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illusivesoul · 1 year ago

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Why Rendon Howe is evil

This is a little theory thats been going around in my head for several days.

Rendon Howe. Evil personified. Probably one of the most despicable and hated characters in the Dragon Age series. One of the characters thats most easily defined as being just plain bad and evil, with good reason. Even in the game itself no one likes him (with 1 exception that I'll mention later in this post)

In the game, we really aren't given many reasons as to why he is the way he is and why he does the thing he does beyond saying he's evil, power hungry, and like he himself says as he dies, "I deserved more!" But recently I started to become curious about him to try to find out what had made him become like this, cause I prefer villains to have some complexity that goes beyond just "He's evil just because".

Rest of the analysis under the cut.

My main theory of why I think Rendon became "evil" is cause he may have suffered brain damage due to his injuries while fighting against Orlais with Maric and his rebels. My first thought for this came cause historically, Henry the 8th of England suffered several brain injuries during sporting events, and its believed that his injuries led to him having a severe personality change, which led to him become more radical, tyrannical and murderous.

After the death of his father and the Howe family joining the rebellion, Rendon joined Maric's forces and became close friends with Bryce Cousland, future Teyrn of Highever, and Leonas Bryland, future Arl of South Reach. The 3 of them fought together in the Battle of White River, which was the worse defeat the rebels suffered in the war against Orlais, and only 50 of the initial thousand soldier strong fereldan army survived.

Rendon was very badly injured during the battle, and Bryce and Leonas had to dragged him away to safety as the rebel army was crushed by the orlesians. Bryce was injured in the arm while trying to save Rendon from a chevalier. They got Rendon to Redcliffe and stayed with him for a month while he recovered before leaving to rejoin Maric and the rest of the rebel forces. While Rendon recovered in Redcliffe, he was tended to by Leonas's sister, Eliane, until he eventually recovered months later. He eventually proposed to her and they got married.

And here is the first bit of evidence we get of Rendon's attitude and behaviour completely changing after that battle and his wounds. From the wiki: "Leonas had become concerned by the changes in his friend's behavior since the battle and attempted to prevent the marriage." And some other quotes from Leonas that we get to her in dao: "Rendon Howe was no friend of mine. The boy I knew... died at the Battle of White River" and "That he didn't die years ago is the only thing worth mourning here." Leonas cut all contact with Rendon after he told him that he was only marrying his sister for her dowry and connections.

This goes back to what I mentioned earlier about the one person that seemed to care for Rendon. That person is Bryce Cousland.

Bryce and Eleanor were the only people that attended Rendon and Eliane's wedding, and even though Rendon was treated as a pariah by almost everyone in fereldan nobility, Bryce still maintained a friendly relation with Rendon, and seemed to have an almost protective attitude towards him, which contrasts greatly with how Leonas feels about Rendon. And this is where I came up with another theory about why this is. I believe that Bryce feels personally responsible for the injuries and near death that Rendon suffered during the Battle of White River and feels that he is somehow obligated to look after him. I can only hc why these could be, but maybe Rendon got injured while protecting Bryce, or maybe Bryce's actions during the battle led to Rendon's injuries. Maybe that's why Bryce seems to have keep pushing for the friendship that he once had with him, even though he clearly no longer was the same person. Cause Bryce felt responsible for the way Rendon had turned out.

Its possible that Rendon was just always like this, and those months he spent recovering just made him become super resentful against everything and everyone, but I do believe that the near death injuries he suffered during that battle, including possible head injuries and brain trauma, led to his personality changing and to him becoming the sheer villain we see ingame.

And to finish, a bit of background as to why Rendon would have hated Bryce even despite of this, here's a bit of info about them and about the relation between Highever and Amaranthine.

Rendon's father, Tarleton, supported Orlais during their occupation of Ferelden, and was eventually hanged by the Couslands before the Howes officially joined the rebellion. Adding the fact that Highever was once part of Amaranthine before they rebelled to gain their independence and annexed a good part of southern Amaranthine after winning their independence war, it adds some context to how Rendon could have seen this part of his greater vengeance against the Couslands and Highever for killing his father and taking away land from Amaranthine.

TL,DR: Rendon Howe suffered grieveous injuries during the war against Orlais, including possible brain injuries which may have led to a complete personality shift and to him becoming the person that we see him being in the game.

#dragon age #dragon age meta #dragon age lore #rendon howe #illusivesoulrambles #nathaniel howe #delilah howe #couslands #bryce cousland #eleanor cousland #ferelden #maric theirin #denerim #amaranthine #highever #the landsmeet #dragon age origins #dao #da:o

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roman-cates · 1 year ago

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Roman seems very nervous when he seems to get up the courage to answer. It must have sounded like a threat, then. How the hell else was he supposed to say it?

"… Stay… staying with me at night… Letting me follow you around…" Roman seems to have more to say, but he stops there.

Bryce lets the silence linger for a minute, then raises his brows to invite more, but Roman doesn't say anything, just looks at him nervously.

Fine. He doesn't really want to address Roman following him around. He's not sure how exactly Roman thinks he could stop it, not without crushing him.

Or maybe that's what Roman means about being nice.

"I like staying with you," he answers truthfully instead of worrying about it more. "The part I didn't like was the mattress, and we've fixed that." He doesn't know what else to say without sounding like a dirty old man, interested in things he's definitely not interested in. Well…Maybe one thing. He keeps his eyes locked on Roman's and lowers his voice even more.

"When Jill -- my sister -- when Jill was sick, I used to stay with her overnight in the hospital, on top of the blankets. And later, after I was--When I moved out, I'd come back and stay the night all the time." Whenever their mother was out all night working a double shift, which came and went in bursts. He'd spent entire months of nights at home, only to be back at cheap motels for weeks when their mother got better hours.

Bryce shrugs, sloughing the memories off his shoulders as he does.

"Anyway, I like it. I'll stop if-- when you want," But please don't, "Don't think it's kind or patient, though." He clears his throat a little. "What else?"

Bryce is quiet for a minute, but... maybe he's just thinking..? Bryce raises his eyebrows as if in question and Roman feels his stomach turn. He really doesn't want to list more. Especially not without knowing Bryce's reaction.

"I like staying with you."

Okay. At least that's a little reassuring. What if Roman fucks up somehow and that changes, though..?

"The part I didn't like was the mattress, and we've fixed that."

It still feels like it would have been way easier for Bryce to just make Roman stay alone at night. Well... if the first part is true— if Bryce actually does like staying with Roman— then that at least kind of explains the extra effort to get a different mattress.

Bryce's sister... He said that she was about Roman's age when she died, right..? Is Bryce relating Roman to his sister? That would actually probably explain a lot.

Bryce sort of makes Roman think of Archer, sometimes, too, now that he thinks about it. Archer was always so patient and always spending time with Roman whenever he could. Even though he usually tried to act like he had better things to do. Roman knew even at the time that it was just one of the ways Archer was trying to protect himself, but... he's not sure if that's what Bryce is doing.

"Anyway, I like it. I'll stop if -- when you want."

Except Roman doesn't want him to stop.

"Don't think it's kind or patient, though. What else?"

Roman doesn't hesitate as long this time, a little less nervous now. "I think... Well... I guess this was probably at least partly a convenience thing, but making sure that I could get around on my own... I know you keep... like... not wanting me to think about how much stuff costs— but I really didn't have a lot growing up, just because my family wasn't exactly well off, and I definitely haven't had anything the last two years. I just... That was a lot of CDs. And you know that art budget is crazy, right..? And I just really, really appreciate having things to do. And I know that when you brought me here originally, you also had said that I wasn't really allowed on the sofa unless, like, under certain circumstances or something? But you keep letting me sit with you anyway. And even when I make stupid choices, li-like when I didn't want to take any medication the other day, you don't force me to make a different choice, even though that would probably be... easier for you to deal with." Roman is going too fast to make himself stop, even when it looks like Bryce might interrupt, he just talks faster.

#whump #whump rp #whump roleplay #roleplay #rp #roman cates #bryce stryerson #whumplr reader #whumpee #caretaker

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discotreque · 4 years ago

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Disco 3.09: Terra Firma (Part 1)

That scene of [spoiler] flat on the ground getting just systematically pummeled by [spoiler]—punch after punch after punch after punch—was a perfect metaphor for what the themes this season have been doing to me emotionally. It’s been a pleasant, if occasionally heart-wrenching, surprise to feel something about this show besides “whoa, cool CGI!” or bone-chilling dread—but hopefully Season 4 won’t feel quite so much like it’s being aired directly at me.

So I went zero for two on last week’s predictions in the first goddamn scene, lmao. Turns out the post-TNG combadge on Vor’s early-TNG uniform was just a VFX mixup in the trailer, since he’s seen with the correct oval-backed delta in the actual episode—so that’s neither a meaningful plot element nor a cute inside joke about historical accuracy over the centuries, shame. Still got to see Gersha Phillips’s take on a spandex front-zip, though—that piping! *chef’s kiss*

I also thought Georgiou’s condition was “obviously” something engineered by David Cronenberg’s character (subtitles say his name is Kovich). Apparently he didn’t cause what’s happening to her; he’s just here to explain it. Now if only he’d explain what the fuck is up with his tie...

Speaking of the unfortunate Lt. Cmdr. Yor—he was from the fucking Kelvin timeline??? I wasn’t sure they’d ever acknowledge that in prime canon—and I don’t think the mainline Trek universe has ever been called “the prime universe” diagetically until now, either. (“Why not The Mongooses? That’s a good team name! The Fighting Mongooses.”) I especially love what a small connection it is: one guy crossed over from there, a long time ago, in what was apparently a one-off incident. (He also arrived a year before Lower Decks S1 is set—will we see an animated Vor on the Cerritos next year?)

Tilly: *aggressively eats lunch with you*

You can see how the hope and idealism of Discovery’s crew has softened Admiral Vance—his conversation with Captain Saru was so mentorly and almost tender that it gave me the terrible, terrible feeling that his character growth, and especially his soft “See you when you get back,” mean that he’s definitely going to be killed by Ossyra before they actually get back :(

Likewise, Georgiou’s goodbye scene with Saru and Tilly was a transparent attempt to manipulate my emotions, and guess what? I was successfully manipulated 😭😭😭

As a “computer person” myself, I found Adira forgetting to un-pause their descrambling program—then thinking, since it wasn’t running, it had broken—almost painfully relatable 😩 Also in that scene, Stamets sticks up for Gray’s presumable intentions in (sorry for this...) ghosting Adira (...it was right there!), and Adira says, correctly, “but he doesn’t get to decide what’s good for me”—and speaking of painfully relatable moments, I loved Stamets’s reaction there.

When you’re an adult of a certain age and you’re talking to someone a fair bit younger, you’re sometimes confronted with the uncomfortable reality that wisdom rarely comes from quantity of experience alone. To grow wise, you have to experience things that teach you important lessons, and you have to be willing to learn from those things. That can happen at 16 or 46, and realizing it’s more about luck than time when you’re closer to 46 than 16 can give you a little existential vertigo. It’s a lovely grace note in Stamets and Adira’s relationship (and Anthony and Blu’s performances!) that Paul doesn’t always have the high ground when it comes to emotional intelligence.

