#for context we were doing 45s on thursday and i fucked it up and hit myself on the bridge of my nose

[chazz-is-a-zelda-fan]

i swear i’m good at color guard and Then

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role Highlights C2E35 (September 25,2018)

Tonight’s guests are Marisha Ray and Liam O’Brien!

Announcements:

The NYC live show is one week from this Thursday (October 4)! Tickets are available now, and an NYCC badge is not needed to attend. There is much speculation over what on earth Sam’s going to wear this time around.

Travis’ episode of Between the Sheets is available for CR Twitch subscribers now and will go up on CR’s YouTube channel tomorrow! Marisha: “He’s like the big brother to us all.” Laura Bailey’s up next!

All Work No Play premieres (returns) this Friday night at 7PM Pacific at twitch.tv/criticalrole!

@critrolestats for this episode:

It has been 61 days since the party found the Cloven Crystal, and 45 days since they first learned of Marius LePual. (The party’s been together about 87 days total.)

Beau has avoided 126 points of damage by using Deflect Missiles.

Caleb’s top speed in this episode of 120 feet is still a quarter the speed of a hasted and flying Vax: 480 feet. Liam points out that he mostly used the speed last campaign to rush at problems. This campaign, it’s more for rushing away from problems.

On being pirates: Liam: “It feels pretty good.” Marisha: “No regrets.” Especially for the Empire kids, this isn’t their country, and the repercussions may not feel as pressing. Also, Liam gets shamed for his lack of knowledge about maritime law. As you do.

Beau’s thoughts on Fjord’s abilities? “Some people have daddy issues and some people vomit up water and see visions.” She tries not to judge people on their shitty days, because she thinks that her own good days are worse than their bad ones. That self-deprecation comes from guilt, and also that her whole outlook is that she’s a bit of an asshole, but she assumes that everyone she meets will hate her anyway, so she might as well take control of the ways in which they consider her to be an asshole.

Caleb is taken by the coincidence of Yasha continuing to pop up; it’s not distrust or anything, it’s just surprise that this keeps happening.

Caleb feels fine about how they treated Algar, because they were doing what was needed to take care of one of their own. Marisha talks a bit about how cathartic fantasy violence like that can be when it’s just amped-up versions of the “no, fuck you!” responses that you might say to someone in that situation in real life. Liam: “I think we put our cards on the table with the DM to be like, yeah, this is who we are. They’re a very different group. They have the potential to make good things happen, but it’s nobody’s goal.” Marisha: “So much is revealed in those moments of impulse.” Liam: “Also, just personally speaking, as someone whose character is not trying to be a hero but is trying to get things done, keeping the group happy and making the group work well together... Selfish motivations, and if good things can happen along the way, awesome. He’s such a hypocrite. He’s done worse things than Algar. But he wants Jester to be happy, and useful. And happy.”

Caleb doesn’t see himself as doing anything wrong in casting Suggestion on Nott (he saw it as doing something good for his friend, unlocking that for her). Liam points out again that this is more of his hypocrisy; he hasn’t connected his own experiences under influential magic with what he did to Nott. “He knows that he’s awful, but he doesn’t think that every single aspect of his life back then was awful.” He emphasizes how quickly things turned around for Caleb. “His life is ruined. He ruined it.”

Marisha on Beau’s impromptu disguise: “Tracy was such a fluke. I was being very transparent when I was talking to Fjord.” Beau knew that if she was just being herself, she’d mess everything up. She was drawing on the personalities of people she knew from school. “For her, it was, ‘Please don’t fuck this up by being yourself.’” It’s not about deception, it’s about wanting to not be a liability.

Gif of the Week: Marisha is... engaged.

Liam: “No decision to steal the ship was ever made. Things just vomited out, Jeff-Goldblum-chaos-theory style. The only reason Caleb got on that boat was because he saw his friends were in trouble, and then they were on the boat, and then a platoon of soldiers showed up, and then they were leaving on the boat.” Marisha: “When we were in the lobby during the break, we were like, ‘We’re going to grab Marius and bounce.’ That was the goal.”

They point out how frustrating it must’ve been for Travis to have gone from playing a character who delighted in chaos to being quite literally the only one who could steer the ship.

Everyone gets really giggly over the username “BeautifulBusinessBoy”. Brian: “Why do we keep doing this show?”

