#granted I am very much not primarily interested in the party

[heavencasteel420]

I think sometimes fans who are almost exclusively invested in the younger-teen characters are only interested in seeing the older characters (especially the older teens) in a support role to their faves. Which is a totally neutral preference, but then they confuse that preference with (a) what is good/interesting writing more generally and (b) what is healthy for or desired by the characters in-universe.

[utilitycaster]

I got stuck on the fic that I started writing to get unstuck from a different fic so anyway I wrote this.

------------------------------

Dear Yussa,

I’m sorry to have missed you upon your visit to my study! I had hoped you would message me, although I have found that messages do not always reach me on my journeys. With that said I am hoping you’re well, as I found the books had been moved about and more concerningly, the security I had put in place had been dispatched. I hope you’re well - it seems like this might have been an emergency, although that could have just been the guardian. I’ve found new security options, so if you choose to visit again please let me know - message me a second time if necessary, or plan in advance.

I do have some topics pertaining to the planar drifts I’ve been studying that I’d been hoping to discuss with you, to get a new perspective. When you receive this could you please contact me? I’d be happy to visit you in Nicodranas again - it’s been some time since I’ve been there, though I suppose I’m not in Exandria at all much these days!

Yours,

Planerider Ryn

---------------------

Planerider -

I am extremely sorry about whatever may have happened to your study. I was not actually present, but I can reliably inform you about those who were if you need any recompense.

Do you recall that meeting I gave a presentation to the Arcana Pansophical, perhaps five or six years ago, after which you and Arcanist Vyesoren and the Lady of Vord and I had some drinks? They both waxed poetic about the fulfilling nature of mentoring young adventurers; a task neither you nor I seemed to find quite as appealing.

I have been doing so, primarily against my better judgement. True, they have provided me with some fascinating objects, one of which they seem to have taken back, and they did rescue me from a demiplanar prison - but I digress.

From what I can gather from my butler, to whom I have granted a few week’s leave after the ordeal I am about to describe (so my apologies if this letter is delayed or my information is spotty), while I was doing a small amount of planar travel of my own in research pertaining to a mission the young adventurers were ostensibly on they arrived in my tower in desperate need of aid in transport, along with two halflings and, for inexplicable reasons, The Ruby of the Sea. In doing so they found your scroll, and well, I have heard little since. I will say their need seemed genuine as several of the more unpleasant sorts of Dwendalian wizards invaded my home in pursuit. I have been somewhat busy in my own pursuit of legal challenges to these actions, although I would be very interested in discussing planar discoveries. Perhaps in a few weeks? I hope to have resolved these political difficulties by then.

With all of that said Arcanist Vyesoren has seen them quite recently and may have further insight, or should at least be able to contact them if you need aid in Emon, as I did send them her way.

Should you find them, they have an item of mine on loan as well as the object I had hoped they would permit me to continue to research. If I see them, I will ask them about their time on the plane of fire and ensure any apologies and compensation is conveyed. I do still hope to visit your study myself, under better circumstances, and await your correspondence.

-Y

--------------------------------

Dear Yussa,

That explains quite a number of things! The damage to the study is minimal though to be honest I wouldn’t turn down a favor from some adventurers. I was very confused as there were one or two comments in my research book that I know I didn’t write and really did not seem like the sort of thing you’d add. I also didn’t realize you knew Infernal! When you next hear from this party please let me know, and yes, I’d love to meet in a few weeks.

Yours,

Ryn

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Sending, from Yussa Errenis to Jester Lavorre

"[heavy sigh] What, in the name of the gods, did you write in the books on the plane of fire?”

Response, from Jester Lavorre to Yussa Errenis

“Hiiiiiii! I just, you know, wrote some thoughts about the planes. It was really bad there, a fire monster killed Veth’s son, um, sorry about-”

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[redjennies]

I agree, I don't think Astrid set them up at all; she just thought Caleb would be able to handle the covert operation. Now I'm worried about what happens next for either consequences for her or a step back in the ties she was reforging with Caleb in order to protect herself.

I absolutely cannot sleep so I am going to answer this ask about Astrid because I have Thoughts about why Astrid not betraying the party is a more interesting storyline and it really comes down to two things: the first being that everyone expects Astrid to betray the party and the second being that the Nein really haven't ever had to deal with collateral damage.

to me, it's more of a twist if Astrid isn't trying to screw them over. of course, I don't think her helping Caleb is entirely altruistic. she has her own ambitions and ulterior motives, but I also think there's a real temptation there that might go beyond just using Caleb to her advantage against Trent. Astrid is an incredibly smart and ambitious woman who has spent her entire life caught in someone else's web and tried to make it her own because there's never been a viable exit. the narration has implied that Astrid is watched constantly. maybe she doesn't want to be a good person or whatever, but I did get the feeling after that dinner that she was much more affected by the Nein's presence than she was in that initial meeting with Caleb. it was a different light. Caleb wasn't just coming to her and telling her things she already knew and being pitiable; instead, he was a different way of being, contrary to everything Trent had taught her. and yeah, I'm putting a ton of stock in "the glimmer," but only because when you make a Nat 20 insight check and the DM tells you something like that, it's usually to communicate that this avenue isn't a total dead end.

so maybe she did actually want to tentatively try to foster trust between herself and Caleb again, maybe primarily in hopes that he will kill Trent and help her get what she wants, but also out of nostalgia and a tiny part of her that wants to believe maybe Caleb and the Nein are right and there are other ways to be. but even trying to get him to help her with her main goal requires trust, which they don't have. so when Caleb comes to her for help, she takes the opportunity to give him all the information he needs for a heist at her own risk. she warns him when Trent is more likely to be there and all the traps laid out, and as you pointed out, she has every reason to believe someone who's had the same spy training as she has and who infiltrated the damn Dynasty should be capable of at least attempting a covert mission without totally fucking it up.

and then Caleb totally fucks it up. granted, it wasn't 100% his fault, but the second things get a little complicated, he starts slamming armored guards against the ceiling and shooting lightning and fireballs all over the place and insisting to the lookouts that everything inside was going exactly to plan when it wasn't. and this is where the collateral damage comes in. it's easy to understand that Caleb was having a moment due to putting himself in a place so deeply associated with his trauma, that he wanted revenge. it's easy to understand that the guards weren't exactly guarding the rainbows and bunnies shrine of the Everlight. but Caleb wasn't really thinking about how this could lead to Trent being alerted and how that could lead to Trent not only walking in on him but Veth and Jester as well. Caleb wasn't really thinking about how if Astrid was genuinely trying to help and didn't sell him out, this could directly lead her getting arrested and executed for treason. (though I'm sure she has some contingency plans for this going awry; she is very clever after all.) still, it was careless and brash, and understandably so, but careless and brash nonetheless. I've said it already but Astrid didn't need to sell Caleb out. Caleb and the Nein did absolutely everything to get caught.

and it's easy to say well Caleb's the good guy and Astrid is literally evil so who really cares if this backfires on her? "she deserves it." but I think there's something more interesting in this than it was violent or who is evil and deserves what. Caleb is grappling with whether or not he can trust Astrid, but he very clearly illustrated in this episode that when things go sideways, Astrid maybe can't trust him. she warned him this would require a delicate approach and he took a sledgehammer to the situation. and to me, that doesn't really matter if Astrid is good or bad. you can't really control other people or truly know their intentions but you can control how you conduct yourself and if you want to be trusted, you have to be reliable and trustworthy. still, I think that concept will land better if Astrid wasn't trying to set them up and really was trying to help her ex-boyfriend steal some necklaces for his mission into the tundra, even if there were ulterior motives and wizard manipulations behind it. I think it's the better plotline if Caleb just massively fucked that relationship up because he was too busy with his own shit and not trusting her to realize it's a two-way street.

[bamf-jaskier]

A long ramble of thoughts about the history of chaos on the continent and why Fringilla’s use of forbidden magics is pretty neat

So one thing not too many people knowing about the Witcher is that magic is called Chaos for a very specific reason: it is the opposite of Order. In Sword of Destiny, Borch tells Geralt that Chaos is the aggressor and Order is endangered and needs protecting. Chaos is what mages/elves/witchers/sources/etc can channel in order to produce magic. 

It's important to note that magic DID NOT EXIST before the conjunction of the spheres so it's pretty strongly implied that before the conjunction Order and Chaos were one and the Conjunction split them apart, leaving Order vulnerable and Chaos in the hands of living beings to manipulate. When the conjunction happened, no race (humans, elves, werebubbs, etc) knew how to use magic but eventually most of them found a way to use chaos. 

What is interesting is that we are told that Witchers/Mages/Elves all see magic differently but we are never told how. It is mentioned briefly that mages "pervert" magic by the Elves but we don't know what perversion of magic looks like to the elves because it is subjective to their own worldview. However, looking at the earliest human tribes on the continent, the Dauk and the Wozgor we can get some idea of the difference between human magic and elf magic. Both groups were very influenced by ritualistic group magic as well as worship of the gods. Many of these gods such as Melitele are still worshipped. 

The Dauk were more into fertility and harvest, think early Beltane Midsummer stuff, while the Wozgor primarily worshipped Lilit with Blood Sacrifices. So we see humans are in a group-mentality when it comes to magic and summoning, they pull power from the earth and pool together their magic to create spells. At this time, elves and humans were not considered enemies so group-magic and more nature-esque magic is accepted by the elves. This is also supported by the dryads and elves seeming to prefer druids who still use magic group-magic today.

So now we start to get into when the philosophical schism on magic happened. Clearly, at some point, humans started working on less "group/nature magic" and on more individualistic magic. By the nature of chaos it is consuming so as more humans began working on individual magic, they became more power hungry. I had a theory that it was human's use of individualized magic that led them to leaving the nomadic tribe mentality and instead moving to more Nordling-Like culture where they live in one place and fight with other tribes, eventually building cities, colonizing, and in general taking the standard course of human history. So now humans have magic. And they have POWER. 

So you get mages who are fighting for their tribes, their groups and eventually kingdoms like Novigrad begin to form. Now the Brotherhood was formed in the 8th century by the Novigrad Union which was a group of druids, mages, and priests who signed a non-agression pact to stop the raids and warfare that were so common for centuries. However, the Union fell apart due to difference in views on magic while the Brotherhood stayed together. 

The Brotherhood is now sort of the ruling party on the continent, it's the only power really left after the Union. It's not its own Kingdom so it can technically be considered neutral. This puts a lot of responsibility on the Brotherhood and the Northern Rulers are overwhelmed by the number of monsters. Previously, humans were so focused on killing each other they couldn't really organize and do anything about the monsters but now that society is developing it's a real problem for trade and travel. so they create the first Witchers in Rissberg. However, once they find out that the Witcher don't have the same magic aptitude as mages, they are discarded as failed experiments.

This is where is gets interesting again for me. Because Witchers actually can cast magic as strong as mages, they elect to use signs but Witchers can pool their magic together in order to cast more powerful spells. So what was the difference between mages and witcher that had the mages deem Witchers as failures? I am theorizing that Witchers channel chaos whereas mages manipulate it. 

The way I describe it in my fic is that Witchers act as a conduit for chaos, think of it like sucking up magic into a straw, the Witcher is the straw, they bring chaos in it's purest form into the world. Then, once the magic is in our realm, they shape it into the spell or form they desire. It's similar to how elves and ancient humans used magic. This is why the elves don't call a Witcher's magic a perversion but a mage's magic is. 

I'm theorizing that Mages on the the other hand bring magic in through almost a mold. When a mage summons chaos, that chaos can only be used for the very specific purpose that they want in that moment. It ties into their philosophy on willpower. What you desire is the magic you have. So a Witcher could begin to cast an Aard and then halfway through change the sign into an Igni and it would work fine. However, a mage can't begin to cast a portal and then change it into a lightning bolt. But this is also the reason mages are so powerful, their magic is specific. It is decided and the willpower behind it makes it a stronger spell.

NOW FINALLY we can begin talking about forbidden magics. So I'm not going to get into the First and Second Ages of the Witchers but just know that Witchers are now off on the continent doing their own thing and monster hunting, creating their own culture, etc. The Brotherhood does NOT care for this. They can see control slipping from their fingers so they and they are worried other mages are going to experiment the same way they experimented to create Witchers but this time they will make something even more powerful. Something that could topple their power. 

The Brotherhood begins to ban magic that could be used to manipulate the natural order. The main three banned magics of the Brotherhood are Goetia (demonology), Necromancy and Ancient Magics. Now demonology was actually practiced by the Wozgor and many think that Lilit was actually a demon they summoned. Necromancy and Ancient Magics both have the potential for abuse but not more so than any other form of magic. However these are all powerful magics. But it's not just BANNING magic that creates censure with the brotherhood. It's the stringent guidelines of how to perform magic even though we KNOW there are multiple ways to channel chaos. The Brotherhood also creates a system with the court that also creates censure because courtly expectations now place an emphasis on respectability and governance and how you should hold yourself, etc. Being a mage becomes a lot more restrictive and a lot less experimental.

So we have to ask ourselves, what does Fringilla do that causes her to be considered abhorrent, In Tissaia's words: "I will defend our way of life, The Brotherhood, The Academies, the order that we have built up over centuries, you've rejected it all Fringilla" 

So here's what we KNOW Fringilla has done: Forced Mages in Servitude until they decide to serve the White Flame (of course Fringilla says it isn't servitude but Triss disagrees), Practice Necromancy, Demonology, and Fire Magics She specifically says the phrase "most of us came from Aretuza and Ban Ard" so here's what we have to consider, how did Fringilla get them there, she can't have kidnapped everyone and as well if u know some spoilers from the book then there are plenty of mages that voluntary work for Nilfgaard. 

Fringilla works with ANYONE who has chaos, not just people deemed worthy by the Brotherhood. In addition, she works will all magic, no limitations. In many ways, Nilfgaardian magic is returning to ancient magic. If you watch the battle at Sodden, the mages perform a lot of life-force spells. I have a theory that those types of spells are MEANT to be performed in groups and since they aren't, the mage withers and dies. 

Also, listen, in another world Nilfgaard could be the hero. If they didn't show Nilfgaard being generally evil like killing everyone and sacrificing mages and stuff they actually have good reasoning? Cintra is objectively terrible. They literally almost killed off an entire race? The Genocide of the Elves is very much brushed over and honestly Cintra should have been overthrown ages ago. Also Nilfgaard has policies of cooperativity and community and honestly if they didn't so morally bereft acts their society has a lot of potential. 

Fringilla is returning magic to how to was pre-brotherhood where it's groups of loosely defined mages doing what they want. She is also trying to break of the individualistic mindset of most mages which I think is interesting because it goes against the very soul of how mages perform magic. It's like Tissaia said, Fringilla is rejecting centuries of tradition. In any other world, Fringilla would be the Katniss to the Brotherhood's Capital. If Nilfgaard wasn't cast as so brutal they would literally be considered a revolutionary force trying to oust a genocidal dictatorial system (Cintra). Granted, many people have compared Nilfgaard to either being a Roman Empire or Soviet Russia analog, both brutal totalitarian or imperial regimes which probably is part of the reason Nilfgaard is so brutal. I am suggesting that in another universe, Nilfgaard could be instead of an imperial-religious-type regime a more revolutionary force. 

Perhaps an AU where Nilfgaard teams up with Cintran Rebels and arrives at the city to help Cintran Freedom Fighters tear it down and then allows Cintra to rebuild on their own terms. Basically, I’m talking about the overthrow of the monarchy system present in most of the continent. 

I would really like to see an AU where Fringilla is a revolutionary figurehead trying to work to establish a democratic system in a monarchal society while going against centuries of magical tradition. I think with the addition of magic and complexity of politics not the continent there’s just so much to think about here. 

[evajellion]

Why Suketoudara is (one of) the most well-developed characters in Puyo Puyo

You ever just look back at how far the Puyo Puyo and Madou Monogatari franchise has come, and think about how much the characters have changed over the years? 

Some have become main stay recurring cast members, while sadly some others have been completely left in the dust or remain in Quest or other spin-off titles. Others become more amazing in hindsight, such as Schezo and Rulue (even if most can argue SEGA dropped the ball on their character in recent times), starting off as slightly minor characters, getting their own arcs.

Witch is also pretty incredible to think about, what once was a mere mook enemy became one of the most popular characters, obtained her own spin-off title, and co-starred in a Madou game with Schezo.

Then you have the most interesting case imo, which is Suketoudara. What makes him so incredible? When you look at his actual personality and character, and how it’s changed across games… for the better!

Since I said I would talk about this after seeing @superbuffalo007​‘s post, I decided it’s time the unspoken truth is finally said-- which is Suketoudara’s character across the games.

So originally, Suketoudara started off no differently than Witch and Draco. The only huge key difference was his character design, in which rather than being a cute humanoid girl… Suketoudara was a funny fish with human arms and legs that liked to dance. His design was goofy albeit uncanny (especially in the PC98 Madou), which probably got some designers at Compile to chuckle, nothing more.

He was a blank slate enemy, nothing more, nothing less. And once we got the first two Puyo Puyo games, which had “Manzai” based dialogue for comedic purposes. We learn that this funky fish prides himself and his beautiful legs. I mean, to be completely fair… he does. Usually in these games (and Puyo Sun), Arle was the straight man while Suketoduara was the goof.

Out of nowhere, the guy skyrocketed in popularity. He, Nasu, and Carbuncle were easily marketable characters due to their distinct, funny appearance which I assume made them very popular with younger fans. In commercials, you would probably often see this character be frequently used-- that’s how iconic his design was. His personality though, was about as shallow as everyone else’s.

This changed of course, in 1996 and onward, where Compile decided “hey, maybe we should do more with this character besides just having him dance”.

In 1996, Madou Monogatari Hanamaru Daiyouchi Enji (Big Kindergarten Kids) would be released for the Super Famicom. Rather than the usual dungeon-crawler, this game took inspiration from the likes of A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy, and Earthbound in terms of its overworld design. More importantly though, it took what was once mere mooks, the most popular characters, and made some of them into full-on major bosses you had to fight.

Amongst those characters are Nasu Grave, Skeleton-T, Mini-Zombie, and Suketoudara (called Jr. in this game).

You know who wasn’t? Uh… Witch and Draco, if you can believe that. Yeah, that’s right. Suketoudara was a major, if not the main antagonist for a good chunk of this game, while Witch and Draco remained mere mooks. That’s pretty incredible if you ask me!

He’s the typical schoolyard bully/delinquent, going around causing problems for several towns and even stooping as far as to steal eggs from dragons. Suketoudara constantly meddles in Arle’s quest, and it only comes to an end one day after sending Arle a letter, in which he challenges her directly at her school. Turns out he just happens to have the last Secret Stone.

