean R. Nicholson.

This post originally posted at SocMedSean.com - SocMedSean – Social.Media.Sean http://bit.ly/2JlmVm4

[jamiekturner]

Micro-interactions: why, when and how to use them to improve the user experience

What are micro-interactions?

Micro-interactions are events which have one main task — a single purpose — and they’re found all over your device and within apps. Their purpose is to delight the user; to create a moment that is engaging, welcoming and, dare we say it — human.

For Example take a look at the below interaction

Thumbs up — Facebook Messenger

This animation is a good example of micro-interaction, because it fulfills three important functions:

Communicating status and providing feedback

Enhancing the sense of direct manipulation

Helping people to see the results of their actions

Breaking it down

Micro interactions have four parts:

Triggers initiate a microinteraction. Triggers can be user-initiated or system initiated.

In a user-initiated trigger, the user has to initiate an action.

In a system-initiated trigger, software detects certain qualifications are being met and initiates an action.

Rules determine what happens once a microinteraction is triggered.

Feedback lets people know what’s happening. Anything a user sees, hears, or feels while a microinteraction is happening is feedback.

Loops and Modes determine the meta-rules of the microinteraction. What happens to a microinteraction when conditions change?

Why do they matter ? Motion for Emotion :)

If microinteractions are only tiny design elements, why to care about them at all?

Sadly, but many web developers and designers still ask such a question, not getting that ignoring microinteractions may cost their clients a lot. Attention to details is what basically differs an an exceptional website from ordinary one. Here is why microinteractions rock:

They improve a website navigation

They make it easier for users to interact with your website

They provide instant and relevant feedback about a completed action to a user

They give tips to your users

They communicate information about certain elements, like whether or not it’s interactive

They make the user experience much more rewarding

They encourage sharing, liking, and commenting on your content

They direct users’ attention

And, finally, they just make your site more emotional

Well-designed microinteractions are a clear sign of a care of a user. That’s why they value so much. A user gets what to do and whether or not their action was correct and approved by the system — an app or website provide an immediate visual feedback and teach a user to work with the system.

When microinteractions are done right, they can give positive feelings about your brand and influence users’ actions, often without people even realizing why. If you like or dislike one aspect of a product, you have a positive or negative predisposition toward the product in general. This so-called Hallo Effect can play both for and against you. In wise hands, this knowledge can help to improve a user’s feedback from your website — by paying proper attention to details, it is possible to leave your users satisfied.

When to use them ?

Few examples

In the UX/UI world, although tiny, microinteractions are touted as the powerhouse when it comes with communicating with the user. Below are top seven microinteractions and their impact on user experience:

Swipe The Swipe action eliminates tapping and is much more interactive and smooth. It helps the user quickly switch between the tabs and acquire more information about the product. Furthermore swiping is a very common gesture and guides the users subconsciously without making them think; just like we have been reading ‘Don’t make your users think’. What more? It’s insanely fun and addictive.

Data Input All of us know the frustrations of setting up password or creating an account. This action can easily raise hackles. While proactive suggestions on password strength and usage makes it easy for user to proceed ahead, some interactive interactions at the time of data input also keep users engaged with the process and help accomplish the goal.

Animations Animation simply enables and improves micro-interactions. They personify good design; their presence might not be noticed but absence takes a toll on everyone. They act like a glue that helps designers make the simplest of processes interesting and addictive. But be very careful as they are meant to engage the users and not distract or frustrate them; delayed processing or introducing new style in website might cause confusion.

Current System Status It is essential to keep the user informed about the current status happening on a site or app. If the users are not informed chances are that they will get annoyed and close the site or app. Micro interactions lets the user know exactly what is going on, how long it will take the process to complete etc. Even failure messages can be humorous yet effective to retain trust of user.

Make Tutorials Interesting Everybody is constantly seeking information, all of us. Tutorials with the help of microinteraction, guides the users about working of an application by simplifying and highlighting the basic features and important controls for easy understanding.

Call to Action Microinteractions essentially nudges the user to interact with an application or website. Call to action instills a feeling of achievement and also empathy factor in user behavior and the best way to make your user interact with CTA is to make it engaging to entice interest of user.

Animated Buttons They play the role of information manager by letting the user know their way through your app or site. We need to pay attention to color, shape, special effects, animations, placement and texture to make the user experience seamless.

We humans are hardwired to seek instant gratification. And it is a common tendency to overlook microinteractions in the greater scheme of things, but these are very important to get your users hooked.Devil is in the detail- as everyone say. Small experiences and design features, like toggling between screens or highlighting a feature or popping of a new notification can make a huge difference in enhancing users experience.

How to design micro-interactions?

Making micro-interactions is exciting for designers, because it is possible to experiment new design solutions and look for new ways to surprise the users. But for doing it you must keep in mind a few things :

Put yourself in the users shoes and use all that you have to figure out how they use your app.

Create functional animations. Animations which have not only an aesthetic but which are able to enhance the user experience.

Have fun and entertain your users. What the user feels when he uses the app is the reason behind the fact that he keeps using it. If the user enjoys the experience and finds it pleasant, he returns.

Do not be annoying. Too many animations have the opposite effect on users. Annoying users make them stay away from your app.

Use a human language and non-technical. A funny and ironic copy can make you forget for a moment how frustrating it might be a blank page within the app.

Tools to design Micro Interactions

So, what kinds of prototyping tools should designers familiarize themselves with? There are many tools out there but not everyone knows what works best for specific micro-interaction tasks. Here are my recommendations based on my personal experience designing these elements.

If you’re familiar with coding:

Mobile: Xcode, Android studio

Mobile or Web: Framer

Web: CSS animation

If you want to design an interaction between a screen-like push and a module:

Invision and Marvel

If you want to create more detailed interactions:

Principle, Adobe CC, origami Studio and Protopie

If you want to create detailed interactions + animation:

After Effects

Few interactions which I made ❤

To set your micro-interactions up for success, make sure your team possesses these above mentioned characteristics and engages well with the UX process. And good luck with your own micro-interaction journey!

Here are few of my articles on User Experience (UX):

Linkedin User Experience Reimagined

10 tips on how to conduct a perfect Heuristic evaluation

5 Navigation Tips to Improve UX of your Product and Business

The post Micro-interactions: why, when and how to use them to improve the user experience appeared first on Design your way.

from Web Development & Designing https://www.designyourway.net/blog/user-experience/micro-interactions-why-when-and-how/