#checkpoint learning reviews

[elkyralt]

To be real, I am greatful to the QSMP.

Even if currently everything is in a...dire state, and the departure of the admins is a sad turn, I am still greatful for all the moments we've had.

Even small things like Cellbit's silly fruit mountain tournament couldn't have happened if not for creators like Etoiles, Tina, Tubbo, Foolish, etc meeting him through the QSMP, and I think the ripple effect that it's had on breaking language barriers and igniting passion for language learning is incredible and something to be celebrated!

The project is far from perfect and I'm not trying to claim it was purely positive - but the reach it has had on uniting communities from different backgrounds is something I've never seen before, and I'd never thought I'd be staying up watching Missa Sinfonia review flex tape completely in Spanish and be able to follow the video and laugh along to the jokes. Likewise, I'd never thought I'd be watching Etoiles grind Mario Kart in French and use translated caption to help me understand what is being said.

I'm rambling I'm well aware, but I did want to share my outlook even if everything goes to absolute shit after this (which I do not think, for the record) I can say that I have enjoyed the experience. This isn't a goodbye by any means even if I do realise it kind of sounds like one, just more of a checkpoint and review of the time spent here :]

[ros3ybabe]

Daily Check-in: July 8th, 2024 🎀

Monday was a really good but really tiring day. I was falling asleep on the ride home from work, and I almost fell asleep on video call with my boyfriend. Twas rough. But I managed to stay awake, enjoy my time with him on video, and then fall asleep immediately after!

🩷 What I Accomplished

15 minutes of Spanish study on Busuu (about 3 lessons and a checkpoint quiz)

got some recommendations to aid in my Korean learning

did my morning skincare

did my morning journaling

worked an 8 hour shift

got a response from the Financial aid office at my University about some requirment they had emailed about, and got my worries lessened

talked to my boyfriend on the phone before he went into work

💔 What Could've Gone Better

was late to work on accident because they updated the schedule and no one told me

found out they didn't pay me right for my upcoming paycheck and I now have to talk to my boss about fixing my pay and paying me what I've earned and am missing

had a mini fight with my boyfriend because of his mom and some other underlying issues that we're working to resolve

got really anxious in the morning and had to leave the hotel room for fresh air

still haven't done laundry

need to study languages more

💗 Stuff For Tomorrow (Tuesday, July 9th)

appointment over zoom with my psyc doc from home

scholarship applications!!!!

look at and compare prices of airbnbs and hotels for when my boyfriend comes to visit me once I'm back home

actually do my laundry

morning skincare + journaling

night time skincare + journaling

study Spanish on Busuu + do some listening practice (maybe some shadowing as well to work on my speaking)

review Spanish flashcards!!!!

refill my water bottle + the gallon we have in the room

look at furniture + decor to buy for when I move once back home

job search on Indeed for when I go back home

💕 Song of The Day: Hurricane by BadVillain

this song is so good, like what the heck

Tuesday is gonna be a day where I am on my laptop quite a lot. But it'll be a good day, ill be productive and get lots done! Hopefully I can head into town tomorrow or do something fun after my day today.

til next time lovelies 🩷

[girlactionfigure]

🟠 SUN morning - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

( 1 of 2 )

▪️A HERO SOLIDER HAS FALLEN.. in battle in Gaza: Yakir Shmuel Tatelbaum, 21, from Ma’ale Adumim.  May his family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may G-d avenge his blood!

.. A MESSAGE FROM THE MOTHER OF YAIR AVITAN - who was reported fallen last night:

I received the messengers of Iyov (Job) at my door last night around 5:00 PM.  I received the difficult news in silence just like Aharon HaCohen, who learned about his 2 sons who died. "Vidom Aharon".

On this occasion, I want to hug and strengthen first and foremost the commanders and fighters, your beloved children, who today are also mine.   Raise your head! Don't cry! Don't lose heart! This is the last war. Fight the enemy without mercy, for the sake of all the people of Israel!

We will win and in a big way only in one way - if we love each other, embrace and hold each other. We will not hate, we will not take revenge and we will not review one another.

My son died a martyr's death. He is now sitting under the kisay hakavod, under the holy throne of the creator of the world, watching over us from the best place a soul can reach and asking you one thing - don't be sad.

I personally do not intend to leave the battle, on the contrary, I AM ENLISTING IN PLACE OF MY SON.

I will continue to assist the boys in everything and anything until victory. 

All hope that my son will be the last sacrifice.

The enemy made a grave mistake, he didn't know what kind of mother he was dealing with.  I have very strong ties with the Creator of the world and I assure you that the revenge on the part of the Almighty will be so severe from now on that even the enemy will not understand from where it fell on him. 

Am Yisroel Chai - The nation of Israel lives. 🇮🇱

▪️PROTEST LAST NIGHT - ANTI-GOVT.. Kaplan area, Tel Aviv, which became violent as police tried to arrest someone who set a fire by the Histadrut building and a Member of Knesset (conflicting stories) either interfered with the arrest or was assaulted by police as she tried to observe.

▪️(SOME) HOSTAGE FAMILIES SAY.. Statement by representatives of some of the families of the abductees outside Kirya in Tel Aviv:  "We have been informed that the Biden administration is working to renew negotiations for a deal. What stands between us and our loved ones is Netanyahu's insistence on not ending the war as part of a deal. The continuation of the war means the murder of the hostages.”  (( The moral situation becomes clear - Israel failed in keeping its citizens safe. But it cannot allow Hamas to survive after what Hamas did - or Israel will not survive. The families are doing what they should be - advocating for their loved ones at all cost.  But Israel can’t pay all costs without putting millions of people at risk. ))

♦️IDF EXTRACTING BODIES.. from the a-Tawansi cemetery in Shejaiya, east Gaza City.  Why?  Checking for dead hostages.

♦️RAFAH DEMOLITION.. Rafah central square demolished by IDF.

♦️US/UK ATTACK HOUTHIS.. attacking the airport of the city of Hodeidah.  And the Saudi’s attacked a Houthi site near the Saudi-Yemen border.

🔺RED ON RED - GAZA.. armed clashes between the residents of the Bureij camp in the center of the Gaza Strip and the security forces of Hamas.

🔺RED ON RED - TULKARM.. Palestinian Authority's security forces surrounded a building where 3 armed men wanted by Israel were staying.  Firefight, wanted men injured.  Later, Tulkarm terrorists opened fire at the PA headquarters in the city.

⭕ HEZBOLLAH FIRES ANTI-AIR.. over Lebanon, surface-to-air missiles were launched toward IAF aircraft.  IDF struck back at Jabal Safi area.

⭕ HOUTHIS ATTACK.. another cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden.

🟠 SUN morning - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

( 2 of 2 )

▪️JEWISH DRIVER ACCIDENTALLY ENTERED KALANDIA.. Arab town north of Jerusalem, attacked, attempted murder, car destroyed, car lit on fire - escaped to the checkpoint.