And at the end of the game, after Arle defeats Devil, the true main antagonist? Suketoudara has a complete change of heart, asking for Arle’s forgiveness, realizing he focused too much on his training, even saying he wants to be Arle’s henchman instead.

He even calls her “sis”, in a relatively friendly way, after everything he had done.

Whether or not you consider this game canon, it added a lot to Suketoudara (if this is the same as the one in the Puyo Puyo titles, and not Jr. as in a child of his). Suketoudara was a foul-mouthed bully in his youth, a complete contrast to the innocent, playful Arle. But he changed for the better after Arle told him to reflect on himself. That is way more characterization than Draco has ever received.

Suketoudara got fleshed out further in a couple of DiscStation games, both a year before Hanamaru and two years after, we would get some really interesting development, which would of course come from his interactions with another character.

DiscStation Volume 9 is (presumably) when we would first see Suketoudara interacting with Serilly in the game “Madou Sugoroku”, a Mario Party-esque game that seems to have no real story, pairs of characters are just competing while Harpy serves as the game hostess. This would be one of the earliest instances of Suketoudara being shown to have a crush on Serilly.

DiscStation Volume 18 would give us Serilly’s Happy Birthday, a game where Serilly uses a magical stone to go up to the surface in the hopes that she’ll make a friend that will celebrate her birthday with her, rather than leaving Serilly to celebrate it alone.

While I am sadly uncertain about the full details of this visual novel, it seems that in Suketoudara’s route, he collapses due to a drug Witch had made, so Serilly nurses him back to health by making an antidote. This leads to Suketoudara, a normally brash and selfish character, to become warmer and open up to Serilly. Again though, this is a loose translation of what transpires.

Lastly for DiscStation, we have Madou RUN! 

A game featuring Arle, Schezo, Witch… and not Satan, not Rulue, not Draco, but Suketoudara! In this game, our four protagonists compete in a game of tag set up by Momomo, for an object known as the Dragon Ball, which can grant any wish.

Oddly enough, rather than it being about his dancing, the only wish on Suketoudara’s mind is that he wants to be closer to Serilly. Mind you that the other three characters are more interested in the power of the Dragon Ball to become stronger, while Suketoudara just wants to improve his relationship with a friend he has feelings for.

His attitude in this game is notably far less aggressive when compared to how overly competitive Witch and Schezo are, a far cry from how Suketoudara used to be in the earliest Puyo Puyo games.

In Puyo Puyo~n, we have yet another cheerful Suketoudara, as opposed to the grouchy, territorial one we saw in past mainline Puyo titles. Much like the previously mentioned DiscStation games, Suketoudara is primarily just interested in Serilly’s presence, stuttering in a shy manner around her, and feeling crestfallen when Serilly says that he’s only a friend.

He only starts to lash out against Arle once he thinks that Serilly only called him a friend because another person was embarrassing her. To be fair, pretty rude of Arle to make comments or butt in. Overall? It seems that Serilly has had a positive influence on Suketoudara, but he still had some of his temper.

In Puyo Puyo Box, nothing interesting happens, but Suketoudara definitely mellowed out in the Quest Mode. Similarly in Minna de Puyo Puyo, Suketoudara only wants Arle to watch him dance, which she ignores in a rude manner.

After a couple years of going missing, Suketoudara returns in Puyo Puyo! 15th, and is arguably, the most friendly of the returning Compile characters next to Zoh Daimaoh.

Unlike Satan, Rulue, and Schezo, who are rude and dismissive of the Fever characters, Suketoudara seems happy to meet new faces and actively encourages them through dialogue usually related to dance. No mention of Serilly is made, but that just proves that unlike Rulue, he can go without thinking or talking about his love interest for every two scenes.

And also unlike 90% of 15th’s roster, he doesn’t get screwed over by the fake wishing medal. He makes a simple, short wish where he says he wants to be first to do solo dances.

Puyo Puyo 7, in my opinion, is the peak, friendliest Suketoudara has been in any game. Ringo runs into him, and rather than being actively antagonistic, he explains that he was with Arle (possessed by Ecolo) and got lost, so he asks for her help. In exchange, Suketoudara assists for a short period of time. He tries to persuade Rulue out of attacking him, manages to hold a decent conversation with Satan and Carbuncle, even showing concern about Arle’s strange behavior! 

He, along with Satan, are the only Madou characters in 7 that were genuinely worried about Arle. Schezo, Skeleton-T, Draco, and Rulue did not care in the slightest. He has grown from not wanting Arle around at all to being a friend that does care about her!

Puyo Puyo 20th… sadly took a step back, with Suketoudara obsessively searching for his shoes. A lot of the characters were jerks in this game though, so it’s not a problem exclusive to him. If anything, I’d argue he’s the tamest example and just being plain comedic.

Thankfully, in Puyo Puyo Tetris and Puyo Puyo Chronicle, Suketoudara was back to being his cheery self, unlike in 20th. He just wants to show off his dance moves, has friendly enough conversations with Arle, Ringo, and Ally-- playing Puyo just for fun rather than an offense reason…

Ess on the other hand… yeah, she’s straight-up rude to him, and he rightfully defends himself. I should note that through all of these games, Serilly went completely unmentioned, which might mean that Suketoudara actually got over his infatuation for Serilly. Even with her grand return in Puyo Puyo Chronicle, the two never have a conversation.

That being said, I definitely do think that Serilly’s kind personality, and if taken as canon, Suketoudara’s rivalry with Arle in Hanamaru, definitely molded him into being one of the most grown characters in the entire series. He went from being the typical jerk with only thing on his mind, to being an upbeat, helpful character that is willing to put dancing aside when there are greater matters at hand. Puyo Puyo 7, Tetris, and Chronicle are the arguable proof of this.

That’s why I like this character so much. That’s why I feel the fan-base kinda takes him for granted-- they don’t know about his evolution throughout the games. He went from a funny jerk, to a guy with a crush, to someone with a confident and friendly personality.

Because of that… I am honestly completely fine with Suketoudara staying for future mainline games. Even if he doesn’t add much, at least he isn’t as actively unpleasant as he was in Compile’s early run.

[takaraphoenix]

This may or may not be a touchy question (I guess it depends?), but how do you deal with hate with people who don't particularly like your work or the pairings you like? Because I've seen a fair amount of people stop creating content they want to make because of the backlash or hate they get simply for shipping something, so I do wonder... How do you do it? After all these years, how are you still standing, head held up high? – Much love! <3

I suppose a huge part in that is... personality? I mean, what type of person one is. Some people are very sensitive and negativity gets to them heavily.

Which, is ironic, because I am normally that type of person. I always overthink what other people may think of me and in real life I am easily deterred.

But something about the internet changes the dynamic for me.

If it’s in person? If someone looks me in the eye and criticizes the things I like? That has me fuming. But ain’t nothing more unpersonal than getting an anon and having this round fella with the sunglasses stare at you, or having a “guest” on AO3 comment something nasty.

Because they’re cowards. And the cowardice of the other party tells me that, so a certain degree, they themselves know they’re full of shit. Because if they were confident in what they’re saying, if they knew they were right with whatever they’re claiming, there’s no need to go anon. They could tell me “to my face” - as much as the internet allows that; by being logged in and starting a dialogue.

But someone who hides behind the grey round fella with the sunglasses to tell me I’m morally wrong? Makes me  genuinely laugh. Because if I were, you had no reason to hide.

(At this point, I’d like to add, since you’re on anon too, that there’s different reasons for going on anon. Sometimes, it’s shyness. But if you think yourself morally superior to someone and want to ring the bell of shame behind them, you can’t hide behind anonymity. That’s different.)

I just really can’t take people seriously who hide in the shadows of anonymity to scream at me about how wrong I am. You’d do that with confidence if you knew you were right. But they’re wrong and full of shit. Because they are.

There is no “right” or “wrong” about taste. A ship ain’t only valid for being morally upstanding, pure, canon, whatever. And a person ain’t inherently vile for shipping something that’s unleathy, or toxic, or whatever buzzword they throw around.

Which is another part. I just... absolutely can not take anyone seriously who throws buzzwords around wildly and with no foundation, because they lack any common sense.

Yeah, they’re brothers and it’s incest, what do I care, they’re also fictional characters, I ain’t telling two real life brothers to bang and get married, what’s wrong with the people who can’t tell fiction apart from reality. That’s just pitiful.

I’ve also seen the other side of that. I’ve seen antis ship the exact thing that they’re judging, insulting and harrassing other shippers for. From incest to abuse apologism to just plain toxic canon dynamics. All the things they find a justification to harrass others about, but they ship things of that kind themselves. But their ships are ““different”“ from the ones they hate.

It all boils down to taste and it boils down to a bunch of morons who can’t grasp the concept of “taste” and the fact that... you can like something without it being pure and you can dislike something without it being every shade of morally corrupt.

They bend over backward to find justifications for why the ships they dislike are inherently bad, while they also bend over backward to justify why the exact same things they judge other ships for are actually wholesome and pure in the ships they like.

And at that point, I just genuinely feel bad for those people and am terrified for them. Because I am fully aware of what I ship. I know every deprived nook and cranny of my ships. I know the exact level of toxicity of the canon dynamics. I’m just also aware that they’re fictional characters. But the moment you start reaching to justify why abuse isn’t technically abuse, that’s when it becomes worrisome. And that’s what they do, to justify their own ships.

Now, I’m not gonna lie, this isn’t an attitude I always had and it’s not something I just woke up with one day.

I’ve been in fandom for 15 years now. I’ve seen a lot and I’ve dealt with a lot. I’ve seen when shipwars were primarily reserved to the canon straight love triangles. I’ve seen it devolve into “your ship isn’t valid the gays are getting in the way of the CANON STRAIGHTS”. I’ve seen the number of canon gays grow in media and how it affected these ship wars, invalidating ships where a canon gay ship was split up. And now this shit-show of antis.

My attitude grew out of seeing and experiencing a lot. I was lucky to be “raised” in a safe fandom environment, where the fandom olds took us youngsters under their wings and guided us, taught us how to improve our writing, helped us establish connections in a community.

And that last part, that’s important. Important in dealing with hate. Maybe the most important part, really. You have to find your community. Don’t let yourself be sucked into a circle of hate. Find the people who love the same things as you - the same show, the same characters, the same ships. Form friendships, find that community of positivity.

Fandom is what you make it. Even when other people try to make it something else, try to turn it into a hateful, gross place filled with harrassment and fear and moral policing. Regardless of how hard they try; your fandom is up to you.

Find the people who bring the positivity, who will come into your fics and leave reviews of love and positivity. And weed out the bad. Block them. Block the antis in your fandom, avoid them. Sometimes, preemtively going into an anti tag and just going on a block-spree can be really helpful already. You can block anons on tumblr too! Granted, only their ID, but at one point they’re gonna run out of devices to post anon hate from.

That much to my personal attitude toward it. Now to the act of actually dealing with it.

Many adivse, rightfully so, to ignore it. AO3 allows you to delete comments. On tumlr, you can just delete an anon and not answer it. Especially when you’re the type who is affected by it, not engaging is the best solution.

Personally, I like arguing with people. Everyone who ever talked to me might have noticed that. I live for a good argument. And I’m really bad at letting something just stand. So I usually argue back. I do that, because I am very bad at keeping my mouth shut, but also because it brings me a certain amount of glee to mock their nonsense.

I do it here. I have my “Dear Anonymous Shithead” tag where I address anon bullshit and anon hate from FFNet and AO3 - because FFNet doesn’t let you answer to anons. And then I delete the original comments on my fics, because I don’t like shitstains on my fics.

I call that approach meeting them on your own terms. Because they think they are doing something grand somehow by publicly leaving their vile comments on your fics. Delete them, take their voice away. Put it somewhere else to argue their nonsense on your own terms, mock them if you want, it’s fun. Fight your battle, the way you want to fight it - and that does include just deleting them and not engaging at all; that’s not running away, that’s self-care.

Like I said, my attitude’s not always been like that. It got me before too. Way, way back - and I really do mean way back, it’s been surely over five years ago - there was a tumblr account on here that spent an unreasonable amount of time openly hating on me. It’s the reason I avoided getting a tumblr, because back then I was not in a mental state to openly engage with such a hateful place.

And it’s still a hateful place; all those anti communities here. People proudly proclaiming they’re antis in their biography. People taking screenshots of other tumblrs or artists to mock them and make fun of them. The thing that changed isn’t tumblr, it’s me. I waited to engage with this place until I was ready to engage with it. I got my tumblr account when I already had the attitude of scoffing at anon hate.

I do think that only getting actively involved in a website when you are ready for it is another important part. The thing you mention in your ask, the people who stopped creating because of anon hate. It breaks my heart, it absolutely does, and I hate losing creators to it, but I do think that if those creators made that judgment call for themselves and their own mental health because they knew they couldn’t handle the harrassment, then they did the right thing. Even if they themselves may hate it, because they want to create. But sometimes, taking a step back is the right thing to do. I do hope that they will find it in themselves to overcome this and come back stronger, but constant harrassment and bullying can have severe consequences on a person and removing yourself from that kind of environment can sometimes be a last resort that needs to be taken.

I’ll also admit that I’ve been calculating what fandom to interact with to what degree ever since I got a tumblr account and started to see just how deep the hatred goes. Some things I might have created for, but I saw just how nasty the antis in the fandom were and... it wasn’t worth the fight for me.

Percy Jackson and Shadowhunters are my loves. My ride-or-die fandoms. I can, and will, fight for them. No one will chase me out of these fandoms, regardless of what kinds of insults and bullshit they throw at me. I’ve been here years longer than most of these newbie antis and I will be here long after they moved on to other things.

New things that I don’t have attachment to, I will weight if my level of interest in the thing will be worth engaging with the fandom nonsense with. Sometimes, it’s not, sometimes I make the judgment call for myself to step a way from a thing.

I admit, that happend with Teen Wolf too. Back when I did my last rewatch and enthusiastically engaged with it on here on tumblr, live posting about my rewatch and it... showed me startling, ugly sides of this fandom that I hadn’t known before, back when all my engagement had been to read fics and to write that one fic I had. That rewatch could have dragged me back into the deep end - but the brand of hate I encountered here... genuinely got to me. It really messed with my head, a lot, I’ve never been threatened before, I’ve never been insulted and constantly harrassed to such a degree. It was the first time I ever turned off anon on here, it put me into a sense of dread for just coming online for a while. I didn’t expect that, neither that it’d happen nor the extend of it or that it’d get to me like this. I still love Sterek to bits and pieces, it’ll be one of those ships I will always be attached to, but that experience with the bad side of the fandom made me recoil from getting involved with Teen Wolf again.

But in the Percy Jackson fandom? I’ve stood here for ten years now. I’ve gotten shit thrown at me about pretty much anything. I’ve also created over five hundred works for this fandom. I have received love and excitement in comments. I have received fanarts. I have received fanfiction to my fics. I’ve gotten fics dedicated to me by people who liked my work and wanted to write something nice for me. I’ve met one of my best friends and I’ve met my girlfriend in this fandom. Sure, I’ve been called names and been mocked, but I also know what I have.

I know I’m a damn good writer. I may not have much self-esteem, but what little self-esteem I have is located here, in the very thing they think they can attack. The thing is, I have no insecurities in this. This is the one area where you can’t attack me. And on top of that, I have that community of amazing people who love the same things as I do. I have the support, the friends, the shared hype. What do I care about some pitiful little fool hiding behind anonymity to whine about how wrong and gross I am? Their opinion weights nothing compared to that of the people who leave me anon love, who leave me squealy and excited comments.

To sum it all up:

Someone who has to hide behind anonymity is aware they don’t have the moral high ground.

Their definition of the “moral high ground” is so pitiful that it makes me feel bad for them.

I know the difference between fiction and reality and I pity the fools who don’t.

Find a positive fandom space for yourself and claim it.

Either delete anon hate, or meet it on your own terms.

Sometimes, I don’t. Sometimes, I lose and the hate does get to me.

You need to make the judgment call for yourself, if you can mentally handle a situation or not, and do what is best for you.

[stone-man-warrior]

May 14, 2020: 7:25 pm:

May 14, 2020: 6:04 pm:

I just returned from a shopping experience in Dystopia, Grants Pass Oregon, where all of the seventy-five-thousand US Citizens who once lived in Josephine County Oregon, were all killed, and replaced with a terror army of impostor citizens who assumed the names of the murdered US Citizens they killed. The impostor citizen terror army is lead by the Screen Actor Guild, and SAG gets their marching orders from Great Britain, for the purpose of taking over USA by force, with a kill & replace strategy of all of the US Citizens in USA. The impostor Canadian terror army also assumes the VOTING status of the US Citizens that they kill, and the Canadian army VOTES for Screen Actor Guild terror leadership shill candidates that are put on the voting ballot by SAG leadership. Nancy Sinatra is the Screen Actor Guild president, and it is her and her associates that make casting arrangements for the shills on the ballots, the same way movies are cast with characters. The #SAGcoup, as I have come to refer to the take-over began in around nineteen-seventy-one, and was planned long before that. Read this account to learn more, there are more than five years of eye-witness terror reports here, no one has asked me one single question about any of it, despite the fact that I report here regularly that I have killed many terror soldiers in defense of my own life and home. My family has all been killed by the terror army, I was unable to protect them. The terror army supplies impostor actors who call me on the phone from time to time, and pretend to be my family members, and that is a typical tactic used by the Canadian terror army, after they have made surveillance recordings of the marked family being exterminated. The impostors on the phone are able to gain a wide variety of information, and they do a lot of mind games to the victims they call, including calls from a hospital from a family member (impostor) who explained there has been a horrible accident, to get the remaining family members to go to the hospital to see the loved one who called. The fakery results in the murder of entire families at the hospital. All of the hospitals in Oregon have been hijacked and are in control of the Canadian terror army, under leadership of the Screen Actor Guild, and SAG works in league with Great Britain, to eliminate the USA, take over Mexico as well, and replace the region currently occupied by Canada, USA, and Mexico, with a new Communist Kingdom called French North American Republic Territory, where Mitt Romney is scheduled to be the first King of the new nation, and Justin Trudeau is scheduled to become the first Prime Minister. Although Romney is to be King, it's the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau that will be the leading power, and operate the new nation, FNART, under guidance of the British Throne, and British Parliament, primarily, House of Lords of the United Kingdom is to be the controlling party.

I am the last remaining US Citizen in Josephine County Oregon. I may be the last remaining US Citizen in the entire state of Oregon that has not been killed or captured by the terror army.