Beau definitely acted instinctively to catch the arrows, rather than letting them hit her to keep up the ruse. “It all went to shit when I caught that first arrow. Beau’s too obsessed with being the badass of her fantasies.”

Fanart of the Week: Caleb at ludicrous speed.

Before the fight broke out, Caleb was going to summon Frumpkin as a small owl of his own to scout out the ship. “But that moment is gone. Everything burned to the ground.”

Both Liam and Marisha were really worried that Caduceus was going to just leave the group. Taliesin definitely pointed out after the episode that it had been Caduceus’ no good very bad day and he was having doubts about sticking around with the Nein. Liam: “It’s a real big question mark what’s going to happen in the first twenty minutes of the game.” Marisha: “I think there’s going to be some discussions.”

Brian has some advice: don’t cast Fireball straight down when on a ship. That’s definitely not coming from personal experience in an encounter during his home game that definitely didn’t end with the ship sinking.

Brian points out that Beau’s adoption of Molly’s mantra of leaving things better than you find them has had a lot of butting-up of theory versus application. Marisha talks about how Beau never really got reconciliation for the conflicts she had with Molly, and it was the first time she ever had that kind of unfinished ending. Her immediate response was to try to be better like him, “but that doesn’t mean that’s easy, especially for someone like Beau.” 

Liam is intrigued, because Caleb’s opinion on Molly’s death was so different. “Caleb was not touched in the same way. It was an affirmation of what he knew was at risk. I don’t think Molly was the one he was closest to in the group. They had a good working rapport. He knew his personality and his life and a bit of his wants and hopes, and it’s a risk to get so close to people and then have them be killed alongside you. It’s a risk to care, because everybody’s a distraction for him. He needs them, he wants them around, all this conflicting information for him. To see Molly die is, ‘Yup. Yup.’” He’s getting a lot closer with Mighty Nein, but in his head, it’s just going to hurt more in the long run. “He sees it as a danger to himself and what he wants to care for people. I risk becoming a better person and trying to get on a different path from what I need to do, which is to stop the unforgivable. And fuck you all for taking my mind off of it. I really like you, but fuck you for taking my mind off it.” He’s got a lot of conflicting voices in his head right now.

Liam: “To the audience: we’re so sorry.” Brian: “Yeah, we really did good tonight.”

Talks Machina: Art Dad Chesty Times

Yes, that’s a direct quote from Brian.

Another out-of-context quote: Liam: “I’d high-five the statue of liberty.” Dani: “Solid.”

Marisha recommends the documentary Double Dare about women in stunts.

Things go a little off the rails, but this is After Dark, and where we’re going we don’t need rails. Break-up stories, strip clubs, tiger attacks. As you do.

Max did a lot of practicing for his Sam impression. Marisha was delighted that people thought they’d dubbed him.

Pirate names. Liam: “I am the Frump-king.” Marisha and Brian: “...okay.”

Majestic. 

Liam’s curious about how Jester and Fjord, being from the Menagerie Coast, are going to react to all this; for the Empire kids, this is a bit detached. Marisha: “I feel a little bad for Jester.” Liam points out that maybe her situation won’t be too different from how it was before, in terms of having to stay hidden.

Everyone ends with their best impression of Max’s I’m-so-done-with-this face.

[aventuramexicana]

Mexico City Steals My Heart

1/12/16- Thursday (Day 1 in Mexico City)

When I last left off, I was in a cab on my way to my AirBnB in Mexico City.

I’d done some research in advance, and consulted a friend who lives in the city, and decided that the ideal neighborhood for me would be Roma Norte. It is a young, artsy, hipster area, and when I read that it was the kind of place where you could expect to find organic produce and vegetarian restaurants, I was sold.   

I arrived at the AirBnB at approximately 11:15 a.m., was given a quick tour of the apartment from my host, Melissa, and went down for a nap by 11:45 a.m.. I swear that planes have shrunk in recent years. I used to be able to lower my tray table, put my pillow on it, and fall soundly asleep an in admittedly uncomfortable, awkwardly curved position. I can’t even do that anymore. So, after my long night of flying, I needed to sleep before I could expect my brain to perform at any reasonable capacity. 

