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knifeonmars · 4 years ago

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Capsule Reviews, February 2021

Here's some things I've been reading.

The Curse of Brimstone

DC's New Age of Heroes books, emerging from the beginning of Scott Snyder's creative-flameout-as-crossover-event Metal, mostly constituted riffs on Marvel heroes like the Fantastic Four (in The Terrifics) or the Hulk (in Damage). The Curse of Brimstone is a riff on Ghost Rider. It's... uneven. The first volume is generally pretty good, and when Phillip Tan is drawing it, as he does the first three and a half issues, it's gorgeous and unique, when he departs though, the quality takes a nose dive. None of the replacement artists, including the great Denis Cowan, can quite fill his shoes, and the story gets old fast. Guy makes a deal with the devil (or rather, a devil-like inhabitant of the "Dark Multiverse" as a not horribly handled tie-in to the conceits of Metal), realizes it's a raw deal, and rebels. The characters are flat, lots of time is spent with the main character's sister haranguing him to not use his powers (it is, in my humble opinion, something of a cardinal sin to have a character whose primary role is telling other characters to stop doing interesting things), too many potboiler "I know you're still in there!/I can feel this power consuming me!" exchanges, a couple of underwhelming guest spots (including a genuinely pointless appearance by the old, white, boring Doctor Fate) too many flashbacks, and not enough of the action. There's potential in the classic demonic hero rebelling plotline and its link to the liminal spaces of the DC universe, forgotten towns and economic depression, but the wheels come off this series pretty much as soon as Tan leaves. The really disappointing this is that the series is clearly built as an artistic showcase, so after Tan's shockingly early departure, the main appeal of the series is gone and there's nothing left but the playing out of an obviously threadbare story.

Star Wars - Boba Fett: Death, Lies, and Treachery

I don't care much about Star Wars these days, and I think that most of the old Expanded Universe was, as evidenced by Crimson Empire, pretty bad. Death, Lies, and Treachery, is that rare Star Wars EU comic which is actually good. John Wagner writes and he's in full-on 2000 AD mode, writing Boba Fett as a slightly more unpleasant Johnny Alpha (who is like a mercenary Judge Dredd, for those unfamiliar) right on down to the appearance of a funny alien sidekick for one of the characters. The main attraction is Cam Kennedy's art though, along with his inimitable colors: this might be the best looking Star Wars comic ever. The designs are all weird and chunky, with an almost kitbashed feeling that captures the lived in aesthetic of classic Star Wars, and the colors are one of a kind. Natural, neutral white light does not exist in this comic, everything is always bathed at all times in lurid greens or yellows, occasionally reds, and it looks incredible. In terms of "Expanded Universe" material for Star Wars, this hits the sweet spot of looking and feeling of a piece, but exploring the edges of the concept with a unique voice. It's great. I read this digitally, but I'd consider it a must-buy in print if I ever get the chance at a deal.

Zaroff

Zaroff is a French comic (novel? novella?). It's like 90 pages and it delivers exactly on its premise of "Die Hard starring the bad guy from The Most Dangerous Game." It's pretty good. Count Zaroff, he of the habitual hunting of humans, turns out to have killed a mafia don at some point, and after miraculously escaping his own seeming death at the end of the original story, finds himself hunted by the irate associates of this gangster, who have brought along Zaroff's sister and her kids to spice things up. Zaroff not only finds himself the hunt, but he also has to protect his estranged family as they struggle to survive. Nothing about this book or its twists and turns is likely to surprise you, but I don't think being surprised is always necessary for quality. Zaroff delivers on pulpy, early-20th century jungle action, is gorgeously rendered, and the fact that Zaroff himself is an unrepentant villain adds just enough of an unexpected element to the proceedings and character dynamics that it doesn't feel rote. There's a couple of points, ones typical of Eurocomics, which spark a slight sour note, such as some "period appropriate" racism and flashes of the male gaze, but for the most part these are relatively contained. It's good.

Batman: Gothic

Long before Grant Morrison did their Bat-epic, they wrote Batman: Gothic, an entirely different, but then again maybe not so different, kind of thing. It starts off with what must be called a riff on Fritz Lang's film, M, only where that story ends with a crew of gangsters deciding they cannot pass moral judgment on a deranged child-murderer, in Morrison's story they go ahead and kill him, only for the killer to return years later to rather horribly murder all of them as a warmup for a grandiose scheme involving unleashing a weaponized form of the bubonic plague on Gotham City as an offering to Satan. Along the way it turns out that said villain, one Mr. Whisper, is a former schoolmaster of Bruce Wayne's, who terrified the young Batman in the days before his parent's deaths. It's an earlier Morrison story and it shows. Certain elements presage their later Batman work; Mr. Whisper as a satanic enemy recalls the later Doctor Hurt, and the cathedral Mr. Whisper built to harvest souls recalls what writers like Morrison, Milligan, and Snyder would do concerning Gotham as a whole years later.The art, by Klaus Janson, is spectacular. If you're familiar at all with his work collaborating with Frank Miller you'll see him continuing in a similar vein and it's all quite good, even when he stretches beyond the street milieu which most readers might know him from. There's one particular sequence where Janson renders a needlessly complicated Rube Goldberg machine in motion that manages to work despite being static images. The writing by Morrison though, is not their finest. The M riff doesn't last as long as it could, and Mr. Whisper's turn in the latter half of the story from delicious creepy wraith to a cackling mass murderer who puts Batman in an easily escaped death trap feels like something of a letdown from the promise of the first half of the book. Gothic is good, but not, in my opinion, great. It's certainly worth checking out for Morrison fans however, and I imagine that someone well-versed in his latter Batman stuff might be able to find some real resonance between the two.

Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters

For a long, long time, Longbow Hunters was THE Green Arrow story. It is to Green Arrow as TDKR is to Batman, deliberately so. Mike Grell wrote and drew the reinvention of the character from his role as the Justice League's resident limousine liberal to a gritty urban vigilante operating in Seattle over the course of these three issues, which he'd follow up with a subsequent ongoing. Going back to it, it certainly merits its reputation, but its far from timeless. Grell's art is unimpeachable absolutely incredible, with great splashes and spreads, subtle colors, and really great figure work. The narrative is almost so 80's it hurts though, revolving around West Coast serial killers, cocaine, the CIA and the Iran-Contra scandal, and the Yakuza, and it's hard to look back at some of this stuff without smirking. The story begins with a teenager strung out on tainted coke sprinting through a window in a scene that's right out of Reefer Madness. In the cold light of a day 30+ years later, parts of it look more than a little silly. The 80's-ness of it all doesn't stop with that stuff though, even the superhero elements smack of it. Green Arrow realizes that he's lost a step and has be to be shown a way forward by an Asian woman skilled in the martial arts (recalling Vic Sage's reinvention in the pages of The Question), and Black Canary gets captured and torture off-panel for the sake of showing that this is real crime now, not the superhero silliness they've dealt with before. The treatment of Black Canary here is pretty markedly heinous, it's a classic fridging and Grell's claims that he didn't intentionally imply sexual assault in his depiction of her torture is probably true, but still feels more than a little weak considering how he chose to render it.The final analysis is that this book is good, but it exists strictly in the frame of the 1980's. If you're a fan of Green Arrow, there are worse books to pick up, or if you're interested in that era of DC Comics it's more than worth it, but as a matter of general interest I wouldn't recommend it very highly.

SHIELD by Steranko

Jim Steranko is sort of the prodigy of the early Marvel years, a young guy who came up through the system, blossomed into an incredible talent, and then left the company, and by and large the industry, behind. He would go on to dabble in publishing, work in other mediums, and generally kick around as the prodigal son of Marvel Comics. This collection, of both his Nick Fury shorts in the pages of Strange Tales and the four issues he drew of the original Nick Fury solo series, charts Steranko's growth as an artist. The book starts off with Steranko working from Jack Kirby's layouts with Stan Lee's dialogue and writing, and Steranko might be the one guy in history for whom working off of Kirby's blueprints is clearly holding him back. The first third or so of this collection really isn't much to write home about, as Steranko is obviously constrained by someone else's style, and at the end of the day those early stories still read as somewhat uninspired pulp compared to the highlights of early Marvel. There are flashes though, of techniques and ideas, which foreshadow what Steranko is capable of, and when he finally takes over as solo writer/artist it's like he's been unleashed. He immediately has Nick Fury tear off his shirt and start throwing guys around over psychedelic effects. He writes out most of Kirby and Lee's frankly uninspired boys' club supporting cast, he makes Fury visibly older, wearier, but also so much cooler. It's the birth of Nick Fury as a distinctly comic book super spy.By the time he finishes wrapping up the previous writers' plotline with Hydra and Baron von Strucker, Steranko is firing on all cylinders. By the time it gets to Steranko's Fury solo series, he's somehow surpassed himself, turning in effects, panel structures, and weird stories which make the earlier installment about a suit-wearing Man from UNCLE knockoff and its strict six-panel layouts look absolutely fossilized.I can't recommend this collection highly enough for any fan of the artform, even if the stories themselves might not be everyone's cup of tear. It's truly incredible to watch Steranko emerge as an artist over the course of this single collection. The book itself has a few problems, it's not the most elegantly designed in its supporting materials and index, but the content of it more than outweighs that. It's great stuff.

#capsule reviews #comics

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weapon13whitefang · 4 years ago

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First Line Tag Game

Tagged by @neversleepingever

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

Well let’s go...

1.] Kimi No Na Wa (Your Name) | Erasermight AU

There was a faint, persistent buzzing somewhere in the room. It was persistent and annoying as it dragged Toshinori Yagi from his sleep. He wanted to ignore it, but it was just too consistent and annoying! The pillow he dragged over his head did little to stop it too.