No help has come. There are no signs of helpful people anywhere.

I went to:

6th Street Market

Walmart

At 6th Street Market, there were no terror assassins there to greet me, as they usually are. One terror operative, other than the terror soldier clerk, cams into the store as I was paying for my items, a woman about fifty-five years old, she saw me in the store as she entered, and then began to cry our loud. I assume that the woman is a relative of one of the terror soldiers that was killed this past week at my home, saw me, and then realized that if I am alive, and her terror associates did not return after one of the attacks this week, then she knew her terror family must be dead, or injured someplace, unaccounted for. That's the way it appeared to me. The women did make any purchase at the store, she came into the store, saw me, went to the back of the store crying, then left the store just a moment after I left the store.

At Walmart, many people followed me around the store, and in fact, I was followed to the store from the moment I left my driveway by the people that were doing the fake tractor and tree work at the Lorena Chapman terror cell. A dark blue Dodge Dakota Crew Cab truck with “4x4” graphics on the rear sides of the truck bed.

The parking lot at Walmart was no more or less filled with cars than it usually is, however, inside the store, there were about three times the usual amount of people inside the store. Most of the people in the Walmart were wearing some kind of face mask, and many of them went out of their way to make the face masks appear more creepy then they need to be. I refuse to participate in the fake “Corona Virus” bullshit, there is no virus, it's a terror attack on USA, and is being lead by the Screen Actor Guild by Donald Trump from the White House, and also is lead by the SAG shills that already took over all of the fifty state Governors Offices, and others.

In the Walmart, I always walk around explaining what I know about terrorism at the Walmart, as if I am talking to federal agents who might be able to hear the implant that was put into my jaw in 2011. I am optimistic that one day, some US Defense Personnel will one day read what is explained here, and come to see what is going on in Josephine county. If such agents were to trust the people at the Walmart, and try to work with them to stop terror, the people at the Walmart WILL KILL THE AGENTS!

It's imperative that such US Defense, or National Security personnel stay alert, and know that the Walmart and all of the other stores in Josephine County Oregon have been taken over, and are in control of the terror army, and that army is composed of trained actors, who's primary job is to fool public safety personnel. THEY ARE VERY GOOD AT DECEPTION AT THE WALMART.

One of the most important things that happened today, happened at the mailboxes on Jackpine upon my return from the shopping experience today. I encountered what appeared to be Richard Chartrand of 376 Jackpine, who is a Oregon State Police Impostor, and in reality is a Canadian Mounted Police, disguised as a Oregon State Police, and is EXTREMLY DANGEROUS MAN. Richard Chartrand is the single most deceptive human being I have ever encountered.

I saw him, or someone who looks like him, driving a black Honda Accord at the mailboxes as I returned. He was in front of me, I was in my car, it looked like Chartrand opened my mailbox, but it so quickly, and there are so many mailboxes there, I cannot be sure that he did. If I was absolutely certain that I saw anyone open my mailbox, I would kill them on the spot, and without hesitation.

The important part of the mailbox today, is that the US Treasury sent me a notice in the US Postal Mail, it was sent on April 29, 2020, and I just received it today. The notice says that my “Economic Impact Stimulus Payment Has Arrived”. That's an important document, and it took fourteen days to reach my mailbox. I say the Richard Chartrand had the letter, and put it back where it goes, in my mailbox, after stealing it earlier in the week. That would partially explain why one of  the group of  terror intruders that came into my home this past week, were demanding that “Chase Bank is going to need that stimulus payment returned to them (the bank)”. I killed, or badly injured those intruders that day, and was not interested in anything they had to say to me, I was only interested in defending against terror intruders, and that is what I did, but I do recall that statement about stimulus being returned to Chase Bank.

It's also important to consider that I never signed up, or applied to receive any stimulus that I may be entitled to, I felt it was too dangerous for me to apply, or even to use the internet to find out how, or where to apply. I assume that the stimulus was simply sent to certain individuals of a particular US Treasury relationship as I already have, as do many other US Citizens. However, it's also possible that an impostor applied for the stimulus payment using my name and other personal information. I don't know, but I do know that JP Morgan Chase Bank in Josephine County is under control of the terror army that took the bank branches over, and are operating the bank as if no take-over occurred. The use the Chase Bank branches as a killing field, and also to launder the false commerce that feeds, houses, arms, and supplies the Canadian terror army.

Fourteen days to receive US Postage from the US Treasury is excessive amount of time, and is highly suspicious of a terror murder plot detail.

That's all I want to report. Please send help, I have much more to say about the terror take-over.

End terror report: 7:23 pm.

This entry written in external word processing software, to keep Richard Chartrand from stealing it, or manipulating the details within.

[aion-rsa]

Director Mike Figgis Talks Trading Licks with Ronnie Wood

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Before becoming a filmmaker, Leaving Las Vegas director Mike Figgis was a musician and performer in the experimental group called The People Show. Before that, he played trumpet and guitar in the experimental jazz ensemble The People Band, whose first record was produced by Rolling Stone drummer Charlie Watts. He is also the founding patron of an online community of independent filmmakers called Shooting People. You can say Figgis is a People person, which makes him the perfect director to capture Ronnie Wood in the documentary Somebody Up There Likes Me.

One of rock and roll’s most iconic guitarists, Wood is good with people. He plays well with others. He is the Stone who’s never alone. Before he began weaving guitar licks with Keith Richards in the Rolling Stones, Wood helped shape the British rock sound in bands like The Birds and the Creation. He was the bass player to the guitar maestro in The Jeff Beck Group, which featured the distinctive voice of Rod Stewart at the front. They put out two albums, 1968’s Truth and 1969’s Beck-Ola, before splintering just as they were to appear at Woodstock. Wood and Stewart inherited the Small Faces from Steve Marriott and dropped the album First Step in 1970. They realized they were too tall for the diminutive moniker and renamed the band The Faces. They released the albums Long Player and A Nod Is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse in 1971, and Ooh La La (1973), before splitting up in 1975.

Wood guested on albums by David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, the Band, Donovan, B.B. King, and on Stewart’s solo albums. He spent so much time flavoring other performers’ works, he didn’t put out a solo album of his own until 1974 which he aptly titled I’ve Got My Own Album to Do. Wood also went solo for 1981’s 1234 and collaborated with Bo Diddley on Live at the Ritz in 1988, Wood’s seventh solo album, I Feel Like Playing (2010), featured guest spots from ex-Faces bandmate Ian McLagan, as well as The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, Billy Gibbons, Bobby Womack, and Jim Keltner.

Somebody Up There Likes Me isn’t structured like most music documentaries. It is primarily a conversation, and it veers from much of Wood’s vast output. The hard-partying musician beat lung cancer and candidly blames his excessive indulgences. He saw bandmates, contemporaries and friends, like Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and John Bonham push past the lethal limits of chemical reactions. Wood himself remembers telling Keith Moon to take pills, not bottles of them. Richards remarks in the documentary how the two Rolling Stones guitarists share strong constitutions. Wood began recording with the Rolling Stones when they were halfway through their 1976 album, Black and Blue, and has been steady even up to their recent pandemic live stream.

The documentary also captures Wood’s visual artistry. He was an artist before he was a musician. His drawings were featured on BBC TV’s Sketch Club when he was a child, and he studied at the Ealing Art College. Wood did the cover artwork to Eric Clapton’s 1988 box set Crossroads. The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee continues to capture visions like Mick Jagger’s dancing in a Picasso style, as well as the shots in Somebody Up There Likes Me of him capturing the grace of a ballerina on canvas.

Born in northern England, director Mike Figgis was raised on jazz and Jean-Luc Godard movies. The inventor of the “fig rig” knows when to experiment, such as he did in Timecode (2000) and Hotel (2001), how to get drama out of romance, as he did with One Night Stand, starring Wesley Snipes and Nastassja Kinski, and The Loss of Sexual Innocence. He is adept at crime dramas, directing the “Cold Cuts” episode of The Sopranos in 2004 and Internal Affairs, which starred Richard Gere. He also mines deep emotional schisms in films like Mr. North and Leaving Las Vegas (1995) for which he was nominated for Best Directing and Best Screenplay Oscars. Figgis spoke with Den of Geek about cinematic jams and studio sessions with Ronnie Wood.

Den of Geek: Over the course of the film, you produced a song using nothing but your backings and an orchestra of Ronnie Woods. How was he to produce?

Mike Figgis: He was a delight, actually. We did most of the interviews and everything where he was painting, he was in his own space for that. Then the dialog, he’s very very witty and so on. But at the end of the day, the man’s a musician. Quite later on in the process I said, “Let’s go into a studio and do something.” I think the minute we got into a studio it was different. For both of us because I’m a musician too. It’s just a different kind of reality and the language becomes much simpler between musicians and understanding the equipment, the whole vibe.

Originally Mark Ronson was going to do a soundtrack for us which would have been fantastic and then he just got very, very busy because we got late. I presented him with a kind of template of how maybe could make a nice soundtrack, which is basically what we did anyway. So we did it without Mark and Ronnie was very comfortable with that.

He very much left it to me. He added a lot, obviously. He said, “I’d like to do this as well,” and so on. So, we had a pretty full couple of days in studio time. But he was great to produce.

There are a lot of musicians working on this besides you and Ronnie. Rosey Chan did the score for a painting scene.

Rosey’s my wife by the way. She’s a phenomenal concert pianist and composer and musician in her own right. She’s releasing an album now. She’s an amazing pianist, I just needed something to take us into a different zone, so I asked her to compose some piano pieces for that. Then I did some score myself. Just when he’s talking about drugs. I put a little bit of a weird score on that one.

So is this film more of a cinematic jam that you just edited in the mixing room?

Yeah, I think so. I think that’s a good way of putting it, actually.

Ronnie also worked with Bob Dylan, Prince, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin. Did you allow the interviews to determine what parts of his career you were going to include?

I actually wanted to avoid anybody else. I said, “Let’s just make it about him painting and us talking.” I wanted to make it as simple as possible. That didn’t happen because as soon as you sort of uncover one little stone, you kind of say “Oh, well obviously we should interview the Rolling Stones.” Then he started thinking, “Well, Rod’s around, we can use Rod.” When I discovered about Damien Hirst, “Actually that would be an interesting, unexpected one. That would be good, yeah.” So yeah.

It was kind of organic, really. It was all sort of scheduled based in a sense that, “When are you available?” And, “When am I available? When are these people available?” So, getting the Stones was actually the trickiest thing. You had to go to Berlin and get them between gigs when they were watching the World Cup. In between World Cups actually. Very specific.

I know you’re in the People Band which had an album produced by Charlie Watts. So, were you in the same periphery of the Stones as Ronnie Wood back then?

No, the connection with Charlie was very interesting because the People Band was a free music ensemble. I mean really experimental. Really way out. The drummer was this phenomenal percussionist, still is, called Terry Day. Terry Day went to art college with Charlie’s wife and he knew Charlie because they were both drummers, so they got on really, really well. Charlie Watts has always been a huge jazz fan. Through Terry, it was one of those moments where Charlie says, “You know, we can record you. We got a mobile studio. We can either send the mobile to you wherever you’re playing.” I’m talking about in those days, in ’68 or whenever it was, the idea of a mobile multi-track was pretty amazing. “Or you can come to Olympic Studios,” which was where they recorded Beggars Banquet and everything. It was an amazing studio. And, “We’ll just give you the studio and the engineer, and you guys do what you want.” That’s how that came about and it was really lovely.

Over the years, once in a while I would see Charlie and just catch up, talk about drumming, really. And jazz. So it was really nice interviewing for this one again.

When you were asking Rod Stewart about Peter Grant, he sort of cut back and he became the young man that was bullied.

He did, didn’t he? When he said, “I’m protecting my hands and my face.”

The gangster aspect of that mid ’60’s period, especially with Peter Grant, how did that affect the musicians and the working? Do you think it actually in some ways was good for it?

Well, you know that comes about from a very strange coincidence which was sort of touched on in the film. But, quite a few years back, Malcolm McLaren was wanting to produce a film. A feature film about Led Zeppelin and as a result of that, he and I went and interviewed Peter Grant which is where that footage comes from. I did a huge amount of research into Led Zeppelin and Peter Grant at the time, and spoke to and interviewed a lot of the people who were involved with their success. I didn’t interview Johnny Bindon, but he was a key figure. Johnny Bindon was a kind of very violent criminal. In London. Very good looking. He became an actor for a while. Had amazing sexual legends built around him involving royalty and all kinds of things, and was part of a kind of fashionable gangster scene. The craze and all the rest of it. The London gangster scene.

Sort of became fashionable because people went to all their clubs, and hung out with them, and David Bailey photographed them and all that. So there was a kind of a zeitgeist about gangsterism. There’s an incredibly good book written about it called Jumping Jack Flash which came out two years ago. Bindon became one of the agents for Led Zeppelin and famously beat up somebody so badly on one of their tours that was hospitalized. He was a very mean individual.

The whole association with Led Zeppelin was very much gangsterish because of Peter Grant and his associates who had those stories and so on. So that was a kind of one aspect, and also a lot of the management were fairly crooked in London at that time. There’s a bit of a gay mafia and all the rest of it, so part of the folklore of that period of British rock and roll is very gangsterish, and very much part of the story.

Whenever I think about gangsters and British rock I think of the movie Performance. When you’re filming conversations in the moment, are you saying in your head “this is filmic?”

Not consciously, no. I accept it as being part of the fabric, actually. I try to make everything filmic anyway, so I’m always trying to get as far away from any kind of documentary feel. I like things to have a live element to it.

I loved Peter Grant’s Gene Vincent story. In the Beatles Anthology, George Harrison tells a similar one. What did Gene Vincent mean to young British rock and roller’s that everyone’s got a story about them?

Oh, because he was there, he was around. A little bit like the stories about everyone remembers Big Bill Broonzy and everyone remembers Sister Rosetta Thorpe. Main reason for that is they were a part of a very small group of musicians who were allowed to visit the UK during the Musician’s Union ban on touring. We were basically deprived of a lot of American musicians after the war, and the only reason Broonzy got in and Sister Rosetta Thorpe, was folk musicians were allowed in as opposed to, say, Louis Armstrong.

They all came in as folk singers even though they weren’t. I mean Broonzy was a fully-fledged Chicago blues musician and so was Sister Rosetta Thorpe. But everybody knows that. Anybody that was anybody around at that time would know those names. And Gene Vincent has become a kind of UK legend.

Do you see Ronnie as a very varied painter?

I wanted to capture a certain aspect of his art which was the line drawing. When we first started talking, I looked at all his art books. He does huge canvases with a lot of color, featuring the Rolling Stones, et cetera, et cetera. I was less interested in those. Those sell for a lot of money apparently and people really like them.

But when I saw his line drawing, his very quick drawings. Line drawing is very, very important. Sketching is very important in the same way that when you hear a very basic demo from a musician, there’s a certain truth about that. Then you can produce it and over produce it, and you can make it super sophisticated. I was interested in the bit that leads up to the way that he started producing. I wanted to set up situations where I would just see his line drawing. His ability to control lines, that was amazing.

Then physically watching him do that is fascinating. I love filming people playing their musical instruments. There’s a certain truth about that, they get into their thing. And watching him draw I thought was fascinating. His concentration, absolute. Even in the interview with Damian Hirst. He’s so focused on what he’s doing that he doesn’t really pay much attention to Damian Hirst. Sort of answers the question. He doesn’t pick up on any of the jokes. Because he’s really focused on what he’s doing.

Watching his live stuff, Wood is a different person. While he’s playing guitar, you see him and Keith joking around.

I think that has something to do with the eye. Because I think it’s about blues guitar. You can see the finger memory is really, really strong so I mean in that early footage he’s smoking at the same time, right? He’s smoking, joking around, getting to the microphone, late usually, for the backup vocals. And moving around and having a great time. He doesn’t have to look at the guitar to do that. However, if you are drawing something, either you make that contact with your eye, so creating the triangle between the subject, the canvas, and your eye.  And you’re quite right. Radically different body language, and that’s interesting. There are two physical sides of him demonstrated on film, which you don’t really have to explain. There it is.

Is Somebody Up There Like Me a flip side to Leaving Las Vegas?

Maybe. You know, people have had a life, have had experience and come through darkness and coming to light and so on. For me, it just becomes 10 times more interesting than people who’ve just had a nice life and behaved well. Look a little puzzled that they’re not sort of 70 or something because it’s all been quite peaceful, you know? So there’s a kind of turbulence there which I think he says quite well when he says, “I see a fork in a road I take it.”

Like he says, “I would do it with my eyes more open now if I did it again.” I kind of admired that. It’s not like me. I’m much more protective. But I also loved the way he talked about the drugs. He talked about, “I would never get to the point of losing control because I always knew.” Because he’s very ambitious. “I always knew where I had to be next and I never wanted to be at the place where I couldn’t control where I wanted to be.” I’m sure there were a few exceptions to that, but in general, that was quite truthful.

You’re known as a very experimental filmmaker and I was wondering how you keep coming up with different ways to look through the camera?

I got sort of bored with 35mm and started going back to 16mm and then when video got more interesting, looking at video. Then as video got smaller and XLR happened, that radically changed the possibilities. Then as the world changes, like with at the beginning of this conversation we talked about the coronavirus effect. And how the Timecode principle, how that then ties in with what is possible in terms of filmmaking, really.

When you were making Timecode, did you know that you were predicting pandemic filmmaking?

No, although looking back I can think where it’d be really useful now.

The Rolling Stones streamed their performance early in the pandemic, is this the future of entertainment and is it an imposition?

I think in a way it is. Obviously at some point we will get coronavirus under some kind of control. But there are dire predictions about what’s coming next in terms of the unleashing of the demons that come through global warming, et cetera, et cetera.

On the one hand, maybe these variations of these conditions will continue well into the future. But I think even if it was just coronavirus, I’m talking about making films with various people right now, it’s almost like unless you actually acknowledge the world as it is today and has been for the last six months, any film that you make is going to have an air of unreality about it because this is quite definitely a global reality now. The way we’re communicating now and so forth.

I’m doing a masterclass in London at the film school next week and I’m going to be talking just about that to young filmmakers. The best ways to go about making films now.

As a jazz musician, what did you make of Jagger’s classification of jazz from back then?

It was pretty accurate, actually. I’d done the blues documentary with Martin Scorsese, the history of the British Blues, Red, White, and Blues. So, I covered that period and I was fascinated by that unique British period anyway, which is why in a way Marty and I got on so well too was because unlike America, the post war British music scene was heavily into traditional jazz and then bebop. Then folk music, and skiffle, and all those things. They all combined. If you talk to anybody, Eric Clapton, anybody, they’ll all make the same references. Big Bill Broonzy and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and then Woody Guthrie, and so kind of everybody was listening to all those influences and people were coming out of traditional jazz and then making quite dynamic decisions about this, that, and the other.

