#do whatever but Mid belongs to me! Cc!

[creatorcam]

Here ya go guys and make art if you want, she's light pink and has darkish pink as outline! This is probably like a DYLS i think

[entwifeexperience]

BrinaPlays: Roll for...Adventure! by MilkyPork

Session 1.

CW: Described Violence, Referenced Addiction

I was really intrigued by this being a full stripped-down functional adventure TTRPG in a 12-Word RPG form. I started this ongoing game as a solo journaling playthrough with a vague cyberpunk vibe as it's not something I've really played or explored as much as I would like.

[d6] 3..Health

I am pinned down in the husk of what must have been a casino or arcade. Blocky cabinets provide cover as I slowly move through the labyrinth of rubble, warped plastic and pools of broken glass that twinkle in the torchlight.

My clothes are heavy and wet. It's not all sweat. I'm definitely bleeding. Adrenaline and whatever shit BY gave me are doing their work. But I'll be feeling it soon.

I need to give these fuckers the slip.

...Adventure! 6. Even: Advance

Ignoring the disconcerting disconnect between absence of pain registering in bmmh brain and my body being all too aware, I slip deeper into the maze.

This place must have been huge. The number of arcade machines and bizarre combinations of plastic weaponry and vehicles is ridiculous. They way some of them stand, shouldering rows of their fellows who at one time fell in succession, looks like a giant's failed domino trick.

I snag a cracked machine gun laying next to a severed cable. It's not even going to be deadly to pixels anymore, but the look of it might give my pursuers enough pause for me to stay alive for a couple more seconds, before...

...Adventure! D6: 4. Even: Advance

Heavy boots on broken glass.

Shit. Shit. Fuuuuuuuck.

OK. OK. Get it together CC!

I head around another broken machine and see rubble. The collapsed roof leaves a dark hole above shot through with twists of rebar. Below it crushes more arcade machines and what might have been some kind of booth. A dead end.

Getting closer and more concerned with how wet my jacket by the moment, I spot a hole. Thankfully when the roof came down, the way two of the came together has left a tiny gap I can hopefully squeeze through...

...Adventure! D6: 1. Odd: Conflict

I don't see the boot until I am extricating myself from the detritus. It's a small mercy that it belongs to a P10. The faceless mask looks down at me and what little I can read from the body-gloved figure shows surprise, seemingly flinching as they draw their Cide...

CC d6: 6 v PIO d6: 5

I manage to kick Cide away and bring my lightgun up. The deteriorated plastic explodes against the face mask harmlessly, leaving me holding cables and chain. Still, the rookie PIECE reels back, giving me a moment to put every bit my malnourished, B3TT4-hooked frame into their knee.

The PIO goes down like a sack of shit, silent behind the matt faceplate, and I am on them before they even hit the floor. My size and this what's left of the arcade gun is all I have.

I lash at blank face, but the chain just bounces off.

I can hear the echoing footfalls of at least two H0Rs and the terrifying distorted incantations of an EL3 getting louder. I don't have a choice.

I whip the chained cables around the faceless pawn and try to not think about the person underneath -- I'm flying. Running on clouds. Golden coins rotate in mid-air... No! I need to be here.

A B3TT4 flashback blazes across my stimulation-starved synapses. I haven't had the juice to Face in nearly a week now and I have to fight my system to reject the glitch-hit...

...Adventure! D6: 3: Complication

I am crouching on a white panel...I phase through it and run behind the scenes...I hit a loop at full speed and spring into the air...I spread my arms and dive from the tower's edge...the winged demons place me before the cathedral city and I feel true awe. I have purpose. I have power. I have agency. My body...

CC d6: 6 v P10 [2]d6: 6

CeramiK spreads my nose across my face and I lurch back into the aching nihilism of reality.

CC d6: 6 v P10 d6: 3

Blood is pouring down my face. I can feel something grinding against my hip socket. I don't want to die.

I throw myself back with as hard as I can. The cables skate across the CeramiK, before hooking in under the chin. I pull with everything I have left.

A moment of stressful silence stretches out. A rotten tooth cracks from the tension and I choke on pus and shards. But something buckles and the chain bites deep into flesh.

[vampish-glamour]

Yeah the push for pronouns and "gender indentities" in the sims is so stupid. Just saw a post on r/thesims acting as if they/them pronouns are as necessary to have in the game as cars or having more traits... lol. Im afraid ea will give in and we'll eventually have a patch that adds a bunch of neopronouns. Im trans male and I dont like to give male sims the feminine frame because it makes their hips huge/they look like girls and it makes me dysphoric. And thank you so much for that mod!

(continued)The skin tone issue is so true, I'm not even white and I feel there's also a lack of good pale skin tones but they neglected that aspect because that's not what woke people care about. I saw that cc pack before, my eyes rolled out of my skull. The thing that belongs there the least, lol.

Ughhhh I’m gonna scream :D

It’s maddening because there’s so much wrong with the game. Simulation lag, empty boring traits, lack of gameplay, rushed packs, etc. etc. You know, things that impact every single player and make the game nearly unplayable.

And people are trying to pretend that they/them pronouns are the most important thing?!

In recent packs there’s been no gendered pronouns. As in, instead of getting a notification saying “Bob wants to know if you can come over to his house”, it’ll be “Bob wants to know if you can come over to their house”. This is either a good thing and means that this is the extent of they/themming that the sims team will implement... or a bad thing and means that the sims team is paying attention to these people.

There’s an upcoming game that a lot of simmers are following, Paralives, and people are predicting it’ll be a large competitor for the Sims. I remember seeing something about customizable pronouns and genders. As in, you type in your character’s pronouns and gender like it’s a goddamn Twitter bio.

I get wanting representation in a life simulation game. But even without considering my views on enbies, I find it hard to see rewiring the whole gender system as a priority when the game has so many other detrimental problems.

Yeah the pale skin tones sucked. The update made them better, now I can actually have pale sims that don’t look dead, yellow, or pink 😂 it’s just weird to me that nobody cared about that when they were talking about how important it is to represent your skin tone. It just tells me that people will latch onto anything they can for woke points.

Same with the hair issue, honestly. I get wanting more black/Afro hairstyles, but I don’t think people get that all the other hairs aren’t just for white sims. They cover pretty much every other race, since it’s really only black people with afro texture hair or braids/dreads/twists/etc. So if a game developer only has so many hairs to make, do you think they’re going to make more hair that can be used on the majority of sims, or make more hair that can only be used on a select type of sim? That said I really don’t have a problem with them adding more diverse hairstyles and I think it’s a really good thing. I just don’t like that people blame it on racism when it’s really probably just that majority rules. Unless people are fine with any pixel person wearing pixel braids without calling it cultural appropriation. Then you might see more hairstyles if you let it cover a larger market

And I don’t see anybody complaining about the lack of actual long hair lol. Like the longest goes to about mid back length I’d say. If they actually cared about diversity and not just “muh racism” I think they’d want to point that out too.

Point is, everyone’s focusing on whatever can get them woke points and it’s frustrating. I’m glad EA is fixing skin tones and hair, I think that’s necessary... but I really don’t think gender shit is. I want them to fix the damn game before worrying about pandering to the enbies.

Also you’re welcome!! 💖 let’s hope the sims community doesn’t get their hands on it because we all know they’ll be claiming it’s the most bigoted thing they’ve ever seen (while propping up an lgbt pride pack that centred non lgbt stuff lmao)

[classyfoxdestiny]

2021 Isuzu D-Max V-Cross BS6 Review: The Gentle Giant

2021 Isuzu D-Max V-Cross BS6 Review: The Gentle Giant

What happens when you leave boys alone with something like the Isuzu D-Max V-Cross. Well! Most certainly your mother is not going to be happy about what all’s happening behind her back. And today I am sure my mother is going to cross her threshold of patience, after reading this very review. So, I thought it would be a good idea to apologise to her in advance! One just can’t help it with the V-Cross. After all, it belongs in the wild, doesn’t it? 

Also Read: 2021 Isuzu D-Max V-Cross: All You Need To Know

Off-Road

The Isuzu D-Max V-Cross is phenomenal at off-roading, so much so that you won’t step back before throwing anything at it.

Yes! It’s off the road where the V-Cross is in its element, so much so that you won’t step back before throwing anything at it. Even I didn’t. The location we were headed to offers long highway stretches, twisties, sharp corners and dips in the Arawali range on the way, leading to this hard-core, natural off-road terrain, just the perfect course for the Isuzu D-Max V-Cross. And with us is the six-speed manual iteration mated to the new 1.9-litre BS6 engine, which we haven’t tested before.

Be it in 4H or 4L you just don’t worry about the momentum, there’s always enough of it.

This thing just glides over anything and everything. Be it in 4H or 4L you just don’t worry about the momentum, there’s enough of it. In 4L and it holds the revs nice and tight at 2,000 rpm giving you enough push, and I don’t really worry about the approach and departure angle because it goes over everything without breaking a sweat. The only thing that bothers me a bit is the mid-angle because it has got a big wheelbase, so that is something you have to look out for. But then, the SUV gets underbody protection, so it isn’t much of a hassle there.