2.] Talking In Your Sleep

“You talk. In your sleep… Did you know that?”

The question was asked with curiosity and hesitation on Lydia’s part. She was always curious about him. He was still a sort of stranger to her, shared trauma or not…. But she was also always very hesitant. As if expecting him to lash out at her with violence. Couldn’t blame her. Not like their first meetings were fucking sunshine and kittens. Or with her having a mother like Alpha… Will Dixon looked almost saintly compared to how that woman and her brick wall of a bastard, Beta, treated her

3.] My whole existence is flawed

When Beth Greene was twelve years old, a worldwide epidemic struck, taking out more than half the human population and then some.

At first, it had seemed like just a regular flu. Nothing out of the ordinary, really. Fever, weakness and fatigue. Dizziness. Dehydration… Normal stuff you’d see from a heavy case of the flu.

4.] Gotta Get Underground

The humid heat of summer had passed to make way for the colder winds. Although Georgia was often saved from the terrible cold of other states, for those of warm nature and years of comfortable heat, the drop to forty degrees could seem as cold as negative ten or worse... Especially when one was hungry.

5.] Safe

Shota Aizawa was in pain. A lot of pain… More pain than he’s been in for a long time, really. Not since he was a rookier Pro Hero and he’d ended up in more than one rough battle with Joke or Hizashi or Nemuri (or all of them depending on the situation) in some dirty alley at night. Back when he had to patch himself up more than once without aid because who the hell had money to go to the clinic every time you got a scrape or haul ass across the city to get all the way to see Recovery Girl at UA

6.] Haircut

For as long as Beth could recall, she had been growing out her hair. By the time she was seven it was down past her shoulder. It would never be any longer than to her waist but it would never be cut above her shoulder blades.

7.] once bitten, twice shy

The Georgia night air was humid, making clothes stick and sweat drip. It had to be the hotest day of summer and Beth had spent all day helping her daddy corral the cows because the bull had broken a weak part of the fence and they all came barreling out to the patch of road that lead to her farm. Her cousin Arnold had been coming to help out for the morning and had almost hit a calf. He’d had to call everyone down with his cellphone, Otis and Patricia coming up behind to help.

8.] I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door

When Beth was only five years old, she’d seen her first death. It had been her grandma Lewis – mama’s own mother – and she had been slowly slipping away. Beth had been brought to her grandma’s house with the rest of her family to see her one last time. Something Beth hadn’t really understood back then, being so young. She had just understood that grandma Lewis hadn’t greeted them with warm hugs and kisses, but had been hooked up to machines in her own bedroom with mama and her mama’s brothers – her uncles – standing around the room.

9.] But, Oh, Those Summer Nights

Beth didn't cry anymore. She hadn't cried since she was little and her daddy had almost died from drinking and driving. He'd lost his leg and had sworn off alcohol the day Beth declared - at six years old - she wasn't ever gonna cry anymore.

10.] Once Upon A Story Book

“Once upon a time, the sun came up-“

“As it does every damn day-“

“Daryl!”

Princess Beth bit her lip to keep from smiling, staring up at the sky. It wasn’t a sky like what would probably be considered normal, but instead was a sky with letters forming sentences with lines of quotations and actions.

11.] Baby, I Want You Back

Crash!

All of Nova Diner went silent. Heads whipped around or took a peak over their menus. Some of the elders tsk’s. A few of the waitresses shook their heads in understanding.

12.] No Such Kiss

Justin's hands twitch on the steering wheel of his Jeep Wrangler, head lulling back slightly as he sucked in a deep breath, releasing from his nostril along with a mild groan. He rolled his head on his shoulders, pulling and releasing at the muscles in his neck as the hand not flexing on the steering wheel was digging into bleach blonde locks at the crown of the skull of the bitch working him over.

13.] The Mark

She is sitting on the porch swing when she see's the dust blowing and hears the rumble of his motorcycle as he comes down the driveway. She fight's back the urge to groan and bang her head against the metal chain of the swing, eyes narrowing as he stops just in front of the house before he's parking and cutting off the engine.

14.] destined to be wedded

For as long as Beth could remember, she'd been told that she'd someday be wedded.

Her horse-drawn carriage careened down the loosely built dirt road at full speed, Button and Flame panting as Otis steered them further to Beth's uncertain future. From being stuffed into the cramped cab of the carriage with her father and mother, to getting sick with every rough patch that bounced them around nauseatingly, and for every trot of hooves that took her further from home, Beth was no very impressed with this future.

15.] Dizzy With A Canary

“Hey, all you fine and in-line listeners! Jumpin Johnny’s got the goods all day every day! Oh yeah, that’s right! JJ's got the hook-up for all you listeners! And JJ invites all you dolls and studs to come down to my man Zack and his Hop happening at Atlanta’s little hot spot on Cherry St! Come and join us! But until then, enjoy some Hoagy Carmichael, Y'all!

16.] In The Air

Mating.

The word brings a sour taste to Daryl’s mouth, making his skin or fur stand up and his nose wrinkle like he’s smelled something foul.

17.] Of Angel’s & Crusaders

"Shawn, those are breakable! Please be careful!"

Beth Greene bit her lip as she heard Shawn curse up a storm as he carried in a rather heavy box of silverware, glass, and other breakables – antique breakables – through the door of her new studio one-bedroom and bathroom apartment room on the fifth floor.

18.] God Love Her

A fast road to nowhere. That's what he'd been told his whole damn life. That he was on fast road to nowhere real quick. And everybody was waiting for the day Merle Dixon crashed on that road. Hell they all watched to see him slip and fuck up. Waited for the moment he couldn't worm his way outta jail or worse.

19.] Audience

Merle had always known he was going to hell. After all the shit he did, all the stuff he's said, all the blood he's stained his hands and feet with, he knew. He knew damn well and he knew others saw it to. Knew they looked at him as just some fuck up, a monster... Well they weren't to far off, so who could blame em?

20.] The AFterlife Entertainment

Merle rolls his head on his shoulder almost impulsively. He doesn’t feel any kinks or pains. Doesn't even really need to pop his neck. He just does. Cause it's a habit now. Habits die hard. Dead or not. And he was fucking dead. His little brother stabbed the fuck outta him. Fucked up his pretty face and all... Ah well. He wasn't looking so hot as a biter.

There’s a pattern that I’m terrible with naming my fics and being bad at finishing, but that’s not new... Have to see if you all notice one.

Tagging: Whoever wants to... I’m terrible at tagging people, honestly.

#tagged #fanfiction #my writing #tag game

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norwes · 6 years ago

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Mantle of Flames

I’m a player of my friend’s D&d session called Mantle of Flames. It’s a great on going session that is the longest game I’ve been apart of. I, personally, love everything about the game. The characters, world building, the DM (Whom I’ll also refer to as Disaster Master), the other players and their PCs. I adore everything about this zany fun game.

So, who do I play in this group and what's my PC’s role?

I play as a cult leader Paladin. Lawful Evil. His name is Alistair A. Wardien. Yes, you are correct if you think the name Alistair and ‘Warden’ begin together is familiar. I originally named him after Alistair of Dragon Age. My favorite Warden and the biggest cutie there is.

My biggest role in the group is to be the Agro grabber and tank. Though I do have healing capabilities, I tend to specifically use it on myself to stay in the fight. Doesn’t mean I won’t go out of my way to heal a fallen party member- its just healing is like my 3rd job, given that we do have a healer in the team comp.

Normally it’s better if Ali makes the aggressors focus on him, so he can do some heavy hits. Or, in the cases of a dragon, try to have it only blast him with a breath weapon instead of the rest of the downed/weakened party that is clumped together. (This kind of situation was how he died, but don’t worry, he got better)

As for role playing, and skill monkeys. Alistair is in no way a real skill monkey for the party. He does have some usefully skills he’s good at, it isn’t sneaking or things of recon though. No sleight of hand. Mainly it’s being able to pick up on thinks and knowing Arcana. While on paper Alistair is the ‘party face’, that's not true in action, which I’m happy about. I honestly think I really lack in being able to role play. But only when I’m a player though. It’s pretty weird... Ali does lead the party but he’s the even or soft or calming energy in comparison to Canary. (Though none of those are proper descriptions for how it goes down when RPing, It’s just what I can sort of note down to get the impression across) The two of them combined are the real Party Face. The two of them are only half of the whole when talking to others outside the group. Alistair also is good at looking scary. He even has a special feat for that.

The biggest thing Alistair is though, is an enabler. He takes hits and buys time to have other PCs to vital and cool things in the background, should they choose. Specifically though, he enable Chaos, which is why him and Canary get along so well. She is a Chaotic Evil. They play off one another and cause all sorts of questionable moments. Each varying on severity or hilarity. I’ve also been pulling back a bit on RP as of late. But it’s for valid character reasons as to why. Stress can quiet people and he’s a fairly serious character to begin with. He isn't super overbearing in RP. (Honestly I think our group does a pretty good job of letting everyone have their moment. But, it could always use some work. We’ve come a long way)

Now I know what you’re thinking. Sure, both Ali and Canary are evil but why would a Lawful Paladin be an enabler of Chaos? Well, that all hast to do with the god he follows. Bane. Looking into how Bane’s cult works. The followers go stir up chaos and stand tall as beckons of law and order that people flock too. They work their way into places and cause people to turn on one another before grabbing power for themselves.

Alistair is also Cursed/Infected! He has a deadly transformation that I’m still working out how to MinMax its’ uses. I’ll touch up on that some other time though.

As a player I’m a total min maxer. I break characters. Bless Disaster Master for putting up with me and the party dealing with my bullshit. I’m an average RPer but I tend to get uncomfortable at times, which throws off me off.

