#fantasy that lee was trying to criticise

[astral-from-afar]

Finished blackkklansmen and that shit was amazing.

[il3x]

Hello sorry to bother you!

I've noticed you post a lot about a manhwa called Hand Jumper? And compare it favorable to Worm? I was wondering if you could give a description/sell it a little - it seems good but the description online is so vague I can't tell if I'd like it or not

Thank you so much~~~

Cracks knuckles. Let's GO!

Hand Jumper is a fantasy/superpower/thriller webtoon, featuring a girl called Sayeon Lee. Sayeon is my beloved babygirl and somewhat Worm-y in that she has a unique power that interacts with her psychological issues in interesting ways. Having this power makes her an Aberrant, an oppressed class (though, don't look too hard at the social worldbuilding; it's about Ward quality in the early chapters, if you ask me. Sigh.). Aberrants can either be conscripted into the Aberrant Corps (evil torturemurder school. I like how this webtoon depicts the education system. for catharsis reasons) or declared illegal, upon which the Corps is tasked to hunt arrest them.

Sayeon comes from a long line of Aberrant criminals, high-ups in the underworld. As a matter of fact, her older sister is an Aberrant criminal right now. Sayeon, however, is viciously opposed to all crime (for reasons to be revealed later!) and works herself to the bone to become a criminal prosecutor. (Have I mentioned I like how school is depicted?).

Her future and identity are shattered when her Aberrancy manifests and she's conscripted into the Corps. The main story focuses on Sayeon trying to survive and orient herself around a new goalpost, as she bonds with - and pulls away from - her squadmates. (Especially Ryujin. Ryujin, my second favourite scrunkly, stands for none of the Corps' shit and forms a glorious foil for Sayeon.) There's some action here. We also get to know people on different levels of the Corps, and while the worldbuilding can still be criticised, the flaws start to pale in the face of compelling human characters. Having a shit-awful time in the torturemurder school. Perpetrating the atrocities &c. There's also a small ongoing mystery throughout S1, which adds to the thriller element, though it's more a mystery for the readers than the characters.

Then, we have a secondary plotline focusing on Sayeon's sister, and her activities in the Aberrant underworld.

And Sayeon's past is revealed non-linearly, in a sort of third storyline/mini-mystery.

We also get episodes focused on individual side characters, much like Origins episodes in an anime, and learn about the fantasy side of the worldbuilding - better than the social side, imo, even though I haven't dabbled in it too much.

That was a lot more selling than description, lol, sorry about that. I also mayy be biased-

^ me

[frankendeers]

Kylux and the Queer Literary Tradition

So, I have seen a lot of people talk about Kylux in terms of queer fetishisation or even labelling it a “crack ship”.

The discourse has somehow made Kylux out to be this straight-girl fantasy where two men are simply shipped because they are white and handsome. Such an unfavourable interpretation completely takes away from many Kyluxers being queer and/or poc themselves as well as shaming straight people for seeing queer potential where it’s not canonically stated to be. Since the comic came out, there has been much elation because it finally “confirms” some of the things that appeal to Kyluxers, therefore justifying the ship. I don’t think, however, that Kylux has ever been anything but rather conventional in its queer subtext. Kylux falls in line with a long tradition of homoerotic aggression between two men. I will try to put this into words as eloquently as I can.

First, let’s talk about how Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and Armitage Hux are queer coded on their own before moving on to their relationship.

Armitage Hux is almost comically queer coded. The act of feminising a villain to subtly convey to the audience that he is gay and therefore “morally reprehensible” has been a practice since the Hays code era (in some respects even before that -as the Victorian Age marks the beginning of our modern understanding of gender and subsequently, its subversion). He is seen to be physically weak, petty, moving and snarling and “bitching” in a way society would stereotypically ascribe to women.

His British Accent, at least from an American point of view, already marks his sexuality as ambiguous. This is not helped by the fact that he speaks in an abnormally posh way, alienating himself from the common people.Hereby, the movies draw a well-established line between decadence/queer and pragmatic/heteronormative.

In the “Aftermath” trilogy Brendol Hux states his son to be “weak willed” and “thin as a slip of paper and just as useless”, robbing him of his masculinity – no matter how ridiculous of an endeavour this is when talking about a four-year old boy. Hux is very early on criticised for not fitting into a socially expected form of manhood. This is especially evident when one compares him to his resistance rival, Poe Dameron. Now, Dameron has his own set of queer coding, but he is shown to be what is commonly viewed as “acceptably queer”. He is masculine, trained and proactive. When he ridicules Hux at the beginning of The Last Jedi, there is this juxtaposition of the helpless, feminine villain and the dashing, superior male hero. Hux is supposed to be judged as vain and arrogant while Poe takes risks and although reckless, is somehow to be admired. Further, Hux is constantly abused. He is thrown into walls letting out high pitched screams, runs away in the face of danger (as seen in the recent comic) and is pushed around by his own subordinates. His strength lies in being cunning and calculated, not stereotypically masculine virtues.

Hux’s destructive powers, his monstrosity so to speak, also follow a long-standing tradition of queer villainization. Harry Benshoff’s The Monster and The Homosexual articulates this as follows:

“[...] repressed by society, these socio-political and psychosexual Others are displaced (as in a nightmare) onto monstrous signifiers, in which form they return to wreak havoc […]” (Benshoff 65).

And what other, than a socio-political Other, is Armitage Hux - the Starkiller?

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, too, is touched by the mark of queerness. It is no coincidence that despite his raw power and muscular physique, Kylo Ren has not been adopted by hegemonic masculinity in the same way Han Solo has, for example. When the logical is traditionally seen as masculine, the realms of pure and unfiltered emotionality is feminine. And Kylo Ren is unrestrained in his vulnerability, his tears, his pain – People make fun of the dramatic ways he gives words to his feelings precisely because it is regarded as weak, as whiny, as “womanly”. His long curly hair, full lips and dress-like costume only strengthens this impression. Kylo Ren is an amalgam of masculine aggression and feminine expressiveness. Some of his outbursts even remind of the pseudo-illness of hysteria. The gendered lines are blurred and unclear in Kylo Ren, diffusing any efforts to appease the binary. Benshoff describes this as a form of queer existence which does not only constitute itself in opposition to what is considered normal but “ultimately opposed the binary definitions and prescriptions of a patriarchal heterosexism” (Benshoff 63).

Both are not easily categorised. They are patched up by multiple, gendered signifyers. Kylo Ren’s masculine body in contrast to his femininized fashion. Hux’s slender body with his stiff and masculinised military get-up. Hux’s toxic tendency to avoid showing his emotions while also being shown as weak, womanly, cowardly. Kylo Ren is an excellent warrior, yet simultaneously being prone to emotional outbursts. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s famous work Monster Theory (Seven Theses) elaborates upon this further, while acknowledging that queer figures are most commonly depicted as the monstrous Other:

“The refusal to participate in the classificatory “order of things” is true of monsters generally: they are disturbing hybrids whose externally incoherent bodies resist attempts to include them in any systematic structuration.” (Cohen 6).

Nonetheless, many queer people feel empowered by these figures. Lee Edelman theorises in his polemic No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive about the nature of queerness as a force of cultural resistance. According to Edelman, the queer must always refuse societal expectations of a perpetual future and embrace the death drive instead. In this sense, queerness stands in direct opposition to futurity as it negates any meaning in sexual reproduction and marriage (cp. Edelman 13). When Hux destroys planets, when Kylo Ren proposes to burn it all down “The Empire, your Parents, the Resistance, the Sith, the Jedi”, they are not merely killing the past. They are also negating the worth of categories that make up future and present alike. They are resisting the heteronormative values of production.