▪️US ASKS IRAQ TO BLOCK IRAN OVERFLIGHTS TO SYRIA.. which are bringing weapons to Hezbollah.  (( Why only now??? ))

▪️DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS.. "We are not looking for war but we are ready for it. And we will reach a junction, it will be a T junction both for the enemy and for us. If [Hezbollah] chooses to go to war, we will know what to do. If it chooses to go to an agreement, we will respond in this matter.”  (( Terrifying!  That the DM is hearing threats of complete destruction from Iran, mass destruction, murder and rape from Hezbollah, and is giving out statements like this. ))

▪️FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS.. “If Hezbollah does not stop firing and does not withdraw from southern Lebanon, we will act against it with all our might until security is restored and the residents return to their homes.”  (( This is what we expect to hear and our enemies to hear, given the cultural environment. ))

▪️TURKISH ARMY MOVING TOWARDS SYRIAN BORDER by eastern Aleppo.

▪️UK: LABOR THREAT TO STOP ALL ARMS TO ISRAEL AND SAUDI ARABIA?   Fabian Hamilton, a senior member of the Labor Party, said during a political event at a mosque in Leeds that "Britain will immediately stop all arms sales to Israel as soon as we come to power." He also added that the Labor government would stop all arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

▪️SOCIETY.. Director General of the National Civil Service: the ultra-Orthodox are gifted with special tools due to their study of the Gemara, in Lahav 433 (Israel police serious crime investigation unit) they are enthusiastic and want them for crime solving.

▪️ECONOMY.. Senior Israeli at Salesforce returns to “prepare company for AI”.  Conversely, Google biotech company Verily is closing its Israeli office “not related to the war”.

▪️ISIS???  ISIS attacks in Syria this year have increased by 250% compared to last year.  ISIS terrorists are active in at least 28 countries across the African continent as well as Syria.

♦️IDF forces returned this morning to the al-Barazil neighborhood of Rafah while firing heavy artillery.  There is heavy equipment in the area, and the IDF is conducting excavation operations throughout the neighborhood.

♦️IDF ATTACKS LEBANON.. Hermes, north east Lebanon.

♦️COUNTER-TERROR OPERATIONS - SHECHEM.. overnight.

⭕ HAMAS ROCKETS overnight, short range, at Holit & Sufa, near the Egyptian border.

[horrorvisuals]

CANINE

CANINE is a first-person horror game with well-made, PSX-style wobbly visuals.

It tells the story of a boy looking for his dog kidnapped by an evil corporation running experiments on pets. In his search, he has to survive against a horrifying creature and escape.

Canine has stealth-focused gameplay where you survive against a stalker-type enemy. Think of the Xenomorph from Alien: Isolation or Mr. X from Resident Evil 2.

Surviving against this creature isn't the most complicated thing, but it can surely be tense sometimes because it can corner you quite easily.

You can use your trusty tennis ball to distract it, run, and hide in designated hiding places.

It has a B-movie type of narrative that doesn't go too much into detail while still managing to give you a compelling story.

Tomy, the boy's dog, is kidnapped by an evil corporation named Umbral. They conduct experiments on dogs to create the perfect demigod.

Throughout your survival inside this facility, you come across notes and environmental details to learn more about this harrowing story.

The game has PSX style, wibbly-wobbly visuals paired with a pretty good atmosphere. The sound design and the overall color palette really puts dread in your chest even before the game truly begins.

At its essence, the gameplay revolves around surviving against this creature while looking for switches around the facility. It's a place with smaller sub-sections that you go through while searching for these switches and other key items, of course, while also looking for Tomy.

Depending on the things you do in your playthrough, the game has two endings. It also has a scoreboard system that nudges you to try again and maybe speedrun the whole thing.

It has a generous checkpoint system, so it never gets annoying even if you're caught.

CANINE is great. I enjoyed this a lot and I'll probably go back to it to play some more, maybe go for a no-death run.

It's pretty cheap on Steam with Very Positive reviews. Confidently recommended.

Check it out here.

[talesfromaurea]

Tales from Aurea - Session 15 Now Posted!

Hello! Session 15 - The Wizard in the Mine can be read right now on Royal Road (link here). Enjoy!

Chapter Summary: Sakrattars, Jo, and Kaja journey into the Grayspur mountains, searching for the wizard living in a ferix mine. But there's something very wrong with the wizard and figuring out what it is will only raise more questions than answers.

Taglist (ask to be +/-): @drippingmoon, @kainablue, @splashinkling, @space-writes, @aroyalpaininthecass

@thelaughingstag

Curious what this story is about? Check out the pinned post here

Chapter preview under the cut

The morning after Vyrkad briefed the companions on their missions, Sakrattars woke before the sun. He reviewed the map he’d been provided several times, committing all details to memory, then set to work flipping through his spellbook and the various notes he had taken during the brief. Although his information recall had always been second to none, Sakrattars still liked to have physical affirmations that his recollections were indeed correct.

Amale was the next to rise, then Jo, with the latter eventually rousing Kaja from her sleep. When Dimitri arrived at their doorstep, Leif was rushing around in a tired haze, clumsily gathering his equipment and complaining that no one woke him up. Waiting for them outside was Barzom and his scouting team, as well as Captain Tullius and Leo. While Tullius and Leo were staying behind, they still wanted to send the companions off properly.

When they reached the central plaza, Leif gave Jo’s hand a hearty shake. “See you on the other side,” he said cheerily. Sakrattars pursed his lips. Why provoke such an ill omen?

As Dimitri’s team continued west, Sakrattars, Jo, and Kaja turned down the north road. Reserved almost exclusively for miners and loggers, the north gate was positioned at the narrowest part of the valley, where the river terminated at a small lake. Loggers in the mountains would roll the trunks of great evergreen trees into the river, where they’d float downstream into the lake, get fished out, and then were used to power the forges.

The north gate, while called a “gate”, was more of an informal checkpoint with a guardpost on either side of the river. Unless the ferix found reason to fear an army of foxes or owlbears, there was no risk of an invasion through the north’s wild and inhospitable terrain, so security was thin and the soldiers bored. Sakrattars showed their pass, signed by Vyrkad, to the on-duty guard. The ferix’s eyes scanned the text lazily, then flicked up to each of them in turn. He settled on Kaja, who smiled brightly up at him. Grumbling a few words in ferish, the guard waved them through. Whatever Vyrkad was thinking, it was above his rank to care.

Sakrattars adjusted his pack and pulled his rhino-hair cloak closed against the biting wind. Their destination was on the west bank, around a day’s walk upstream: a mountain that the ferix called “Mount Blade”, not for its shape or mythology, but because that’s where they mined diamonds—a gem they valued primarily for its cutting properties. Sakrattars had been shocked to learn that they routinely discovered veins of other precious materials like ruby, sapphire, quartz, and amethyst in the Mount Blade mine, but these were either left alone or discarded. Back in the Empire, such treasures adorned the necks and hair of nobles, and were prized items in a wizard’s collection of spell components, though only the wealthy could reasonably purchase them. Sakrattars wondered whether the gems were what attracted the wizard in the first place.

There was one odd detail in Vyrkad’s briefing that concerned Sakrattars, however. According to the miners’ reports, the wizard kept to himself and rarely left his tower, though they could see his shadow roaming around the candle-lit windows. This fact they all agreed on but, bizarrely, the miners were conflicted on where the tower was located. One claimed he saw it just inside the cave mouth, another said it was tucked at the end of a little-used passageway. One even said he saw it outside the mine, built as if carved out from the mountainside itself. The simplest explanation was that it was an illusion spell, intended to deter curious ferix. Depending on the strength of the spell, Sakrattars thought that he might be able to counteract it but that contingency didn’t exactly fill him with confidence. He hoped that the wizard would be amenable to treating with one of his fellows and voluntarily make his presence known.