SPEAKING OF PERFORMANCES, just drive a truck full of Emmy statues up to the Martin-Green household and dump it out on the lawn. Every one of Prime Michael’s pangs of hurt and confusion and desperate affection for Phillipa comes through loud and clear—and Mirror Michael is just unhinged. Sonequa Martin-Green is one of the greatest acting talents any Star Trek production has ever had, she’s clearly having the time of her life sinking her teeth into this role, and it’s a genuine fucking privilege to watch her work every week. I can’t decide whether I want Evil Michael Burnham to have a SUPERLATIVELY AWESOME death scene or show up again down the line as a recurring villain—but this is Star Trek, so you never know, we could easily get both.

David Ajada shows up to collect a paycheque, ask Saru if there’s room in the A-plot yet for Book (not this week, sadly), and walk around looking like the goddamn Wikipedia entry for "compulsory heterosexuality" in yet another long black sweater from H&M’s 2019 "Gender? I don’t know her" collection. (Face it: there’s no man more attractive than a fictional one written by a lesbian.)

I guessed last week (privately; no points) that the barren planet we saw them on in the trailers was going to have some kind of Guardian of Forever situation, but I didn’t expect Paul Guilfoyle to be there, and I did not expect Carl—who, sort of like how Book has a Star Wars vibe, feels right out of Doctor Who.

(The only other headline in Carl’s newspaper that I could make out, by the way, besides the big one about the emperor, was about the USS Jenolan having gone missing—the ship that crashed into the Dyson Sphere with Scotty in its transporter buffer, as seen in TNG’s “Relics.” Easter egg? Or plot point???)

Michelle Yeoh has been so great in so many ways on this show, but she outdoes herself in this episode, in every single scene. Just like Michael Burnham, Georgiou was conceived as a one-season character—she wasn’t designed to have room to grow—and Season 2 didn’t really do anything to write her out of that corner. Season 3, though, has done a really compelling job of giving her interesting things to do and interesting ways to change.

And sending her back to the motherfucking Mirror Universe is possibly the most interesting way to show just how much she has changed, holy shit. (I guess Carl didn’t read about the Interdimensional Displacement Restrictions in that newspaper of his.)

There are two legitimate reasons for sending characters to an AU with extremely out-of-character doppelgangers: to highlight something about our regulars through contrast, and/or to let the actors vamp. The MU arc in Season 1 was grim and almost entirely joyless, and didn’t really shine a light on anything in the prime universe—it was just a generic escalation of stakes for our heroes. The Klingon War was the frying pan, and the MU was the fire.

This time we actually learn things about these people: Georgiou, of course, but also that the “real” Captain Killy has a lot more of Prime Tilly’s trademark nervous disposition than Prime Tilly pretending to be Captain Killy. (Too bad Killy’s destined to get blown up by Klingons with the ISS Disco in the Prime Universe.) It was also a ton of fun to see Rhys and Owo as deadly rivals, Rekha Sharma as Evil(...er?) Landry again, and Bryce throwing knives in the mess hall—at, please correct me if I’m wrong, a brunette Hannah Cheeseman as an un-augmented Airiam?????

Also, I don’t know why they got Mirror Stamets of all people (inventor of the evil spore drive—not, as far as we know, also an evil slam poet) for that dramatic recital at the evil ribbon dance, except I know exactly why: he’s played by Anthony Rapp, who’s a goddamn treasure. And Georgiou changed the timeline here—Mirror Stamets was still alive to get phasered by Mirror Lorca in S1—but I hope we come back to the MU in Season 5 and Stamets is somehow, inexplicably, still around—only to get killed in a hilariously blasé way again, because—again—he genuinely sucks at like, the logistics of betraying people.

Finally, those adorable little DOT-7 drones... but make them eeeeeeeevil.

Next week: We must leave behind all of that which destroys us. A mood for 2021 if ever I’ve heard one. (Plus, Mirror Saru grabs a dude—either Mirror Culber or someone else in medical red—and bodyslams said dude into the ceiling, which... is also a mood for 2021, tbh.)

#star trek discovery #star trek discovery spoilers #disco spoilers #amy's episode notes #terra firma #michael burnham #sonequa martin green

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childotkw · 4 years ago

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16 & 8 for the writer thing ❤️

8. Which character(s) do you find easiest to write?

Harry is the obvious choice - but more specifically, I think I find it easier to write characters that have some kind of trauma in the past - not because I can relate, because I can’t - but because I find the exploration of their thoughts and emotions fascinating, so I tend to put a lot of effort into getting them right, and over time it has gotten easier for me to map out things like reactions. Almost all of my characters in my original stories have something in their past that weighs heavily on their soul.

16. Any guilty pleasure trope(s)?

Hmm. Idk? I’ve read a lot of weird stuff over the years 😂. I don’t feel guilt about reading things anymore lol. I suppose A/B/O and all the involved elements of those stories. I do like de-ageing stories when it’s handled well. I’ve read a few interesting pornstar AUs as well. I’m all over the place tbh.

34. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of.

Unconscious and maskless, he looked like any other young man. His hair was longer than she would have thought, mussed and falling around his face in dark waves. Ignoring the black paint he had smeared around his eyes, Crane somehow managed to look innocuous; just another survivor of this war-torn Gotham.

He looked nothing like Jerome. Nothing like Jeremiah. And Bryce didn’t know what she’d been expecting but it wasn’t this.

Clenching her jaw, she pushed those – damning, dangerous, unwanted – thoughts to the corner of her mind and tentatively brought her hands to Crane’s head. She wound her finger through his soft hair, searching for any injuries she might have missed in the darkness. His head lolled forward as she felt around, chin coming to rest on his chest, his forehead almost touching her shoulder they were that close.

She brushed over a bump at the back of his skull and Crane twitched. He let out a low, rasping noise, leaning away from her questing fingers and pressing into her shoulder – and Bryce froze.

Crane shifted himself, his legs pulling closer, and they might have unbalanced her from her precarious perch if there was any intent behind his movements. But Crane settled almost immediately, the aborted jerks of his limbs fading into nothing as he slumped more into her, face pressing hard into the thick padding of her jacket.

After a few tense moments, Crane started to pull away and Bryce released the breath she had been holding. His eyes were half-lidded and dazed, but even with the poor lighting she could see that they were a bright blue.

Crane stared at her, a slight frown creasing his brow, confused and disorientated. But as the seconds stretched on, Bryce could see the way those eyes seemed to sharpen, awareness crackling to life in them. Again, Crane’s body shifted, but this time there was a purpose to it – testing his limits, pushing the boundaries – and the chains of the handcuffs chimed merrily in the heavy silence between them.

Crane’s tongue darted out across his bottom lip, a quick flash of pink that left a faint shimmer behind, and when he spoke his voice was hoarse. “Well, can’t say I’ve ever woken up like this before.” He dropped back against the wall, raising his hands pointedly, and his smile was unexpected and crooked. “Looks like you got me. I have to say, baby, you’re an upgrade from the usual.”

#tsume-yuki #anonymous #ask game

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dailybestiary · 6 years ago

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Patch Has Issues: Dungeon #2

Issue: Dungeon #2

Date: November/December 1986 (Pretty sure my Christmas haul that year was full of dope toys from The Transformers movie/show.)

The Cover:

(Use of cover for review purposes only and should not be taken as a challenge to status. Credit and copyright remain with their respective holders.)

Ah, Clyde Caldwell. He, Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, and last issue’s Keith Parkinson were the mainstays of TSR’s amazing stable of artists. I have a soft spot for Caldwell. He did the covers for the D&D Gazetteer series, which means his work emblazoned some of my absolute favorite books from my middle school years. (At the time I had the whole series except the two island books, GAZ 4 & GAZ 9 (which I’ve since collected), plus the Dawn of the Emperors box set. My favorites, for the record, were GAZ 3, 5, 10, and 13. I...may like elves...a little too much.) And even as I sit here, other covers demand to be named. The very first Dragonlance adventure, the iconic Dragons of Despair? The Finder’s Stone trilogy? The first Ravenloft box? Dragon #147? Yep, he did those covers too. He was amazing.

But hoo-boy, we also have to talk about the not-amazing parts. Once Caldwell settled on a way of doing things, that’s how he did them. Points for consistency, but man, he had tropes. Even his tropes had tropes. He had a way of painting dragon’s wings. He had a way of painting swords and boots. He had a way of painting jewelry, and belts and coins—ovals upon ovals upon ovals.

And his way of painting women was with as few clothes as possible. Everything I said about Parkinson last entry? Yeah, that goes double for Caldwell. He never paints pants when a thong will do. His take on the reserved and regal Goldmoon—thighs as long as a dwarf and bronzed buttcheeks exposed—reportedly left Margaret Weis in tears. Magic-users (God, I hate that term) famously couldn’t use armor in D&D and AD&D, but Caldwell’s sorceresses pretty much stick to gauze just to be safe. And the Finder’s Stone trilogy I mentioned above? Yeah, the authors of Azure Bonds took one look at Caldwell’s cover art and literally had to come up with in-text reasons why the heroine Alias—one of the most surly woman sellswords in existence—would wear armor with a Caldwell boob hole.

Don’t get me wrong, I love cheesecake as much as the next dude. (Actually that’s not true; I came up in the grunge ’90s—our version of cheesecake was an Olympia brunette in three layers of thrift store sweaters reading Sandman while eating a cheesecake. Hell, that’s still my jam.) But context matters. The sorceress from “White Magic,” Dragon #147’s cover, may barely be wearing a negligee, but she’s also in the seat of her power and probably magically warded to the hilt—she can wear whatever she damn wants; it’s her tower. So no complaints there. But this cover’s pirate queen Porky Piggin’ it seems like an unwise choice. (The friction burns alone from clambering around the rigging…)

It’s clear from reading The Art of the Dragonlance Saga that TSR was trying to turn the ship around when it came to portrayals of women in fantasy, however slowly. And in Caldwell’s defense and to his credit, he definitely delivered women with agency—in nearly every image, they are nearly always doing something active and essential. They just tend to be doing it half-dressed.

Which is all a way of saying I dig this cover—the explosion, the churning sea (even if it does more look like snow drifts than waves), the sailors all running to the rail to look—but yeah, that pirate captain needs to put on some damn pants.

The Adventures: Before we get started, I have to note that though we’re only an issue in, already the magazine feels more noticeably like the work of editor Roger Moore. This is 100% a guess, but it really feels to me like Dungeon #1 was made of adventures that the Dragon office already had laying around, whereas Dungeon #2 was composed of adventures that Roger Moore and the new Dungeon team had more of a hand in sifting through. (He also has an assistant editor this time in Robin Jenkins, which had to have helped.) Even the cartography looks better. Again, I have zero confirmation of this, but the feeling is strong.

“The Titan’s Dream” by W. Todo Todorsky, AD&D, Levels 5–9

PCs visiting an oracle accidentally walk right into a titan’s dream and must solve some conundrums to escape. What an awesome concept this is! (Spoilers for “Best Concept” section below.) It’s a shame I don’t like this more.