Now that we have the puzzle pieces that illustrate how Hux and Kylo are queer figures in on themselves, it might be interesting to examine how they work together.

In her text “Epistemology of the Closet”, Eve Sedgwick talks about a common gothic trope where two men are caught in a feud full of mutual hatred. In this case, both men are mirror images of one another, making them especially vulnerable to the other’s advances: "[…] a male hero is in a close, usually murderous relation to another male figure, in some respects his 'double', to whom he seems to be mentally transparent."

Kylo and Hux are very clearly mirrors of one another. Aside from the gendered oppositions I have already illustrated, they are each other’s double in every sense of the word. Born on opposite ends of an age-old war. Both caught in complicated relationship with their fathers whom both have killed out of opposite motivations (loving them too much vs. hating them with a passion). They represent the opposite ends in the binaries for logic vs. spirituality, restraint vs. wildness, control vs. sensuality, technology vs. nature etc.

This shot from The Last Jedi shows both of them mirroring each other visually, henceforth strengthening this impression.

They are "mentally transparent" to each other, because they are different sides of the same coin which Snoke tossed around to his whims. Even their aggression takes on erotic forms. It is hard to deny the homoerotic implications in choking another men to make him submit, forcing him onto his knees. The breaching of personal spaces and looming over each other, the obsessive need to prove one’s own worth to the male other with which one is engaged in a homosocial bond:

“The projective mutual accusation of two mirror-image men, drawn together in a bond that renders desire indistinguishable from prédation, is the typifying gesture of paranoid knowledge.” (Sedgwick 100).

And through all of this, I have not even talked about the collaborative potential between the two of them. Their instinct to protect one another despite insiting the opposite. How both of them could overcome their trauma by engaging with the other, who suffered so similarly under family obligation and Snoke’s abuse.

Works Cited:

Benshoff, Harry: “The Monster and the Homosexual.” In: Harry Benshoff (ed. and introd.)/Sean Griffin (ed. and introd.): Queer Cinema, the Film Reader. New York: Routledge 2004. Pp. 63-74.

Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. "Monster Culture (Seven Theses)." Jeffrey Jerome (ed. and preface) Cohen: Monster Theory: Reading Culture (1996): 3-25.

Edelman, Lee. No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. ,2004. Print.

Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky-Sedgwick. Epistemology Of the Closet. Berkeley, Calif. :University of California Press, 2008.

[depressedsightwitch]

A list of things that annoy me in the book community

- mackenzi lee being a white feminist and also remember that time was trying to tease people that some MC in one of her books /might/ be asexual and people were like it's a yes or no question like???? She implied it was a spoiler or something I think. Also I'm pretty sure i saw she tried to police someone's bisexuality or something to that effect and idk if that's true but even if it is yikes. (*add on* the original wording was bad, so it was changed, I thought I'd saved the thing I saw about this and as far as I can tell I haven't. This is also not trying to say she's evil and antibi (she's bi I'm pretty sure) but in case she pulls the classic messy queer move as she's been pulling a lot of messy shit 🙂)

- the annoyance at Jodi Meadows having the first YA fantasy book (that we know of) published with a black girl on it, knowing full well other POC should've gotten that honor first and then saying nothing about it or any of the issues in the book (ive heard that most of the males- who are black- are aggressive and it mostly just features the mc being fucking tortured in a prison cell but yay for a white lady writing a black character)

- maggie stiefvaters constant racism

- i still feel awful that cclare is so fucking big, like i enjoyed tid (obviously) but hot damn she fucked a lot of ppl over and that whole copyright situation, meaning she copyrighted herself not the darkhunters lady is Yikestm. Also all of her books kinda read same? But thats more a me thing 🤷🏼

- oh right people still stan sjm and I'm????? She's racist, sexist, ableist, and probably more! Not to mention her books go on for too long with virtually no content (im looking at you empire of storms) and are so fucking similar literally empire of storms and court of mist and fury had the same ending. Also, can we talk about how people were seeing lines not just from other people's books but from HER OWN books that were in ACOWAR (which still looks like 'a cowar (d)' to me, coincidence, i think not) and wasn't there that whole thing were she was a asshat to her closest author pal (s), and to her fans and shit? Like, IDK she was nice to me when I met her but the fact that she ran from social media when people criticized her was telling and I wouldn't put that past her.

(Side note, I don't hate her or want her dead or harmed, that's awful, I just want her to have virtually no sales, like therw is no reason this person should be famous)

- harlequinteen and their messy ass needs to go home like? Stop with The Continent and The Black Witch and Zenith.

The Continent is racist and anti native, with a healthy doce of white savior.

The Black Witch is every kind if -ist, -ism, anti-, you can possibly think of, but it's passed of as okay/funny/progressive for the sake of our very white, very allocishet, and able MC.

Zenith is like some mess they tossed together at the last minute but it's okay, apparently they have "diversity". Despite no character ever being describe one of the characters is a WOC? Also that book is just a fucking joke, i think theinsanereader on youtube puts it best, plus literally just goodreads it.

- also epic reads needs to chill with continuing to rec books that came in 2012 that the WHOLE WORLD KNOWS ABOUT okay, Throne of Glass, The Hunger Game, Cinder they've come and gone, move on please. Also stop with messy books like Carve The Mark it looks bad on you.

- and can we please talk about how authors will drop issues of suddenly become indifferent to criticisms once they get a deal. They could be screaming about problematic people, protect the teens, more diversity but it's like the second they sign with some big company. Not that the company matters, all of the self pub authors I know of/followed where pretty sketchy or asshats, so there is that.

ADD ONS

- im also still annoyed about that tristina wright shit, like 1. She was cancelled when her book fucking sympathized with colonizers, 2. She was double cancelled when her apology wasn't even an apology like???? Also, I HATE how much that highlighted ppl having to pick, like the shitty race and coloniser narrative for queerness? Alright, will do? But now she's a sexual harrasser too, so triple done with her. I wonder how Entangled Teen is handling this?

- authors who suddenly have diversity in there books? What the fuck was with the sudden diversity in King's Cage? Why wasn't all that there before? Likely because the author didn't think to put it in until people criticised her for it. Same with SJM, people criticised her and instead of actually doing anything about it she "actually-ed" in her books by plunking rando queers into the story, but i doubt she takes the poc thing seriously because "but she has the summer court!" Okay jan, yes the queen of diversity love 👀

-also wtf is it with the "here's a black nation and my nation is all white" in fantasy, what is that why do people do that, why is your fantasy world segregated, at SJM and Sara Raasch, like I loved Snow Like Ashes but it has that in it. I think I've heard of other fantasy books having it too, like Kiss of Deception but I could be wrong.

-how little the YA community cares about the demographic these books are written for. I joined as a teen and literally everyone cared about the opinions of adults more than us? If you don't like or value teens then go somewhere else? These stories are supposed to be for them and about them and y'all are out here speaking over and attacking them? Yikes.

(Add on) because this isn't apparent this is me being annoying and annoyed. This are all things I've heard about/read about at some point and I'd dare say a good portion of these you could look up and read more about!