TL:DR, I play a Lawful Evil Cursed Paladin of Bane. Play style- Agro-Tank, minor heals. RP Style- Intimidating Boss/Dad Skill Checker- Insight monster Player Type- MinMaxer RP Skill- Average, needs work

Overall, Always having fun playing. Thats all that matters though.

#dnd #d&d #d&d character #mof #mantle of flames #play style #paladin #lawful evil #bane

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lunacanis99 · 6 years ago

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Mantle Themes

Themes man. I wasn't really planning for Mantle of Flames to have a sort of overarching theme but it kinda just.... ended up having one. And that theme is absolutely: Good vs Evil, the duality of morality. There's so many characters in Mantle that morality is a huge part of their character, either how they hold to it or how they don't.

First and most obvious is Alistair who plays with morality like a fucking jump rope. Our Lawful Evil Paladin. He's doing good things, a lot of good things, but none of them for good reasons. He does good to make a good image and get people to look at him like he's a good person usually so when he does pull his take over people are already on his side. Or it's out of spite, or his god demanded it, or something along those lines. Almost never good reasons. And yet at the same time he's actually a pretty good person that does care for his friends in his group and others... and yet has admitted to me he'd kill them without a second of hesitation if Bane commanded it, including his own daughter. So yeah.... pretty evil.

Then we look at the opposite end of the spectrum: Lochlan Wardein, Alistair's oldest brother. Ho boy is Lochlan a story. First things first, he's a lawful good Paladin of Torm. But man is he a HORRIBLE person. First things first, he was basically the main hand in traumatizing Alistair by waterboarding him and is now heading the quest to hunt their own brother down and bring him back dead or alive. He also will not hesitate to do anything he needs to if he believes it's in the name of his god, including things like stealing or killing children. And (and this might be slight spoilers/advanced fact for my players) Lochlan Wardein (at the moment. Gods knows I change Alistair's arc enough) has an ability I made special for him I call "Strings of Fate". And if you think about it for a moment it becomes obvious what it is. He can take control of someone and control them like a puppet. It's a terrifying ability he'd usually use to take control of a strong Bane follower and send them back to their group before using them to murder their own friends. But really, he doesn't care who he uses it on.

But we do have middle grounds, that are still interesting in themselves.

Mordred. A Neutral Good guard in training. I've describe Mordred multiple times as basically being justice incarnate but I'm not sure if that's 100% accurate. As I've established no god tells him what to do, he does what he believes is right. And I'd say "no matter what it is" but Mordred does know the line. He could honestly kill Alistair at any time, but he doesn't, because he sees the good Alistair is doing and sees the people relying on him and caring about him. So he waits. He even befriends Alistair's daughter and Canary's son despite them being an evil cultist and an assassin, because they're still young and friendly and can change. And of course, at this very moment, he's demanding to go with Church and State and help them. Despite how much he hates Alistair and is entirely uncomfortable around Canary he still wants to go with them, on a long dangerous journey, where he'll have to not only work shoulder to shoulder with but protect Alistair. Because he knows how much danger the world is in, and he's a guard and he's been trained to protect people.

Neer: Of course Neer is on this list. Gods I love Neer. He's technically chaotic evil, and as much as he does fit that alignment: as he is chaotic as all hell, gives zero shits about any rules moral or otherwise, and has done horrible things as a skyrate first mate. He's just such a dork. You really wouldn't guess this fluffy idiot is evil, especially if not the most evil alignment. At first glance her just seems like an overly excited puppy that wants to fly fast and protect his friends but probably can't even count to 10. He really plays fast and loose with the rules of morality though. When they first met him he proposed the option of selling Mairon, but now he's making a sanctuary for half angels. And he hasn't exactly changed his morality much, he'd still sell someone without much second thought, just not Mairon as now she's family. Man I love Neer, next character study is on him I promise.

Kyofushin: Do I really even need to touch on Kyo? He's a demon, who was the right hand of the lady of the 4th circle of hell. But now he has children he happily would and has died for. Like... wow.

Carric: Last but not least is Carric. Didn't expect him on this list did ya mantle players? See he had a rough fucking life before joining the council where he was a thief and very not good person who got corrupted by a nymph heart and his brother died to keep him alive and basically Carric was traumatized into being sweetness incarnate. But he's still not... all good. In the past he has admitted to despising Torm followers, called them "self righteous pricks who wouldn't know real good if t beat them with a stick" (or did I forget to say that in game?). And as much as he does as much good for the part as he can, he's not afraid to do bad to do good. Like how he just roped Kyo and Buck into cursing Alistair to help him get over his fear of water.... rough buddy. But he still always tries to do good, he just knows when the "righteous fury" has to come out.

So yeah, the shades of grey (not 50 of them shut up Canary) between good and evil became a real big theme in Mantle basically on accident. And why am I talking about all of this now? Well because I've been planning for next campaign (despite it being months to years away) and I've already stumbled across the theme for that one. And you wanna know what it'll be?

Drum roll please

Death and New Life

#dnd #dungeons and dragons #mantle of flames #mof

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smashbuddies · 6 years ago

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They Came from Outer Space: Pt. 1

The light was absolutely blinding as it zoomed across the night sky. Daniel slammed onto the brakes and rubbed his eyes to try and get his vision back. After blinking the daze away, he saw a trail of light overhead, apparently going toward the nearby park. Thank god he was the only one on the road right now, or else he might’ve hit someone. Who the hell was dumb enough to pull a stunt like that?

As much as he wanted to head home, a little voice told him to find out. So he made his way to the park, all while practicing what he would say in his head. Those assholes needed to be taught a lesson.

He slammed the car door on his way out. If they were nearby, he wanted them to know they were in deep shit. Then he huddled into himself and made his way onto the path. If he followed it, he’d surely find the fucker.

The strangest thing met his eyes after a couple minute of walking. It was a giant… Spaceship? He didn’t know- it looked like something he’d seen in a shitty sci-fi movie. And in front of it was some asshole in a purple body-suit. Even went so far as to glue fake eyes to their face.

Fucking LARPers.

“Hey, asshole!” he yelled, arms still tucked under each other. Too cold for this bullshit. “You make it a habit of blinding everyone in the city, or is tonight just special?”

They cocked their head, and all four of their eyes blinked at him. Huh. Guess they shelled out a lot of money for that.

“Got nothing to say?” he asked. “Look, I know how you fucking nerds are-” he was one himself- “but you need to cool it. I almost crashed my car and died, do you realize that?”

They only stared, eyes narrowed as if they were assessing him.

“Ugh, say something, for fuck’s sake!” he snapped, throwing his fists down. “Do you even know who I am? I’m a celebrity, if I had died, the whole fucking country would’ve been after your head!”

“A celebrity?” they asked, looking like the cat that had caught the canary.

“Yes, I’m a goddamn star,” he said, arms crossed and nose pointed up. “A talk show host and video game extraordinaire, beloved by millions!” He then pointed a finger accusingly at them. “And you almost killed me.”

The spaceship suddenly opened up. And that’s when he realized it was easily the size of a small house. And very… Real looking. Actual metal, working lights. Was it really this asshole’s house? Who let them live here?

“Come inside,” they said, gesturing to the ramp that raised up into the ship.

He raised an eyebrow at them. “...You better not murder me.”

“I won’t,” they huffed out, then gestured again, more insistent this time. “Now come on.”

A shiver ran through him and closed in on himself once more. Way too cold. And, well, something was telling him that he had crashed and this was some kind of coma dream anyway. So what was the harm?

“You owe me tea anyway,” he muttered under his breath as he passed by them.

The inside of the ship was warm, thank goodness. He took in all the weird machinery and flashing lights. It was almost like an arcade, which put him a little at ease.

Until the door closed behind him.

“Nope,” he said as he whipped around to face them. “I’m not staying here if that’s closed. Open it. Now.”

They blinked slowly. “No.”

“Then I’m gonna find a window and break out of here,” he warned, not nearly as confident in his plan as he sounded. “Just fucking watch me.”

“There aren’t any windows.”

Fuck.

“I’m gonna die here,” he muttered as he brought a hand up over his eyes. “Alone with some lunatic- what about my fans? My parents? I haven’t been home for Hanukkah in years, I need to call my mom before I go, fucking hell!”

Then something clicked shut around his neck, fingers brushing against his skin in a way that sent a shiver down his spine.

He moved his hands down and felt around the metal collar that rested there. Scowling, he glared at the dumbass and hissed, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“You’re my pet now,” they said happily, and gave him a pat on the head. “I own you.”

“The hell you do,” he bit out as he took a step back. “I own myself, and I’m not dealing with your stupid LARPing bullshit! Break character and act like a normal fucking human being!”

“But… I’m not human. And I don’t know what LARPing is.”

Great. Either this person what a lunatic, or this really was a coma dream. And he was hoping for the latter.

“LARPing,” he said slowly, because clearly they only had about five braincells, “is live-action role playing. It’s where you dress up-” he waved to their stupid costume for emphasis- “and pretend to be something you’re not. Which is fine, but there’s gotta be some point where you look at yourself and ask, ‘Am I taking this too far? Do I sound like a complete maniac right now?’ And surprise! The answer is yes.”

They looked confused, but nodded anyway. “Uh, okay.”

Coma dream. There was no way any of this could be real. No one on earth could be that fucking dumb.

“I’m going home now,” he announced with no room for argument. “Open the door.”

For a second, their eyes flicked down to the collar. Then they shrugged and pressed a button on the wall. “Alright.”

Well. That was unexpected. But he huffed and briskly made his way out of the weird hellhole he found himself in. Maybe after going to bed, he’d wake up and find himself in the hospital with his mom standing over him. But if not, well…

He’d deal with that later. Right now he just wanted to finally sleep.

