#edited 6/8 about appeal info

[fanficfanattic]

People who actually know things about football, correct me if I’m wrong. But I’ve been researching squad info.

25 is the cap on number of players for a squad.

17 is the cap on regular players.

8 players would be “homegrown” to bring a squad up to 25. But more can be, it just lowers the above number of regular players.

Under 21s however can also be on a squad over the cap of 25 players.

So, for instance, right now Man City has:

12 regular players

6 homegrown players

63 under 21s

Those under 21s can be called up to the main squad as needed.

Given the cutoff date to qualify as an U21, S1 Jamie would have no longer been eligible to be, for lack of a better word, an extra. He’d have to be squad. And he would be a homegrown, which has it’s appeal. But City seems to always be like 3 teams thick.

So he gets loaned out, since they have the core squad established and he is no longer in the U21 loophole. Has some time to get polished with (assumedly) more individual attention. Maybe in that time an older player retires or transfers.

(Edited to correct Richmond doesn’t have a youth program, so they don’t have a lot of U21s.) Sam and Kukoč are the only ones. Which doesn’t matter since they don’t have 25 players to begin with.

I just find it infinitely interesting that Jamie is arguably Not the Best player for Man City. But is still an asset, since they aren’t just straight up trading. But that means, right, that City’s “worst” player is still Richmond’s best.

[thestarlightforge]

Fiona’s Art Journal:

Table of Contents

Hello, everyone! Welcome to my blog!

As outlined here, my New Year’s Resolution for 2024 was to do something for my art every day. Whether writing, drawing, watching/studying, exploring or reading—I’d do something to sharpen my artistic focus daily.

As the year has gone by, I’ve documented some of the process on Tumblr. The tag “#Fiona’s Art Journal” has both reflections and artistic works, and “#Poetry” has an index of poems. This post is an index, and I’ll update it with hyperlinks to journals, art posts, and other favs.

NB: Aside from theatre and art posts, much of this blog is fandom posting about whatever (usually queer) media has most recently captured my interest. You can track various Strange New Worlds, Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Supergirl and House of the Dragon rotations (to name a few), along with other shows/movies on my list. I will probably spend the rest of 2024 crying about Agatha All Along (as WandaVision is an all-time favorite media & I’ve waited 2 years, since the night before I graduated undergrad, for Jac Schaeffer to fix this mess). I appreciate your understanding during this time, lol.

Journals — 2024

PETITION and Info to shut down the Pinyon Plain Uranium Mine and protect the people and lands of the Navajo Nation, Havasupai, Hopi, and Ute Mountain Ute — 8/28/24

DC Metro Accessibility Petition

“Squishy But Firm: Sexcapades of a Crip Girl” at the Kennedy Center Local Theatre Festival 🏳️‍🌈♿️🏳️‍��️ — 8/24/24

2024 🏳️‍🌈 Media Retrospective ❤️ — 9/20/24

National Be Nice To Bugs Day! We love a native species! 🥰 — 7/14/24

Setting Intentions: “Through the Sunken Lands” — 1/31/24

Introduction — 12/31/23

Go Listen to Sandra Yellowhorse — 11/20/22

AO3/Fanfic Entries

My awesome friend @heliza24 cosplaying Agatha 😁

“If I can’t hold you / Remember what I’ve told you” Agatha bite-sized

A Rhaenicent & Rhaesaria entry written shortly after HOTD 2x07

An early chapter of my ongoing Snowbaird fic with @imjustmarcy

Artistic Works — 2024

“Hey, It’s Me” — 10/29/24

“Why ‘I’m Billy Maximoff’ Mattered to Me — A Queer Disabled Person’s Journal” — 10/17/24

For Popo (like “Pawpaw”) Wilson: A Real (Union Strong) Redneck ❤️ — 9/25/24

“Clerics Have Necromancy” — 8/28/24

“Winter Blooms” — 8/18/24

“For Gus and Claudia” — 6/22/24

“QUEERING NEVERLAND IS LIVE—MY PAPER MADE THE COVER!” — 6/6/24

“Gentle Animals” Short Story — 5/1/24

“From Your Internet Big Brother” Essay — 4/8/24

Isolation/Recovery Discussion — 4/4/24

“Playing Fetch” Short Story — 3/31/24

“Building Momentum” Prose Poetry — 3/24/24

“Following the River” Short Story — 3/22/24

“Is There A World” Poem — 3/15/24

“A Practical Career” Short Story — 3/10/24

“The arospecs are onto something” Prose Poetry — 3/9/24

“Through the Sunken Lands” Pins Setup Addition — 3/9/24

“I wrote you a play” Prose Poetry — 3/9/24

On the Models of Disability Discussion — 3/5/24

“Threads” Prose Poetry — 3/3/24

“Interdependence is a love poem” Prose Poetry — 2/24/24

“A Shift” Short Story — 2/20/24

“To Falling in Love” Prose Poetry — 2/6/24

“Push-up Contest” Short Story — 2/6/24

“Autistic Katniss saves the world” THG Meta/Discussion — 2/2/24

“Purpose” Essay — 2/1/24

“Oracle Forever” Short Story — 1/29/24

“Stardust” Poem — 1/23/24

“Point of View” Short Story — 1/21/24

Patriarchy Hurts Everyone Discussion (edit: erroneously flagged/removed by Tumblr staff, appeal not allowed) — 1/21/24

“A Winter Morning” Short Story — 1/16/24

“Ymir with the Freckles” Short Story — 1/11/24

On Propaganda & the Cancellation of Queer Media (OFMD) Discussion — 1/10/24

“Glimmer” Short Story — 1/5/24

“What the Antihero, Your Villain, Has Left” Essay — 12/31/23

Some Favorite Art, Analyses/Metas & Journals (2023 + Previous)

“Lost Girl” at the National Theatre in Higher Ed Conference Journal — Aug. 6, 2023

First Day of “Through the Sunken Lands” at the Kennedy Center Journal — Dec. 11, 2023

Intimacy Choreography in “Hacks” Analysis — Jul. 15, 2023

“Swallowtail” Poem — Sept. 18, 2023

“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear” TBOSAS Meta — Nov. 19, 2023

“Wake Up” Gay Poem — Aug. 23, 2023

“Myths” Poem— Nov. 12, 2023

“Thanks, Tennessee” Gay Poem — Nov. 23, 2022

On Strength: Katniss and Lucy Gray TBOSAS Meta/Journal — Dec. 10, 2023

“Trust is more important even than love” TBOSAS Meta — Nov. 24, 2023

“The Valley Song” THG Meta — Nov. 18, 2023

Their first meeting in Twelve TBOSAS Meta — Dec. 24, 2023

Hurt/Comfort Thoughts TBOSAS Meta/Journal — Dec. 17, 2023

Do Better with Queer Rep — Aug. 19, 2023

“Ellee” Short Story — Aug. 15, 2023

I crack myself up

i'm so normal about them :)) — Sept. 26, 2024

“Oh, ableism. Great. THAT’S not gonna go over well with the woke mob.” — Aug. 19, 2024

rhaenicent nation how we feelin 😌 — July 21, 2024

it gets better, apparently :)) — July 22, 2024

representation matters (GoT/HotD) — July 21, 2024

rhaenyra my love, never ever change 😂 — July 21, 2024

SO MADGE X KATNISS LOL — June 9, 2024

Writing while queer — Jan. 2, 2024

Snowbaird “Aca-scuse me?” — Nov. 20, 2023

It’s almost like Suzanne meant to do that — Nov. 7, 2023

Not Coryo being more normal than Gale or Peeta — Dec. 13, 2023

Peeta “my beautiful princess with a disorder” 😆 — Dec. 7, 2023

SnowJanusBaird ≠ Everlark/Everthorne, lmao — Dec. 31, 2023

ValCarol giggles — Nov. 11, 2023

[nopoodles]

15 Questions Tag

Tagged by the incomparible @sleepyowlwrites

(Back in the tag games! I have been deep in editing and moving house quagmires so I am feeling the strain. Let's go!)

Who are we interviewing and what are they from? (this is not one of the fifteen questions.) Blue from my Welcome To Humanity (previously project welcome)*

1- Are You Named After Anyone?

"I had to pick my name on a little bit of a... Well the situation wasn't the best and I couldn't exactly keep going by my designation with everything going on with..." They waved an arm in a sweeping, all-encompassing gesture. "So, yeah, there was this kid who wanted dumplings and broccoli and I just... borrowed that name."

2- When Was The Last Time You Cried?

"Technically I can't cry. I've always been a little jealous that humans can do that."

3- Do You Have Any Kids?

"Can I claim the Resistance kids that I care for? Or is that too abstract? I dunno, maybe one day I could adopt to raise. It's not safe for me right now, really, so I don't think too much about whether I really want that or not."

4- Do You Use Sarcasm?

"Never!" The serious face doesn't last long before Blue erupts into giggles. "Far more than I should. I don't think I was meant to be able to but," a shrug, "that hardly matters anymore."

5- What's The First Thing You Notice About People?

"Threat level. Which is really sad. You spend enough time on the run and it becomes instinctive. After that, though, it's whether I think they're able to change-- Everyone is, technically, I s'pose I mean willing more than able. Maybe that's part of their threat level."

6- What Is Your Eye Colour?

"Dark. I was supposed to have blue eyes, same as everyone else but I guess they ran out."

7- Scary Movies Or Happy Endings?

"Happy endings, I get enough scaring whenever I leave the base."*

8- Any Special Talents?

"I'm very good at pretending to be a Gen-5 cyb' -- you may be thinking that you wouldn't count that considering. But you've clearly forgotten that I wasn't designed to act like that. And, even if I was, there's The Crash to consider."

9- Where Were You Born?

"Born is a strong word. I was made in one of the facilities, just like everyone else like me. But me as Blue, I consider myself to have started existing with The Crash, in which case, I was at work."

10- What Are Your Hobbies?

"Gardening, primarily. I don't get half as much time to dedicate to it as I might like. There's just something about organic life, about root systems and connections that appeals. I wonder sometimes how much of that is in my design."

11- Do You Have Any Pets?

"I tried to start a beehive once, but the bees I stole just died so... I probably should have done more research before bee-thiefing. I was still getting used to the loss of the communal databank back then. Maybe I should convince Toria to send someone for bees again."

12- What Sports Do Or Have You Played?

"Sports? I run a lot, but mostly away from danger. I, uh, also climb a lot, but, again... Danger."

13- How Tall Are You?

"Right in the middle of average. Everyting average."

14- Favourite Subject In School?

"I never went to school, and I haven't looked into the schooling we offer on the base but I think it would have been art. Or gardening, is that a subject? I loved it when Gok taught me about gardening."

15- Dream Job?

"Who dreams of jobs? My dream is to love, truly live. I'll take any job if I can do that."

*Welcome To Humanity is coming out in June, I don't have much more info as yet but I will do soon

As for people to tag, I've been largely... Uh... Ignoring tags recently thanks to the gigantic house move so idk who has tagged me recently, but if you have and you see this I definitely meant to tag you and I'm sorry I've been avoiding tags. @avrablake @emelkae

[roopvibess]

Unlocking Creativity: Choosing the Best WhatsApp DP that Speaks Volumes

In the digital age, where communication transcends boundaries through the touch of a button, WhatsApp has become an integral part of our lives. One of its most iconic features is the display picture, or DP, which serves as a window to our personality and emotions. Choosing the stylish whatsapp dp is an art, reflecting who we are in a single frame. In this article, we will explore the nuances of selecting the best WhatsApp DP that not only captures attention but also resonates with your essence.