I woke up around 2 p.m. and did some research to help me decide where I was headed first. As a Frida fangirl, La Casa Azul (El Museo de Frida Kahlo) was at the top of my list. My aunt Angie told me that I MUST go to El Museo de Antropologia, a recommendation that was bolstered by a couple of friends in San Jose. Lastly, my cab driver had recommended El Museo del Templo Mayor. I made my decision on where to go first based on walkability from where I was staying, and how late each was open, then set out toward El Museo de Antropologia.   

Google Maps said the walk would be 30 minutes long, which was a decent estimate. It took me about 40 minutes because I stopped into a convenience store for water and a breakfast bar, and because my sense of direction is horrendous so I really had to study the map.   

The museum was incredible. Honestly, it’s at the top of my list as one of my favorite things that I’ve seen in all of Mexico, and I’m not alone. It is #1 on TripAdvisor’s list of things to see in Mexico City. As a kid, my parents used to take my brother and I on trips to Tijuana, which was fun but started to get kinda sketchy when I was about 10 years old. We graduated to Ensenada, which became our standard vacation spot for several years. Then we visited Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta. Let me just say, La Bufadora has NOTHING on this museum. Of course, one is a “natural wonder” while the other is a museum, so maybe they shouldn’t be compared, but I don’t care. I’m doing it. The museum wins.   

I took so many photos that I wouldn’t even know how to begin to choose my favorite, and so I have attached an album because I feel like it helps to demonstrate the scope of all that I was able to see. I don’t think I can do a better job expressing how much this museum meant to me, than to include my TripAdvisor review: "As a 3rd generation Mexican-American, I feel at times that my ties to my culture are stretched and tired. This museum was an incredible and moving experience for me. The exhibits were beautiful, informative and narrative. After making my way through several rooms I was overcome with a sense of belonging to something much bigger than myself. You can't put a price tag on an experience like that, and this museum is totally affordable. Go see it for yourself.” 

Album: Museo de Antropologia

While on my walk home I was swept up by the beauty and activity of the city. I passed a group of young college-aged-ish people rollerblading together around the smooth tile in a plaza, businessmen dressed in suits, and families out to dinner. I loved it. I know that for some people, being in a setting like that can make them feel nervous, but it was comforting to me. I wasn’t the tall guera with a spotlight shining on me everywhere I went. There was nothing remarkable about me, I looked just like plenty of people and not at all like plenty of others. I felt safe, lost in the mix of it.

By the time I got back to the apartment, I’d been walking for 4 hours (approximately an hour to and from my destination, plus the time spent there), and I had blisters. Ooops. Perhaps it wasn’t the best time to be wearing my cheap knock-off Keds from Target. Oh well. I did a quick Yelp search and found a vegetarian restaurant, El Pan Comido, just a 6 minute walk away.

The restaurant was small and quaint with a full menu of fantastic vegetarian and vegan options. Yes, vegan! Even vegan! Anyway, I ordered a vegetarian burger with avocado, grilled peppers, grilled onion, and I don’t even know what else, because honestly it was such a relief not to have to carefully study the menu. I also had some unsweetened strawberry tea. My food was delicious. At this point, there is no denying that I’m a cookie addict. So when the waitress offered a cookie for dessert I jumped at it, never expecting that she would bring out a giant tray of some 15 different cookie options. I picked a sugar cookie with lime icing. It was AMAZING. I want to learn how to make it, but I’m also afraid to try. If I were to get anywhere close to that finished product, I could kiss my pant size goodbye. 

Back at the apartment I had a lovely conversation with my AirBnB host, Melissa, and her partner, Eugenio. Turns out that Eugenio is from Granada (where I spent my junior year of college), so we had a mutual appreciation for the differences between Spain’s Spanish and Mexico’s Spanish, as well as the cultural differences between the two communities. Melissa is a pilot for a Mexican airline, and we talked at length about working in that industry. She is from San Diego and is considering trying to get a job with a major airline in the States. So, as someone who was raised by a flight attendant for American Airlines, I shared my perspective about the perks and drawbacks of  that job with regard to work-life balance.