Off-roading ability is phenomenal and if you plan to do it often, just pick this manual V-Cross.

Yes! It’s a cakewalk for the V-Cross on the rough. Off-roading ability is phenomenal and if you plan to do it often, just pick this manual over the range-topping automatic that we drove back in 2019. Don’t get me wrong, even the Automatic variant is no less of a hero, just that you feel more in command when driving the manual variant.

It can nearly go swimming with a water wading capability of over 500 mm and so we didn’t mind being a water child.

Even on our way here, 4H served pretty well on inclines, dips, slush, sand or whatever came under it. Nothing seems challenging. If anything, it sort of overwhelms you, going beyond your expectations and that’s quite reassuring. It’s like those solid woodland boots. Looks tough and stylish, and you barely feel the surface. Then, it can nearly go swimming with a water wading capability of over 500 mm and so we didn’t mind being a water child and having our share of fun splashing around.

Performance & Dynamics

The 1.9-litre, four-cylinder BS6 diesel mill mated to this six-speed manual transmission and we quite like how it delivers.

2021 Isuzu D-Max V-Cross BS6

Specifications

Displacement

1898 cc

Cylinders

In-Line 4

Maximum Output

160 bhp @ 3500 rpm

Peak Torque

360 Nm @ 2000 rpm

Transmission

6-Speed M/T

Transfer Case

Shift-On-Fly 4×4

Now manual coupled with this robust shift-on-fly four-wheel-drive system is more promising in even highway munching as it is off the road! The 1.9-litre, four-cylinder BS6 diesel mill mated to this six-speed manual transmission, belts out a healthy 160 bhp at 3,500 rpm and 360 Nm of peak torque accessible right from 2,000 rpm. And we quite like how it delivers.

The new V-Cross with this new 1.9-litre oil burner is more promising in even highway munching as it is off the road.

The meaty low-end torque is accessed nice and low at around 2,000 rpm in first and second gears which are short and give you instant access to that torque. And then in following gears, third, fourth and so on, you can push it higher up the rev band at around 4,000 rpm which is its happy zone and that makes it an effortless cruiser. The mid-range is really good. The top-end though is a bit flat and getting up to higher triple-digit speeds will take some time. But then it’s the V-Cross and we don’t want to hustle around with. It prefers being driven in a relaxed manner and you build up on speed gradually.

It feels more at ease than the 2.5-litre unit and you don’t need to work too much with the gears, very suitable for highway cruising.

In fact, this 1.9-litre oil burner feels more at ease than the 2.5-litre unit where getting momentum and instant low-end push was a constant struggle. Well! That engine has been axed down post BS6 regulations rollout. The best part here! You don’t need working with gears too much, again thanks to that low-end torque that allows you cruise in 4H or even 2H at lower speeds and higher gears. So even 40 kmph in top gear is feasible without much fuss, and you don’t really need to drop down speeds any further. Suspension brings it about for you.

Leaf springs at the rear is an aid when that bed is fully loaded at up to 215 kg which is the prescribed limit.

And speaking of suspension, there is high ride independent double wishbone coil spring upfront, tall enough for ample articulation and play, while soft ride leaf spring at the rear doesn’t make ride bumpy or too floaty and the leaf spring is an aid when that bed is fully loaded at up to 215 kg which is the prescribed limit. Well! That is a boon, especially on the road.

It’s proportions and weight is very evident behind the wheel.

It tips the scales at just less than 2 tonnes and stretches over 5.2 metres in length and all that mass and size is very evident behind the wheel. But that bulky SUV feel is what owners really want in something like this and still for the size it holds quite well around bends and corners and electronics do come to your advantage. You feel it even more with an unladen deck and a rear section that’s slide happy, even with a gentle shove on the pedal. The electronics do keep a check here.

The steering feels a bit cumbersome at lower speeds, but gives required heft and feedback when pushing hard.

The steering feels cumbersome at lower speeds but will give you required heft and feedback when pushing hard and the nose stays in right direction. Even sharp curves are easily dealt and while you do keep a check on speed while cornering hard, it behaves well and doesn’t float much on the highway. You do miss the three-blink lane departure function on the switch though.

Body rolls and lateral movements aren’t actually unnerving as the chassis is stable but passengers do feel it.

But then lateral movements even on small undulations and while changing lanes are inevitable, courtesy its tad soft sprung suspension. They actually aren’t unnerving as the chassis is stable but passengers do feel it. The ride quality though is plush and that slight soft edge in the suspension setup is helpful here. Even the sharpest of bumps don’t feel as sharp and it takes every terrain in its stride, simply gliding over those beaten tarmac, pebbly roads or potholes. The 18-inch wheels with adequately tall profile do add up as well.

Design

The next-generation V-Cross looks more angular, but this still looks truly handsome.

But what hasn’t changed at all is the way it looks and that’s not exactly a bad thing. Well because we have always loved its daunting and intimidating demeanour. Agreed! The next-generation V-Cross looks more angular and it’s on sale globally, will eventually come to India and you’ll like that even more. But this! It looks truly handsome and while I am not a big fan of chrome, but healthy dose of it on its face goes pretty well with this body colour – Black Mica. And our test car gets this additional chrome package. So around headlights you have got chrome, also on wing mirrors and doors and even at the rear, around taillights and boot lid. And as said, it doesn’t look flashy at all looks quite good in fact.

2021 Isuzu D-Max V-Cross

Dimensions

Length

5,295 mm

Width

1,860 mm

Height

1,840 mm

Wheelbase

3,095 mm

Interior

The lacklustre feel inside the cabin is very evident and it misses out heavily on creature comforts front.

That being said, where it most certainly should have got an upgrade is inside the cabin. All you get is a very functional 7.0-inch touchscreen with Bluetooth connectivity and stereo options. So no Apple CarPlay, Android Auto or even in-built navigation. Other things we sorely missed having were rear air-con vents, power adjustable seats, auto-dimming mirror and perhaps wee bit of soft-touch material at least at frequent touchpoints like centre and door armrests. Even leatherette seats and additional roof mounted speakers are available only on the top-end Z-Prestige Automatic variant. The manual with us is available only on the Z 4×4 trim, a lower variant.

No rear air-con vents at the rear and backrest angle could have been improved, offers decent thigh support though.

So in here, all you get are six-speakers, power adjustable and foldable wing mirrors auto climate control and of course power windows but with just single touch down operation for driver side. Well it does get parking sensors now that the BS4 model didn’t have in addition to the reverse camera, and it’s quite handy while parking or reversing this mammoth of an SUV. But quite honestly! You have all of these even in a premium hatchback nowadays.

Something that needs shelling out close to 24 lakh rupees, has to be up on the feel good quotient and offer few more creature comforts.

Safety Features

It gets six airbags, Electronic Stability Control, Traction Control, Hill Descent Control and Brake Override System among others.

On the safety side, you do get six airbags, Electronic Stability Control, Traction Control, Hill Descent Control and Brake Override System among others and they do support you as already mentioned. But disc brakes are there only on the front while you get standard drum at the rear. It would have been nice to have discs at all corners offering you a bit better bite, given its weight and size. Oh wow! That Rhymes.

Verdict

This 1.9-litre BS6 engine has upped its credentials both off-road and on the highway compared to the previous 2.5-litre engine.

Well the Isuzu D-Max V-Cross is not for everyone but still, it is no surprise why it has such a cult following. And hundreds of queries for the BS6 version on its fan pages across social media platforms will tell you the same. Have to say that this 1.9-litre BS6 version has upped its credentials both off-road and on the highway compared to the previous 2.5-litre engine. It’s like the Hulk from ‘Avengers End Game’. Still does the job quite handsomely when the going gets tough, but now remains poised and maintains its composure. And then, it’s still around ₹ 10 lakh less expensive than the 4×4 Endeavour and Fortuner.

It can be your second car for highway munching or to satisfy your adventurous or wanderer streak.

2021 Isuzu D-Max V-Cross

Prices

Isuzu D-Max Hi-Lander

₹ 16.98 lakh

Isuzu D-Max V-Cross Z A/T 2WD

₹ 19.98 lakh

Isuzu D-Max V-Cross Z M/T 4WD

₹ 20.98 lakh

Isuzu D-Max V-Cross Z-Prestige A/T 4WD

₹ 24.49 lakh

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For someone living in the hills, farms, countryside or where traffic doesn’t worry too much, it can be the one for your garage. And for city dwellers it can be your second car for highway munching or to satisfy your adventurous or wanderer streak.