Daniel’s eyes felt heavier when he opened them than they did when he closed them. Pain throbbed in the front of his head, and he let out a groan as he sat up. His day off and he had to nurse a fucking migraine. Wonderful. At least it didn’t have to deal with that nonsense he dreamt up…

Wait.

Something was on his neck.

...The goddamn collar.

So last night actually happened. He let some maniac put a collar on him. His heart skipped a beat and he threw the blanket off himself so he could get up and change that.

The screwdriver was a little hard to find- what the fuck did he even use it for anyway?- but as soon as he got his hands on it, he tried finding a spot on the collar to jam it into. Either he’d get it off, or he’d wind up stabbing himself and bleeding out on the kitchen floor. Either one sounded good at this point…

Just the a loud crash resounded through the house. Followed by footsteps. The maniac from last night ran into the kitchen, eyes wide in panic as they shouted, “No! Stop! Bad pet!”

“Get fucked!” he snapped back, jamming the screwdriver even harder into the collar. “I’m not your pet, I’m a goddamn person!”

They made some sort of strangled noise, and before he could even blink, the screwdriver was gone, and his wrists were held above his head by their hand. That fucking bastard.

“Let go!”

They stared him down for a long moment, then did so, keeping the screwdriver far away from him. He huffed and rubbed his wrists, with a few muttered curses thrown their way for good measure. He wanted them to know that he was not happy.

Especially not since they broke down his fucking door.

“I can’t believe this,” he muttered. “Now I have to call someone to come in and fix this, another lunatic could get into my house, fuck, I have to call the police, this is the worst fucking day ever, someone needs to hurry up and kill me before I-”

“No,” they said as they picked him up and set him aside. “Don’t say that. Bad. Look, I’ll fix it.”

Oh really? He gave them an incredulous look, but you know what? Fine. If they wanted to fix it, he’d let them try. It’s not like they could break his door even more. It was already off the fucking hinges.

They left for what only could’ve been thirty seconds, and came back with… Something. Daniel had never seen anything like it before, and he couldn’t get a closer look before they started working on the door. He huffed and tried his damnedest to see what the hell they were doing, but it was pointless.

Once they were done, though, they stepped back and presented their handiwork. His door was back in place, at least. But his lock… It looked like some sort of shitty sci-fi scanner.

“What the hell is that?” he asked, pointing to the contraption. “You could’ve just put a normal lock on my door. I’m not into fake futuristic bullshit, thanks.”

They grinned proudly, and put their hand on it. The machine lit up and made a low noise while they explained, “Your other lock wasn't safe enough. So this will keep everyone but me and you out. No one’s allowed to touch my pet.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes at the lock. Now there was a new theory bubbling up in his brain, but that was impossible. Still, he felt compelled to ask, “Where are you from?”

They scrunched their nose and pointed up, but the word they said was something that Daniel couldn’t even comprehend phonetically. It was like someone decided to shut off his brain right as the word left their mouth. Though that only made this new theory of his stronger.

“So,” he asked in a tone that clearly showed just how done with this he was, “I have no idea what you said. But I’m gonna take a wild fucking guess and say that you’re some kind of fucking alien from another fucking planet.”

As soon as they nodded, an exasperated “of course, damn it all” left his mouth. It made sense. And now, he was apparently the pet of the purple dumbass from space. It sounded like a bad porno, and it was a whole lot to take in. His whole world was pretty much shattered. Aliens. They existed. One was right in front of him.

“Okay, well,” he said very carefully. “What’s your name?”

They thought on it for a moment, then said about the most unexpected thing they could’ve.

“Snail.”

He sighed deeply and repeated under his breath, “Snail.” He clicked his tongue and brought his hands up to his face in a prayer-like gesture. As if he hadn’t been forsaken. “Okay. Nice to meet you, I’m Daniel. Also, where the fuck are your clothes?”

“Clothes?”

Of course. He gestured to his pajamas. “Humans wear clothes because it’s unacceptable to walk around naked. I can’t believe I’m explaining this, fuck, I need tea…”

They cocked their head to the side. “What’s tea?”

“Leaves,” he answered in a huff. “You put them in hot water, and it makes tea.”

They lit up for a moment, then took off out the door to who knows where. Daniel shut it behind them, and dragged himself to the kitchen to make tea.

Several minutes later, as the water in the kettle just started to boil, Snail bounded into the room, hands full of leaves. They dropped them onto the counter and said, “I got you leaves! This is what you wanted, right?”

Someone save him.

“Close,” he said as he took the kettle of the stove and poured the water into his mug, “but no. You can’t just pick any dirty leaf off the ground, ew. You need special ones.” He raised the teabag up and gestured to it. “Like this.”

Snail’s face dropped. They looked at the leaves, then back to him, as if they didn’t know what to do.

“Please put those back,” he mumbled. Bag in the water, time to steep. “I don’t need them.”

They did just that, and stood off to the side while he waited. But just as he took his first sip, they decided to open their stupid mouth.

“So, you wanna fuck?”

He spit out his tea in shock, and brought a hand up to his mouth, face red because what the ever living hell. “Excuse me!?”

“You’re my pet,” they explained, as if he was the dumb one. “That’s what you’re for: fuck.”

“That is not what I’m for,” he hissed, rising up to his full height. Like hell he was going to be objectified like this! “I won’t stand for that bullshit outside of the bedroom! I’m more than just a piece of ass!”

Eyes wide, they said, “I know. You’re my pet.”

Snail had to have been the most dense person in the world. Or the universe. But something told him he didn’t have much of a choice in their head. But maybe he could put this off.

“We can fuck,” he said complacently, “after I get a bath. Okay?”

They nodded. And so he got to finish his tea in silence, and make his way up to the bathroom for a much needed bubble bath.

But of course, good things couldn’t last. He had barely spent five minutes soaking in the warm water, his tense muscles finally starting to relax, when Snail bursted into the room.

“Are you done yet?”

He brought his arms up over his chest, and thank god for these bubbles. “No! Get out!”

They infuriatingly stayed in place. “How long are you gonna take?”

“All day!” he snapped. It was a lie, but he just wanted them off his fucking back for more than two seconds.“Now leave me alone! I need to relax and you’re not helping!”

Finally. They left him alone and he could try to relax. But could he really stay in the tub all day? He didn’t have much better to do.

But that didn’t turn out to be the issue. After an hour he started getting pruney, and he wasn’t going to have that happen. So he reluctantly got out, drained the tub, and dried off. But this wasn’t him giving up, oh no. He had a plan cooking up in his head.

Dressed and ready to go, he crept down the stair and peeked through the banister to find them. They were tinkering with his consoles, but he couldn’t worry about that now. If they broke them, he’d just buy new ones. It was fine.

Carefully, he tiptoed his way down, eyes firmly locked onto Snail’s back. He put his hand on the lock, which made that same noise from earlier, and hightailed it to his car as soon as the door opened. Get keys out, put them in ignition, start the engine, hurry!

Tap-tap-tap!

Daniel froze, then sighed in defeat. He rolled down the window and looked at Snail. “What?”

“I thought you were gonna be in the bath all day,” they said with a small frown.

“Unexpected change of plans,” he bit out through gritted teeth. “Now I’m done. And I’m going somewhere, so…”

Their frown only deepened. “But you said we could fuck after your bath.”

“Well, I have somewhere important to be,” he said, hands firmly on the wheel. Today was already too damn long.

“Where?”

“Somewhere. Bye!”

Without another word, he pulled out of the driveway and practically sped off. Only once he left the neighborhood did he even relax the slightest bit. They couldn’t follow him. And he could finally have some alone time while he came to terms with his new reality.

It didn’t take long for him to reach the arcade. Home away from home. A sigh escaped him as he stepped into the building. Music, lights, games. This was the perfect place to relax.

“Daniel!”

What the fuck?

“How the hell did you get here?” he hissed at Snail, white hot fury building up in his chest. At least they somehow got a shirt and some shorts on. The last thing he wanted was to be kicked out for their indecency.

They only shrugged, and said, “So, are we gonna fuck?”

The frustration was too much to handle. It made his heart race, each thump like a painful stab. He rubbed his temples and said as calmly as he could, “Not right now. I’m so fucking stressed, I can’t even have time to myself, I just want to relax. That’s why I came here. I just want time to not deal with this whole pet bullshit. Do you even realize how much that is for someone to handle?”

A very faint beep filled the air.

“Hey, no, calm down, it’s okay!” they said, panicked as they put their hands on his shoulders. “You can relax! What do you wanna do? I’ll help you!”

“I just wanna play some games,” he answered, now feeling a little raw. “Don’t talk to me for a bit, okay? I don’t care if you watch, just don’t distract me.”

They nodded, and got to work on blocking them out as he went through his favorite games. After a while, when the fire in his chest cooled down, he started talking at them while he played. Telling them little things that he assumed they didn’t know. Did aliens have video games?

Apparently not, since they asked even the most simple questions. But, you know, it was kinda nice teaching them about everything. The wide-eyed look on their face when they saw his character do something cool was a little endearing. And of course they listened to him go on and on without telling him to shut up. They even pointed out different machines they wanted to see him play, and it gave him the opportunity to brag even more about his knowledge and skills.

Maybe having them around wouldn’t be so bad.