1. Reflect Your Personality: Your WhatsApp DP is your personal canvas. It should reflect your personality, interests, and passions. Whether you are an adventurer, an artist, a book lover, or a nature enthusiast, your DP can convey your essence to the world. Consider showcasing your hobbies or a snapshot from your latest adventure, allowing viewers to glimpse into your world.

2. Embrace Creativity: The best WhatsApp DPs often incorporate creativity. Experiment with filters, colors, and compositions to create a visually appealing DP. Collages, artwork, or even aesthetically pleasing selfies can be transformed into captivating DPs. Embracing creativity allows you to stand out and make a statement.

3. Express Emotions: Emojis and texts can convey emotions, but your DP can do it more eloquently. Whether you're feeling joyful, pensive, or empowered, your DP can mirror your emotions. A candid moment of laughter, a thoughtful gaze, or a determined expression can communicate volumes without words.

4. Stay Classy and Professional: For professional settings, it's essential to maintain a classy and polished image. A professional headshot or a well-dressed portrait exudes confidence and competence. Remember, your WhatsApp DP often serves as a first impression, especially in professional networks.

5. Celebrate Relationships: WhatsApp is a platform for connecting with friends and family. Celebrate your relationships by featuring group photos, candid moments with loved ones, or even creatively edited pictures that symbolize the bond you share. Sharing moments of togetherness not only brings joy but also strengthens connections.

6. Be Mindful of Privacy: While it's wonderful to share your life through your DP, be mindful of your privacy. Avoid sharing sensitive information or highly personal images. Use DPs that strike a balance between openness and privacy, ensuring your online presence remains secure.

7. Stay Current: As life evolves, so should your WhatsApp DP. Update your DP regularly to reflect your current interests, experiences, and aspirations. A recent picture or an image that aligns with your present mindset ensures that your connections perceive you authentically.

8. Avoid Controversial Content: While expressing your opinions is important, be cautious about controversial or offensive DPs. Opt for images that promote positivity, inclusivity, and understanding. Respect diverse perspectives while choosing a DP that resonates with your beliefs.

In conclusion, selecting the best WhatsApp DP is an opportunity to express your individuality, creativity, and emotions. It is a reflection of your identity in the digital realm, a visual representation of who you are and what you stand for. Embrace this opportunity with enthusiasm and creativity, and let your WhatsApp DP speak volumes about the incredible person you are.

For More Info:-

good night love images

attitude captions for instagram

good night images with quotes

good morning images for friends

Source Url:-https://sites.google.com/view/roopvibescom/home

[taylortruther]

I completely agree that you need to be media literate or read or not accept someone's version of events. IPV cases are very difficult to try out, so I'm neutral on this case because I wasn't involved, but I really respect your opinion Ray (if this question bothers you, I understand I promise you don't need to answer!) How do you feel confident that you know more than the jury?

(Again all due respect xx)

---

well the whole trial was televised, so we do have most of the information the jury does. that said, i didn't watch it, i read summaries as well as breakdowns of evidence in a few different places. and what i learned is that a lot of evidence that depp's team blocked is imo totally damning: there were texts (blocked as hearsay), medical records, therapy records, etc. where people present in their relationship admitted that johnny hit her on multiple occasions.

this is evidence that is publicly available on the internet (however, it is hard to find unless you choose to wade into the mess) but was not provided to jurors, or televised in any way, and imo it would have changed the outcome. this is the type of evidence i would hope amber could share with a judge if she appealed - but i'm not sure if this would be allowed because you aren't allowed to submit new evidence during appeal; however, i'm not sure if that affects evidence that was brought to trial but not allowed to be shown to jury.

it's also what makes the arguments of "i watched the whole trial, i know what i'm talking about!" fall completely flat to me. the trial didn't include all available evidence. plus, court television is biased - commentators have biases, and networks may rely on viewership to gain money for their parent companies. (court tv itself is owned by timewarner cable.) watching it on youtube or tiktok puts you at the mercy of that youtuber's biases with editing and commentary as well. simply watching the case at home may be unreliable due to that alone.

also, this sounds glib, but i've been part of a jury in a civil case (it wasn't ipv but it was an ambiguous case with lots of gray area) and jurors can be foolish. they can be ignorant, they bring in their biases, and they can have bad judgment, even after being carefully selected by both legal teams.

it's also a well-known understanding that juries are often swayed by the theatrics of court. that's why johnny wanted it televised and also why (i assume) he wanted it in front of a jury in the first place. judges are harder to fool, as lawyers can't do their songs and dances when there's no jury involved.

intimidating witnesses, being nasty/cruel to people on the stand, being dramatic when discussing evidence... this is pretty normal in court cases. and it's far, far worse in ipv cases because lawyers will seek to discredit abuse victims openly in order to sway the jury.

when i was on a jury, the plaintiff won, which i felt was deserved based on the legal facts of the case. but the way they and their legal team conducted themselves in court was really nasty. they exaggerated injuries while in court, had hired scammy doctors to charge insane amounts of money to win in the lawsuit, and their legal team made snide remarks to the defendant, presented evidence in condescending/dramatic ways, etc.

when i brought this up to some jurors (kind of as gossip, like "ugh can you believe how annoying that lawyer is?") they didn't pick up on it. what felt like an obvious, almost scripted theatrical performance, came across as completely genuine to others. it was a total mindfuck.

also, the depp-heard jury wasn't sequestered! that's INSANE to me. it was also not balanced (as it had more men than women)! these things factor in.

[lady-phasma]

do you know any gossip about matt smith? since you’ve been his fan for years. streets saying he is a serial cheater, always had relationships with his co-stars like claire foy and he was very controlling and abusive over lily james

Well, anon, that kind of thing isn't for me. Even when I was first becoming a fan of his in my 20s learning things like his favorite color, who he's dating, or the town he grew up in didn't appeal to me. How many times has the Doctor been married? Or Daemon? I would gladly discuss that! I know general things like Matt's almost a year older than me, never been married, and wanted to be a professional footballer (and was good apparently) until he was injured.

It's not a hard and fast rule, just a personal preference that he have privacy, parts of his life that aren't any of my business. People don't become actors to put their lives on display, they do it to put their characters on display, to share with us their talent and give us joy. And good god does Matt do that! He brings it to every role, even the bad ones. But especially the good ones:

Let's Kill Hitler - Season 6 Episode 8

Edit: I did literally just find out he wanted to be a vampire when he grew up and two of his comfort movies are Lost Boys and Interview with the Vampire! That's the kind of personal info I will share because he discussed it in an interview. Excuse me I'm having a moment.

[dirtywratsimz]

Get to know me

[useless info edition]

I was tagged by: my fave, @blacknoiseabyss <33

1. What do you have under your bed? I don't have a frame for my bed; it's just the boxspring and the mattress on the floor, soooo nothin lol.

2. Favorite candy? (be very specific if possible) I'm not a big candy person, but anything with chocolate and peanut butter...... Shit's like crack for me stg

3. Describe your favorite shirt: My Videodrome shirt that I got off Depop! I hardly ever wear it because I'm afraid of it getting ruined lol.

4. The last thing you drew/doodled was: Doodles in the corners of my notes for school

5. Are you completely sober rn? Sadly

6. What's the one thing that annoys you more than anything? Hoo boy I have a lot of stuff that annoys me, but pretentiousness is the big one. That, or people who talk about their problems and then get mad when someone else brings up theirs. Like, do you have any understanding of how a conversation works?

7. Have you ever gotten you tongue stuck to a cold pole during winter? Nahh. When I was a kid I was horrified of doing that, but now that I'm an adult the mystique has lost its appeal. Lol

8. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? I have no fucking clue. I guess it'd be in my own house that belongs to me because I still live with the 'rents. Just not at school or at work, lmao.

9. What was the single last word you spoke? I literally haven't spoken to anyone since I left class yesterday. I went to the gas station to buy redbulls so it was prolly something to the cashier related to that

Tag whoever you'd like to know better:

@lacr1mation23 @babyyraysims @irnalia aaaaaand anyone else I guess lmao. Still hardly know anyone in this community :)

[feelingofcontent]

DNP Rewatch: Swedish MUKBANG with Seth Everman

Date video was published: 12/15/2020 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 430

Seth was a fun choice for a guest because we’d never really seen them interact before, other than on Twitter. I had no idea who Seth was until I looked him up after Phil announced him as a guest. The live show was on December 11.

0:00 - little teaser preview again

0:22 - also announcing that PJ will be the next guest!

0:30 - Phil improved the hair on his Stereo icon between the first show and this one. his actual hair with the messy-ish quiff also looks really good in this one

0:41 - dramatic info and than Seth’s little “hi.” love it!

1:09 - Phil’s editing for the cats bit is fantastic, especially the sounds and music

1:48 - Phil cannot do it 😂 and the self call-out editing

2:02 - Seth sliding into the DMs there, apparently

2:30 - not sure the tinsel helped the impression of that plant, haha

2:49 - “I wanted to impress Seth” oh Phil. while Seth does an eyebrow raise at that

2:52 - “a pre-chat” doing some coordination ahead of the show...this one went smoother than the one with Louise, so wonder if he realized that planning was needed

3:04 - Seth “I am impressed” first and then “you look really handsome”. and Phil looks so pleased! Seth is blushing! and definitely flirting during this

3:59 - that does sound like a comedy sketch, haha. probably not pleasant to actually have to do though

4:47 - Phil’s always got a wine glass no matter the drink

4:54 - jesus christ Phil. I don’t want to know what they’ve done to Santa

5:12 - Seth is not selling this

5:21 - neither is Phil! cherry and grape together does not sound appealing

5:31 - “I have at IKEA” lol Phil. surprised he hasn’t tried a bit more Swedish food over the years via Cornelia

5:49 - Phil really does appreciate compliments

5:58 - “we’ve obviously been...” WHAT Phil?! 👀 “bitten by a vampire” sure

6:43 - this story starts off cute and then gets weird real quick...why is that most of Phil’s stories, haha

7:42 - I have not seen that movie so I am missing a reference/joke here

8:22 - Phil is so excited to be an uncle! 🥺

9:07 - I had heard about this goat thing before from seeing articles about it being burnt down

9:33 - “that’s very Viking of them” is exactly what I was thinking too

9:41 - see, there we go!

9:47 - he did not get it. Seth: “no” 😂

10:05 - Phil just going to eat while Seth watches. sure

10:34 - aww, that one was cute

11:02 - so many mouth sounds when this was audio only

11:12 - Phil adding the ratings for the video. Seth doesn’t know what to think about the soap comment

11:26 - Seth is very excited about that one! it sounds like a Milk Dud

11:53 - Phil was not even close on the pronunciation of that one 😂 Seth is so disappointed

12:13 - “salty licorice” sounds like the worst combination...Phil’s reaction!

12:55 - only 800 listeners was not that many compared to the numbers DNP got for their joint shows

13:30 - I have had pickled herring...and never again. not for me.

14:28 - nope nope nopeity nope

14:49 - Phil does not want to eat this at all. while Seth just tries to keep telling his story

14:59 - “I’m a bit fussy” lol Phil. he does have particular things about food

15:31 - he is not enjoying that at all. the full reaction definitely didn’t come through on just the Stereo version

16:04 - the Seth eyebrow raise!