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[mesdea]

Chapters: 32/? Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi Characters: Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Yoda, Anakin Skywalker, Shmi Skywalker, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, CC-2224 | Cody, Garen Muln, Padmé Amidala, CT-7567 | Rex Additional Tags: Mace is Obi-Wan’s Master, Yoda is always meddling, Angst with a Happy Ending, Qui-Gon is broken, mention of violence, Anakin is a sweet kiddo, quiobi ,Shmi is my ultimate Creche mom, With Love there is always hope, Sith Qui-Gon, Darth Acheros, Protective Cody, Jango makes a great dad, Minor Cody/Rex, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Panic Attacks, Mental Health Issues

Obi-Wan had never known that a human form could twist into that position as he exited the fresher and glimpsed over at Qui-Gon’s sleeping form. The towering body had contorted and wrapped in on itself as if it could shield him from the mysterious shadows. It had remained a sleepless night for Obi-Wan. His bondmate had spent half the evening on the edge of tears and the rest of it trying to battle the nightmares. Obi-Wan wanted to step into the council chambers and scream that he would never leave Qui’s side ever again, but it had remained a futile thought. Both gentlemen understood that they were Jedi first, no matter how their souls ached to be separated.

Obi-Wan approached the sleeping man; his towel clung to his skin, scarcely above his hips. He was still exhausted, but he had a scheduled debriefing with Master Yoda in several hours, therefore slipping back into the sheets with Qui-Gon was pointless. Perhaps he should move outside onto the balcony for some meditation, but he didn’t stir. His eyes couldn’t sway from the tense figure, pressed against a body cushion, and he ached to make everything better. A pitiful whimper tore the Knight from his thoughts; shuffling swiftly to the sleep couch he spread his fingers tenderly over Qui-Gon’s sweating brow. “It’s ok my love,” Obi-Wan murmured, pushing a small force suggestion over their bond to ease nightmare to dream.

“Is he going to be okay?” The timid voice made Obi-Wan rise from the mattress. He had entirely forgotten the brand-new addition to their family. After Qui-Gon had fallen into a fitful slumber, he moved the young boy to the extra bedroom.

“Quint, I’m sorry, but you startled me. It was a difficult night, but he’s back to peaceful dreams.” Obi-Wan clung tightly to the towel and reluctantly turned away from Qui-Gon. “If you will give me a moment to change we can start some tea and breakfast for your Master.”

Glistening green eyes, fixed high within their sockets, were watching affectionately over the figure against the bed. Quint simply nodded to Obi-Wan in return. The child removed himself with haste and started the kettle for their morning tea. He had been so apprehensive about Knight Kenobi’s arrival that he hadn’t slept enough himself. When he awoke with the covers pulled tightly toward his chin he realized that Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon must have carried him to his bunk like a toddler. It wasn’t the first impression that he wanted to display to his master’s other half.

Obi-Wan waited for the door to close behind the boy and lamented at the Jedi Master still dead to the world. “You sure possess a way of making our lives interesting, Qui.” He was startled to find new tunics in his size, inside the closet. Qui-Gon must have transferred his things while he had been absent. This relationship was genuinely happening. It warmed Obi-Wan’s heart to know they would make this journey together. His thoughts drifted to the future but warmed his heart even more. Letting the towel fall from his sides, he dressed quickly and joined Quint in the kitchen.

“The water is almost ready, Sir. Do you,” The child paused for a moment looking back at the fully dressed Knight before continuing. “Do you have a favorite tea?”

“I’m honestly not picky as long as it has a bit of flavor. Whatever you are making for yourself will be fine, Padawan Hawks.” He pulled out a chair and relaxed, watching the young man move around as if he always belonged in these quarters with them. 

“May I ask you a question, Knight Kenobi?” Quint pushed one of the cups to Obi-Wan and sat across the table.

“Only if you call me Obi-Wan or my friends sometimes call me, Ben.” Obi-Wan motioned for the youth to continue as he blew slightly on the warm liquid and took a sip. The shy boy moved his hand gently over the short stubby padawan braid that Master Qui-Gon had started for him. He still felt so unsure when it came to the man sitting before him. “It’s ok Quint; you are free to speak your mind with me.”

“I’m sorry Knight, I mean Obi-Wan, but I have to say that I was very nervous about meeting you.” Quint fiddled with the spoon still inside his cup. “Will you make me go back to the creche?”

The question shocked Obi-Wan; to the point, he almost spilled his tea all over the new tunics. “Oh, Quint, please would you come here?” The gentleman gestured to his lap and smiled when the boy nearly flew into his arms. “There is one thing that my master taught me a long time ago. Would you like to know what that is?” The child nodded, pushing away a bit to see the Knight’s face. “Master Windu taught me long ago to expect the unexpected and embrace new friends whenever you have the chance. I know right now you are unsure of your place in our household, but you are now a padawan to my bondmate. That means that you are as much a part of this family as Qui-Gon and me.”

“Is there tea for me?” They both shifted to see Qui-Gon’s blood-shot eyes staring at them. Quint squirmed from Obi-Wan’s lap and quickly made another cup and passed it to his master. “Thank you, my padawan.” The title fell quickly from his lips.

“You look dreadful, Qui. Did you sleep at all while I was gone?”

“You fret too much. I’m fine now that I have both of you here.” He ruffled Quint’s blond locks and leaned over to Obi-Wan to press a soft kiss to the lips that called to him.

Obi-Wan returned the loving kiss, knowing it was as much of a welcome back as a request to move on to other subjects. “I have a debriefing in about an hour with Master Yoda. The mission went about as well as we could expect when slavers are concerned. I swear, if I never see that planet again it will be too soon.” They continued for the next fifteen minutes, Obi-Wan telling them both the ins and outs of his mission. It felt pleasant to relax together and chat, without the weight of the galaxy on their shoulders. They were starting to feel like a life together was an actual possibility.

Obi-Wan pushed out the chair and placed his mug in the sink, leaning against it for a moment, looking at the table. This internal chatter would be their life now, morning tea and conversations replacing Sith plots and assassination attempts. He couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his dried lips. “I better get going, or Master Yoda will beat me with his gimmer stick. I will see you after your Healer’s appointment, okay?”

Qui-Gon started to admit he hadn’t been to see Healer Kachiu for a while but nodded his head instead. He watched Obi-Wan begin to leave the kitchen pulling him back into a tight embrace. “I’m glad you made it back safely. Meet us in the salles for practice later?”

“I wouldn’t miss it.” Obi-Wan let go of the embrace to reach up on his tiptoes and place a light peck upon his giant’s nose. “I love you,” the words were whispered to Qui-Gon before he exited their quarters.

The rest of the day had been filled with mundane tasks by Qui-Gon, Quint, and Obi-Wan. The master and padawan had to visit the master at arms to requisition new padawan tunics and gear. Every time Qui-Gon visited with the quartermaster it was an event, the older man always made the master regale him with stories of past missions. Quint’s stomach started to gurgle with noises after the third story, and it pried the master’s attention away from his enthralled audience.

“I thought we’d never get to eat!” The boy laughed as he ran into the cafeteria, grabbing a tray and heading straight into the shortest line.

“Forgetting to water and feed your padawan, I hope you are not?” Qui-Gon glanced down and smiled at Master Yoda. “Growth spurt, I expect there is.” They both chuckled at that and took a seat at an empty table away from the racket of the crechlings. “Well, your other half has done on his mission but worried he still is for you. Sleeping he says you haven’t.”

Checking to make sure his padawan was still filling his plate with food. Qui-Gon looked over at the master and sighed. “I’m fine, Master Yoda.”

“Fine, you are not!” Their voices rose, and everyone around them had stopped to stare. “Not sleeping we all can see. Obi-Wan spoke of nightmares…” The words trailed off as the Knight in question appeared next to them.

“Am I interrupting?” Obi-Wan tried to get everyone to mind their own business by shooting them an irritated glance. Qui-Gon stood up upon Obi-Wan’s arrival and glared at the man. “Qui?”

“If you could allow Quint to sit with you during mid-meal I would appreciate it. I’m going to meditate in the gardens if you even think me competent enough even to do that.” The fury that radiated off the man was making the smallest of toddlers in the room upset. “In fact, why don’t you take Quint for sparring practice, I’m sure you can do a better job.”

“Qui-Gon, what is wrong?” Obi-Wan tried to stand up and grab Qui-Gon’s arm only to have it snatched away from him.

The eyes that stared back at him weren’t rational. They weren’t the passionate crystal blue that Obi-Wan had come to adore. They were tinted with a pale yellow. “You are what’s wrong! You told me you had a meeting with Yoda, but you didn’t mention that it was to give him an update on my well-being. I’ll leave you all to continue with your gossiping behind my back.” Qui-Gon used his long legs to carry him away from those confused storm grey eyes.

Quint moved to the table, setting his meal down and starting to turn towards the shut door. “I know it’s hard, Quint, but we must leave him be for now. A growing boy needs his tubers, eat up.” Obi-Wan offered a wane smile that was so fake that even the boy didn’t believe him. “He’s in the temple, and he’ll be ok. Two steps forward and one step back is still progress.” They all sat in silence as the crowds around them moved on with their lives, unphased by their scene.

The gardens were his only solace at the moment, it was a place that he could go, and no one would speak about his past and worry about his future. The garden creatures and the living force didn’t care about his eating and sleeping habits. “Banyan, my old friend, I’m glad that you can’t talk. I understand they are all concerned about my well-being, but I feel like they are all waiting with baited breath for me to fail. It’s suffocating!” Qui-gon sank to his knees before the tree and felt its life-force wrap tenderly around him like he was a boy again. It didn’t judge his failures it only knew this moment and at this moment it felt safe with the tall man under its canopy.