First of all, dreamworld adventures are really hard to do well. And for them to work, there usually need to be real stakes—and not just “If you die in the dream, you die in real life!”—and/or a real connection to the PCs in your campaign. The latter, especially, is really hard to pull off in a published adventure; typically it’s only achieved through tactics that critics deride as railroading. (For instance, @wesschneider’s excellent In Search of Sanity does a great job of connecting the characters to their dream adventures...but it does that by a) forging the connection at 1st level, and b) pretty strongly dictating how the adventure begins and how the characters are affiliated. It works, but that’s high-wire-act adventure writing.)

Being a magazine adventure, “The Titan’s Dream” doesn’t have that luxury—it’s got to be for a general audience and work for most campaigns. That unfortunately means the default “Why” of the adventure—a lord with a child, a wedding, and an alliance at stake hires the PCs to chat with a wise titan—is little more than that: a default.

On top of that...I cannot get excited about anything Greek mythology-related. To me, just the fact I’m seeing it is a red flag.

Look, Greek mythology is why I got into this hobby. Hell, it’s why I got into fiction, period. (For some reason I somehow decided I had no use for fiction books targeted to my age, with the exception of Beverly Cleary. Then in 4th(?) grade, I got a copy of Alice Low’s Greek Gods and Heroes, and the rest is history.) But Greek mythology is often the only mythology anyone knows. When people think polytheism, that’s where most people’s minds go. Which is why, if you ever played D&D in the ’80s, I pretty much guarantee your first deity was from that pantheon. (In my first game, my first-level cleric pretty much met Ares and got bitch-slapped by him, because that’s what 4th-grade DMs do.)

So to me, putting Greek deities or titans in your adventure is the equivalent of putting dudes riding sandworms into your desert adventures—you can do it, but you better blow me away, because that is ground so well trod it’s mud. And this one doesn’t do the job.

The format is three dreams, each with five scenes. Parties will move randomly—a mechanic meant to represent dream logic (or lack thereof)—through these scenes, until all the scenes from one dream have been resolved. This is actually kind of fascinating, and I wonder how it would play at the table—I have a feeling observant players will dig it, but others may find the mechanism’s charm wears off quickly, especially if they have difficulty solving the scenes or get frustrated with the achronicity of events. I also like that every scene has a number of possible resolutions, so the PCs aren’t locked into achieving a single specific objective like they were stuck in a computer game.

But...I can’t shake the feeling of weak planning and execution (or even laziness?) that stayed with me throughout the adventure. Like, okay, the first adventure is a cyclops encounter out of the Odyssey. Cool! But then...why does the Titan follow it up with pseudo-Norse/Arthurian encounter? Did the Odyssey not hold the author’s attention? (Nor the Iliad, the Aeneid, or Metamorphosis? Really?) And then why is the third dream “drawn from the realm of pure fairy tale”? Like, were you out of pantheons? Horus didn’t return your calls? Or be more specific—why not German fairy tales, or Danish, or French Court, or Elizabethan? It feels like a class project where one group was on point, one group got the assignment a little wrong, and one didn’t even try.

Again, it’s not even that this adventure is bad—I honestly can’t tell if it is or not; I’m sure a lot of its success is determined at the table. And I could totally see throwing this at a party if I was out of inspiration that week or we needed a low-stakes breather before our next big arc. But the instant I think about it for more than a second, it all falls apart for me.

Have any of you tried this one? Let me know what you thought. And for a similar exploration into dream logic/fairy tale scenarios, I recommend Crystal Frasier’s The Harrowing for Pathfinder.

“In The Dwarven King’s Court” by Willie Walsh, AD&D, Levels 3–5

Willie Walsh is a name we’re going to see a lot more in issues to come—he’s a legendarily prolific Dungeon contributor, delivering quality, typically low-level, and often light-hearted or humorous adventurers issue after issue after issue. His first entry is a mystery with a time limit: A dwarf king is supposed to make a gift of a ceremonial sword to seal a treaty, but the sword has vanished. Brought to the king’s court courtesy of a dream, adventurers must find the sword and the surprising identity of the culprit before the rival power’s delegation arrives.

At first I was going to ding this adventure for its “What, even more dreams this issue?” hook...but here’s the thing with Walsh—never judge his modules until you reach the final page. Nearly every time I’m tempted to dismiss one of his sillier or more random adventure elements, it turns out that it makes sense and works just fine. In this case, the cause of the dream is haunt connected to the mystery, and I feel dumb for being all judgy.

So anyway, the PCs are given leave to search for the stolen object and the thief, but of course it turns out there is a whole lot of light-fingeredness going around. As Bryce (see below) puts it, “It’s like a Poirot mystery: everyone has something to hide.” This castle has as much upstairs-downstairs drama as any British farce, with nearly every NPC having either a fun personality and/or a fun secret (and with the major players illustrated by some equally fun portraits) that should make them memorable friends and foils for PCs to interact with. Not to mention the actual culprit is definitely a twist that will be hard explaining to the king...

GMs should be ready to adjust on the fly, though—a) it’s a lot of characters to juggle, and b) since the PCs are 3rd–5th level, the right spells or some lucky secret door searches could prematurely end the adventure as written. You may want to have some last-minute showdowns, betrayals, or other political intrigue outlined and in your back pocket if what’s on the page resolves too quickly.

Overall though, I’m a big fan of this adventure, and look forward to the rest of Walsh’s output. Also, given the dwarven focus and the geography of the land, this adventure could be a very nice sequel to last issue’s “Assault on Eddistone Point.”

“Caermor” by Nigel D. Findley, AD&D, Levels 2–4

Look at this author’s list of writing credits! Findley was amazingly prolific, and his work was pretty high-quality across the board, as far as I know. I particularly loved the original Draconomicon, one of the first and only 2e AD&D books I ever bought as a kid. I also loved his “Ecology of the Gibbering Mouther” from the excellent Dragon #160, and some of his Spelljammer supplements are currently sitting upstairs in my to-read pile, recently purchased but as yet shamefully untouched.

Now look at his age at the time of his death. Life is not always fair or kind.

(Speaking of unkind, man is the bio in this issue unfortunate in retrospect: “[H]e write for DRAGON® Magazine, enjoys windsurfing, plays in a jazz band, and manages a computer software company in the little time he has left.” As Archer would say, “Phrasing!”)

Anyway, this adventure is simple: An otherworldly force has been murdering the locals. The locals have pinned the blame on a handsome bard from out of town, and their own prejudices and general obstinacy are sure to get in the way of the investigation—that is, if the true culprits, some devil-worshipping culprits and and an abishai devil, don’t get in the way first.

All in all, this is a tight, well-written adventure, so I don’t have much to say about it, other than that if you like the idea of sending your party to help out some young lovers and save some faux-Scots/Yorkshiremen too stubborn to save themselves (and maybe slip in a valuable lesson about prejudice and xenophobia as well), this is the adventure for you.

One thing that does jump out to a contemporary reader, though, is the comically overpowered nature of the baddie pulling the strings in this adventure: Baalphegor, Princess of Hell (emphasis mine). Overpowered, you-won’t-really-fight-this-NPC happens with a lot of low-level adventures, when the writers want a story more epic than characters at the table can handle or are trying to plot the seeds for future evils. But still, any princess of Hell would already be a bit much...but an 18-Hit Dice, “supra-genius”, the Princess of Hell? Like, what the f—er, I mean, Hell?

If you use the adventure as written, the only way to have Baalphegor’s presence make sense is to eventually reveal that the area is an epicenter of some major badness. (Maybe that explains the lost nation of evil dwarves in the adventure background.) For a good model on how to seed early adventures in this matter, Dungeon’s Age of Worms Adventure Path and Pathfinder Adventure Path’s Rise of the Runelords AP, both from Paizo, are exemplars of small-town disturbances that eventually have world-shaking implications.

It’s also fascinating in retrospect to note Ed Greenwood’s massive impact in the hobby. Any article that appears in Dragon has the sheen of being at least semi-official, but it’s clear that Greenwood’s content was a cut above even that. In this case, an NPC from a three-year-old article of his is not just treated as canon, but also supplies the mastermind behind the adventure! It’s no surprise that in the following year his home campaign, the Forgotten Realms, would soon become AD&D’s newest and then its default setting.

Two final thoughts: 1) There’s some fascinating anti-dwarf prejudice in this article. Nearly every mention of dwarves paints them as exceptionally greedy and/or villains. And 2) how did one even begin to balance adventures in those days? This adventure is for “4–8 characters of 2nd–4th level.” There are a lot of difference at the extreme ends of those power scales…

“The Keep at Koralgesh,” by Robert Giacomozzi & Jonathan Simmons, D&D, Levels 1–3

One of the problems of BECMI D&D being known as “basic D&D” is that writers often assumed the players to be basic (that is, younger/new) as well. Which probably accounts for some of the early suggestions to the DM we get at the beginning of this adventure—like some pretty patronizing advice along the lines of not immediately announcing to PCs what the pluses are on their magical swords.

Fortunately, after that the article settles down and gives us Dungeon’s first real D&D adventure. In fact, not just real, but massive: 20 full pages of content—nearly half the issue! It’s a fully fledged dungeon crawl that has the PCs taking advantage of the summer solstice to open a shrine door that will lead them inside a long-ruined keep said to hold great treasure.

Now, I imagine in the coming installments it’s going to seem to many of you like I’m grading D&D adventures on a curve, because of my love for the system and the Known World/Mystara. That’s a fair accusation, but a better way to consider it is that I’m reviewing D&D adventures for what they are—adventures from a separate system, with a more limited rules system and palette of options than AD&D. You don’t go to a performance of Balinese shadow puppetry and compare it against Andrew Lloyd Webber; you look at it for what it achieves in its own medium. Since they appear side-by-side in the same magazine, comparison is going to be inevitable, but that’s with the understanding that AD&D was the kid coloring with the 64-crayon box of Crayola, while D&D was getting by with just eight.

On its own terms then, “The Keep of Korgalesh” is a decent, if not superlative, success. I love that it’s practically module-length and that we get three complete levels—a far cry from the previous issue’s side-trek-at-best, “The Elven Home.” We also get two new monsters, which absolutely fills my inner BECMI D&D player with glee. And I like that what starts as a dungeon crawl/fetch quest evolves into a “kill the big bad thing” and “find out what really happened to this city.”

There are issues, though. If the whole city was destroyed, getting to see some of it besides the keep would have been nice. Some of the ecology for the dungeon inhabitants is questionable. There pretty much wasn’t a single pool or fountain in this era of D&D adventure design that wasn’t magical, and this adventure was no exception. One of the new monster’s names makes no sense except that “tyranna” and “abyss” are cool words (I mean, I guess you could read that as “tyrant of the depths,” but still…) And there are painfully obvious borrowings from other works, especially Tolkien—a door that only opens at solstice, a lake monster, an orc with a split personality that is clearly a Gollum homage, etc.