If any of this pisses you off feel free to fight me (i hope you read in that 13yos viner girls voice) and if you think I'm wrong feel free to challenge me 🙂)

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/his-dark-materials-review-improved-second-attempt-but-not-enough/

His Dark Materials Review: Improved Second Attempt, but Not Enough

In the 2000s, as the Harry Potter film franchise was racking up billions of dollars at the box office worldwide, other studios tried to get in on the children’s fantasy act. Disney kick started an adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ seven-book series The Chronicles of Narnia, which ran for three entries before succumbing to falling critical and commercial reception. (Netflix will now attempt a do-over.) Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig led the big-screen adaptation of Sir Philip Pullman’s trilogy His Dark Materials, which failed at the outset with The Golden Compass. It was deemed controversial for anti-religious themes, while funnily enough, others criticised it for diluting the elements that were critical of religion. A secondary problem was that Pullman’s complex world wasn’t suited for film.

Thankfully, TV is now ready. Benefitting off the combined might of BBC and HBO, the new series adaptation of His Dark Materials — from award-winning playwright and screenwriter Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) — has enough time and space to present the story and tackle its subtext, and enough budget to bring its fantastical world to life in a gorgeous and believable fashion. But it takes too long to really get going, running in circles for first three episodes. (Four were shown to critics.) And though the visuals are on point, the writing isn’t. Despite the elements at its disposal — talking animals, a modernised Victoriana fantasy, and scheming, tyrannical individuals — it’s made to feel ordinary, especially the farther it gets from its fantasy trappings.

On top of that, His Dark Materials feels like a children’s show at times. Pullman’s trilogy is often described as children’s books that adults should read, and the show’s producers had hoped it would be an adult TV show that children should watch. But His Dark Materials fails in that regard. Thorne said he did “a PhD in the books” because he wanted to “sound every note”, but he’s unable to realise those ambitions as the show is too talky in its approach. Everything is said out loud, with characters repeatedly shouting out their motivations, telling you how to feel about a scene, or pausing to dump exposition on another character before walking away. By being so simplistic, it doesn’t respect younger viewers and can’t pique the interest of adult fantasy fans.

His Dark Materials begins with on-screen text that notes it’s set in another world which is like and unlike ours. Here, a human soul manifests as an animal called a daemon. The all-powerful Magisterium, a church-like militaristic organisation opposed to new thinking, has controlled the world for centuries, except in the North. And it then introduces its chosen one, a rebellious girl called Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen), who as a baby, was dropped off by her uncle Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) at an Oxford college for her protection. (McAvoy has what amounts to a guest role.) Asriel has been roaming the North looking for info on something called the “Dust” that threatens the Magisterium, and he naturally turns down Lyra’s request to travel with him, for reasons largely unknown to her.

After Lyra’s best friend, a kitchen boy Roger Parslow (Lewin Lloyd), goes missing from Oxford, she is swayed by the mysterious Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson), who whisks Lyra away to London with the promise of adventure and helping find her friend. But Roger isn’t the only missing child, with the Gyptian community — Pullman’s analogy of the Roma people — being the prime target. Their leader, Lord John Faa (Lucian Msamati), believes the Gobblers, a myth usually restricted to children’s stories, are behind the abductions and so, the Gyptians too set out for London. Meanwhile, the Magisterium’s Carlo Boreal (Ariyon Bakare) — changed from being an old man in his sixties to a Black British man — is trying to dig into an explorer’s past, who has a bigger presence in the second of Pullman’s books.

Wilson’s Mrs. Coulter is by far the most delightful of the early lot, as she switches between showing genuine care and affection for Lyra, and the curled-lip menace and steely-eyed determination that her job requires her to possess. The other human characters — McAvoy’s Asriel doesn’t get enough screen time — aren’t that engaging, though the aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Lin-Manuel Miranda), who shows up in episode four, injects the show with much-needed energy. In fact, it’s their daemons who are routinely more interesting, be it Mrs. Coulter’s silent golden monkey or Lyra’s ever-changing “Pan” Pantalaimon, who keeps switching between a mouse, a moth, and a snow-white ermine since Lyra isn’t an adult yet. But His Dark Materials hasn’t figured out what to do with daemons, except use them as exposition machines.

Ruth Wilson as Mrs. Coulter in His Dark Materials Photo Credit: BBC/HBO

This aforementioned expository problem is likely the only reliable part of the show, as multiple scenes in the same episode keep haring upon information that everyone — especially the audience — already has. In some cases, His Dark Materials could have easily made tweaks to ensure scenes unfolded in a different fashion than they do on-screen. And in other cases, it seems the show intentionally spins its wheels until it has arranged the other chess pieces on the board that allow the narrative to move forward. Elsewhere, His Dark Materials tries to pull on emotional cords that it has yet to string for itself, which causes scenes to fall flat as the viewers — save for long-time book fans — do not have the requisite level of attachment with the characters that the scenes need to function.

Meanwhile, His Dark Materials both falls into and plays against fantasy tropes. As the chosen one, Lyra is deemed special, important, and most valuable by nearly everyone on screen — her uncle Asriel is the only one who seems to disagree — and the show seems to take this to heart as well, instead of showing us how she’s special. Lyra figures out how to read the alethiometer, a truth-telling device, in a matter of days with no training at all, even though we are told that it takes books and years of learnings. It just feels wholly unconvincing. It’s okay for Lyra to be talented but it’s not okay for her to be a miraculous genius. On the other hand, the idea that the nomadic Gyptians would serve as better guardians for Lyra than the esteemed Oxford scholars is a sort of reversal of what we’ve come to expect from the genre.

But that’s not merely enough to lift an adaptation of Pullman’s work that’s much better at evoking the visual underpinnings than the thematic ones. In doing so, His Dark Materials leaves behind a somewhat generic offering, strange and surprising given the trilogy of books were noted for touching upon concepts that other fantasy authors usually didn’t. And in the process, it also wastes the good work of actors, who are working with an uneven and sluggish plot. Maybe the show will find its groove as the story kicks into gear — a second season has already been filmed, for what it’s worth — if only to equal the wonderfully-realised world that features witches and armoured bears. At least that’s the hope, or we might be looking at attempt number three in another decade or so.

His Dark Materials premieres November 5 on Hotstar, and November 24 on Star World in India.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

When the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon’s designs were initially released many people alternately dismissed or mocked them as bad. This was profoundly unfair. Putting aside how different aesthetics of designs appeal to different people, the designs were intended to be animation friendly and to really move. Which they did.

 However at the same time those criticising people who shallowly insulted the Spec designs shouldn’t then be criticizing the 1994 cartoon designs. Again aesphetic appeal of designs are subjective.

 Even if some of the choices were bad let’s remember that...it was the mid-1990s. It wasn’t like fashion was in a wonderful place back then. But even so I feel some people get way to hung up on the designs to bash the show.

 Like Peter Parker was maybe too muscular and broadshouldered in season 1. Is it that big of a deal honestly?

 He spent most of the show as Spider-Man in which his body shape was perfectly correct for the character, especially if you look at Romita Senior and Bagley renditions of the character at the time. In fact McFarlane, Larsen and even Bagley renditions of Peter Parker in the 1990s draw him as fairly musclebound when in his civilian guise.

 Is that yellow cardigan ugly on Mary Jane. In my opinion yes it is but it really is the one and only thing wrong with her design. Everything else she wears including the boots is fine, the boots in fact are things that Mary jane has on and off worn throughout her history, including in her first appearance.

 It’s just...a pretty shallow thing to say the show rides or dies on. Especially when you consider most of the other character’s looks are mostly just replicating the comics.

 Really the show if you bother to put it in the context of it’s time is very strong where it really counts, that is to say the story and the characters.

 For all the loud criticisms about ‘But the Moussy?’ or ‘Hobgoblin came first!’ or ‘Mary Jane wasn’t like she was in the comics!’ or ‘It wasn’t as good as Batman the Animated Series’ the show did sooooooooooooooo much right and many of those criticisms don’t hold up to scrutiny.

