#clunky but whatever no biggie

[isabelguerra]

Everyone is talking about shrike and garcia but all I can think about is WHAT the hell is going on with the setting. Why does the text keep referencing cody moving around his bed. Theyre in a car. This is driving me crazy

What do you MEAN his bed????? THEYRE IN A CAR?

[chamomileteainabuttercup]

Thanks for tagging me in, @demisexuallupin

How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently 24, but there are many more orphans, whether from fandoms I no longer enjoy or because I really didn't like how they were written any more. I orphaned rather than deleting them because I knew from comments there were people who'd enjoyed them, so I might as well leave them available in some form.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

782,484 (probably a lot closer to a million if we could count the orphans, I know at least two of them were over 100,000 words each)

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Currently I've got fics for Star Wars, various Star Treks, The Witcher, Tintin, Jeeves and Wooster and Sailor Moon. Past fandoms included A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones and Steven Universe (see above about "fandoms I no longer enjoy") - I'm not sure how many in total.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Curse of Chamomile (Geraskier)

Fairy Tales in Deep Space (Garashir)

Locked Inside (also Garashir and have you ever noticed how "Geraskier" and "Garashir" look like the same word written in different bad handwriting also both involve a pretty-eyed slut called Julian)

Boba's Back (Bobadin)

No Peeking (Dincobb)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Oh yes! If only to say thank you and I'm happy they enjoyed it. As for why, it's a combination of "it's just polite," "it's a gentle form of self-promotion" and "the response and interaction is a huge part of why I actually publish stories online instead of just thinking about them to myself." The best comments are the ones that turn into a real back-and-forth conversation, and those often generate more ideas for the story.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I think it's To the Island, a Garashir fic which ended with the two of them concluding they couldn't be openly together because Garak has a lot of enemies and it would be too dangerous. (But I wrote a sequel where they reunite some years later when circumstances have changed.)

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I'm trying to think if I have, but I think the closest I got was crossing over characters from Star Trek: the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and it was an AU - not very crazy at all, I just adjusted time so that two characters who would have attended Starfleet Academy several years apart were there at the same time and fell in love. That's Cadets and it's Datashir if you're interested.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not outright hate, but a very ungracious comment of the "I don't like this ship but your writing is good" variety.

If it had been "I didn't use to like this ship but I enjoyed your story so much I'm starting to feel differently!" I would have been very pleased (and I have had some comments like that), but no. If you don't even like the ship, please don't read my story, it is not for you.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

hahahaha I write little else! A big part of why I write fanfic at all is that I want sexy material with the characters I like from media that doesn't get that (onscreen/page) sexy. I do have some G-rated fics, but they're in the minority. My smut tends to be romantic and fluffy and tender, though at the same time it can be relatively hardcore/kinky, I just think it's possible to have romantic, tender rimjobs and canings, you know? The characters are always in love or on the way there. It is virtually always queer. I've written more m/m than f/f, mostly because the SF/fantasy/adventure-type stories I like have disproportionately male casts with more screentime and interesting development given to male characters, and that is an industry problem not a me problem. (I love Sailor Moon the best and that has an overwhelmingly female cast which is great, but the characters are mostly in their early teens and I don't find them sexy at my time of life.)

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, and I don't think I could. I've written fic based on discussions I've had, so I consider that co-created by my discussion partner (eg Just Business, Nothing Personal with @djarining) but actual writing feels very personal and idiosyncratic to me and I'm not sure I could mesh with someone else's writing effectively, even if we did it in a relatively discrete way like alternating chapters.

What’s your all time favourite ship?

Probably Garashir, but I don't have a strong degree of favouritism.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

oh uhhhh are we counting incomplete fics that I abandoned a long time ago? Because that's most of 'em, I'm very poor at finishing stories. I tend to want to go on until I've run out of ideas completely and have nothing left for a conclusion.

What are your writing strengths?