They were both super sweet, were intrigued by how I’d landed in Oaxaca, and asked me what I was doing there. Eugenio generously offered me some lentil soup that he’d just made, and I politely declined, on account of my very full, happy stomach. I told them what my goal was, in terms of improving my language abilities, and shared that I was surprised to find Mexico City was really hitting me right in my soft spot. Their eyes lit up and they both heavily promoted moving to the city. They shared that it feels like everyone in Mexico City is vegetarian or gluten-free, or on some sort of health-conscious diet, that there are language schools everywhere in the city, and agreed that it’s nice to be able to blend in with a crowd. It was a lovely conversation, and left me with a light, hopeful feeling. 1/13/17- Friday (Day 2 Mexico City)

I got up early, got dressed and headed out to 7Eleven, where I picked up oatmeal cookies, Pringles, and water. I followed my map, thinking I needed to catch a bus to the Zocalo, but after consulting with a police officer, I discovered I needed to take the metro/underground. Once I located the entrance, it was surprisingly easy to navigate, and armed with a couple more recommendations from Melissa and Eugenio, I was on my way. From there I dropped into la Catedral Metropolitana, which was huge and very impressive. I walked around, viewed a small mass that was taking place, and was surprised to find that they had these beautiful ornate confessionals just out in the open. I mean, I suppose in a Catholic country, nothing is surprising or shameful about needing to see the priest to have your sins forgiven?

Album: Catedral Metropolitana Next, I headed toward el Museo del Templo Mayor which was really remarkable. It is a museum dedicated to showcasing the ruins of el Templo Mayor, one of the main temples of the Aztecs in their capital city of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City). Part of what makes it so incredible, is that many of the architectural ruins were discovered just recently (within the past 25 years), lying essentially underneath the main square. They were hidden beneath the cathedral, as the Spanish destroyed the temple in 1521 to make way for it. As much as this makes me want to shake my fist in the air and curse the Spanish for robbing native peoples of their culture, I have to wonder if without that, so much would have been recovered, much less maintained. Like maybe it all just would have evolved with the times and been destroyed by people who would take for granted its historical significance. 

One of my favorite parts of the museum was the photos of the archaeologists. Excuse my Nahuatl (Aztec language), but how fucking incredible must that have been for them? Like, imagine what that must have felt like . “We’ve just been living our modern lives up here, never knowing that right under our feet was the remains of an ancient civilization”? I’m a nerd, obviously, but the thought of it makes me feel giddy. 

Album: Museo de Templo Mayor Next up on my list was El Palacio de Bellas Artes, which I set out for, in the hopes that I might see Diego Rivera’s work. But before I could make it there, I stumbled upon el Palacio de Correos de Mexico. Eugenio had recommended it, out of admiration for its history and Spanish Renaissance Revival architecture. It really was something to behold. Maybe if post offices in the States looked like this one, people would reconsider their Stamps.com memberships, or at least, dread visits to the post office less. Album: Palacio Postal 

Anyway, I finally found my way to el Palacio de Bellas Artes, and I wish I could say that it was everything I hoped it would be, but honestly it was a let-down. Had I been able to enter la Sala de Diego Rivera (the Diego Rivera Room), I’m sure I would have given it a 10/10, but for some reason, which was nobody bothered to explain to me, it was closed *grumpy face*. Diego was a notorious philanderer, and a self-important asshole (oops, there goes my Nahuatl again), but his art was irrefutably incredible. Plus, I was really hoping to see it to give me a little context before I went to pay homage to his much more badass wife. Album: Palacio de Bellas Artes 

Oh well, I left with plenty of time to make it to, and fully appreciate La Casa Azul. Or so I thought. Following instructions from Google Maps, I took the metro to another, more rural, neighborhood of the city. I then carefully guided myself to a bus stop, which I quickly noticed had a name that did not match the one on Google Maps. So I sat and waited for a while for the 200 bus, and finally asked a bus driver if I was at the right stop for that route. He told me no, but kindly directed me to a stop a couple of blocks away. This one’s name matched the one on my map, so I was feeling good. 

I waited there for a while. Waited, and waited, until I finally decided to ask another bus driver. This driver, on bus route #20, confirmed with me the route name, and then told me that his bus traveled that route. Well okay. 200, 20, same thing? I was vigilantly checking my map when a tall Mexican man who looked to be about college-aged, with braces, asked me where I was going. I told him, and showed him the map, and told him that I was concerned because none of the stops we were passing matched those on my list. He said that the route I was taking was headed toward the airport, so it might eventually get me where I was trying to go but it would be a long time. At this point, a middle aged woman switched seats to allow me to sit down, and said, “You should rest. It will be a while.” 