But the Trad boom was, the commercial aspect of the British jazz movement was very commercial, and immediately commercialized. There are some great musicians, but not the hippest genre in the world, so Jagger’s commented quite rightly if you want to be a young, sexy, happening musician, you’re not going to base your style on your grandfather’s taste and the rest of it. It was a kind of nice point of view. I loved it when he said, “I like the MJQ because of the way they looked and the way they played. I’m not sure I was crazy about the music or something like that.”

And I loved that he said, “We can be like that or we can be something different.” I love that moment in the film where you actually suddenly see the Stones kind of go, “Yep.” That’s pretty different from those two choices. That was, you’re creating a new genre there. And I have to say, my respect for the Rolling Stones went very, very high in making this documentary. I always like the Stones. I preferred more basically a blues band and I was listening to a lot more complicated pop musicians and jazz musicians.

I read that you’re doing a K-drama about the #MeToo movement. Would that be in the K-pop industry?

Yeah, I became interested in Korean film of course like most filmmakers. And then on an impulse, two and a half years ago, I bought a ticket to Seoul and I went and stayed there for three or four weeks, and just went around meeting people and just trying to get a handle on their film scene, initially. Then, I kind of got hooked on K-dramas as well and started to meet the actors. That’s turned into a project that’s been in development for about a year now. It’s going really, really well, but coming up with this series of scenarios. Sort of loosely around the #MeToo movement, really but just to do with the Korean social pop entertainment scene. And that’s what that was there.

I didn’t know that the Stones had originally thought about asking Ron Wood to replace Brian Jones. As a musician, you said they stuck to their guns. Do you think that would have been more true had they skipped over Mick Taylor and gone straight to Ronnie Wood?

It was interesting because that period, because obviously Jagger comes from a very much blues background. But by that time he was a megastar and the Stones were very much “Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones.” He was making movies, he was hanging out at the clubs, he was the hip guy. So obviously his horizons were expanding and he said that having Mick Taylor in the band really expanded his horizons as a songwriter because the voicings that Mick Taylor used. Mick did incredibly lyrical runs as the guitarist. Not a straight down the line blues player by any stretch of the imagination. A great blues player, but that’s not all he did.

So, I can imagine at that period, it would have been totally understandable if they’d continued to go in a different direction. I think what happened when Mick Taylor walked out, there was a kind of obvious cause of action to go to Ronnie. That probably then put Keith in a more comfortable zone in terms of the two-guitar thing because I would imagine that with Mick Taylor in the band, Keith’s role must have been definitely not so much the two-guitar thing because they are functioning at different levels. Probably in a way, back to a kind of grassroots level by bringing Ronnie back in.

Also, he looks like them. They were like brothers at that point. There’s a kind of a, suddenly a cohesiveness to the band as a band in a different way. Mick had a wider range in terms of songwriting and performance. A different way to go, but I think he was more than happy to go back into the kind of grassroots journey that they’d been on.

It’s very interesting how one musician can radically alter the destiny of the band, the longest lasting band in rock and roll history basically now.

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Ronnie Wood: Somebody Up There Likes Me will be available as a Virtual Cinema release at www.ronniewoodmovie.com starting Sept. 18 running through October. It will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and deluxe hardback book release on October 9.

The post Director Mike Figgis Talks Trading Licks with Ronnie Wood appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[mediaeval-muse]

Book Review

Mirage. By Somaiya Daud. New York: Flatiron Books, 2018.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Genre: YA sci fi/fantasy

Part of a Series? Yes, Mirage #1

Summary: In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, eighteen-year-old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation; she dreams of writing poetry like the old-world poems she adores; she dreams of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day, she, too, will have adventure, and travel beyond her isolated moon. But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects: she is kidnapped by the regime and taken in secret to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half-Vathek Princess Maram. The princess is so hated by her conquered people that she requires a body double, someone to appear in public as Maram, ready to die in her place. As Amani is forced into her new role, she can’t help but enjoy the palace’s beauty—and her time with the princess’ fiancé, Idris. But the glitter of the royal court belies a world of violence and fear. If Amani ever wishes to see her family again, she must play the princess to perfection...because one wrong move could lead to her death.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: violence, blood, political oppression, torture

Overview: As far as debuts go, this is one of the stronger ones I’ve read in some time. While the blurb promises a thrilling saga about survival, Mirage is focused less on characters dodging assassination attempts and more on holding on to one’s identity in the face of cultural suppression. I very much enjoyed Daud’s prose and her way of communicating emotion, which forged meaningful connections between characters and overcame what qualms I had about plot. While I talk about those qualms below, I do think that Mirage is a thoughtful book, and I am looking forward to the next installment in the series.

Writing: Daud’s prose is very descriptive and flows nicely without straying into purple territory. I wouldn’t call it “poetic,” because Daud doesn’t burden the reader with metaphor or lush descriptions of her world, but she does provide enough vivid detail to give the reader a clear picture of what’s going on, and then lets the rhythm and mood sweep the reader away. For example, Daud might leave a description of a palace as having “geometric designs” or a qaftan as “grey with red detailing” but focus more attention on how characters are feeling or interacting with each other.

Daud also has a talent for setting a good pace. While reading, I was worried that we were going to be subject to a lengthy “training session” in which Amani learns the ins and outs of court life, and while we do get some of that, it doesn’t go on for pages and pages. The training isn’t important, and Daud knows that. She describes just enough for the reader to get the idea of what kinds of things Amani has to learn and moves on. She also doesn’t linger in scenes that don’t need it, so we aren’t reading pages and pages of, say, Amani at a party - we get just enough to see Amani accomplish her goal before we’re on to the next thing. It was refreshing and kept the plot moving.

Plot: The premise of this novel is that Amani, an 18-year-old woman living under an oppressive regime, is taken from her home and forced to serve as a body double to Maram, the princess and heir to her oppressor’s empire. Amani’s people inhabit a planet called Andala and its moons - Amani herself lives on a moon called Cadiz - and are ruled over by the Vath, who have partially occupied, partially colonized the area. Though the Vath have a firm grip on power and have suppressed much of Kushaila culture (the Kushaila being one of the cultural/ethnic groups on Andala), rebellion still lingers in various pockets around the star system, threatening the life of Maram, who has made herself despised by the Andalaans through her cruelty.

The plot isn’t so much about Amani encountering life-threatening situations (by posing as Maram) as it is Amani struggling to hang on to her cultural identity. She becomes every bit the Vath princess, but finds comfort in her native language, her religion (or spirituality, or folklore - I’m not sure how to describe it), poetry, culturally-significant tattoos, and so on. As a result, this book is a wonderful exploration of how survival and preservation can be act of rebellion, which Amani herself thinks about this often. The sense is enhanced when we consider that Maram, the princess she is tasked to protect, is half Vath, half Kushaila, and struggles with accepting her Kushaila heritage, while Idris, Maram’s fiance and one of the few living members of a major Kushaila house, longs to connect to his native culture after living under Vath rule for so long.

Despite loving the message about cultural identity and survival, I do with Amani’s body doubling duties had been presented as a bit more risky than they were. The first few times Amani poses as Maram, there seems to be little threat to either Maram’s or Amani’s lives. Amani (as Maram) goes to a couple parties or visits Maram’s relatives or sits in on a political meeting - nothing where an assassination attempt seems to be a real possibility. The only time I got the sense that body doubling was necessary was towards the end, when more public appearances carried more potential for disruption. While I don’t think this book needed more threats of violence or “action adventure” to be considered “good,” I do think more risk could have enhanced the message about survival and sisterhood (which comes to fruition later).

Eventually, Amani does involve herself in riskier scenarios when she agrees to act as a spy, feeding information to the resistance while becoming increasingly more sympathetic towards Maram. While I liked that Amani got more to do, Amani’s efforts at playing politics seemed sloppy. While posing as Maram, she advises her father’s war council on which cities to bomb, which could have been a good subversion (to direct attention away from certain areas), but she advises them to bomb a culturally significant region of the planet and then acts like she had no choice. Moreover, Amani didn’t seem to be enthusiastic about the rebellion; she does her part, but it’s not necessarily a driving force in the decisions she makes. I put this down to her evolving feelings towards Maram, but still, I would have liked to see her be more passionate about the cause so that the conflict between supporting the rebels and supporting a friend is more pronounced.

Characters: Amani, our narrator and protagonist, is easy to connect with because she voices her emotions so much. The reader is always aware of how Amani is feeling, when she’s sad or lonely, when she’s finding comfort, when she’s connecting to others or to her poetry. Being privy to these emotions helped overcome moments when Amani is relatively passive. Throughout much of the book, Amani is obligated to do as she’s told, act as she’s expected, etc. which makes her seem like a mere pawn and just trying to survive the day. Of course, preserving her cultural identity is active, but I think even these moments could have been put into Amani’s hands a bit more. I also think 

Maram, the princess for whom Amani serves a body double, has a very satisfying arc. She starts out cruel and arrogant, mistrusting everyone around her and doing her best to assert that she’s Vath, but over time, the facade begins to break down, and she becomes more sympathetic. I very much enjoyed how her relationship with Amani evolved, and her crisis of cultural identity complimented Amani’s story nicely.

Idris, Maram’s fiance and Amani’s love interest, is compelling in that he embodies a different facet of cultural suppression and identity crisis than Maram or Amani. He was only 10 when his family was wiped out for first rebelling, then surrendering to the Vath, and has primarily grown up in Vath courts ever since. He is engaged to Maram in the attempt to appease the Andalaans, making Vath rule more palatable if the heir to the empire is half-Kushaila and is married to a Kushaila. Idris remembers almost none of his native language, nor does he recognize the cultural significance of certain Kushaila things (like tattoos, etc.). His connection to Amani, then, is partially a connection with his native culture, and he learns more and more about where he came from by talking to her. While I enjoyed the drama inherent in his romance with Amani (how does one overcome the obstacle of being engaged to the princess but falling for her body double?), I did wish more was done to show a connection between them on a personal level. Idris seems to be in love with Amani primarily because of what she can teach him about Kushaila culture; most of the intimacy between them springs from discussions about Idris’ past or his lack of knowledge, with Amani filling in the blanks. Granted, there is a moment when Idris expresses admiration for Amani’s bravery, but I thought it was overshadowed by his draw to her as a representation of what he lost.

Other: The worldbuilding in this story was fairly compelling, combining the realities of cultural suppression with a unique science fiction setting that drew on Middle Eastern/Arabic/Islamic (I’m not sure which, specifically) aesthetics. I liked how the richness of Kushaila culture contrasted with the minimalism and austerity of the Vath because it reminded me of discussions about aesthetics and class or aesthetics and power - the “clean,” conservative tastes of the ruling class are in part an exercise in suppression and conformity, so I thought that worked well in the political environment Daud had created. I do think, however, that there were times when Daud would introduce something and not make full use of it. Maram, for example, has a large bird of prey called a roc, which does Maram’s bidding - but it only shows up once. There are droids roaming around, mostly in combat or violent situations, but I frequently forgot that they existed because they are almost never integral to the scene. I hope that the worldbuilding will continue to grow in subsequent installments in this series, as I really liked what I read in Mirage, but just wanted a bit more.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in science fiction and fantasy, space operas, questions of cultural identity, poetry, and growing rebellions.

[rockandrollstorytime]

Rock and Roll Storytime #6: The Rolling Stones Against the Establishment (Or: The time 3/5 of them went on trial for drug posession)

Let’s face it, I think every now and again, we all have those moments where we’re glad that we live in the time and place we do at this very moment. This particularly goes out to the musicians, who seem to get in trouble for drugs less frequently nowadays, in favor of worse charges... 

But that wasn’t always so. 

Once upon a time, the threat of rock stars getting long prison sentences for first time offences was very omnipresent, and this story is about that bygone era. A time and a place where even a hint of subversive behavior meant that adults lost their shit and went on literal moral crusades. 

Enter Sgt. Norman Pilcher, or, as John Lennon called him in “I Am the Walrus”, Semolina Pilchard. He was a detective in his 30′s and was dead-set on getting drugs off the streets, which meant that, invariably, he primarily set his sights on rock stars. His list of arrests includes Donovan, John Lennon, George Harrison, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones. He would’ve nabbed Eric Clapton, but Eric bolted out the back door as soon as he heard there was someone at his doorstep with a “special delivery.”

For now though, we’re just going to focus on the Stones, and how this whole drug trial business may have accelerated the decline of one of its members. 

Given how trying to get rock stars busted for drugs was practically a sport in 1967, the now-defunct tabloid News of the World decided to capitalize on this by publishing a three-part “story” entitled, “Pop Stars and Drugs: Facts That Will Shock You.” In it, the tabloid alleged that many popular musicians of the time were not only doing drugs, but also holding drug parties at their homes, including Donovan, Pete Townshend, and Ginger Baker (R.I.P). Part Two seems to have primarily targeted the Rolling Stones, and it was alleged that Mick Jagger had taken several Benzedrine tablets, displayed a bit of hashish, and invited his companions back to his flat for a smoke, one of whom just so happened to be an undercover reporter. As it turns out, the person in question was actually little Brian Jones, who was being way too casual with his drug use. Mick tried to sue the paper over that one. 

I just want to ask, how the hell did they mix up Mick and Brian? One’s blond and has a cherubic face, and the other’s brunette and has massive lips!

In either case, like with how Donovan was arrested and charged after the first issue came out, the article attracted the attentions of authorities, and in particular, one Semolina Pilchard. News of the World was also more than a little interested in avoiding a major lawsuit, even to the point of allegedly wiretapping and paying off informants (it’s shit like that which is the reason why they ultimately became defunct in 2011, after a phone hacking scandal). Ultimately, on February 12, 1967, eighteen police officers raided Keith Richards’ home, Redlands. Mick, Keith, and an art dealer friend, Robert Fraser were arrested and charged with amphetamine possession, allowing his home to be used for the smoking of cannabis, and heroin possession respectively. 

In addition, salacious rumors started to swirl around that Mick was found eating a Mars Bar out of Marianne Faithfull’s... nether regions. Truth of the matter is, while Marianne was only wearing a fur rug, there weren’t any orgies taking place. She even wrote in her autobiography, “The Mars Bar is a very effective piece of demonizing. It was so overdone with such malicious twisting of the facts. Mick retrieving a Mars Bar from my vagina, indeed! It’s a dirty old man’s fantasy – some old fart who goes to a dominatrix every Thursday. A cop’s idea of what people do on acid.”

Their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, was supposed to help these kids figure out what to do about the impending drug trials, but instead, he fled to America, leaving his role to Allen Klein (Andrew was fired in September). Lawyers told Mick, Keith, and Brian that, essentially, since they were the most visible of the Rolling Stones, to not talk to the press and even to temporarily leave the country. And so, Mick, Keith, and Brian (bringing along his girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg) set off for Morocco. This is something I’m going to have to go into more detail about another time, but suffice it to say, it ended with Anita leaving Brian for Keith and Brian being stranded in Morocco for about two days. 

On May 10, Mick, Keith, and Robert were marched into court where they were formally charged with the aforementioned charges. Mick and Keith decided to plead not guilty, Robert pled guilty, and all three elected to undergo trial by jury. That same day, twelve officers raided Brian’s home, and though he allegedly tried to clean up the place before the coppers arrived, they still managed to find a “purple Moroccan-style wallet” with cannabis in it. Needless to say, Brian and his friend, Prince Stanislaus “Stash” Klossowski were also arrested and charged with drug possession. On June 2, they were formally charged in court and elected to undergo trial by jury. However, Brian decided to plead guilty, a move that would come back to bite him in the ass later on. 

Starting with Mick, Robert, and Keith’s trial, the odds were against them from the very start. For one thing, the judge they were up against, Judge Leslie Allen Block, was notoriously unforgiving. Given that two of the people on trial were Rolling Stones, it quickly became apparent that the people running the show would very much be gunning for long jail sentences. It can also be argued that, since Pilcher knew what press would come if he made some high-profile celebrity arrests and didn’t arrest anyone with a status lower than Donovan, it could easily be argued that he was only making these arrests to gain some serious cred for his task-force. Going back to the original point though, at one point, as Mick’s trial was wrapping up, the judge even told the jury to dispel any notion of reasonable doubt. 

The last time I wrote this, that sounded seriously ethically dubious, even considering that the usual phrase here would be “innocent until proven guilty” (though it usually plays out the other way around, it seems). Well, I did eventually ask my mom about it (she’s a paralegal and she knows a thing or two about U.S.A. law), and she said that it would depend on the case and if the reasonable doubt presented was excluded by a previous court order. 

Granted, I know that’s dealing with U.S.A. law and that I can’t find anything saying that there was a court order barring reasonable doubt, but I guess that’ll have to do. 

In either case, on June 27, Mick was found guilty of illegally possessing Benzedrine (despite the fact that it was purchased legally in Italy), but because Keith’s trial hadn’t begun yet, Mick and Robert were sent to Lewes Prison overnight. 

Keith’s trial began in earnest the next day, and Keith really didn’t help his case when he said, “We are not old men. We are not worried about petty morals.” However, the trial remained unfinished at the end of the day, so Mick and Robert (who were being held in a cell under the courtroom) were escorted back to Lewes. 

The trial finally came to a close on June 29, and all three of the defendants were summarily sentenced. Mick was sentenced to three months for the aforementioned drug possession charges, Robert was sentenced to six months for heroin possession, and Keith was sentenced to twelve months for allowing cannabis to be smoked in his home. Additionally, all three were fined. Mick was sent to Brixton and Robert and Keith were sent to the notorious Wormwood Scrubs. 

By today’s standards, these would definitely be considered harsh sentences, and might not even happen the same way (I’ll save more of these details for the ending). Back then though, surprisingly, there was actually quite a bit of support for the Stones and not just from fans. Even newspapers that had once viciously mocked them, voiced their support. In fact, William Rees-Mogg, a well-known conservative, wrote an article for The Times called “Who Breaks a Butterfly Upon a Wheel” in which he criticized Mick Jagger’s sentence, essentially saying that the only reason he got three months was because of his being a Rolling Stone, and that had he not been, the consequences would have been much less severe, considering he was a first-time offender. The Who also voiced their support for the Stones, saying “The Who consider Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have been treated as scapegoats for the drug problem and as a protest against the grave sentences imposed on them at Chichester yesterday, The Who are issuing today the first of a series of Jagger-Richards songs to keep their work before the public until they are again free to record themselves.” The New Law Journal wrote, “The three-month prison sentence on Jagger for a first offence, and the introduction at this trial of evidence about a girl in a skin rug are two disturbing features of the case.” Some fans even protested outside News of the World’s headquarters, including Keith Moon’s girlfriend (later wife), Kim Kerrigan. 