16:54 - “this is completely irrelevant” haha, Seth just wants to tell this story!

17:00 - I love that Seth went to their tours! again like with the Louise show...Seth doesn’t seem quite sure whether it’s okay to mention Dan or not

17:28 - Seth is blushing a lot again

17:43 - cricket noises 😂

18:12 - Phil loves to repurpose a segment that’s worked before for different things

19:20 - perfect and immediate answer for Seth there

19:25 - Seth and Phil are both so smiley in this. I love it!

21:08 - I’m just loving their interaction during this bit

21:27 - Phil just fishing for compliments now. and trying to get everyone’s opinions on the beard after that video

21:34 - Phil looks so surprised by Seth’s immediate “very sexy”

22:18 - aww, poor Phil. specifically Kath said that apparently, lol

22:40 - Phil is almost managing a wink if nothing else

23:08 - very minimal bonus content there

23:11 - The full audio version of the show with Seth is available on YouTube as well thanks to In Depth Bants!

I hadn’t rewatched this one since it was posted. Seth and Phil’s interaction seems fun and comfortable! Also, I forgot how much Phil’s editing made these even funnier than the original shows. 

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Fandom Thoughts

First thing I want to say is this post is just me speculating and expressing my thought on things. I’m sure many people will disagree with me or have a different interpretation and that’s ok. I could be totally way off base with everything I say but like I said this is just my interpretation of and my thoughts on things, also just want to say that I mean no disrespect to anyone or anyone’s fandom so yeah.  

So we all know that B*ghead is the largest fandom and the most popular ship. There’s no lying about that. I think it became so popular out of a combination of things, I think Cole’s popularity from his time on the Disney channel did bring across a lot of fans. I mean I could be totally wrong about this but I do feel like alot of the B*ghead fans were originally Cole fans. I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch Riverdale when it first aired, it was about 6 episodes in when my sister told me it was a good show about a murder mystery and that I’d never guess who was on it? Cody from suite life. I myself originally started watching the show because I was curious about the fact that Cole was on it and then stuck around because I got invested in the mystery and because from that very first episode I was hooked by Barchie and saw so much potential with them. I do think another contributing factor to the B*ghead ship’s popularity was the fact that the actors themselves became a couple and so people weren’t just invested in the ship but in the actors’ relationship too. I also do think that the fandom was very ‘loud’ on social media and there was alot of engagement. All of that combined with the fact that they did have some cute scenes together I think was the perfect storm to creating a popular ship.  

However V*rchie doesn’t actually seem that popular to me. In fact from what I can tell its a much smaller fandom and I would argue that after B*ghead the most popular ship out of the three is Barchie. Barchie has always won out in fan polls against v*rchie and I feel like I see more comments from the Barchie fandom than I do the V*rchie fandom. To me it has always been more of a B*ghead vs Barchie thing than a V*rchie vs Barchie thing. It always felt more like V*rchie got support because it kept Archie out of the way of B*ghead. In fact I see quite alot of support for Veggie and for Archosie and alot of people admit that they liked those parings over V*rchie. I myself loved Veggie together far more than V*rchie and I didn’t mind Archosie I thought they were cute, I didn’t like them as much as I did Veggie but I still thought they had some really nice moments together. I think after Betty, I liked Archie with Josie best. 

But here’s another thing to bear in mind. Whilst Riverdale and its ships are popular online and get alot of chatter on social media and has its fandoms which are very vocal on social media, there is also the general audience. These are the people who just watch the show every week, they don’t talk about it on social media, they don’t look up interviews and obsess over every little crumb of info the writers put out trying to figure out what might happen in the next episode. They are the silent part of the audience, I suppose you could call them. And I would say that this part of the audience far outnumbers the part that are involved in the fandom side of the show. Of course its very difficult to really know what this side of the audience really thinks of the show because they aren’t out on social media telling people what they think. The best way is to know what they think is to look at the ratings and the netflix streams. 

I mean I know that the ratings don’t really matter a whole lot when it comes to whether or not the network will renew a show and that streams mean more nowadays anyway. But in my opinion I do think the ratings can still give you an idea on how interested the audience is in the show. The way I see it is that if I am really excited by a show, I spend all week looking forward to the next episode and you can bet your ass that when that show’s next episode airs I am sitting down in front of that tv and watching it live if I can, because I don’t want to wait a second longer than I have to when I want to see it. With this season all the Barchies know that the most live viewed episodes of the season were 5x05 and 5x06, the two episodes that were promoted with Barchie. The lowest two episodes not just for this season but in the shows history were 5x08 and 5x09. These were the two episodes that had the V*rchie and B*ghead content. 

I also discovered this website flixpatrol that tracks the top tens on Netflix in various countries each day of the week. You can also look up specific shows to see where in the top ten they come each day of the week and I think I found something interesting. Now obviously because its week by week I could only really get information for episode 9.  

So what can this information tell us. Well episode 9 aired on the 24th and appeared on Netflix in alot of countries on the 25th. This chart shows where in the top 10 Riverdale fell this week, I’ve outlined those two dates in red. A dash indicates that it didn’t appear in the top ten that day. Now we can see that Riverdale most definitely does better on Netflix than it does in the live views and is consistently in the top ten in most countries. However, as I said, I did notice something. On the days it appears on Netflix we can see  that in most countries it doesn’t appear in the top ten and in the countries it does it is very low on the list coming in at mostly, 8,9 or 10. To me this suggests, like with the live ratings, that people just aren’t rushing to watch it. Some of this can be explained by the fact that it airs on a week night and it does fall high on the list on the Saturday after it airs on Netflix which could suggest that people are waiting until the weekend to watch it. But again, maybe its just me, but when I really want to watch a show, when I am really excited by a show, I will stay up late or I will get up early to watch it. I mean when 5x05 and 5x06 aired I was up early on the Thursday morning refreshing my Netflix page over and over waiting for the episode to become available because I was that excited to watch the episode.

*Edit: I’ve learnt that I have read this chart completely wrong as there is a one day lag, so the ratings on the 26th show that people were tuning in on the 25th which is the day it becomes available on Netflix in those countries. So ignore everything I just said in the paragraph above. I am going to keep the chart in for those who are interested in those numbers though. But yeah apologies for that.*   

To me this doesn’t really line up with the whole B*ghead is the most popular ship. I mean with B*ghead being the most popular ship then this last episode should be the most watched and I’ll admit I was a little surprised that it didn’t have more views. So why is that, we know B*ghead is popular so why aren’t we seeing it in the views. Well I think the answer is whilst they are popular, whilst it has a large fandom, its not popular or big enough to save the show by itself. And to be clear this is just my opinion which I’ve based on what I’ve seen people saying on social media and in YouTube reactions and reviews and from this data from the amount of people tuning into the show. But I think as much as many people like B*ghead, more people dislike/ are bored of V*rchie, are bored of the repetitive plotlines, are getting frustrated with the nonsensical plots. I think it has just gotten to the point where the things they don’t like about the show, or the things they’ve become bored with, far outweigh any appeal one ship might have. Basically I just get this overwhelming sense that people have lost any excitement they felt at this show. And this goes beyond any ships, whilst I do think alot of people tune in because of ships, there is more factoring into it than just that. I feel like all the excitement that came with the time jump and with seeing something new with Barchie and seeing something new with them being adults and dealing with adult themes, has worn off. It happened so fast too. I mean after episode 8 aired it was like a dementor had come along and sucked all the happiness out of the fandom. All of that energy that had existed before was just gone in the space of 45 mins. 

But here’s my question. I did notice a little bit of that energy come back when the promo for ep 10 was released and it showed that shot of Jabitha together. Again I do think that alot of people like this idea of Jabitha together or at least are intrigued by it. Although I know there are quite a few B*ghead fans who think the romance is unnecessary. But again I think this interest in Jabitha is because it is something new and therefore it is something interesting. I’ve also seen some Veggie fans creeping out of the woodwork over the last few weeks. So what I am wondering is if the show decided to go the route of Barchie, Veggie, Jabitha, Choni and Kangs would that generate enough buzz and would all those smaller fandoms together be enough to revive the show a bit. Especially if they couple those ships with some interesting new storylines to go with them as well as keeping the interactions between characters varied. I mean I am not expecting the views to suddenly jump up massively back to what they used to be in like season 2 but I do wonder if it would be enough to breathe life back into the fandom again.   

[starkerfestivals]

StarkerFestivals September Shuffle

Hey guys! The StarkerFestivals Summer Bingo has come to a close so we have info for the next event which has been named StarkerFestivals September Shuffle.

The goal for the event is to fit as many tropes into one universe as possible!

How does this work?

A calendar for September with possible prompts has been created for this event.

A text based version of the prompts will be included under the Read More cut.

Each day has two possible prompts to choose from. Participants can pick and choose the prompts from the calendar.

The number of prompts can be daily, weekly, or however many you wish to include to tailor the work to your liking. This can be posted as one single work or as multiple pieces all linked together in the same story.

(So for fanfics, this can be one completed fanfic or it can be a multi chapter fic that gets updated whenever a prompt is completed)

This also means that participants are not obligated to pick a prompt for every single day, but pick and choose whichever prompts they find appealing. The goal is to fit as many prompts into one work and to have fun with it!

What are the rules?

Starker has to be the main pairing/end goal pairing. As long as the main pairing and/or end goal is starker, other pairings are 100% welcome.

This event is open to everyone but we discourage minors from choosing prompts that are NSFW.

Tag @starkerfestivals​ or use #SFSeptemberShuffle for this event’s works.

AO3 collection for this will be SFSeptemberShuffle

Please tag accordingly. Applicable trigger warnings should be added to each appropriate chapter or work.

There is no word count limit or maximum. Write as much or as little as you’re comfortable with.

Mood boards, artwork, edits, head canons, are all welcome.

If it’s cracky by the end, that’s awesome! We love fun and wacky stuff to enjoy. If you manage to make it cohesive and it works together flawlessly, also awesome! Tailor this event to how you want to do it, don’t think about what expectations others might have.

More information/examples for the event can be found under the Read More. If you have any questions, please feel free to DM any of the mods or a send a ask to the blog.

Text Based Prompts for September:

1.Canon Universe OR choose an AU

2. ABO OR Secret Identity

3. Fake Dating OR Walk in Nature

4. Mild Injury OR Sharing a Bed

5. Sex Pollen OR Daily Bugle

6. Heavy Petting OR Secret Dating

7. Mutual Pining OR Getting Together

8. Drug Use OR Misunderstanding

9. Caught Having Sex OR Bath Time

10. A Wild Ex Appears OR Heat/Rut

11. Daddy Kink OR Halloween Prep

12. Pumpkin Spice Everything OR BDSM

13. On a Mission OR Cheating

14. Awkward Sex OR “Where did you come from?”

15. Bottom!Tony OR New Scar

16. Cooking Disaster OR Spit Kink

17. Bladder Control OR Little Space

18. Swapped Bodies OR Sexting

19. “Send Nudes” OR “I’m sorry, my phone died!”

20. Butt Plug OR And Now There Are Vamps

21. Scared of Storms OR Spider Gag

22. Incest Kink OR Temporary MC Death

23. “Please, I don’t wanna die!” OR Public Fingering.

24. Break Up OR Safe Word Use

25. Cause of Death: Second Hand Embarrassment OR Hate Sex

26. Love Confession OR Shower Sex

27. Giggly Kisses OR Argument

28. “You Hurt Me” OR “Let’s Watch 365”

29. Minor Character Death OR Movie Night

30. Strip Tease OR Marriage Proposal

What if I'm not writing fanfics?