Lively dialogue with distinctive character voices seems to be the biggie. Also generating a vibe of comfort and healing. I think I write fairly vivid descriptions.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Not finishing things, struggling to create a plot, getting bogged down because I suddenly hit this weird mental state where I can't figure out how to describe kissing without making it sound gross or boring, and doing the writing-a-sex-scene equivalent of falling asleep right after coming - the chapter tends to end a bit abruptly after a climax because I've spent a long time writing through all this emotional and sexual intensity for the characters and I want to finally push the chapter out and get some response to it.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don't care for it myself but I don't object to other people doing it! The fandom I'm currently most involved with is The Mandalorian and there's this current of people using lots of Mando'a dialogue, especially to express deep personal feelings, with characters who we've never canonically heard use the language, eg Boba Fett referring to Jango as his buir when in Attack of the Clones he called him Dad. I'm not saying it's incorrect, people are free to imagine whatever they enjoy, but it throws me off/alienates me slightly while reading - like it doesn't feel natural to me that Boba and Din would speak Mando'a to each other, especially because given Boba's life story I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't speak it well or feel comfortable with it. It's entirely a matter of personal taste rather than something I disapprove of, I want to make that quite clear.

I mildly disapprove of people scattering in words of a real-world language that they clearly don't speak (eg gratuitous "hai" instead of "yes" in an anime-based fic) and are just getting from a phrasebook or Google Translate, just because it's kind of clunky and not really the flavour enhancement I think they intend it to be.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I think The Vision of Escaflowne. A very, very long time ago.

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Whichever one I'm currently enjoying writing! I feel very fond of Curse of Chamomile because it was the first Witcher thing I wrote based on having only watched the Netflix series, and I felt quite indimidated to begin with but the comments I got were welcoming and lovely and some people even said the characterisation I arrived at worked like a blend of the Netflix series and the books, which was a lucky trick given that I have never read them. That was a really encouraging and up-cheering experience. A lot of the early comments coincided with the time I was on a very enjoyable winter holiday to Taupō so when I had downtime I could refresh AO3 on my phone and there was often something new, and it all just reinforced my Good Time so I remember it fondly.

Tagging, ummm, I always feel awkward doing this because what if someone else tagged them already and I didn't notice? Anyway, we'll say @djarining and @beboots and honestly, anyone else reading this who would like to have a go, consider this your free tag.

[raidbreakblog]

Night of the Full Moon Review

Night of the Full Moon is a Free to Play deck building, roguelike game available for both mobile and PC, although the mobile version is much superior and the form I am reviewing today. With over 600 cards to choose from, 8 vastly different classes and over 100 monsters and bosses to fight, the replayability is incredible!

Story

Personally I do not take any interest in the story aspect of this game I just really enjoy the actual deck building, adventuring style. But having said that it definitely does have a somewhat coherent story; You play as Little Red Riding Hood who heads out into the night to find her Grandma and meet and whatever lies in your path head first.

Gameplay

The game has 2 different modes, the base game (Full Moon) and the DLC (Red Hood Diaries). Full Moon features all 8 different classes to choose from (Knight, Ranger, Nun, Witch, Magician, Apothecary, Werewolf, Soul Hunter) all with unique on use skills, vastly different play styles, builds to go for, a normal difficulty and an 8 level hard mode progression system. When playing you will move through 3 different chapters, with a boss at the end of each. You will be presented with 3 options to choose from at any point up until you reach the boss, i.e Fairy Blessing - Village Guard Lv 1 - Mad Scientist Lv1 so you have a level of choice of which order you want to attack things or, whether you want hunt for an upgrade before heading for that incredibly annoying Headless Horseman!

When starting a new game each class has a predetermined 10 card deck that is customisable by gaining new cards via leveling up, purchasing them with gold obtained from defeating monsters/bosses and also found in a multitude of chests. Further customization can be done through leveling up some of your cards such as  ‘Basic Attack’ and removing unwanted/clunky cards. Further depth on top of this is the blessing system, these are passive buffs you will be able to pick up while travelling through the chapters. A Build for Knight I would highly recommend is grabbing as many equipment cards as possible and the blessing ‘Shipborne Artillery’. This makes it so that when playing an equipment card it instantly fires off 6 damage. You will need more to make this build completely bonkers but I will leave the rest for you to figure out.