However, there were still some sources who agreed with the judge’s decision. In particular, Charles Curran wrote for the Evening News: “I hold that people who break the law ought to be punished. The law that Jagger and Richards broke is not a trifle either. For it seeks to prevent people from using dangerous drugs for fun... Look at Jagger and Richards. Each of them is a millionaire at twenty-three. How does it come about that they are so rich? Their wealth flows from the fact that they are manufactured pieces of wish-fulfillment... Their lives tend to represent, in reality, what their admirers’ are in fantasy. So as long as the pop idol sticks to bawling and wailing- well, we can put up with that. But once he starts to add drugs to his drivel, society must take immediate note of it.”

The next day, Mick and Keith were released on appeal, and went to appeals court on July 31. Years later, Bill Wyman wrote, “The appeal was on five grounds: (1) That the evidence made a cornerstone of the case by the prosecution was wrongly admitted. The evidence of the girl, her dress or undress, was ‘wholly inadmissible’; (2) That if it was held to be admissible, the evidence should have been excluded by the discretion of the judge, because it was so prejudicial; (3) That the chairman misdirected the jury about what the prosecution had to prove as to the meaning of the word ‘permitting’; (4) That he failed to detail the lack of evidence regarding the knowledge of the cannabis drug; (5) That he failed to put fully the defence to the jury.” Keith’s sentence was completely overturned, while Mick was sentenced to a year’s probation, though he wound up spending another night in jail. 

Robert, who ended up serving his full sentence, apparently alleged that everything at Keith’s house that night had been his, and that he’d been taking heroin pills for an upset stomach (sort of like how Kurt Cobain claimed to be on heroin because of a stomach condition that may well have been psychosomatic). 

With Brian’s trial, it is important to note that, as I’ve said, he didn’t really take the affair as seriously as he could have, Also, there’s the fact that Allen Klein, in a misguided attempt at trying to protect Brian, told him to stay away from the other Stones as much as possible, which had the effect of isolating Brian from his band even further at a time where he needed them most. In fact, according to Stash (who was later acquitted), “Brian was not OK within a month of us getting busted. I was at Robert Fraser’s apartment when Brian came in, and, much to my horror, he proceeded to hit about twenty objects, banging into the walls and ricocheting across the room like a ping-pong ball. That was the terrible effect of those downers. He took them because he felt alienated, worried, and it was the only way he could isolate himself into some kind of security blanket. It was a one-way street. He had a disaster written in neon lights all over him and none of us could do anything about it.”

In fact, Brian was in such dire straits, he wound up being admitted to the Priory Clinic for psychiatric analysis on July 5, and was discharged as an out-patient on July 12. When his trial finally came around on October 30, he admitted in court to possessing cannabis without authority, but denied that he’d used cocaine or methedrine. His defense pleaded with the judge not to send him to jail, since he’d taken responsibility for the cannabis (the prosecution was more willing to accept that Brian might not have known about the stronger drugs) and that Brian had a nervous breakdown after the arrest and had suffered greatly. In fact, Detective-Sergeant David Patrick said that, while all drugs were serious, the amount of cannabis found was relatively small, and Brian’s psychiatrist said that his client should be hospitalized rather than imprisoned, and that Brian wouldn’t be able to handle prison. 

However, it all came to naught, as the judge, Reginald Seaton, sentenced Brian to three months in jail for cannabis possession, nine months for allowing his home to be used for smoking cannabis to be served concurrently, and a fine, stating, “I have given your case anxious and careful consideration. The offence of being the occupier of premises and allowing them to be used for the purpose of smoking cannabis resin is very serious indeed. This means that people can break the law in comparative privacy and so avoid detection for what is a growing canker in this country at the present moment. No blame attaches to you for the phial of cocaine, but there are people who come to this sort of party and that is how the rot starts, from cannabis to hard drugs. You occupy a position by which you have a large following of youth, and therefore, it behoves you to set an example... Although I am moved by everything I have heard, I would be failing my duty if I did not refer to the seriousness of the offences by passing sentence of imprisonment.” Brian ended up spending the night in Wormwood Scrubs, where, apparently, guards threatened to cut off the long, blonde hair he was so proud of. 

Looking at pictures of Brian right after his initial arrest and right after his sentencing, the toll that these proceedings took on his physical and mental health becomes quite clear. 

As with Mick and Keith’s sentences, Brian’s conviction caused an uproar. Eight people were arrested as a peaceful protest practically turned into a riot, including Mick’s brother, Chris. In addition, The Daily Sketch wrote, “...dishing out a nine-month sentence is as likely to turn a pop star into a martyr as to deter his fans. Besides, if the Appeal Court later reduces or quashes a harsh sentence, as happened in the case of Jagger, the authority of the law is lessened.” Similarly, The Sun (yes, the same guys who botched their coverage the Hillsborough Disaster and got largely banned from Liverpool) wrote, “Such a sentence, far from convincing young people that cannabis (hemp) is harmful, is too likely to make a martyr of this wretched young man and invest it with false glamour.” 

Brian, though shaken, was released the next day on appeal. What helped his case, though, was when Judge Block made a rather tactless statement: “We did our best, your fellow countrymen, I, and my fellow magistrates, to cut these Stones down to size, but alas, it was not to be, because the Court of Criminal Appeal let them roll free.”

Though Block later claimed he was being sarcastic, Les Perrin issued a statement of his own: “In view of Brian Jones being on bail it seems deplorable that a member of the judiciary should so contravene the normally accepted practice in a case being sub judice, as to joke and poke fun. He made an unprecedented observation both on the trial he conducted at Chichester, and the subsequent findings of the Court of Criminal Appeal. Is this the kind of justice Brian expects? Is this man typical of those who hold the title, the high and esteemed office to try and sentence people? How can the public believe, in the light of this utterance by Judge Block, that the Rolling Stones can get an unbiased hearing? His statement smacks of pre-judgement, a getting-together, ‘to cut the Stones down to size’ because of who they are. It is a pity that he did not observe the ethics of sub judice in a like manner to Mr Jagger, Mr Richards, Mr Jones by remaining silent.”

At the appeal on December 12, Brian’s doctors again said that he had become potentially suicidal as a result of the trial, and its effect on his mental health. When all was said and done, his sentence was reduced to three years’ probation under the condition that he pay a £1,000 fine and that he receive psychiatric help, with the judge saying, “Remember, this is a degree of mercy which the court has shown. It’s not a let-off.”

Later on, Stash would note, “An artist can be hounded into a state in which his mental health will deteriorate and that’s what happened to Brian, I’m sure. I was very angry and blamed the authorities, but ultimately, an individual has to blame himself.”

On December 14, Brian’s chauffeur found him collapsed in his flat and called 999. After an hour, Brian walked out, against doctors’ orders that he should stay overnight. He went straight to the Priory Clinic, and the next day, went in to the dentist to get two teeth pulled due to having a raging toothache. Brian later said that the collapse had been a reaction to the trial. 

And even so, that is not where the story ends, though I honestly wish it did. On May 21, police showed up at Brian’s door again, this time being led by Detective-Sergeant Robin Constable. Once again, police found cannabis, and Brian was utterly distraught, saying such things as “This can’t happen again, just when we’re getting on our feet”, “Why do I always get bugged?”, and “Why do you always have to pick on me?”

Speculation exists to this day that this second search was a carefully orchestrated plant, but whether or not it was will likely never be known for certain.

While the substance was taken away for testing, Brian found himself being dragged to the courthouse shortly before 10 AM. You can probably imagine the press had a field day, and by this point, Brian was completely mentally drained. 

Brian appeared in court on June 11, 1968, where this time, he pled not guilty to the charges of cannabis possession. By this time, there was a new procedure under the Criminal Justice Act, preventing the need for evidence to be given in detail in court (which was a provision that hadn’t been present the first time around). Brian also elected to once again undergo trial by jury. 

Brian’s second trial occurred on September 26, 1968. He was also looking very sickly; his skin was pale, he’d gained weight, and the bags under his eyes were more pronounced now than at any other time in his life. Brian was charged with illegally possessing 144 grains of cannabis, and once again, he entered a plea of not guilty. Brian’s defense was that he’d been staying in the flat that actress Joanna Pettet had moved out of just two hours before while a house that he’d recently purchased was being decorated. Pettet later claimed that she’d left the ball of wool there, but denied any knowledge of the cannabis found inside it. Brian also claimed to have been receiving medical treatment since the last trial, and his doctor said, “Nothing suggested to me that Jones was playing around cannabis. If I put a reefer cigarette by this young man, he would run a mile.”

Chairman Reginald Seaton (the same guy at Brian’s first trial) in his last address to the jury said that the burden of proof should rest with the police, considering that all that was found in Brian’s flat was the cannabis, but no evidence that it had been smoked. Despite this though, the jury returned 45 minutes later to pronounce Brian guilty. Luckily for him, Seaton took pity on him, only giving him a fine, stating, “I think this was a lapse and I don’t want to interfere with the probation order that already applies to this man. I am going to fine you according to your means. You must keep clear of this stuff. You really must watch your step. You will be fined £50 with 100 guineas [£105] costs. For goodness sake, don’t get into trouble again or you really will be in serious trouble.” 

Of this second trial, Brian himself later said, “When the jury announced the guilty verdict, I was sure I was going to jail for at least a year. It was such a wonderful relief when I heard I was only going to be fined. I’m happy to be free. It’s wonderful. This summer has been one long worry to me. Someone planted the drug in my flat, but I don’t know who. I will state till my death that I did not commit this offence.”

The rest, as most would say, is history. Brian continued to spiral out of control, losing interest in the Stones until he was eventually fired on June 8, 1969, and replaced by Mick Taylor. Twenty-five days later, Brian drowned in his backyard swimming pool at the tender age of 27, becoming one of the first members of what would eventually be dubbed the “27 Club.”

I do have a theory that Brian’s death was primarily caused by sleeping pills and alcohol, maybe even some combination of heart failure, liver failure, and/or undiagnosed epilepsy exacerbated by the side-effects of some of the drugs he was allegedly prescribed right before his death, but that, dear readers, is another story. 

Meanwhile, the Stones are still rolling and Mick and Keith are still alive (obviously), the latter of whom celebrated his 76th birthday while I was writing this, by some miracle. 

While I was unable to ascertain whether using one’s home for drug abuse still carried the steep penalties it did in 1967, I was able to find UK law regarding drug possession. Sentencing largely depends on the quantity of the drug and whether or not there was an intent to sell, but amphetamines and cannabis can still land you with a fine and a jail sentence of up to five years. 

If there is a silver lining to be found in this whole mess, Pilcher was eventually found guilty of perjury (though not for possibly planting dope on rock stars), and was himself sentenced to four years in prison for claiming a drug smuggler was innocent and had served with the police (not true in the slightest, as he was actually caught red-handed in the act of selling). 

What can I say? Karma’s a bitch. 

Sources:  https://www.gov.uk/penalties-drug-possession-dealing http://www.timeisonourside.com/chron1968.html http://timeisonourside.com/chron1967.html https://stewarthomesociety.org/blog/archives/1813 https://groovyhistory.com/sgt-pilcher-stories-narc-arrested-mick-jagger-john-lennon-keith-richards-george-harrison https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/inside-allen-kleins-role-in-1967-jagger-richards-drug-bust-43267/ https://wbig.iheart.com/featured/lisa-berigan/content/2017-07-05-rolling-stones-jagger-remembers-drug-arrest/ https://dangerousminds.net/comments/simon_wells_the_great_rolling_stones_drugs_bust https://rulefortytwo.com/secret-rock-knowledge/chapter-11/redlands/ http://www.rockonrockmusic.com/the-redlands-police-raid-jagger-keith-richards-jailed-for-drugs/ http://blog.bathroomwall.com/police-raid-keith-richards-redlands-home-in-sussex-for-drugs/ https://www.nme.com/photos/the-great-rolling-stones-drug-bust-1402298 Faithfull: An Autobiography by Marianne Faithfull Stone Alone by Bill Wyman Life by Keith Richards Brian Jones: The Untold Life and Mysterious Death of a Legend by Laura Jackson Brian Jones: The Making of the Rolling Stones by Paul Trynka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Pilcher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fraser_(art_dealer)

[gul-dukat-cc]

PT Barcelona Report

Shoutouts to Detective Dhaliwal/David Rood for lending me a bunch of cards for the PT, and to Callum Smith for lending me Seasoned Pyromancer on Magic Online. Notes on my modern decklist / choice : I felt with open decklists + london mulligan you had to know your deck inside and out to fully use those systems, you had to know what the mus were about as you had so much agency so I chose UR Phx, I played seasoned pyromancer to work with my leylines vs hoogak so I could mull to 4/5/6 and not die to random bloodghasts which is a real issue as thing/arclight are very weak on very low cards. pryomancer is just very good with leyline. I played gut shot over surgical main because my sb had almost no removal and my deck just wouldn’t sb smoothly without gut shot. plus gut shot is fine vs hoogak stops them convoking and fine in mirrror kills thing. I tried desperate ritual/noxious with aria so I could goldfish turn ¾ vs hoogak but gave up on this cause lazy. I tried dreadhorde arcanist main so I could keep more hands but I found the effect is kinda weak, without open decklists I value cards like flame slash/sinkhole pretty low sine I am mulling to goldfish but with opendecklists I can value these powerful but narrow effects properly, basically like having sb cards main. I played 2 aria main 1 side since I found it is tough to split payoff/enablers, but I felt 3 aria was a bit too much and I would draw aria too much when trying to go off, and it made more hands mulls with the red finale and it being clunky but it was a close call. I also thought about set adrift cause hits hoogak/chalice/aria but My experience in the best with it was not great. I tried titanshift but 0-2d a league vs neoform and mirror, I tried burn but it felt kinda weak to me 3-2d a league lost to uw with timely and rug where they force of negation to blow out my searing blaze on their goyf when I swung with spearo.