“I figured I would find you here when I entered the mess hall to see a dejected Obi-Wan and a flustered padawan.” Qui-Gon didn’t even flinch at the familiar voice. "Oh, you pissed at me too?” Cody moved closer to the tree to lean on its still slightly charred trunk.

“I’m not in the mood, Vod.”

“Since when has that stopped me?” The man just smiled and continued as if nothing else mattered. “Qui-Gon Jinn, you are an ass. You’ve always been an ass when it comes to your well-being.”

“You can go back to Obi-Wan and tell him I don’t need a fucking babysitter.” He growled back.

Cody just laughed, “Now we both know you are a liar. I’m not going anywhere, friend. You need someone to tell you the truth, someone that isn’t as close to the situation as Obi-Wan and Quint. You do realize that after just a few days you have already abandoned him to others?”

“I didn’t…”

“The hell you didn’t. The boy looked dejected after you left. He knows that you are still healing, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still a young boy that needs to be reassured of his place in this world. Do you think it shows stability to throw him at Obi-Wan just as he comes back?”

Qui-Gon placed his head into his open palms and started to weep, the dark circles under his eyes becoming more prominent. “Cody, I don’t know what to do. I know you are right, I even know that Obi-Wan is right. I can’t sleep when he’s away; I can’t even function, what kind of Jedi does that make me? What’s worse is that I understand I have to be a master on top of it. I’m already failing that boy. What was I thinking?”

Cody relented and kneeled in front of his old friend, pulling the bearded chin up carefully to stare into his eyes. “You haven’t failed anyone, Qui, except maybe yourself. You’ve spent so much time telling yourself that you are fine, that you won’t consider anything else. You do realize you’ve missed your last three healer appointments?”

“I didn’t,” he paused. “I felt better for a while, but then Obi-Wan was gone.”

“I love you, Qui but when left to your own devices, you do stupid shit. One day, you will be able to cope with everything that has happened to you, but there will always be something that can trigger it again, it’s just the reality of the world we live. You need to get off your knees and go back to the mind healer. Tell them what’s happening, they are here to help you.” Cody jumped to his feet once more and rested his hand on Qui-Gon’s shoulder before exiting back the way he came.

“In or out, but make up your mind sometime today.” The gruff voice called out from within the office. Qui-Gon shrugged his shoulders and took a deep breath before deciding to enter finally. “I was wondering if you even remembered that I was still here. Would you like to explain why you canceled your appointments?” Healer Kachiu sat back in the chair and stared at the man before him.

“I’m sorry. It was pointed out to me by a friend that it wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Well you have a brilliant friend, perhaps you will continue to listen to them?” The healer motioned for the master to sit in the chair across from him and gave a weak smile. “Qui-Gon, I’ve already spoken to the council and Obi-Wan. However, I was waiting for you to come to me. It’s the only way that you will finally start the healing process. No one can force you; you have to be ready to participate. Tell me, are you truly ready?”

Qui-Gon swallowed his pride and bowed his head to stare at the bare floor. It was a question he had asked himself many times but was he closer to an answer now? He was about to open his mouth when he felt both reassurance and comfort from both of his bonds. He had lashed out in anger and fear, but they had responded with faith and love. He had much to continue learning that he was sure about. “I am ready, Kachiu. I am ready.”

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Straight to the Dark

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. I hate this movie. I hate it. It’s bad, man. Fundamentally terrible. It’s a bad Star War. It’s a bad film in general. Everything is terrible. All of it. It’s so terrible. Here’s a list of the terrible stuff:

The Bad

Movie gives away the massive twist in a test crawl. It literally says that Palpatine called the galaxy and said, “Surprise, b*tch. Bet you thought you’d seen the last of me.” That’s how this movie starts. That’s how i knew it was going to be a bad time.

Sh*t goes into montage of Kylo Ren murdering a bunch of nameless asshole. No plot progression of thematic weight. We don’t know who any of these assholes are, he’s just in the woods, with an entire battalion of Stormtroopers, murdering cats for one of the many, many, mcguffins in this fetch quest of a goddamn film.

Where did all of the Stormtrooper bodies go? They just f*cking disappeared. There’s, like, three of these asshole. Kylo had an entire ship of troops. The f*cc is shot continuity??

The movie doesn’t tell you this because f*ck being good at telling a story, but the people Kylo is slaughtering are Vader Occultists. hat’s right, they worship Darth Vader as a god and yet, here they are trying to murder his living, breathing, grandson? For real? He’s their version of Jesus and you’re going to fight him to the death over some sh*t that probably belongs to him anyway by birthright? Okey-dokey.

gain, none of that is stated or shown in the actual film. F*ck thematic weight or unique story telling, we got an entire original trilogy to wank instead.

So, five minutes in, Kylo finds Palpatine and the “Emporer” is like, “It was me, Barry.” and shows him a bunch of Snoke clones in a jar or some sh*t. Wat. What the f*ck ws all that sh*t Snoke was talking then? About being older than the Sith and talking all that good sh*t? How could Snoke have trained anyone in anything if he was a f*cking puppet the whole time??

Smash cut to Finn yelling about some sh*t. F*ck, they murdered the agency in this character, man. Former Stormtrooper, abandoning his space Nazi rhetoric to became a freedom fighter, who is possibly force sensitive? And he’s one of the six black folks in a galaxy, far, far, away? Hell yeah! Two movies later, syke! Finn is a weenie that can’t do anything by suck Rey’s dick. Welcome to Kathleen Kennedy’s “Force is Female” agenda, boys! Take all of the agency and creativity for the male leads and give it to Rey because f*ck you!

And before you brand me some neckbeard chauvinist, i have no problem with all of the mary sueness that is Rey. There are ways, in-universe, to explain that. No, i am upset that all of that mary sueness came at the expense of literally every other main character in this goddamn trilogy! It’s dope Rey is so strong for no goddamn reason. whatever, f*ck you, but to sacrifice and semblance of an interesting supporting cast? Really? are you serious right now? How does that a good story, make? specially when there was so much fertile ground to develop at the end of Awakens.

Uncanny valley Carrie Fisher. They cut old footage of her into this flick because Rey needs a master. guess what? Se had one. Guess what? Mark Hamil is actually still alive! Why did you need Fisher when you could have just not killed Luke or had him actually train her in Last Jedi or not killed him off so he could be around to enrich Episode IX like everyone had signed up for? Instead, yall decide to Frankenstein old footage of Carrie Fisher into this flick in the most clumsy way possible.

How the f*ck is Carrie Fisher versed well enough in the force to teach Rey anything?? What does she even know?? She literally stopped 30 f*cking years ago! How are you a master of anything?

So, the exposition in this movie is absurd. Cats just sit round in a group and tell you the plot. Constantly. There is literally no time for this film to actually show you hings barbecue we gotta get this sh*t done, so they just TELL you EVERYTHING in a goddamn MOVIE!

This movie feels like the climax of a film, for 2nd a half hours. And not just any film because Endgame did that to wildly different results, but a bad film. Like, a Michael Bay film. It feels like the ass shots and explosions of the end to a Michel Bay film, but the entire movie. It has about the same amount of substance and urgency as f*cking The Rock or some sh*t, with all of the narrative strength to boot.

They keep referring to Anakin’s lightsaber as Luke’s, this entire trilogy, and it’s pissing me off. Luke’s saber was green because he was a Jedi Sentinel. He wanted to know the ways of the Force. That was his path to Mastery. Anakin’s was blue because he was a Jedi Guardian. He wanted to use the force to protect those around him since he had lost so much. That’s why he was so skilled at dueling. Luke’s lightsaber f*cking disappeared or some sh*t. It ws never addressed.

Bro, this teleporting sh*t. For real? The Force is basically telekinesis and telepathy. It’s not magic, my dude. What the f*ck is this teleporting bullsh*t all of a sudden? There is no precedence for this in Legends or canon. you can’t keep ex machina-ing sh*t, especially when the driving force of your narrative is a goddamn mcguffin chase!

Jetpack Stormtroopers that launch from the back of desert motorcycles. The entire sentence is some sh*t a fourteen year old try-hard would write in his fan fiction. It has no place in a proper Star War. Bad J.J. Bad.

Stormtroopers can hit the broad side of a barn yet, this one jetpack trooper not only blew up both of your getaway vehicles, but did it mid flight? For real? b*tch, how? Were THEY using the goddamn force??

Nope! Plot contrivance because they needed to get tuck in that specific quicksand, right specifically now!

Force Heal? Really? F*ck, whatever, man. Force Heal. Force Teleport. F*ck, I’m surprised there’s not Force Time Travel. Sh*t man, there might be. Palpatine is alive and he blew the f*ck up when his Death Star did!

Everything about C-3PO and this stupid Sith dagger mcguffin. Everything.