 Let’s do some analysis.

 Was the show as good as Batman the Animated Series?

 No but apart from the Simpsons and Gargoyles what American Animated series from around most of Spider-Man TAS’ airing actually was?

 Not even the New Batman adventures or Superman the Animated Series hit anywhere close to BTAS’ quality.

 Those shows were a perfect storm of quality and caught lightning in a bottle.

 Saying a show is terrible for not reaching those heights is utterly unfair, it’s like saying a movie or a gangster movie is terrible because it’s dared not be as good as the Godfather. Or a fantasy movie is terrible for not being as good as Lord of the Rings.

 It’s stupid and ignorant.

 You grade things based upon the NORMS of the time.

 In the mid 1990s there were quite a few cartoons attempting to be more serious, trying to rise above cliché simplistic Saturday morning adventures and since that’s what virtually every cartoon for the previous three decades had been doing each show attempting to do that in context thus deserves major, major kudos.

 And that’s what Spider-Man the Animated Series did too.

 Does the censoring hurt it? Does it’s restricted budget (due to the pricier ventures of other shows, including BTAS) hurt it?

 Sure, but it’s like classic Doctor Who. You judge it based upon the limitations placed upon it not merely on the surface level of the final product. I know that is not the common wisdom for tv/flm criticism...but frankly that just means that common wisdom for TV/film criticism is really, really narrow minded and should instead be reformed. Doing otherwise is like grading a kid with dyslexia harshly when he literally has factors beyond his control holding him back despite him doing his best.

 So bearing that in mind no Spider-Man the Animated Series really isn’t a bad show at all, nor a bad Spider-Man show. Especially when you put it into context of the previous Spider-Man shows or even the ones since.

 In terms of it’s characters and handling of supporting cast and subplots it’s absolutely not just clear cut obvious that Spec Spidey is superior.

 Consider that the show was so well plotted that the grand finale in season 5was being seeded as early as seeded in season 3. That the show managed to hit the emotional truth of the Death of Gwen Stacy DESPITE not being able to kill anybody and then looped that back around into motivating the character for the grand finale and his ultimate emotional fulfilment. Consider the show is arguably the most soap opera-esque American animated series for children ever, with some episodes haveing love polygons let alone triangles. The latter being in fact something all too appropriate for Spider-Man.

 Consider that whilst the show might have altered some characters in a detrimental way, others they made more interesting. Yet others they changed but the altered characters were not uninteresting characters unto themselves despite being different. The Felicia Hardy of this show is a very different beast to the Felicia of the comics, but she is also more reltable and has a more significant arc. She is also not an uninteresting love interest.

 Look I do think it’s a shame that the alterations made to some characters were drastic and detrimental. But taking them in isolation, unlike the crappy USM show, again they weren’t unlikable characters unto themselves. Plus as the first legitimate attempt to properly adapt Spider-Man teething problems were bound to occur. USM being made so long after Spider-Man was a pop cultural icon doesn’t have that same excuse.

 Hell for all people’s griping about Mary Jane in this show, honestly there isn’t much wrong with her as a character unto herself. She just isn’t Mary Jane from the comics, but still has elements of her nevertheless. Her backstory with her father is tweaked but not uninteresting. She can still be resourceful when needed. She could still be supportive and brave and all that. Just watch the Hydro Man episode to see her character in action.

 And for all the griping about character changes...Spider-Man himself is basically perfect.

 Whilst not as whining or neurotic as the comic books (and thereby less aggravating) frankly this version of Peter Parker is how Peter should be written. That is to say not word for word like an exaggerated 1960s Stan Lee comic book character nor as later renditions of the character were which flanderized some of those traits.

 This Spider-Man could feel guilt but wasn’t at times seeming like he was mentally ill.

 He was funny, confident, sometimes selfish, sometimes angry, but ultimately altruistic and heroic.

 Yeah every so often like in the Dr Strange episode the writers goofed up, but on the whole Spider-Man in this show was the first time in any adaptation you got to see the character properly represented which is...well kind of the most important thing.

 More poignantly this show did the spirit of Spider-Man correctly. Despite changes to the characters and lore, the sequence of events and so on this was the first time we got the ‘feel’ of the original Spider-Man comic books.

 Spider-Man was a down to Earth regular guy albeit a smarter and more altruistic one, who dealt with regular life events alongside fantastical superhero stuff. His fortunes vacillated often in relation to his activates as Spider-Man.

 He had a friends and family and acquaintances of people who could exist in real life, a ost of colourful adversaries with their own plot lines weaving in and out of Peter’s own.

 There was a continuity to the show wherein the events of one episode could have an impact down the line, characters had arcs.

 And the series ended with an adoring love letter to the character by highlighting what makes the character who he is. The last few episodes of the show Spider-Man meets a version of himself who’s lost everything and gone to the darkside and contrasts that to another version of himself where he had everything and appreciates the fact that he isn’t either of these people but rather himself. He then saves all of reality  and proceeds to tell his God, his creator, Stan Lee himself that he is his own man beyond what Stan intended for him and goes off into the sunset to be happy.

 But I guess all of that is worthless because of Mary Jane’s cardigan...

[beautifulpaxielreads]

@readingaway Thank you for taking the time to sum up your thoughts - it must have taken a while!

You can find my response to some of the books you mentioned below the cut because these things can get lengthy!

A Match Made in Mehendi - this one's been there for a couple of years now, I keep hearing mixed reviews about it - it sounds like it might be intended for a younger audience. Given your comment about YA high schools having their own social media apps, this might be the case. I hope I'm going to get to it this year!

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place - I picked this one primarily because of the author, Julie Berry. I read her book Lovely War a couple of years ago and absolutely adored it, although I suspect this one is very different in tone. From the blurb and your comments, it sounds like a good old-fashioned romp of a tale.

The Queen of Blood - I think you're the second person I've heard describe this book as underrated. I liked the summary that I read of this book, hence its presence on my list.

Annie on My Mind - I've heard this was one of the first books in YA fiction to feature a lesbian relationship - is that right? Even if not, it seems like a classic of the genre and I would very much like to read it.

Kind of A Big Deal - You're not the first person I've heard saying this book has been unfairly criticised. I always think it's worth reading titles that have had mixed reviews so I can make up my own mind. This sounds like a great example of that.

Under a Painted Sky - I have a few Stacey Lee books on my TBR at the moment, the plots sound really interesting and judging by your comments this one does too.

If We Were Villains - another one that's been on my TBR for ages but not read. I haven't dipped my toe into Dark Academia as yet - would this be a good place to start?

Black Beauty - I've heard this one was quite revelatory at the time it was published because of its subject matter. I'm trying to read some more classics, hence this book's inclusion.

This Time Will Be Different - it sounds like this one subverts tropes and expectations, which I'm always up for in any of my preferred genres. And I don't mind there's little romance - I often think some books would be better off if there were no romance as it doesn't add anything to the plot.

Empire of Sand - I don't necessarily mind slow-paced fantasy if I'm enjoying the worldbuilding and atmosphere. Thanks for the tip, though!

On the Come Up - I read The Hate U Give a few years ago and though I don't remember much specific about it, I do remember it was well-written and very hard-hitting. I'm guessing this one is in a similar vein?

The Yield - glad you're enjoying it so far, I hope to get to it within the next few months.I'd be interested to know your thoughts on it once you've finished.

Here’s another of my bookish quizzes! This time, it’s all the fiction books that are on my Storygraph TBR. Which ones have you read? Would you recommend them? Why/why not?