The Red Hood Diaries DLC is more of the same, slight gameplay tweaks but nothing exciting. In this game mode you have the choice of 4 different classes (Knight, Witch, Apothecary, Ranger) all with 3 distinct builds to go for. When starting your adventure you will be able to choose an out of combat skill, unique starting card only available here, a blessing from the get go and further down the line picking up 2 skills usable in combat. There is a clear progression path here, where instead of having 3 options to choose from as with the base game there is a singular monster in front of you without any of the flavor of discovering Healing Bandages, chests or shops. This does however have new encounters and added more cards to choose from. The DLC feels like an addition to get if you just can’t get enough of the base game and want to support the developers as it doesn’t add much in terms of gameplay aside from the new cards, which on a side note are available to use in the base game if you wish.

Problems

The game isn’t without fault of course, there are some minor translation issues where some things don’t quite read the best English but are more or less fully understandable, just not worded perfectly. The biggest issue however (and trust me this one is a biggy) there is no tutorial and a lot of game systems go completely unexplained at all, for example after you finish a battle any cards that are left in your hand are returned to the top of your deck in the same order for the next battle. This provides you with an extra layer of thought and is a genuinely interesting mechanic but could go completely unnoticed. Most of the mechanics can easily be figured out with a little trial and error and you will soon pick up everything the game has to offer. 

Conclusion

I play a lot of mobile games at work during my lunch break to pass the 30 minutes. I downloaded this title back in the summer of 2019 and have played it almost every working day since then, completely falling in love with its gameplay. This game is a great little time sink with almost endless replayability, if you find yourself looking for a mobile game to play any time soon I couldn’t recommend this higher. 

7.5/10

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

Could you expand why you think the writing started going downhill during Season 5? I thought the first half was gangbusters, but Significant Others (which was great) ended with Kate having doubts about Castle's openness (I guess is how you would put it). And then the thread dropped and not mentioned again. Do you think this was when Marlowe started running out of ideas for their relationship?

Hey, Anon. I apologize it’s taken me so long to answer this. When you sent the question I thought I’d re-watch season five, six and seven to really get a proper idea to answer you and then life got in the way. 

I don’t know that the idea of Kate doubting Castle’s intentions (or openness, whichever you prefer) was never mentioned again. They shelved it for a while, but it eventually came back around at the end of the season. Beckett asking Castle where they were going is a prime example, as is Castle deflecting the question and using his charm. That whole issue and conversation is born from the fact that Castle doesn’t want to get too serious too fast and scare Beckett off, while she’s looking at his past marriages and relationships (along with what Meredith told her) and taking that to mean that Castle isn’t serious about their relationship and she’s in kind of head over heels all on her own. 

I know a lot of people hate the ending arc in season five, but it never really bothered me. These are two people who were both scared of pushing the other away with the intensity of their feelings. I do think that the lead up to Castle deciding to propose could have been handled better, but the overall concept of the story never was an issue for me. The storytelling got a bit heavy-handed and clunky, but I do think a lot of that comes from Still because it’s so at odds with the rest of the arc in season five. And, really, that’s not the fault of the writers because they were handed an episode at the last minute with a shoe-string budget to create it and they did the best they could. If that episode had come say mid-season five? I think the ending arc would be better received among the fandom. 

My problems with Castle in season five extend to the fact that the show started going episodic. And by that, I mean that no one had any memory or emotional tether to whatever had happened the weekend before. Significant plot points (Alexis’ abduction is a biggie) that should have been extended in the b-plot of the show were dropped like rocks and the supporting cast became caricatures of themselves with a revolving set of opinions and reactions that weren’t true to the characters but meant to fit a mold in order to fill some void that the story needed (Lanie and her terrible advice, Esposito’s general attitude). 