[walker-extended-universe]

4x02 Review

I have to admit, I wasn't sure there would be room in the lineup for a lighter episode given the limited episode count, but "Maybe it's Mabelline" was just what we needed after that busy premiere.

The main plot of the episode is focused on protecting a key witness in a money laundering case: Maybelline Pratt. Despite her insistence that she doesn't need protecting and she's perfectly fine to testify, the FBI isn't taking any chances and they plan to put her into WITSEC. However, she refuses to leave with the men they send and since they can't leave her unattended, Cordell suggests one of our merry band of rangers take her home. Unfortunately, Cassie doesn't have a place of her own and Trey's apartment isn't secure enough to hold a witness. The safest place would be the Walker family ranch and, as much as Cordell is already annoyed with her, he has no choice but to agree.

Side note: Did Jared get tired of his character getting hit on all the time? I got that feeling watching everything between Cordell and Maybelline and Trey XD

As prickly as Maybelline is with Cordell initially, she softens after learning he lost his wife and become a single parent. This leads to some interesting conversation between them when he finds her sitting up at the dining table later at night. When Cordell opens up about his concerns with his children rushing out of the nest, she offers some unexpected comfort. The fact that they feel comfortable enough to leave means that he did a good job raising them, and they'll likely come back one day.

The next day, Cordell and Cassie and Trey bring her to court to testify, but things get hairy when there's a commotion at the security checkpoint. The rangers handle it, leaving her with a security guard who starts to take her away while they're distracted. It's clear that this was an attempt by the criminal on trail to silence her witness testimony and, while Maybelline can't escape on her own, she purposefully leaves her bag as a clue to where her captor took her. One parking garage chase scene later, Cordell and Cassie have the captors backed up against the elevator, where Trey shows up to save the day. Another successful day for our ranger troop, in more ways than one.

Fussy Maybelliene

Side note- did jared get tired of his character being flirted with constantly?

Meaningful conversations and realizations

Aside from the main plot of the episode, a lot of the episode continued focus on Stella handling her guilt and trauma from the break-in in the season 3 finale. In this episode, we're shown her guilt over what happened to Witt. Yes, Witt tried to harm her and Sadie and possibly Geri, but he still died and she feels at fault for that. He was young, just like her, and a had a whole future ahead of him- one that he can never live out now. Liam's attempts to assure her that she doesn't need to feel guilty because Witt was a bad person don't soothe her because she can't help but see Witt for all of who he was outside of the break-in. This results in a fight when Liam tries to push Stella further into equine therapy, something she just isn't interested in.

Later, we see her visiting a roadside memorial for Witt with a rose and a rugby ball, something she found out he was interested in. While she's there, she meets a man who introduces himself as Witt's uncle, which doesn't help her guilt in the least. She leaves quickly after she meets him, which gives our new man a chance to call and report their meeting to someone else.

Much later, at the Side Step, we see Stella trying and failing to get in contact with Sadie, demanding that they talk. Ben overhears and knows better than to push for details. Instead, he gives her space to air out her feelings. Unlike Liam, Ben validates her feelings of guilt and compares it to his own guilt over what happened to Lucas. He assures her that it's completely normal to feel that way and it just means she's a good person with a conscience. This gives her the comfort to reconnect with Liam over darts later.

Side note: I said this last time but I just love how much more a part of the family Ben has become. I just wish it didn't all happen off screen.

But, that comfort is soon dashed when she returns to her dorm that night and finds a threatening message on the window, written in dripping red paint.

A smaller plot that was no less significant was August wanting to join boot camp. He starts off by asking Bonham to go over Cordell's head and convince Trey to let him join without a parent signature. This is an interesting scene for me as it shows us that while Bonham is more outwardly supportive of August's military aspirations, he does have reservations about it. When August says that Bonham was the one that told him he needed to learn discipline, Bonham says that he can see August already has. Not that it changes his grandson's mind, but I think this was a great talk between them.

Side note: I did not expect Trey to be the drill sergeant for this program and I'm very much looking forward to August assuming he'll get a leg up because of that.

When Bonham tries to broach the subject with Cordell, he immediately shuts it down. Cordell is putting his foot down strongly against any parental interference this season and I have to appreciate that. It's clear that, at this point, Cordell is trying to put of August growing up as long as he can. It's not until an insightful conversation with Maybelline Pratt later in the episode that he starts to see things differently and signs the form.

In probably one of my favorite scenes of the episode, Cordell and August finally have a talk about it. Here, Cordell explains that while he doesn't necessarily regret his own tour in the military, he doesn't want August to rush into it. He's still young and he has a lot of options available, ones that Cordell didn't necessarily have when he came home from Afghanistan and suddenly had to become a father and provider. But, if this is really what August wants, he'll be supportive, no matter how much he'll worry over it.

Side note: The combination of that pilot flashback and Cordell calling August his "baby boy" did something to my heart and I'm not over it.

A small plot that I really enjoyed this episode was Cassie and Geri's friendship. I've long hoped for more female bonding on this show and these two becoming friends was a great idea.

We find out that Cassie has decided to stay in Austin with the rangers after figuring out that part of what made the FBI feel so great to her was that it was a temporary gig. Between that and James promising her a bright future here, she made a call to Tessa and started looking for new apartments. Geri is extremely supportive of that. So supportive, in fact, that she offers Cassie a chance to move into the bungalow later in the episode- which Cassie graciously accepts. I look forward to seeing how these two live together. And how Cordell handles this turn of events.

There is a part of me that wishes Cassie had spent more time balancing her options between the rangers and the FBI but I understand there were time constraints.

A small moment that I appreciated in this episode was Bonham and Abby talking in the barn after his attempts to talk to Cordell about August's boot camp dreams. Their couple banter was on point as usual, but I liked that Bonham brought up the concept of their future again. They haven't had a conversation about retirement since season 2 and I think it shows how comfortable they feel that Bonham was the one to bring it up again.

Side note: I love that Abby and Ben have gone into business doing weddings at the ranch. It just makes me happy how Ben has become a part of the family.

As with any good episode of Walker, I'm left with good feels on the episode and so many questions for next week! Where is Sadie? Where is Dettective Luna? How is August going to handle boot camp training? Is Stella going to be forced to tell the truth? Are Geri and Cordell officially moving in anytime soon? Will Maybelline return for Ranger Barnett?

See y'all next week!

[tiodolma]

Did Merlin need to tell Morgana that he had magic too?

This question always bugs me. And it is true that I have written some stuff about it.. But it's been a year since I studied Merlin x Morgana dynamics. There's always countless ways to answer it, so many things to consider, so many issues both personal and political that have to be reviewed.

Do we go the pro-Morgana route and immediately say "Yes he should have been helping her in every way that was justified?"

or do we go the Pro-Merlin route and value his self-preservation more than anything else and straight up say "No, he didn't have to, that wasn't his job"?

And at this 1 year checkpoint I want to review myself.

At the very least, Merlin needed political backing for his cause very very badly. He had a job and a life mission, which was to bring freedom to his people using a specific trajectory (arthur). However, At s1-s2 Only Morgana was the nobility in the right position to accept and countercheck his views on magic. It's a risky move, true. He's been told that she was going to go evil and be more dangerous, true. She might revealed him to be the sorcerer way too early, true ...But if Merlin really needed to get a move on in his grand scheme, telling her and working with her was the only practical option to get his movement actually off the ground.