Other content is welcomed as long as they are linked in the same universe. So for example, an artist can create one art piece with as many tropes as they want, or they can create a series of art pieces like a comic. The same can be done for moodboards. As long as the prompts occur in the same universe, it'll count for this event.

This is a bit confusing… Can you give some examples of how to do this event?

Say your goal is to get every single prompt filled. You would need to plan on how to fit each prompt into a single/multi-chapter fic.

Say, your personal goal was to do the prompts you like and nothing more. You would need to plan on how to fit them all into a single/multi-chapter fic.

Maybe you spend the entire month working on a one shot, where you fit all 30 prompts into one chapter.

Maybe you write a 30 chapter fanfic, posting once a day to get each prompt.

Maybe you fit 7 prompts in one chapter, and post once a week.

Maybe you only like 2 of the prompts out of all of them. So your personal goal is to fit two tropes into a single fic by the end of the month.

Maybe you like some tropes but not others. Say you like days 1-6 but not 7 or 8. So your personal goal is to get a chapter out with days 1-6 and think about 9-30 later.

Whatever you want to do, at whatever pace and whatever challenge level you want!

What happens if I miss a day?

Whatever you want to happen! You can skip that prompt if you want, or incorporate two prompts in one chapter, or plan to upload only one chapter that week with all the prompts. No big deal, it’s whatever you want.

[gayflagblog]

Plain Flag Poll Response Breakdown

This post is a breakdown of the data collected in the Plain Flag Poll [linked here] as of 5/5/2021. For the breakdown of the Symbol Flag Poll data please click here. Because I am concerned about the readmore breaking and the length of this post, it will not be put into the main tags.

All images are transcribed. (This post may be reblogged with additional data when more unique responses are collected, you’ll be able to see this in the notes)

Poll Info: Participants were asked to pick which flag from each “category” of proposal/variant they felt the most connected to, or which was simply their “favorite”. If they wanted to, they were also given an optional question in which to explain their choice from the previous section. At the end of the poll, participants were asked to pick a flag out of the overall selection based on the previous criteria (connection/favorite) and, optionally, explain their choice.

Overall, 54 unique responses were recorded.

Question #1

[ Image Description: A pie chart is shown. The question at the top is “Out of the ‘Original’ flag proposals, which is your favorite/which do feel the most connection to?”. The response data is 43.4% for “5-stripe simplified”, 39.6% for “Original”, 15.1% for “6-stripe simplified #2″, and 1.9% for “6-stripe Simplified #1″. ]

Participants who choose to explain their selection in Question 1b. responded with the following.

Participants who selected 5-stripe simplified (10 participants did not respond)

"easy to remember”

“simple with good color contrast, easy to replicate“

“I like that the teal/green and blue each have 2 stripes instead if one having more than other other. The original just feels like too many stripes”

“Most aesthetically pleasing and personal connection due to using it!“

“it's a good amount of stripes IMO. not too little, not too many. plus, it's an uneven number, so it feels symmetrical, too.“

“White is centered, more eye-catching contrast.“

“I prefer 5 stripe flags, I like the symmetry, 5 stripe is easier to draw, easier to make merch in, simpler, bolder, looks nicer to me. i also like to put the trans flag and other flags side by side and so it's nice for me when they have the same stripe number.”

“aesthetically it matches the trans flag with the 2 stripes above and below the white trans line and makes it look nice when used with the trans flag“

“There’s less stripes which stops the colours blending together in my eyes.“

“I generally prefer more compact flags. they're easier to replicate irl, like on merchandise, and are better for icons and edits online.“

“I think a part of pride flags should be simplicity and reproducibility. Too many stripes might be difficult to remember and reproduce.“

“I like either the original or the 5 stripe simplified; slightly prefer the 5 stripe simplified because it's more "readable" if that makes sense. Like if I was describing it I could say Its a flag made of ‘dark green, light green, white, light blue, and dark blue stripes’ vs ‘dark green... medium(?) green, lighter green...’.”

“I think this version is easier to be made in large scale.“

Participants who selected Original (10 participants did not respond)

“I think the symmetrical ones with the white stripe in the middle look most aesthetically pleasing!”

“I like the 7 stripe best, but the 5 stripe is good too. I don't like the 6 stripe designs because they are unbalanced“

“I love the mirroring and balance, as well as the fact it reminds me of old leather and bear flags. plus I kinda hate that there are so many five stripe flags, it feels like they’re all mirroring the trans flag. the five stripe ones are really abrupt in colour change as well, and having more than five stripes really sets this flag apart. other five stripe variant flags were rooted in art theft, so using this five stripe might encourage use of the others, which upsets me. I also like that it’s similar to the lesbian flag; like two sides of a coin!“

“I really like the original and also the blue/purple six stripe!! I just really love the blue on it and also odd numbers make me really happy so the 7 stripes just feel right to me.”

“absolutely hate asymmetry so definitely neither of the 6 stripe simplified flags. The 5 stripe simplified doesn't have enough / the right colors to convey the same thing the original does. The 5 stripe is duller and more shallow somehow.“

“I think the original is the best out of these, but I think the 6-stripe simplified (more green/teal) could work if you were able to keep the light blue stripe somehow, since i liked the symbolism of the light blue to purple transition but the top stripes in the 6-stripe simplified (more blue/purple) don't look too good. i think the white stripe is better as the 4th stripe not the 3rd.“

“I like the colour variation“

“I like the evenness, and I just like the look of the thinner stripes on the original in contrast to the 5 stripe simplified.”

“I feel it to be the most coherent and aesthetically pleasing.”

“I use both the original and the 5 striped version but I have a physical version of the original and I love being able to show the meaning behind the stripes“

“I feel a connection with the colors and I like the transition they make into white. I chose the original, but my second option would be the second 6-stripe version because it's more different to the lesbian flag and I feel less connected to the blue parts (not purple).“

Participants who selected 6-stripe simplified #2 [more green/teal] (3 participants did not respond)

"IMO the 6-stripe flags are much better to use to differentiate from the lesbian flag and to match other gay mlm flags (autistic gay, she/her gay, etc).”

“I prefer the 6 striped flag because then the flag doesn’t “look like a hue shifted lesbian flag” like so many people claim it to be. -J“

“I think it eliminates the "it's a recolor of the lesbian flag" argument as there is a stripe number difference, plus the placement of the white stripe looks more "pleasing" there !“

“I think the colors on the version with more green/teal are my favorite out of all of them, although i love them all! I like the greens.”

The one Participant who selected 6-stripe Simplified #1 [more blue/purple] did not respond.

Question #2

[ Image Description: A pie chart is shown. The question at the top is “Out of the ‘Warm’ flag proposals, which is your favorite/which do feel the most connection to? (proposal credit @undeadedits)”. The response data is 41.5% for “Warm Original”, 37.7% for “Warm 5-stripe Simplified”, 13.2% for “Warm 6-stripe Simplified #2 (More Teal)”, and 7.5% for “Warm 6-stripe Simplified #1 (More Purple)”. ]

Participants who choose to explain their selection in Question 2b. responded with the following.

Participants who selected Warm Original (17 participants did not respond)

“the greens and purples are really nice, plus same reasons above“ (see Q1, Response #3 of “Participants who selected Original”, shown above)

“same reason as above“ (see Q1, Response #5 of “Participants who selected Original”, shown above)

“Similar answer to before, though I do also like the 6 stripe simplified with more purple, as it makes the blue toned colours look nice. “ (see Q1, Response #8 of “Participants who selected Original”, shown above)

“honestly i just really like the Vibes this one gives off. :)“

“For the same reasons as before. I also prefer the warm versions of the flag because they make the purple more obvious.“ (see Q1, Response #11 of “Participants who selected Original”, shown above)

Participants who selected Warm 5-stripe Simplified (13 participants did not respond)

"I feel the 6-stripes original has a more solemn vibe and the mid-color gives a better blending feel. For the warm, the 5-stripes simplicity actually helps giving that softer vibe, and it helps the aesthetic.”

“simple to remember but this time better because it is warm :)“

“Most aesthetically pleasing- other options are too busy in my opinion“

“same reason as above“ (see Q1, Response #8 of “5-stripe simplified”, shown above)

"Same as the other flag. Less stripes better.” (see Q1, Response #9 of “5-stripe simplified”, shown above)

"For the same reasons.” (see Q1, Response #11 of “5-stripe simplified”, shown above)

"I think this version is easier to be made in large scale.”

Participants who selected Warm 6-stripe Simplified #2 [More Teal] (4 participants did not respond)

"I dunno what draws me to the 4th option, but it just feels right to me. I think it fits :)”

(repeat of Q1, Response #1 of “6-stripe simplified #2″, shown above)

“Same as 1b, plus I also prefer the darker blue and three greens to the darker green and three blues cuz it feels more equal?? As if the white is a reeeeeaaaaally light blue. -J“

The 4 Participants who selected Warm 6-stripe #1 [More Purple], did not respond.

Question #3

[ Image Description: A pie chart is shown. The question at the top is “Out of the ‘Philadelphia’ flag proposals, which is your favorite/which do feel the most connection to?”. The response data is 24.5% for ‘Warm 5-stripe Philadelphia’, 22.6% for ‘Original Philadelphia ‘, 20.8% for ‘5-stripe Philadelphia’, 15.1% for ‘Warm Original Philadelphia’, 9.4% for ‘Alternative Original Philadelphia’, and 7.5% for ‘Alternative 5-stripe Philadelphia’. ]

Participants who choose to explain their selection in Question 3b. responded with the following.

Participants who selected Warm 5-stripe Philadelphia (8 participants did not respond)

"again it's simple/easy to remember and also warm colours >>>”

“Most aesthetically pleasing (but not a POC so my opinion carries no weight!)“

“again I hate asymmetry but the black and brown stripes look really really awkward when separated. the reason I chose the warm one is because it makes the color contrast easier on the eyes.“

“I prefer the brown stripes to the philly flag's black and brown stripes since the black stripe originally represented victory over aids, and tbh, the colors are much more appealing. as for stripe count, it's pretty much the same as above. the expanded flags are especially cumbersome when you add the two extra stripes on top.“

“I feel more connected to the warm flags and I think that 9 stripes are maybe too many.“

Participants who selected Original Philadelphia (10 participants did not respond)

“I’m not a fan of Philadelphia flags in general (I'm not in the US and it isn’t used in my country), but the original variant keeps the stripes in line with other Philadelphia designs. black stripe still might be an oof bc of the aids flag black stripe, but that’s not well known anyway”

“I think the original one with the inclusive stripes on top just feels much better. I like seeing the inclusive stripes on the top in their original colors, without any tints, so this one happens to be my favorite and I would definitely buy it.”

Participants who selected 5-stripe Philadelphia (7 participants did not respond)

"The original 5 stripe is my favorite of the flags, and adding two more stripes really makes the original flag look like a barcode haha”

“It's the most visually appealing, and easiest to look at, plus it mimics the original Philly Pride Flag in having the black and brown stripes before the regular stripes.“

“This version has the black and brown stripes at the top, which matches with the idea of black visibility and black representation.“

“For the same reasons, even tho there are more stripes, it's just the 5-stripes version (easy to remember) plus the two stripes for black and brown communities.“ (see Q1, Response #11 of “5-stripe simplified”, shown above)

Participants who selected Warm Original Philadelphia (5 participants did not respond)

“The warmer browns go better with the overall tones I think”

“I don't really think I have an input since I'm white, but I just find it the most visually appealing“

“The warm allows the colours to blend more cohesively, where the original seems to contrast in an awkward way.”