I’d be really curious to hear everyone’s thoughts, so if you have any, feel free to share! (only if you want to, no pressure)

[warninggraphiccontent]

19 June 2020

Appy talk

GOVERNMENT RUNS PILOT SCHEME, DEVELOPS ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION ALONGSIDE, CHANGES COURSE WHEN TRIAL FINDS FAULTS was surprisingly not one of the headlines heralding the government's abandonment of the original NHSX contact tracing app in favour of closer working with Google and Apple (and not just because no self-respecting sub, outside the New York Times, would run a headline that long, with that many commas).

There are undoubtedly questions for the government to answer - why it was so tempted by tech solutionism at the expense of designing a proper test and trace system; why it made the 'world-beating' app the centrepiece of the banquet before demoting it to a mere cherry on the cake; whether it should have pursued the course it did knowing compatibility with Apple's iOS operating system (and to some extent, Android) could be a problem and whether the UK has lost time as a result; why there wasn't more openness about the Isle of Wight trial; and why the data protection impact assessment for test and trace wasn't completed before the service was rolled out, for a start. And it's obviously not encouraging when the government has already u-turned a dizzying number of times in recent days and weeks.

But for all the justified questions and criticisms, some of the government's critics are being somewhat disingenuous. The trade-offs between centralised (as originally pursued by NHSX) and decentralised (Google/Apple) approaches are more nuanced than is being allowed; the UK is not alone in facing problems rolling out an app; and there are some rather big debates to be had about the respective power of democratic governments and technology companies.

In its statement yesterday, the Department of Health and Social Care claimed that their tests had also found problems with the Google/Apple approach (specifically, how well that solution could measure the distance between devices), and they're not the only ones, which points to a more fundamental question: will any of the proposed apps work?

This hasn't really been done before. The Ada Lovelace Institute said at the start of the crisis that there was 'an absence of evidence to support the immediate national deployment' of mooted technological solutions, including contact tracing apps. Has that changed? Can anyone yet point to a country where a contact tracing app has been shown to have worked? Where an app has been a substitute for (or even a significant part of) a well-designed, broader test and trace system and other measures? Whether the UK public would tolerate some of the infringements on privacy associated with tech-based approaches in some other countries?

Given the situation, a change in approach is welcome and sensible. Continuing down this track (as it were) risked damaging public confidence in the system, and it is vital that government maintains public confidence and earns public trust, especially when it comes to how it uses our data. The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation put it well when it said its role was to ensure that 'the speed at which innovation must move doesn’t demand that the values of transparency, privacy, scrutiny and good governance are foregone - compromising the public’s trust in public sector innovation longer term'.

Getting it wrong could have long-term consequences. But let's not pretend getting it right is going to be easy.

Three more things:

I've written a comment piece on the prime minister's call for a new cross-government commission on racial inequality. Maybe start with implementing the recommendations of previous inquiries and follow previous initiatives (including some data-related ones)? And if not, at least give us some more details on what it will look like and what it's trying to achieve, and pledge that its recommendations will be adopted?

The winners of this year's Orwell Prizes will be announced on 9 July. Catch up on the shortlists in the meantime.

And details of the next Data Bites will be going live here very, very soon. See you at 6pm on Wednesday 1 July. Previous events here.

Have a good weekend

Gavin

Today's links:

Tips and tech

Lessons learned from organising the first ever virtual csv,conf (Open Knowledge Foundation)

EXPERIENCES OF FACILITATING ONLINE: INNOVATING, ADJUSTING AND KEEPING THINGS THE SAME (Involve)

Graphic content

Viral content

3 months of a global pandemic (Citizens Advice)

I've mapped Google's excellent mobility data (Dan Cookson)

A warning from South Korea: the ‘fantasy’ of returning to normal life (FT)

You Regress It: Have Masks Prevented 66,000 Infections in New York City? (roadtolarissa)

Brexit Heartlands Pay the Highest Price for Coronavirus* (Bloomberg)

Visualizing COVID-19 (Graphicacy)

Much of the world thinks the response to the pandemic has been poor* (The Economist)

What could a physically distanced UK look like after lockdown? (The Guardian)

When the Coronavirus Outbreak Could Peak in Each U.S. State* (Bloomberg)

Poverty and populism put Latin America at the centre of pandemic* (FT)

Pandemic Travel Patterns Hint at Our Urban Future* (Bloomberg)

Viral content: economic consequences

UK GDP - animated version (Henry Lau)

English shoppers’ return points to a gradual retail recovery* (FT)

How many charity employees have been furloughed? (David Kane)

Four conclusions from latest UK labour market data* (FT)

The geography of the COVID-19 crisis in England (IFS)

#BlackLivesMatter

Black Lives Matter protests prompt millions to search online for race history facts* (The Times)

Unemployment Tracker: Job Losses for Black Workers Are Deepening* (New York Times)

YOU KNOW KAREN (The Pudding)

Cities Grew Safer. Police Budgets Kept Growing.* (The Upshot)

The systemic racism black Americans face, explained in 9 charts (Vox)

Exclusive: Top British firms to pay compensation over founders' slavery links* (Telegraph)

UK politics

Keir Starmer scores the highest satisfaction ratings *ever* of an opposition leader on record (Dylan Spielman, Ipsos MORI, via Lee, Tim and Marcus)

Covid could do for Johnson what the snap election did for May (Matt Smith)

The other reason the government U-turned on free school meals* (New Statesman)

UK government

DfID/FCO merger (IfG - bit more here)

Being updated imminently: civil service staff numbers, freedom of information (IfG)

Ministerial directions (IfG)

US politics

America’s anachronistic electoral college gives Republicans an edge* (The Economist)

Wall Street takes aim at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in party primary* (FT)

House of Lords: Virtual sittings, participation and Covid-19 (House of Lords Library)

Environment

Emissions Are Surging Back as Countries and States Reopen* (New York Times)

Can India chart a low-carbon future? The world might depend on it.* (Washington Post)

Mean annual temperature for Northern Ireland (Department of Agriculture, Environmental and Rural Affairs)

Sport

FootballGeek

Fight for fourth? Data reveals it will be long road for Manchester United* (The Times)

Everything else

Country & Product Complexity Rankings (Atlas of Economic Complexity)

The unluckiest generation in U.S. history* (Washington Post)

Mark Duggan police shooting: can forensic tech cast doubt on official report? (The Guardian)

Fighting in the Sahel has forced 1.7m people from their homes* (The Economist)

Digital News Report 2020 (Reuters Institute)

Leftwing voters lead decline in trust in UK news media (The Guardian)

#dataviz

Truncating the axis (Chad Skelton and others)

Infographics (Government Statistical Service)

When the pie chart is more complex than the data (Junk Charts)

How your colorblind and colorweak readers see your colors (Datawrapper)

What Graphs Reveal (If You Give Them Time) (Math with Bad Drawings)

Slow Reveal Graphs

Survival Analysis in Alteryx and Tableau; or, the survival of biscuits (Gwilym Lockwood)

Meta data

Viral content: Appy talk, keep talkin' appy talk, talk about things you'd like to do

Next phase of NHS coronavirus (COVID-19) app announced (DHSC)

UK virus-tracing app switches to Apple-Google model (BBC News)

Turn it off and on again: lessons learned from the NHS contact tracing app (Ada Lovelace Institute)

Personal data and coronavirus (IfG)

Trinity study confirms accuracy concerns on contact tracing apps (Trinity College Dublin)

What happened to Matt Hancock's coronavirus contact-tracing app? (The Bureau of Investigative Journalism)

Coronavirus: Contact-tracing apps face further hitches (BBC News)