They were already friends. She trusted him more than anyone else. She was the prime person who would have understood. They already were indebted to each other. I mean, what more could you ask for in an ally?

If that means him being exposed to rebels like Alvarr, Tauren, Morgause or Mordred, wouldn't it have been better in the long run? His actions would have been in constant review and scrutiny by actual suffering AND Fighting members of the magic folk. If Merlin was destined to help rule them all then he needed critics, he needed social pressure from the other magicfolk too. Morgana was the right bridge for him, magic and Camelot. She was the best point of diplomacy anyone could have ever had. This would have made Merlin step up to a better diplomat/representative role as the face of his sect too.

I am not saying that he throw caution into the wind and immediately assist the rebels do atrocities, no. But it would have put Merlin in a position of learning and understanding on why rebellion/revolution/arms struggle was the only option left for so many of them, and that simply waiting for Arthur to become king someday will always receive heavy amounts of backlash from other magic sects and important magic people. Merlin needed to understand the reality of his people living on the ground and how it matches with the thing he was fighting for.

To me, ultimately, it's a check-and-balance thing.

Merlin had to be kept in check, just as Morgana had to be kept in check. That's what they should have been for each other. That's why the truth was important and valuable in the series. That's why it was wielded by Merlin as a weapon. That's why Morgana chased after it.

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

"Who watches the watchmen?"

Yes. Merlin owed Morgana the truth. For the sanity and survival of all and himself, then he should have risked it.

[zmzebra-writes]

Title: The Wrong Amagi Wedding Chapters: 2/? (start, next) Genre: Comedy Summary: After being invited to their father's second marriage, Rinne and Hiiro find themselves having to temporarily return to the village. Not wanting their friends to be alone, the rest of Crazy:B and Alkaloid join them on their journey back, but these "city folks" might not be the only ones learning something new during this visit.

In this chapter.... On the road time! What's a story without the journey and what's a road trip without Tatsumi driving? No way things could go wrong before they even hit the village, right?

The day of the trip had arrived. To Rinne’s surprise, it was suspiciously easy for both units to request time off for all members. Ibara seemed frustrated as he waved Rinne away with an already signed leave form for Crazy:B and, according to Hiiro, Eichi appeared to be holding back a chuckle or two as he signed off on Alkaloid’s leave form.

In any case, planning for the trip had gone off without a hitch. Rinne originally planned to see if he could weasel his way into renting a company car for the trip until Hiiro mentioned Tatsumi had a car he could drive them in. The church had a van which could just squeeze in eight people plus luggage. Tatsumi even offered to take care of the driving as well. 

Rinne figured since it was Tatsumi’s car, it would be fair to let Tatsumi drive while Rinne took care of navigation from the passenger’s seat. Hiiro gave him a promising review saying that Tatsumi’s driving made him fall asleep. 

‘Must be a soothing driver,’ figured Rinne. It would fit his calm demeanor.

From there, it was only a matter of fitting everyone and their luggage inside the car. Rinne warned everyone to pack lightly, and thankfully even Aira had listened to his advice because the backseat Rinne and Tatsumi set up essentially in the trunk for the youngest members was a tight squeeze. Kohaku and Aira pulled faces as they crawled into the back with only minimal complaints. 

As Hiiro crawled in behind them, Rinne handed Kohaku a messenger bag. “I trust you to guard this with your life, Kohaku.”

Kohaku opened the bag and looked inside. Various snacks and drinks. “Huh?”

“Distribute these wisely,” said Rinne with the utmost seriousness before pushing the middle row of seats back into the upright position. 

The next row was a bit more tricky for personality reasons. No matter how Rinne puzzled over how to arrange the remaining three, someone would always be a little upset. Eventually, Rinne just gave up, and chose the option with the least casualties. 

HiMERU would sit behind the passenger seat (to minimize the amount of Kazehaya in his sight line and risk him going for the kill and taking out the driver). Mayoi would take the remaining window seat so as to minimize his discomfort with human contact. Lastly, Niki would take the middle seat, and hopefully his bony ass wouldn’t mind having to sit on the hump seat.

With everyone in their place, Rinne collapsed into the passenger’s seat. He sighed. It was hard having to be the responsible one for once, but this entire visit to the village was stressful enough that even the potential in-flight entertainment from purposefully arranging his unit mates into the worst possible seating arrangements didn’t excite him. 

Best was to just hope for a quiet few hours. More time to plan meeting his father face to face for the first time in years. Tatsumi should be fine navigating for the first half, and then Rinne would take over with specific navigation as they got closer to the checkpoint.

‘I’ll just lean back and relax until then,’ thought Rinne as he watched Tatsumi buckle into the driver’s seat. 

“Don’t forget seatbelts everyone!” called back Tatsumi as he flicked through his keys.

“Wait,” said Aira as both him and Mayoi became more panicked, “Tattsun is the driver?!”

“Hm? What’s wrong with Tatsumi driving, Love-han?” asked Kohaku, “It’s his car isn’t it?”

Rinne picked up on the chatter in the backseat and looked over. 

Tatsumi tapped his shoulder, redirecting Rinne’s attention. “Ah, Rinne? You need to buckle up before I start the car.”

“Sure, sure,” waved off Rinne as he buckled in. Might as well follow the rules of the careful preacher. “Safety first, right?”

Tatsumi smiled. “Safety first.”

Tatsumi turned the key and began backing out of the parking spot. 

“You don’t understand, Kohakucchi,” frantically said Aira as Mayoi began to cry, “Tatsumi is a lawless driver and no one is safe if he’s behind the wheel.”

“Huh? What do you mean—”

“Alright, everyone!” called out Tatsumi as he switched the car from reverse to drive, “Let’s get moving!”

“Noooooo!”

Rinne quickly found himself thankful Tatsumi insisted on him wearing his seatbelt since that was the only mercy Tatsumi had for them in this vehicle. Screams echoed in the car from the back seats. 

“Tatsumi!” called out Rinne.

“Hmm? Yes, Rinne?” responded Tatsumi as he sped up to make a yellow light across an intersection.

“Slow down! We are going to get pulled over!” In truth, the police were the least of Rinne’s worries. The law was more of an afternote when one’s life was flashing before their eyes.

“Don’t worry, Rinne,” said Tatsumi as he turned his head to look at Rinne. 

“Eyes on the road!” cried out Rinne in a panic as they ran a stop sign.

Tatsumi looked forward again in time to make a sharp turn down a narrow road. “I’m very familiar with all the routes in the surrounding area, and I know exactly where the cop cars hide. We won’t get caught while I’m here.”

“If we survive…” said Rinne miserably under his breath.

♠♡♢♣🐝♣♢♡♠

Eventually they reached a small town. Rinne had taken over driving when they stopped for gas with the claim that his navigational knowledge would make him the better driver in the final half. 

When Rinne moved to question his brother about what the hell was up with that misleading review, he found Hiiro passed out in the backseat. Whiplash, Aira had called it.

In any case, the only remaining danger was HiMERU reaching forward and strangling Tatsumi who sat in the passenger seat enjoying the sights. Which, in Rinne’s opinion, would be well deserved for shaving off the life spans of everyone in the car. Even Niki lost his appetite briefly on the ride.

Rinne sighed in relief as the sign for a small inn came into sight. They made it before a murder took place. Rinne parked the car in the sparse parking lot and turned around in his seat.