What this adventure really needs is stakes—just something to give it a bit more oomph beyond the dungeon crawl. (Finding a blacksmith’s lost hammer is the hook offered in the adventure but it’s pretty flimsy.) Perhaps the PCs are some of Kor’s last worshippers, and clearing out the dangers here and resanctifying his temple is one of their first steps toward returning him to prominence. Maybe the PCs’ grandparents were involved in the city’s demise and restoring Koralgesh will restore the families’ honor. Or you could keep it simple and have a band of pirates or a rival adventuring group also trying to clean out the keep, turning it into a race (with the tyrannabyss causing the scales of fate to wobble at appropriately cinematic moments).

So the final analysis is this is a decent dungeon crawl upon which you can build a good adventure. The real reward of this module isn’t treasure; it’s finding out just what happened to Koralgesh. But for that to matter, it needs to tie into the PCs’ pasts, futures, or both.

BONUS CONTENT FOR KNOWN WORLD/MYSTARA NERDS: Kor is almost certainly a local name for the sun god Ixion. The chaotic deity Tram is probably a local version of Alphaks, though Atzanteotl is another strong candidate, especially since deceit was key to the pirates’ success. Koralgesh could be located somewhere on the Isle of Dawn, the northern coast of Davania, or an Ierendi/Minrothad Isle that those nations haven’t made it a priority to rebuild.

Best Read: “Caermor.” Nigel D. Findley was a pro.

Best Adventure I Could Actually Run with Minimal Prep: “The Keep at Koralgesh,” as a well-written, straight-ahead dungeon crawl. Every other adventure here relies on a pretty strong handle of very mobile NPCs and their motivations, or a Titan’s dream mechanics.

Best Concept: “The Titan’s Dream,” as noted above. It’s a great idea very worth exploring, even if I wasn’t about the execution we got in this case.

Best Monster: This was actually a monster-light issue. Despite some awesome art for the tyrannabyss, I have to go with the epadrazzil, a scaly ape from a two-dimensional plane of existence that has to be summoned via a painting. All of those details are just so wonderfully and weirdly specific it has to win. (Extra points for anyone who noticed the thoul—a classic D&D monster (though it did make its way into AD&D’s Mystara setting) born from a typo.)

Best NPC: Since this is a role-playing-heavy issue, there are a bunch of contenders, and the final verdict will go to whoever your party sparks to at the table. Obviously King Baradon the Wise should get the nod for [spoiler-y reasons], but I also really like the opportunity the executioner Tarfa offers, thanks to his incriminating goblet and how it might bring the PCs to the attention of a far-off assassin’s guild at just the right level.

Best Map: All together the maps from “The Keep at Koralgesh” form an extremely appealing whole. But for best single map I have to go for the palace of Mount Diadem—that is a bangin’ dwarven demesne.

Best Thing Worth Stealing: Jim Holloway’s illustrations of dwarves. Good dwarf, gnome, and halfling art is hard to find, and even the good stuff often leans stereotypical. While Holloway’s art is often humorous—I have a feeling he and Roger Moore jibed really well, though that’s totally a guess based purely on what assignments he got handed—his dwarves, especially in this issue, are fresh, specific, and unique. You could identify them by their silhouettes alone—always the sign of good character art. If you need an image of a dwarf NPC to show the players, “In the Dwarven King’s Court” is a great first stop.

Worst Aged: Female thong pirates on magazine covers. Also using the actual names of actual mental illnesses in game materials.

What Bryce Thinks: “This seems to be a stronger issue than #1, although half of the adventures are … unusual.”

Bryce actually almost likes “The Titan’s Dream,” confirming my loathing of it. He in turn loathes “In the Court of the Dwarven King.” Like me, though, he is pro-”Caermor” and sees potential in “The Keep at Koralgesh.” (Also credit where it’s due: I might have missed the condescension at the start if he hadn’t called it out.)

So, Is It Worth It?: If you’re a Clyde Caldwell fan, this issue might be worth searching out in print. So much of Caldwell’s work from this era was dictated by product needs, cropped and boxed up in ads, or shrunk down to fit on a paperback cover. So to get this cover in full magazine size, with only the masthead tucked up top to get in the way—that could be well worth a few bucks to you.

Also, if you’re BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia-era D&D fan (or know someone who is), again, this one might be worth having in print. “The Keep at Koralgesh” is a legit, proper BECMI D&D adventure, spanning 20 whole pages and with two new monsters to boot. I would have practically have cried if someone had given 7th-grade me this.

Beyond that you can probably just rely on the PDF. But both “Caermor” and “In the Dwarven King’s Court” have strong bones worth putting some modern muscle and skin on.

Random Thoughts:

The Caldwell cover painting was also used for the Blackmoor module DA4 The Duchy of Ten. PS: I’m not trying to tell you what to do or anything, but if you do happen to run across a physical copy of The Duchy of Ten or and of the DA modules, holla at ya boy over here.

Since this is our second issue, we now have a “Letters” column. Turns out Dungeon had been announced in Dragon #111 with a really detailed set of writer’s guidelines; most of the correspondence is questions re: those. In the process of answering, we get some surprisingly frank talk about payment. The $900 for a cover seemed low until I converted it to 2018 dollars, and ~$2,000 does seem right to my ignorant eye. I then made the mistake of converting my current salary to 1986 dollars and felt a lot worse about myself and what I’ve achieved.

Apologies this took so long to post. I had the issue read by early October and most of this review written with the next week or two after...but then I got involved in dealing with a 4.5 week hospitalization and aftermath...and then a second still-ongoing hospitalization...and even though I only had about four paragraphs left I just couldn’t find time to put a bow on it.

Notable Ads: The gold Immortals Rules box for D&D. (I also still don’t have that one yet, and Christmas is coming. Just saying, guys, if you happen to find one in your attic.) ;-) Also an ad for subscribing to Dungeon itself, starring “my war dinosaur, Boo-Boo.” No, really.

Over in Dragon: Beneath a glorious cover, Roger Moore is the new editor of Dragon #115, three authors (including Vince Garcia, who I like a lot) share credit on a massive six articles about fantasy thieves, a famous article proposing that clerics get the weapons of their deity (people were still talking about it in the “Forum” column when I was buying my first issues two years later), and a look at harps from the Forgotten Realms (notable because behind the scenes Ed Greenwood’s home setting was being developed for the AD&D game for launch in 1987.) A photographic cover and a 3-D sailing ship are served up in Dragon #116, along with maritime adventures, more Ed Greenwood (rogue stones), and articles for ELFQUEST, Marvel Super Heroes (Crossfire’s gang), and FASA’s Dr. Who game (looking at all six(!) doctors). (Incidentally, I had an Irish babysitter around this time who first mentioned Dr. Who to me—I wish I’d explored more but I was too young to understand what I’d been offered.)

PS: Yes, I’ve heard about the upcoming Tumblr ban. It is a terrible idea that will affect way too many of my readers. It shouldn’t affect me much (and I have all my monster entries backed up at the original site), but I will keep you posted as I learn more, particularly if I find you, my readers, packing up and going elsewhere.

#daily bestiary #patch has issues #pathfinder #paizo #3.5 #dungeons & dragons #dungeons and dragons #d&d #dnd #ad&d #becmi #dungeon #dungeon magazine

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scottygblogs · 3 years ago

Audio

Many films and TV shows in the industry always touch on many subjects and situations in the world that affect people in many cultures. The culture that is usually touched on in movies and TV shows is youth culture. Youth culture in movies and TV shows is touched on a lot when it comes to serious issues, like drug usage, sexual activities, and criminal activities. Movies like The Breakfast Club, KIDS, Mid90s, and Mean Girls are great examples of films that touch on youth culture. Another example of youth culture in the film industry is the TV show Euphoria. Euphoria is a TV show about a group of teenagers that is dealing with different types of situations inside and outside the school life. Youth culture that is touched on in movies can be relevant to the modern times with these serious issues. Movies and TV shows talk about these kinds of issues to bring awareness to the youth. The movie The Breakfast Club is about a group of teenagers from different cliques that are in detention who find out they have a lot in common. Throughout the movie, they converse with each other and become close to each other as the time progresses and detention rolls down. The movie KIDS is about a group of teenage boys who party, drink, smoke, and deflower virgin women. The upsetting thing is that one of these teenage boys is HIV positive and decides to have sexual intercourse with these virgin women. This movie, as you can tell, touches on STDs, drug usage, and other serious and upsetting topics that would be hard for watchers. Another movie that is a great example of touching on the topic of youth culture is Mean Girls. Mean girls is a movie about female women in high school and the damaging effects of popular cliques and bullying. Mean Girls was written by a woman who was inspired by her own experience in high school. This movie touches on real life and how high schoolers and teenagers are damaged by cliques and popularity. There are many characters in these movies and TV shows that can relate to the viewers and the audience. One character that I feel like I identify with the most is a character from the movie The Breakfast Club. The character that I identify most in that movie is the character, Brian Johnson. Brian Johnson in the movie, The Breakfast Club, is a man who is smart, self-conscious, and a person who sets high expectations for himself. For me, I do not believe that I am smart, but I am self-conscious, and I have high hopes for myself and want to do better for myself. I do not like going against authority, which is a main trait for this character and why he is known as the “brain”.

The themes in these youth culture movies are centered around rebellion, first love, identity, and popularity. One theme that is common between these movies about youth culture is rebellion. Rebellion is something teenagers go through when they grow up. Teenagers are in the growing phase where they start to become more independent and behave more rudely. Many movies and TV shows touch on how teenagers go through the rebellious stage of their lives. Movies like Mean Girls, The Breakfast Club, and the TV show Euphoria are prime examples of how rebellion against authority is a big theme. Rebellion is a theme in Mean Girls because of how the main character, Cady Heron, goes against the leader of the popular clique, Regina George, which is a “death sentence” in that high school. Rebellion is the main theme for the movie The Breakfast club because the whole premise of the movie is a group of teenagers going into detention because of defiance against authority. The story of how a person from different cliques somehow rebelled against authority, which resulted in the student’s getting detention. Throughout the movie, we see how the students from these different cliques were put in detention and told to write an essay for the principal, Richard Vernon, about what they did to deserve detention, but instead ran around the school and caused mischief around the whole school. The TV show euphoria is also a good example of rebellion against authority. One character, Nate Jacobs, is a rebellious teenager against his father and teachers in the school he goes to. From personal experience, I was a rebellious teenager when I was a sophomore to junior grade. I was in detention myself, as well as being in the principal's office many times. As I grew up, I began to realize how being rebellious against the teachers is useless, so I grew up to become more respectful to teachers and my parents. Another theme that is common in these movies is identity. In the movie, The Breakfast Club, the group of students identify themselves as what they are. Even if they are different from one another, they become closer and understand that their experiences are what they want to become later in life. In the movie, Mean Girls, there are many groups and cliques that identify themselves as one thing, and stay together as one group. In the movie Mid90s, the main character, who starts to hang out with a group of teenage skateboarders, understands who he wants to be and identifies himself as a skateboarder, while learning more about life and troubles. I didn't know anything about my Identity in life when I was an adolescent teenager. I was always someone who didn’t think I was anything special. I believed that I had nothing going on in life and I wouldn’t have anything to do with my life. When I started to grow up and went into college, I became more thoughtful with my future and became more into movies, TV, and video games. My identity went from nothing into a nerd who loves pop culture and video games. One more theme that is used in these movies is the theme called love. The movie, The Breakfast Club, had a secondary theme with love by having two love stories happen towards the end of the movie where everyone disbanded after a day from detention. The movie, Mean Girls, had the main character Cady Heron, falling in love with the man that is dating the most popular girl in North Shore high school. The TV show, Euphoria, had many themes in that show, but one was love. Love was involved in the show by having the main character, Rue, fall in love with a transgender woman who is trying to find her purpose.