I did ~280/300 matches of MH1 Limited in prep for the pt including a trip to GP Seattle where I was granted a nice 12-3 finish (1 bye). I am a newer limited player having only begun really playing it about last year, but since then I have mostly been playing limited as I feel I have a lot more agency in the games and prefer the format. However, since I am relatively new to limited I don’t feel I was able to truly process the amount of information I was receiving as most of what I was learning about in my games, is just what drafting a “master” set is about, and how to handle combat and complex boards in this type of limited environment, so a lot of my attention was drawn away from the actual evaluation of cards and trying to understand how to maximize my value in the game in-game decisions. My plan going into the PT was to soft force black, I wouldn’t just force it if it clearly wasn’t open, but I wouldn’t be shocked if your win rate would be higher taking any black uncommon, or even common over the best green rares and blue mythics p1p1. I found the black decks had so much more synergy and power than the other colors, (I felt the snow decks could trainwreck quite easily and just wasn’t very impressed by springbloom druid) Br and Bu being premium whilst the other black decks were about the same as any other archetype, I wasn’t sure about my read on the format since I am not a limited master and I saw players had different evaluations, but in a practice draft the day before Max Mick agreed this strategy seemed fine, and Malavi/Lars Dam had hit a 2030 elo drafting black every single time. I just found I would win a lot more with black decks and they felt much better, with my previous experience I felt soft forcing black was a reasonable approach. First Draft I get a pretty good BR deck, p1p1 raredraft w6, p1p2 Bogardan Dragonheart p2p3 feaster of fools, black and red cards kept flowing and I didn’t pick up any particular signal except ninjas might be open, pack two I got a pick 4 pashalik mons, but at the end of the draft I probably could have a had a simliar power level ninjas deck but I prefer BR slightly. Round 1 vs Van Vaals, Michael (1966) Michael was in the same Canadian Group chat as me, I was not happy to be paired vs him as in the draft I felt too many good cards were going late and it implied to me the pod mostly consisted of primarily constructed players. Luckily for me he got a bit manascrewed g2 and g3 so I was able to win, he had a BR deck splashing blue for the uncommon ninja and keranos, he also had two hoogaks, indicative of my weekend to come. Round 2 Verdiani, Luca (1869) Versus a UW Flicker deck, not much happened just curved out and stomped. g3 we both mulled to 5, I also played really poorly g2… wake up call for me to not be a doofus. Round 3 Rask, Love (2008) Michael told me there was some insane snow rare deck in the pod his opponent told him about, filled to the brim with rares, I looked at my legion of putrid goblins and they didn’t look too happy, but I trusted in that feaster of fools. My opponent cast a turn 2 bladeback sliver and i’m not feeling afraid anymore, later he curves out hermit druid + dead of winter and I won pretty easily, so I was feeling pretty confident for g3. I had passed a dead of winter in the pod so I messed up a bit g1, it was a bit of a complex line of basically using my Munitions Expert on myself to grow my Scavenger past Dead of Winter, but it could also have backfired in some cases to so it was reasonably hard. After the match my opponent says my deck is insane and his deck is garbage nice.. iirc feels good man. 3-0 Round 4 Maynard, Pascal (1967) Open decklists cool, I see a hoogak deck and look quickly at the manabase and removal spells, g1 Pascal mulls to 5 and I am luckily to kill him on turn 3 or 4 with arclights at 1 life, lucky lucky. G2 my hand was just obscene, looting + 2 arclight + leyline… think there might have even been a force, Pascal just had pretty weak hands so I was able to win. Round 5 Busson, Etienne (2006) Recognized this as the Mono Red player, I was sitting at table 4 and feeling if I win another game or two I could get a feature match maybe so was happy, but wasn’t happy to see this mu. g1 I mulled to 5, game was kinda close, coulda made some slightly different decisions maybe, if I was a bit luckier and hit an extra arclight could have won. g2 turn 1 critter into turn 2 eidolon, coulda maybe ignored the first creature but killed it, interesting choice perhaps, needed to hit an extra arclight or two to win, game was super weird and I tanked the most here, basically opp had an eidolon and I had 2 arclights and I had to decide how to attack and block with the arclights, for example when opp was at 20 life and Iwas at 12 I just attacked with 2 arclights as I felt that was my best chance tow in, was pretty hard, think I made the correct choice, opp agreed game was pretty tricky after. Round 6 Futamata, Yojiro (1798) Open decklists opp is on Hollow Gaak, kinda scared and would prefer a normal Gaak list so I don’t sb poorly or whatever, a bunch of cryptbreakers main and even push. g1 I can’t remember exactly but I think my opp might have mulled once or twice, I had a thing in the ice but opp had push so we move on. g2 I kept with a leyline, opp mulls to 5 I believe, my hand was pretty good, 5 or 6 can’t remember exactly, however as the game progresses I feel I run a bit poorly not being able to trigger arclights or flip my thing for a while,  my opp casts a cryptbreaker and just make zombies and I just whiff and whiff but they mulled to 5 and my hand was good so it runs even plus doesn’t matter to my decisions, coulda made some slightly different decisions in relation to fetching to thin which I normally do aggressively, but not sure felt I played fine at worst, in the end I need to dodge either fatal push or bloodghast for one turn to untap and win but opp topdecks the ghast for exactsies feels bad man but feel I played fine. Round 7 Luong, Marcus (2019) Hoogak Dredge, g1 I needed opp to whiff on their last dredge, they had bloodghast conflag and creeping chill as outs, sadly for me they hit and I died. g2 I kept a 5 or 6 with rav trap and the card just sucks vs hoogak so I fire it off a bit early to not get gaaked and die horrible. maybe Rav Trap gamed me as I kept hands assuming it would do stuff and then it just makes me die. Round 8 Nass, Matthew (2015) Table 69, I tell Matt we have the nicest table in the room, I think he agrees. He is also on Gaak, I lose g1 pretty quickly, g2 I keep a hand of like thing + force of negation, maybe was too weak, I tried to bluff I had a leyline by having 1 card I was about to slam in play. Matt keeps a hand with a lot of removal and floods out pretty hard so I am able to win a game I felt I got pretty lucky to win. but idk. g3 I just have 2 leyline + seasoned pyromancer. Feels bad to go 4-0 into 5-3 but I feel I played fine in my losses, didn’t play perfect but I mostly play magic online and find it hard to process information irl and didn’t feel I made too many savage punts. DAY TWO My draft pod has Javier Dominguez, Raph Levy and various other pros. I am sitting next to vidi, p1p1 I take urza over mob mostly due to being 50$, p1p2 I slam a manowar, rp1p3 there is goblin war party lightning skelelemental and ninja removal spell entwine. I think wow br seems open. I remember the lr advice, I can take one of these nut br cards and get passed an a+ br deck potentially or stay on ninjas and get a maybe b ish deck on average. I took skelelemental but some of my friends who are better said first of all there aren’t many rare blue cards better than manowar so manowar is a light blue signal, second of all they said skelemental isn’t that good and they said thirdly the two blue cards are too good so they’d try really hard to play it. Might have messed up my draft as RB was very very not open, I continued taking UB cards but Vidi was also in UB, p2p1 I took a fallen shinobi and didn’t feel black was being cut til mid pack 2 but was too late then, still I feltmy deck could win games. Round 9 Wijaya, Vidianto (2013) We play a Ninja Mirror, I just wait til he taps out both games and use fallen shinobi, I accidentally stole one of his lands and when I return it to him later he says fucking fallen shinobi. Round 10 Levy, Raphael (2112) g1 was pretty close, I had a choking tethers and every turn just needed him to have 1 less spell to get lethal, he had a marit lage enchantment and kept playing snow lands every turn, I Had 2 strings so I wasn’t too scared but cascade sliver + lots of removal was enough to kill me in a close game. g2 I had 18 lands due to 3 cycling ones, I side out a talisman for a spell snuff since talisman is in my deck to ramp into cards liek pondering mage/urza/first sphere/other nonsense vs more aggresive decks where I need to get on the board, here I want to be aggresive but those cards aren’t that aggresive and I felt spell snuff would be good. I keep a 2 lander with choking tethers as the hand is just good with an urza in it but sadly I get stuck on 2 lands and draw both spell snuffs, i’d sb the same again but felt kinda bad. Round 11 Matsumoto, Yuki (2000) vs BR, g1 my opp casts a silumar scavenger I spell snuff and untap, my board is urza + 5/6 lands with talisman and 2/2 token, my opp has like 4ish cards in hand and board of changelign outcast + bladeback sliver + 5 lands, my hand is like fallen shinobi + strings, can’t remember exactly what else I had in hand, I believe I also might have had a preordain in my graveyard. My deck doesn’t have much removal really outside of 2 strings and choking tethers so I try to be aggresive and close game quickly, I bounce the bladeback with strings and fallen shinobi the urza, Ken Yukihiro sitting next to us laughs,I hit a land and volatile claws *fuck* and pass. opp hardcasts an igneous elemental killing my 2/2 token, I can’t attack with shinobi so I cast urza and pass, they now goatnap shinobi I chump with token they cast dragonheart and suddenly i’m way far behind and feeling terrible, I feel I prob messed up this game somewhere, I just saw an insane line and went for it, coulda thought more but honestly likely would have came to same conclusion, g2 is pretty close but pretty much my opp casts a bunch of big creatures and removal and I die since my deck is just very medium and leaning on fallen shinobi or smoke shroud to win. Feeling pretty bad since my winrate in MH draft is muuuuchh higher than modern but I felt I just need to learn more for next time, feels bad but here we are. I felt my choices were mostly reasonable even if they might not have been the best I tried. Round 12 Vorel, Andrew (1847) VS Hoogak, can’t remember much, just leyline g2 and g3. puts me to 3-2 vs hoogak and I was doing well vs it on modo idk close mu. feels good to win Round 13 Jones, Derrick (1817) Izzet Phoenix Mirror, g1 I go turn 2 thought scour myself mill phx I scried on top, gut shot + bolt your thing in the ice and end up winning by goldfishing better I suppose. g2 my opp has to surgical random things to protect his thing from my flame slash but I am able to have a nuttier hand and win. feels good to be winning in modern atleast today. Round 14 Prosek, Dominik (1969) We get into a disagreement late into g2 whether a card was in my hand or graveyard, I believe I went to cast bolt and grab dice for aria and when I looked again my bolt was in my graveyard and I didn’t say I cast it, but it is possible I just messed up somehow, we end up with like 7 judge calls and with diminishing time extensions get a draw in a g3 I felt very far ahead in (two arias on 5 on turn 5 of time) but opp didn’t slowplay as they also believed they would have won close game, my first really fun game of teh weekend as g2 and g3 were just extremely grindy both players slamming haymakers, mostly said my favorite cause I was just winning a long game. Round 15 Wijaya, Vidianto (2005) I get pretty lucky and win a PHX mirror, I make a small misplay maybe g1, drew my 1 of rav trap g2 and draw pretty nutty, but that’s what I signed up for. Round 16 Stihle, Julien (2008) For 750$, I didn’t know at the time but I sure did after, g1 and g3 I mull to 5 vs UW, still kinda close, feels pretty bad wish I would have shuffled more idk, think I played the games fine,g2  felt pretty good though as I get to use the gy ability of two seasoned pyros and win a drawn out game. kinda bummed at myself for getting a draw in round 14, but I think I played fine, got slightly sloppy when time approached but that is fine by me considering the circumstances, I shouldn’t have spammed the judge calls so much but I don’t play much irl so I learned my lesson. a painful one. also I felt kinda dumb about the second draft but I still liked my decisions based on my previous experience even if I got a 1-2 record. happy with 9-6-1, felt I played ok but I feel next time if I can queue I will be able to focus a lot more. PT was overall more fun than I expected, the venue was a lot nicer than a GP one, you also get to spend a lot of time around die hard mtg players whereas at a GP I feel more like an outcast since I play way too much mtg, here I felt most players also do so. You get lots of cool stuff and etc. Also drafting is fun and you don’t even need to day 2 sealed to do so.

[keywestlou]

THE SHOOTING GALLERY CALLED AMERICA

THE SHOOTING GALLERY CALLED AMERICA - https://keywestlou.com/the-shooting-gallery-called-america-2/Originally posted August 2019   America has become a shooting gallery. Citizens shooting citizens. Who would have believed 50 years ago it could happen. I am motivated to write re the gun issue this morning because of the El Paso and Dayton shootings which occurred in the past 24 hours. Why has the U.S. become a maniacal society when it comes to citizens killing each other? The reasons many. Cause and effect unending. I share my thoughts. Gun manufacturers. The NRA. The Republican Party. Elected and party officials having neither the desire nor guts to stand up to gun manufacturers and the NRA. They have been bought body and soul. Lobbyists. Those hired by gun manufacturers and the NRA. Powerful. Loaded with money. Threaten Republican legislators easily with…..If you don’t cooperate/dance to our tune, you will be primaried in the next election. A conservative Supreme Court for many years. Even worse in coming years. Two bad decisions. The right to bear arms and corporations having the right to give unlimited amounts of money to political campaigns. An NRA that has bought “experts” to tell the American people that the gun problem is primarily caused by persons having mental difficulties. Repeated so much over the years that many believe the lie today. The rise of nationalism. A President who stands with those who want to bear arms in a manner and degree not before seen in any President. All contributing to the carnage. When a person plays with dynamite, such person should be careful. Could blow up in one’s face. I refer now to the tariff wars being experienced. The brain child of Donald Trump. A game that could quickly end in a world war. One of China’s largest companies is Huawei. Employs 320,000 people. Huawei big in i-phones and electronic equipment world wide. Huawei needs Android updates for its phones. Out of business without. One of the tariff war’s fallouts is that Google is prohibited by the U.S. from doing business with China. Trump and China President Xi discussed the matter several months ago while negotiating the tariff situation as a whole. To evidence the cooperative spirit of the U.S., Trump granted a temporary ban on the no Google sales to Huawei. A reprieve. The reprieve expires later this month. Could literally put Huawei out of business. At the very least hurt it dramatically, along with China’s economy. I read this morning a comment by Trump to the effect he does not care. What will China’s next step be? Could very well be the start of World War III. Turn things around. Suppose China took steps to hurt Amazon big time. Place Amazon in a position where it might have to go out of business. Note that Amazon employs 556.000. The U.S. could not, would not, stand for it. So it may be with China. Time is of the essence. The end of the month is around the corner. Going to be interesting how this works out, if it does. Henry David Thoreau. His time at Walden Pond. Most Americans read Walden in high school or college. It was on this day in 1854 that Thoreau published Walden. The book was a recounting of Thoreau’s time at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. He lived there 2 years and 2 months. Simply. In a home 10′ x 15′ which he built himself. He grew his food in his garden. The home was located on a 62 acre pond. Thoreau’s closest neighbor was Ralph Waldo Emerson who lived one mile away. Thoreau’s intent was to explore mentally his views on nature, politics and philosophy. The book’s first publishing was 5,000 volumes. Sold only 300 the first year. Took 5 years to sell the whole 5,000. Today continues as it has for many years as a best seller. One reason being it is required reading in many American class rooms today. We all know the story of Custer and the Sioux Indians when Custer and his 200 plus men were wiped out by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse led Sioux. The time the Indians won. There was a time 3 years earlier when Custer defeated the Sioux, however. At a time when the Sioux were led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. It was August 4, 1873. Custer and the 7th Army were protecting a railroad survey party. A relatively easy task. No one bothered anyone. Neither soldiers nor Indians. Custer was taking an afternoon nap. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse for whatever reason attacked Custer’s camp. Custer woke and mounted an effective defense. The skirmish was brief. The Indians withdrew. Only 1 soldier and 1 Indian killed. Three years later, the Battle of Little Big Horn. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse on one side. Custer on the other. We have learned several variations as to why Custer lost the battle. The true one little known. Custer’s greatest fear was the Indians would turn and run before he could attack and defeat them as had occurred 3 years earlier. Custer wanted a victory over the Indians. So he rushed into the battle without proper reconnaissance. One item knowing the size of the Indian force. Thousands. Custer and his 200 plus men were annihilated. Key West loves dogs! Seems like every other household has a pet dog. Dogs permitted everywhere in Key West. All bars and most restaurants. Even super markets and retail stores. There is a national organization called Better Citizens for Pets. Made up of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Marc Pet Care. Recently, Key West received the group’s “Small City” award. A $10,000 grant. The purpose of the grant “to keep furrys off the streets and out of shelters by offering pet wellness services for free or at a reduced cost for income-qualified pet owners.” Key West dog owners be proud! Enjoy your Sunday!  

[rotationalsymmetry]

Oh, that’s what the dress thing is about.

You know, I think it’s really fucking annoying when Democrats don’t stand by their alleged convictions. When they refuse to stand by “defund the police” and instead use “tough on crime” language. When they refuse to stand by the vision of a less militaristic America and talk about wanting America to be “strong”. I think it’s annoying when they refuse to challenge the idea that the stock market doing well is the same as average people having secure, well-paying jobs, and I think it’s annoying when they buy into the idea that people should have to earn necessities through working for them, rather than things like food and shelter and health care and education being inherent rights. I think it’s annoying when they play up their Christianity to avoid offending religious conservatives, when they talk about how abortion should be “rare” to avoid offending conservatives, when they engage in the pretense that racism is primarily a result of poor rural whites getting left behind (granted, poor rural people getting left behind is a very real problem, it’s just… not why Trump got the election in 2016. Nor is that problem fixable by backing off on things like queer rights and immigrant rights. Anyways.)

So when a Democrat does the opposite of that and makes a clear, unambiguous, and indeed controversial statement about what they’re for? That’s a good thing.

AOC can’t win for losing. She’s simultaneously dismissed for being from a working class background (“go back to being a bartender”) and also demonized whenever she wears clothes that are typical of and appropriate for someone in her position. It’s bullshit and regressive, and it’s hard to imagine it’s not connected to her being a woman of color.

AOC isn’t some profound traitor to the cause or whatever. She’s not a demon. She’s not our savior either. She’s a human being like the rest of us with strengths and weaknesses who is attempting to make a certain type of change through the political process. People who are in favor of making that sort of change through those sorts of methods tend to like her and talk her up and that’s good and appropriate and consistent with their worldview. (And…while there are limits to the political process, there are also matters of life and death significance that happen though it whether you are engaging with it or not. There is a difference between someone like AOC being in the House and someone like, idk, whatever conservative is trying to pass the worst fucking laws right now.) People who are cynical about the method do best to give her as little attention as possible and focus on other things — union organizing, protesting, mutual aid, guerilla gardening, sharing info about where to get textbooks for free, figuring out how to show Bezos’ debit card number in Times Square, whatever.

(Obviously I am not advocating doing anything illegal because that would be breaking the law, and breaking the law would be breaking the law. Ahem.)

Realistically most people aren’t radical, and it is as irrational to expect progressives to be radicals as it is for progressives to expect radicals to have the same politics as them.

If you’re following a lot of people who aren’t personal friends and also don’t share your worldview, you’ve got a call to make over whether it’s worth putting up with them expressing opinions based on a different worldview. If there’s someone you have a good relationship with that has a different opinion on the effectiveness of the political process than you, or who thinks it’s ineffective but is stanning AOC anyways because sometimes people are inconsistent, maybe have a direct one on one conversation about that. But there’s really no reason for people on the left to get mad that AOC is making a political statement that at least approximately corresponds to our priorities.

(And there is no way to criticize someone who is making a political statement while doing a normal politician thing that she was going to do in any case, for, you know, wearing an expensive dress or whatever, without it coming across as you’re actually criticizing the statement.)

Sometimes people come to radical politics by a slide from liberal to progressive to radical. (I would have thought that was the only way, but from what some people say on tumblr I guess some people go straight from being raised conservative to radical with no in between? And some people do get raised radical. Anyways.) I think when people slide in the other direction, which can happen, it’s because of things like lack of community support and perceived ineffectiveness. Yelling at progressives isn’t really going to change those issues. Focusing on making the left strong and interconnected and effective is.

“Strong,” just shoot me now. Sigh.

There are some big differences between liberals/progressives and radicals/leftists. I think the core one is liberals/progressives tend to basically trust the system. I think it is actually really important for people with radical politics who were raised trusting the system, myself included, to intentionally unlearn that trust. Maybe for some people that involves a period of demonizing politicians to overwrite a basic tendency to trust the politicians that are on “your side”, idk, maybe this is somehow helpful for someone. For me I think it’s more effective though to take a mellower approach, and go back to core values. AOC is advocating wealth redistribution, and that is a value I share. I also have values that are not anywhere near the Overton window: open borders, land back, police and prison abolition, abolishment of corporations and nation states and capitalism and very specifically the United States as an imperial power, and I’m not sure how many of those AOC is in favor of on a personal level (I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s for open borders anyways), but definitely there is only so far the political process is going to be able to go in moving towards those goals. So regardless of what I think of her as a person or politician, there are some things that she’s not going to be with me on, and that’s ok. Most people aren’t. I can focus on the ones that are, and with the rest I can either focus on other values that we share or I can let them go their own way when they’re not actively standing in opposition to what I’m for. It’s ok.

It’s important to not swing back and forth between “this politician is amazing and the best and is going to change everything for the better” and “this politician is the literal worst” (when they’re actually better/less bad than most.) It’s important to see differences. There is a narrow range of what a given politician is likely to be able to do, and they act within those ranges and can only be sensibly evaluated within those ranges. If you want to go “but fuck all politicians though” that’s fine, there’s something to be said for seeing politicians as a class whose interests don’t align with the interests of people with less power — like landlords, like cops, like bosses. But if that’s your take there’s still no real reason to single out one specific politician who happens to be 1. a woman of color and 2. for that class, about as non-shitty as they come.

I mean, you can fundamentally not like bosses and still notice when a boss who’s a woman of color gets a lot more hate directed at her than the white male bosses, and find that kinda weird and concerning and probably reflective of how people saying those things treat women of color who aren’t in positions of relative power. Same for politicians.

Like yeah “we’re not going to girlboss our way out of this one�� sure, but also…how relatively powerful women get treated and how powerless women get treated is not entirely unrelated. And if I can’t dance I don’t want to be a part of your revolution. (=misogyny (and racism and the intersection thereof) within leftism is still a problem actually.)

Anyways: you’ll notice I almost never post about politicians including AOC on here. I’m certainly not going to start stanning her. I don’t think that’s constructive. Democracy, to the extent that it’s a useful concept, isn’t about which horse you back. It’s about organizing and coming together and coalition building and taking to the streets and an awful lot of phone calls and mailing parties and meetings and talking and listening and research and attempting to translate legal text into something that makes sense and figuring out how to phrase things persuasively and supportive infrastructure like local newspapers and hashtags and days of action and petitions and saving your elected officials’ phone numbers in your contacts and showing up. (And so much fucking fundraising, endless fucking fundraising.) It’s often more about stanning laws and policy concepts (“green new deal”, “Medicare for all” etc) than stanning politicians. People who focus on politicians do not know how to do democracy IMO.