“Alright survivors! I hope you got a nice good rest because it's time to lace up your boots and get walking.”

Groans that sounded suspiciously like Aira came from the back seat. “Like I said in the group chat, our village is deep in the woods so we can’t take the car much farther. We will have to hike the rest of the way so file out, stretch, and grab your bags while I go check in with the innkeeper.”

Rinne walked into a small house shaped building. A middle aged woman with mid-length brown hair pushed back with a wide dark blue headband sat at a high table. “Hi! Checking in?” she asked.

“Yep! There should be a reservation under the name ‘Amagi’,” said Rinne as he glanced around the cozy room. It felt familiar…

“Amagi…? Oh right yes here you are,” she said after looking down at her binder full of spreadsheets, “Will you be needing the key to your room?”

Rinne gave a friendly grin. “Ahaha, thanks for the offer, but I’m good. My friends and I just needed a place to park our car before we go camping in the nearby woods.”

The woman looked Rinne up and down again. “... Are you familiar with these woods, sir?”

“... You could say that.”

“When do you plan to check out?” asked the woman with a serious look, “It’s good to let other people know when you plan to return before going on a hike.”

“It shouldn’t take longer than a week.” Rinne would see to that.

Her face relaxed into a comforting smile as she closed the binder. “I wish you luck on your trip, sir. Stay safe.”

‘I hope we stay safe, too,’ thought Rinne.

“Thank you, ma’am for letting us park here at a discount to your usual rate~,” said Rinne with a playful tone. Best to throw on the charm to stay on the innkeeper’s good side.

The woman chuckled. “It’s my pleasure. Not many people come to visit here, but it’s peaceful.”

“Have a nice day!” he called out as he left.

“You too!”

The door clicked behind him as Rinne returned to the car. Tatsumi appeared to have taken over the role of the leader as he distributed everyone’s bags and helped organize everyone.

‘That makes things simpler,’ thought Rinne. 

“Everyone ready to go? We have a long, mountainous hike ahead of us,” said Rinne as he walked over to get his bag.

Aira pulled a face at the idea of an exhausting, treacherous hike, but luckily, Hiiro noticed his good friend’s distress and had words of comfort. 

“Don’t worry Aira! My brother is just exaggerating. Only the main path goes through sheer cliff sides. The path I took uses nearby trees to avoid them!”

Aira became paler. “... Trees?”

Kohaku quickly swooped in for damage control. “Don’t worry, Love-han! I’m an expert at climbing trees and can carry you up and down the branches.”

Hiiro felt like his position as his unit’s defender was being threatened. “I can carry you too, Aira! I’ve climbed trees since I was a kid.”

“So have I!”

Rinne laughed at the sight. It was worth pulling their legs a bit. “Nah, no trees will need to be climbed… unless you want to Aira~.”

Aira frantically shook his head.

“I know these woods like the back of my hand,” continued Rinne, “Things might have changed while I was gone, but the route we’re taking should be relatively easy for you city folk.”

Rinne didn’t want to risk a medical emergency during what was already going to be a terrible week. He had already privately talked to Tatsumi before the trip to gauge if he would need any special treatment due to his bad leg. 

‘No need to worsen his condition,’ Rinne figured. To his surprise, Tatsumi brushed off most of his concerns, claiming his foot had already healed months ago. Rinne hoped for everyone’s sake, he was right. First aid was limited in the village.

The mouth of the path Rinne planned to take was close to the inn. From here on, it should be smooth sailing. Maybe they’d even run into an old friend when they broke for lunch.

[thunderboltfire]

Chants of Sennaar: a review

What if You had modern dictionaries at the Tower of Babel?

It's been a while since I've played a proper point-and-click game and I've got charmed by the fact I've seen Chants of Sennaar described as Dark Souls of Duolingo, so I've decided to buy it.

Is Dark Souls of Duolingo an accurate description of the game? Not really, I wouldn't describe it as exceptionally difficult. It's pretty innovative in its gameplay though, and it definitely draws a bit from Duolingo in its mechanics. Especially in the way the main character learns languages.

Chants of Sennaar puts you in the boots of the Traveller, whose main goal is to explore the mysterious, ziggurat-like Tower. In order to do so, he has to find passage through several floors and learn the languages of its inhabitants to move upward the Tower.

Armed with contextual clues and a notebook used as a dictionary, we learn the meaning of foreign glyphs and decipher the grammar, which helps us solve problems and uncover mysteries.

From a linguistic perspective, the interesting choice that simplifies the language learning is that the Traveller mostly listens, and rarely ever needs to speak/write in learned languages. Also, technically speaking the entire conversation goes on in writing - the inhabitants of the Tower speak in comic word bubbles, which removes the problem of the phonetics, but to compensate for lost complexity, each language has its own writing system. Most of the complex glyphs are based on combination of concepts related to simpler glyphs, which makes them a neat puzzle on their own.

To not spoil too much - the grammar and syntax of the languages are mostly similar, with one big exception and individual exceptions for some grammatical phenomena. For the linguistic nerds out there, all the languages of the Tower are isolating languages, which makes the sentence structure more of a concern but also makes inflexion pretty much nonexistent.

The story has an air of a parable, with the characters not having specific names and most factions representing certain concepts and approaches to life in an archetypal way. The effect is reinforced by the fact that none of the inhabitants of the Tower has a visible face - including the Traveller, whose face is obscured by a hood. It feels like a fable, and the feeling is enhanced by the monumental architecture (which can be considered a separate character telling a large part of the story) and the deliberate color schemes, drowning the locations in gradients of colored light.

The game's visual style is both simple, utilising low-poly models, and very well-executed, with well-thought out color palettes (we don't talk about the water on the bards' level XD), camera angles and stylisation which builds fantastic atmosphere. The UI is extremely minimalistic, which puts further focus on the visually intriguing world. The OST is beautiful and haunting, and while the whole plot is rather uncomplicated with a simple moral, the legendary, cryptic air of it and the feeling of discovery makes it work.

Putting an innovative spin on a classic genre and building amazing atmosphere through visuals and music are definitely the strongest points of Chants of Sennaar.

I have two points of criticism - the last floor of the Tower, which seems to be a little rushed, and the sneaking sections. The game is generally very relaxing, apart from a few small sections in which there is some sneaking or one has to move quickly. To be fair, these sections fit the concept of the levels they're in, and are very forgiving (you can die, but the checkpoints are placed in a way that don't make you lose progress), but for someone looking for pure point-and-click they might seem unnecessarily stressful.

Overall, it's a great adventure and I thoroughly recommend it, especially if You like linguistics or interesting point-and-clicks!

[leggerefiore]

Cyrus when Cyllene is starting to crawl and become mobile?

The air was caught in his lungs as the scene before him played out much too fast. One second, Cyllene was growing frustrated with tummy time, and her little face was changing colours before the tears started. Then, in the next, her little arms were pushing up her weight and her knees folded under her just right. What felt much too fast, but truthfully, was not actually that fast, Cyllene began to crawl. Not towards anything like the toys spread around her to encourage her, but towards him.

She stopped in front of him and stared up at him. Babbles came from her as he stood bewildered. The claps and cheers of his partner barely entered his head as Cyllene grasped his pant leg. He nervously picked her up as she giggled and rested her head on his shoulder. It seemed his beloved daughter had learnt to crawl. His partner stood beside him and eagerly cooed at the girl's new skill. Their hand softly rubbed her back. Cyrus felt horrified. Was this too soon? What did this mean?