#snailbitch #they came from outer space #tentacle fuck au #fic #mod cantolope

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arplis · 5 years ago

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Arplis - News: “Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky

There have been as many plagues as wars in history, yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.” — Albert Camus, The Plague Time is cruelly elastic. When March began, Joe Biden was celebrating the resurgence of his presidential campaign after a win in the South Carolina primary. When March began, downtown Atlanta was packed with marathon runners, while the Hawks were, reliably, scraping the bottom of the Eastern conference. When March began, we were going to restaurants, and to school, and to soccer games and concerts and plays and funerals and weddings. When March began, we were going to work. When March began, dozens of Georgians were walking around with absolutely no idea that within a matter of days they would be dead from a virus that had traveled across the world only to alight on them. How many more of us will step into its crosshairs? Each day feels like a month. So much news is compressed into 24 hours—thousands more infected, ICUs at capacity, unemployment rates reaching heights not seen since the Great Depression, our 401ks decimated—that our brains seize up. Grocery store visits are planned with the precision of a wartime raid. Kids’ days are ostensibly scheduled—Reading! Enrichment! FaceTime with the teacher!—but how do you homeschool and telework at the same time? You don’t. The screens you once cursed are now free childcare. That’s, of course, if we even can work from home. Some of us can’t. Many of us have been laid off or furloughed as restaurants close their doors, as nonprofits’ funding dries up, as fitness studios go dark. Others of us who have been deemed “essential”—nurses, doctors, first responders, grocery-store workers, mail carriers, truck drivers, delivery people—come home late at night and shed our clothes outside so as not to bring the virus near our loved ones. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This was guaranteed to happen. But to us? Now? We spoke with our neighbors about the world we’ve left behind, and the one that awaits. Interviews edited for length and clarity. Tap on each person’s name to read their full interview. • • • Dr. Michelle Au | anesthesiologist at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital I first started hearing about the virus after Christmas. But the news still felt like something distant. It was in China, so you’re watching with this detached interest. I am in the unusual position of being a Chinese American physician with a public-health degree who also happens to be running for office [Au is a Democratic candidate for the 48th state Senate district, which incorporates parts of Fulton and Gwinnett counties]. I was talking with voters in the Chinese community who said that I should be speaking out on the issue more. I probably should have paid more attention. I should have taken it more seriously. Dr. Meria Carstarphen | superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools Right after Valentine’s Day, one of my friends was going to Venice, Italy. While my friend was there, they shut down Carnival [due to coronavirus]. That was my reality check. I said to our team, “We need to prepare for the day when we have to shut down the district.” There were moments where I felt I was pushing a wet noodle up a mountain. As things started escalating, we had to make decisions. I said, “We have to prepare a contingency plan that starts with the worst-case scenario.” Devon Clinkscales | senior at Booker T. Washington High School This year was my senior season of high school baseball, my last year. I was really excited about going out strong and getting ready for travel ball. It was my best opportunity to get some scouting. Hugh Acheson | owner of Empire State South in Midtown and 5 & 10 in Athens and operator of By George in the Candler Hotel The real canary in the coal mine was [in early March], reading about restaurants in Shanghai. Shanghai to Wuhan [where the virus is said to have originated] is an immense amount of distance. [Restaurants in Shanghai] were saying that they didn’t know how long they could stay open. Their sales were down 80 to 90 percent, and it was just a ghost town. We’re not an industry with deep pockets. Everybody’s like, “Oh, Hugh, you’ve been on TV. You must be rich.” I’m like, “You have no idea how this works, do you?” Kathy Weeks Lowery | self-employed travel agent in Marietta [A client] was supposed to leave on March 28 out of Tokyo for a 12-day cruise. That was her son’s college graduation gift. Holland America held tight. They said if she cancels now, she’s losing 50 percent of her money. That was January 24. Travel insurance doesn’t cover a pandemic. Since then, they canceled the cruise and gave her the rest of the money. Cruise lines are offering as much as 225 percent of your refund toward a future booking. For me, it’s been everything. I had 117 kids going to D.C. for a field trip, 10 people going to the Grove Park Inn, a busload going to Mary Mac’s and Hamilton. All canceled. I only get paid after clients travel. I figure this year’s income will be 20 percent of last year’s. Amy Phuong | vice president of government relations for the Atlanta Hawks My wedding was set for March 28. We had everything planned. I even had a final walkthrough at the venue on March 4. We’d invited 200 people. Mike Gallagher | co-owner of Brick Store Pub and Leon’s Full Service in Decatur, Good Word Brewing in Duluth, and partial owner of Kimball House. Together, the four restaurants employ approximately 200 people. 2019 was a tough year. We had opened [Good Word Brewing]. The contractor had gone belly up when we opened. We lost our chef and sous-chef. We had a lot of money invested in Duluth. But 2020 was starting great. We’d put down a sizeable amount of money on a redo of Brick Store. On February 26, after seven years running the pop-up restaurant Eat Me Speak Me, Jarrett Stieber opened his first permanent restaurant. The build-out took months. Jarrett Stieber | chef-owner of Little Bear in Summerhill We had inspectors tell us we had to change things, and we covered the cost. So, like every restaurant, we ran way over budget. We opened with $285 in our checking account after buying products for the first week and just prayed that we were busy. We, thankfully, were. On March 2, five days after Little Bear opened, Governor Brian Kemp announced the first two confirmed cases of coronavirus in Georgia—two members of the same household in Fulton County. Nationwide, only 90 cases had been confirmed, six of whom were fatalities. “Georgians should remain calm,” Kemp said. Stieber We had one customer who said that she couldn’t believe that a place like Little Bear was here, that it reminded her of restaurants in San Francisco. That’s exactly what I had in my head when I planned this restaurant, that small-capacity hole-in-the-wall that basically is a neighborhood restaurant in terms of how it feels but has food as good as any high-end restaurant. We were hitting our stride. Jarrett Stieber: “My focus is keeping the business open any way I can.” Photograph by Audra Melton Clinkscales On March 2, we were evicted from our apartment, but they didn’t change the locks. If they’d changed the locks, we’d have nowhere to go. Our stuff would be out on the street. My dad and my mother had a couple of disagreements on how to maintain. I have an older sister who has an apartment in a project, so my mother, my other sister, and my niece all moved in with her. But I stayed with my dad. He didn’t finish high school. He needs someone. He doesn’t understand how things work. I love my dad, and I have to be with him. Belisa Urbina | founder/executive director of Ser Familia, a nonprofit that provides services to Latino families My husband’s family is from Spain, so we knew what was going on there. We knew what was going on in other places. I knew that if this was happening in all these other countries, it was going to happen to us because we are connected. Flights are coming in and out. People are moving around. Shawn Ware | owner of Vibe Ride cycle studios When the news about the coronavirus first came out, I was taking a break at home, between working at the Westside studio in the morning and Grant Park in the afternoon. I thought, Okay, well, this is just a flu. I’ve always been a gym rat, and I’ve always joked that I’ve been a germophobe since I was in the womb. I’m always washing my hands, using hand sanitizer. I thought, So, now you all are jumping on board for what I’ve been doing my whole life? But then, as the hours and days went on, I realized this was serious. On Friday, March 6, President Trump, wearing khakis, a windbreaker, and a Keep America Great baseball cap, visited the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for a photo op and press conference, where he referenced his “natural ability” at understanding the complexities of virology and addressed the sluggish pace of testing for the virus. What he said wasn’t even a complete sentence: “As of right now, and yesterday, anybody who needs a test—and that’s the important thing.” While other countries were ramping up their tests to include even those who were asymptomatic—results which indicate who is contagious and who is not—the United States was (and as of late March remained) unequipped to test any but those suffering the most extreme symptoms. By Monday, March 9, the number of Georgians who’d tested positive for the virus had climbed to six, with 11 more presumed positive. Kemp announced that space at Hard Labor Creek State Park in east Georgia would be outfitted to accept COVID-19 patients who needed to be isolated. Phuong Even that week [of March 9], I started out feeling like, Okay, our wedding is so soon there’s no way it’s going to be impacted. Even though Italy at that time had made a turn for the worse, [my fiance] Kerry’s family is from Spain, and we felt good because they weren’t impacted the way Italy was. Then, we got to Wednesday, and that’s when it dramatically switched. That’s when the Hawks had their final game. That was the same evening that Trump instituted the travel ban from Europe. Kerry’s family would not be able to make it. Carstarphen The day when I said to my fellow superintendents that I’m considering closing the district even though we don’t have any cases—that was a bit of a shock. Even to myself. I work with children. So, the idea that I would even put on the table this notion that they might not have a prom, they might not be able to play for the state championship, they might not be able to get closure after 12 years of public school, that their moment gets snatched away from them? It’s sobering how your decision can change the direction of people’s lives. Dock Hollingsworth | senior pastor at Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church Wednesday, March 11, was a turning point. We were here for the Wednesday night services. There was still a lot of levity. A 94-year-old man came up to me and said, “Boy, I was relieved that this is targeting people 60 to 80 since it’s been so long since I was 80.” By Thursday morning we were in a whole different mode. I was in a peer group with other Atlanta pastors. Everyone was asking, “What measures are you taking?” Keisha Lance Bottoms | mayor of Atlanta I went to Sam’s Club on Thursday. A woman asked me what I was doing there. “The same thing you’re doing.” I have four kids at home. My husband makes grocery runs on his way home from work. But I knew we needed to stock up with a family of six. I’m now cooking three meals a day. But my personal adjustment pales in comparison to what’s happening. People are dying. Urbina We provide services to about 4,500 people. The services that we provide are very difficult to find. To give you an idea, there are 700,000 Latinos in metro Atlanta but there are less than 70 counselors who are fully licensed that can speak Spanish. There are four psychologists in the state of Georgia who can speak Spanish, and there are five psychiatrists who can speak Spanish. Latino children have twice the chance of having anxiety and depression compared to other teens. Our Latina girls, almost 20 percent of them attempt suicide. Joey Camp | cook at Waffle House in Canton who also drives a party bus part-time I started getting pneumonia [in early March]. I felt like I was drowning. The chills had gotten so bad that I could not keep my teeth from chattering. If my teeth weren’t chattering, I was coughing. [On March 12,] I went to the emergency room. They did all these tests—a CT scan with contrast, x-rays, everything. They were like, You got really bad pneumonia. We’re going to put you in a room and monitor you for a few days. Well, I was in there for probably nine hours when they hung the isolation box on my door. Which is where they keep all these gloves, smocks, and masks that everybody has to put on before they’re allowed into the room. I got a little nervous. Photograph by Audra Melton Phuong It hit me Friday night. We’d been planning so long, and now, our wedding is not going to happen. It was emotional. Dr. Laurence Busse | medical director, critical care, Emory Johns Creek Hospital On March 13, it was profound the amount of people coming into the ER. That was a scary day, and we all finished that day thinking, What are we in for? Dr. Jessica