[calamity-bean]

Terror anon from earlier checking in - glad you’ve been watching and enjoying so far! Goodsir is by far my favorite character (his name fits him well, eh?); he’s just so kind and seems to have a deep well of genuine empathy & compassion. The fact that many of the other men are given complex development and are not one dimensional or simply “background” characters is what makes this series such a strong one, IMO. This is one of those rare shows that gets better with each episode. Enjoy!

I am enjoying it, thank you! Now that I’m all caught up through episode 6 (which was a uh, helluva episode there at the end, huh?), here are some updated thoughts:

SAME about Goodsir. HARD SAME. I don’t throw this term around often, but Goodsir? Goodsir is a Cinnamon Roll. Goodsir is the actual definition of Too Good, Too Pure. Intelligent, too! His enthusiasm to learn from Lady Silence? CUTE. Every time someone calls him “doctor” and he gets all bashfully oh-i’m-just-a-surgeon? CUTE!! What did Goodsir ever do to deserve all this bullshit? Someone save him. Someone defy history and save this man.

Goodsir being “just a surgeon” is something that gives me a TON of feelings, actually, as the historical physician–surgeon dichotomy, particularly in 19th century Britain, is a longstanding favorite subject of mine. But that’s neither here nor there, really – although I DO think it’s relevant to the investigative approach we see him take to the health of his patients, contrasted so sharply with Dr. Stanley’s aloofness. Point is, him being “just” a surgeon / anatomist only makes me love him all the more.

More Lady Silence, please. I mean, ideally I’d like to see more indigenous characters in general, but just working with what we’ve got, I’m very interested in Lady Silence. I hope Goodsir’s friendliness has been a comfort to her, and I would love to know a lot more about her, her background, and her culture.

The tunbaaq is a lovely hungry friend. I mean, I wouldn’t want to meet it in person, but I’ll admire it from afar.

In general, I’m not as informed about the cultures and mythologies of Nunavut as I’d like, so I can’t tell whether there’s a specific folkloric creature serving as inspiration for the tunbaaq. But I did recognize Sedna! Granted, primarily because I love the Heather Dale song, but still. It’s interesting that she’s supposed to have created this land-based monster, though, considering that as far as I’m aware she’s typically the creator of monsters of the sea.

In my reactions to the first episode, I both shortchanged Hickey AND gave him too much credit. I rescind his Good Egg points re: Young’s coffin, on account of taking Young’s ring. However, I said Fitzjames had the best hair in the Arctic … but that was only because Hickey had not taken off his hat! Credit where credit is due, Hickey: in a show full of bad haircuts and worse facial hair, you’re keepin’ it sharp.

In all seriousness, Hickey’s probably my favorite crewman after Goodsir. He’s not necessarily nice all the time, but he sure is clever and interesting. And I liked the top hat he wore during the party.

…Almost as much as I liked Fitzjames’s costume. Tobias Menzies, as a Roman? Who would’ve thought.

About Fitzjames, I feel much the same as I do Crozier and Franklin: sympathy for them as human beings, but lots of face-palming with every bad decision or overly arrogant/optimistic pronouncement about the surety of their success. 

Overall: beautiful scenery, lots of good slow-burn tension and intrigue, why am I letting myself get attached to these doomed idiots, maybe magically it’ll all turn out okay!

[davidmann95]

What's your Marvel Starter Pack?

My Marvel knowledge isn’t nearly as extensive as what I have for DC, so this’ll be scaled back to 12 books from the 15 I had there (nevermind Superman and Batman’s own personal lists). Additionally, since Marvel’s even more about Right Now than DC, nothing here is earlier than the turn of the century; a lot of my older recommended reading is by my dad’s suggestion since he had plenty of firsthand experience with the Silver and Bronze ages. Also worth noting that my Marvel tastes don’t exactly fall in line with the general sensibilities of Tumblr or fandom at large - I’m not a big X-Men guy, for instance - so your results may vary. But anyway, again, if you’re following me but new to actually collecting comics and wondering what to look into to gauge your interests, I’ve got plenty for you.

1. Daredevil by Mark Waid

What it’s about: Blinded as a child pushing an old man out of the path of an oncoming truck transporting radioactive waste, Matt Murdock grew up to become a lawyer, encouraged by his pugilist father Battlin’ Jack Murdock not to rely on his fists as he had throughout life. But when Jack was murdered for refusing to throw a fight, Matt was forced to rely on the talents he had developed in secret under his sensei Stick - the same isotopes that took away his sight boosted his remaining four to superhuman levels, as well as granting him a 360° awareness of his surroundings he termed his ‘radar sense’ - to find justice for his father and those like him, becoming the vigilante Daredevil. Now, after a crimefighting career marked by agony, loss, and an increasingly deteriorating psyche, his identity has been unofficially exposed by the tabloid press…but attempting to turn around both his life and his mental health, Matt’s chosen to try and re-embrace the good in both his daytime career and in the thrill of his adventures as the Man Without Fear.

Why you should read it: Aside from being in my opinion the most influential superhero comic of the decade, Mark Waid’s tenure on Daredevil is the complete package of superhero comics. Energizing, gorgeous, accessible, character-driven, innovative, and bold, it’s a platonic ideal of Good Superhero Comics, and most especially Good Marvel Superhero Comics, and as such there’s little better place to start.

Further recommendations if you liked it: Shockingly, few modern Marvel titles seem to operate on a similar frequency to this run, even among those that clearly wouldn’t have existed without it; of those I don’t mention in one capacity or another below, the only modern books that leap out to me as being of a similar breed are Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee’s (the latter ending up the primary artist on Waid’s Daredevil) tragically cut short Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Dan Slott and Mike Allred’s Silver Surfer, and Al Ewing’s Contest of Champions. Given the classic mood it evokes, you might also be interested in some of Marvel’s older stuff in general - as probably most conveniently packaged in the Essential volumes - as well as the more recent Marvel Adventures line of all-ages titles. For hornhead himself, most of his classic work tends to operate in a pitch-black noir mood that much of Waid’s run is meant to contrast; if you want to delve into it, go to Frank Miller’s run (primarily Born Again), then Brian Bendis’s followed by Ed Brubaker’s and, following Waid, Chip Zdarsky’s (the Charles Soule run in the middle seems largely forgettable).

2. Marvels

What: Following the career of photojournalist Phil Sheldon - beginning in World War II with the rise of the likes of the Human Torch, Namor, and Captain America, and forward into the reemergence of superheroes with the Fantastic Four - Marvels shows what the battles that define a world look like to the helpless spectators, from the controversy surrounding mysterious vigilantes such as Spider-Man, the fear of the “mutant menace” represented by the X-Men, and the terror when the planet is first truly threatened at the hands of Galactus.

Why: As well as being one of Marvel’s best and most defining works period - this is Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross’s coming out party as two of the most significant names in the genre, and it articulates Marvel’s avowed “it’s the world outside your window!” philosophy better than perhaps any other title - Marvel is ruled by history and continuity in a way DC isn’t. The latter may have reboots to contend with, but Marvel has a much more upfront and consistently significant timeline of what happened when and what’s important, and if you’re going to have to immerse yourself in that ridiculous lore, there’s no more fulfilling way of getting an injection of pure backstory than this.

Recommendations: There’s a follow-up by Busiek, Roger Stern and Jay Anacleto titled Marvels: Eye of the Camera; I haven’t read it yet myself, but given the pedigree involved I can’t imagine it’s anything less than entirely solid. For other Major Marvel Events, the defining one of the 21st century is Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s Civil War, which set a tone that still reverberates through the line; also worth checking out the recent Marvel Legacy oneshot, which seems to be laying the groundwork for things to come. Speaking of setting a tone, while it’s not directly ‘relevant’ continuity-wise, Millar also worked with Bryan Hitch on Ultimates 1 & 2, which proved to be the aesthetic model for the current wave of Marvel movies and added plenty of ideas that have been extensively mined since. History of the Marvel Universe by Mark Waid and Javier Rodriguez fits its title and is absolutely worth a library checkout, but is mainly a rote checklist elevated by all-timer artwork.

3. Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s Young Avengers

What: The heroes of the group once known as the ‘Young Avengers’ have gone their separate ways, each trying to figure things out on the cusp of adulthood. But when Wiccan’s attempt at helping his boyfriend goes horribly wrong - mixed in with a pint-sized god of mischief’s machinations, an interdimensional bruiser’s attempts at routing him, and non-Hawkguy Hawkeye’s extraterrestrial hookup - the gang’s forced back together again and on the run before old age literally swallows them whole.

Why: Here’s the bummer truth, daddy-o: I am not, in the common parlance, down with the hep cats, at least as far as gateway young-readers Marvel books go. I flipped through Runaways and wasn’t compelled to pick it up; I kept on with Ms. Marvel for a couple years but always on the edge of falling out of my monthly pile. Unless it’s truly next-level spectacular or heart-pouring-out sincere, gimme superfolks routing fiendish plots and going on trippy adventures any day over a bunch of sad kids in tights figuring out adolescence all over again: Spidey already did it first and better, and when emotionally-down-to-Earth superhero comics do get me fired up it’s usually set a little later on in life (even when I was the target audience for this sort of thing). But fire it through Gillen/McKelvie laser neon sexytime pop, and suddenly you’re in business. Slick, smart, raw, and wild, this was the best comic of 2013, and’ll certainly go down as one of the best superhero titles of this decade, Marvel as the Cool Kids of superherodom dialed up to 11.

Recommendations: Nothing else quite like this out there - the closest in feeling is Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones’ excellent original Marvel Boy miniseries, though that’s more about becoming a 20-something out in the world in the sense of wanting to burn it all down to the ground - but as I said, Runaways and Ms. Marvel do generally appeal to the same audience (and to be clear, I did like the latter just fine), as do the original Young Avengers run and Avengers Academy. Personally, I checked out and liked Avengers Arena, where all the fun teen heroes got forced into Hunger Gamsing each other on a murder island run by Arcade, followed up by them breaking bad in Avengers Undercover - please note that I’m like one of the three people on Earth who liked this book as opposed to ravenously despising it, which probably has in part do to with my lack of prior attachment to the characters involved. Also, important to note that this book is in the middle of a thematic Loki trilogy, preceded by Gillen’s Journey Into Mystery (which I haven’t read but don’t for a second doubt the quality of), and completed by Al Ewing and Lee Garbett’s truly magnificent Loki: Agent of Asgard; also worth noting that these books, and really modern Loki as a whole, are deeply rooted in Robert Rodi and Esad Ribic’s Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers. And for perfect entry books, I don’t think there’s much of anything better out there, especially for young readers, than Ryan North and Erica Henderson’s The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, one of Marvel’s most consistently high-quality ongoings of the last several years.

4. Hawkeye: My Life As A Weapon

What: Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, aka Hawkguy, is the Avenger who’s Just A Dude. No super-steroids and vita-rays, no magic hammer or Pym particles, a distinct lack of multi-billion dollar armor or immortality serum. Dude has a bow and arrow, and while he is very, very good with that bow and arrow, he still gets his ass kicked a frankly disproportionate amount relative to his teammates. Between meeting a dog, buying a car, and hanging out with friends - even if each incident goes significantly more wrong that they would for anyone other than Clint Barton, with non-Hawkguy Hawkeye Kate Bishop typically along for the ride - this is what he gets up to when he’s not helping save the world.

Why: Gonna show my heresy again: I’m not actually over the moon about Fraction/Aja’s Hawkeye past the first arc. But that first arc? Man oh man oh man, are they about as good as Marvel gets. This is absolute next-level storytelling on every front, with Aja and Pulido pulling out all the stops and Fraction - who by all accounts thinks more about the process of how comics work than anyone else in the field - just pouring heart and style all over the thing. It’s as tight and energetic as comics get, and the perfect introduction to Marvel’s street-level corner.

Recommendations: Aside from the rest of this run, there’s the recent Hawkeye (starring the non-Hawkguy Hawkeye Kate Bishop) by Kelly Thompson and Leonardo Romero, and there’s a generous helping of Hawkguy in Ales Kot and Michael Walsh’s Secret Avengers, a book as tight and out-of-the-box and oddly joyous in its own way as this. If you’re looking for other Marvel material that gets this explicitly experimental and afield of the house style, go for Jim Steranko’s much-loved work with Nick Fury. And for the other, considerably grimmer side of the street, aside from the Daredevil stuff I mentioned above, check out anything and everything you can get your hands on from Garth Ennis’s work with the Punisher, along with Greg Rucka’s and Jason Aaron’s.

5. Moon Knight: From The Dead

EDIT: This list was written prior to allegations made against Warren Ellis. It’s your money, but while I’d still recommend checking the book out of the library - the quality of the work isn’t going to change now that it’s out there in the universe - if you’re looking to pad your bookshelf I might recommend skipping to some of the books suggested below in its place.

What: Marc Spector was a mercenary until the day he died, betrayed in the desert before an Egyptian temple by his comrades…and then he kept going. No one knows for sure whether the truth is what his doctors have to say - that sharing his head with the likes of Steven Grant and Jake Lockley is a manifestation of DID, and he’s a profoundly sick man - or his own interpretation - that his fragile human personality buckled and shattered before the immensity when dying by its temple, he bowed his head at death’s door to the moon god Khonshu and let it seize his soul. Whatever the truth, he now knows his purpose: to defend travelers by night from whatever horrors would cross their path.

Why: There’s no story as such to be told here; Ellis and Shalvey simply show six adventures over six issues that establish Moon Knight and the scope of what he’s capable of when handled properly, ranging from straightforward detective work to psychedelic journeys through a rotting dream to a jaw-dropping issue-long fight scene. Marvel has a proud history of material skewing slightly to the left of the rest of their output, tonally and conceptually, and this is your ideal gateway to Weird Marvel.

Recommendations: For the further adventures of Moon Knight, by recommendation would be Max Bemis and Jacen Burrows’ current volume, which is following up on the seeds Ellis and Shalvey laid down quite satisfactorily, with a few twists of their own on top. Ellis himself used Moon Knight before this in his run on Secret Avengers with a number of different artists, which was very much a precursor to his work above in its high-concept done-in-one style; also check out his book Nextwave with Stuart Immonen, which is as out there as it gets for Marvel and also the best comic ever. Delving into Marvel’s spooky side, if this did anything at all for you absolutely get all of Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s massively and rightfully acclaimed The Immortal Hulk (and if you’re looking for more something more traditional with the Green Goliath, Mark Waid’s The Indestructible Hulk is a hoot). If you really want to go to ground zero of Weird Marvel, you’re in the market for Steve Gerber’s work, primarily Defenders and his own creation Howard the Duck (who had another very entertaining via Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones recently worth checking out). Another notably out-there character worth checking out is She-Hulk, particularly in Dan Slott’s run and Charles Soule/Javier Pulido’s. Two more figures existing on Marvel’s weirder end are Doctor Strange - whose ‘classic’ work would as I understand it be Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner’s run, and who’s worth checking out more recently in Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin’s miniseries The Oath, Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo’s run, and Donny Cates and Gabriel Hernandez Walta’s - and the Inhumans - while contemporary attempts to push them have been a failure, there have been excellent individual successes in Ellis, Gerardo Zaffino, and Roland Boschi’s Karnak, Al Ewing and company’s Royals, and Saladin Ahmed and Christian Ward’s Black Bolt. And I’d be remiss in the extreme not to bring up Gabriel Walta and Tom King’s Vision, which I don’t want to give anything away of, but has a serious claim to being the best thing Marvel’s ever published.

6. Ultimate Spider-Man by Bendis & Bagley

What: When bitten by a genetically mutated spider Peter Parker thought he could use his newfound powers to make a quick buck, and come on, you already know this.

Why: This is the foundational modern Spider-Man. The first arc’s aged a little wonky in bits as Bendis was trying to make late-90s/early-00s Teen Slang work, but by and large, Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley’s original 111-issue tenure on Ultimate Spider-Man reimagining his early years was pound-for-pound one of Marvel’s all-time most engaging, exciting, dramatic, and authentic long-term runs. This is the template for every movie (especially Homecoming) and TV show he’s had in the last decade, a sizable part of what got me into comics in the first place, and one of the company’s most reliable perennials. You want to get onboard with maybe the most popular superhero in the world, you do it here.

Recommendations: With the remainder of the list I’m getting into more character/concept-specific reccs, and for other great Spider-Man, your best bet truly is the classic early material by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and John Romita as collected in the Essential volumes, which has aged unbelievably well compared to its contemporaries; Bendis’s post-Bagley material just doesn’t hold up, even with the introduction of fan-favorite Miles Morales. For other ‘classics’, your best bests are Spider-Man: Blue, and by my understanding the runs of Roger Stern and J.M. DeMatteis, particularly the latters’ Kraven’s Last Hunt. For the modern stuff, Chip Zdarksy’s current Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man is just getting better and better, I’ve heard very good things about Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, I personally enjoyed Mark Millar and (at his peak) JMS’s runs, and while most agree Dan Slott’s soon-concluding decade-long tenure on the character has outstayed its welcome, he’s also turned in some stone-cold classics like No One Dies and Spider-Man/Human Torch, as well as other entertaining work such as the original Renew Your Vows and Superior Spider-Man. Most recently, Chip Zdarsky’s work with the character in The Spectacular Spider-Man and the high-concept out-of-continuity miniseries Spider-Man: Life Story are some of Mr. Parker’s all-time best, while Tom Taylor’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is a charming relatively small-scale superhero adventure book, and Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garron’s Miles Morales: Spider-Man is easily the best possible introduction to that guy.

7. Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 1

What: Though Thor, the god of thunder and mighty Avenger, has faced limitless threats to even divine life and limb over his many millennia, only one figure has ever truly frightened him. Now, as he discovers a serial killer of deities is loose in the cosmos, he must turn to his past and future alike in order to survive the coming of the God-Butcher.

Why: The pick on this list most directly relevant to those coming in from the movies right now, I’m afraid that while a bit of this was plucked for Ragnarok, this isn’t remotely on the same wavelength. This is black metal death opera screamed through the megaphone of wild space-spanning superheroics, and not only is it the best Thor comic, it’s the perfect introduction to Marvel’s cosmic side.