He managed to get over it later that day amazingly. Cyllene hit a developmental checkpoint. That was all.

~

Then, not that long later, she began to grasp at the sides of furniture and clearly preferred being held in a standing position by her parents. Cyrus felt terrified again. Especially when another time came when he was sitting on the couch, reviewing documents on his tablet, and his partner's gasp rang out. He barely peeked up from the device to spy Cyllene, grabbing the edge of a table to support herself standing up. She soon took an unsteady step. Then another. And another. Before toddling towards Cyrus again. Her hand landed on his knee as her eyes peered up at him desperately. "Dada," was spoken with clear intention. His partner laughed at his expression. Cyllene repeated herself louder.

Cyrus nervously tilted his head before realising what she wanted. Placing his tablet down, he picked her up and sat her in his lap, where she happily settled against him.

His partner later teased that her desperation for his attention and approval was making her learn new skills.

A new urge filled him to pay more attention to her.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Friday, August 23rd

JINX: We have found that the signs of the alignment are moving faster than expected. GLORY: (primping in mirror) Meaning? JINX: If you are to use the key, you must act quickly. GLORY: Fine. (puts mirror down) I have been cooling my heels in this crappy little town long enough. (lies down on bed) Sunnydale's got too many demons and not enough retail outlets. (Picks up a pair of shoes)

~~Checkpoint~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Inappropriate Favour by forsaken2003 (Spike/Xander, R)

Dean’s Failures by mmooch (Buffy, Supernatural crossover, T)

a habit that's happened before by explosionshark (Buffy/Faith, T)

Injured by The_Crazy_Knight (Buffy/Giles, T)

Inappropriate Favour by forsaken2003 (Spike/Xander, M)

Red Fruit Punch by Foxxzilla (Buffy/Spike, M)

Dean's Failure by mmooch (Buffy, Supernatural crossover, FR13)

[Chaptered Fiction]

A Different Path, Chapter 19 by Anaxilea (Buffy/Faith, M)

In the Company of Witches and Slayers: Chapter 140 by VladimirHarkonnen (TheLightdancer) (Willow/Tara, E)

Slayer & Rose Bride, Chapter 14 (complete!) by acpendra, Sparkle 94 (acpendra) (Buffy, Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena crossover, M)

A Slayer's Greatest Weapon- Book one- BTVS, Chapter 7 by KHandE11 (Ensemble, Wolfblood crossover, T)

Less Is Not Enough, Chapter 6 by Passionpire88 (Buffy/OC, Spike, Once Upon A Time crossover, M)

Further From Home, Chapter 7 by zombiesam (Buffy/Giles, E)

Stupid Thing, Chapter 3 by mistigrisunshine (Buffy/Spike, T)

Supply Issues, Chapter 2 by wickedrum (Buffy/Spike, T)

If You Ever, Chapter 3 by Mirrored_Illusions (Buffy, Stargate crossover, T)

Free to a Good Home, Chapter 1 by though_you_try (Buffy/Spike, M)

The Neighbor's Point of View, Chapter 124 by the_big_bad (Buffy/Spike, PG)

To All We Guard, Chapter 27 by simmony (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Along Came Two, Chapter 8 by LilithSwan (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

Like A Feather, Chapter 8 (complete!) by Willow25 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork (+meta): cordy surviving season 4 by artsying-ifer (worksafe)

Vidlet: Buffy is taking it by yeomar645

Fanvid: Spike & Buffy - You Don't Have To Love Me by Sheebz D

Fanvid: Buffy l Where did it go wrong? by Dacy Toxic

Fanvid: Buffy and Angel - Dream Away by juliaroxs241

Fanvid: Buffy and Angel - Seventeen by juliaroxs241

Fanvid: BUFFY SUMMERS || SAD EDIT BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER by ALEXEDITZ

Fanvid: Window To Your Soul - by Delerium - 04x13 - The I in Team by NessaKins91 (Buffy/Riley)

Fanvid: Buffy the Vampire Slayer but with Like A Prayer (Choir Version, Deadpool & Wolverine) by Jess Wilson

Fanvid: Buffy and Angel - Endlessly Yours (with Lyrics and Arabic subtitle) by Vision Dream Media

Vidlet: “For You” || BTVS || @makky_cc by Makkyyyy

[Reviews & Recaps]

Video: Buffy S02E20 "Go Fish" Spoiler Review by LGRN - Entertainment

Podcast: Buffering the Vampire Slayer | 8.01 The Long Way Home by Buffering: A Rewatch Adventure

Video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4: Episode 6 - Wild at Heart by The Cheshire Kiwi

Video: Buffy and the Inherent Flaw of Media Tie-In Novels by Another Booktube Channel

Podcast: Re-Broadcast: Buffering the Vampire Slayer's 3.19 "Enemies" by Buffering: A Rewatch Adventure

Video: Analyzing Buffy’s “Restless” by Sky James

[Recs]

Fic rec: Learning Curve by Kateykakes (Buffy/Angel, G) recced by I Will Remember You Marathon

[Fandom Discussions]

When Willow and Tara moved into the Summers house after Buffy died by lindseymcdonaldseyelashes

I wish that Angel got the attention Spike does on Tumblr by putinskremlinqueen4palestine64

I wish that Tumblr had less of Cangel and more of Bangel and Xandelia by putinskremlinqueen4palestine64

What would happen if people outside the Watcher's Council discovered the existence of the Undead? continued by AlphaFoxtrot

To the older ones!! B&A question! 😈 by NNix

Bad Girls & Dirty Girls continued by multiple posters

Rewatch thoughts and questions continued by multiple posters

Riley's outfit in As You Were continued by MoonLight SY-3

Watchers - how were they ‘chosen’? continued by Stoney

Stinky Parker by Littledittydee

Would Faith had been openly bi if Buffy had been on TV today? by jdpm1991

I'm rewatching Buffy/Angel again and Buffy season 4 has to be my favourite by Hong-Kwong

I’m watching Season 7. Just finished Episode 8 - Sleeper. When does the season get bad? by Caydenas

James as Spike is pulling a “Ben/Glory” on my brain by Federal-Beautiful427

Another reason Jonathan is better than Andrew: Jonathan has the respect of the butchers of Sunnydale & Andrew doesn't by KneeHighMischief

Let’s not talk about Ford and his shady ways by alarmedlittlefroggy

For once I feel kind of bad for Xander by nota-banana

Señor, your mustache provides you great strength and dignity [Angel Season 4] by midnightmeatloaf

Faith and Xander in The Zeppo by LightBlueSky55

Podcast: 0.42 Welcome to the HelenMouth: Linguistics in Buffy with Helen Zaltzman by by Buffering: A Rewatch Adventure

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Podcast: Buffering the Vampire Slayer | Interview with Amber Benson and Christopher Golden by Buffering: A Rewatch Adventure

Podcast: 0.38: A Conversation with Amber Benson by Buffering: A Rewatch Adventure

Podcast: Buffering the Vampire Slayer | Interview with James C. Leary by by Buffering: A Rewatch Adventure

Podcast: Buffering the Vampire Slayer | Interview with Laya DeLeon Hayes [who played Indira in the Slayers audio drama] by Buffering: A Rewatch Adventure

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Finally Gets Updated Funko Pops by comicbook.com

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

[gertlushgaming]

Dreamworks Trolls Remix Rescue Review (PlayStation 5)

For this Dreamworks Trolls Remix Rescue Review, Play as Poppy, Branch, and more of your favorite DreamWorks Trolls as you explore, smash, dance, and battle your way towards rescuing the Troll Kingdom from a melodic mastermind who’s trying to alter the Trolls’ musical harmony!