The soundtrack in movies and tv shows are important because it emphasizes the themes of the movies and cues specific traits for certain characters. The soundtrack in movies and Tv shows are supposed to capture the emotions and tone for scenes. I made a playlist that defines my current life, as well as my adolescent life. One song, Don’t Worry by Madcon, means a lot to my adolescent self because this song helped me go through difficult circumstances and go through the day. Another song, Sour Patch Kids by Bryce Vine, always brought me back to when I was a little boy, and I had no worries in the world. Another song, Young, Dumb, And Broke by Khalid, was showing me how being dumb and broke was the price of being young, so I shouldn’t have to worry about that until college. Another song, The Show Goes on by Lupe Fiasco, was my favorite song when I was a child. I always listened to it every day on my dad’s computer and still listen to it to this day. Another song, Gold by Macklemore, is a song that talks about what he wants his world to be, which I relate to because his ideas of a good world would be mine too. Power by Kanye West was the first song I was introduced to him, because I was playing one of my favorite games of all time when I was a teenager, Saints Row the Third. Peach Scone by Hobo Johnson was a song that I can relate to when I was in high school because I was sadly one of those guys that usually fell in love with a woman when she had a boyfriend at the time. Lady, hear me tonight by Modjo is the party song for me and my friends in high school. Every time we are together in a car, or at any of our houses, we play that song all the time. Congratulations by Post Malone is the song that was used when I graduated from high school. That song is the best song to use for graduation. The last song that means a lot to me and my adolescence is the song Mama Said by Lukas Graham. The song, Mama Said by Lukas Graham, means a lot to me because my mom is my best friend. She has always been there for me through the tough times. I am grateful for her being there for me and I hope I can make her proud when I get older.

Bibliography

“Identity.” The Breakfast Club : A Coming of Age Story, comingofage-thebreakfastclub.weebly.com/identity.html.

“Rebellion and Defiance - the Breakfast Club.” Google Sites, sites.google.com/site/thebreakfastclubproject635/themes/rebellion-and-defiance.

Vaux, Robert. “What Is the Purpose of a Movie Soundtrack?” Our Pastimes, 5 Feb. 2019, ourpastimes.com/what-is-the-purpose-of-a-movie-soundtrack-12245947.html.

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13rwbabes · 8 years ago

Text

Montgomery x Reader Imagine (Part 1/?)

So on my other blog I asked if someone would like series imagine when Montgomery is fwb with reader and because I got over 70 notes at the moment and felt like a rockstar I decided to start a new blog for this and for everything related to 13 reasons why. NOTE:TWO IMPORTANT THINGS: 1. It’s going to be a series, so they haven’t gotten really close yet. 2. English is not my first language, I’m sorry for any grammar mistakes or something, if you spot any, feel free to let me know :) *** It was last Friday before school started again and Bryce decided to throw his typical huge pool party. You didn’t really feel like coming but Sheri called you about 50 times in last two days asking you to come and you finally gave up. “Mom, I’m leaving! See you tomorrow!”, you shouted leaving the house. Your parents let you stay at Sheri’s place so you didn’t have to worry about coming home and still being a little buzzed. “Bye honey, have a nice time!”, you heard your mom when you were closing the door. Jeff, you best friend, was already here, waiting for you in his car. “Jeez, I always have to wait for you”, he said when you got in. “It’s nice to see you too, Jeffrey”, you ignored his moaning. “Don’t make me wait for you after the party, or I will leave you there", he threatened, but you knew it was a joke. You have known each other since you were 5 years old, he’s for you like a brother and he treats keeping Bryce away from you as his full time job. “I’m staying at Sheri’s place so you don’t have to wait, don’t worry”, you smiled at him. “Someone’s gonna get wasted today, huh?” “I don’t know yet, Sheri made me go", I shrugged my arms. Fifteen minutes lates we were at Bryce’s place, Jeff stopped the car and you went at the back of the house. “Yooo, Jeff, Y/N!”, Justin Foley was the first one to notice you two. “Hi Justin”, you answered looking for Sheri. “Hey, you”, suddenly she jumped on you from behind. “ You got everything?” “Yep, ready for sleepover”, you smiled. “ Great!”, she clapped. “Where’s your bathing suit? Get changed and lets go to the pool” “It’s already on me”, you let her look under your t-shirt dress. “What do you have there, I wanna see too”, you hear Montgomery as he comes to you and Sheri and he puts his arms around your and her shoulders. “You’re funny man, Monty, really funny”, you clapped his chest, and go with Sheri to put your stuff next to hers. “I think he has a thing for you”, she said. “Who, Monty?”, you laughed. “Come on, he has a thing for anything that moves”. Suddenly someone grabbed you around the waist and throwed you into the pool. “What the fuck?!”, you screamed when you resurfaced out of the water and saw who throwed you in. “Zach, you know I can’t swim”. “Yeah, that’s why Justin waits right there, to grab you if there was a need”. You turned around and saw Justin standing behind you. “ Great, but couldn’t you wait until I take my dress off?”, you asked. “Come on, we’ll grab some drinks, you’ll hang your dress on chair, it will be dry in less than hour”, Sheri gave you her hand and helped you get out of the pool. You are a simple girl, you see vodka, you mix it with cola and so you did this time. You took of your dress and suddenly Monty showed up out of nowhere. “I will wait in the pool”, Sheri mumbled and went to the pool as fast as glass full of drink let her. “Lookin’ good, Y/N”, he said as he eyed you up and down. You took a straw, put it in the glass, turned towards him, put it in your mouth and took a sip looking straight in his face while he stared at your lips probably imagining the straw was his dick. Fucking horny bastard , you thought to yourself. “In your dreams, Montgomery, in your dreams”, you walked past him. “We’ll see”, he whispered. You went to the pool and sat next to Sheri. “Hi, guys”, Jessica swam to you. “What did you said to Monty, he stares at you all the time”, she asked. “I told you”, Sheri punched your arm. “And I told you”, you punched her too, “that he stares at anything that moves”. “Well, yeah, it’s Montgomery, but…”, Jess took a break to take a sip of her drink, “there are bunch of hot girls in bathing suit today and he stares ONLY at you”. “Probably because I’m one of very few left that didn’t make out with him”. “You know, that if you do it some time, we won’t judge you”. “Okay, I will make it clear”, you put your glass at the edge of the pool. “I admit, he’s fucking handsome and… I mean… Look at those abs. But other than that he’s so fucking stupid, typical arrogant jock, hot head that is first to fight” “Alright then”, Sheri smiled. All three of you are in the cheerleaders team so you spend some time talking about new routines and moves you could incorporate. “Ladies”, Justin and Jeff came up to you, “ We need two of you to play a round of beer pong with us”. “You drink, Atkins?”, you asked. “No, I’m just gonna throw the ball, someone else is gonna do the drinking part” It was obvious Jess is gonna play with Justin and because Sheri wasnt really into drinking games you had to play with Jeff. “I just finished my drink, so I’m in, just bring me my dress” you pointed it as you didn’t want to walk past bunch od jockes wearing only bathing suit. “Yes, ma'am”, he went to grab it and you slowly got out of the water. You and Jess both were terrible at beer pong, so the game lasted ages and more and more people were gathering around the table waiting for their turn. You throw a ball and missed again. “ Oh fuck me, Y/L/N”, Monty rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t handle this, babe”, you answered and everyone giggled waiting for him to response. Justin giggled so much he missed the shot while Jessica and Sheri stand speechless with their mouths open. “Alright”, he said with a halfsmile. *** Few hours later it got chillier, so you get in hot tub with few other people. “Guys, I gotta go”, Jeff came over to say bye. “You leaving?” “Yeah, I promised dad to help him in the morning”, he said. “Girls”, he turned to you and Sheri, “if you need a ride home just call me.” “My dad will pick us up, but thank you”, Sheri said. “Okay, see you on Monday” “Bye, Jeff”, you waved at him. Some time later Sheri went to help other girl get to the bathroom, cause she felt sick and Justin and Jessica left too after you told them to get a room when the started heavy make out session. You soon regret it, cause suddenly it was only you and Montgomery. He got into got tub, holding to shots of tequila. “Will you do me this honor?”, he handed you one of the shots. “Whatever”, you rolled your eyes and drank tequila looking him right in the eyes. “So…”, he started with a cocky grin on his face. “It’s just two of us. In a hot tub. Wearing barely anything” “I already said it today, but I will repeat it for you”, you lean a little bit towards him, “this time read my lips. In. Your. Dreams. Monty”. “Oh really?”, he asked still looking at your lips. You felt his hand softly going up and down your back, you could’ve moved away but somehow you didn’t want to. He grabbed your waist, pull you closer and basically attacked you with his lips. And again, you didn’t push him away. Instead, you tucked your fingers into his hair pulling yourself even closer to him. You still hated him as a person, nothing has changed, but there was something about his kisses and his touch, you didn’t know what it was, but you didn’t want it to stop. It made shivers going down your spine. You felt him smiling as he moved his lips to your ear. “Liberty high’s sweetheart also has needs, huh?”, he whispered and started kissing your neck. Alright, Monty came back to being Monty. You felt his abs clenched under your touch. Oh boy, I will fuck you up and you will not like it , you thought. You felt him sucking your collarbone. “No hickeys, Monty”, you slightly moved away. “As you wish”, he pulled you back closer, started kissing you jaw. His hands went from your thighs, to your butt, squized it, went higher up to untie your bra. “Easy boy”, you moved away from him, he couldn’t reach your back anymore so he placed them on your thighs moving closer again. “No, no, no”, you whispered putting your foot on his strategic place and rub it gently. Seeing grin of satisfaction on his face, you slowly came closer, but he wasted no time, grabbed you by your hips, put on his lap and kissed you again. You took his hands and put them on edges of hot tub. “Keep your hands to yourself”, you said looking him in the eyes. Your hands went slowly through his elbows to shoulders and down chest to the abs. You sucked his bottom lip, put tip of finger under his boxers and moved it from hip to hip. You felt him growing under you. “Do I turn you on?”, you asked getting of his lap, placing your hands on the inside of his thighs. “God, you’re so hot”, he whispered. “Y/N!”, you heard Sheri. What a perfect timing. “Yep?”, you asked. She was standing in the entrance and couldn’t see you from there but you still moved as far away from Monty as possible. He looked confused as fuck. “My dad is here, we gotta go”, she shouted. “Okay, I’m coming”. “I’ll bring you a towel, so you can dry yourself”, she went back inside. “What the fuck are you doing?”, Montgomery asked, still confused. “Liberty high’s fuckboy also can get played, huh?”, you whispered into his ear. You left the hot tub. “Get back in here!” “Or what? You gonna chase me around with your boner?” You saw Sheri coming up. “It was fun”, you said louder. “Here”, she gave you a towel. “Thanks”, you started drying yourself. “Boys are inside, they have some weed if you want”. “Thanks, Sheri, I’m good”, de la Cruz tried his best to sound normal. Sheri helped you pick up your stuff, you looked at Montgomery, saw him biting his fist. You put your dress on and grab your stuff. “Good talk, Monty, see you on Monday”, you waved and followed Sheri to the car with a smile of the satisfaction on your face. Let me know what you think, is it okay if I write in second person (is that even second person)? More action and more smut coming soon x

#13 reasons why #13rw #13 reasons why imagine #montgomery de la cruz #monty de la cruz #montgomery de la cruz imagine #monty de la cruz imagine #montgomery de la cruz smut

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takemypulse-feelmyheart · 8 years ago

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A lot of people have strong feelings about 13 Reasons Why. That's fair. It's an intense show. What's unfair to me, though, is declaring that your feelings are the only valid feelings related to it. That your feelings are correct, and other feelings are wrong. That your experiences give you, and you alone, the deciding vote on whether or not the show should have been made. This isn't supposed to be a rant, but if that's what it becomes...so be it.