Nave | hospital medicine, Emory University Hospital I was hoping that, by early April, we’d peak. But now, my projection is we’ll peak at the end of April. And that’s still optimistic. It’s just the numbers. If you look at Seattle and New York, they’re still going. We didn’t start getting cases until the second week of March. We have to have a solid month of getting hit really hard before we peak. Marshall Rancifer | homeless advocate and relief worker There are 4,000 homeless people out there on the streets. Youth and adults. Homeless people share everything: food, clothes, hygiene products, blunts, crack pipes, needles sometimes. I brought a bunch of crack pipes to them so they wouldn’t share pipes. Some don’t know there is a virus outbreak in the city. They don’t have access to social media or the news. If you’re not in a shelter, you’re walking around in suspended animation all day. I saw people starting to light cigarettes and pass them around. I knocked the cigarettes out of their hands. I said, “You can’t share cigarettes, can’t share food, don’t touch nobody, don’t shake nobody’s hand. Don’t hug nobody.” Had to explain to the mothers in a park on Proctor Street what they can and can’t do. We’re not just educating the homeless; we are educating poor people and marginalized folks. They just don’t know. The weekend of March 14-15 was surreal. Social media and television were talking about nothing else, and school districts across the state, including Atlanta Public Schools, were announcing or had just begun indefinite closures. But for many Atlantans, life went on as normal. Bars were full. Restaurants were open. The BeltLine was packed. At Brick Store in Decatur, the owners decided to go ahead with a planned St. Patrick’s Day celebration, which included a short parade to the bar, scheduled for Saturday. Their decision, announced on the bar’s Facebook page the day before, brought out the knives. “You are encouraging people to make a very selfish decision,” wrote one of the more restrained commenters. “Public health providers are telling us to behave AS IF WE HAVE THE VIRUS, because many of us likely do.” Gallagher Calling it a “parade” is a stretch, because there were about 15 to 25 people. There were more people congregated in front of retail stores than there were in the parade. But we did it, and we had our event. We removed some tables. We put some tables spread out outside. We removed some barstools. I think people were clustering with whom they felt safe, their own household member or a family member, and then they spread out otherwise. It wasn’t six feet apart in the whole place, for sure. But our staff was militant about sanitizing bartops, tabletops, stools, chairs, menus in between their reuse, faucets. I got a lot of feedback from staff and guests about how meaningful it was to them and how they viewed it as a beacon of hope in an otherwise bleak moment in time. So we certainly got a lot of great feedback. But the bashing on social media was unfortunate and unnecessary, quite frankly. Carstarphen I always believed we would be here at mitigation—not prevention, not containment. Mitigation was probably the only way we’d go given the spirit of our country, given we’re a democracy, given that people love their personal freedoms and their individual decision-making. Stieber This is the first time that social media and the general public have been able to kind of force people’s hands in a business sense, beyond just what is recommended from a health standpoint. We live in an era where people are so polarized and proselytizing of everything from behind their screens that whether you want to stay open right now, to fight for your business, you don’t really have much of a choice because of the stigma associated with doing so. As new restrictions kept restaurants from opening to guests, they pivoted to takeout operations. They started GoFundMe accounts for furloughed staff. At Brick Store, owners reduced their menu to soups and sandwiches. Donations to the “soup kitchen”—meant to compensate workers—were encouraged, but if you couldn’t pay, you could still grab a bag. Acheson My real worry is for all the people that I promised to provide for and can’t. That’s very hard, because I want on my tombstone to be remembered as a good employer, and a good human, and a good dad. The people who are going to get hit worst by this are undocumented. It’s not like we have a huge number of them on the payroll, but across the country, there are. They can’t get unemployment. They pay taxes through payrolls, but they don’t get taxes back. They are screwed. But we’re all screwed. Everybody’s like, Well, we’ll recover. No. Fifty percent of the restaurants that just shut down across this country will never reopen. Gallagher Most restaurants are lucky to have two full weeks’ worth of financial runway, and employees, probably even less. A lot of these guys are paycheck-to-paycheck. We are taking the money from the GoFundMe, the money from the gift cards, and any additional monies that have been given, and we’re divvying them up among staff on this upcoming payroll. We’re going to try to find an hourly threshold. For instance, if you worked 24 hours or less, you’ll get this pay rate. If you’re 25 or more, you’ll get that pay rate. We felt that was the most equitable, least cumbersome way to do it. I’ll be honest, it was tough. Do you pay more because they make more? Do you pay more because they need more? Do you pay more because they worked with you longer? Acheson I’m really happy that people are buying gift certificates. If we sell $2,000 of to-go food today, I’ll be impressed. That does not equate to being able to pay $16,000 in rent next month that Empire State owes and payroll costs of $44,000 every two weeks. Urbina Our community works in hospitality, restaurants, construction. Those are the first industries that are affected. We have already had clients who have lost their jobs. They know that they’re probably not going to be able to pay rent at the beginning of April. While most coronavirus infections don’t require hospitalization, roughly 15 percent do. Usually, though not always, the person needing hospitalization is elderly or immunocompromised. The infection ravages the lungs, leading often to pneumonia. Patients can’t get enough oxygen on their own. Some require a ventilator, a machine that augments the patient’s respiration through forced exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Busse I’m critical care. So, when patients get to me, they’re in dire straits. The typical thing that’s seen down in the emergency room is fever, some increased work of breathing, some hypoxia [low levels of oxygen in tissue], and some malaise or body aches. Those folks who have, let’s say, a little bit of increased work of breathing or need some oxygen would be admitted to have supportive care while they get through their illness. But if they have a higher degree of oxygen needs or they’re in septic shock or they’re in kidney failure, then they come to me. And those folks can be exquisitely ill, anywhere from just needing a few extra liters of oxygen to having multiorgan failure and needing a full bevy of life support. Dr. Laurence Busse: “When patients get to me, they’re in dire straits.” Photograph by Audra Melton Nave Sometimes illness is difficult to define by objective measures. We’ll get a call from the ER physician saying, “I think this patient needs to get admitted.” I’m looking at their chart and saying, “Well, they’re not hypoxic, they’re fine.” They’ll say, “Just come and lay your eyes on them.” So, I do, and it’s, “Oh yeah, this person is not going to do well.” They have a look about them. Their breathing pattern is abnormal. They’re using more accessory muscles. Au The act of intubating a COVID-19 patient is essentially the highest-risk procedure you can do. As you’re putting in that tube and they’re breathing out through this channel you’re putting in, it gives an opportunity for the virus to be in the air. Usually, it’s in droplets. Aerosolized virus can float around. It’s one of the most infectious potential procedures you can do on a COVID patient. The person who is best and most senior and experienced at doing intubations should do it. They take the least amount of time possible. Put in the tube, quick, hook up the ventilator, and minimize exposure to everyone. Nave Some of our sickest patients have been in their late 20s to late 30s and otherwise healthy. We don’t know why. Camp On Saturday [March 13], they tested me for COVID-19, and I got positive affirmation on Monday. How in the world did I get this? I have not been to Italy, I haven’t been to China, I haven’t been around people, to my knowledge, that have been to those places. I live a very boring life. When they finally told me on Monday, they also released me from the hospital to self-quarantine. The house I was living in had an infant in it. I didn’t want to take the chance of getting that infant sick. So, I was like, “I need options.” Camp was brought to Hard Labor Creek State Park and put in a camper to recuperate until he was no longer contagious. He was there for six days. Camp It had a nice bed in it. There were cookies. The state health officials were super helpful. I asked them to go on a grocery run because a diabetic cannot live on chips and cookies. And they went and got me some bananas, some apples, some cucumbers—all this stuff for me to snack on. I offered to pay for some of the stuff, and they wouldn’t have it. They paid for my medicine. They got me a new blood-sugar meter. The first few days were rough. The coughing was the worst part at that point. I had stopped having chills, I had stopped having a fever, but I was still coughing my brains out. It was like starting a car. Just whoop, whoop, whoop, just constant. And it just slowly went away. One day, I was coughing every three or four minutes; the next day, it was every half hour; the next day, it was every hour. And by the time I was done, I was only coughing very, very rarely, when I got a tickle in the back of my throat. It wasn’t even in my lungs anymore. Au We know that some of the sick are going to be our colleagues. We know that the more we are going to engage, the more people are going to be sick. Over the weekend, I started sleeping in the guest room in the basement because it’s separate from the rest of the house. I have my own bathroom because I don’t want to share a bathroom with anyone. I’m very meticulous about hygiene now—I mean, I always was because I work in the hospital—but now it’s like, shower and change into clean clothes before I leave the hospital. And then, I shower and change clothes again [once I’m home]. Rancifer I wasn’t scared before, but I’m scared now. My father and mother always taught me not to run away from trouble—run toward it, because you can be the person who can change something or save someone’s life. But once this gets out of hand, I’m not going to run toward someone that can kill me. I’m 63. I fall under the category of major at-risk. After I meet with big groups of folks, I skim down to my skivvies. I wear two pairs of gloves. When I get in the car I take my clothes off and throw them on the ground. I take the top pair of gloves off and put them in a disposable Ziploc bag. Then, I take the sanitized clothes out, get dressed, and then move on back home. Au Yesterday I cried talking to a high-school friend. When you’re at home, because the kids are there, you want to be like, Everything’s cool. It is so disruptive for them, so you put on the cheerful face. And at work, since I’m an attending physician, you want to put forth that “everything’s under control.” You get accustomed to trying to keep other people calm. But talking to someone that I’ve known before this, it was just an unguarded moment. What if I get sick? [My husband and I are] rewriting our wills right now. He’s a doctor, too. One of us has to stay well. Clinkscales My mom is worrying about what we’re going to do. She is part of a housecleaning business, but people haven’t been allowing them into their homes because of precautions. My dad works in building services for a hotel, and his income has been dropping. Because of the pandemic, baseball has been canceled, five games in. Colleges aren’t recruiting. Some schools aren’t even accepting students. Ware I spent most of the day today on the phone with our creditors and sending emails to landlords and to the people we lease bikes from, and they’re like, We get it. They’ve been extremely understanding, but it is a very, very scary time. One of our creditors said, We can defer for three months but we’ll still collect interest. Our largest creditor, Wells Fargo, is deferring payments with no late fees and no interest and no reporting to our credit bureau. But a community bank is going to charge us interest. They said, That’s just what we have to do. When we sent the email that we were going to suspend everyone’s membership, we had 35 to 40 people call and say, Don’t cancel. Don’t suspend our accounts. We want to continue to pay because we know you are hit hard, and this is our gym. We want to help and support you as much as we can. Some of these people have been members since the beginning. They’re not clients or strangers; they opened the doors with us. That has been so amazing. Shawn Ware: “I spent most of the day today on the phone with our creditors.” Photograph by Audra Melton Acheson I had $26 in my checking account last week, last week, before this all happened. I’m borrowing