Dreamworks Trolls Remix Rescue Review Pros:

- Decent graphics that look like the film. - 2.93GB download size. - Platinum trophy. - You get the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5 versions of the game. - 3 save slots. - Action platformer gameplay. - A full 3D world with 360-degree camera control. - Locations are very open and do let you roam as you wish. - Many hidden areas and bonus crates. - Earn new abilities as you play like swirling your head around to damage crates and enemies, get wall jumping, etc. - Big boss-like encounters. - Gems are everywhere and carry over between levels. - Characters can be chosen or you can edit and create your own. - Local multiplayer support with up to 4 characters. - Two playable characters are from the new film that is coming soon. - Constant checkpoints. - Accessible easy-to-learn controls. - You get a good amount of health and can pick up health parts at a level. - Mini-games play a part in rhythm action sequences. - A collection of the enemies you face fills in as you take out one for the first time. - As you go through a location you come across safe areas that act like a hub, before you can use it all enemies have to be cleared out and the DJ decks activated. - Trader trolls are in safe areas and here you can buy costumes for your character. - A wardrobe is in the safe area and is where you go to edit your character. - Hidden Golden Troll statues are traded for higher-end customisation items at the trader troll. - The hot air balloon in safe areas lets you fast-travel to unlocked areas. - Kids will love the open space and the way they can progress how they want or not, Do as they want and still have fun. Dreamworks Trolls Remix Rescue Review Cons: - Cannot rebind controls. - The music sounds the same in every location and if it does change then it loops so much that you learn to hate it. - The platforming is not great. - Jumping feels spongy and loose. - You never know when you have hit a checkpoint. - Not all the cutscenes can be skipped or fast-forwarded. - The gems you need to collect are loose and do everything in your power to avoid being picked up. - Gems disappear really quickly after dropping. - The combat is boring and simple. - At many points of a location, the game takes control of the camera and it is not great and jarring, it then feels like you are wrestling with the camera during it. - You get very little guidance and progression feels more like you stumble upon it rather than scripted. Related Post: Shuyan Saga Video Review (PlayStation 5) Dreamworks Trolls Remix Rescue: Official website. Developer: Petit Fabrik Publisher: GameMill Store Links - PlayStation Read the full article

[risu5waffles]

Ope means TEN in the Midwest

It does not, but it's 4.30 in the morning here, so cut me some slack.

We talked about this one last week, but it's still pretty nifty now, so that's good.

These two are in sequence, wiv a promised third that unfortunately never materialized; but Welcome feels a lot more like a proof of concept, where Heart is the real shebang. i'd played Heart way back in the way back, and, like many things that struck me hard and i fell in love wiv, i came back to play it many, many times while never actually digging into the rest of Trindall's levels. i guess that worked out, since we could play Lightbringer completely fresh for the review show, but it is a little embarrassing all the same. At any rate, the idea of having the whole level rotate, and parts playing different depending on the current angle of rotation, is so cool, and i don't think i've seen anyone else really go to that well again. The fact that this was all done in LBP1 makes it all the more impressive. It would be years from first playing that i'd actually get to the secret dev room, and let me tell you socks were knocked off. One of the nice side effects of the lack of actual logic tools in LBP1 is everything has to exist somewhere visible in the level, so you could actually show the moving parts. The moving parts here, although i know there are levels wiv more complex set-ups, are really quite impressive.

Ehhhh... i don't know what so impressed me about this level when i played it back for the old review show that i would have given it a Green Circle when at best it's a mid-tier Yellow Square. i mean, the crabs are definitely cute, i don't want to take that away from it, but the level is, ultimately, just ok.

This is a cute little one, if maybe a bit chonkier than it really ought to be to hold interest playing by yourself. i kind of feel like the flat light blue background doesn't really serve it well, given the poppier presentation in the build and objects; tho' i'm not entirely sure if any of the backgrounds available when it was made would have been a better fit. i don't know, it just feels like it's floating in space a bit. i did really like the creator showing up periodically through the level to give commentary, tho'; that was really cute.

i think you can actually see the point where i realized if i had it on infinite checkpoint, i was never actually going to be able to get to the scoreboard. Ope. Otherwise, this is just your deeply average bomb survival level. At least it wasn't 9/11 themed.

i really, really wound up liking this one. There's so much mechanical motion going on, and that always trips my trigger. This is one where i feel like the limitations imposed by LBP1 really help, because i could see the idea getting really over-elaborate wiv the movement tools added in LBP2. And it looks so clean. A lot of LBP1 levels, they have a certain kludginess to them that you learn to overlook, and sometimes that lack of polish can be its own charm point, but Tony's levels have a certain crispness to them that really makes them stand out. One weird thing, when i came to play this one, i'd had a heart on it already, but no mark that we'd even touched it once, like no silver SackThing that'd indicate we'd played, but not completed? i think it might have been on a stream where the servers were being particularly wonky, because i remember feeling like i'd given it a go and recently.

We talked about this one Friday. It's still a lot.

In Trindall's Heart of the Flip-Side dev room, they talked about being inspired by one of tony2k7's levels, but there was just this and a Tetris one up on their moon, and... actually, now that i think of it, they were both pubbed after Flip-side, so the inspiration couldn't have come from here. Maybe there's some level tony2k7 took down and never repubbed. If so, it's lost now, unless they ever come back to it. That's a big reason why i wanted to do this series in the first place. This level here is fine. It's definitely fine.

This one's alright, i guess. The gear vehicles were kind of cool, and it was funny you could walk behind the level right to the scoreboard. it's just a deeply ugly level that's a little more difficult to traverse than it needs to be for what it's doing. Plus, there are numerous places you can softlock the level if things don't fall right, or get blown up in an unexpected way, and that's never great, especially if you've already devoted a chunk of time to it. The grabbable rocket section was cute, tho' the way the player sensor fades into the steel material of the back wall makes it really hard to tell what you're supposed to be doing to get it to work. Eh... the level's fine. Not the worst i've played of the genre. No collector, tho'; that's a definite disappointment.

------------------------------

So, that's our TEN. Some real good ones in there, a couple that are ok. Nothing that's really awful, and that's always nice. i got to hustle my buns now; it's Tuesday, and i am, unfortunately, contractually obligated to do a Capitalism if i want to keep these plush digs.