For context: I am 22 years old. I have attempted suicide three times, once when I was 18 and twice when I was 19. I have been diagnosed with clinical depression, anxiety and PTSD. I live with all three every day, to varying extents each day. Some days are easier than others, some days are harder. But that's life. I have been sexually assaulted three times, and harassed countless more. I told my parents about one of the harassments and one of the assaults, but never reported either. It'd be my word against theirs, and I wouldn't stand a chance of winning that trial.

So let's talk about everything about 13 Reasons Why that has everybody’s knickers in a bunch.

1. Unfiltered depiction of Hannah's suicide.

I had a really hard time watching this scene. But I was warned by the trigger warning at the beginning of the episode. I chose to ignore it. I had to look away a few times, and I lost track of how hard I was crying. It was hell. Watching Hannah end her life was hell, because I understood it all. I remembered that feeling, I remembered those moments, I remembered that pain. It hurts. Slitting your wrists physically hurts. Bleeding out while your body fights to hold on, knowing that your brain and heart are shutting down, hurts. 13 Reasons Why is the first show I've seen that has unapologetically shown viewers those final moments. As the viewer, you don't get to hide from it. You don't get to just see red water in a tub with a hand draped over the side. You don't get to just see a casket. You have to watch it all. You have to experience the hell. You have to see a parent's worst nightmare come true. You have to feel your heart break as Hannah's mother holds what you, she, and the whole world already knows is a lifeless body, while still fighting to believe things will be okay. It is a horrible truth, but it is just that: a truth. Someone has to find the body. Someone has to mop up the overflowing tub. Someone has to wash the bloodstains from the bathroom rug.

Psychologists have said that showing that scene in all its torturous detail can be triggering and unhealthy to people contemplating suicide. Of course it is triggering; we all saw the trigger warning at the beginning of the episode. But what I believe many psychologists are missing is the fact that, even if we haven't seen it with our own two eyes, we already know what exists. People have called the scene a "suicide manual." I've never before seen the step by step process of a person slitting their wrists, but I knew how it was done. I knew how to cut and where to cut. I knew about the bathtub. I know how to hang myself, how to overdose, and where to shoot to kill myself with a single bullet. I know where and how to get a gun. I didn’t have to see it on a Netflix show to know how it's done. It exists in every teenager's everyday world. I understand and acknowledge the research stating that the “risk of additional suicides increases when the story explicitly describes the suicide method, uses dramatic/graphic headlines or images and repeated/extensive coverage sensationalizes or glamorizes a death.” But I can assure you that the conversations it has started, the awareness it has raced, and the pain it has forced you to acknowledge both validates and fully rationalizes its place. If people want to kill themselves, they already know how.

2. Unfiltered depiction of Hannah and Jessica's rapes.

This has received less backlash than the suicide scene, but certainly has not gotten off scot-free. For starters, there's a critical detail I feel like a lot of people are missing in their criticisms of the show: it's rated for mature audiences. Yes, the main characters are high schoolers. But that doesn't necessarily make it a show for young teens. Project X was about a 17th birthday party. 21 Jump Street and Superbad both took place in a high school. Sausage Party was an animated cartoon. South Park features elementary school kids. The age of the characters is in no way a determination of the intended audience.

Now for the content itself. Much like the suicide scene, there is no hiding from the two rapes. Hannah's especially, you have to see it. You are forced to be uncomfortable as you see Hannah essentially give up (sidenote - how incredible was katherine langford in that scene? wow wow wow A+ acting for real). She never explicitly says the word "no," but we all knew it was anything but consensual. Why does that matter? Because in today's world, consent is somehow still a blurred line. People still are somehow fuzzy to the concept that the only true consent is a sober, fully-informed, continual "yes." Silence is not consent, as Hannah showed. She was raped, and we had to watch it knowing there was nothing we could do. We felt just a fraction of Hannah's helplessness, and it didn't feel good. I would argue seeing those two scenes and the rage it brought us against Bryce made them the most important scenes in the show. We should be enraged about rape. We should be enraged that serial rapists walk among us every day because their victims aren't supported enough to report them. We should be enraged that Jessica continued a sort of friendship with Bryce, as so many victims do in an attempt to normalize the rape. 13 Reasons Why was infuriating in that moment, and I'm glad it was.

3. Inaccurate portrayal of depression and oversimplification of bullying as the sole reason for suicide.

Depression is a disease. Getting a common cold is a disease, though far less severe. Sometimes you get a cold that's more sore throat. Sometimes is a dry cough. Sometimes your nose won't stop running for days. Sometimes you get a fever. Sometimes you get multiple symptoms at the same time.

When I was in the worst of my depression, my therapist and I would refer to days as either "down" days or "blah" days. The blah days were my favorites, because I felt nothing. There was no joy, no hope and no true life in me, but I also didn't have to feel anything else. I didn't wake up in tears, and it would only take me an hour or so to get out of bed. I would be able to eat. The down days weren't so great. Some down days wouldn't let me get out of bed. A string of down days in a row sometimes meant I wasn't eating a proper meal for nearly a week. At the worst of the down days, the suicidal thoughts would start creeping in. Enough down days in a row, and rock bottom would rapidly approach. In the midst of all of it, though, I was able to keep my grades up in all my classes. It was the only thing in my life I had a chance of controlling, and I couldn't let that slip away. A friend of mine at a different school was also battling depression. She dropped out of college because she couldn't control it anymore.

Every cold is different. Every case of depression is different. Hell, every day of depression is different. Criticism of an "inaccurate portrayal" of depression makes no sense to me, because there is no single accurate portrayal. Depression isn't a checklist. You won't necessarily have every symptom every day in every situation, if at all. One of the symptoms of depression is physical pain, like headaches or back pain. I never had that. But I was still depressed.

One major criticism of 13RW is that the word "depression" is never mentioned. But did it really need to be? From what I've seen, people in the midst of battling mental health issues don't tend to advertise it. They don't wear signs or t-shirts proclaiming their diseases. Maybe no one ever explicitly said Hannah was depressed, but I question if they really needed to. Her behavior, and how it changed over the course of the 13 episodes showed more than stating it ever could. Depression isn't the sole cause of suicide. It is a contributing factor, just as bullying is, and just as so many other things can be. You don't need to explicitly state it for it to be understood. Bullying wasn't the reason Hannah killed herself: as the title states, there were 13 reasons. You can take her tapes as what they are, putting responsibility on individual people, or you can consider what those people represent.

1: Justin - Humiliation, the first time Hannah has been sexually taken advantage of, and the second wave of loneliness from losing another person she cared about (the first being Kat moving away)

2: Jessica - Loss of trust, loss of control, and a third wave of loneliness from losing another person she cared about

3: Alex - Objectification of Hannah's body, being used as a pawn in someone else's game, fourth wave of loneliness

4: Tyler - Loss of privacy without consent, blackmail, fifth wave of loneliness when Courtney turns her back on Hannah

5: Courtney - Second time intimate relations have been used against Hannah, reminder of losing Justin, further humiliation.

6: Marcus - Third time Hannah has been sexually taken advantage of, and additional loss of trust

7: Zach - Another reinforcement of Hannah's loneliness (emptying Hannah's compliment basket), and the first person who hears Hannah's plea for help, which he throws away.

8: Ryan - Another loss of privacy without consent

9: Sheri - Guilt from hurting other people

10: Clay - Another unanswered cry for help and long-lasting damage from the history of the damning reputation from nonconsensual sexual exploitation

11: Justin, 2.0 - More guilt from hurting others/not being able to protect the ones she loves

12: Bryce - Being physically, sexually and emotionally taken advantage of without consent, exploited vulnerability.

13: Mr. Porter - The most blatant unanswered cry for help.

Hannah's thirteen reasons weren't just bullying, and they weren't just people in her life. The thirteen reasons were a string of humiliation and guilt, constant sexual objectification and exploitation, lack of control in her own life, desperate loneliness, and unanswered cries for help.

4. Reckless dramatization of suicide as a "way out" and overall glorification of death.

This reason has to be the one I understand least. I can't imagine a single person who watched 13 Reasons Why and didn't find at least a part of themselves begging for a different ending, one where Hannah survives. As viewers we wanted so desperately for Hannah to see that things could be okay again, that there were people who loved her, that once people knew the depth of what she was feeling they truly wanted to help. We wanted Hannah to live to see things get better, but she didn't. And she won't. Because she can't. Sure, 13 Reasons Why showed Hannah’s drastic way to stop feeling the pain that was haunting her, but what it showed even more than that was the opportunities she never got. She never got to see that Clay loved her, that her parents were truly broken without her, that Alex couldn't handle life without her, that Jessica truly needed her, or that Zach tried to do right by her. There was no happy ending to 13 Reasons Why, because there is no happy ending to suicide. So yes, they dramatized suicide in a drama show, but I can't imagine anyone seeing the world Hannah left behind as a glorified place.

5. No direct suggestion of how Hannah could have been helped.

I guess the people complaining about this missed the part at the end where the cast of the show give you resources for mental health assistance. Or they missed the entire rest of the show where the lack of simple kindness broke Hannah more and more each day. Maybe there wasn't a 20 minute PSA that gave you a step by step on how to prevent teen suicide, but there was a 13 hour show that gave you a whole lot of ideas.

6. Hannah using suicide as a means of calling for attention, and successfully getting that attention.

Yes, Hannah got a whole lot of attention from committing suicide. But the concept of "attention" is one that seems a little distorted in this argument. The attention Hannah and many other people considering suicide so desperately seek isn't the whole school talking about them. Hannah already had the whole school talking about her when she was alive, and it certainly wasn't helping. The attention many suicidal people seek is help. Support. Knowing someone cares. It's not a cry for popularity, it's a cry for help. Hannah cried for help throughout the show; many people didn't hear her, and those who did hear did nothing about it.