Recommendations: Along with the Loki books I namechecked above, the defining run on Thor (though the rest of his continuing work there is also very much worth checking out) is Walter Simonson, which laid down a lot of the fundamentals of the character as he exists today; along with that and the rest of Aaron’s run, my understanding is that Lee/Kirby’s original run holds up very well. For more satisfying fight comics, I’d also suggest World War Hulk, and I hear Marvel’s early Conan comics were standouts. On the cosmic end, I know the Guardians of the Galaxy are where it’s at these days; they sprang to life in their current incarnation in the much-loved Annihilation, and while I haven’t been reading their current Gerry Duggan/Aaron Kuder run, it’s well-liked and probably a good place to drop on, as would be the recent Chip Zdarsky/Kris Anka Starlord, and I’d personally recommend Al Ewing and Adam Gorhan’s Rocket. Beyond them, Jonathan Hickman’s comics are where it’s really at, from his Fantastic Four to S.H.I.E.L.D. to Ultimates to Avengers/New Avengers to the big finale to his overarching story in Secret Wars; it’s a complicated reading order to figure out, but oh-so-worth it.

8. Iron Man: Extremis

What: Faced with the horrors of his amoral past and the questions of a future coming quicker than he can manage, Tony Stark faces his most dangerous enemy yet when experimental post-human body modification tech is let loose into the world and lands in the hands of a white supremacist terrorist cell.

Why: More than anything other than Robert Downey Jr. smirking and quipping, this story is the definitive model for the modern Iron Man, taking a C-lister most notable for dealing with alcoholism decades earlier and hanging out on the B-list team in the Avengers (at least until 2012), and redefining his personality, aesthetic, and role in the 21st century as a man who might be smart enough to save the world if he can ever pull together enough to somehow save himself from his own compromises and weaknesses. The road to this guy becoming a household name is paved here.

Recommendations: Prior to this, his biggest stories were Demon in a Bottle, showing his first reckoning with his alcohol abuse, and Denny O’Neil’s 40-issue run introducing Obadiah Stane and showing Stark’s darkest hour as he sinks completely into his illness. Post-Ellis, the big run is Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca, which seizes both on the ideas here and the momentum granted by his Hollywood debut to cement his status as an A-lister; after that check out Kieron Gillen’s, which is not only a fun big-idea series in its own right but paves the way for Al Ewing’s spinoff Fatal Frontier, easily one of Iron Man’s best and most overlooked titles. Finally, while it was derided in its own time (that it was a spinoff of an event that turned him evil but the comic never especially explained the circumstances didn’t help), Superior Iron Man is also worth a look as a horrifying contrast to the rest of these.

9. Captain America: Man Out Of Time

What: A sickly young man who volunteered to participate in an experimental super-soldier program to serve his country in World War II, Steve Rogers became Captain America and protected the world from the Nazis with unimaginable courage and distinction, until the day he died disarming a drone plane rigged to blow aimed at America’s shores. He was honored throughout history…until the day he was found alive by the Avengers, frozen in the Atlantic and ready to emerge into the lights of the 21st century when needed most. Most people know that story. This is the story of what happened next.

Why: The search for the definitive statement on Captain America is one that’s driven his character for decades: after all, handling him doesn’t just mean talking about one man’s character, but the character of a nation. Successes are typically qualified, but one of the more successful creators in the pool is Mark Waid, who’s up to his fourth time at bat with Steve right now on the main book. His own most notable effort however is here, showing Rogers’ earliest days post-iceberg as he adjusts to living in what is to him the far-flung future, seeing the ways the nation has both surpassed his wildest dreams and fallen short of his humblest expectations, leaving him in the end to make the choice of whether this is truly the world he wants to defend.

Recommendations: As I mentioned, Waid’s had a few times up at bat with Captain America, and while he initial 90s stints might not be ideal for new readers for a number of reasons, his current run with frequent partner Chris Samnee is a solid crowdpleaser and a perfect place to jump onboard. Prior to that, worth checking out are Jim Steranko’s bizarre and transformative 3-issue run, Steve Englehart’s legendary Secret Empire (not the recent contentious Marvel event comic, to be clear), Ed Brubaker’s turn of the character towards grounded espionage, and his co-creator Jack Kirby’s bombastic, passionate 1970s tenure on the Captain. Currently, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ run is quite solid. Regarding related characters, for the Winter Soldier I’d suggest Ales Kot and Marco Rudy’s unconventional cosmic thriller Bucky Barnes: Winter Soldier; Black Widow had her own recent and excellent Mark Waid/Chris Samnee run, and I’d also recommend the one-shot Avengers Assemble 14AU by Al Ewing and Butch Guice, and issue #20 from Warren Ellis’s previously mentioned time on Secret Avengers; for Black Panther, his definitive runs are under Don McGregor and Christopher Priest, and I’d also note Jason Aaron and Jefte Palo’s Secret Invasion arc as showing T’Challa at his best.

10. Fantastic Four By Waid & Wieringo

What: Bathed in cosmic radiation on an ill-fated journey to the stars, Reed Richards, Sue and Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm were transformed, and became the Fantastic Four, first family of an age of heroes! Now, years into their careers and with Reed and Sue’s young children in tow, they continue to explore new frontiers, whether battling a sentient equation gone mad, contending with an extradimensional roach infestation, or perhaps most perilous of all, Johnny trying to deal with getting a real job.

Why: Plenty consider the Fantastic Four one of Marvel’s most difficult groups to get right, but Waid and Wieringo nail the formula here as well as anyone ever has, just the right mix of high adventure and family dynamics to draw just about anyone in; this is as crowdpleasing as comics get and the perfect introduction to the best superhero team out there.

Recommendations: The FF’s another group where it’s worth going back to their earliest days of Lee and Kirby; while much of the writing’s aged awkwardly at best, they’re the absolute foundational comics of the entire universe and lay down concepts that are still getting use today throughout that universe. Past that initial run, John Byrne and Walter Simonson’s are among the best by reputation, as well as Jonathan Hickman’s as I discussed before (Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s is worth tracking down as well, especially since concepts there end up feeding directly into Hickman). For more outside-the-box material, Joe Casey and Chris Weston’s First Family is worth a look, as is Grant Morrison and Jae Lee’s 1234. And for the all-time best showing of bashful Benjamin J. Grimm, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing, find Marvel Two-In-One Annual #7 to see him defend the entire planet in a boxing match at Madison Square Garden. And while the team’s sadly off the table at the moment, Thing and the Torch are returning in Chip Zdarsky and Jim Cheung’s new volume of Marvel Two-In-One as they set out to find their missing family.

11. Mighty Avengers by Al Ewing

What: When Thanos takes to the skies as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are off-planet, it’s a day unlike any other, as those left standing are forced to band together as the Mighty Avengers. And as the danger passes, the team remains, looking to truly work alongside those they protect rather than above them to make things better, even as forces conspire in the background to enslave them all.

Why: This title is something of a limitus test, in that it’s one where you’ll have to deal with it being constantly, infuriatingly forced to deal with crossover nonsense. It’s one of the big prices to pay for engaging with a larger universe, but the trade-off is that this is where Al Ewing gets set loose on the Marvel universe, drawing on every weird corner to pull together a run of genuine moral intent, note-perfect character work, and all-out adventure. This may be the ‘secondary’ team, but it’s as perfect as the Avengers have ever gotten.

Recommendations: The title itself is relaunched as Captain America and the Mighty Avengers, and as that ends but Ewing continues his time at Marvel, the characters and concepts end up divided among a number of titles: Contest of Champions, where a number of heroes are plucked from the timestream to duel for the power and amusement of the Grandmaster, New Avengers (later turned U.S.Avengers), where former X-Man Sunspot assembles a new team to act as a James Bond-ified international strike force, and Ultimates (later turned Ultimates2), where some of Earth’s most powerful and brilliant heroes band together to proactively defend against unimaginable cosmic threats; also try his mini-event Ultron Forever with Alan Davis sometime. Based on your response to numerous aspects of those titles, there’s a good chance you might be in the market for David Walker’s Luke Cage titles, Matt Fraction’s Defenders, and Jim Starlin’s cosmic 70s books such as Captain Marvel and Warlock (and make sure to read Nextwave at some point, Ewing actually follows up on that gonzo delight in some surprising ways here). For the ‘main’ team, aside from Hickman’s previously mentioned run - which while spectacular is pretty far afield of the usual tone - some suggestions might be Kurt Busiek and George Perez’s much-loved run, Roger Stern’s Under Siege, I have to imagine given the pedigree of the creators Earth’s Mightiest Heroes by Joe Casey and Scott Kolins, Brian Bendis’s extended ownership of the Avengers books, and The Kree-Skrull War.

12. Wolverine & The X-Men by Jason Aaron

What: Dwindled down to a few in a world that hates and fears them as much as ever, mutantkind has been split in two, with by-the-books Cyclops taking a hardline approach against oppression and feeling that the youth in the X-Men’s charge must be made ready to fight, while Wolverine has grown tired of throwing children into battle and has left to find a new way. Founding the Jean Gray School For Higher Learning, Logan’s found himself in the most unexpected role of all as a professor, fighting just has hard to keep the unimaginable high-tech academy and the hormonal super-powered student body in check as to fend off the supervillains inevitably sent their way.

Why: The X-Men aren’t exactly my forte, with a wobbly batting average at best over the years as the books devote at least as much effort to trying to juggle the continuity and soap opera demands as the actual sci-fi premise. There have been successes though, and few so geared towards new reader engagement as Wolverine & The X-Men, where Aaron strips the franchise down to the base essentials of a team living in a school for super-kids. It’s poppy, it’s weird, it’s touching, and it’s accessible. It’s the X-Men at its best.

Recommendations: The most direct predecessor to this run (aside from its actual lead-in miniseries X-Men: Schism, which is actually worth checking out) is Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, which takes the sci-fi aspects of the concept to the very limit in what I’m inclined to consider the best X-Men run, though it’s proven controversial over the years among longtime fans. The base of the team as it exists today is in Chris Clarmemont’s work, which I’m not wild about myself but has a few hits such as God Loves, Man Kills; if you’re looking for a modern update on the formula developed there, Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday is probably your ticket (and the follow-up run by Warren Ellis is a great weird paramilitary sci-fi book for a bit). Jonathan Hickman’s relaunch is a radicaly and brilliant departure paving a new way forward; it’s perhaps best experienced after a bit of ‘traditional’ X-Men to understand the scale of the contrast, but check that out as soon as possible. For classic material, I understand the Roy Thomas/Neal Adams run was an early success, and Jeff Parker’s X-Men: First Class is by all accounts a charming look at the team’s earliest days. Jason Aaron’s work elsewhere on the X-Men proper was limited to the first 6 issues of the short-lived Amazing X-Men, but he had a very extended and successful tenure on Wolverine which would be my go-to recommendation for him; past that, Death of Wolverine actually satisfies, and All-New Wolverine starring his successor Laura Kinney was the best X-Men book on the stands for some time (writer Tom Taylor is also had a short-lived ‘proper’ X-book in X-Men: Red). As for the group’s many spin-offs, I’d suggest Rick Remender’s X-Force, Peter Milligan and Mike Allred’s X-Factor/X-Statix, and Joe Kelly and Ed McGuiness’s Spider-Man/Deadpool, which should serve as a decent introduction to the latter dude’s own oddball territory in the franchise along with the truly mad and utterly delightful You Are Deadpool.

[nemossubmarine]

DA RP Write-up #14.7

Things are coming to a close today, and what a show it was! Get ready for it folks, we have drama, action, adventure!! Romance?! Stakes have never been higher! 

We start where we left off last time, that is the carta’s jail cell. We’ve some time to spend while we’re there, so Cahair gets back to talking with the miners.

There appears to be some Legion of the Dead members in the cells as well, presumably ones that have never been with the carta.

Boshara continues to be impatient and gets no food for her trouble-making. Alf shares some of his so she won’t have to go completely without.

Our heroes are locked up for two days, and on the morning of the second day, Cahair realizes that he can’t see out of his left eye.

Boshara checks it over again, and realizes that it is blighted. 

Both Cahair and Elspet aren’t doing super-well, they’re shivering and sleeping poorly. The jail isn’t helping.

Luckily, it seems that Hedda has woken up and Bobin Bood comes to pick us up to go meet her.

She still doesn’t look well, nothing’s going to bring back the eye that she gauged out, but she seems less completely bonkers, so it seems like a good time to make some deals.

Hedda isn’t as giving as we might have hoped. She is willing to take us and our ship as part of her lyrium operation. This would mean that some of her men would come to the ship, but we’d get all the lyrium we’d need with no cost.

She does want us to prove to her our loyalty somehow. One of her offers is for us to deal with Lord Mandulfr, which we aren’t willing to work with at all. In fact, we’d very much like for her to leave Randy alone.

She speaks of Randy as a greedy asshole and heavily implies he was the one who arranged his own father’s murder, but that’s not a situation we want to poke at with Hedda present.

That leaves us with two tasks: Assasinate Saelac and assassinate King Aeducan, and we’re like, sure thing, we can work with that.

Before we get our heroes back to Orzammar, we’ll take a short look at what Humbert has been up to, while we have been away.

Merle, which we had put up to relaying our intents to Humbert, has gotten the nerves over the bomb-threat, so that’s pretty much all the thing Humbert gathers from him.

He goes to the Dusttown and picks up Trin, who he arranges to stay at Randy’s house.

Now it’s time to get worried about the others, as the Provings are long over, and there are no sign of them. So Humbert starts arranging a search-party. 

He goes for Saelac personally for help, and somehow, proving once again that his reputation as a convincing fellow is well-earned, he convinces Saelac to help.

The search party searches over the city first and then turns to Deep Roads.

And in the Deep Roads is where Humbert & co find the others. Boshara rushes to hug him and then hug Saelac. (Humbert also gives hugs to everyone else, though Cahair declines on the basis of being Blighted)

Boshara starts rambling about how we had noticed that Cahair and Elspet were Blighted and we went to the Deep Roads to find some Wardens. Having found none, and gotten in quite a bit of trouble, we decided to return.

This story is bought by Saelac who arranges a fine dinner in celebration of having bravely rescued Boshara, which he totally did. Yep. 

Before we can get to any assassinating, Boshara wants to try heal Cahair and Elspet, as their conditions are surely not getting any better.

Boshara asks Saelac for some quarters to do the procedures in, and is granted some rooms in the Warriors’ Quarters.

Boshara goes to talk with Randy about the situation. Randy offers himself and several people from his house as blood-letters. 

There’s something off with Randy, but Boshara is too concerned with the fact that both Cahair’s and Elspet’s life hang on her shoulders to really pay much attention to this.

All the people have gathered, Randy and dwarves from his house will give blood, as will Alf, Boshara, Humbert, Merle, Breck and Kaino. This should be enough.

Cahair will be operated on first, as his condition seems much worse, possibly because Elspet has not done the elven healing spell on him that she did to herself. Also this leaves Elspet the chance to watch over the procedure and assist if needed.

Before starting the operation, Cahair makes Alf promise to take care of Richard, in case Cahair doesn’t make it, and tell Richard that Cahair is sorry he couldn’t make it to say goodbyes.

Then it’s under the metaphorical knife for Cahair. The operation goes well, possibly because Boshara has done this before, and possibly because the Blight is not yet as bad as it was with Hedda and Harrowmont.

The Blight clings to the eye however, so Elspet has no choice but to remove it.

Boshara decides to leave Elspet’s operation for the next day, as she is tired. Before the end of the day, she visits Kivi-Jaakko and asks if he could make a glass eye for her. Inside the eye Boshara copies some of the elven symbols that decorate Cahair’s face.

Then it’s next day and Elspet’s turn. Kaino will watch over her operation as the healer, though being primarily a primal mage, his healing skills are limited.

Luckily Elspet’s operation goes just as well, leaving only a nasty scar above her left breast where the Blight was the worst.

Both sleep for few days and wake up in good health. 

Boshara presents Cahair with the glass eye she ordered, which he is very glad to receive.

Both of our Blighted friends are now saved, at least temporarily. It’s time to get to assassinating.

Boshara has been working double duty, healing and flirting up a storm with Saelac. It’s still Boshara flirting, so it’s not the best flirting, but Saelac seems charmed none-the-less.

He also seems to be interested in Elspet as well, so maybe he’s just slimy.

Boshara manages to convince Saelac to take her out on a date to the Provings Ring, with only two dwarves as guards, and even those are left outside.

They are having a lovely dinner date, when Saelac presents Boshara with a ring.

Boshara agrees to this sudden proposal, and they are just exchanging a deep loving(?) kiss, when an arrow pierces the air and hits Saelac in the head, killing him instantly.

The next arrow hits Boshara in the shoulder. 

Boshara cuts Saelac’s tongue off, leaves it on his chest, sprays blood everywhere, hurts herself a bit more, and lays down next to him, just when the guards come in to check.

In the audience’s stands Alf gets up and starts to sneak out of the building, after a job well done. One of the guards catches a sight of him, but can’t really tell who the sneaking figure is.

So Saelac is dead. Boshara plays the part of grieving bride-to-be, though she makes sure to let everyone know, she wants no claim to Saelac’s political power.

Orzammar is quite in turmoil, as there is no one to obviously name as a successor. 

Randy seems troubled during this time as well, as two of his friends, Anselmi and Berengrad seem to follow him everywhere. There’s really no time to talk with him about this, as there is an investigation on Saelac’s killing.

Carta is named to be the guilty party.

After few weeks, as the dust has somehow settled in Orzammar, our heroes head off, past the templars at the front gate.

At the front gate is also Dominique and the Tevinter mage that got Blighted in a previous adventure. They are Wardens now, so Dominique has come to say her goodbyes and resign from the ship.

They also tell that the glass statue of the little girl has been left at Anderfels; the Wardens wish to study it.

We pick up some carta members and some lyrium on our way, but there’s still a second assassination to do. Alf, Boshara, Cahair and Elspet convince Humbert and Randy to go the ship, while they themselves will go to Denerim, where they heard from Hedda the King was.

They get to Denerim with some speedy horses and use all kinds of old friends to help locate the King. Once they have done so, it’s time for Elspet to get her assassin’s creed on.

On our way to Denerim, Elspet had practiced a new form, so those are the skills she’d use. 

First as a bird, she sneaks in and locates King Aeducan and his wife. 

Then she transforms into a poisonous snake and bites the King. 

The King is dead. Long live the King.

We get back on the ship, only to find out that an Antivan-looking dwarf by the name of Carla has joined the crew, a friend of Randy it’s claimed, and she does seem awful fond of not leaving Randy alone for a moment.

We might be in some deep trouble further down the line, be it with the carta, with the Crows or with Orzammar, but we have our lyrium, and that’s all that matters. And all it took was two political assassinations. Worth it?

And that’s all folks! What a crazy morally ambiguous time we had deep down in the dark down deep down. This just goes to show that our party isn’t made for politics. 

I’ll be taking the rears next with probably two campaigns if not back-to-back only mini-sessions in between. I am very excited for the both of them, and maybe for the next one, we’ll manage to keep the body count slightly lower, perhaps.