Participants who selected Alternative Original Philadelphia (3 participants did not respond)

“The alt design of the “Philadelphia” flag feel more equal and less of being added on. -J“

“I just think it looks cool! the original Philadelphia is also really good.“

Participants who selected Alternative 5-stripe Philadelphia (3 participants did not respond)

“I like symmetry. i don't think my opinion matters much here bc I'm not BIPOC“

Question #4

[ Image Description: A pie chart is shown. The question at the top is “Out of the ‘Pink’ flag proposals, which is your favorite/which do feel the most connection to? (proposal credit @IanBlazquez)”. The response data is 62.3% for ‘Pink/Purple 5-stripe’ and 37.7% for Pink/Purple Original. ]

Participants who choose to explain their selection in Question 4b. responded with the following.

Participants who selected Pink/Purple 5-stripe (23 participants did not respond

“I think you see the trend it's easier to remember the layout of and stuff”

“I think all the 5 stripe flags look better than the 7+ ones as they're simpler and easier to look at“

“the 5 stripe simplified pretty much conveys the same thing as the original so i don't have much of a preference beyond it being simpler so it's a lot easier to process.“

“again, i like less stripes. don't like either of them very much though“

“same reason as above.“ (see Q1, Response #8 of “5-stripe simplified”, shown above)

“For the same reasons, even tho I'm not a fan of this design overall, it reminds me too much a reversed genderqueer flag (if that's the purpose, I'm sorry and I understand it).“ (see Q1, Response #11 of “5-stripe simplified”, shown above)

“I don't really like these but the 5 stripe is better“

“I think this version is easier to be made in large scale.“

“I think the pink/purple original might feel a little too similar to the lesbian pride flag, which people have felt uncomfortable with/ complained about before. so I would prefer the five stripe design for this one.“

“It is simpler and easier to reproduce.“

Participants who selected Pink/Purple Original (15 participants did not respond)

“I like the more carnation-y green, but this one is a bit eye-strain-y tbh”

“I don't have too much of a connection of either of them (they look a bit similar to the genderqueer flag IMO), but I have a slight preference for the seven-stripe one.“

“once again, odd numbers.... I think this is so pretty!!“

“While I would love a six striped flag (reasoning for this on 1b), I adore the seven striped flag. It almost feels more inclusive in a way, I guess? -J“

“Similar response to the previous Original type flags, nice thin stripes.”

Question #5

[ Image Description: A pie chart is shown. The question at the top is “Out of all of the above, which is your favorite/which do feel the most connection to?”. The response data is 28.3% for ‘5-stripe Simplified’, 26.4% for ‘Original Draft Proposal’, 17% for ‘Warm Original’, 9.4% for ‘Warm 5-stripe Simplified’, 7.5% for ‘6-stripe Simplified #2 (more green/teal)’, and 1.9% for ‘Warm 6-stripe Simplified #2 (More Teal)’, ‘5-stripe Philadelphia’, ‘Pink/Purple Original’, and ‘Warm 6-stripe Simplified #1 (More Purple)’. ]

Participants who choose to explain their selection in Question 4b. responded with the following.

Participants who selected 5-stripe Simplified (9 participants did not respond)

"I like the 5-stripe simplified one best as I feel it's the most aesthetically pleasing, and I feel its colours represent the gay community best out of all of them. I've also used it for a while so I feel a strong connection to it! <3″

“good amount of stripes + the color scheme that I'm most familiar with“

“same reason as above“ (see Q1, Response #8 of “5-stripe simplified”, shown above)

“I actually really like Ian's 5-stripe pink/purple iteration of the flag. the colors are pleasing and I like that there's a bit more variation in the stripes, but the pink triangle being part of the symbolism for the pink stripe makes me feel kinda weird. Jewish LGBT people have repeatedly expressed discomfort with gentiles using/claiming the pink triangle since it's holocaust imagery. I do like pink as a stripe color overall, though. it's just that point that makes me unwilling to use that particular design. I do think, overall, that i prefer the cool colors of the original design, and I'm a big fan of the symbolism there.“

“Definitely easy to reproduce, simple and relatable. Love it.“

“The less colours in a flag for me the better; It's easy to recognize among all the others! I would also add that I really like a version of the flag that uses the colours of the original without the darkest purple and green.“

Participants who selected Original Draft Proposal (10 participants did not respond)

“myself one as soon as pridenation started selling them, and it makes me feel really represented and appreciated when I see this flag anywhere. thank you for making it. “

“the original one just really captures my attention :)“

“It's the prettiest I guess? second choice would be the warm version of the original because it's a lot more purple which is nice.“

“Seeing this flag finally made me feel like I had my own flag! The original was the first one I saw, and I became attached to it. I tend to see the rainbow as an all encompassing flag for the LGBTQ, in contrast to people tending to see the rainbow as only for gay men.“

Participants who selected Warm Original (7 participants did not respond)

“As a gay man, I would probably use the warmer flags. They strike me as more friendly without straying too far from the more recognized variant. I'm also biased because, well, I'm a lowkey twink, and I like the pinkish undertones. Personally, I'm against any flag that looks unbalanced, where the white stripe seems "off". My second choice would be the pink & purple one. The history of the color pink is incredibly important.”

“I prefer the warm colors because they emphasize the purple and I feel more connection to purple than to blue. I also like the structure of the original flag.”

Participants who selected Warm 5-stripe Simplified (4 participants did not respond)

“it is just simply better idk”

Participants who selected 6-stripe Simplified #2 [more green/teal] (2 participants did not respond)

“IMO the 6-stripe flags are much better to use to differentiate from the lesbian flag and to match other gay mlm flags (autistic gay, she/her gay, etc).”

“if the six-stripe simplified flag with the philly stripes were an option i would totally pick it, otherwise this one is my absolute favorite. it feels much more like its own flag and I really just appreciate the composition of the colors and stripes more.“

Participants who selected Warm 6-stripe Simplified #2 (More Teal)

“it makes the purple more apparent.”

Participants who selected 5-stripe Philadelphia

“I rather those shades of blue than the purple ones and I think it's important to add visibility to black and brown people.”

Participants who selected Pink/Purple Original

“I like the pink/purple flag because it makes it feel less of the stereotypical blue masculinity for men. Purple especially is nice because it can be both pinkish (“feminine”) and blueish (“masculine”). I’m GNC and I love when I’m able to show that and be represented in such, even with a shade of color! -J”

Participants who selected Warm 6-stripe Simplified #1 (More Purple), 6-stripe Simplified #1 (More Blue/Purple), and Warm 6-stripe Simplified #1 (More Purple) did not respond.

Conclusion

Participants who responded showed an interest in

Reproducibility of a flag/ability to easily make physical flags

An “easy to remember” and “easy to recognize” flag

Flag aesthetics/personal color preference

Number, symmetry, and size/thickness of flag stripes

Personal connection, feeling represented by the flag

Ability to connect and show the flag alongside other pride flags (e.g. the trans flag)

Many participants expressed that they used multiple flags.

[ If you’re wondering why I’m not sharing or linking the poll spreadsheet, this is because personal emails are collected by Google Polls from each participant as they respond and I don’t want to make these public. I apologize if any numbers are slightly off. Some participant’s responses were un-censored for the sake of screenreaders. ]

[audify-app]

Audify Review – Worth It or a Scam?

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Audify REVIEW – PRICE AND EVALUATION

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[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

How To Get Into DnD in 10-ish Easy-ish Steps

Cates here. I just wanted to add my thoughts about joining or starting a DnD game for the first time, as someone who’s been there, done that, and still can’t calculate Rogue Sneak Attack damage to save her life. It can definitely be intimidating entering the world of DnD, but for me the best thing about DnD is running around with a group of people who would literally take a sword in the gut for you. Find a supportive and welcoming group (or start one!) and you’ll be fine.

(Note the “easy-ish” modifier in the title. If you’re a hardcore DnDer who thinks that 5e is a travesty and we all should have stuck to 3.5e, or if you’re the kind of person who gets annoyed about DnD suddenly being “mainstream” and “popular”…chances are some of what I’m about to say will make your eyeballs twitch.)

1.       Use other media as a way into understanding DnD. My absolute number one recommendation would be to see or read the play She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen. Not only is it a beautiful send-up to nerd culture in general and DnD in particular but because the main character is playing DnD for the first time, it actually provides a decent overview of the mechanics of the game. Another entry point is, of course, Stranger Things—the first season in particular establishes a pretty solid picture of what playing DnD is like.  

2.       From there, find a podcast, YouTube channel, or similar where a group plays DnD, and watch to get a sense of how things work. Film Reroll is fun but that’s GURPS, a different system than DnD. The Adventure Zone is another good one. By far the most popular is Critical Role. I personally don’t care for Critical Role (put away your torches and stink bombs, please,) but it seems to work for other people.

3.       Purchase (or check out from your local library,) the DnD Player’s Guide, 5th Edition. (The most current edition.)

4.       Now that you have a sense of how DnD works, find a game. Bug mentioned some good avenues, like comments sections on Podcasts. To that I’d add check out Reddit subs, Facebook groups, and your local game store if you’re lucky enough to have one. Most game stores have resources for finding parties or even host games at the stores themselves.

5.       Another option: get together a group of friends, form a party, and stumble your way through one of the early level adventures. If no one wants to DM, do what my second party* does and rotate DMs. We each take turns running an adventure, and while each of us does so our character is off on another quest/on vacation/bringing goblin corpses back to life/etc. Ideally, you’ll have at least one person in the group who has some experience with DnD, but if you don’t…so what? The internet is an endless bounty of information. Some of it is even accurate!

*As opposed to the one I’m in with Bug where I’m the permanent DM. 

6.       Figure out what you want from a game of DnD. Are you there for the complicated character backstories? Does the complex system(s) of magic fascinate you? Do you want to be like Legolas from LotR, or like River from Firefly, or like the Incredible Hulk? This will help you get a sense of the kind of character you’d like to play. Some people will wildly disagree with me, but here’s my rough-and-tumble ten second mini guide to figuring out your class as a first time player.

Want to be the smooth talker, the one who gets info from the local bartender? Be a bard, or a rogue who leans into Charisma instead of Dexterity.

Want to be really useful/involved in combat situations? Be a barbarian.

Want to use magic? Be a cleric. Your team will thank you. If you want a more “hardcore” magic class, go with sorcerer over warlock or wizard.

Want to come up with unusual solutions to specific problems? Be a druid.

Want to be sneaky? Be a rogue or a ranger. 

Want to be some combination of the above/figure it out as you go? Be a fighter. Fighters get overlooked as a class because they seem so generic, but that’s actually the advantage of playing one. It’s so broad you can pretty much do whatever you want with it, taking on just about any of the roles I listed above.

7.      Keep in mind that to set your party up for success you’re going to want at least one of each of the following: a healer, a magic user, a ranged (long-distance) fighter, a tank, and a talker. Now, this doesn’t mean you need a party of five, because one character can take on multiple roles. For instance, in the game where I DM, mine and Bug’s brother plays a character who is the party’s main talker and their main magic user. We also have a healer who can be a tank when needed. Basically I just wouldn’t recommend that you have a party consisting of a wizard, a sorcerer, and a warlock, or a fighter, a barbarian, and a monk. Cover different areas of expertise and you’ll have a happy and harmonious party that actually stands a chance of surviving their first combat.   