7. Suicide as a way of exacting revenge on those who have hurt you.

While the fundamental concept of this argument makes a little bit of sense - the thirteen tapes certainly did bring pain to those who had brought pain to Hannah - the rate of people who commit individual suicide out of spite or for revenge is notably small. Those who commit suicide for revenge or to bring pain are more often people who will physically hurt others before killing themselves (suicide bombers, school shooters, etc.), which Hannah certainly was not. Her death was not a revenge suicide, nor were the tapes. Her death was her own pain, and the tapes were her extended letter.

8. Promoting the assumption that kindness is all it takes to save lives.

I don't know why this is such a problem. I will gladly admit that it would be delusional to believe that nothing more than kindness is all it takes to end mental health issues. That said, I have never met a person who was truly hurt from too much kindness. We've all heard the stories of people who, because of a single smile or one genuine "hello" from a stranger, decided not to commit suicide that day. Could Clay's love alone have saved Hannah? No, not at all. Hannah needed help far greater than any single person could have provided. But could Zach allowing her to read compliments she was given have given her invaluable hope? Yes. Could Mr. Porter actually listening to Hannah and validating her feelings have given her a sliver of hope that she would get the support she so desperately needed? Absolutely. Could Alex or Jessica checking in with Hannah when she started to show signs of falling apart have helped her get through another day, another week, another month? Perhaps.

So no, kindness alone cannot save lives. But it certainly can help people keep fighting until they get the help they need. And I don't understand why we would ever discourage kindness among teenagers.

Like I said, these are just my thoughts, my understanding, and my response to what I see as excessive and undue criticism of 13 Reasons Why. I'm not saying my opinions are worth any more than yours. You don't have to feel what I felt watching it. You don't have to agree with me. But using your own experiences to decide how someone like me should have felt, should have reacted, should have been triggered, should have been traumatized by, or should have hated 13 Reasons Why is getting really old, really fast. You may be an expert. You may be a victim. You may be a survivor. But you are not me, and you are not everyone. Try considering that before writing off an entire show simply because it didn't sit perfectly with you.

(let me know if i missed any other arguments and i will gladly add them)

#13 reasons why #13rw #spoilers #trigger warning #rant #katherine langford #hannah baker #clay jensen #dylan minnette

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indigovalleyfilm-blog · 8 years ago

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Interview with Margret Bjarnadottir

I discovered the work of multi-disciplinary Magga on Instagram, where else do you find exciting talent the days?

Just by her name, I knew she must be Icelandic. Upon discovering her work, I became mesmerized. I got in touch with Magga to discuss her work and life in Iceland.

Jaclyn Bethany: Where are you from and where are you based now?

Margret Bjarnadottir: I am from Reykjavík, Iceland. I then lived abroad for the majority of my twenties and am now based in Reykjavík.

JB: Tell me a little bit about yourself, your childhood. What was it like growing up in Iceland?

MB: I grew up right by the sea, in the west side of Reykjavík, in a house my grandparents built and where my father was born. It´s a part of town that can be insanely beautiful, but also very wild and stormy. In the winter you see very clear Northern Lights there and in the summer the incredible midnight sun. But then I also remember the feeling of walking by the sea in total darkness, wind rain and waves crashing at 8 A.M. on my way to school. Pretty bleak. So, it´s a little bit like living in the countryside, in the sense that you are in nature, even if it´s just a twenty minute walk to the city centre. Growing up, there was a lot of space and freedom. And family bonds are strong. My mother has six brothers and sisters and we would meet and have lunch together every Saturday, all the kids and everybody. I was also pretty busy doing ballet six days a week after school, so from the age of eleven there kind of wasn´t time for much else.

JB: Were you surrounded by an artistic community?

MB: Art was never far away. I maybe wasn´t surrounded by artists, but my uncle is a poet and my cousin is a filmmaker. My parents often took me to the theatre and there was a general interest in art and literature at home.

JB: Why do you think Iceland has produced so many successful and talented artists?

MB: It´s hard to say. There are all sorts of home made theories. Some say it´s because it´s cold and dark a big part of the year and there´s not a lot to do, so people have had to find a way to entertain themselves … But if that´s the recipe then you should maybe see the same results in some Scandinavian city of 330.000 people? The older I get the more I buy the energy theory – that there is simply an unusually high energy level in Iceland. Which there must be … the island is basically a very active volcano. It´s all bubbling underneath our feet. It sure effects and manifests itself in the nature here, so it would be strange if it didn´t somehow effect the people who live here as well? I also think that because of all those centuries of isolation there is an inbuilt curiosity in the nation´s DNA – a hunger for something, an openness and lack of fear (a part of that is naivety). In that way, Iceland is a bit like a teenager. And then there´s definitely a sense of humour. I think you have to have a good sense of humour to be able to live here.

JB: You work as a multidisciplinary artist. What do you consider your primary art form, if any? Have you ever felt challenged as a multi-hyphenate female? (I read Iceland is the most feminist country in the world)…

MB: I feel like I need to move between all these art forms to express different things. They inform and support each other. Dance is what I´ve spent most time doing because I started very young, but I don´t necessarily consider it my primary art form. I have always approached my dance pieces more like a visual artist - even sometimes more like a writer. And my writing is quite literal, concrete and confessional. I guess because I started using it to save my life as a teenager, when I wrote extensively in my diary, just to understand all these first time experiences. And then the poet in me is probably most apparent in my visual art work. So, it all hangs together like this somehow.

I can´t say I´ve felt especially challenged as a multi-hyphenate female. Or, I can´t distinguish between what has to do with the fact that I´m a female or that I´m multi hyphenate. Generally, I feel that people are more comfortable labelling you one thing. In my case, people tend to want to label me a choreographer or even a dancer – which is very far from the truth. I decided when I was nineteen not to become a dancer and I hardly ever dance on stage these days.

I remember one of the teachers in my art university in Holland, said that I would have to choose one medium because otherwise I would be an amateur in every form. I tried to take it seriously at first, but then I realized that this surfing between forms was the only way I could work. And that, in my case, all the different forms supported each other.

What I have noticed though, is that when it comes to text in my work and particularly when it´s some “clever” word play, some people think that I didn´t write it. That someone must have helped me. Or that it´s based on an idea from someone else. And some have gone as far as to explain the work I have made… to me. It´s really interesting! Like language and humour somehow automatically belonged more to men? Or at least certainly not to a woman with a dance background… Having said that, this is still the exception. I feel more supported, in general.

JB: Why do you think female voices in the film industry are important? Why do you think a female driven film (like Indigo Valley) should be made, and audiences and investors alike should support them?

MB: Recently I was lucky to see a film, The Swan, by Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir, still in the editing process. Ása Helga is my age and this is her first feature film, soon to be released. While watching the film, I gradually became almost sad, because I just realized what I had missed out on throughout all my childhood and teens and basically all my life, hardly ever seeing a film directed by a woman. I wasn´t looking for this, it just crept up on me during the film and shocked me. You can´t describe the female perspective, because of course there are many.

But I still felt this perspective, which is just somehow different to what you´re used to seeing in films. Something I could very much relate to on a deeper level than I can explain with words, even though the film is based on a novel written by a male writer.

JB: What are you working on currently? What are you excited for in the next year?

MB: I just finished choreographing a piece with my friend, artist Ragnar Kjartansson, for the Iceland Dance Company. It´s a guitar ballet called “No Tomorrow”, for eight female dancers who play guitar the whole time, while moving. The music is composed by Bryce Dessner (from The National). We are starting to tour the piece now and I have to step in for one of the dancers in the first two shows in Holland at the end of May. So, I´m busy learning the guitar. After that I plan to work by myself in the studio, writing, drawing and who knows what… which I haven´t had time to do for a while. Working without a particular aim. Just following what I´m interested in and seeing where it takes me.

Check out more of Magga’s work at www.maggabjarnadottir.com

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flauntpage · 7 years ago

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Your Friday Morning Roundup

Flyers fans two weeks ago: Fire Hakstol, fire Hextall this team is a dumpster fire, trade everyone!

Flyers fans now: You guys, this team is actually good!

Two extremes, but you can say the Flyers have been very streaky as of late. The orange and black earned their fifth straight win by defeating the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 last night at the Wells Fargo Center. Travis Sanheim scored his first goal in his NHL career, while Valtteri Filppula scored the game-winner. Things were pretty tame after a wild opening four minutes, which saw Buffalo’s Ryan O’Reilly and Sanheim score the first two goals of the game. Brian Elliott stopped 19 of 20 total shots on the night.

The bigger question regarding the team is whether or not they can hold this level of play and keep it up for the remaining four months of the season. They got half their games back from their 10-game losing streak, but are still out of playoff contention. They don’t need to win out the rest of the season obviously, but sticking in the thick of things come February would be a big boost for the team and the fans.

The team hosts the Dallas Stars on Saturday night as they hope to make it a six-game winning streak.

The Roundup:

The Eagles continue to get ready for their first game without Carson Wentz. There were some injuries worth noting:

#Eagles Thursday Injury Report DNP: WR Jeffery (illness), DE Means (illness) Limited: G Wisniewski (ankle) Full: DE Barnett (groin), TE Celek (not injury related), TE Ertz (concussion), S McLeod (quadricep), LB Walker (neck)

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 14, 2017

Jason Kelce also got hurt, but for a little bit. He got cleated in the leg, but he also killed a recycling bin:

Here's the video of the incident…

Kelce destroys a recycling bin with a thunderous kick. http://pic.twitter.com/h1MABX4wuA

— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) December 14, 2017

RIP in peace that recycling bin. Here’s what happened from his point of view.

“What happened is I’m an idiot. You’d think at 30 years old I’d be able to control myself a little bit better than that. I got cleated in a drill and I had an ankle sprain a couple weeks ago. The best way I can equate it anybody out there who’s done yard work, and you hit your thumb with a hammer and you throw the hammer halfway across the yard because of that. That’s about as close as I can get to it.

“Nothing serious. I got cleated in one of the drills and it was just a stupid reaction. Very minimal damage long-term, but it hurts like a b**** in the moment.”

As much as you sometimes don’t like Carson Wentz putting it all on the line, neither does Jay Ajayi.

As for Wentz’s replacement, Nick Foles will need to develop immediate chemistry with his pass catchers, even though some might be familiar to him. He also believes he’s better off handling adversity now:

“You just sort of see the game a little more clearly,” Foles said this week, when asked how he is different from the QB who trudged off the field in Houston. He said that perspective is the product of age and experience – he has doubled his time in the NFL, if not his number of actual snaps, since then.

“Even stepping into the game like [in Los Angeles], in the fourth quarter, you’re on the road, and it’s a big game. You really just go back to your training, back to your experiences in life, you know how to sort of live in that moment, to execute the plays to help your team win,” he said.

“Since that moment in Houston where I fractured my collarbone I’ve experienced a lot more experiences in the NFL than I had up to that point. A lot of them great, some of them not so great. But they all go together, they create this moment in time.”

Another player who’s confident in his new role: Nate Sudfeld, the team’s new backup quarterback.