Looking at the recently-released SAGE documents on contact tracing, it's striking how central the app is to the whole plan (Rowland Manthorpe)

You may be wondering what's going on with the contact tracing app... (Rowland Manthorpe)

Bahrain, Kuwait and Norway contact tracing apps among most dangerous for privacy (Amnesty International)

Viral content: oh, the immunity

Plans for coronavirus immunity passports should worry us all (Wired)

Explainer: Immunity certificates (CDEI)

Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation criticised after supporting controversial immunity passports (NS Tech)

Viral content: everything else

Just How Historic Is the Latest Covid-19 Science Meltdown?* (Wired)

Landmark IT deal will provide access to digital tools and save hundreds of millions of pounds for the NHS (NHS Digital)

How Data Became One of the Most Powerful Tools to Fight an Epidemic* (New York Times)

Out of the shadows: The value of data in times of crisis (Ed Humpherson for ADR UK)

Public Health in the Information Age: Recognising the Infosphere as a Social Determinant of Health (Jessica Morley, Josh Cowls, Mariarosaria Taddeo, Luciano Floridi)

The Economy Is Reeling. The Tech Giants Spy Opportunity.* (New York Times)

Data and Covid-19: why standards matter (ODI)

Data in the time of Covid-19 (Understanding Patient Data)

A rapid online deliberation on COVID-19 technologies: building public confidence and trust (Ada Lovelace Institute)

A prototype that compares coronavirus response sites (Public Digital, via Andrew)

AI

AI Barometer (CDEI)

Alternative visions for the future of AI (Nesta)

Everyone’s talking about ethics in AI. Here’s what they’re missing (Fast Company)

Joint Statement from founding members of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (DCMS/Office for AI)

Geospatial awareness

Unlocking the power of location:The UK’s geospatial strategy (Geospatial Commission)

Reviews: Owen, Jeni, Peter, Anna

Geospatial Commission Charter (Geospatial Commission)

Geospatial Glossary (Geospatial Commission)

Parliament

Developer hub (UK Parliament)

Report on Digital Development (Stance for Parliamentary Digital Service, October 2019)

Government

Seeing government, being seen by government. (Alex)

The role of technology in governance: The example of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (Natasha McCarthy and Franck Fourniol for Data & Policy)

NI civil servant voices warning on deleted emails (BBC News)

A question for government data people (James Plunkett)

What we learnt from the first phase of the GovTech Catalyst (GDS)

Everything else

Police in England and Wales dropping rape inquiries when victims refuse to hand in phones (The Guardian)

Mobile phone data extraction by police forces in England and Wales: Investigation report (ICO)

The Mainstream Media Won’t Tell You This* (The Atlantic)

IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon’s face recognition bans don’t go far enough (Fast Company)

TALES FROM THE CRYPTO (Frank Pasquale for Public Books)

Facebook to let users turn off political adverts (BBC News)

The three tests of internet regulation (Heather Burns)

Opportunities

EVENT: Why GovCamp North? (GovCamp North)

EVENT: Shoshana Zuboff meets Margrethe Vestager: A conversation about a future digital Europe - webinar (Danish Society of Engineers)

JOB: Deputy Head, Office for Artificial Intelligence (DCMS/BEIS)

JOB: Economic Advisor - Lead Analyst - Office of Artificial Intelligence (DCMS/BEIS)

JOB: Director of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (NHS Digital)

JOB: Head of Software Development (DfE)

And finally...

Maps

Country names in any language (Arun Ganesh)

Here's the geographical distribution of the 10 most common pub names in Great Britain (Colin Angus)

The topologist's map of the world - a map showing international borders, and nothing else (r/MapPorn)

Everything else

HTTP status codes as emoji .. this might be a good idea? (@francesc)

Chart shows the changing appearance of copper throughout the patina process (via Simon Kuestenmacher)

#registers (via Max Fras, via Oliver)

Won't somebody please...

[scifimagpie]

Louie C.K. and the Sith Lord Dilemma

Happy new year!

(These are the kinds of headlines I only get to write because I don't have an editor to whom I answer. Whee!)

We still have Nazis, so let's talk strategy. I'd also like to talk about something related - the infamous, often contested Centre. To keep advancing leftist ideals (such as healthcare, housing, and basic needs coverage for all; universal access to education and higher education; equal and fair pay for all genders and backgrounds, and accessibility resources for those who require mobility devices or have medical problems, among a few other things!) it can help to figure out who we're trying to talk to - and sometimes, who we can trust.

The time before #MeToo and after it are now crisply delineated by this social event. The freedom to talk about and voice the universality of sexual harassment and assault against people of various genders (yes, men too) has really shaken things up. It's just the beginning of making things right, and society in North America and around the world has some serious adjusting and compensating to do, but it's a good step in the right direction.

#MeToo also torched a lot of sacred cows, exposing people we previously trusted as participating in very bad behavior. Kevin Spacey, George Takei, Stan Lee and Neil DeGrasse Tyson, among others, are a couple who surprised and disappointed me the most. But it seems like some of the people who transgressed are already trying to stage their comebacks - not understanding, it seems, that it shouldn't be up to them to decide when their stint in the time-out corner is over.

As discussed here, it would seem that Louis C.K., who previously admitted to sexually harassing women by masturbating in front of them without consent, has taken a turn for the dark side. Making jokes about transgender people and school shooting survivors, and apparently, insulting black and Asian men, is now part of his comedic repetoire. So much for "learning and listening."

But he continues to be defended by a few people who - apparently, come from the centre - and want to believe that he still has good intentions somehow. To quote that Huffpost article, however -

"C.K.’s new set, according to its leaked version, doesn’t merely punch down; it stomps, pettily, to the bottom. None of it is smart or brave; it is simply cruel."

And how did Louis C.K. - and for that matter, J.K. Rowling - start to internalise and support such negative beliefs?

Star Wars and political strategy

So here's the thing about the two people I've alluded to - they're both wealthy, and they've both been criticised. Now, being criticised is hard at the best of times. But wealth tends to make people more fragile. Is the answer, then, to just not criticise anyone ever? (That probably sounds like a stupid thing to even say, and it kind of is. But the internet likes a good reductio ad absurdum argument, taking things to their most logical extreme, so I'm going to follow that format - as I often do in my posts!)

That would seem to be an over-correction, and to make advancement impossible. But how to we criticise someone without alienating them?

Well, I'm still working on the "doing it right" part, but I can tell you about how not to do it.

In the much-maligned prequels of Star Wars, one of the concerns expressed about Anakin Skywalker is that he's too old to learn the Jedi ways and be successfully indoctrinated in their belief system. In the following movies, as Anakin goes through puberty and discovers that at least one girl exists, this is quickly proven - so it seems - to have been an accurate fear. A lot of people have argued that the way the Jedi turned their back on him as soon as he started to screw up and the way they endorsed such extremist perspectives on emotion had doomed him to fail in the first place. I would say that Anakin actually got a lot of second chances, but the ideology did set him up to fail - and because a single misstep was seen as an inevitable sign of failure, how could he help but find himself tempted by the apparent freedom of the Dark Side?

But as we see examined in The Last Jedi, fearing someone's future and darkness and treating them badly on the basis of that can, in fact, lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. By assuming the worst of Ben Solo, he becomes Kylo Ren. Now - you could argue about the role of fate in the Star Wars universe, and even in our own, but it's not a discussion I can brook in good faith because if fate was as iron-clad as it is in fiction, all psychics would have 100% accuracy in their predictions - and that, obviously, is not the case.

But are we repeating the mistake of the late-era Jedi Order? Are we scaring off allies when we call them out for bad behavior, or scaring off future allies when they see Leftists chewing someone out?