8.       Resist the urge to use unusual races or classes for your first game. Trust me when I say that you’ll have so many other things you need to work out, sorting through a class or race that isn’t clearly outlined in 5e is a headache you don’t need. More to the point, it’s a headache that your DM doesn’t need. The amount of work that goes into figuring out how to give an unusual class or race a good combat experience (ie, one that doesn’t kill them and one where they don’t kill all the enemies with a snap of their fingers) is a ton of work…and that’s only one aspect. If you really want to be unique, look at the subclasses and subraces. There are some delightfully strange varieties in there.

9.       Similarly, for the love of the Ellimist make sure everyone is clear on the goal of your standard game of DnD: you are a party of adventurers. For the game to work, you need to, for whatever reason, work together. Keeping a whole bunch of secrets from your party, excessively lying to your party, and going against the party’s goals are all ways to make the game waaaaaaayyyyyy less fun for everyone involved. This doesn’t mean that you have to be an open book, but keep in mind that is a COLLABORATIVE, not COMPETITIVE, game. Save the trickery and theft and all for the monsters your party will fight. For instance, in my first game I played a gnome who was disguising himself as a woman because he was on the run from a sorcerer who’d kept him enslaved. He lied about his gender and his name and was vague about his backstory, but he didn’t tell any lies that were aimed at getting a leg up on his party members. Eventually as they bonded he came to trust them and revealed his past, and the party helped him disguise himself as an elderly dwarf so they could take down the sorcerer (it made sense in context : ). Tl;dr: work with your party, not against them.

a. For all my “well, but in my party…” friends, if your game features a bunch of cutthroats all trying to assassinate each other, or if your character was secretly planning on murdering another player’s character for Reasons, that’s fine. All I’m saying is don’t do it in your first game, or you’ll never get off the ground.

10.       Within reason, ignore the minutiae. Don’t worry too much about money, food, or how much weight you’re carrying. (At this point I’m assuming some of my hardcore DnDers’ eyes are popping out of their heads.) Again, note that I said within reason: this doesn’t mean that you can take whatever kind of weapon or armor that you want, and you shouldn’t have a never-ending supply of arrows, nor should you be able to purchase that super rare artifact. But if you focus too much on this stuff, you’ll have a hard time getting anyone (yourself included) invested in the game. If this sort of hyper realism appeals to you, add it in after a few sessions. But give yourself a break at the start and don’t roleplay every afternoon tea.

Remember, a good DnD game is a game that you enjoy playing. A good DnD party is one in which the characters AND the players respect each other. Don’t metaphorically or literally split the party, and you’ll be fine. 

[aqvarius]

[WALKTHROUGH + REVIEW] Masquerade Kiss: Yuzuru Shiba Season 2

Expectations:

I just want to start off by saying that the prologue is absolutely outrageous. There are probably so many targets that hang around the EAC headquarters, especially since HQ is presumably 3 miles within the UN Headquarters and let’s not pretend that there isn’t at least one target going to work there everyday. I actually spent 30 mins on google maps street view trying to find exactly where this location is supposed to be modelled after so I could find all the companies and buildings that have potential targets and then just gave up lol. BUT either way, I refuse to believe that a top international intelligence agency would just go WARNING WARNING and go into emergency lockdown because a target entered a 3 mile radius of HQ. Ridiculous. Also, the letter from the EAC even in the Yuzuru prologue also calls her Arisa Mifune which is her Kazuomi alias lol.

EDIT: I found the location of that background which implies that EAC HQ is modelled after 2 Hammarskjold Plaza or somewhere near (which is right next to the British Consulate btw, how did MC not see that on her way to the building. Also conveniently near something called Japan Society.). Note the octagonal-roofed thing on the bottom left, the general shape of the building, the covered part of the building lobby, the blue sign (afaik street signs in NYC are green) and the position and shape of the building down the road. And I know I’m taking this whole thing way too seriously, but Jeffrey Epstein had a mansion about 2 miles away from here so this whole 3 mile emergency alert thing is just ridiculous. Sure, Epstein probably never existed in the world of Masquerade Kiss but come on, it is highly unlikely that not a single target lives, works or passes by for a kebab within a 3 mile radius of the EAC HQ.

With that out of the way, let’s talk Yuzuru. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was going to even play Masquerade Kiss ever again. I like most things about the game but Love Choice is honestly just a turn off and the only LC game that I am genuinely drawn to is actually Destind. But then I had 287 unused hearts because I bought a bunch of hearts with the intent of playing Kyogoku’s route in Romance MD (and then I didn’t because I actually just don’t like that game) so I decided to give it a shot. I actually (surprisingly?) prefer Kazuomi to Yuzuru as a character, but I like Yuzuru’s MC more than Kazuomi’s MC and I was intrigued that Voltage would push this whole love quadrangle thing. We’ve seen hyper-jealous Yuzuru before in a substory so I think I went into this route more interested in the plot aspect and to see how they would develop the kind of strange relationship between Yuzuru and his MC. I genuinely enjoyed Yuzuru’s S1 MS a lot and wanted to see how he and his MC would grow as a couple. Also I wanted to play it in order to write a review to bring some traffic back to my semi-hiatus stagnant blog lol. Please give this a like/reblog please I’m begging you please :’(

Keep reading to the walkthrough and review. I’ve calculated a way for you to get to EE with all CGs (50 hearts saved), SHE with CGs (83 hearts saved), or a cheapest overall option to SHE (107 hearts saved).

Stop scrolling after the walkthrough and guide if you haven’t yet played and don’t want the route to be spoiled.

Walkthrough:

Story 1:

Yes, we should keep an eye on him.

No, it’s not necessary

Story 2:

“You came to be with me.” (Love Meter +1) (6 hearts)

I can’t say.

Story 3:

I sign without hesitating.

I hesitate for a moment.

Story 4:

Text Yuzuru.

Don’t text him.

Story 5:

I’ll sign it. (Love Meter +1, CG) (13 hearts)

I’m not going to sign a New York contract.

 Story 6:

Casually intervene. (Love Meter +2) (11 hearts)

Pretend not to notice.

Story 7:

See him out without asking what’s wrong.

Ask what’s going on.

Story 8:

It’s payback time. (Love Meter +1, CG) (16 hearts)

Don’t do anything.

Story 9:

Start touching him. (Love Meter +2) (12 hearts)

I can’t interrupt.

Story 10:

Seduce the info out of him. (Love Meter +1) (8 hearts)

Try to force it out of him.

Story 11: (second chance)

Gently ask about it. (Love Meter +3) (18 hearts)

Now is not the time.

Story 12:

“I’m thinking about you.” (Love Meter +3) (13 hearts)

“Nothin’.”

Story 13:

“It was fun.”

“It was relaxing.”

 Story 14:

Apologize and keep talking. (Love Meter +1) (7 hearts)

Ouch. I have nothing to say for myself…

Story 15:

Play dumb: “What are you talking about?”

Ask: “What if I am?”

Story 16:

Find out if he’s jealous. (Love Meter +2) (18 hearts)

Don’t ask any questions.

Story 17:

“I’ll stay ten more minutes.” (Love Meter +2) (14 hearts)

I have nothing to say.

Story 18:

Ask about his Texas accent.

Don’t ask about it now.

Story 19:

Call out to Yuzuru.

Let him go.

Story 20:

Put up a strong front: “I’m okay.”

Tell the truth: “I’m not okay.”

Story 21: (second chance)

Ask Yuzuru why he did it. (Love Meter +3, CG) (25 hearts)

Don’t ask any questions.

Story 22:

“Not as stubborn as you.”

“You already knew that.”

Story 23 (useless):

Trust Yuzuru and don’t go. (Love Meter +1) (13 hearts)

Right now, I have to go to Jeremy.

Story 24: (second chance but she saves him either way)

Rush over to protect Yuzuru. (Love Meter +3) (19 hearts)

I can’t get there quickly enough.

Guides:

I calculated the cheapest ways to get to Eden End and Super Happy End with CGs and without CGs. Just opt for the heart scenes that I’ve highlighted in each guide below.

Click the read more below for my review. Stop here if you haven’t yet read the route because there are spoilers galore.

Review:

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this route. As I read through, I thought the pacing was excellent and I was really drawn in by everything about it, especially the relationship between Yuzuru and his MC. It has definitely been a while since a LC route really captured my full attention. However, upon rereading my notes and writing this review, I do have quite a few issues with it, particularly the plot. I’ll go through the things I enjoyed about the route first and then discuss what I find to be its limitations.  

So Yuzuru is great in this route. We get a far more expressive and soft Yuzuru. We get to see the most charming side of Yuzuru again, his childlike passion for engineering and innovation. This, in my opinion, is Yuzuru at his softest and most appealing, when he is genuinely passionate and not just doing the hyper-organised scheduling thing (although naturally most of this is hidden behind a heart scene). Sometimes it’s nice to remember that Yuzuru is human.

He’s definitely more playful with his MC in this route, even going as far as to blur the lines between work and personal life a little bit in a way that I found quite unexpected. There’s a lot of flirty banter between them, as well as just little suggestions of flirtations here and there in their body language – in front of people too! Scandalous. It almost reminds me a bit of Kazuomi and his MC, which is definitely a pleasant surprise. A lot of these scenes are hidden behind heart scenes, which I’ll get into later, but I will say that these cute and suggestive moments between the two are probably some of the best moments of the route, and part of the reason why it was so easy to keep reading.

I’ve mentioned this before but Yuzuru’s MC is my favourite version of the Masquerade Kiss MC. She’s great in this route too – cool, calm, great at her job. I also love that she likes Night at the Museum? Lmao me too girl. She has such trashy taste in movies and it’s a cute quirk that definitely makes her more relatable within the sensational premise of the game. Personality-wise, I think they did a good job at bridging the professional and personal aspects of her personality too, making her read like someone who has different personas that are different aspects of the same person. You definitely get a sense of the conflict within the MC when she has to extract information by using her sExUaLiTy when her boyfriend is watching on lol, even when they kind of make it out like a game. It is interesting and quite novel to see a Voltage MC successfully pull off a honey trap on a guy who kind of repulses her. We get snippets of it in other games such as Her Love in the Force but HLITF MC is always careful to keep boundaries so we never get to explore the full potential of the jealousy that can crop up in such situations. MK MC goes above and beyond to give us (and Yuzuru) a show. With that being said, I do feel like they kind of drew back from it a little by having Jeremy be super forward with his affection so the MC just has to respond, keep him on the hook and pull back every now and again, rather than actively needing to pursue someone to obtain information.

I also really enjoyed that moment when Yuzuru tells her to shower before going to his bed to wash off “Mia.” It solidifies that he’s really in love with her and not her charismatic, flirtatious hostess alias. Throughout the route, the blurring of the personal and the professional is definitely a theme that we see cropping up in the lives of both the MC and Yuzuru. It’s something that I find particularly interesting and I’m glad they picked this developmental direction since both Yuzuru and his MC are notoriously bad at mixing those two worlds, with both of them consistently and repeatedly picking work over love. We also get to see Yuruzu and his MC almost working together at times, which I adored. At times, they feel like a team. As always, they have tons of sexual and physical chemistry but they are slowly building up on the emotional chemistry and communication issues which is so crucial for character and relationship development. 