personal funds from people I know to pay payroll. Small business is being abandoned. It’s been abandoned for a long time in this country. Nobody has any inkling about how much hurt this is going to do. Lobbyists are on the Hill right now getting every meeting that they want to bail out Delta Air Lines yet again, and the auto industry is going to get bailed out. One in 10 people in the States work for the hospitality industry. Nobody’s bailing us out. We bail out all the wrong people in this country, consistently, over and over again. These are the same people who don’t want Medicare for All, yet they want a socialist handout when they make bad decisions in business, and they go broke. When the coronavirus closed Atlanta Public Schools, the district implemented a massive effort to continue offering free meals to its 52,416 students. Working with the Atlanta Community Food Bank, APS offers a bag of free groceries every Monday at four locations around town. The district hosts an additional giveaway on Tuesdays and is offering meal service at 10 sites around town, including delivery of meals via the school bus system. Carstarphen Our goal as of yesterday was to be at 40,000 meals on any given day in a school district. We let everyone eat. As food supplies diminish or are late, and as staff continue to self-quarantine and find other challenges trying to come to work every day, we’ll have staffing shortages. Bottoms I drove to my mother’s house, and she stood outside my car. I hadn’t seen my mother in a few weeks. Which isn’t normal. My grandmother would quote the Bible: “Be anxious for nothing.” You hear from people all the time, “This, too, shall pass.” I had to write that on the wall in the mayor’s office to remind myself. We’re going to be alright. When I need to take a breath and clear my mind, I’ll go and sort some shoes. This too shall pass. Camp I work in the service industry. Half of my income has been wiped out by this. The party bus industry is on hiatus because all the bars are shut down, proms were shut down, all of that. That’s killing my income. I still have bills. Part of me feels like the government shouldn’t be telling businesses to close their doors. I feel like that should be a case-by-case basis. Busse The preparation [by the federal government] has been poor, but I didn’t really expect it not to be. Do you plan for the worst-case scenario? Or do you put resources elsewhere? So, the response in general has not been great. And I think that’s sort of what I expected. And frankly, if I was in that position, I’m not sure I would’ve done it differently. I mean, it’s really hard to plan for something like this. I’ve never had this in my lifetime. And I’ve been here for Ebola, for H1N1 influenza, and I was here for the first SARS illness back in 2003. We’ve seen these things erupt on a regional level but never really become a global pandemic. This is new in our generation. Urbina My nightmare is that one of my employees gets sick, and I have to close my office, and our families have nowhere to go. At the moment, what we need most are donations or gift cards. One donor asked if she could bring baby formula, and I said yes, that would be fantastic. We have another person who asked if they could bring baskets of food. Yes, whatever you think you can do. We are very grateful. Busse When we run out of ventilators, that’s not something that we can just pull out of the closet. So, we’re relying on and hoping for support from the government to get more ventilators. We’re relying on and hoping for support from industry to get us more resources. We’re using what we have now, and once that’s it, once we’re out, we’re going to have to get creative. We don’t have enough N95 masks. We don’t have enough personal protective equipment. We’re using what we have, and we are hoping that we don’t get the virus. Nave We’ve started rationing our personal protective equipment. We’re trying to be very, very smart about when to use it and on which patients. It’s kept under lock and key because there’s panic even in the healthcare system when something like this hits. People start hoarding. Ware My husband is 60 and has heart disease, so we want to make sure he is extra-protected. I’m a breast-cancer survivor. We live in a condo downtown. We are in and out of the parking garage, touching that door all the time. Those are the things we have to be conscious about. We’re here, and we’re in the house more now, obviously. But it’s fine, it’s family time. We’ve got a puzzle. I got me some wine. Brad Levenberg | rabbi at Temple Sinai So many of us have relied on physical gatherings to provide comfort when we’re going through difficult times. When it’s joyous, we gather to celebrate. In the days after 9/11, we gathered in homes and apartments to watch the news. Now, this kind of support is all being challenged. We need to find other ways. Busse Right now we’re not seeing the normal volume of patients that show up needing care at the hospital. And is that because patients are being more careful and taking their medicine and having telehealth visits with their primary-care doctors? Are they no longer using the emergency room as a sort of a primary-care outlet? And it makes me think: Is this what healthcare could be if we were sort of using the system appropriately? Now, of course, the pessimist in me worries that when this is all said and done, we’re going to look at mortality and morbidity of people that were not infected with COVID-19 and we’re going to see that go up. Nave Italy had so many cases that all presented at once that it overwhelmed their entire system, and they’re having to choose who’s going to live and who’s going to die. They’re looking at two patients who are actively dying and there’s one ventilator, and they’re saying “You get it.” That’s probably the most horrific experience for a physician. I can’t even imagine. That’s what we don’t want. Hollingsworth We are in the holy season of Lent right now. It’s already designed to be a season of introspection and asking the big questions. So, in many ways, this makes the Lenten questions more real and more pressing because the ground is shaky under people. But personally the ground doesn’t feel that shaky to me. Because I have a different kind of existential hope. We may see people turning to the church to ask, Are there answers there that perhaps I’ve been making fun of for a long time? This is an opportunity to live inside a hope that is not built on markets or how many widgets you can sell. Carstarphen This is going to have a huge and disproportionate impact on black and brown and poor children. When you’re in a city that has the label of being the most unequal city in America when it comes to income disparity, and you’re working with people who are already fragile and incredibly strained in the healthiest of economies, this is crushing. If you’re wealthy, you can still get the access to the things you need for your family. Our kids weren’t getting that at the outset. It took a pandemic to wake up some people to know that we have to support our marginalized brothers and sisters. Clinkscales I don’t have money to pay for college on my own. Scholarships have been taken away. I’ve been thinking about starting a business. I have always wanted to own a sports bar. Now, I’m scared about what I’m going to do after I graduate. I was working hard, doing extracurricular activities, filling out scholarship applications, playing sports, trying to do something better for my family. And it all got taken away because of the virus. Devon Clinkscales: “I’m scared about what I’m going to do after I graduate.” Photograph by Audra Melton Urbina This pandemic has proved how connected we are. Nobody can say that they have not been touched by this. I am Latina, but if something is happening to my friends in the black community, it’s my problem. I have to do something about it because they’re my people. With everything that’s happening to the Asian community, I feel so sad that people have made them feel they are to blame for the situation, which, they’re not. We need everybody’s help so we can survive. There will be repercussions from this that we can’t even imagine right now. Do whatever you can, but just do something. Stieber My main focus is keeping the business open any way I possibly can, which right now means switching to a to-go–only format this week. But we have to do what we have to do, and I’m doing whatever I can to make sure I pay my staff and keep their jobs. If you have the ability to stay home and still get paid and you’re willing to share with the people who need it, then do so. Just stop posting the same memes—pony up and do something legitimate to help. Nave I don’t leave my house a lot [when I’m not at the hospital]. We have gone to the grocery store. We do not bring our children. I keep hand sanitizer in my purse. The second I get in my car, I sanitize my hands again. We bring all the groceries in, unload then, and immediately wipe every single food item down: boxes, milk jugs, whatever. Then, we take a wipe and retrace our entire steps from the time we entered the house—every doorknob, every baby gate, every counter. Levenberg This is a time when you don’t have to put your life on the line to be a hero. You’re a hero when you pay your yard people to not show up. When you pay your cleaning people to stay home. When you send a gift card to teachers who are learning new tools to teach your children. These are all heroic measures. Bottoms I’ve been thinking a lot about the Holocaust and the diary of Anne Frank, how people’s lives changed and they had to go in hiding. When I think about that, this is a minor inconvenience. There are people who live across the globe with disease and war. I’m in a house with AC and a backyard and two dogs who get to run around and play. It’s made me grateful just about the little things—going to a restaurant, getting your nails done, going to the store. These conveniences we take for granted our entire lives. It’s given me a perspective, another layer of empathy. Nave This is a different infectious agent than we have ever seen in most of our lifetimes. This truly is unprecedented. I was at Emory when we dealt with Ebola. Ebola’s mortality is way worse than this, and it’s very infectious—but not as infectious as this. This is crazy: You start with one city in China, and now, the whole world has it because we’re so interconnected. This is such an unprecedented infectious agent that we have to be more diligent and cautious, even at the cost of some of the economics of this country. Because how do you put value on a life? Hollingsworth If we have a death in our community, it’s our practice to come together as a community and tell stories. We can’t do that now. But an interment can’t wait. The staff here will do small graveside services, and we’ll encourage families to push a memorial service into the future. Gallagher [My wife and I have] had some difficult talks about the greater good. Is it being available as a soup kitchen, or selling food to raise money for our staff, or closing down and keeping the highest level of social distancing? This morning, she shared a dream she had where she was in the grocery store and there was too many people and she could see the hand sanitizer and she couldn’t get to it. Levenberg I hope we have a renewed understanding of those who are more marginalized than we are and of the privileges we claim by default. Maybe that sense will be awakened in people who are seeing that there are a lot of people who are worse off, who are seeing that they’ve milked the existing system for their families at the expense of others. Amy Phuong and Kerry O’Brate Photograph by Audra Melton Phuong We thought, What’s preventing us from still getting married? So, we went to the courthouse to get our marriage license the last day the court was open. We pulled up the weather app to look for a date when it wasn’t going to rain. Bill Bolling [the founder of Atlanta Community Food Bank, who was officiating] said, “Pick a pretty spot.” I thought, let’s just pick our neighborhood park, Cabbagetown Park. When Kerry and I first started dating, it was midway between our houses. My parents came, my sister. We had to keep it under 10. We had hand sanitizer. I picked up pastries from Alon’s that morning. We used Kerry’s Zoom account to do some livestreaming. We wanted to make sure family and friends got to be a part of it. On the virtual stream, somebody wore pearls, somebody put on a dress and makeup, someone wore a tuxedo T-shirt, one of the bridesmaids who couldn’t be there even wore her dress. There was a beautiful moment in the ceremony where Bill was addressing the virtual crowd. His remarks almost made the park feel like it was full. He did an affirmation: “Will you guys support this couple?” That was a beautiful moment, looking over at an iPhone on a tripod and hearing everyone say, “We will.” Expanded interviews: These Georgians had so much more to say than we had space to print. To read their full stories, click on the names below. Dr. Michelle Au | Dr. Meria Carstarphen | Devon Clinkscales | Hugh Acheson | Amy Phuong | Mike Gallagher | Jarrett Stieber | Belisa Urbina | Shawn Ware |Dock Hollingsworth | Keisha Lance Bottoms | Joey Camp | Dr. Laurence Busse | Dr. Jessica Nave | Marshall Rancifer | Brad Levenberg This article appears in our May 2020 issue. The post 21st Century Plague appeared first on Atlanta Magazine. #JarrettStieber #EmpireStateSouth #KeishaLanceBottoms #MichelleAu #Coronavirus