A digression on the centre, which cannot hold

Oh, the Centrists. The Left hates them, the Right courts them, and they usually don't even identify as such. Most of the time - from what I've seen - Centrists are actually people who would identify as liberals or Liberals, but haven't caught up to every nuance; alternatively, they're soft conservatives. The centre isn't so much a fact as a product of two overlapping political bell-curves, more of an illusion than a real political movement. After all, the centre and centrists usually tend to have either conflicting beliefs or a reluctance to engage with certain groups.

But the centrists that I tend to hear about, as a leftist, are generally the ones who still fall on the liberal side of the equation. Now, here's the thing - I'm not saying that being conservative or liberal are, arbitrarily, either good or bad on an objective scale. BUT - right now, in North America and in a few other places, it sure seems like conservatism has relied too heavily on courting xenophobia in various ways. And that has led to an association of conservatives with racist, sexist, generally horrible beliefs - for instance, the Republicans in the US, and more locally, the UCP. (United Conservative Party, not to be confused with the Progressive-Conservative Party of Canada. They're very good at being polite and rewording their racism and homophobia, because this is Canada, but the underlying platform and beliefs is disappointingly rote.)

But is falling to the racist wayside the fate of all centrists? Should leftists treat anyone who fails to meet certain standards of conduct with suspicion and curtness, because they're inevitably going to betray any progressive ideals in favor of the fear-eater, conservatism?

In terms of the radicalization of young men, a number of people have spilled ink and filled hard drives creating better and more informative videos and articles than myself. And a lot of them also struggle with this problem: who can be reasoned with, and who is a die-hard danger to humanity?

No. Be nice sometimes, but don't hug every Nazi.

All of this is to say that I think the way we deal with people who don't act in good faith and the ones who do act in good faith need to be set in two different streams. It can be hard to tell, and people can switch motivations during a conversation - deciding to troll or being interested enough to start learning, for instance. But I think it would help the Left to confine some of our sharpest criticisms to internal dialogues - you know, saying things with the door closed. We have to meet people on their level.

Unfortunately, sometimes that level is also going to mean putting boots on the ground in terms of showing up to protests and engaging in adequate self-defense against Nazis.

So when it comes to Cousin Jason or Brayden saying that he thinks these dudes wearing yellow vests and talking about how we need to reduce the number of immigrants coming to Canada "might have a point," I would suggest being hard on the ideology and empathetic with Jason or Brayden himself. There's a difference between being empathetic and being a doormat - but we have no choice except to take on these conversations whenever we can, even when we're exhausted. The problem is that people in the centre often agree with us - but are too scared to speak up, or too tired, or even too confused.

We have to make a better future and present by walking the line between having boundaries and making it clear to people that we care about them and their rights. As frustrating as it can be, emotional labour from a person in a position of power, or even an oppressor, is still emotional labour. And we cannot take for granted that people will educate themselves, or yell "educate yourself!" in every conversation. That doesn't mean the most oppressed person should always yield their time and energy to people who may be acting like blockheads - but it does mean that anyone who considers themselves an ally needs to step up or be willing to tag-team something to avoid their own exhaustion.

This stuff is intricate. The problems don't have quick, glib, easy fixes. But they're also not insurmountable, because our opponents aren't monsters or fictional villains. They're people. And most of them actually want what we want - to live in happiness, health, and safety.

***

Michelle Browne is a sci fi/fantasy writer. She lives in Lethbridge, AB with her partners-in-crime and their cat. Her days revolve around freelance editing, knitting, jewelry, and nightmares, as well as social justice issues. She is currently working on the next books in her series, other people's manuscripts, and drinking as much tea as humanly possible. Find her all over the internet: The mailing list * Amazon * Medium * Twitter * Instagram * Facebook * Tumblr * OG Blog

[365footballorg-blog]

A PR move or genuine concern: What do Ashley appearances mean for Newcastle?

When Mike Ashley appeared in the directors’ box at Crystal Palace in mid-September, it was the first time he had attended a Newcastle United match for 16 months. The following weekend, he took his seat at St James’ Park for the 2-0 defeat by Leicester.

Ashley has been criticised for demonstrating a perceived lack of interest by being an absentee owner for much of his 11-year reign, so his return has been met with a degree of suspicion by supporters, many of whom see this as nothing more than a public relations move and accuse him of using the club simply as a vehicle to promote his other businesses.

But, there is also the argument Ashley is genuinely concerned by the club’s seven-match run without a win at the start of the season, and feels he needs to take action now to prevent a third relegation in 10 years.

To that end, he took United manager Rafa Benitez, and the entire first-team squad, out for dinner in Northumberland this week.

It has been reported Ashley will take a more hands-on approach in the coming months, and has promised the players he will take them on holiday if they stay in the Premier League. He is also said to be determined to retain the services of Benitez, whose contract expires in the summer.

Time will tell if the dinner-date has the desired effect of improving morale and building relationships but it certainly brought more controversy for Ashley: his representatives have strongly denied any suggestion he swore at fans who were holding a peaceful protest against his ownership[1] outside the restaurant.

The Magpie Group, a set of supporters who are campaigning for Ashley to sell, said afterwards, in a statement, he “holds the city of Newcastle and the fans of Newcastle United in utter contempt. We must all come together to drive him out of our football club”.

Premier League predictions: Lawro v Radio 1 DJ Chris Stark[2]

Fantasy football: Tips for picking your Premier League team[3]

<!–

Kevin Keegan has this week described his short tenure as Newcastle manager in 2008 under Ashley as a “nightmare”[4].

Ashley appears to be stubborn and impervious to criticism but is surely in no doubt about how angry the fans are and how desperate they are for him to sell the club, which, 11 months after being put on the market, remains up for sale.

Former Manchester United and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon is reportedly trying to form a consortium to launch a takeover bid, while businesswoman Amanda Staveley made offers in the region of £250m[5] in the winter but Ashley ended talks with her in January, calling them “exhausting, frustrating and a complete waste of time”.

He certainly knows how intrinsic a manager of the calibre of Benitez is to the success – and possibly the sale – of Newcastle but if the former Liverpool and Real Madrid boss is to stay on Tyneside, their relationship will have to improve.

Indeed, the team dinner this week was only the fourth time they have met face to face in more than two and a half years, with most of their communication going through the managing director Lee Charnley.

<!–

Benitez, who says having Ashley there to support the team is a “positive” thing[6], has expressed a desire to stay – and he is willing to continue working under Ashley if the trust that has been eroded can be rebuilt – but the Spaniard has been annoyed after the past four transfer windows because he feels the club have not delivered on promises[7], such as him being allowed to spend “every penny the club generates”.

He is not asking for a fortune; more the freedom to spend what the club has – in the way he sees fit. He also wants them to deliver improvements to the training ground and the academy. But, the understanding earlier in the year was the club would only back him to that extent if he showed his commitment to them by signing a new deal first.

A stand-off ensued.

With the Magpies making a profit of more than £20m in the summer transfer window, in addition to banking around £125m for finishing 10th last season, some supporters have been asking ‘where’s the money gone?’.

Certainly, Ashley – who has seen for himself in recent weeks how bad things are on the pitch – will be under pressure to spend big in the January transfer window to significantly improve the squad.

But, given the club’s record signing is still Michael Owen for £16m in 2005 – two years before Ashley took control – will any fans be getting their hopes up?