Oh, Poe. I thought they did Finn dirty bit you? Holy sh*t. Dude was a Spice runner? Really? Not even a hint to any of that before but now, because there’s no time to actually flesh out his character properly, you just drop that? When we first met, you were an ace pilot and hero for the Resistance. Rian Johnson got his claws into you with Kathleen Kennedy’s blessing, and you became a mutinous manbaby. Now, you’re an outright space coke runner. Character assassination at it’s finest, if you can call what they gave Poe a character to begin with.

First Order blockade mcguffin, i choose you! Thank you faceless character i just met that Poe has apparently known for decades or whatever, f*ck you!

More Force Teleport fighting!

Dyad in the Force, huh? okay. I thought Snoke did that to f*ck with Kylo in the last movie but whatever. I don’t care anymore. F*ck you.

So Rey finds out she’s a Palpatine and has an emotional crisis. For less than a minute because f*ck emotional levity or character growth, we gott get this sh*t done!

So you introduce an entire platoon of Stormtrooper deserters, give Finn a non-Jedi love interest, and just gloss over all of that with a single conversation of exposition? Really? That could have been a really great part of his person journey but NOPE! F*CK YOU!!

Leia dies for no apparent reason. apparently, when you use your Force powers after a long time, you just croak? Okey-dokey.

Kylo Ren outright dominates Rey until he feels his mom die and Rey take an opportunity to sucker stab him in the gut. AND THEN she feels Leia die. Really? Why do you never see the force when you’re supposed to? Your f*cking master just just croaked and it visibly traumatized her sun and your first instinct is to f*king murder him? for real, b*tch?

Han Solo ghost. Apparently, that n*gga was a secret Jedi or some sh*t. I dunno. F*ck you.

So Rey heals Kylo, steals his ship, and flies off to Luke’s hermit world just to throw a goddamn tantrum until Luke’s Force Ghost shows up and tell her to calm her tits. He physically interacts with her. He raises his old X-Wing so she can fly to Pappy Palpatine’s Ice Shack.  WHY HAS HE NOT BEEN HELPING TO TRAIN HER THIS ENTIRE F*CKING TIME???

Speaking of that X-Wing, how the f*ck can it even fly?? It’s literally been underwater for at least two decades.

Also, Luke had a Jedi wayfinder? n*gga, how? Rey destroyed the one she got off the Death Star II corpse. Where the f*ck did this other one come from??

Pappy Palpatine has spent the last two or three decades creating a fleet of Star Destroyers with Death Star cannons connected to them and, in that time, he couldn’t clone himself a proper body? Are you serious?? I feel like resources probably should ave been devoted to that first. Motherf*cker has jars upon jars of Snokes but you expect me to believe that they couldn't create one, legitimate, clone? Are you serous? These motherf*ckers hollowed out an entire planet and put a gun in it that use suns as bullets, but you can’t clone a decent body to put yourself in? For real?

Speaking of these Death Star Destroyers, why do they still have the same goddamn weakness of the Death Star I?? Bro, you had sixty f*cking years to fix this ONE goddamn problem and Nope! Blow up the gun, blow up the ship! My guy, two Death Stars and a Starkiller Planet but you ain’t fix this one flaw??

Okay. Okay... Palpatine’s grand plan, aside for try-trying-tryinging-tryinginging the world gun plan again, is to have Rey kill him so his Force Ghost can Force Possess her body. What is she just walks away? What is he just says no? This is a bad plan, man.

Oh! i forgot. Hux was the spy. Because he outright says it, audibly, in the middle of a First Order starship, which is notorious for having all sorts of monitoring system like cameras and microphones, right before he’s murdered for being the spy! Bruh.

Ben Solo shows up, redeemed for some reason, and promptly gets his ass handed to him by the Knights of Ren. Until Rey Force Teleports his grandad’s light saber to him, at which point his entire style changes and he slaughters his bros. MAGIC!!

We Force Draining life  to regrow my zombie body out’chea, manq!

After Rey properly Mace Windu’s Pappy Palpatine into oblivion, she dies for no apparent reason. WHY??

Wasn’t this EXACTLY what Pappy wanted? he WANTED her to kill him so he could haunt her titties or some sh*t? You did exactly the plan, man! Why didn’t it work?? PLOT CONTRIVANCE, THAT’S WHY!

F*cking Reylo, dude. F*cking Reylo...

Ben dies at the end. For no goddamn reason. And fades away to Jedi Ghost immortality. Proper Skywalker boss sh*t!

I hope he Forced Knocked Up Rey. Gotta keep that line alive and Ben was caressing her tum-tum real passionately.

Why the f*ck would she just move into Luke’s house on Tatooine? That place is the worst! it’s got terrible history with all of the Skywalkers, including Anakin! That’s just bad juju right there.

Where the f*ck did Rey get that Yellow Kaiburr crystal from?

“I’m Rey. Rey Skywalker.”

You had forty, real life years, worth of material to pull from and seven years to come up with a way to stick this landing and you sh*t the bed this hard? Really? Nothing is earned. Nothing is deserved. It’s all just a sticky wet fart.

The Verdict

Admittedly, those are issues i had as a fan. I would put on my movie critic hat and properly critique why, functionally, this is a bad film but i am too tired to do that now. Look, man, this thing has potential. There are so many plot threads that could have gone somewhere but Rise is not about that life. They’re here to do everything in their power to retcon everything Last Jedi and Kathleen Kennedy allowed to happen therein. And they do that well enough but at the expense of their own goddamn narrative. This was course correction that should have been two, entire, separate, films. So much good sh*t could have been gleaned from this narrative if it was two proper movies but corporate was like nah, bruh. Get this sh*t done. We’ll stop making these things for two years and people will forget. Nope.

You can’t forget this sh*t. I can’t forget this clusterf*ck i just wasted my life watching. And it didn’t have to be! That’s what kills me! There is more than enough in this film to redeem the franchise. If this specific story was broken up; If these plot points and characters were given enough room to breathe, sh*t could have worked! Ther eis so much fertile ground here to craft a dope story for fans, old and new but NOPE! F*ck that! Cowabunga it is! We’re going to cram all of that sh*t into one movie and f*ck you! We’re going to spend half the narrative erasing The Last Jedi instead of progressing this plot because f*ck you! We’re going to bring back someone who had to be unspoken, impossibly, resurrected to win back the fans because f*ck you! Give them some goddamn Reylo because f*ck You! That’ll shut you the f*ck up! F*ck this movie, man. This sh*t could have been special but you let an ego driven, misandrist ruin forty years of canon for the clout.

Watching this goddamn movie made me piss blood, man, that’s how much it hurt.

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 29 - CGY

4-3 Regulation Loss.

As Sabres fans we’ve dealt with fifty shades of losing the last decade plus. We’ve seen seasons tanked, we’ve seen them lost, we’ve seen them good at the start and bad at the end, we’ve seen them bad at the start and good at the end, we’ve seen every version of losing. When this team went into a tailspin in November it was like old hat. We marched out the think pieces about the “Same old Sabres” that some of us seem eternally on the verge of writing. We manufactured memes about an inactive GM and antiquated coach. We criticized everyone in the organization right up to Terry and Kim for having too much fun in the box seats in Dallas on Thanksgiving. Say what you will about the Pegulas I’ll probably agree with you, but you can’t really get owners fired. Say what you will about Jason Botterill not converting on a trade that’s felt impending for five months now. But have we not seen something unique in Ralph Krueger? Yeah, Jack Eichel has fully arrived as a star in this league and Victor Olofsson has emerged as the first diamond in the rough late-round pick since… Marcus Foligno? But in terms of the overall revelation of having a team that won lots then lost lots and now is once again winning, a new shade of being a fan we haven’t got here in a while, there is an enigma beyond the Captain here: Coach Krueger. I got thinking this way after the Devils fired John Hynes. The Sabres got a Coach fired for the first time since late 2011 when an embarrassing loss to the Sabres got Washington’s Coach fired. Erik Wollschlager at Die by the Blade wrote up the parallel to a remarkably similar 2011-2012 Sabres team that similarly found itself… uh… “competitively middling”. Apart from the weirdness that is the Sabres getting another team’s coach fired, there is a comparison there we’re missing: Hynes lost his job in New Jersey because he failed to motivate a fairly stacked roster there. I’m not saying the Sabres are nearly as stacked but would it be crazy to think part of the reason the Sabres have pulled themselves out of a terrible November unlike so many past seasons is because they have a motivator as Coach? It helps that he’s able to strategize creatively in an odd roster crunch. It’s a theory I’m working on. Give it a good think. It’s making more sense to me each game.