No matter who’s behind center or how many players get injured, right guard Brandon Brooks says the team will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Additionally, the Birds brought back a familiar face to the practice squad in wide receiver Bryce Treggs.

—

Thanks to a leak in NBA 2K18 and Conrad Burry, we saw what the Sixers’ “City Edition” uniforms will look like:

A pleasant sight to see at practice on Thursday: Robert Covington. He celebrated his 27th birthday and said he’ll play tonight against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

ESPN will also dedicate the entire day for Sixers coverage.

Joel Embiid explains his latest Instagram post on Karl-Anthony Towns, which solidified himself as a national treasure.

Finally, welcome the 76ers Gaming Club to our city. Absolutely pumped! eSports baby!

—

Bob takes us into the Manny Machado rumors, which might not go much farther for the Phillies. Here’s why:

Phillies believe their offer for Machado is not strong enough to make a trade happen. #Orioles want Sixto Sanchez.

— Dan Clark (@DanClarkSports) December 14, 2017

Meanwhile, the team announced the hiring of Jose Flores as their first base coach and infield/baserunning instructor. They also lost outfielder Carlos Tocci in the Rule 5 draft to the Texas Rangers.

Pat Neshek is here for the jokes:

Thanks @rhyshoskins for giving #17 back…I'll sign up a dozen balls for ya and get them out to you in the next week or so

— Pat Neshek (@PatNeshek) December 15, 2017

Alright that went on long enough…did you really think I would do this? Enjoy #17 Rhys! I'll go find another random #

— Pat Neshek (@PatNeshek) December 15, 2017

And one Army sergeant got the treat of his life from Mickey Morandini:

Mickey Morandini and @MarksReeseWIP surprised SGT Kyle Hoffman from Kensington with a trip to @Phillies Phantasy Camp @LibertyUSO http://pic.twitter.com/scKQPtFRwf

— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) December 14, 2017

—

In news that shouldn’t surprise you, Villanova is the best team in the Big 5.

As for action this weekend, Temple will host Drexel Saturday at 5 PM on ESPN3. On Sunday, La Salle will host Mercer, and St. Joe’s will host Maine at 4:30.

Former writer Kevin Cooney has a new job title: Rosemont College Sports Information Director:

So, this will be in a few threads… bear with me. Today, I accepted a job at Rosemont College to be their new Sports Information Director. I’m thrilled that I could join the entire staff – including @CoachBarney. They made me feel right at home.

— Kevin Cooney (@KevinCooney) December 15, 2017

Best of luck to Kevin.

—

In other sports news, the Denver Broncos beat the Indianapolis Colts 25-13. But the talk isn’t about the outcome of the game. It’s about the injury to Colts tight end Brandon Williams. Williams has a pre-existing condition called spinal stenosis, which made him medically ineligible to play while at Oregon.

The Boston Globe detailed problems for women at ESPN and also named John Buccigross and Matthew Berry in the story.

As for ESPN, what does Walt Disney acquiring 21st Century Fox mean for sports fans?

Giants cornerback Eli Apple was fined for tweeting on the sideline during Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys. He wants to play this week against the Eagles.

Cardinals’ running back Adrian Peterson is done for the year with a neck injury.

Somehow, this guy got $10,000:

"A little sidewinder. Nothing but the bottom. GET PAID." #TrueToAtlanta http://pic.twitter.com/TSejBcHRwh

— FOX Sports: Hawks (@HawksOnFSSE) December 15, 2017

—

In the news, by a 3-2 vote, the FCC voted to repeal Net Neutrality rules. But the fight isn’t over just yet.

The Schwenksville community is gathering to help support a family devastated by a fire that took the lives of their two kids. You can also donate to their GoFundMe page.

Cosmo DiNardo and Sean Kratz plead not guilty to the deaths of four men from July, which was procedural.

The NYPD have decided to open an investigation amid rape allegations against Russell Simmons.

Curb Your Enthusiasm is coming back for its 10th season.

Philly Pretzel Factory stores will open up in Manhattan.

Your Friday Morning Roundup published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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junker-town · 8 years ago

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The Nationals, Dodgers, and Cubs were all preseason favorites, and they’re all in very different spots now

The only thing we knew for sure in March is who would win each division in the National League. About that ...

Baseball is hard to predict. If you don’t believe me, check in with my preseason predictions, in which I’m a) wrong a lot and b) fond of mentioning that “baseball is hard to predict” seven times before the end of the first paragraph.

The National League before this season, though, wasn’t so hard to predict. Slap the Dodgers in first in the NL West, the Cubs in first in the Central, and the Nationals in first in the East, and figure out the other dozen teams later. While I’m sure there have been three clear divisional favorites in a league before, the lack of ambiguity in these divisions seemed unusual. The Dodgers were going to win because they’ve won four straight division titles, and they improved in the offseason. The Cubs were going to win because they were a freakishly young championship team. The Nationals had the pitching and the lineup.

A few months into the season, though, and these three teams are separating themselves. Not only that, but it turns out that they were capable of surprising us. Sometimes for better. Sometimes for worse. Here’s a midseason check-in on the three (supposed) beasts of the National League.

Chicago Cubs: Any day now, fellas

If the Cubs were in the NL East, they’d be nine games behind the Nationals. If they were in the NL West, they’d be 17 games behind the Dodgers, closer to the Padres than second place. They still have a chance to make good on those near-unanimous first place predictions from the preseason, but only because of the relatively weak Central.

The Cubs have been hovering around .500 so consistently since the very beginning of the season, it’ll be wildly inappropriate to use the term “hovering around .500” for any team over the next decade. Twice they’ve pushed four games over .500. Both times, a four-game losing streak sucked them right back.

Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo both look like the perennial MVP candidates the Cubs were expecting, and they’re still going to form the core of a team that will contend for at least five or six years. The problems are with almost everyone else. Jason Heyward is hitting like Ben Zobrist this year, which means there’s a finger curled up on a severed monkey’s paw somewhere. Other than Ian Happ, the young hitters haven’t progressed nearly as well as the Cubs had hope, with Kyle Schwarber going back to the minors to tinker with his swing, even.

By ERA, Eddie Butler has been the Cubs’ best starting pitcher. Everyone they’ve tried has been astoundingly mediocre or downright awful. The adjusted ERA for every Cubs starter this season (before Jose Quintana’s brilliant debut): 52, 81, 99, 101, 103, 105, 107. That’s like a mathematical proof for a .500 team.

The Cubs are the Ghost of Baseball Past, then, a formerly dominating team with the same roster and young players, most of whom are young and were expected to improve. They can’t stop winning as many as they lose, though, and it’s made for a much more confusing season than anyone was expecting.

Washington Nationals: A near-flawless team ... with one exception

Ah, this is when we go back and time and talk to a Nationals fan from six months ago.

Hello. I’m a Nationals fan from six months ago.

Right. I’m guessing you have questions.

How’s Max Scherzer?

A Cy Young contender.

The rest of the rotation?

Gio Gonzalez has been eerily effective. Stephen Strasburg has been fine. They’ve had injuries and inconsistency at the back end, but the starting pitching has been an overall strength.

Is Daniel Murphy still doing a Rod Carew impersonation?

Yes.

Is Bryce Harper better?

Much. He’s back to his old self. His old, young self, which is great news for you.

Any surprises you want to spoil for me?

Ryan Zimmerman is reborn, and his OPS is pushing 1000. Anthony Rendon might be the best hitter on the team. Even Jayson Werth and Michael Taylor are hitting a little bit.

Wow! What about the bullpen?

Whoa, look at that, it’s getting late. I have to go back to my own time now.

The hell was that? You just looked at your wrist, but you’re not even wearing a watch.

Sorry, just out of time. Hope I helped make you feel better.

WAIT. IS THE BULLPEN BAD AGAIN?

[looks at wrist again]

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? HOW CAN THEY HAVE ONE FLAW AND NOT ADDRESS IT IN THE OFFSEASON? HOW HOW HOW HOW

The good news for the Nationals is that they just filled two spots in their bullpen with one trade, nabbing Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle for Blake Treinen and last year’s second- and third-round picks. The two relievers have combined for 70 strikeouts and eight walks in 60⅔ innings, which vaults them immediately to the top of the bullpen depth chart. And, considering that the trade didn’t devastate their farm system, they can still afford to make another deal.

The story of the Nationals before the season was “great roster, suspect bullpen.” It wasn’t a secret. And this season has been a tale of a great roster and a suspect bullpen. While that seems like a sad tale, it’s not. It’s a completely fixable problem, and Washington just got a huge jump on the repairs. Contrast that with the Cubs, who have no idea how to fix whatever’s broken. Contrast that with the Red Sox, who have wobbled at times, and can’t shake the Yankees or Rays. The Nationals built a huge lead in the NL East, and now they get to address their biggest problem.

The rest of the National League should be scared. Even if it’s right to wonder why in the heck the team with multiple Drew Storen postseason memories waited until the middle of the season. They’re the Ghost of Baseball Present, getting better at the only part of the roster they could still drastically improve. They were a scary team already, and they’re getting scarier.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Calm down, guys, jeez

Before the season started, FanGraphs projected the Dodgers to win more games than the Cubs. It seemed possible, but unlikely, and I’d like to think there were a lot of arguments in the FanGraphs Computer Labs.

Instead, the Dodgers look like the best team baseball has seen since the 2001 Mariners. Clayton Kershaw might win the Cy Young, but Alex Wood might go 20-0. Kenley Jansen is in the middle of one of history’s great relief seasons. The next home run Cody Bellinger hits will give him as many home runs as any Giants hitter has hit in a season since Barry Bonds left. Corey Seager will be an MVP candidate for the next 10 years, and Justin Turner is somehow getting even better at age 32.

The Dodgers are 29-4 over their last 33 games, which is the best such stretch in franchise history. Of all the teams in franchise history, from Duke Snider and Sandy Koufax to Steve Garvey and Fernando Valenzuela, no Dodgers team has had success like this. And while the other two preseason favorites have already made big trades, the Dodgers can still improve the rotation (Yu Darvish?) and the bullpen (Zach Britton?), or they can sort of hang back and gloat like the 64-29 team they are, clutching their prospects tightly to their chest.

I’d make fun of the part where they’re prospect-huggers, except you know that every team has been asking for Seager and Bellinger for the last three years, and they’re probably okay with the decision to hang on to them.

The Dodgers are the Ghost of Baseball Future, unconscionably young and improving, with untapped potential to address whatever weak spots they still might have. They’re going to win the NL West by a million games, and they’ll have home-field advantage throughout the postseason unless something goes screwy.

My point with all this? Well, I guess it’s that of the three obvious contenders, one of them was far worse than anyone predicted, one of them is almost exactly where they were supposed to be, and one of them is threatening to be one of baseball’s all-time great teams. This is a rough spectrum of baseball and baseball-related expectations, then. The Cubs could be worse (see: the smoldering crater in San Francisco), but this is about as reasonable of a worst-case scenario as presumptive favorites and defending champions can have.

Before the season, we didn’t know much, but we did know that the Cubs, Nationals, and Dodgers were going to win their divisions. Now that we’re here, it’s a good reminder that baseball is never that easy.

Unless it’s even easier.

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