Season six is where the cracks really started to show. The entire season is spent around planning a wedding, but these two people actually do little to no planning. The cases start relying on themes (season six and season seven have more theme episodes than all the others combined) each week, and some sort of gimmick to sell it rather than character development and interesting plot. No one remembers anything that happened the week before, and you ultimately end with a plot that still is wholly unnecessary and filled with plot holes that even a fifth-grader could point out. 

To me, Castle’s kidnapping and the lack of a wedding are what marked the beginning of the end of Castle. There are entire portions of season six and season seven that were phoned in by everyone from Marlowe on down, written in the most pandering and basic way. Originality isn’t really something you necessarily need in procedural television, the format is based on a “lather, rinse, repeat” mentality, but you do have to at least make the characters interesting and let them act like themselves rather than just inserting them into the story. The characters should determine the story, but in season six and season seven the characters were largely inserted into the story that was chosen to be told and it just comes off as clunky and uninspired.

I think Marlowe didn’t know what to do after they were engaged and that he felt like the show wouldn’t be as interesting once they got married, which is ridiculous. Castle’s kidnapping would have been just as effective, and received far better by the fans, if they had gotten their big white wedding beforehand. Had the show ever followed up his kidnapping with any sort of genuine payoff, I might feel differently about that, but whatever Marlowe and David Amann’s initial plan had been? It got left in the writer’s room and never made it on screen. 

The end of season seven, barring Hollander’s Woods, is a train wreck. Phoned in with bland writing and boorish cases (That 70′s Show, anyone?) and was just another mark of a show that needed to go back to its original ideas and, at the same time, shake things up a little. 

[todaybharatnews]

via Today Bharat India's best-known software exporter is facing an impossible trinity of sorts: Out of sales, margins and governance, Infosys can hit only two goals at a time. Or so it would appear from yet-to-be-proven whistle-blower allegations against Chief Executive Officer Salil Parekh and Chief Financial Officer Nilanjan Roy that they used hyper-aggressive accounting practices to hide from investors the lack of profitability on large deals. The stock tanked as much as 16 per cent in Mumbai after the letter was published by the Deccan Herald. It's a deja vu moment for Co-Founder and Non-Executive Chairman Nandan Nilekani, who returned to the Bangalore-based company two years ago during a previous crisis - sparked by a set of different anonymous charges against Parekh's predecessor, the former SAP Executive Vishal Sikka, who was accused of impropriety in a $200 million acquisition in Israel. That scandal culminated in an unseemly spat between Sikka and the board on one side and N. R. Narayana Murthy, another of the company's Co-Founders, on the other. Sikka resigned in August 2017. The new board exonerated him, but by then the damage was done. It's been a slow road to recovery. At a one-year-forward price-to-earnings multiple of 20 times at the end of September, Infosys's valuation is now almost 50 per cent higher than at the depth of the last crisis. The risk is of a repeat of that slump. If investors start to believe that the culture at the software services provider, once seen as India's most transparent company, is beyond redemption, expect a durable deepening of the 10 per cent discount at which Infosys traded against larger rival Tata Consultancy Services, or TCS, at the end of last month. Since the company's American depository receipts trade in New York, there's also the threat of expensive class-action suits. The allegations are being evaluated by the audit committee and the board. The CEO and the CFO won't be a part of those deliberations. Whatever the truth of the whistle-blower's complaints, another protracted governance saga could be just as damaging. It might not be a bad idea for a buyout fund to step in and take Infosys out of the glare of the public markets. As a private company, it could rediscover its moorings and find a new purpose in a digital world where clients increasingly want nimble, cloud-based, on-demand software, rather than clunky, on-premise enterprise solutions. At $12 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March, Infosys revenue is nowhere close to Sikka's 2020 target of $20 billion. An operating margin of less than 23 per cent was lower than the near 26 per cent at TCS, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. After a period of rehabilitation, Infosys should be able to deliver all three targets: sales growth, margins and good governance. Some private time could be just what it needs to get fixed.nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;