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/everybody-knows-that-pestilences-have-a-way-of-recurring-in-the-world-yet-somehow-we-find-it-hard-to-believe-in-ones-that-crash-down-on-our-heads-from-a-blue-sky

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Sports Analytics: Market Size, Analysis, Strategies and Forecast Report Worldwide, 2015 to 2021

Sports Analytics: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021. The 2015 study has 472 pages, 177 tables and figures. Worldwide markets are poised to achieve significant growth as the cloud computing for utility infrastructure and the tablets and smart phone communications systems make training information more cogent and more available, remaking all sporting everywhere.

Information services will leverage automated process to leverage cloud computing: services the value of sports analytics is the predictive capabilities provided. The best sports teams are the ones using the power of real-time information to their advantage. What to measure? What real time information is the best? Can the players game the analytics systems?

Request A Sample Copy of This Report at: https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/sports-analytics-market-shares-strategies-and-forecasts-worldwide-2015-to-2021/request-sample

Lets start with the story of Babe Ruth. The “Babe” used to come to every at bat with the desire to win the game. So early in the game, aware that at the end of the game it would fall on him to win the game, the “Babe” would deliberately strike out on pitches that he really could hit. Later in the game, the pitcher would remember the pitches that had gotten the “Babe” out and “Babe Ruth” could hit with ease, winning the game defying the statisticians.

So, Babe Ruth used sports analytics in the 1930’s in reverse, hoping to entice the pitcher to throw that very pitch he could hit in a tight situation later in the game. His very success illustrates that in sports analytics sophistication is needed. For sports analytics to track Babe Ruth, it would have been necessary to look at the pitches he could hit at the end of the game, not just everything that came at him. How sophisticated is that? You have to know your players to do good sports analytics.

Babe Ruth is at the center of one of the sad stories of sporting in Boston. The Boston Red Sox baseball team, in 2003, had not won a world series since Babe Ruth was sold to New York, the so called “Curse of the Bambino.” John Henry, a financial analytics wizard came along and purchased the Boston Red Sox along with other partners and he took the team to three world series using sports analytics as the dominant force for running the team and building fan enthusiasm. Sports become the model for predictive business decision making. Business has been reorganized among teams, inspired by sports. Analytics, developed by businesses are finding innovative use in sports, leading to models for business to organize and manage teams.

Sports analytics market driving forces relate to the ability to improve winning percentages and decrease the cost of paying players. By implementing metrics functions that describe how to put together a winning team without a very high payroll, sports analytics provide a winning edge to team management. Analytics are used to figure out how a team can improve fan appeal.

Browse Full Research Report with TOC on https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/sports-analytics-market-shares-strategies-and-forecasts-worldwide-2015-to-2021

Sports analytics are used for creating fantasy leagues, giving sports fantasy players access to statistics that enhances their play of the game. It is used to improve scouting, to detect new player unusual talent and evaluate players competitive capability. Using the system, the agent gains competitive advantage with teams when they present analysis about the players they represent.

Shift charts represent an image of changing data. In the chart above, the numbers along the top represent the shifts played during the game.. The black lines represent goals scored and show what line was on the ice offensively and defensively for each goal scored in each period, period one, period two, and period three. Sport analytics are about patterns, detecting patterns and attaching value to them by being able to predict better what players will succeed and what players will do well in a certain system. The patterns apply to teams, to players and to fans.

The data about the sport is relevant in a lot of different ways, some teams are more able than others to harness the patterns to their benefit. Does it make a difference? Do the teams with better analytics win? Apparently so. The MIT sports analytics conference is a testament to the value of technology in sports. In hockey, analytics has been adopted big time, the trend this summer of 2015 has been for NHL clubs to hire bloggers and website operators so their content is proprietary.

Play of the Game is what makes sports entertainment, and the players entertainers. Hockey is a particularly appealing sport because it has so much player contact. It is a contact sport. Some of the better plyers play with finesse. Ovechkin for example, who had 27 even-strength goals this season (fifth in the league) and who scored a league-leading 24 power play goals is fun to watch. He is a premier player because of style and this makes him a fan favorite.

According to Susan Eustis, principal author of the market research study, “Sports teams have discovered that with intelligent use of sports analytics they can dominate a league. As the early adopters prove that analytics makes the difference between winning and losing, all teams, mangers, and fantasy sports players need to adopt use of the solutions creating market growth opportunities.”

Sports analytics market size at $125 million in 2014 is anticipated to reach $4.7 billion by 2021. Significant growth is driven by the smart phone and social media in addition to cloud computing market penetration. With smart phones and tablets beginning to get significant uptake all over the world sports analytics play into that market expansion. Growth is a result of sports league and team department efforts.

WinterGreen Research is an independent research organization funded by the sale of market research studies all over the world and by the implementation of ROI models that are used to calculate the total cost of ownership of equipment, services, and software. The company has 35 distributors worldwide, including Global Information Info Shop, Market Research.com, Research and Markets, Electronics.CA, Bloomberg, and Thompson Financial.

WinterGreen Research is positioned to help customers face challenges that define the modern enterprises. The increasingly global nature of science, technology and engineering is a reflection of the implementation of the globally integrated enterprise. Customers trust WinterGreen Research to work alongside them to ensure the success of the participation in a particular market segment.

WinterGreen Research supports various market segment programs; provides trusted technical services to the marketing departments. It carries out accurate market share and forecast analysis services for a range of commercial and government customers globally. These are all vital market research support solutions requiring trust and integrity

Companies Profiled

· Market Leaders

· Essence

· UTC / Interlogix

· Tyco

· GE

· Hager Group Daitem Atral E-Nova

· Google Nest

· Apple

· Essence

· RISCO Group

· Paradox

· Philips Hue

· Tyco

· Google / Nest

· Samsung

· Belkin Wemo

· UTC / Interlogix

· 2GIG

· GE

Market Participants

· Assa Abloy

· August 226

· Canary

· Comcast

· Digilock

· Hager Group

· HTC

· Icontrol Networks

· Ivee

· LG

· Nortek Security & Control LLC

· Sercomm

· United Technologies Corp /UTC

About Radiant Insights Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, our experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions.

Media Contact: Michelle Thoras 201 Spear Street 1100, Suite 3036, San Francisco, CA 94105, United States Tel: 1-415-349-0054 Toll Free: 1-888-928-9744 Mail: [email protected]

#Sports Analytics Market Share #Sports Analytics Market Growth

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