The SHE and EE in particular has some incredibly cute moments. Yuzu’s MC describing them as part of a machine is *chefs kiss* incredible. Their sex scenes are intimate, loving and incredibly romantic. Yuzu preparing his NYC home for MC? Adorable. And, most importantly, him not only tolerating but welcoming his MC’s “bugs” in their relationship? That’s character growth babey. 

With super long LC routes, I always get tired about 7 chapters in and give up and then have to come back and finish it later. However, this route sped along. The pacing of this route is pretty quick and snappy – in fact, I wouldn’t have minded if it was actually longer? Developments tend to happen pretty quickly, there are plenty of moments between Yuzuru and the MC that keep the story moving, and there’s basically very little, if any, ‘downtime’ in this route. Because they are constantly in the club or at Yuzuru’s place lol.

The writing/language quality is great. I felt genuinely tense every time Yuzuru and the MC almost got caught in the club and even more so when the MC went to Jeremy’s home. I couldn’t spot any significant typos or coding errors. The readability of this route is definitely top quality.

Moving onto my gripes with this route, I would say that they have to do mostly with flimsy plot, characters being reduced to plot devices, and lack of relationship conflict.

Firstly, something that I always find a bit off about the premise of EAC is how public their relationships sometimes are and how the MC’s private life even works. Yuzuru literally gets swarmed with people in the prologue asking for autographs and photos and yet later in the route can somehow go on a public date to busy tourist spots in central NYC with a spy? (That being said, I refuse to take that prologue as canon because of how sensationally ridiculous it is.) Let’s not pretend the EAC isn’t watching them lol (they even imply multiple times that this is the case). Is she not worried that Jeremy or Grace or any SHIBA or Space Crystal employees or any of the numerous powerful and dangerous people who frequent Freja will spot them together? There is no way she looks significantly different as Mia than as herself unless she’s wearing prosthetics or can turn off her star aura like Britney Spears can.  Also, is the MC supposed to be mixed? No one has any questions about how a native Japanese woman can get away with being called Mia Knightley?

They also set up this tension of something happening to the MC without Yuzuru ever knowing which never really plays out. There’s a brief callback to it but it’s more about the MC finding an excuse to see Yuzu. I thought the drama would have more to do with the MC having to keep secrets from Yuzu and disappearing but that never happens and so the repeated mentions of this particular source of anxiety don’t really amount to anything. I also wish they made better use of the stun bracelet! I think it would have been cool if that was what took Jeremy out. Symbolically, it could have worked as a physical manifestation of Yuzu’s trust and support of his MC and her job helping to protect her against the Big Bad.

Okay so my main issue is about the villains and the flimsy plot. Jeremy and Grace were such wasted villains!! If this guy went crazy and murdered 3 people… how did he manage to not only reinvent himself but in fact become a very high profile tech executive with more or less the same name? Imagine if Elon Musk was actually a crazy murderer who used to be called Elon Avrevic… there’s no way that he would be able to bury this, especially if he came from nothing and had no connections during the time in his life when he committed these murders. If there are actual criminal reports about his crimes that can be accessed by the EAC and SHIBA, how did he not get taken in for life after murdering 3 people? Why is he even free in the world? It’s such a big plot hole to me… doesn’t have the same fingerprints? Did he get such extensive plastic surgery that he’s not recognisable and also burn off his fingerprints? Evidently not, since the MC can recognise both him and Grace from childhood photos!

I also didn’t think his motivations were really that convincing. We get a throwaway line about his alcoholic father killing his mother because she tried to leave him, but in general they set Jeremy up with so much potential as this psychopath who hunts a very specific type of woman but then they just kind of throw it away with him just going crazy and shooting people because he just wants “girls and money”. Nooo Jeremy they did you so dirty!!!

I just think they built him up as this incredibly dangerous and manipulative predator but then just made him a standard alcoholic incel. He could have been such a good villain. He could have maybe drawn the MC in with sob stories about his mother and actually made her doubt her instincts with his charisma and vulnerability, with it turning out that the whole time he was just luring her in, instead of just relentlessly hitting on her and then getting carelessly drunk and going crazy. He spends so much of the route attempting to play and get with the MC and then just throws it all away by getting pissed and letting her basically have free reign of his apartment? I just don’t buy that a co-founder of Space Crystal would get to the top without being more clever, suspicious and manipulative – especially since he murdered 3 women and still is somehow a free man, ‘disguised’ as a very successful CEO?  Also, if he really just wanted girls and money, there were a thousand other ways of doing it. He could have been so clever and instead they just made him have occasional psychotic breaks with no discernible trigger. Disappointing.

(On a side note, they made his house look weirdly similar to Epstein’s manor. Or maybe all Upper East Side homes look like this, I have no idea. I did look around on Google Maps and I guess a lot of the homes in this area are kind of similar.)

Grace is also a wasted character. She kind of feels like a MacGuffin just to have this love quadrangle in order to play out the jealousy plot but ultimately plays no significant role. Actually, both Grace and Jeremy basically just act as jealousy plot devices, only the jealousy plot isn’t strong enough to actually threaten Yuzu and his MC’s relationship (except for one moment which to be honest doesn’t even play out like that because of jealousy and rather because Yuzu is trying to protect his girl).

Speaking of that moment, I thought that Yuzuru’s “push the MC away plan” could have been stronger. I feel like it’s not like him to do make such a basic attempt at fooling his MC. It might have worked in a different game but all of the MK guys usually know that they can’t trick their MC with cheap Harry and the Hendersons plots and they tend to not disrespect her enough to try. I know that as readers, we enjoy not knowing what the love interest is up to because it ups the tension and drama but I feel like there was a way of having that insecurity and conflict play out while keeping everything a mystery and making better use of the characters. Like maybe it could seem like Yuzuru is running into Grace’s arms after finding his MC in a compromising position with Jeremy when he’s actually doing his own covert investigations and making plans to foil their ultimate plans. Or maybe even working with Grace to take Jeremy’s wild country-bombing plans out. That way, we would prolong the jealousy/love quadrangle plot with the MC stressing about Yuzuru and Grace’s relationship, especially when she already doesn’t trust Grace. It would also make better use of Grace as a character and her position as both someone with a ginormous crush on Yuzuru and as Jeremy’s ‘partner’. If Grace also ended up betraying Jeremy to help Yuzuru and the MC, we could also have had some extra heartbreak about Grace having to betray the one person she has always had in her life (and maybe some extra backstory about Jeremy going nuts as part of having to protect himself and Grace from their parents and the world). #voltagehireme lol. I also find it highly unlikely that Jeremy managed to set up this whole missile-launching phone app business under Grace’s nose, especially when Yuzuru knew about it. Also, the idea of an American attempting to launch a missile to destroy the whole of Japan is a bit… on the nose lol.

The season isn’t really driven by relationship conflict even though they were pushing the whole jealousy line in the marketing. In the end, I don’t think the route is as much about jealousy as it is about trust – but then again, Yuzuru has always placed ultimate trust in his MC even in S1. I can see this being an issue for people who went into this route wanting genuine conflict in their relationship so that they can overcome and work through it to develop. There’s only a little bit of conflict towards the end when the MC goes to Jeremy’s home, and then that kind of gets discarded pretty quickly anyway. They just happen to be better at communication this season, and a lot of that is because of Yuzuru going out of his way to keep tabs on his MC. This is probably what makes the route so easy to read, because Yuzu is more open. However, because of this, while it is great that their communication as a couple improves, it may not necessarily feel that earned? With that said, credit to the writers for making Yuzu more open without making it feel jarring or like he’s had a sudden personality change.

And on another note entirely, I wish there was a bit more detail about the three “S”es and more involvement from Kazu and Kei, who basically just make gratuitous appearances in this route. Learning about them making Takoyaki together at Oxford is such a cute detail and also such an international student in the UK thing to do. Find me one Asian student studying abroad in the UK who hasn’t collectively cooked home food in halls with friends from their country (it’s always hotpot for me lol). I wish there were more moment with them actively involved in helping the MC.

Finally, I have my usual issues about the Love Choice system. If you play the route for free, you get very few cute scenes between Yuzu and his MC, miss out on some major character development moments (esp that planetarium scene) and you get a fade to black ending in the Normal End. Personally, I started playing Voltage in the early 2010s so I don’t mind fade to black endings, but I think the mature/sex scenes are what a lot of MK readers are here for, so it’s a shame that there isn’t even a kiss scene in the NE.

Overall, I would say that the chemistry between Yuzuru and his MC is what keeps this route going and flowing. I would recommend it if you just adore Yuzuru, want to maximise time with him and don’t really care much about plot. Otherwise, while their relationship is brought to new levels, it does not happen because of the plot as much as Yuzu’s response to events we don’t necessarily see, and it does not necessarily feel that earned because the plot doesn’t really put their relationship in that much jeopardy.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually really enjoyed reading this route – I found it super easy to keep reading, and Yuzu kept me hooked. I also love Yuzu more than ever. I think it’s a similar situation to Takane’s route, where the route made me love the love interest more, but has an average/flimsy plot. I imagine that his PoV will reveal more about those events that make him go out of his way to keep an eye on his MC, but as a standalone route, I wish there was more actual relationship conflict leading to more development.

[dweemeister]

Best Live Action Short Film Nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards (2021, listed in order of appearance in the shorts package)

NOTE: For viewers in the United States (continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawai’i) who would like to watch the Oscar-nominated short film packages, click here. For virtual cinemas, you can purchase the packages individually or all three at once. You can find info about reopened theaters that are playing the packages in that link. Because moviegoing carries risks at this time, please remember to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by your local, regional, and national health officials.

This blog, since 2013, has been the site of my write-ups to the Oscar-nominated short film packages. No pandemic was going to stop me this year, as I was able to view the short film packages virtually thanks to a local repertory, the Frida Cinema of Santa Ana, California. Without further ado, here are the nominees for the Best Live Action Short Film at this year’s Oscars. Films predominantly not in the English language are listed with their nation of origin.

The Present (2020, Palestine)

Since the 1990s, the Israeli military has set up hundreds of checkpoints within Palestine’s West Bank. These checkpoints have impeded Palestinian movement within the Israeli-occupied West Bank, supposedly to better protect the extraterritorial Israeli settlements there. Directed by Farah Nabulsi, The Present could have easily fell into an agitprop trap – leaning on political outrage rather than the individual emotions that power this film – but it deftly avoids doing so. On the day of his wedding anniversary with his wife, Yusef (Saleh Bakri) decides to go shopping with daughter Yasmine (Maryam Kanj). Yusef and Yasmine travel to and from Bethlehem (which is in Palestine, but is not easily accessible by Palestinians) to purchase a new refrigerator, groceries, and a few goodies for Yasmine. The process of traveling just a few miles from home proves onerous and humiliating.

Nabulsi’s film never feels like a lecture, instead preferring to juxtapose the cruel ironies that these Israeli checkpoints embody. The viewer intuits how militarized and confusing these checkpoints must be to the Palestinians. Israel’s apartheid mindset extends to the West Bank – the checkpoints have a single lane for Israeli drivers and a gated, narrow entryway specifically for the Palestinians. Past the checkpoint during their time shopping, life seems briefly normal. That Nabulsi can navigate the contrasting emotions between these scenes reflects the tautness of this film and its hints of Italian Neorealism. Bakri, as Yusef, is excellent during his tense conversations with the Israeli soldiers, even if some of these moments feel more stilted due to the actors playing the soldiers and the guerrilla filmmaking this piece employs. For Kanj, as Yasmine, one can see her anguish in seeing her father discriminated against on what should have been a special day. For Palestinian children, injustice is a rite of passage.