References

^ peaceful protest against his ownership (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ Premier League predictions: Lawro v Radio 1 DJ Chris Stark (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ Fantasy football: Tips for picking your Premier League team (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ as a “nightmare” (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ made offers in the region of £250m (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ “positive” thing (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ the club have not delivered on promises (www.bbc.co.uk)

BBC Sport – Football

A PR move or genuine concern: What do Ashley appearances mean for Newcastle? was originally published on 365 Football

[thrashermaxey]

The Ducks Top Line Has Taken Off With Getzlaf’s Return

  This week we quickly review the 10 lines who scored the most goals in the 2017 portion of this season. We also take a look at a couple of lines who should see great production in 2018. For injury updates and the latest line combinations that affect your fantasy roster, follow me on Twitter @BrennanDeSouza!

  Nikita Kucherov – Steven Stamkos – Vladislav Namestnikov

Goals For: 25 | Goals Against: 15 | Corsi For %: 54.28

  Namestnikov has 35 points in 38 games, not too shabby for a player who averaged the 139th pick in Yahoo! Leagues.

  Claude Giroux – Sean Couturier – Jakub Voracek

Goals For: 23 | Goals Against: 11 | Corsi For %: 55.96

  Coming into this season, Sean Couturier’s career high in points was 39. He currently has 36 points in 38 games.

  Anders Lee – John Tavares – Josh Bailey

Goals For: 22 | Goals Against: 17 | Corsi For %: 49.85

  Anders Lee is tied for second in goal scoring with Alex Ovechkin (24), they sit one goal behind Nikita Kucherov for the league lead (25).

  Jonathan Marchessault – William Karlsson – Reilly Smith

Goals For: 21 | Goals Against: 15 | Corsi For %: 57.28

  William Karlsson’s career high in ice time was 14:28 coming into this season, now he’s averaging 18:19.

  Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan Mackinnon – Mikko Rantanen

Goals For: 19 | Goals Against: 9 | Corsi For %: 51.68

  Nathan Mackinnon sits fifth in league scoring, with 46 points in 38 games.

  Alex Iafallo – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown

Goals For: 17 | Goals Against: 12 | Corsi For %: 51.98

  Last season, Anze Kopitar had 21 points in his first 37 games. This season, Anze Kopitar had 40 points in his first 37 games.

  Andrew Ladd – Mathew Barzal – Jordan Eberle

Goals For: 17 | Goals Against: 9 | Corsi For %: 56.82

  Mathew Barzal sits second in rookie scoring with 36 points in 39 games. He has more points than Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Seguin, Jack Eichel, and Sidney Crosby.

  Kyle Connor – Mark Scheifele – Blake Wheeler

Goals For: 17 | Goals Against: 15 | Corsi For %: 47.28

  With Mark Scheifele out six to eight weeks with an upper-body injury, Blake Wheeler moves to center and Patrik Laine takes his spot on the right wing.

  Jaden Schwartz – Brayden Schenn – Vladimir Tarasenko

Goals For: 17 | Goals Against: 4 | Corsi For %: 59.07

  Brayden Schenn has five points in 11 games since Schwartz injured his ankle, he had 36 points in 30 games before that.

  Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Micheal Ferland

Goals For: 17 | Goals Against: 10 | Corsi For %: 54.34

  Johnny Gaudreau leads left wingers in scoring with 43 points in 39 games.

  ~

  Rickard Rakell – Ryan Getzlaf – Ondrej Kase

  Scoring Chances For: 22 | Scoring Chances Against: 13 | Corsi For %: 59.04

  Let me preface this by saying that I’m a big believer in the Getzlaf and Rakell for the rest of the season, but Kase might not always be skating beside them. Jakob Silfverberg, Antoine Vermette and Corey Perry are a few examples of players that have been in Kase’s position on this top line. After a plethora of injuries in 2017, I think the Ducks will start of 2018 on a high note now that they’re starting to get healthy.

  A broken cheekbone made Getzlaf a sitting Duck this season, but in the 16 games he has played, he’s put up an impressive 20 points. While his 5 on 5 shooting percentage (13.33%) is higher than it has been in past seasons (around 10%), none of the other stats really stand out. Getzlaf has established himself as a top centre, breaking the 70-point barrier in three of his last four seasons. Now that he’s 32, an important aspect of Getzlaf’s production is how it benefits those around him. His playmaking ability has allowed Rickard Rakell to develop into a potential 60-point player.

  After being drafted 30th overall in 2011, Rickard Rakell is now in his fourth NHL season. Over the years he has shown consistent improvement in point production, going from 31 points in 2014-2015 to 43 in 2015-2016, and taking another step forward last season with 51 points in 71 games. If you’re an avid Dobber reader, you’re probably familiar with the fourth-year breakout that will hopefully see Rakell continue the trend and flirt with 60 points this season. The 24-year-old is being put in a situation to succeed this season, with career highs in even strength ice time (19:44) and power play ice time (2:55). Although last season’s 18.6% shooting percentage will be very hard to replicate, he’s shooting much more this season and his current 13.6% shooting percentage should be easier to maintain.

  It took 53 games last season for Ondrej Kase to put up 15 points, he has matched the same total in half the time (27 games). As I mentioned earlier, his spot beside Getzlaf and Rakell is not permanent, but he holds some value in deeper leagues as long as he’s part of this line. However, he’s spent most of this season with the likes of Nick Ritchie, Antoine Vermette, and Derek Grant, so expect other Ducks to get a quack on the top line.

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    Milan Lucic – Connor McDavid – Jesse Puljujarvi

  Scoring Chances For: 104 | Scoring Chances Against: 75 | Corsi For %: 54.28

  It’s hard not to bet on a line when it includes one of the most talented players the NHL has ever seen. While Connor McDavid has seen a number of different line mates this season, he’s recently seen a lot of Milan Lucic and Jesse Puljujarvi.

  You don’t need me to tell you how good Connor McDavid is, the proof is all around us. Hop on Youtube and search “McDavid goal”, you’ll see this beauty, or this one, or maybe this one. There are so many different examples that showcase McDavid’s skillset, just looking at his point production doesn’t tell the whole story. He’s currently on pace for 95 points, with most of the underlying numbers being very similar to last season in which he totalled 100 points. While GM Peter Chiarelli is rightfully criticised for not providing McDavid with an adequate supporting cast, Edmonton’s never-ending supply of top draft picks did land them Jesse Puljujarvi, someone who might provide sneaky value in your fantasy leagues.

  Jesse Puljujarvi was drafted fourth overall in 2016 and now has a huge opportunity to establish himself in the NHL. It’s well documented that any player playing beside Connor McDavid is fantasy relevant, but Puljujarvi is so exciting because he’s still young and has all the tools to develop chemistry with McDavid. While his 11 points in 22 games this season might not seem impressive, nine of those points came in his last 13 games, which is pretty encouraging for a 19-year-old! It’s not like these are secondary assists piggy backing off of McDavid either, Puljujarvi has scored eight goals already, and is on pace for a respectable 180 shots. He has recently started to see time on the power play, which makes him even more valuable going forward. Currently owned in only 12% of Yahoo! Leagues!

  Milan Lucic is an interesting player because he has shown he’s capable of 60-point seasons, but is better known for his toughness. In my opinion, that combination of skill and toughness will play a role in how this line produces going forward. Players are less likely to try underhanded tactics against McDavid and Puljujarvi when Lucic is on the ice, but the fact that Lucic also has some offensive ability means McDavid’s beautiful passes can be put into the back of the net. It seems reasonable to call Lucic a 50- to 60-point player, but the Oilers will need him to perform at the upper end of that range if they’re going to turn their season around.

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from All About Sports http://www.dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/nhl-line-combinations/the-ducks-top-line-has-taken-off-with-getzlafs-return/