So there we were, stuck in traffic, headed toward the airport, and I was getting increasingly nervous that I would not be able to get to the museum at all because it closed at 5:30 and my map kept refreshing to show me growing farther and farther from my destination. The young guy kindly asked the bus driver for some clarification, and discussed my debacle with the middle aged woman who had given me her seat. Pretty soon, an older woman had joined in on the conversation, saying, “There’s no way she’s going to make it over there in time. Look at all this traffic.” So I did my best to mask my disappointment and said, “It’s okay. If I need to, I will get off, and catch a cab back to my hotel. I can go to the museum another time.” 

Just then a businessman verified which neighborhood I was headed toward, confidently said he knew how I could get there, and offered to guide me. The two women, and the younger man all seemed pleased with this outcome, so I trusted their faith in this man and followed him when he got off the bus a couple of stops later. We talked as we walked, and he said that I would need to take a train (above ground) to the metro, and then the metro to the neighborhood where I was headed. He used his metro card to swipe me onto the train, rode with me, and showed me where the metro station was (which honestly, I never would have found because it was in the middle of a street market). 

Once in the station, he asked a metro officer which direction I would need to go, then swiped me in again, stopped for a second to show me where I was headed on the metro map, and walked me to the platform. While on the way, he told me that there is a section of the platform, and therefore the metro itself, that is reserved for women and children. He walked me to the entrance to the section, and said goodbye. Honestly, I wish I knew his address so I could send him chocolates or something, but I don’t even remember his name.   

I caught the metro to Coyoacan, and then put my faith in Google Maps again, to guide me the 15 minutes walking to the museum. And I made it! I got there about 4:15 p.m., and stood in line until about 4:45 p.m. before I was finally let in. The museum is built inside the walls of Frida’s house, so there are sections of it that are set up like an art gallery and sections that are made to look like her house, the way it was when she (and Diego) lived there.   

I loved it. It was so beautiful. My favorite rooms were the ones that showed her house as it once was, and my favorite exhibits were of her clothes. She was a woman who believed in fashion as a statement of who she was and what her values were, and I love that. I also got a kick out of a wall that showcased portraits of her various lovers. For a woman with a disfigured leg (due to a bus accident) and a unibrow, she was sexy as hell, and she knew how to harness and direct that energy toward powerful and revolutionary women and men (ex. Josephine Baker & Leon Trotsky). I also loved her garden, and particularly appreciated a cat resident. Frida was a well-documented animal lover and I thought she would be happy to know that animals were still drawn to her home.   

By the time I made it to the gift shop, it was closed, but I wasn’t worried about it because the Mexican people never let a business opportunity slip by. There were, of course, unofficial vendors out front. So I picked up a new blouse, a Frida doll, and a canvas bag with her image on it. Then I caught a cab (much less stressful that way) back to the apartment. Album: Museo Frida Kahlo 

The cab driver was very social and funny. Turns out that he was from Oaxaca, in the mountains, rather than the city. He talked to me about Trump (this is a theme in my life now) and about political corruption. He also told me that I must go to the beach in Oaxaca, and recommended a couple for me to see. He asked me if I like the beach, and I said, “Of course, I am from California,” and he boasted, “Yes, but in California, the water is cold. In Oaxaca the water is warm.” I asked him if that meant there were a lot of tiburones (sharks) in the water, and he gave me a hearty laugh and said yes, but they tend to hunt in much smaller beaches where the tourists don’t hang out. As someone who was allowed to watch Jaws at an inappropriately young age, this was welcome but only moderately soothing feedback. I went back to El Pan Comido for dinner, and I have to admit, I was relieved to find a different server working there, one who would not immediately recognize me. My food was fantastic, again, and a street musician stopped in and played the Beatles while I ate. It was music I’d grown up on, and he performed it well, so I gave him a big tip. As I walked home I took in all of the fixed gear bike shops, craft brew bars, hipster barbershops, and street food vendors, and I thought about how comfortable this part of the city was to me. It felt like a perfect blend of different parts of my identity: definitively Mexican, but also modern, young, eclectic, and progressive.

*And would you look at that? I’m behind on blogging again. Order (or disorder rather) has been restored to my life.