[whentherewerebicycles]

snuggly little girl is finally allowed back into the bed after several weeks of being banished due to houseguests :) she is very warm and sleepy and happy about it.

it’s an overcast morning and I woke up feeling bleh but I’m trying to acknowledge the feeling and not get stuck in it. I am working from home today and my tasks are a little ill-defined so I do need to make sure I get up, get dressed, and sit at a desk at some point to ensure I actually focus. here’s what I’d like to do:

7:30-8:30 coffee, lounge, work from bed

8:30 get up and get dressed

8:30-11:30 work session

11:30-12:30 shower/get ready

1-2 ND mtg

2-4 windshield appt—second work session. call Cigna while waiting, finish other work tasks, schedule-send emails to four faculty for next week, make a plan for next week

4-5ish wrap up work if needed

walk the dogs… it’s time to get back into it. I have a hockey podcast to listen to and can start with an easy 40-45 min loop

eat leftovers for dinner & make cold brew to steep overnight

finish ninth house (I’m powering through but letting myself skim the boring parts)

bed by 10 (I’m slowly trying to reset my sleep/wake times to 9:15pm/5:30 or 6am)

okay. I also am open to doing some work over the weekend if 1) it’s fun, and 2) it consoles me (as it often does lol). but here are the things I want to prioritize in today’s work sessions:

review makerspace brainstorming notes and distill conversation into a core list of ideas

organize list by priorities (immediate, academic year, future/aspirational)

figure out some way of annotating priority list. I want to identify the big steps each one would take to research/create/implement, note who on the team we could delegate specific pieces of the work to, and identify the other people or units on campus we’d want to partner with. this will be so fun.

JG asked if I could give an overview of my big priorities for my program next year so he could better understand how this initiative fits into those priorities. I think that’s a great ask and a great opportunity for me to sit down and synthesize what I’ve learned in my first month in the role. one big amorphous thing I’m tasked with is increasing the number of faculty who are incorporating research into their courses, and I was thinking the other day that instead of trying to do this across all majors in a scattershot way, I could use this makerspace access initiative as a focusing lens for that work this year. and then since that project is naturally STEM + business-leaning, maybe I can look for a manageably sized humanities initiative to take on next year too, so there’s a good balance within my portfolio of projects. anyway I think I’m at the point where I have talked to enough people and said yes or tentatively yes to enough things that I am ready to sit down and start drawing up a summer + academic year plan. also I’m not quite there yet but I might almost be ready to start mapping out the calendar so I can do some initial thinking in that direction today if I feel like it. oh and I want to make a note for myself to look for specific areas where I can consult or bring in the person in our office who was handling aspects of my job for a long time before I started… I feel like I can bulldoze a bit when I’m enthusiastic about an idea or project and I don’t want her to feel like I’m undoing all the work she put into building programming etc. so I want to really consciously build in checkpoints where I’m asking for her feedback or drawing on her expertise in a substantive/meaningful way so she doesn’t feel like I swept in and changed everything to fit my own vision.

meet with ND to gather info about student employee development redesign (then spend time updating my earlier notes)

I don’t think I’ll get much deeper into the student worker redesign project today but it might be a thing I block off time for this weekend or next week.

schedule four emails to faculty/staff (should include YP, DH, MK, and maybe BW?)

I think that’s good!! wow and just working on a work plan for today has already put me in a much better & more hopeful mood. time to get started!

[breakingarrows]

Killzone 2 Difficulty Analysis

Some time ago I was thinking alot about video game difficulty. This has been a topic of conversation and Twitter discourse many times, especially around FromSoftware releases due to their reputation for being difficult to play to the end and the lack of any options to ease that difficulty. However I was thinking about it from the angle of what exactly we mean when we say something is difficult. Does it mean the player takes fewer hits before being reset to an earlier point, whether it be the very outset of a run in a rogue-like or a checkpoint a minute earlier in a Call of Duty campaign. Is difficulty determined by how many hits an enemy can take before being defeated, is it harsher scoring qualifications for a Devil May Cry, is it enemy behavior becoming more adaptable or sophisticated, learning from the player actions or being given more capabilities the higher the setting? Killzone 2 has a reputation of being one of the tougher games to complete on its hardest difficulty level: Elite. And so I wanted to take an analytical, frame-by-frame look at Killzone 2 and its four difficulty levels to see what exactly separates each option from each other.

As a first person shooter I expected the main differences between difficulty settings are: player takes less hits to die and be reset the higher the setting, the enemy takes more hits to die the higher the setting, and I was curious as to whether the enemy AI is more aggressive with flanking/grenade usage/firing at an exposed player the higher the setting. Below is a table with my findings upon reviewing my footage in Premiere Pro going frame by frame to count the amount of actual hits to kill and milliseconds to die:

Former is multiple, latter two are a single enemy firing. No aiming reticle. Enemy moved while in cover back and forth, throwing grenades at my cover point. Blood splatter to indicate taking damage appears in the frame before the bullet is actually fired.

Reviewing the footage and the table both Recruit and Trooper are relatively tame. The standard ISA M82 assault rifle takes 6 hits on average to kill while the Helghast assault rifle the StA52 takes 5 hits to kill. Your time to die on Recruit is over 15 seconds while Trooper is barely over 10. On Recruit the enemy AI was more preoccupied with the ally NPC than my player character, focusing fire on him despite me standing in the open. On Trooper their hits were more consistent, and the time to die would have been even shorter if not for the enemy soldier reloading and taking time to take cover. Veteran is where things really change drastically. Enemies take more shots to kill, ranging from 2-4 on both assault rifles. The time to die is significantly shorter, about just 2 seconds continuously exposed before death. Elite had a consistent 9 bullets per enemy with the M82, whereas the StA52 was more varied between 6 and 10 bullets. Time to die on Elite is pretty much the same as Veteran. Additional details on the Elite difficulty is I noticed enemies would move while in cover to avoid the player zeroing in on their exposed areas. Grenades were thrown more often on Elite than on easier difficulties, and the player lacks the aiming reticule when firing from the hip that is present in every other difficulty setting.

Reviewing this it appears Killzone 2 has two main difficulty levels: Normal and Hard with more acute differences between their sub-divisions. Killzone 2 adheres to the expected difficulty variation of the higher the difficulty the more damage is required to achieve a kill and the less damage you can take before being reset to an earlier checkpoint. I do appreciate the finer details on Elite with enemy AI appearing to become more capable to combat the player’s actions compared to every other option.

Lastly, some miscellaneous details: Average time to load a checkpoint upon death was 9 seconds 39 milliseconds 26 microseconds. Average time to load a level from mission select was 28 seconds 59 milliseconds 40 microseconds.

[handsofabitterman]

Buffy Rewatch 2k22

5.12 Checkpoint

Overall: 4/5

Thoughts:

Ugh the council is coming. The jerks!

Of course, the council are so judge mental about the magic shop. Of course. Because why let Giles make some calls for himself.

Omg why are college professors on tv so often ridiculous. I never had one that made you stand up to share literally anything. Also almost all welcome decent questions. And also Buffy’s question, while a little out there or annoying, not really out of the existing zeitgeist. And he gets so weird so fast. Never once had anything remotely like that happen in my college career.

Of course they use Giles to coerce Buffy into participate in their ridiculous review.

Wow all of the Scoobies are horrible in their interviews with the council 🤦‍♀️ But Spike is worse 🤣

I don’t understand how it would be necessary to learn how to fight when given commands while blindfolded. How is that useful in a fight against a vampire? She is great at fighting without seeing since she had to fight several invisible opponents and has won both times.

Also “I think she broke my rib”? You are fighting the slayer you should know she has super strength you have to know that that is a distinct possibility. Even if she doesn’t mean it, she is fighting you and you are fighting her, you could get hurt.

Omg Glory just showing up at Buffy’s house and offering her a “deal.”

I love that This dude threatens to send thousands of men after herald Buffy still lets him go. He is not a threat himself because she defeated him and his buddies with all their weapons and she has none. So she lets him go.

I love this scene of Buffy standing up against the council is so good. One of my favorite scenes!