Last night Ralph Krueger’s side ran into a Flames team that knew what to do to frustrate him. Like we’ve seen in most of the Sabres losses the way to beat us is clogging the neutral zone, eliminating second chance opportunities and well… shutting down the almost nonexistent powerplay. Equal time: these two teams stayed close in the shots category the whole game but from about the halfway point on it looked like Calgary had the clear upper hand. The visitors however drew first blood. Victor Olofsson was working the puck around behind the Flames net about three minutes in before launching it along the boards to Rasmus Ristolainen at the blueline. Risto took a mid-strength shot for his standards and both Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart were buzzing around the shooting lane looking for the tip. The tip that put the puck in past David Rittich belonged to Reinhart. Even before the Flames got the equalizing goal there was daylight for the pessimistic among us in this game. The Buffalo Sabres Hockey team got three powerplay opportunities in the first period. THREE OF THEM. THREE TWO MINUTE SPANS WITH AN EXTRA SKATER. I only yell it because it seems they forgot those are finite periods of time you are statistically supposed to score! They did not. They didn’t in the first or the second period. You know who did? Johnny Gaudreau. JOHNNY HOCKEY cashed in on the very first Flames powerplay to even it up with 3:18 left in the first period. Wouldn’t he look good in Blue and Gold? This game started at 9pm eastern so the second period felt late and for the early bedtimers among us the second period might have fooled you for a nightmare.

Buffalo played confused defense. I don’t know how else to put it. Calgary took over the scoring chances battle, allowing few opportunities for the Sabres in the offensive zone. The time Buffalo was in the defensive zone was atrocious, particularly when it was the Jake McCabe and Zach Bogosian line defending. Bogo seems to think he needs to never look away from the puck carrier to be a good defenseman. To the expense of the defensive scheme both guys just didn’t know how to help. When Calgary finally broke through for the go-ahead goal it was almost comical. Poor Henri Jokiharju loses the puck on the blue line during a Sabres powerplay and Tobias Rieder takes it on a breakaway that ultimately went five hole on Linus Ullmark. That’s right, the go-ahead goal was shorthanded. Those sting. It got worse too, much worse. A few minutes later Mikael Backlund and Sean Monahan teamed up for a fake-out play on the rush. Monahan scored from a tight angle as Ullmark was still getting to the post from the Backlund fake. If the 3-1 lead didn’t hurt enough Buffalo would get four additional powerplay opportunities into the third period that were fruitless. For those keeping track at home that put the Sabres powerplay at 0-for-7 on the night. The powerplay has fallen so far from where it was in October. If it was converting at just 10% the Sabres would probably never have been so far behind. The frustrating night continued into a third period that did provide some surprises for those able to stay up for it.

Who do you hate most on the Calgary Flames? It maybe a hard question to answer since they are so far out of the company of regular competitors for Buffalo. I have your answer: Milan Lucic. Even if you don’t remember what he did to Ryan Miller you don’t need to watch much of his work to hate him. He’s an old fashion goon with zero goals on the season until… ops, I gave it away. A Jeff Skinner pass is intercepted all the way back in the Sabres offensive zone so Derek Ryan and Dillon Dube (both real names) go off toward Ullmark on a 3-on-1 rush dragging Milan Lucic behind as the slowest, heaviest trailer you can imagine. They pass to each other all saucy and what not seeing that it worked on the Monahan goal and drop it to Lucic at the last minute. Ullmark was deked out on the ice with Brandon Montour looking down at him like Mama’s lasagna had just spilled and so my dearest Sabre, perhaps second only to the Captain, gets the indignity of being the recipient of Lucic’s first goal of the season. It hurts just to write. The Flames are now up 4-1 with sixteen minutes left in the third. You’d be forgiven for turning off the TV now. But there was still some fight left and this is something worth mentioning: the Buffalo Sabres attempted a comeback. They didn’t give up, they also didn’t win, but they made it close when they didn’t deserve to. Victor Olofsson and Jake McCabe teamed up for a weird, deflection goal at 17:16 to bring them within two. Then, after Ullmark was pulled for the extra man, Jack Eichel slapped one in to preserve his point streak. 4-3 was where it ended as Eichel’s goal came in the very last minute of play. To be honest, preserving that point streak was a pretty big relief.

I couldn’t rage about this game. I raged for the Boston games. I raged for that Chicago game. I raged so hard about the Minnesota game that I didn’t even write a blog about it. We’re not even halfway through the season, I got to save some steam here. But I am getting defensive of this coach. As I laid out at the beginning of this postgame, I think he’s been blamed a bit too much for the Sabres struggles. Krueger broke up Ristolainen and McCabe, I think I’ve forgiven him for taking so long to do that because the Dahlin injury made me realize, just like with this GM not making a move for a forward, some things are out of the Coach’s hands. His two big bets are paying off: the odd number defenseman/forward rotation remains not ideal in the absence of a trade but has catalyzed the production of Jimmy Vesey, Johan Larsson, Rasmus Asplund and Henri Jokiharju. Sure, I’d like to see Lawrence Pilut in Buffalo but here we are, CC in Botterill on that complaint. The other bet was moving Casey Mittelstadt to the wing. It seems like that was an idea Sabres twitter had as the shit hit the fan last season but now that the Coach is doing it we’re kinda just noticing it in passing. Casey hasn’t yet gotten the goals to show for it but he’s driving play more than we’ve seen. Considering he’s in a contract year I don’t mind this situation as much. And you might have noticed shortly after we all got upset about Colin Miller being in the Press Box, he wasn’t in the Press Box anymore. Krueger makes some confounding moves but when they don’t work he fixes it. He’s willing to evolve and change and the is the fundamental difference between him and Housley. What I’m saying is the problems we still see on this roster lie with the GM, not the Coach. Once again, just a working theory. Like it, share it, and of course comment on it. I suspect defending a Coach elicits some strong reactions just like the Lucic goal elicited a strong emotional reaction from me.

I said going into this trip I expected the Sabres to get 4 out of 6 points. No, even this optimist isn’t sticking to that prediction after they forfeited both points against Calgary. That said, Vancouver is literally a single game better right now and in spite of their better play as of late I don’t think the Sabres will simply lay down and die on Saturday. You can get two points there no matter how rested they are. Edmonton? Well… we’ll cross that bridge when it comes I guess. Are the Sabres back? I thought so. What about them Bills, eh? Do you think they can win the division? Whatever to not talk anymore about this game. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. And yet again, somehow at the time of the writing of this blog the Sabres remain in a playoff spot.

[truesportsfan]

Brett Gardner on his Yankees future, Gerrit Cole first impressions

Veteran Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner takes a swing at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.

Q: Have you given thought to how much longer you want to play? A: At this point, I’m just kind of taking things one year at a time. I’ve really always looked not too far into the future, obviously. The contract that I signed, the Yankees have a team option on me for next year. In a perfect world for me, I stay healthy and have a good season and they pick that option up and I come back and do it all over again. For me, I’m just focused on this current season and literally taking things one day at a time, trying to get prepared for a season. I know it sounds cliche, but I kind of learned that from some guys that I’ve played with along the way, that when you’ve been around this long, there’s no sense in looking too far into the future, really. You don’t know how much longer it’ll last, so really just enjoy every minute of it.

Q: Did the retirement of Giants quarterback Eli Manning impact you in any way? A: Eli’s obviously been a great Giant. I think he’s gonna be a Hall of Fame quarterback, obviously. But he’s a guy that’s done it all in New York, played his whole career there, and just got a ton of respect for him at what he accomplished.

Q: Could you see yourself wearing any other uniform other than the pinstripes? A: I can’t. … I can’t, I’ll be honest. There were times in the offseason, especially early on, where some other teams were interested, and with the season I had last year, I was gonna continue playing. My priority was to come back to New York.

Q: Would managing appeal to you down the road? A: (Laugh) No, I don’t think so. That’ll be a too time-consuming for me. If and when my time is done as a player, obviously the game has been very good to me, and I’ll find ways to try and stay involved in one way or another and give back, at whatever level it may be. I’ve got two young boys that obviously I want to spend a lot of time with. I haven’t been around to see a lot of their early childhood, so I look forward to those days, and obviously my wife [Jessica] has made a lot of sacrifices to get me and us where we are. So I really look forward to stepping away a little bit.

Brett GardnerGetty Images

Q: Tom Brady wants to play until he’s 45. Do you have a goal as far as how long you want to play until? A: No, I don’t. Physically, I’ll be honest, last year and right now going into this season, I feel better than I did several years ago, just because of being a little bit smarter about what I do and making some changes and just fortunate to have made it through these last couple of seasons relatively healthy and going into the offseason healthy and being able to train is a whole different [thing] than going into the offseason when you’re rehabbing something trying to get back to being healthy. So I feel great physically, and I know that I can continue playing for several more years, but that’s a decision that a whole lot more goes into it than just how I’m feeling, so we’ll see what happens.

Q: All things being equal though, you would still prefer to retire a Yankee. Is that accurate? A: Oh of course. I’ve always been very transparent and honest about that. I was drafted by the Yankees almost 15 years ago. I’ve obviously played with quite a few teammates over the years that have either come from other places or that have come up with me and gone other places, and I’ve heard from quite a few of ’em that there’s nothing like playing in New York … so something that I’ve obviously I’ve never gotten a taste of playing baseball somewhere else. … New York and the Yankees fans have always been great to me, and love playing there.