My rating: 8/10

Feeling Through (2019)

It is a chilly night in New York City at an hour where few are outside by choice. Teenager Tareek (Steven Prescod) is homeless. After saying good night to his friends, he happens upon Artie, a deafblind man (Robert Tarango, who is deafblind himself) holding up a sign requesting anyone to assist him. Curious and half-willing to help, Tareek taps Artie on the arm. Artie pulls out a tattered notepad and marker, asking for help to get to a bus stop. What follows is an uplifting connection between two cast-off souls, sharing each other’s good company and good humor if only for a brief time. Director Doug Roland based Feeling Through on an encounter he had with a deafblind man named Artemio. Roland’s film was accomplished in collaboration with the Hellen Keller Center.

Cynical viewers might view Feeling Through as syrupy, its swirling score too manipulative, the screenplay predictable, the filmmaking pedestrian. To different extents, each of those criticisms are true, but that does not undermine the raw inspiration responsible for this film’s pulse. It boasts solid performances from Prescod and Tarango – the latter a kitchen worker from Long Island and possibly the first deafblind actor in a lead role in film history. Roland’s screenplay beautifully strips away stereotypes of deafblind people. Tarango, as Artie, is neither overly dependent nor secluded from society. He knows that being deafblind sets him apart from those who can see and hear, and embraces the difference – lending a refreshing directness to how he communicates. Despite its lack of filmmaking or acting pedigree compared to its other nominees in this category, Feeling Through enters this Academy Awards season without a single loss in any of the film festivals that it screened in. No wonder: it is a crowd-pleaser in the best sense, without ever glossing over how difficult it is to be deafblind.

My rating: 9/10

Two Distant Strangers (2020)

Production on Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe’s Two Distant Strangers began in the shadow of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Its emotions are raw and there is no doubt behind the importance of the film’s messaging. Carter (rapper Joey Bada$$) has had some first date with Perri (Zaria Simone), and leaves in the morning to get home to his pet dog. Just outside the apartment building door, a police officer named Merk (Andrew Howard) stops Carter, profiles him, and ultimately kills Carter in cold blood. Once Carter dies, the film cuts to Carter and Perri in bed once again. Immediately, the viewer knows this film is a time loop a la Groundhog Day (1993), and, no matter what precautions he takes, Carter just cannot avoid execution from Merk’s hands. Through the film’s structure, Free and Roe capture the sinking, repetitive feeling that black Americans go through when hearing the news of yet another incident of police brutality.

Good intentions and urgency, however, do not necessarily make a worthy film. Some of the editing in Two Distant Strangers’ middle third shows too many images of Carter’s bullet-riddled body. After the first few instances of the time loop, the viewer does not need another glimpse of a lead-shredded corpse, blood splattering across pavement. The filmmaker’s fury towards Carter’s situation – that nothing will change – is already evident in the idea of such killings. Combined with the questionable dialogue in the final time loop and the mediocre acting, this all feels exploitative, an unwitting product of Hollywood’s history of fetishizing black trauma. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), historically, likes to reward films they perceive as demonstratively staged and thematically urgent. Two Distant Strangers meets both these criteria, but this material could have retained its rage without as much sensationalism.

My rating: 6/10

White Eye (2019, Israel)

Like Feeling Through, Tomer Shushan’s White Eye – the winner of the Narrative Short Film award at South by Southwest (SXSW) – was based on an actual encounter in its director’s life. Late at night in the streets of Tel Aviv, Omer (Daniel Gad) has spotted his stolen bicycle locked onto a rack. Omer lost his bike more than a month ago, has not filed a police report, and seeks to reclaim it as soon as possible. The police are of no help, and the people proximate to the intersection where these events take place are unwilling or hesitant to help. The now-owner of the bike is an Eritrean refugee named Yunes (Dawit Tekelaeb), and he insists to his manager (Reut Akkerman) and to Omer that he did not know that the bike was stolen property when he purchased it. And yet Omer’s tenacity and fit of passion spirals the situation beyond his or Yunes’ control.

White Eye is impressively staged, filmed in a single take – no cuts, no edits, all in real-time. To compare this film one last time to Feeling Through, White Eye accomplishes all it needs to say at a short film’s length. Some might claim Saar Mizrahi’s cinematography and 360º smooth-rotating is just another modern filmmaking gimmick; instead, it submerges the viewer into Omer’s mentality as he fights to retrieve his bike. The purposefully subjective framing questions the viewer on what our reactions might be in this situation, how deeply would we allow out outrage – and perhaps our ethnic/racial biases – to guide our actions. Shushan challenges the audience not to adopt Omer’s conclusions and emotions so readily, and he does a masterful job in appealing to and challenging one’s empathy as it becomes clear there will be no storybook ending.

My rating: 8/10

The Letter Room (2020)

By virtue of its central actor, The Letter Room is the most high-profile of this year’s nominees. Elvira Lind’s film is a dark comedy and its approach and tone are difficult to categorize. Richard (a mustached Oscar Isaac, who is Lind’s spouse) is a corrections officer who has requested a departmental transfer. With the transfer, he trades a more hands-on role for an office job. As the prison’s communications director, his responsibilities now entail filing through all of the prisoners’ incoming and outgoing mail – reading through all of the letters, reporting to his superiors for prison rules violations, censoring materials if necessary. At first, this role is as tedious as his previous position. But when Richard begins to read the histories of the prisoners and their loved ones, he becomes emotionally invested in a particular exchange between one death row inmate and his loved one (Alia Shawkat).

The Letter Room, despite a serviceable performance by Isaac as the unusual and stiff lead, has a milquetoast commentary about how the American criminal justice system imprisons more than just the inmates. These themes shambolically merge with Richard’s inherent loneliness, his inability to separate his own feelings from the voyeuristic work that his new position entails. This is a fellow looking for meaningful human connection, finding none, and attempting to understand something he has never found. The Letter Room curiously never questions the tricky ethics of Richard’s decision to intervene with the decisions made by Alia Shawkat’s character, and how the power disparities of his interactions color his life. The film’s conclusion is unearned, placing too neat a bow on a film that cannot balance its incongruous themes.

My rating: 6/10

^ All ratings based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

From previous years: 85th Academy Awards (2013), 87th (2015), 88th (2016), 89th (2017), 90th (2018), 91st (2019), and 92nd (2020).

[raeofsunshin]

1-16 for the mechsona askes >:3

Welp- ... Answers about Della below the cut!

1. Whats their “id” info (name, age, gender, nationality/origin planet, criminal record?)

Name: Della

Age: 17 (???? for multiple reasons)

Gender: Female, uses she/her pronouns

Origin Planet: The City

Criminal Record: She is a prominent member of the rebellion against the immortals and is a host on radio free illium. Has committed various other crimes in the process (murder, theft, tax evasion, etc.)

2. whats their mechanism?

She’s got metal arms and face! Also has a radio for a brain but thats not a mechanism its just her being stupid.

3. how did they get it? doc carmilla or maybe something else?

She didn’t get it from Carmilla, she got it from Medusa (who i have too much lore for but this isn’t about her.” but the metal and the immortality aren’t exactly the same thing. How Medusa “mechanized” her mechanisms was a bit more of a two step process. Medusa, under the alias of Dr. Persephone developed a counter virus to the SPHINX virus called PEGASUS. Once active it would counteract the virus and freeze the patient's aging process. However, it had no other applications besides making the user effectively immortal- ie. it wouldn’t heal them. So most of her patients either paid thousands to heal themselves or if they didn’t have the money returned to her. So Della returned, got legitimately mechanized and has been working to pay off her debt ever since.

4. immortal yes/no? if yes, how/why?

Yep! (Probably.) She got the SPHINX virus as a child and her parents (who were high up in the city) brought her to Medusa.

5. backstory? where are they from? why are they Like This?

*cracks knuckles* alrigty lets go.

Della was born Dellavine Rosile to a family high up in the City (think the equivalent of minor gods, not Olympians by any means but still immortal and holding considerable amounts of power.) She was a pleasant child, if a bit slow in learning, but at age two she contracted the SPHINX virus and began to rapidly age. Her parents brought her to Dr. Persephone and she was effectively cured of the SPHINX virus. However, this left a two year old in what was essentially a seventeen year olds body.

So her parents sent her to work as a nymph. (They are not good parents, they are gods.) She worked there for an indefinite amount of time (Her mind blocked out the majority of it.) Over those years she met Syren (they/them another character- not important rn) who basically figured out “oh shit thats a child” and began to teach her how to be a functioning adult on the days she was fired. Syren essentially acted as an older sibling. They taught her that she had a say in what she was and did. And it caught on.

Unfortunately, the fact that she was essentially a child was what had made her so appealing as a nymph in the first place. (see again, Olympian gods suck.) A few weeks she started sticking up for herself a freak accident that left her badly acid burnt occured. Naturally she lost her job and when she tried to return to her parents they claimed not to recognize her. Syen found her curled up in an alley, half dead and sobbing. They took her to Medusa where she was mechanized. Medusa replacing the acid burned skin and a bit more for the fun of it.

Della’s kinda just been vibin in the City ever since because what is linear time. She’s a radio host on Radio Free Illium. (She replaced her brain with radio equipment so the Archon couldn’t get it. Did she have to? No, she’s just stupid like that.) She’s ran a few missions for the rebellion and def is marked down as “dead?????” where ever the City keeps track of stuff like that. Her minds a little wonky as she still reacts like she’s five to somethings and then turns around and shoots someone in the face.

6. is their backstory based on any other existing story? if yes, which one?

Nope.

7. what tropes are they. dont say that they are not any trope. you know they are some kind of trope

I’m just gonna say powerful idiot. She’s so stupid. I know shes in tropes, I just cant think of any to name atm.

8. the most self-indulgent part of them

Mainly the fact that their face is mechanized. It makes no logical sense and I love it so much.

9. how much different from you they look?

We’ve got the same haircut and that's about it.

10. how do they dress like?

TANK TOP AND JORTS. She’s got a more steampunk outfit too but mostly just decides to be comfy.

11. position on the ship?

Communications officer! She WILL broadcast her radio show from wherever she in in the universe.

12. their instrument?

Vox and Synthesizerg! She also plays the violin terribly. (She took lessons at age two and has ENTIRELY forgotten how to play.)

13. weapon of choice? weapon of necessity? weapon they know how to use but would avoid it at all costs?

Shes got a sword! Its a regular sword. I don’t know enough about sword to say more.

She’s also got a laser gun Medusa gave her that she uses at long range.

tHE WeaPoN oF sEDucTIoN … nah im just kidding she’ll use anything.

14. their theme song but it must be a mechanisms song

Either Sirens or Ties that Bind. I need to listen again

15. their theme song but it cannot be a mechanisms song

Okay so ive got two!

The Cult of Dionysus by the Orion Experience is how she views/portrays herself.

https://youtu.be/ILGUWT4IFWs <<-- this song is her general internal vibe!

16. if you were to make a song of them, what song would you choose to edit the lyrics of? if you made a song of them already, drop the link to it/the lyrics!

Def Favored Son! She dislikes the Olympians and her parents its perfect.