#going the extra mile

[a-book-of-creatures]

Gustave Moreau’s 1876 atmospheric painting Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra shows the hero starkly against a backdrop of desolation and dead bodies, while the hydra emerges ominously, blood dripping from its multiple jaws, to face him.

Let’s take a closer look at that hydra!

Each head looks different! In fact, Moreau studied snake anatomy at the Paris Natural History Museum for this work, and based each head on a different species. According to his preliminary sketch…

… we can deduce that the heads are, clockwise from bottom left, a Neotropical rattlesnake, a puff adder, a European adder, an Egyptian cobra, a boomslang, a horned viper, and a Mexican anaconda.

And another study for the puff adder!

[dinosaurwithablog]

Mr. T always seems to play a very tough guy. I wouldn't want to mess with him. In real life, Mr. T helps kids every chance he gets. Here are some photos of him and the kids he helps in a hospital that he visited. He does that a lot. He does a lot for kids everywhere. He always makes time for them and makes them laugh. He tells them things to encourage them to do well. I love Mr. T!! ❤️

Look at all those smiles from those very sick kids. I love Mr. T for making those kids happy as they face adversity. He's a true hero and a great man.

I wonder if those kids keep those casts. I know that I would 😁😍 We can all learn a valuable lesson from Mr T 😁😍

[mindfulldsliving]

Healthy Boundaries: Building Stronger Relationships

Jesus calls for radical love, urging us to show compassion and empathy, even to those we find difficult. Forgiveness is crucial for healing, allowing us to move beyond past grievances and rebuild trust. Trust and integrity are communicated

Building thriving relationships requires understanding healthy boundaries and personal growth. Many struggle with this due to past wounds, including issues like addiction or family dysfunction. True change comes from a spiritual transformation through teachings like those found in the Sermon on the Mount, which offers guidance on creating loving, forgiving, and trustworthy relationships. Jesus…

[the-eye-care-advocate]

Going the Extra Mile: Enhancing Your Optometric Practice

As optometrists, our days are often filled with fully booked schedules, demanding patients, and the constant pressure to meet targets. It’s no surprise that we sometimes slip into autopilot mode, becoming somewhat like optometric robots. However, merely getting through the day and delivering average outcomes to our employers and patients shouldn’t be our goal. Instead, we should strive for…

[protagaster]

Ctimene: I’m cold.

Eurylochus: Here, take my coat.

Penelope: I’m cold too.

Odysseus: What? [taking off coat] I told you to bring more layers but of course you didn't listen and now- [piling scarves on her] now look, I've got to make sure you don't FREEZE to death and- [taking somebody else's hat] how long have you been cold? You should've said something sooner.

[egophiliac]

the Stitch crossover so far is just pure chaos and honestly, that tracks.

[martianbugsbunny]

My TNG poll is over (Data won and I should not be surprised lmao; proud of dealer's choice Will Riker for pulling a solid third) so let's do another one!

Dax and Odo don't get to be in it because that feels like cheating. they're actually trans.

[zarla-s]

hi omori fandom i'll show myself out

(from this!)

[patreon]

[pillsopa]

truthfully he was pretty cool

og below >:)

it was begging to be redrawn

[trubbishrubbish]

Cammy's Work Day.

[feydrautha]

There's just something about the earnestness and commitment to the inherent silliness of acting when it comes to Jeremy Strong...

[whole interview here]

[lizzybeeee]

DATV is overly reliant on Supplemental Media - especially if you are a returning player

TL;DR: Supplemental material should not be required reading in order to understand what's going on in the main game -> it's additional material that enhances what we were given. If what we were given is lacking and unable to coherently tell us a story, then the writers and those in charge did not prioritize what was important.

Not a take that's unique to Dragon Age, but one that is very relevant when talking about DATV. I've made a few posts about plot/story points that either make no sense or have been dropped entirely in the lead up from DAI to DATV. Every now and then I get a few comments or messages about how certain points I made were addressed in supplemental material released in the lead up to this games release.

This isn't a call out post, by the way! But it's frustrating, to me, that this games writing is so lacking that my understanding is being inhibited because I can't remember details from a book I read two years ago - not to mention various podcasts, comics, and short stories. My understanding of a video game in a video game series should not be reliant on additional/optional content.

DATV is a weird game in that it is absolutely a 'soft/scorched earth' reboot while also marketing itself as a continuation to what was set up in Inquisition and Trespasser. Personally, I think that if you are up to number 4 in a game series, one with a continuous story-line, it should be expected that new players won't be able to catch up to everything -> it's the game developers job to make the world and story intriguing enough that the new players will go back to previous games in the series and fill in the blanks themselves.