Q: With CC Sabathia gone, you’ll have to fill even more of a leadership void. A: Yeah, a little bit, but we’ve got a lot of great leaders in that room, and some of ’em are in their early-to-mid 20s, guys like Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres, and we’ve got some guys that have come over from other organizations that really command a great deal of respect and really have a lot to offer with all these young guys that we have in the room -— guys like Giancarlo Stanton, and obviously Adam Ottavino, now Gerrit Cole coming over on board, a veteran guy like Aroldis Chapman … we kind of share the load. There’s no one guy that does most or all of it. I feel like we’ve got a great balance. At the same time, we’ve got a really good young corps that sets us up for a bright future.

Q: How would you compare your mindset or mentality now to your very first spring training? A: The older we get, and the more people meet, especially in the field that I’m in and the team that I’ve been with. I’ve been fortunate to have played with a lot of guys that I’ve really been able to kind of pick their brains and learn from ’em and what makes them so special, and also be around some of the best coaches and get some great instruction that has allowed me to continue to improve my game even this late in my career. I think I’m a lot different now than I was then. I’m smarter in the way that I go about things and the way that I prepare and train and what I do to get ready for a game, and what I put in my body, right down to how I sleep and how I take care of myself. That’s one of those things where if you want to play for as long as possible, you only get one shot at it. So I’ve always tried to for the most part make good decisions and give myself an opportunity to play as long as I want to, and so far that’s worked.

Q: Are there foods that you avoid? A: (Laugh) Honestly, no. I’m not gonna stand up here and beat my chest and act like I’m on a some strict diet, because to be honest, I try to take in about as many calories as I can but I do try to be smart about it. But I do love pizza, and I do love deserts and sweets, so I’m not anti-anything, even though I probably should be.

Q: With Luis Severino out for the year, is it still World Series-or-bust? A: I think that’s the expectations here every year, and the last three years really, we could have been that team standing any of the last three years, and we’ve obviously come up short. I think with the addition of Gerrit Cole, and some of the guys that we have — we have a pretty young core group of guys that in my opinion, some of these guys are only gonna continue to get better. Just look forward to continuing to help them belong and watch them grow, and I expect us to have a better season than last year, and hopefully we’re that last team standing.

Q: What makes Cole’s stuff so elite? A: Well, his fastball’s obviously very hard. Anytime the harder the fastball is, the better the offspeed stuff plays. It’s just a big difference in looking for 100 and a 90 mile an hour slider versus looking for 95 and an 85 mile an hour slider. I think his presence on the mound, and his ability to attack all four quadrants of the strike zone.

Q: What have you observed about his makeup and how it will play in New York? A: He’s a bulldog, he’s a competitor out there on the mound. I already see him on a daily basis just kind of holding court with all of his teammates really but mostly pitchers, just talking to them about approach and conviction. It’s good to see. Not only is he a really, really good pitcher every five days when he’s out there on the mound, then he’s the best right-hander in the game right? But I think he’s also a guy that makes others around him better.

Q: With Sevy gone, do you have enough arms in the rotation? A: I think we definitely do. We’ve got some really good candidates for that spot or two in the back end of the rotation. We’ve got some guys that are really right there knocking on the door waiting for their opportunity. … Jordan Montgomery’s gonna be back this year 100 percent healthy, and he’s looked good early in camp.

Q: Deivi Garcia? A: He’s in the mix, guy’s got a really good breaking ball, really good sneaky hitter and a bright future ahead of him too, so we got plenty of pitching.

Q: What do you think of Gleyber Torres at shortstop? A: I think he’s a natural shortstop. We saw early last season when Didi [Gregorius] was out, pretty smooth transition, and being in left field, being in center field, I get to play behind him, so I think he’s been really good, I think he’s gonna continue to get better on both sides of the ball. He’s just one of the most talented young baseball players that I’ve ever seen. It’s special to watch.

Brett GardnerCharles Wenzelberg/New York Post

Q: Miguel Andujar in the outfield? A: His very first game in the outfield a couple of days ago, I’m in center field and he’s in left field, the second pitch of the game, there’s a ball hit right to deep shortstop, and he had to run in and communicate with Gleyber on [it], he called Gleyber off and made a good play. But the ball has a way of finding you, so it was a pretty cool moment because you just knew that he was gonna get one hit to him pretty quickly, but he’s an athlete, and he’s a worker, and with that bat, obviously be the guy that we want to find ways to get in the lineup. If he can learn to be pretty efficient out there in the outfield, it really increases his versatility and the opportunities that [manager] Aaron Boone has to mix and match, and not only put his bat in the lineup, but give some guys done days off and move some guys around. He’s a big piece of this puzzle, and you saw what he was able to do two years ago when he was healthy. He missed all of last year, but he’s back now, and he is fully healthy. His bat is quick as ever, and it’s great to have Miggy back.

Q: What are your expectations for a healthy Aaron Judge? A: This is a guy when he stays on the field for 140-plus games, I think he’s gonna win the MVP. I don’t like putting too high of expectations on guys, but that’s how much I believe in him. He’s got the ability to change the game on both sides of the ball and on the bases. We’ve seen how dangerous he can be at the plate. I think people were starting to talk about how great he is out there in the outfield, and obviously his ability to run the bases. For those that haven’t seen him play, he only has to take three steps and he goes from second to third. As big as he is, it’s impressive to watch and see how fast he is and how much ground he covers, not just in the outfield, but his quick he gets around the bases. For me, when he’s healthy and on the field, he’s the best player in the league

Q: Describe DJ LeMahieu? A: Man, he’s a baseball player, he’s an absolute professional. He’s all about preparation, and he’s just 100 percent committed to his craft, and you could put him anywhere on the field, and he wouldn’t complain and he’d do a dang good job at it. Last year was just a tough year with us for injuries, and he moved all around, and just did an awesome job for us. Everybody talks about second in the league in hitting and what he was able to go with the bat, but his defensive versatility and value was just ridiculous. He’s one of my favorite teammates of all time.

Q: If Alex Rodriguez is interested in owning the Mets, would ownership interest you? A: (Laugh) Maybe something like the Charleston River Dogs would be more my level. … I haven’t heard too much about that, but I have no doubt that whatever he does, he’ll be successful at.

Q: Have you guys spoken about the coronavirus? A: We have … just try and be aware of your surroundings, and wash your hands a lot, watch what you do. … It’s definitely concerning, but just be smart about what you do.

Q: What are your thoughts on Kobe Bryant? A: Just sadness. Obviously there’s a lot of people affected by that. … Not just the player that he was on the court, but the way that he affected people off the court, and the ability to motivate people. … It’s sad anytime there’s a tragedy like that.

Q: Did it take you a while to get over last year’s ALCS defeat to the Astros? A: It always does. It always does. I think the older you get, it gets harder and harder because you realize you’re running out of opportunities, and you don’t know how many more chances you’ll get. That’s always tough to get over, but at some point, you gotta lick your wound and you get back up and get back to work, and here we are.

Q: Your sons, Hunter and Miller, are 11 and 9. Did they ask you about the Astros’ cheating scandal? A: Yeah, a little bit they did. Just use that as one of those parenting moments, just teaching right from wrong, and the right way to do things and the wrong way, just kind of attack it from that angle. They understand the game, and they are old enough to realize what’s going on. But at the same time, they’re still young kids, so I try to keep ’em sheltered a little but as much as possible I guess.

Q: What’s it like being the longest-tenured Yankee? A: It’s crazy, man, it really is. It’s hard to believe I’ve been here as long as I have. It’s not something I take lightly. It means a lot to me to still be here, and I’m very happy to have an opportunity to come back here and try and finish some unfinished business. … It’s crazy it’s been 13 years.

Q: What intangibles do you like best about this Yankees team? A: These guys early in camp seem really driven, seem really focused. This is a group that has kind of been in the trenches together for the last couple of years, and like I said, we’ve been really close but we’ve come up short, and we’re ready to get over that hump and be that last team standing. We’re hungry.

source https://truesportsfan.com/sport-today/brett-gardner-on-his-yankees-future-gerrit-cole-first-impressions/

[itsworn]

Drag Strip Testing an LS6 1971 Corvette

Car Craft Editor Terry Cook surely aspired to something greater. He delighted in assaulting and deconstructing preconceptions. While we wore the trendy rags of the day, he insisted on suits and he knotted nutty ties. Rather than a Tri-Five, a Chevelle or any piece American Iron, he aspired to and drove a freakin’ Morgan- four-bore motor and a frame made out of wood. We were further disoriented when he announced his project hot rod was going to be a fiberglass four-door T nudged by a turbocharged Vega four-popper. Beyond the norm.

Cook was enamored of the Car&Driver philosophy and its editorial execution, as well as key players Leon Mandel and Brock Yates, and for a while he modeled some of Car Craft’s physical production after theirs. Road tests or drag tests or whatever you want to call them, were published without a byline or even a photo credit, as this was policy at the precious New York-based magazine.

Ed Baumgarten .c. Mid America Motorworks

It was policy that CC tech stories leak as much minutia, detail and as many decimal points as possible, because that’s what readers had come to expect from the premier drag racing publication. By the time we were done, column inches had jacked into column-yards, which inevitably overwhelmed the photographic presentation. Cheeky Cook ruffled another feather or two by running carry-over copy in the front of the magazine, rather than the back half as is tradition.