Veilguard, as a sequel, is overly reliant on content that comes from outside the games themselves (including DLC's) if you want to make sense of the world and story. Trespasser left us with an epilogue that set up some plot points for the next game: Solas & the Veil, the Elven Rebellion, and War with the Qun - plot points that have been built up since the time of Origins. But when we get into DATV two of these points have been dropped and resolved, off-screen.

There are more questions, but these are the ones that bothered me the most while playing the game:

What happened to the Agents of Fen'harel/ Elven Rebellion? -> answered in a cursed reddit AMA.

What happened to the Qunari following Trespasser -> addressed in Tevinter Nights, and a codex entry you can pick up (optional).

Why is Skyhold infested with demons? -> mentioned in Tevinter Nights.

How did the Dalish go from worshiping their own pantheon to knowing they are false gods? (specifically those we meet in the Veil Jumpers) -> mentioned in the Missing comic series.

What's up with Nevarra's Royals? -> Tevinter Nights addresses that there is a power struggle in the Pentaghast family and the role of the Mortalitasi in making it worse - though it does not address the whole 'mage puppeting a corpse' issue and all the implications it has.

This is a video game series -> the bulk of the information required for me to understand the story and its relation to previous entries needs to be included in the final game version. I am playing a video game and not attending a uni class - I should not need to have a required reading list in order to understand what the fuck is going on. I should definitely not need to go onto a reddit AMA to understand what happened in-game, either.

What makes this stand out the most is that DAI was very successful in tying in previous games, DLC's, movies, and books! Inquisition did a great job in getting you up to speed on the events of the previous games early on, providing personalization if you played those games, and giving the player the opportunity to inquire into these events.

Hiding away the answers in additional material or a codex entry that may be missed is not good game design or good writing. DAI didn't assume that you had bought and played the Legacy DLC -> it made certain you experienced the conversation with Varric and Hawke if you wanted to proceed in the game. It didn't hide away imperative information in codex entries - it had characters talk about it in scripted scenes and encourage the player to ask more. You would actively need to avoid interacting with characters for you to not experience this information in DAI.

Leliana talks about her role during the Blight, her calling by the Maker, and her relationship with Dorothea/Justinia -> DAO and Leliana's Song DLC.

Cullen talks about his time as a templar at Kinloch & Kirkwall -> DAO and DA2.

Cassandra speaks about her history, investigation into Hawke, and the Seekers -> Dawn of the Seeker movie, DA2, & Asunder novel.

Varric talks about Hawke, Kirkwall, and Corypheous -> DA2 and Legacy DLC.

Cole talks about how he discovered he was a 'demon' - it leads to further conversations about Rhys, Evangeline, and Lord-Seeker Lambert -> Asunder novel.

Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts -> the game literally continues what the Masked Empire novel sets up, the Orlesian Civil War. The game does a decent job of telling us about the players (Celene, Gaspard, Briala etc...) and the reasoning behind the conflict through dialogue, the ability to explore the battlefields, quests, ambient dialogue, etc... The book is not required reading - though it greatly adds to the complexity of the characters, motivations, and political intrigue!

I never once, playing DA2 or DAI, felt penalized or like my experience was lacking because I had not engaged with supplemental material or DLC's. I got into Dragon Age when I was in high school, it wasn't until I graduated and began working after that I had the disposable income available for experiencing the extra material. I cannot say that for DATV - If you have played Inquisition and go into DATV straight from that you will, absolutely, be confused about how we got from A to B.

Which is especially strange to me!? Why is it that new players will be less confused than those that are returning players? It's like the game is actively punishing you for playing and caring about previous games in the series.

Supplemental media is bought because the main product has earned your investment, love, or interest. Not everyone has the income available to buy it with their own money - especially if you live outside the US and have to pay additional shipping costs. Not everyone has the ability to buy or 'obtain' the digital versions either. My understanding of the main story of a video game in a video game series should not require additional monetary investment into other mediums.

The game itself should be enough and DATV is not enough.

[covehearted]

I am here to give you the gift of shirtless Cove, you're welcome

[slushy-sash]

hi pls perceive my ocs 🧍

(im open for commissions!)

[hotvintagepoll]

recently discovered some fascinating hobbies for a few of the older tv men ive been submitting for the vintage tv polls and that got me wondering what (if any) strange/niche/unique hobbies have you ever encountered among classic film actors?

I think my favorite is Danny Kaye, who was apparently the type of guy who would fall in love with something and fall hard—he wanted to learn how to fly a plane, so he did; he conducted orchestras with 0 ability to read sheet music; he became so riveted by the art of Asian cuisine he started studying under master chefs Johnny Kan and Cecilia Chiang in their San Francisco restaurants, eventually building a separate kitchen into his house to support his obsession, which lasted the rest of his life. I just think that's neat.

[dunkinbublin]

Tails is such a goblin, am adore himb

hes a mischievous lil thing thats what he is