The story here is what I thought I’d remembered and had included in the original copy for “Goodbye Forever LS-6.” I didn’t hit the nail. I barely hit the wall. Truthfully, I don’t even remember if I was the one that wrote it, though the sophomoric slop in it leads me to believe I did. The stuff I missed is astounding.

Most of the time, what you think you remember isn’t how it happened at all. I know. I’ve proven it to myself time and again, because I can look at one of my centuries-old magazine stories and it will tell me so. It can’t be wrong, can it? Sometimes I have to ask someone who was there at the time, and most times I can find a witness. This is about one of those times. But these old days, some of the faithful have already passed on, so I’m on my own here.

In the late sixties/early seventies, if you wanted to traverse the greater Los Angeles landscape in a Chevy, you called the Western Region guy, Wayne Thoms, an affable and accommodating human being if there ever was. He had the go-fast gene, too, even if it was a vicarious one. The length of time you’d spend with the car was strictly up to him, but a month was the usual term—he had to make allowances for the mechanical work you planned to throw at the car as well as the time required to take the hop-up stuff off. More often than not, we’d be grinding the mule for at least two months.

Ed Baumgarten .c. Mid America Motorworks

There was an unwritten agenda at Car Craft: whatever it was, made sure that it ran better than one tested by anyone else. If it didn’t the first time out, you just kept at it. The very least, there were tacit rivalries with Cars, Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding and Super Stock & Drag Illustrated, so when Wayne dangled the Ontario Orange C3 under our noses like a maggoty goat carcass to a turkey vulture, we could not refuse.

It had the most powerful motor, so how could we refuse? For its final appearance on the world stage, the once mighty RPO LS6 454 was included in the ZR2 package (Special Purpose LS6 Engine Package) that also featured heavy duty power brakes, an M-22 transmission, transistor ignition, special aluminum radiator with metal fan shrouds, springs, shock absorbers and stabilizer bars for a premium of $1747.

The LS6 had been neutered by much milder events for the solid lifter camshaft and a 9.0:1 dog-brain compression ratio so that it would live on leaded regular (and later the unleaded pee that would be mandatory for the impending catalytic converter.) Quite a way from the race-like 11.25:1 of the 1970 LS6, it still advertised 425hp at 5,600 rpm and 475 lb-ft at 4,000 rpm. Its big 800cfm Holley still threatened in a way the pedestrian Quadra-Jet couldn’t hope to. The cylinder heads were aluminum and featured an open combustion chamber design. Volume was 119.09cc’s. The mechanical lifters were lashed hot at 0.024- and 0.028-inches. Chevy stuttered that the drop in compression for the 1971 LS6 would accommodate regular fuel. It didn’t. It bucked and pinged and wasn’t happy until it was slugging high-test hooch.

Ed Baumgarten .c. Mid America Motorworks

Since most of us preferred tooling a clutch car, that whiney Muncie M-22 close-ratio had more than siren appeal. A diaphragm clutch with a 1,800-pound spring load operated dual 10-inch discs that had aluminum-backed facings and asbestos pads. The steel flywheel weighed 33 pounds. The system behaved well at high rpm and worked without flaw in front of the rock-eating Muncie. Zoom supplied the 4.56:1 gears, and we took the Corvette to Bob Heacox at Scat Enterprises for the installation.

Then we relieved the motor of its nominal cast iron manifolds that had been used to make the factory packaging as simple and as cost-effective as possible. Anyone who wanted the most from the 454 would likely strap on some headers, in this case Hedman (part HH-9) with 2-inch primaries and a 3-inch collector. Then some original BS: “To give the car the rally look (what exactly did that look like?) and an incredibly obnoxious sound, the Thrush Outsiders were plumbed into the header system and fitted below the rocker panels.”

Like the side pipes, the drone continued: “The car was an absolute bear on the street. The side pipes gave it primal sound and appearance and the Hedman headers relieved the congestion. But the biggest visceral boost came from the lower gears. Instead of taking two city blocks to go through the gears, it could be accomplished in half a block, all the while pinning you tightly against the seat.”

Then some more clunky copy: “The [lower numerical] gear ratio naturally meant that the engine would be turning at a higher rate, hence it would be louder. That volume, when multiplied by the Thrush pipes and the fact that one sat directly next to the exhaust exit meant that the driver was subjected to a fantastic amount of noise harmonics resulting in ringing ears for hours afterwards.” Sometimes, I think I still have them.

The Formula 1 L70-15 tires that were mated with 8.5-inch-wide ET Uni-Lug wheels were actually destined for a pick-up truck that belonged to the editor of Hot Rod Industry News, then a Petersen service publication. He’d sweet-talked me into scamming them, but much to my chagrin (tongue-in-cheek here), they were too large for the Corvette’s wheel houses and interfered with them long before the steering went to full lock. They did an atrocious job of visually overpowering the car. All we could was put them on for the beauty shots and roll them out of sight as soon as we were done.

My partner in this sublime stew of tomfoolery was the late Steve Collison. He lived to cut lights and pull gears like Dave Strickler. The Corvette was equipped with Wide Oval F70x15 tires. There was a trick to running bias-plies; if you got the air pressure to around 12psi, the tire would flatten out enough to give a scoche more bite from the pitiful, maybe-six-inch-wide bias-plies, and this worked especially well with an automatic. With a high-powered clutch car, it was a completely different deal. The Rat’s grunt pulverized ‘em.

To shake up the clocks with some sensational numbers, sticky drive tires were inevitable. There was just one small problem. The slicks were off one of Steve’s Chevelles, 9-inch Goodyears, and he’d screwed ‘em to steel rims. We jacked up the car and put them on. Everything was cool until he tried to drive it away. In our haste, we’d neglected to see that the inside of the steely wasn’t quite large enough to clear the calipers. When he let the clutch out, the car lurched and stopped just as quickly, as the rims grunched the calipers, flattening the bleed valve on one of them.

So then, skill not slicks would be the deciding factor.

There were two distinct episodes with this car. The antagonist was staffer Larry Schreib, an ex-Marine officer who had a way of doing things that the rest of us reefer-maddened liberals couldn’t fathom. Shortly after his CC gig, Larry proved his mettle as a founder of S-A Design. If you ever fooled with a small-block, you’ve probably thumbed one of Larry’s books. More on him in a minute.

Ed Baumgarten .c. Mid America Motorworks

Steve and I had previously established our routine behind the Orange Curtain at the OCIR outpost. As usual, operator Steve Evans had left the joint wide open for us- electricity on, clocks primed, and nobody there to stop us from the inevitable mayhem. As soon as we’d arrived, Steve went on his “I’m going to be top dog” rant, like he had to honor some sort of street-racing imperative down by the airport where he lived.

He banged gears a few times but was not satisfied with his efforts. I got in and found the groove right away and got the car off the line without smoking the tires or bogging the motor. I caught all the gears. The pass was clean, felt right. When I got back to the bleach box, Steve was whooping about what a grand pass it was. He said he could tell as soon as the car left the line. Too bad he’d forgotten to reset the clocks.

The best of five Pure Stock passes at OCIR on the Goodyear F70-15 Wide Ovals on the stock 8.5-inch steel rims netted a 13.72 at 102.04. The tires spun like crazy through Low. Between the 3.36s and less-than-able spark plugs, the motor coughed at the top of each gear and cleared the traps turning less than 5,000rpm in Third gear. We knew that this outing was just a warm-up and that we’d be coming back with guns and egos blazing.

I slipped away and made the long drive home just a little disappointed.

With the car packing its load of aftermarket goodies, we went down south again for the second round. We reset the valve lash and screwed in some fresh AC 45 XLS spark plugs. Here, memory fails again. I’m not sure who drove this time; maybe it was both of us. Talk was that 12.8’s on street tires were normal. Slipping off the line without undue wheel-spin and shifting at 6,500rpm, we ran a best of 12.64 at 114.21 and 12.65 at 114.35. I don’t remember if that made us smile or not but it was better than anything the competition could do.

A few days later it was, Larry Schreib decided that he wanted a piece of the LS6 and he got the keys and took it to Lions. The next thing that happened, the car was on the hook, vital humors seeping from somewhere deep inside it. Ol’ Lar had put a rod through the block. Ol’ Wayne Thoms wasn’t exactly inviting us to lunch the next day. The last that anybody saw of the Ontario Orange fiberglass, it was dangling from tow truck. That was in June or July of ’71.

Thirty-three years after the fact, I got call from Mike Yager, the head cheerleader at Mid America Motorworks. “Remember that Car Craft LS6 we talked about a few months ago, the one with the 4-speed that you and Steve Collison had drag tested?” he said. “I have it now, documented and all.” Then he was gone.

He sent the images you see here. He also included a fact sheet from the Mecum Auction. Seems Zora Duntov had driven the same Corvette for a Car & Driver test (6/71). It had the earliest known LS6 VIN. It had been equipped with power everything, but did not include air conditioning. It still has the burn marks from the headers, as well as the 4.56 gears it got for the test that never was.

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